Where is Ultimate Playmobil thread?

[Divatheshopaholic]

Where is the annual thread? Did you all buy your playmobil sets?
Used to see thread every year here. My ds is now 3 and i really wnat to buy him Playmobil. What is hit, what is miss? Advice needed.

I have discovered playmobil a bit late for my DC and have just bought the first sets for them for this Christmas! Have bought DD (7) the hospital when I saw it for a bargainous £70 in ELC over the summer. Have bought DS (5) the Egyptian pyramid and pharoahs temple. Am very excited, they look great. Am going to look into advent calendars now!

OK, am getting the forest animals advent calendar as it's the one I think DS is likely to love most :)

Dirtymartini - I almost bought that one today for DD but went for the horseranch one instead but know she would love both equally.

DS got the knights & dragon one (it was the last one left )

I am so happy this thread is still going - DirtyMartini you're right, talking about Playmobil is very soothing!

Although I've been feeling sad all day at the thought of a Playmobil free Christmas so have decided to get DS the camper van - I hope you're pleased with yourself SoMuch!!

Simpson I'm glad you've taken the plunge with the advent calendars!

JetCat you could get the little paddling pool set to go with the camper - here. We have it and it is great fun although I made the mistake of letting them have real water in it the first time they played with it so now that is essential. There is also a car towing a boat but that's more like £20.

Ninjanurse I am very envious about the pyramid, it looks amazing!

The forest animals advent calendar is lovely - you get LOTS of little animals in it (and random root vegetables to feed them with).

Having a serious battle with self over the divers & tropical reef set (£16.99, and there's a supplementary octopus for £3.50).

Pros: I can totally imagine DS at the kitchen sink on a stool playing with this for hours in and out of the water. He spent a loooong time making underwater animals with his Play-Doh today. It is right in his current imaginative "zone" iyswim.

Cons: I have spent rather a lot on Playmobil already and DP would look askance.

hmmmm

Ooh, root veg

What's the story with the new 2010 camper van model? No reviews on Amazon. Anyone in a position to do a comparison with the version most people know and love?

I think it's only out in Germany so far - so it will be available here in the new yr. If you look at the German Playmobil website you can get a sneaky preview of all the stuff that comes out there first.

thanks tikkabilla - that looks fab

I am so ridiculously excited I used to have playmobil as a child and loved it! My eldest DD has no aptitude for role play etc, so she was never interested in dolls/figures etc, where as my youngest - well, she has gone to bed tonight with her 11 'pretendy friends' , so i think she will love having real little people to play with

dirtymartini - this is the one DD is getting - though i am clueless as to whether that is the new version or the old one

Oh tikka, thanks, I've just been on the German site. They have spies! 'Top Agents'. And some cool Christmas stuff we don't get here, like a German Market.

I don't speak German but from what I can see, it looks as though the new camper van is pretty similar, just a slightly updated shape.

Meant to say before, I like the look of the Post Office advent calendar. If it were just for me I'd get that one.

Think it is the old (well, current really) one Jet; it's the one everyone wants! Bet she'll love it.

The Top Agents headquarters looks cool doesn't it!

I also like the look of the new swimming pool with slide (why am I drawn to the ones that involve water? ) And the new holiday house.

Our advent calendar people/animals/trees get very quickly integrated into the general population - no way I would be able to reclaim them for the advent calendar again.

Agents. I think we need agents (hoping DS hasn't grown out of his secret agent phase..)

We seem to have passed on Egyptians - we were too thoroughly colonised by the Romans, who also managed to take over the helicopter and ambulance for ferrying injured animals (not gladiators - they can rot, apparently) out of the arena. The police also find a gladiator fight makes a good team outing.

JetCat - does the camper van come with a barbeque? If not, you definitely need barbeque man - except that based on a quick hunt, he appears to be a an old "special" and therefore very expensive

We have "barbecue man" - he comes in useful for all sorts of events!

Very pleased that you are investing in a camper van Tikkabilla. You won't regret it!

Best website for browsing surely has to be the Playmobil website itself. If you register on it, you can then see the prices for everything (which are generally reasonable).

For old stock, rather than current items, eBay is the place to go. We have bought several second hand sets from there.

I also think the swimming pool with slide may feature in my ds's wish list next year.

not sure if anybody has mentioned the mega farm - toysrus had it for £79.99 and you got an extra free vehicle on an offer they have at the moment. they reckon rrp is £200ish but you can usually get it for £99-£150

Sounds expensive but has loads in it - a farm house, barn, tractor, combine harvester, loads of animals, attachments, people, furniture etc. So sort of thing that could be made up beforehand and shared out ending up with big play together set IYSWIM.

EBay prices seem to really vary a lot. That nun with the bible I linked to earlier was under a fiver on Buy It Now, but she was also listed by someone else at a starting price of £9.99 if I remember rightly. So if you see something you like in a browse, it's worth searching for duplicate listings at a lower price.

For all of you who let your dc play with their advent calendars

This is where you are going wrong.

The playmobil advent calendar is for LOOKING AT only.

Opening of boxes is under the strictest and closest of supervision and sometimes their cack handedness gets all too much and I have to take them of the dc and just do it carefully myself.

The dds are then allowed to choose the spot where the new piece goes, and when i say choose I mean I point and then that's where they put it.

Then we all stand back and admire it.

Sometimes pieces are moved in the diorama and then a spanish inquisition will occur.

Playmobil Advent calendars are NOT toys you know.
Can't believe so many people get this wrong every year.

On a slightly less serious note, who has the playmo Nativity?

It is my most very favorite christmas decoration and the only one that gets put out on Dec1st. everything else has to wait.

Last year I found some battery operated tealight jobbies that gave off a most authentic flickering light.

I put them round the back of the cardboard stable where there is a cunning back vent and when you turn the room lights out you get a real and true fire light glow which illuminates the Holy Playmobil Family perfectly.

The shepherds are to one side and the Kings with pimped camel to the other and the Angel Gabriel is stood on a bench.

I come over all contemplative when I look at it.

It also is OBVIOULSY not for playing with. Oh no.

Slubber I think I will print off your advent calendar rules, laminate them and display them clearly next to the diorama this year. This time I am determined not to let the new calendar join the rest of the Playmobil rabble, they will be carefully preserved for next year.

SoMuch I am now torn between camper and Blackbeard's pirate ship for ds. I quite like the look of the new camper van so may wait for that. Plus our Playmobil people have it too easy frankly - they live such a sedate life and just go to weddings/the park/the circus all the time, only the occasional fire to cause any drama. I think they could do with a bit of roughing up, pirates would be just the thing.

He is 3 just after Christmas so it would be for his birthday. Do you think a pirate ship is a good idea or am I forever going to be reattaching the rigging?

Playmobil Nativity Slubber? How did I miss that? And how on earth do you stop your children playing with it??

I am very stern.

Of course if I became unstern and let the dc free reign then there is a strong possibility that some bits would get lost thus forcing me to buy new calendars next year.

mmm

The nativity is brilliant. I cannot recommend it highly enough. The Kings have their gifts and everything. Plus the shepherd had a natty cooking pot.