The History of Playmobil

Playmobil
1974
The German Playmobil is constantly being compared to LEGO building toys... but they are completely different Monsters.

[@hola-munecas]

I was OBSESSED with Playmobil growing up! That was all I wanted every Christmas ❤ probably because I wasn’t allowed Barbie’s but also because they were so cool !!!

[@neutralbychoice3584]

I was more of Lego kid but had a few playmobil sets. My dad who grew up in 70’s and 80’s would often talk about the playmobil sets that he and his brother shared. I dont know if playmobil was/is more affordable than Lego, but that has always seemed like the reason why he had playmobil as a kid and i had Lego.

[@RazHolly]

Playmobil is more affordable. An example I think of is the Ghostbusters sets. The Lego ghostbusters fire house was about 300 MSRP. While Playmobil way about 75 MSRP if I remember correctly. The entire GB sets and the large figures still cost less than the Lego fire house. But I also understand they Lego has quality bricks

[@greece7207]

Playmobil is really popular in Greece 🇬🇷

[@RazHolly]

That is great! I wish it was more popular here in the USA

[@avaavocado8840]

I love playmobil

[@damedaverse]

playmobil in malta is like lego in the us it is the most popular toy here

[@TonyToys-kc2ov]

My family’s from Greece 🇬🇷!! Also I love Playmobil you guys should check that out!😊

[@samuelcamaraza1815]

@@avaavocado8840me too

[@PopovskiDarko]

I love PLAYMOBIL. ❤

[@RazHolly]

Same here! I am more wowed when I see Playmobil than when I see Lego

[@chrisx5127]

@@RazHolly You should do theme overview.

[@Alittlefruitgoesalongway]

I can't help but feel that Playmobil diluted it's brand identity and mission by starting to release licensed sets. I understand some people like those things, but I feel this only further encourages comparison with Lego's licensed sets that they've done for much longer. Playmobil had it's own great identity and feel because they stuck to their own themes and playsets that encouraged imagination, rather than giving you the story and names and everything out of the box. I had licensed toys as a kid, too. Certainly. But they were the things that got old the fastest. Once I was interested in something else, they couldn't weather that change. They were still firmly one IP or another. Playmobil, however, held up the best. You could make all kinds of different scenes and people with the sets, or even represent chatacters you like from a licensed IP, but once you were done with this theme, they are just simple chatacters again, like knights or police officers or a simple person, etc. It also hasn't helped Playmobil at all that Lego had always been a dominant brand in the US toy market, and additionally, I feel Playmobil was hit especially hard by the decline of toy stores like Toys R Us. As a kid I used to walk down a big aisle full of different Playmobil sets and various themes. I could spend hours there looking at everything in wonder. I was always big into the knights, castles and history, but there were many options. Now the best place I can think to find them in person is Barnes & Noble, and that's still with a limited selection of usually just regular modern theme sets. Or if you are lucky, a local specialty toy store may have more. I think it's harder for Playmobil to stand out now, and it's unfortunate. A lot of their original theme sets feel a bit stagnant right now. I love Playmobil and have kept all of my collection from childhood, every few years collecting a bit more. I hope they are able to keep doing great things with their own brand, and recapture some of the wonder they used to have a bit more of.

[@captain3186]

Us Adult Collectors buy Licensed sets. I never owned any Playmobil until the Star Trek line. Not really sure why people tend to compare them to Lego. They really couldn't be anymore different.

[@Lego_Collector_1932]

LEGO started in 1932 but the automatic binding bricks were invented in 1948. LEGO Minifigures we’re invented much before 1978 but the Minifigures that we know today were invented and released in 1978. I love Playmobil and I grew up with it along side LEGO, I lived in Germany in my childhood although I am British.

[@lacommission.-sitcom696]

I LOVE Playmobil. Still regularly checking their new collections as an adult! Their more recent lines seem to cater the adults that used to have them in their bedroom as kids. The new generation quickly got hooked on apps and mobile phones. Will the toy still exist in 50 years time? I hope so!

[@Ron-if2zh]

Ever since four I love Playmobil expecially pirates I have so many sets I even have 4 big pirate ships and much more

[@TheCoolOwen]

Had tons of Playmobil as a kid in the 90s

[@lacommission.-sitcom696]

I still have them. And they have retained some value even when broken! My nieces and nephews have played with them and added to the collection. One regret: I could never hold on to a pistol; They'd always end up going missing!

[@toyhunter2903]

LOL, I never thought I would find Tío Gamboín ("Uncle Gamboín") in this video. 16:25 A Mexican TV host who presented the cartoons in Channel 5 in the 80's

[@RazHolly]

You know I had to! :D

[@chrisx5127]

They should have never got rid of their medieval and knight theme. Novelmore stink in comparison!

[@filipbrodka9347]

Agreed

[@LesFilmsDeTAD]

I just discover your video and this is great work ! I love playmobil, they are really popular in France I started to make some stop motion animation with playmos when I was 8, now I'm 23 and I'm still doing it !

[@RazHolly]

That’s great! I wish Playmobil was as popular in the US like in the rest of the world. 🙂

[@matheussouto3673]

Growing up in the late 2000s and early 2010s in brazil,playmobil was my favorite toy,they were so great,especially the pirates and british navie ones

[@star_wars_miniatures]

Me and my younger sister used to play massive games of Playmobil which used to take over the whole entire house and would last for days! Until it got too much and we had to pack it away! But then soon after would start new games all over again! We also won the whole entire Victorian house in a local newspaper competition 😅 such amazing memories and I can’t wait to introduce it to my own children one day!

[@lacommission.-sitcom696]

I do remember our Playmobils covering the bedroom floor and beyond for days on end. Often arranged in battle scenes. Everybody killed,; Everything destroyed. Our exasperated parents used to threaten to hoover the whole lot!

[@ALPHAMAGASLAP]

I love the savages that Playmobil made!! The cowboy's always win 🏆

[@IntergalacticDustBunny]

It's sort've pathetic, but I had a friend who was a Lego"holic" and when I bought the Playmobil Ghostbusters sets he said "Playmobil is just a ripoff of Lego, they even ripped off the figures" I looked up the information and showed him Playmobil figures came out first, and he quit talking to me, and blocked me on social media. We were both in our 40s at the time.

[@RazHolly]

@@IntergalacticDustBunny wow! Sounds like he was 4. They’re both great toyline and different monsters from different universes

[@FriendlyNeighborhoodGeek99]

Great video! Love the history lesson on this classic toyline

[@RazHolly]

Thank you! I’m glad you enjoyed it. It took a lot of research, to do and I found out a few things I didn’t know about it along the way :)

[@janzizka9963]

You might be interested that Hans Beck was cooperating on design of the figure with aviatic engineer Jiří Kalina and designer Marie Krejchová from Czechoslovakia behind the "Iron Curtain" of that time. Therefore Playmobil Klicky has own blood-brother (as it is not really a "knockoff"), the Czech Igráček (named after company IGRA - "game" in latinized russian). Igráček was due to communist bureaucracy released some two years after Playmobil (Playmobil 1974, Igra 1976). After fall of Iron Curtain Igra company struggled a lot and ceased to exist but eventually the figure was saved from oblivion and ressurected. Inner structure of Igracek figure is pretty much the same as the Klicky, Igráček being a little bit bigger (within human variety) but compatible overall (probably not inner structure of the fig, but tools etc are compatible).

[@RazHolly]

Wow!!! That’s interesting! I wish I had found this info before making the video lol. Thank you :)

[@janzizka9963]

@@RazHolly There is not very much info online on this topic. Some mentions in Czech language but Playmobil itself doesn't seem to mention that anywhere. Would be interested to ask Mrs. Krejchova, she is still around I believe. As you mentioned, she very well might be the great-aunt of Lego fig. I think the smiley face was her work.

[@Πατατα]

Oh my i didn't know my brother's castle is the first ever that's cool

[@TheTWRModeller]

A real interesting mini-documentary, that. You forgot to mention the intermittent themes like the Western (my favourite).

[@Alittlefruitgoesalongway]

Yeah, they cycle through themes every few years and some of them really stood out. For me the Castle & Dragon Knight sets from 2008-2012 or so really captured me. They did some cool things with the Top Agents line too. I have the remote control car upgrade pack they released with video camera and everything.

[@alessandroaleman4512]

Playmobil was very popular where I lived, as popular as Lego and I used to own some sets

[@chrisx5127]

I wish Lego didn't exist! I would have found out about Playmobil instead.

[@oxintoma32dev]

Like how Lego is super popular in the USA,that's how Playmobil is in Greece lol I really love Playmobil, it's my childhood I also hate how people allways compare it with Lego,like its a rip-off or something

[@RazHolly]

Totally! Playmobile is miniature playsets figures and accessories. Not a building toy at all

[@chrisx5127]

@@RazHolly It's superior to Lego in every way, shape, and form. I wish Lego didn't exist. I wouldn't have wasted money on that instead of Playmobil (didn't know it existed). But my favorite theme is gone, because I found about Playmobil too late. Medieval and Knight theme. Novelmore stink by comparison!

[@EjvindMK]

Both are my childhood toys

[@jacobiegooden3532]

This Video Is Very Informative! I Am A Fan Of Playmobil, And Happy That You Made A Video!

[@ViNana22]

I'm addicted to playmobil so much i am 9 in this year right now and i trust nobody to give it to when i am going to die i have 2 ghost buster figures scooby doo the girl with glasses and short hair and i got these figures that dont moves there hands that you can turn around and theu are just wearing colourful shirt and pants i forgot what there called i also call them silly dillys because they are not rom any movie or any programme 4:46 those i got some of those i call them silly dillys lol and i make them silly and be my backround actors when i am playing with other playmobil figures my brother had them then i startsd to play with them and he never played with them anymore i didn't play with lego and idk if this is true but i think lego hurts more than playmobil when you you walk on the figures i only have 2 lego figures and i have over 100 playmobil figures. remember your beautiful peace✌😊

[@spencermccarthy5157]

I wish that they could make a Playmobil set of Disney's Herbie The Love Bug.

[@samuelcamaraza1815]

I love Playmobil is so cool that my mom bought me a construction workers

[@brincandobenbr]

Playmobil 🎉❤🎉❤

[@12DAMDO]

i can't believe you skipped over the games

[@Ethan_Studio_productions]

?

[@12DAMDO]

@@Ethan_Studio_productions there's games! they're fun... Hype & Laura are 2 of them.. i recommend the console version not the Gameboy version (although they're not bad)

[@RazHolly]

Maybe I’ll do a video on them if I can play them :) I have plenty of sets I’d love to get to one day

[@12DAMDO]

@@RazHolly that would be so epic

[@johannr2658]

Innocent had the 2012 ish playmobil pirate ship with the skull at the front. But for some reason I sold it to get the newer ship with plack sails. I was dumb. But atleast I still have the classic ship with the red sails

[@Alittlefruitgoesalongway]

Is that the pirate stealth ship one, with the cannons that folded down and pirate flag that unfurled?

[@johannr2658]

@@Alittlefruitgoesalongway No I don’t think so. I remember it having a turntable decoration at the front that would reveal a Skull and there were cannons on the sides that could be hidden. I’m not sure if it‘s the one you‘re talking about but it could very well be that one.

[@ricknroll7160]

Hans Beck sounds like a great guy 🙂

[@-2772-]

playmobil color....i remember me

[@이동연-c6d]

I hope they introduce Star Wars and Doctor Who.

[@playmobilevanescenceAmyLee8843]

11:58 I saw Mr Pemberton!!

[@blairgowrieforestrailwayan2786]

Klicky Now that's interesting. My friends and my self used to call them Klick men.

[@RazHolly]

I love it! Did you know they were called Klicky back then or did you guys make up Klick Men?

[@blairgowrieforestrailwayan2786]

@@RazHollyno I didn't know that they where called Klicky then my friends called them klick men and so did I. When we got them the toy shop had various pices packed into a lunch box and it became a little bit of a surprise when you opened the box to find some Union Soldiers and Indians or cowboys. My cousin had a pirate ship and a sheriffs office.The lunch box was like a lucky packet of parts and could even include all sorts of stuff cowboys and space equipment and even some useless parts which didn't seem to fit with something.

[@RazHolly]

@@blairgowrieforestrailwayan2786 that is so awesome! I love picking up random sets like that. It’s the best kind of “blind box”

[@ðisabasedletter]

I always was a playmobil kid. But now i would like to learn hoe to custom tjem for dioramas and stuff like that

[@johannr2658]

Unthinkable it’s sad that the old plasmodia pirates game got cancelled. by the way, does anyone remember the 2d RPG style Plasmodien pirate game, I know it existed but I can’t find gameplay

[@Alittlefruitgoesalongway]

Do you mean the Playmobil Pirate game released for Nintendo DS?

[@johannr2658]

Maybe. I once saw gameplay of it on KZbin but never found the video again. It had a world map system where you would complete quests and sail around the map. Once you attacked an island there would be a 2d section where you would fight pirates. It was kind of like metal slug if you honey had melee weapons and would be fighting against playmobil skeletons with cutlasses and pirate hats.

[@Bug_pinkfreddy]

I dont now why people call play Mobile a lego eip off its not i mean they did rip off the lego movie but thats it

[@johsandmum6406]

Lego knockoff

[@celiaarellano1703]

Uh-ho i don't care LEGO are better LEGOS FOREVER!!!

[@RazHolly]

Still completely different play patterns between the two :)

[@celiaarellano1703]

​@@RazHollyya no offense I made this comment a long time ago I like Playmobil but Lego are still better and Lego has the better movie 🙂🙃