Playmobil Summer Fun Fairground: a Great Timeless Set for Toy Collectors.

We are big fans of Playmobil. It's great quality, versatile and tough wearing. It's worth it's price because you can pass on or sell sets and they pretty much retain their value. Smix loved playing with my Victorian Mansion set which my parents brought down from the attic. 

Two winters ago he got the Playmobil Hotel for Christmas and has had great fun with it. For his birthday there in October my parents bought him the first piece of the Summer Fun 2015 fairground set- a light up, spinning Waltzer. 

Santa brought lots more Playmobil, and he has almost collected all the fairground pieces now. 

Swinging boats

As well as the swinging boats ride, he receive the sweet shop, tin can alley and fairground train. 

The only piece he is missing now is the chairplanes.

The masterpiece of the collection is this, the light and action Ferris Wheel. He also got the motor attachment which drives the wheel automatically. 

To see the whole range visit the  Playmobil Website. They have Flash games and colouring in pages. Also check out Smix's video.

The Playmobil Victorian Mansion- Mine, and Some Really Cool Mods By Other Homeowners

This weekend we got my Playmobil Victorian mansion down from the attic. My son and I built it and he's loved putting the rooms together. 

Check out these really cool versions that people have modified, starting with the basic mansion kit.

Tiny Food-shaped Erasers from Japan: The Obsession You Didn't Know You Needed

I ordered the cheapest sushi train toy on eBay last week for my son, and it just so happened to be a Japanese eraser set. Wonderfully, it fits the scale of his Playmobil hotel perfectly, look how cool!

I just have to decide what my next purchase will be, from the tempting little catalogue that came with the set. 

Vintage Playmobil Sets- Which Did You Have?

Let me introduce you to the world of vintage Playmobil sets, enjoyed by ironic artists and sincere enthusiasts alike.    

Playmobil sets from the '70s and '80s especially - the childhood plastic toys once enjoyed by those of us now in our 20s, 30s and early 40s. With simple plastic people swashbuckling on the decks of plastic pirate ships, flying tubular planes, boarding buses, leading school trips, crossing jungles, or living in igloos (among thousands of other scenes from life, both real and imagined), they have found an eager market of collectors and documentarians. Sharing their enthusiasm for vintage Playmobil on Flickr pages dedicated to the toys, they also populate collectors' and auction sites which trade and sell what could only be described as a mixture of kitsch and nostalgia.

Google 'Playmobil + vintage' and see what's out there. Some of what you'll find is hilarious, and occasionally even poignant; the thought-provoking images some artists and fans have recorded with their cameras - one of two Playmobil figures together in some sort of romantic photo, with the image then torn and replaced by a new photo of one of the figures with a new plastic partner. One isn't sure if it's funny or moving. Probably funny. Recreating classic album covers with Playmobil is another Internet phenomenon I highly approve of.

What's appealing about the Playmobil sets of years past is the sense of nostalgia they offer to those of us who played with the toys throughout our childhoods. But buying the latest Playmobil on offer doesn't quite do it, for the toys Playmobil made decades ago differ from current models. Often the changes are minor. If you compare the school bus Playmobil makes today with one they made twenty-plus years ago, you’ll notice that the colours are slightly different between the two, with one or two other small features altered.

 Of course, some sets from years past are no longer sold, while others that are will reveal much bigger differences and changes. For instance, the vintage ambulance from decades ago hardly resembles the sleek, almost aerodynamic modern one. The equipment has also become more modern: some police have speed guns and the dentist's office now looks fit for the 21st Century.

Playmobil also played part of this brilliant April Fool's joke, an Apple Store set.

Which sets did you have as a child?