|
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10/10/00 |
ANOTHER
GLIMPSE AT THE NEW BREED. |
|
The
television set included in item 3966, Living Room, gives us
another preview of what the redesigned Playmobil Horse will look
like.
|
|
10/10/00 |
COLLECTORS
BOOK UPDATE. |
|
A few
days ago I checked on the status of the Playmobil Collectors
Book, and there is no further news to report. Playmobil is still
working on it, but no release date has been set yet, nor is
there any known dead-line.
|
|
09/25/00 |
EXCLUSIVE
HARVESTER. |
|
Out of
the blue comes this addition to the farm & country life
theme. Item 3929,
a modern harvester is an exclusive pre-release for the
Idee+Spiel buying group in Germany.
|
|
09/17/00 |
EXCLUSIVE
X-MAS PRE-RELEASES AT VEDES. |
|
Last
year we saw the 3996 nativity manger, 3997 the three wise kings and this
years advent calendar 3978 "Christmas Bakery" being pre-released through affiliates of the VEDES toy group in Germany.
This
year, Playmobil will grant VEDES some new prereleases. No
pictures are available yet, but the prereleases will include the
fifth adventcalendar entitled "Christmas Forest"
(3942), and
a unique set for decorating Christmas trees with Playmobil
figures and accessories (3943).
These items will be available from November.
Item 3604,
Santa's Magic Sleigh, will instead never be released in Germany
or Austria, and is an regional exclusive for the Benelux, Uk and
US markets. Some stores already received this item in august,
although the official release was scheduled early October.
|
|
09/10/00 |
PLAYMOBIL
HORSE REDESIGNED. |
|
Judging
from some images out of a German Playmobil Catalogue, the
legendary Playmobil Horse, one of the few molds that was left
unchanged for the past 26 years, finally went back to the
drawing board. The result is very different from it's
predecessor, as you can judge from the picture below.
This horse will be premiered in set 3111, Naval Artillery. But
we can also expect it will be available through other sets later
in 2001.
|
|
09/07/00 |
FEBRUARY
SPECIALS 2001 ANNOUNCED. |
|
Some
flashy looking specials are scheduled for February 2001. The tones and
colors are a bit different from previous releases in the Special
range.
We also reach an important milestone in the history of
Playmobil. There is life beyond the boundaries of our Planet, as
we see the introduction of the first alien figure, item 4590.
In
an interview a few years ago, Playmobil creator Hans Beck stated
that he often opposed the introduction of dinosaurs and extra
terrestrials. I hope this doesn't mean we will see a dinosaur pop
up in the jungle theme next year :-).
4585 RennRodler
4586 Drächenkampfer
4587 König
4588 Hausfrau
4589 Indianerhäuptling
4590 Alien
|
|
09/07/00 |
NOVELTIES
JANUARY 2001. |
|
January
traditionally is the month in which additional sets are released
from last years major releases. In 2001 these will be
complementary sets to the redesigned Pirate theme that was
released early this month.
3110
Admiral
3111 Naval cannoniers
3112 Naval Stronghold / Jail
3113 Soldiers with Sea robber
|
|
08/19/00 |
ONLINE-SHOP
AT US-PLAYMOBIL SITE AS WELL |
|
Only a
few weeks after the online shop at the German website was
launched the Playmobil
corporate website now offers residents of the USA the
opportunity to buy Playmobil online. The site features almost
all the items currently on the market, including some of the
rare adventure sets released last year, and an entire line of
add-ons.
|
|
08/06/00 |
NEW
ADVENTURE SETS AVAILABLE |
|
Two new
Adventure Sets surfaced this month, although they were scheduled
for release back in June: 3097 Jungle Adventure and 3098
Fairy castle adventure.
These sets initially will be available exclusively through
TARGET discount stores in the US.
|
|
07/11/00 |
PLAYMOBIL
ONLINE-SHOP AT GERMAN WEBSITE |
|
Nearly
a year ago Playmobil chose to ban its own products from
e-commerce internet sites that sell toys through online orders.
A sales representative at the Belgian branch office said this
action was taken for two reasons.
Internet resellers could disturb the pricing policy
through heavy competition and the different cost structure that
is typical for e-commerce.
PLAYMOBIL® also has a very specific marketing philosophy,
concentrating on their broad product range and high quality
standards. Marketing wise, there were some serious doubts as to
whether the internet and especially e-commerce sites were a good
medium to communicate this message.
These doubts seem to have partially disappeared. Recently,
Playmobil has opened its own e-shop for the German home market.
Every German resident can order any item out of the most recent
catalogue directly from the German
homepage.
|
|
06/12/00 |
PLAYMOBIL
ANNOUNCES COLLECTORS BOOK |
|
From
within the Playmobil headquarters in Germany comes the news that
they are currently working on a book that will list all the
items that were ever produced since 1974.
The book is currently
being edited by someone in the public relations department. Last
time I
checked they were targeting for a spring 2001 release. More news
in the following weeks.
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|
