Comments on: A relic from the past proves that I’m much cooler than you are!

By: Don Julian

Don Julian — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 07:22:57 +0000

Oh man this takes me back!

Playmobil was (is?) also extremely popular in the Netherlands.
Back in the 70′s my brother and I used to have the wild west set, the construcion workers set, the knights set and one christmas my mother bought the pirate set ship and all!

We used the toys to re-enact Bud Spencer and Terence Hill movies.

There were also 2 cheaper rip-offs called Playbig and Playbell.
They weren’t as fun but I remember using a Playbig US cavalery fort to keep out the “Indians”!
Good times were had by all.

Peace,
Don Julian

By: Gavin

Gavin — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 04:04:51 +0000

I always thought that the Playmobil figures looked very soul-less and far too rigid, but I’d still relish turner to their page in the Sears catalogue back in the late 70′s and early 80′s. I would go through and circle everything I wanted with a marker. It was a holiday ritual.

By: Michael Mayket

Michael Mayket — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 15:49:53 +0000

When I was a kid my mom worked at Shopper Toys (not sure of the spelling and they haven’t existed since I was like 10… also I don’t know if they were a company or just a factory for other companies and my mother is no longer with us or I’d just ask her) and they must have had some sort of contract for awhile to produce Playmobils here in the U.S. or at least the Mid-West in the 70′s because they made them and I used to get lots of them for free. They also made Stomper 4×4′s, Break the Camel’s Back, Ants in Your Pants, etc.

By: Pedro Bouça

Pedro Bouça — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 01:05:44 +0000

Duh, I meant Playmobil and EUROPEAN comics, of course!

Best
Hunter (Pedro Bouça)

By: Pedro Bouça

Pedro Bouça — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 00:57:56 +0000

Playmobil was quite popular in Brazil when I was a kid on the 80s, but has since lost its place to Lego. Damn danes!

Anyway, I had the cavalry set with that cannon! Sweet nostalgia…

To make AERose happy(ier?), since we are talking Playmobil AND US comics, one of the main characters on the brilliant french kids/humor series Zblucops is the Playmobil-like policeman Bill Playmo. Take a look:
http://us.muttpop.com/Muttpop-Blog/572-Zblucops

On that story he and his pals are hunting the dastardly villian Le Caca Masqué (literally “The Masked Poop”). Very funny, even if you don’t read french!

Best,
Hunter (Pedro Bouça)

By: Talent Copies - Genius Steals » Blog Archiv » “Goldrausch in Klickytown”

Wed, 25 Feb 2009 21:15:55 +0000

[...] Mehr bei Comics Should Be Good… [...]

By: STWALLSKULL » HEY! KIDS! COMICS! : Four Color Comics at Cool-Mo-Dee : February 25th, 2009

Wed, 25 Feb 2009 18:21:56 +0000

[...] A relic from the past proves that I’m much cooler… [...]

By: Tekende

Tekende — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 16:28:58 +0000

This find is DAMNED! GOLD!

By: Ethan Shuster

Ethan Shuster — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 13:44:07 +0000

Ha. Both weird and yes, a little cool. This stuff really reminds me of the recent Star Wars LEGO video game stuff.

By: Woody

Woody — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 12:54:47 +0000

We certainly had Playmobil over here in Merrie Olde England, this must be the late 70s. I had the mediaeval stuff because I remember having the crown and other inter changeable headgear. And the wheelbarrow – oh yeah! Happy days!!
Memory’s hazy but was there a similar range (rip-off?).

By: Blackjak

Blackjak — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 12:44:11 +0000

Awesome! Yeah, I’ll echo that I love the fact that the characters are jointed just lke the figures!

By: Dunc

Dunc — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 12:35:06 +0000

In fact, I’m gonna clean up that GOLD?! panel, poster print it and frame it for my new house.
Because I can.
I’m also doing it with a panel of Leda & the swan from an old romance comic. In fact, If you’ve a higher res version that’d be great.

By: St. Michael

St. Michael — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 12:18:13 +0000

Way cooler than the Frazetta covers.

Really.

By: Dunc

Dunc — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 11:36:40 +0000

Brian, is there any chance you could do an FAQ or set of annotations for this?

Heh.

THAT’s good comics.

By: Rhod

Rhod — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 09:30:16 +0000

All that action in one comic?
That should have been a 12-issue series at least.

By: mango_chutney

mango_chutney — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 08:29:15 +0000

I did not know about the existence of this comic, but I DID grow up with Playmobil toys (how widely spread are they beyond Germany anyway? Do kids know them in other countires, too?)

I any case, I love how all the characters and accessories in this comic are actual Playmobil toys, that were available at the time, even if they had to be “borrowed” from other eras (e.g. the wheelbarrow comes from the modern-day builders).

The images also sent me reminiscing on how much simpler the playmobil men used to be back then. While today’s figures are much more elaborate, with more detailed and varied molds and more ornamental colour schemes, the old ones were just so versatile – snap another hat and collar onto a figure and instead of a builder you have the wild west doctor – neat!

Thanks for this trip down mmory lane!

By: Dalarsco

Dalarsco — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 06:54:38 +0000

I love how they actually move like the toys do. That might be the coolest thing I’ve ever seen.

By: Brian Cronin

Brian Cronin — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 06:45:46 +0000

That is plenty awesome.

By: Greg Burgas

Greg Burgas — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 02:11:46 +0000

Thanks a ton for the German translations. Saying that Fast Deer handles a woman better than a bow is AWESOME. And I wondered what the Indians were saying when they first encountered the gold-diggers. They seem a lot less concerned than their words imply.

By: Bill Reed

Bill Reed — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 01:41:23 +0000

I had a playset with some of those Native Americans in it! But no comic, though. Damn.