playmobil

 one of the better perks in being a parent is selecting your children's toys for them when they are still very young. in fact, it is something quite like an art picking things out for their play. it requires a combination of keen logical deduction and a reckless abandonment to intuition. and sometimes it is a payback to the wounded days of your own childhood, that without check can get away from you like a runaway train. yet in all of this, there has been a careful attention to quality. an attempt to help form long lasting relationships with toys that will not only spark the imaginative play, but give the user an excellent entry point into solid design.

 all of this is captured in the world of playmobil. born of the fatherland, where some would consider the father land of toy production, the branstatter  group began production in the 1970's. as a child i remember these sturdy plastic figures in themes based mostly in generic historical settings, such as pirates and knights. currently they still produce over 30 themes both historical and modern.

over the years we've collected quite a bit of the stuff. we have the obligatory knight and castle sets, pirate boats and island, (with napoleonic navy in hot pursuit) and of course the city sets with our private lear jet at the ready to take our little people all over the playmobil planet at a moment's notice. although they lack the more intricate assembly and building traits of the rival lego sets, there is still much interchangeability. and with that comes so much of the fun.

 as we routinely clean out the garage and donate or sell outgrown items, the question always seems to come around to what we'll do with these. they get played with less and less these days, and yet it's difficult for me to let them go. i'll pick up a piece or two and stare at the wonderful details that have been included and think what a shame it would be if they were one day gone. so i guess until the kid in me has had enough they will continue to occupy a shelf in my garage and a warm place in the heart.