Thursday, December 01, 2005

Vikings celebrate Christmas, too

Of the toys I had as a kid, there are three I would still play with today: Legos, Richard Scary's Puzzletowns, and Playmobils. I don't play with them much anymore, because my daughter is a teenager now so she doesn't ask me to very often (ok, never) but there was a time when we would spend whole days setting up elaborate cities in the living room. Since these were my favorites as a kid, I naturally wanted them for my daughter when she was old enough not to choke on the little pieces. Legos are easy-you can get them anywhere. They don't make Puzzletowns anymore, but fortunately I ended up with my childhood set. We have most of the Puzzletowns, except for Huckle Cat's cottage (I'd still love to get that one-I'll have to check eBay one of these days). And they do still make Playmobils, although you have to hunt a little to find them. Places like Toys R Us and Walmart don't carry them; you have to go to trendy, boutique-type toy stores (translate:expensive). I suppose you can probably buy Playmobils online today, but when my daughter was little I didn't have an internet connection (I know, I know-how did I survive?).

If I had to choose the coolest of my three favorite toys, I'd have to pick the Playmobils. The figures are pretty realistic for a kid's toy, and the detail-work is incredible. If you buy the farm, you don't just get the barn and cows. You also get bales of hay, and feed sacks, and buckets to carry water to the pig trough, and a bench to sit down on if you get tired from carrying water, and bridles and brushes for the horses, and ladder for the farmer to climb when he needs to get the rooster off the top of the horse stalls. And they don't just have farm sets-you can buy pirate ships, and Vikings, a convenience store and a police station, not to mention the airport and the zoo... They're really, really cool toys. Also the Playmobils they make today are the same quality as those I had as a kid, which is a nice change from say, the Star Wars toys (I mean really-when they remade the action figures in the nineties, was it necessary to give them all the body of Hulk Hogan? Including Princess Leia?)

My daughter is fourteen now. Last week I asked her if she wanted the Playmobil advent calendar this year, and her response was "Is there any other kind?" She has a point, really-there is no other advent calendar like a Playmobil. They come with a cardboard background with a different scene every year, and 24 little boxes of varying sizes. Every day you open the correctly numbered box, and get a toy, which you place on the background to eventually create a holiday scene. The last box, of course, is always Santa Claus.

I forgot about the advent calender until today, which is, of course, December 1st. Too late to buy online, so I headed out to the trendy, boutique-type toy store. Unfortunately, they did not have this year's calender, and we've already bought the two styles they did have. They called their "sister" store (trendy, boutique-type toy stores do not have branches, they have "sisters"), but no luck there either. So I decided to be creative and make my own Playmobil advent calender. I bought a Playmobil nativity scene (after counting the contents shown on the back to make sure there were at least 24 items), and a prior year's Playmobil advent calender. I'm going to put the nativity scene toys in the advent calender boxes, and we'll have our own scene.

When I opened the nativity set, there was a Playmobil catalog inside with a toy Christmas tree on the front. I figured, cool, at least I'll get to see what this year's advent calender scene was. As it turned out, though, there were no advent calenders in the catalog. Instead it showed all the main Playmobil sets, but with a Christmas tree and gifts added. Yep, in the catalog, the Victorian house has a Christmas tree, and so does the gas station. The pirates set up their tree right next to the dungeon, presumably so the prisoners get a festive view from the barred window. And in the Castle set, the tree is on top of the highest turrent, next to a Viking wearing a Santa Claus beard under his pointed helmet. The catalog castle is under seige, and all the characters are weilding swords and spears and crossbows. One even has a stick with one of those spiky-ball-things attached to it on a chain. The catalog shows Santa and his reindeer flying above the castle, but I think I'd advise him not to land there. Better to try his luck on the farm-the animals look pretty friendly.

Posted by The Gradual Gardener :: 11:16 AM :: 0 Comments:

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