Trashdome: Playmobil vs Lego

I always kinda feel sorry for the friendly and gentle-looking Playmobil toy guys. They're nice but no contest against Lego. Their feet don't snap into blocks and as a system Lego is just so versatile it's beyond compare. My son, who is two-and-a-half loves Lego and I did too as a kid. So: LEGO.

Janet Reno or Scarlett Johansson?

Lego of course...

Vote: PLAYMOBIL

Had both when I was a kid, but I played way more with the Playmobil cowboys and indians than with the Lego bricks (I had space and knights and no, I did not combine them, although it seems an awesome idea nowadays).

Speaking of Lego: what's the verdict on the Lego games? I have one in the closet, which I want to play with my son soon (hm, was it UFO Attack?). Anyone had a good experience playing them with kids?

Never owned either, in fact I don't even know what Playmobile is.

Vote: Building treehouses and karts

jhuntin1 wrote:

Playmobil was in the first Happy Meal I ever remember getting as a little boy back in 1982, with a cowboys and Indians theme. Even had the guns and other accessories that made McDonald's redo their toys to avoid choking hazards. With that said, Vote: LEGO 100%.

This I remember as well. Fighting it out with my brother at McDonalds. At least these were real toys that were easily integrated into the Playmobile sets we already had.

I liked Playmobile a lot.

I also had a crapload of lego sets. When the castle with knights sets appeared I think I had most of them along with a bunch of the space sets. When I saw Mad Max & Road Warrior I combined both of these and created a shitload of custom vehicles bristling with weapons and guys manning turrets with rayguns and swords. I even used some of my mothers nail polish to bloody up several of my lego guys. I just broke out my sets (now a bag of loose bits) for my daughters and they were a little perplexed on the nailpolish until I told them it was blood..they thought it was pretty cool.

Lego wins.

mikko_r wrote:

What does Playmobile got?

They have a ton of really nice stuff. Knights, dragons, huge castles, all kinds of city stuff (airports, police, firefighters, hospitals, gardens), fairy tale prince & princess stuff, safari, park rangers, pirates and even a whole range of undead pirate stuff inspired by Pirates of the Caribbean with skeletons, giant clams, kraken, spearfish etc. ridden by zombie pirates. So yeah, nice and varied stuff, but ultimately they're only toys.

Lego are so much more and allow kids' (and adults') creativity to shine through...and if you're into that, they have entire lines of licensed toys.

VOTE: LEGO

My official vote is Lego, as I'm really unfamiliar with Playmobil.

My unofficial write in goes to Constructs. My brother and I built with these more than anything. We eventually ran out because we constantly made huge swords to fight with and that broke more and more pieces over time.

My favorite Constructs idea was my Freddy Krueger glove. I use helicopter blades and scared the shit out of my brother by sneaking into the bathroom while he was in the shower and slicing at the shower curtain. He was so scared because it actually sliced four big gashes into the curtain. My mom was pissed and I had to buy a new one. It was totally worth it.

Schlupp wrote:

Speaking of Lego: what's the verdict on the Lego games? I have one in the closet, which I want to play with my son soon (hm, was it UFO Attack?). Anyone had a good experience playing them with kids?

Sparse word on my street has it that the games themselves are not great. But maybe that's not what kids think.

I played Creationary with my kids and the 4 year old got into collecting the cards with pictures. My 6 year old found making his own thing without help or example rather challenging at first. I think he can get used to i, though.

The Leeples are fun though.

And bitswise I don't think that they offer very good value for money, except for Creationary, which has all kinds of kick ass stuff.

What I would be most interested in, is whether kids start making their own games. The dice are ideal for customisation.

In a side note---the MOST fun I remember having wasn't with lego, but with GIANT Tinker Toys. I still have them, in fact, and my kids played with them. It was REALLY cool to build houses that you could set up and then throw a sheet over the top for a fort. (Our entire family was woodshop disabled but you can't hurt anything with Giant Tinker Toys.

Cool, cool stuff.

Jur wrote:

What I would be most interested in, is whether kids start making their own games. The dice are ideal for customisation.

I would think it's too difficult, or rather too boring for them to create their own boardgames with the bits, but it may depend on the age. When I was young I surely wouldn't have wanted to fix a (lame) Lego boardgame, but would have much rather built spaceships or dragons out of what I got and let them fight against each other. Maybe older kids (8 and up) would be more interested?

Speaking of Lego games: the grandparents will bring some Spinjitzu Ninjago with them next time they visit. I wonder if there's a worthwhile game behind it, or if it is just Bakugan Lego.

Schlupp wrote:

Jur wrote:

What I would be most interested in, is whether kids start making their own games. The dice are ideal for customisation.

I would think it's too difficult, or rather too boring for them to create their own boardgames with the bits, but it may depend on the age. When I was young I surely wouldn't have wanted to fix a (lame) Lego boardgame, but would have much rather built spaceships or dragons out of what I got and let them fight against each other. Maybe older kids (8 and up) would be more interested?

So a good game would be easy rules for combat, perhaps rolling the dice with the sides denoting special parts of the ship?

Speaking of Lego games: the grandparents will bring some Spinjitzu Ninjago with them next time they visit. I wonder if there's a worthwhile game behind it, or if it is just Bakugan Lego.

It is fun if you like spinning. It's not as easy as it seems to get two of them spinning at the same time on converging courses. Then you can also play cards for extra effects. Which is pretty challenging as well in the few seconds the spinning lasts.

But the minis are awesome. I just hope they'll release Master Wu separate, because I don't need the whole dojo.

Vote: Lego

I have never heard of Playmobil

Jur wrote:

Schlupp wrote:

Jur wrote:

What I would be most interested in, is whether kids start making their own games. The dice are ideal for customisation.

I would think it's too difficult, or rather too boring for them to create their own boardgames with the bits, but it may depend on the age. When I was young I surely wouldn't have wanted to fix a (lame) Lego boardgame, but would have much rather built spaceships or dragons out of what I got and let them fight against each other. Maybe older kids (8 and up) would be more interested?

So a good game would be easy rules for combat, perhaps rolling the dice with the sides denoting special parts of the ship?

That sounds like a good idea, if you really insist on making a boardgame out of it. What I'm saying is that kids probably have more fun with the toys themselves without making up rules how to play with them. I'm not saying it wouldn't work or wouldn't be fun. For me it just doesn't seem to be the direct road to get to the result (i.e. fun).

I still remember my once-every-6-months ritual of getting a new castle for my birthday or christmas and then building it with my dad.

LEGO!

The Lego games are mostly very boring (except Creationary). My 8-year-old has acquired a number of them of the birthday/xmas season, because the small ones are just the right price point for gifts.

Some of them are better than others, but most are just barely games at all. The dice are cool, though. Very bouncy.

Also, I'm going to have to pile on for Lego against Playmobil, even though Playmobil has some awesome stuff. I have a Playmobil executioner, for example (this one is the same, but not mine):

Executioner!

(no shit, he came in the box that way as a single figure!)

I also have a weird dual-pack of a Playmobil cop and what appears to be a G12 protestor (or similar tattooed anarchist). No pictures I can find online, maybe I'll take one.

All that is dwarfed by the awesomeness of Lego, though.