Pirates: LEGO vs Playmobil

[Norton74]

Hello pirate fans,

I enjoyed photographing the well known first LEGO pirate ship (set #6285 Black Seas Barracuda, realesd in 1987) close to the first Playmobil pirate ship (set #3550 released in 1978).

When LEGO launched the "pirate ship" I was already a teenager inside my dark age, so I bought it a few years ago at a flea market for a few euro.

It was a bargain: it was almost complete and the bricks were like new and not played.

The Playmobil ship instead is mine: Christmas 1980, my parents gave me the set 3550 that I have kept to this day. I've spent hours and hours playing with this pirateship when I was a child and I'm so happy to still own it!

What do you think about these two toy masterpieces?

Here few shots:

More pictures and info: Norton74 @ flickr

Edited February 3, 2015 by Norton74

[TeufelHund]

I like both Playmobil and Lego Pirates, although I was in my Dark Ages for both when they were released originally.

My eldest son has tons of the newer Playmobil Pirates and they're quite nice.

Edited February 5, 2015 by TeufelHund

[Matthias]

I have both ships. But my playmobil is totally damaged. That can not happen with Lego.Therefore Lego is better.

[Kalais]

I never liked Playmobile. The figures were looking ackward in my opinion. And the quality wasn't very good. As a kid broke my only Playmobile set very fast.

So for me there is nothing to compare here ;) Black Seas Barracuda for the win! :D

[Artifex]

I love Playmobil. Lego came later for me, because Playmobil was released a few years prior to Lego in Brazil. I remember that pirate ship, which I call "THE Pirate Ship", because I don't think any of the ships that came after that one were as good (but that may be nostalgia, even though I keep up-to-date with Playmobil). I never had that ship, though, but a friend did and we spent hours playing with it. Good memories!

I never owned the BSB, but that very same friend did (his parents were divorced and would give him as many toys as they could afford). Another great ship!

I love both ships. They are both very good at what they are "supposed to do". They are awesome sets, and they got everything you could expect at the time.

I'm especially fond of the old Playmobil Klicky (the Playmobil minifigure), which was so "modular": a plain figure could be virtually anything, from cavemen to astronaut, from peasant to king, from cowboy to pirate... Not so much with modern figures, full of colors and color schemes that "state" what a klicky "should" be. Yes, there were some klickies back at the time that had printing on them (like the sheriff with his star), but nothing like what we have now.

All in all, both Playmobil and Lego are great toys. Of course Lego lets you build whatever you want, but that's better only if that's your thing. Some people just want to open up a box and start playing right away (not that building is not playing, mind you...). It all comes down to your preferences, I guess.

Thanks a lot for sharing your pics, Norton74. They brought back some fond memories.

On the side: I like these threads showing Lego and Playmobil side-by-side, especially these days when one is not that far away from the other. Some Playmobil and Lego sets are so much alike that one could imagine they were both owned by the same company.

[Rijkvv]

I never had any Playmobil pirate sets, but played with the Playmobil pirate ship some of my friends had. I never had the feeling Playmobil is of low quality, in fact, it's likely if I get children in the future I buy Playmobil for them as well. Newer sets have more detailed figures and accessories, unfortunately it looks like the cannonballs* are being replaced with "shooting arrows". Older set designs are better than new ones IMHO.

Like Playmobil, Lego made cool Pirates stuff as well. I noticed the cannons of 6271 (1992) work better than the ones on 6285 (1989). But overall, I think the design of modern Pirate sets are not even close to the older sets. They look unfinished. Nowhere a baseplate to spot and often pieces used that look out of place. The only exception is 10210, which is no longer available and very expensive (stupid me, why haven't I bought it when it was available). The skulls on the sails look how you would expect in a Duplo set. Though I have to admit: while the skulls in the older sets are more menacing, skulls in general are unrealistic).

Too bad the wires of my BSB got messed up.

*I never had any Playmobil cannons or real shooting equipment, but from what I remember the cannons were more realistic back in the day.

[Norton74]

Thanks a lot for sharing your pics, Norton74. They brought back some fond memories.

You're welcome!

I'm very happy listening your comments. In my opinion LEGO and Playmobil are highest quality toys, I cannot choose which is the best...

[Redbeards_Rum]

I remember being a big fan of Playmobil. The details within it I think is fantastic, although I never had any of the pirate sets as a child. I remember utilising the bus and the airplane as a kid to recreate scenes from jurassic park... But that's off topic,

I must confess I am a lego fanatic (but I do have a secret affection for playmobil. I had more of it as a kid than lego. That's for sure.)

[Maxim I]

Well my parents divorced when I was 6 and I played with playmobil when I stayed by my father and Lego when I stayed at my moms house.

Both are really great toys!

But Leg wins for me as you can make anything you want :)

I have a pm ship (1997 i guess) and when I compare it to the other ships pm ever released, there hasn't changed so much IMO while there is a greater variety in Lego models :)

[Captain Roger]

Playmobil is a good brand, but I prefer Lego because we can create MOCs or changing minifgs heads, legs, torsos, and hands. Ahn, and Playmobil figures can't move their legs.

About the ships, I prefer BSB than that playmobil pirate ship:more cannons, more and cooler minifigs, a parrot, a monkey, and more playability.

And of course, old Roger was much cooler that that childish captain!!!

ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

[Matthias]

That is the Captain Playmobil had in 1989, the playmobilship is older. It is unfair to compare the older captain with Captain Roger

Edited May 28, 2015 by Matthias

[Captain Roger]

That is the Captain Playmobil had in 1989, the playmobilship is older. It is unfair to compare the older captain with Captain Roger

I still prefer Roger because he has epaulets, and black clothes look more sinister than blue clothes, so Roger looks more evil. By the way, Roger's moustache hides hir smile, so he looks not as cheerful than the Playmobil captain...so, again, Roger looks more evil.

[Captain Ignatius Flotsam]

I have that Playmobil pirateship. Or maybe a version later or so. I must've got it around 1990 I guess. I remember it till this day. It's a tragedy, so ye be warned.

My parents took me to a major toy store in Germany, where I could get a Lego pirate ship. I remember running through the isles toward the Lego isle and picking the ship I wanted. I'm not sure if it was the Black Seas Barracuda or the Caribbean Clipper. I think it was the latter, but my memory is a bit hazy about this point, because of how the events unfolded.

We were on the way back to the register, little me very proud with his first Lego pirate ship in hand, when my parents came to a conclusion. I should put it back on the shelf and get the Playmobil pirate ship instead. Playmobil (in their logic) was much more sturdier. If I ever accidentally dropped that ship, it wouldn't break into a million pieces, like the Lego one would. So the decision had been made. No Lego ship for me, but the Playmobil one. I enjoyed it, can't deny that, but it wasn't the same. Also the top of the mast of that ship broke, with no way to properly repair it. We glued it a couple of times, but it would still fall off.

So that is the tragic story of how my parents kept me from getting an awesome Lego pirate ship. Later I had them keelhauled for that!

No I didn't. But every now and then I like to bring it up. Just in jest of course, since I still love Lego and haven't looked at (my) Playmobil in at least 15 years.

[ShrikeArghast]

The Playmobile ship had one great advantage -- it FLOATS! I used to take it to the beach and follow it as it actually sailed through the water... it was GLORIOUS. I think Legos are superior simply because, as Matthias said, Playmobile breaks, especially when you ride it hard and put it away wet(in this case, it could be taken literally). But that boat, and the fellow I have linked below, where the two greatest individual toys of my youth.

[VintageLegoEra]

Ohh man, the above playmobil ship just looks cool

Edited July 4, 2015 by VintageLegoEra

[kabel]

Wow, what a great playmo ship there! Time to rebuild it in Lego!

Seriously, the big advantage of playmo is simply that it's always there instead of going away for another 5 years. They also have smaller ships which is something Lego hasn't done in decades, unfortunately because overall Lego is of course the superior toy!

[Duck]

I loved playmobil as a kid but have not returned to it as an adult. I feel lego offers so much more in terms of customisation whereas playmobil is just there really!

As an animator, lego is much smoother due to the fact the legs move!

One thing I do like about playmobil is that they release smaller ships at a lower price. I spotted one on sale for £20 the other day. With lego it's a ship for £80 or no ship!

Playmobil also see the value of releasing navy ships - something that with the exception of the IFS, lego seem reluctant to do these days! It's no wonder our lego soldiers never catch those pirates when they only have a rowing boat!

Edited July 20, 2015 by Duck

[Robert8]

The PM ship is ok, I guess

But I can't stand those figures

[spzero]

Gotta say its a LEGO forum, post this on a Playmobil forum and the replies would be different, I buy and sell retro toys for a living in a shop we run and most people would agree that LEGO and Playmobil, Brio trains, Britains (& Sylvanian Families for the girls) are all great quality toys that have stood the test of time. I buy and sell both and played with both as a child, Playmobil always comes incomplete with parts missing there are places to buy spares but most stuff is unusable unless your willing to spend its value on spare parts, at least when someone brings LEGO into the shop I can sell it in parts on bricklink or just as a random bag of bricks as its still usable and can be enjoyed for generations.

LEGO wins, but I still love Playmobil, happy memories....

[BrickOn]

I went into a toyshop this weekend, looking for lego and it seemed to have the entire range of Playmobil, more than I have ever seen in my life (I think the owner was a collector)... and so many pirates.... I bought one (and a lady in yellow dress), just for nostalgia's sake (not that I ever had any Pirate Playmobil, just a house, playground, school, hospital, ambulance, campervans etc), but they have soooo many cool things, the only issue being it's not lego otherwise I would have emptied my bank account.

Based on sheer volume of availability and range, Playmobil might have the edge over Lego on pirates these days... In my mind Playmobil is one of those things I will wait to buy until I have kids, because I don't need it and its a bit big to collect... but I picked up the catalog anyway.

[ejred]

I've always found playmobil aesthetically appealing, and obviously it's a quality toy, but compared to lego it just seemed so... static. Like a fly trapped in amber. Legos were vastly better to me, because if I was willing to fudge a bit, they could be whatever I was interested in that week, or whatever I could imagine. With playmobil I was stuck with what the company had imagined

Edited October 21, 2015 by ejred

[TeufelHund]

I bought the new Playmobil Pirate Island for myself when I was in Germany recently, but mainly as a display piece (I also have the Colosseum from a few years back). I like Playmobil for the sheer variety of unique molded pieces but Lego does have the advantage of being limited only by your imagination.