Playmobil Haul Summer 2019

Well I was going to have a final end-of-summer article for August, but now it's early September. Well guess what, I'm still going to finish it up since 1) it's bare bones content and 2) I need to get these photos off my phone. So before I cover the Spooky Playmobil and later the Christmas/Winter ones that I already had but will pretend that I just picked up, let's look at the summer haul.

Now I'll be frank. It's going to be a stretch pulling summer references out of all of these. I'm sure most of us now are chanting 'Pumpkin Spice' into a mirror three times, so the ghost of a 19 year old college girl appears while sipping on a latte and saying she's #blessed, but we'll get to all the Fall stuff soon enough. Now by summer haul, I really mean that these were picked up during the summer. I'm looking at the pile now, and I think 'airplane crash and subsequent survival in the Swiss Alps' is more accurate. Furthermore, I think I picked all these up in the Spring. We're really not off to a good start.

Since I'm batting an average so low that it would roughly match any real batting average if I played a sport (I don't), I'll begin with something that is as far away from Summer as it can get. Set #6687 is titled 'Lost Island with Alien and Raptor', and I can't think of much that would be more bizarre. I don't paint that as a negative in any way, but I also can't wrap my head around it. It's at least definite proof that the Advent Calendars aren't the only place leftover pieces are thrown in an attempt to liquidate old-stock.

That may seem like a stretch, but I know that I've seen that raptor in another set with a motorcycle. I don't think the raptor was riding said motorcycle, but I also can't rule it out completely. The plant life also looks eerily familiar, either from appearing in almost every other set, or because they are a combination of source parts that had no business being together. Aside from the Scientist, that alien seems to be the only other thing that could be unique. I have no idea what it's doing with a boomerang, but I feel like it has a very strong chance of appearing in an 80's kids movie where the alien makes contact and then proceeds to make life really awkward.

I don't have much more to say about the Alien world, except that if I'm not motivated enough, it may just end up being part of my Ski Lodge setup later this Winter. Moving on. Next is one of the characters that comes on Card Stock and is only a few dollars. It's a no-brainer including it in an order, especially if it tips the total cost, and you dip into a new discount bracket. I thank the internet for the title, since it appears nowhere else on the box. Item #70027 is apparently a Space Agent. I'd like to think he's a dashing agent tasked with handing out justice for pre-crimes, or time crimes, or maybe just mundane space related tomfoolery. But there's every chance that he's just a talent agent, or he sells condos to retirees. Not everything in the future will be epic.

Before I move onto the rest, this figure was actually a free gift. They usually throw one into each order and give you the chance to choose a boy or girl toy. I know that will send many in a fit of rage over such binary conforming categorization, but it's a well-known fact that girls have never played basketball. But before Shift-Tabbing over to your open Twitter window to report such injustice, all is not without hope. If you look on the character's hand over to the right... they've accurately included representation for the vibrant Syndactyly syndrome community and all those with fused fingers. Phew, that was a close one.

Turtles are up next, and I don't know anyone who doesn't like turtles. There's a few things to note on this set. First off, the sand apparently wasn't conducive to digging, so the eggs were just spat out into a shallow divot. This means that the mother has to stick around and guard them. It may work out for the best since a 100% hatch rate for three eggs is still better than laying 70 and having seagulls and tourists eat the majority. I'm also thinking that they never leave, since there's the result of no less than two prior breeding seasons still hanging around the beach. Perhaps they help out and watch the eggs during a much needed pee break, but knowing kids these days, they're more interested in that cabbage. And there's that alien shrub again! No wonder the sand isn't like ours.

I'm ever glad for the Playmobil wiki sites that exist since the bulk of these pickups arrive in plastic bags, and I forget what they were called. This is #6318, Alpine Animals. There's a few in this collection including Alpine Cow Parade. I picked that one up earlier, but I can't find it so it won't be included here. There's not much to say about this one, except that they included too many flowers for the flower bed. I know it's for redundancy in case you lose one, but my OCD won't let me ignore it.

Tree Swing (6575) is another example of cobbling together loose part into a cohesive set and having it work. Those birds have been on pretty much every nature set since the dawn of time, as do the squirrels and tree leaves. The swing and bird house may be new, but overall it's a set that will fit in well with other scenic sets once I have time to put them together sometime five years into my eventual retirement.

I'm not sure why I picked up the Life Raft, other than the decent price point. I have absolutely nothing that it will go with. Perhaps this too can wait until retirement when I'm forced to take baths in order for my desiccated skin to flex once again only after sufficient rehydration. With that mental image, back to cute woodland animals...

This one is actually really cool. The falconry features several members of the raptor family that aren't of the motorcycle riding dinosaur variety. There's a few owls too, but mainly because Advent Calendars only sell for a few months out of the year. Oddly the Bald Eagle arrives in once piece, but the falcons have to be assembled. There's a few rats too because birds need to eat.

Just a few more since I'm getting tired of finding unique things to say about the same set, just with different animals. Beaver Lodge features the hollowed out carcass of a giant turtle and a half chewed tree. Hopefully it's not one of our turtles, in which case I might even open a Twitter account. The chewed up tree is in a terrible position too, since it will naturally fall into the direct path of the 'lodge'. If it does end up being a turtle shell, then karma has done its job well.

Mountain Spring is a little more complex. Rather than the same block of grassy terrain, it's built up a bit and includes what could be either granite ledge or a tiny glacier. A secret pump installed into a hidden rock will pump water out into the trough. The mama hedgehog stands in front and relays to her children a tough life lesson. While nature provides all they need, it also delivers it into a basin that they will never hope to reach. The squirrels and birds look on, each content in their knowledge that they not only get access to the life giving water, but also the cauliflower that grows on the ledge.

Finally we're at the end, and I wish I ended on something better. I shouldn't be so hard I guess; the caravan is nice looking from the outside, but the inside reminds me of my sister's Barbie houses. Perhaps it will prove more useful when paired with a towing vehicle and some actual inhabitants. We shall see, but I need to focus on Halloween things in the meantime. Until later...