It all started...

[telophase]

...this morning when eegatland linked to a Playmobil play set entitled "Captive Prince." I thought it was simultaneously awesome - they're usually Captured Princesses, right? - and completely and utterly silly. And decided that what I needed to do was run a contest over on bish_a_day in January, to encourage posting, and feature him as a prize. So I ordered him. And I went by Target on my way home to see if I could get him a companion.



Here's a picture I grabbed from eBay of the Captive Prince set:



As you can see, he comes with a neck-chain, his own bucket, no less then three ladles, it seems, and two rats to call his very own. (I have no idea if the guard with the slop-bucket is part of the set or not.)

There were some good options online for someone to come to his rescue (or capture him, if you're so inclined), but I was limited to what they had available at Target. After pausing for a very long time over the Roman gladiator, who came with a lion (dude, they have a whole Roman line!! With an arena! And a ship with SPQR on the sail! And legionnaries! I WANT!!), I went for the Black Knight, as seen below in something I grabbed from amazon.com:



I chose him because he was cheaper his round featureless eyes behind the helmet made him look like he was wearing glasses, which was a bit incongruous. Here's an out-of-focus picture of the box I shot before my camera decided it didn't want to work today:



He's got a battle-ax and a sword! Perfect for fighting his way into the dungeons and giving to the Prince so they can fight their way out together!

I had to open the box, just because. So, whoever's getting it: you're not getting a mint, pristine figure in box. Deal.

And then ... I saw something else. Something so utterly ridiculous, I had to buy it (especially as it was only $3). I saw...the Riot Police and Punk Kit:



Dude!! The punk has tattoos! And a bandolier!! And a Maglite!!! AND THEY ARE HANDCUFFED TOGETHER!

I managed to get one picture of them before my camera went out. Unfortunately, I can't show you the goofy little grin on the face of the cop, but I can show you the come-hither expression in the punk's eyes:



The cop has a baton, and comes equipped with a pistol. One of the eBay auctions I saw for them called them "Cop and Robber," but I'm all: dude, that's no robber! No mere robber threatens a policemen with a Maglite like that! He's gotta be a full-scale rioter.

I'm sure there are some of you out there going: oh come on, telophase! You're ruining my childhood by reading all this stuff into it! DUDE! NO! LOOK AT THEM! IT'S ALL THERE!



Contest won't officially be announced until January. :D I think I'll be putting the names of everyone who posts in January into a hat and drawing from them.

Comments

[nekonexus.livejournal.com]

IT'S TOTALLY THEM! IT'S ALL RIGHT THERE! OMG TEH SLASH! ^_^

[telophase.livejournal.com]

IT'S A CONSPIRACY! THE TOY COMPANIES ARE POISONING YOUNG MINDS!!

[nekonexus.livejournal.com]

BUT IT'S THE GOOD KIND OF POISON!

[dragovianknight.livejournal.com]

Ruining? You just made my childhood BETTER!

So much makes sense now...

[telophase.livejournal.com]

Then my work here is done.

[mystcrave.livejournal.com]

Finally, I get what was going on between my Ken doll and G.I. Joe!

[telophase.livejournal.com]

ROLEPLAY!!

(You know, I question the wisdom of giving a beweaponed cop and a rioter armed with a Maglite to a small child to play with, but if you think of them as toys for adults, it's so much better. XD)

[chomiji]

Tol'ja Playmobils are awesome. And these aren't U.S. manufacturers - they aren't prissy that way. Kids never play with stuff the way you think they should anyway, so why not give the guy a mega-Maglite?

[batwrangler.livejournal.com]

I have been courageously avoiding playmobil because it tends to slurp up my money when I start to look at them. But I did once buy the operating suite because it was just too cute.

PS. I bet it would be easy to mod that police and punk set into a Death Note set. XD

[telophase.livejournal.com]

I have to remind myself that I wouldn't do anything with the Roman stuff. I keep going "No! It'll just sit there!" "But! But! Chariots! Legionnaries! Arena! SPQR!" "No!"

Hee, you may be right. XD

[magicnoire.livejournal.com]

You know, at first glance, I thought the cop and robber were members of the Village People.

[telophase.livejournal.com]

I now have "YMCA" stuck in my head...

[oyceter]

OMG! I want the captive prince's rats!

Also, we should get a Playmobil princess to rescue the captive prince! Or just pretend that the black knight is female.

[telophase.livejournal.com]

I knew you'd like them! XD

My first thought, before I thought about bish_a_day, was that the set needed a warrior princess to rescue him. Alas, Playmobil seems to stick to stereotypical gender roles and all the girls I could find were in big foofy dresses. But the Black Knight is ambiguous enough to suit everyone's preference!

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

I am in love.

I think we should get our name in the hat for every post...

[telophase.livejournal.com]

I was debating making every post a chance. XD

[lady-ganesh.livejournal.com]

I love Playmobil.

[telophase.livejournal.com]

I'm all HOW DID I NOT KNOW OF THIS BEFORE?!

[cicer.livejournal.com]

There are not words to describe the slashtastic awesomeness of this.

Re: It all started...

[pir-anha.livejournal.com]

OMG, made of pure win.

*gets ready to post a lot*. so many bishies, which to choose first ...

[estara.livejournal.com]

German Toys FTW!

http://www.playmobil.de/on/demandware.store/Sites-DE-Site/de_DE/Search-Show?cgid=S_ARTIKEL

Go and buy yourself crazy^^

[telophase.livejournal.com]

OMG! Gauls! They're not available on the American version of the site!

[estara.livejournal.com]

If you really want them, you can send me the money and I buy them for you and send them to Texas. But beware, it's like Lego, once you start collecting it takes on a life of its own.

[ewein2412]

I am going thru a second childhood since my kids discovered Playmobil. It is better than ANYTHING. We have got truckloads of it now.

oh and by the way the jailer, keys and bucket ARE part of the set.

[telophase.livejournal.com]

I just found that the German page offers Gauls and a cage in which to pull Vercingetorix through the streets as part of the Roman set. It's really hard to keep myself from buying any of these. XD

Sweet! Thanks! XD

[awamiba.livejournal.com]

Why oh why does my Target not carry these?! *wail* My children need these.