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Go Home Hobo, By Playmobil

THE PLANK JULY 29, 2009

Hobo, By Playmobil

BY AUTHOR INFO NEEDED

 

...and getting rousted by the police, no less. Who says children need to be sheltered from life's unhappier realities?

Some folks at Topless Robot have compiled 17 of the least obviously kid-friendly Playmobil sets, including hazmat team, suicide responders, bunny hunter, and crippling bike accident victim.

--Christopher Orr

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15 comments

Since they seem to dwell on a particular theme, the President Johnson Library should consider commissioning Playmobil to create a very special commemorative set.

- patrickbassett

July 29, 2009 at 12:21pm

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The airport-security checkpoint inspired some of the all-time best product reviews on Amazon:

www.amazon.com/.../B0002CYTL2

- nat_echols

July 29, 2009 at 12:25pm

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Und should dee toys tell to kinder lies?  

- jhildner

July 29, 2009 at 12:41pm

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nat- That cracked me up.  It also (off topic alert) reminded me of my absolute favorite Amazon review: www.amazon.com/.../0140502416  

- ratnerstar

July 29, 2009 at 1:01pm

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Aside from the question of why Playmobil makes a hobo toy, I must ask why it is that the hobo is shown being apprehended by Kaiser Wilhelm II.

- benjamin81

July 29, 2009 at 1:24pm

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I am offended by this thoughtless stereotyping and demand an immediate apology, to be sent to BNSF boxcar #265237, currently in transit between Chicago and KC.

- literatehobo

July 29, 2009 at 1:27pm

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Note that this beauty is not merely a car, but a "getaway car":

www.amazon.com/.../ref=pd_sbs_t_2

Which is freakin' awesome. Playmobil has long understood that children love mayhem. Thus suicide jumper rescue squads and nuclear spills and pirate ships with shooting cannons and western sets with lots of Confederates and a nativity set that's perfectly in scale with Santa's sleigh, a skeletal pirate captive, an obvious Mark Trail ripoff with north woods animals, and a troop of Viking barbarians.

Not that the Playmobil-based Christmas decorations get weird in my household or anything.

- rhubarbs

July 29, 2009 at 1:29pm

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This is pretty hilarious.  But doesn't that Prussian colonel have anything better to do than chase off vagrants?

The construction crew set could really use a Playmobilette in a boxy halter top to catcall at, too.

- adaglas

July 29, 2009 at 1:34pm

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I'm with you on most of that, Rhubs, but if Playmobile is truly ripping off Mark freakin' Trail, then I think you may have overestimated how well they understand children.  

- ratnerstar

July 29, 2009 at 1:37pm

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Ideas for new Playmobil sets:

- Ragtag Bonus Army marchers with signs and broomsticks, packaged with a mounted khaki green cavalryman with a sword and a genera's cap, along with two infantrymen and a Gatling gun.

- TV cooking show, with chef, butcher's block, oven, little food accessories, and a five-person TV production crew with camera.

- Alabama chain gang with sheriff.

- Mountain moonshiners with copper-colored still and clear plastic jars.

- Presidential security set with president, bodyguards, podium, and limo. Only this being Playmobil, the president would have a sash over his shoulder and a tophat.

- Indian village with wigwam, so that the figures from the Indian village with teepee you already own have someone to fight.

- Hannibal and Carthaginian troopers with elephant cavalry.

- D.B. Cooper inspired skyjacker with suitcase and parachute. To go with your passenger airplane set.

- Print journalism newsroom. Two desks, typewriter, computer, scruffy-looking journalist, young cub reporter with camera, and an editor. This being Playmobil, the editor would have a sash over his shoulder and a tophat.

- Mongols.

- rhubarbs

July 29, 2009 at 2:50pm

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I'm still in tears of laughter over this link, but I think my degree in German history has left me with enough residual knowledge to opine that 19th-century German police officers were actually dressed like the guy in the picture (dress sword and all).  Not so sure about the uniform of 19th-century German hobos, but I would guess that this is a good facsimile, like all Playmobil sets.

- wildboy

July 29, 2009 at 2:59pm

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Outstanding, Rhubarbs.  May I also suggest

-Gilded Age labor riots, including cops and Pinkerton detectives firing on the crowds (plus sashed-and-top-hatted Henry Clay Frick)

-Caesar and his legions crossing the Rubicon.  Dagger-wielding senators sold separately.

-Late 70's porno set, complete with mustachioed dudes and a mirror for coke lines.

-Canada.

- adaglas

July 29, 2009 at 3:22pm

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Rhubarbs,

Add to that:

Slaughterhouse kit with dismemberable cows, forklift, rats, appropriately tinted workers, and FDA inspectors on the other side of a locked door. Matching kit: Immigrant-hunting SWAT team van.

Somali pirate kit with motorboat, grenade launcher, and ladder. Eyepatches optional. Matching kit: Navy seal snipers.

Grapes of Wrath kit, complete with overloaded truck w/ removeable tires, lots of family members, fruit trees, boxes, and fences. Matching kit: Herbert Hoover presidential entourage, with sash and top hat.

Greenpeace marine protest kit with rubber raft, hippies, signs, bongs, and more. Matching kit(s): Russian sailors with harpoon gun and baby beluga whale (good Raffi tie-in), or Canadian hunters with clubs and baby seals. Inspired by Opus & Mrs. Limekiller.

- literatehobo

July 29, 2009 at 3:26pm

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does the hobo play  "King of the Road" out of a small amplifier on the flower, or do I just  sing it myself as I have him warm his hands over trashcans?  

- K_L

July 29, 2009 at 3:40pm

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Wildboy,

Our guild archives indicate that the uniform is in most respects correct, with two exceptions: the flower would normally have been carried on the opposite side of the hat's brim, and the bottle's design appears anachronistic. Also, the stick appears to be made from Osage Orange (native to the US) rather than Black Forest pine or fir. Otherwise, alles ist in ordnung fur unser Penner.

- literatehobo

July 29, 2009 at 3:43pm

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