Even back then, they were the subjects of adventure stories and romantic art. I have an old print in my dining room entitled “Pirates of the Mediterranean playing at dice for prisoners”. I also have a number of books of Pirate stories from the late 18th and early 19th century.
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Is that for real? Please tell me that’s not for real.
They really do find fun in the weirdest places at Playmobil. Castles and dragons and cowboys and astronauts, sure, but also garbage collectors, road construction crews, and probably toy DMVs and tax-preparation offices.
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real and as cheap as the hotel!
http://www.playmobil.us/housekeeping-service/5271.html?cgid=SummerFun&showSpareParts=false#start=44
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There certainly is as airport security set. Because who doesn’t want to play at standing in line!
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Screaming price point, too.
For that you should get whole terminals, a pair of 767s, and a suitcase full of ordnance, rather than this rather tame assemblage:
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hmm still looking on playmobil for the “neoliberal PC white knight social justice warriors”…
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It’s an interesting case, this, because the intent of Playmobil appears to be laudible - to acknowledge slavery and black people within the setting of Caribbean piracy, and to present that to children, I can totally understand why a black person would react with revulsion to the figure as depicted and also to the instruction to place the neck iron on the figure.
It’s almost as though the designers thought about the statement they were trying to make about black people and their history, but didn’t actually consider that any black kids might end up playing with the toy.
Is it an over-reaction? I don’t really think so. Some people are bleating about ‘political correctness gone mad’ but first of all, I can’t really think of an equivalent depiction of white historical people that would be equivalent (maybe there is none) so I’m unable to test it by analogy, but also, would the playset have really lost anything as a toy, had the black character not had an accessory that associated him with enslavement and subservience? I don’t think so, so really I think that the neck iron dumps a load of baggage onto the black character that we could really do without.
Just another reason that Playmobil < Lego.
[edit] I just read the other article linked to. Yeah, I’m totally unsurprised that it’s a German company.
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Asweome! thanks daneel
Not sure if offered in the US but in Germany Playmobil sells a whole series of SEK sets (Sondereinsatzkommando, our variant of SWAT teams).
Stop-motion hostage drama, ended by a massive police operation. The SWAT action starts at ~ 5 minutes in, with helicopter and sharpshooter. I’m more into Lego, but I think all the figurines, vehicles and other pieces are legit Playmobil.
Yeah, there’s another set to go with it, which is a guy waiting on his hotel bed with his dong out.
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[quote]
Piracy “became one of the most common male occupations” for Africans and African-Americans in the early 19th century. Black sailors filled about one-fifth of the population at various sea havens. Becoming a pirate offered a choice of other occupations for African-Americans that could improve their conditions.[18]:4, 2, 69 “Africans and African Americans both free and enslaved were numerous and active on board pirate vessels.”[1]:54 Some chose piracy because the only other option was slavery.[18]:12–13 Some black pirates were escaped slaves. Boarding a pirate vessel became a way to escape to the Atlantic North undetected. Escaped slave Frederick Douglass disguised himself in “sailor’s garb,” and “was able to travel undetected to the North and his freedom.”[19]:26 As crewmen, blacks made up part of the “pirate vanguard.”[1]:54–55 They also worked the seafaring trades of “ship building, caulking, and sail making.”[19]:2[/quote]
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To be honest, I don’t get this article at all.
I use only this one as example:
Given that Playmobil has a set of a cop busting a shoe-less homeless manBusting? How does she know? Why not the polite question "Sir, are you fine?"
While I know the Germans might not have quite the PC meter we do, it’s actually flabbergasting how clueless the toymaker is. As if the homeless man wasn’t enoughIt would be PC not to show kids that homeless are part of the world (or, in this case, the 18th or 19th century)? "Don't show, don't tell" is not a good principle and doesn't teach empathy and inclusion.
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I would love to be on the Disney Imagineer design team for that ride.
♬ It’s a world of death and a world of fear
It’s a world where we wage jihad every year
From New York to Dubai
The infidels all must die
It’s an ISIS world for all
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Hell, our boys in blue would have drawn weaponry already, hatflower or no hatflower.
Maybe we could get better police behavior if we issued them more shiny buttons, ornamental helmets, mustache wax, and ceremonial cutlery instead of chemical weapons and firearms.
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