Review of Policeman and Tramp (5054)
Apparently it’s part of the Victorian Dollhouse theme. Probably goes a way towards explaining why the cop still has a spiked helmet in this day and age. It’s from 1989.
The Hunter’s stand is from 1993. It reminded me a bit of the assassin in Three Days of the Condor.
The social workers and RCMP that have been trying to move a local homeless man into housing are so going to take it the wrong way if I suggest they try wearing a spiked helm and a sword.
In certain parts of Europe the other figure sporting that Prussian Pickelhaube makes people feel deeply uncomfortable. Mainly due to historic trauma caused by German Militarism in still relatively recent history.
It’s true it seems like the sensitivity of Native American portrayals hasn’t quite made it across the Atlantic. I often find collections of kids’ videos on YouTube for our daughter that are made outside of North America and the “Cowboys v.s. Indians” motif is very common. There was even a collection of nursery rhymes clearly made in India that had the song “10 little Indians” with feathered headdresses and teepees… I though that was a tad ironic.
That said, the one that really puzzled me is the Pyramid set: The pyramids were built around 2000 BC and the Arab invasion was around 600 AD… So what’s up with the ‘Arab’ in the set?
And the little executioner is awesome. My mother has the big Playmobil mansion with several characters and she changes the house’s decor with the season. She displays the executioner when she decorates the mansion for Halloween.
look how historically meticulous that is! Ha. Northwest totem poles in a southwest indian camp with a plains tipi.
I thought 10 Little Indians was the sensitive version…
We’re talking about a company whose toys include a Roman arena complete with lions and Christians.
Yes, their historical settings are all ridiculously fictionalized and contain everything a child might associate with them in highly compressed form. For example, their pirates seem to inhabit an eclectic temporally and geographically vague cartoon universe like those from Pirates of the Caribbean.
The gritty realism is reserved for the modern day sets where they even depict - shudder - working class jobs and not everyone gets to be an astronaut princess.
[quote=“Seki, post:25, topic:33779”]That said, the one that really puzzled me is the Pyramid set: The pyramids were built around 2000 BC and the Arab invasion was around 600
AD… So what’s up with the ‘Arab’ in the set?[/quote]
Officially he is a grave robber. I am not sure if he is supposed to be an Arab or they just couldn’t think of a better hat for a stealthy Egyptian. Or perhaps you are supposed to play ultra-long-term scenarios where his disdain for his polytheistic ancestors makes him sell their religious artifacts for scrap.
That hat is typical of the leather police hats worn in Germany before the war. It is normal non political imagery for German children. If the toys were English, they would have “bobby” hats. The easiest American reference that comes to mind is the police officer in “Young Frankenstein”. And the interaction between the two characters is up to the child’s imagination. Also, it seems like the Americans commenting here are making misguided assumptions about German cultural traditions and sensitivities.
I love that hat association as well. He has a sort of turban, so he must be an Arab. Maybe he should have a suicide vest. I do see a cultural difference in that in Northern Europe it is possible to be a mechanic or construction worker and both be respected by society for your abilities and hard work, and make a decent living. Really, I think Americans in general, and the author in particular, are over sensitive and prone to read their own prejudices into what are just toys. Toys that you need not purchase if you are so easily offended by everything you see.
Here’s the part that baffles me. If the housekeeper looks hispanic, she perpetuates racist stereotypes; but if she looks caucasian, she fails to honor the labor of the latino community. Pretty hard to win that one.
Unfortunately, that kind of stereotyping is representative of America’s problems with systemic racism, so it tends to strike a nerve.
That said, the article is still ridiculous. The kernel of a good idea (don’t let children grow up believing pernicious stereotypes) is wrapped in ten layers of silliness. I’d suggest teaching your kid critical thinking and compassion, rather than indoctrinating him/her with your terrible ideology (playing with toy guns is bad because…).
I am really finding this article, and the comments related to it pretty hilarious. I just cannot stop thinking up playsets that would please politically correct American parents. or at least fit in more with the American lifestyle. Like the “White male patrimony denunciation and reeducation labor camp”. or the “Anti vaccination charter school with secret smallpox patient zero, including deluxe polio figure set and iron lung accessory.” Maybe the “Scary foreigner wedding feast drone attack set with NSA listening post”. I am sure many of you could do much better.
While I’m not saying I necessarily agree or disagree, the point is that the only latin/turk/whatever person is a housekeeper. The problem could be solved by having one be a housekeeper, one be a CEO or biplane pilot or whatever.
Sure, except that that second problem is a straw man that you made up.
Reminds me when I bought a Spawn action figure for a friends birthday.We were both video game artists, and Spawn was big at the time. Anyway he lived in this uncomfortably rigid PC snake-pit hell in Lower Haight SF. His roomies would dissect any comment I would make looking for racist or sexist undertones. I would just smile and nod after a while.
After unwrapping and the cake I could hear hushed conversations about the exaggerated muscularity of the action figure. Jeez He’s a comic book baddie!! I kept my cool and enjoyed my cake.
That whole roommate scene dissolved soon after due to nasty infighting and intrigues.
I may have misunderstood the post I was replying to. Good of you to get in there and correct me.
Given the tone of the article, I would be entirely unsurprised if the author is a Vegan.
The only one of what? A handful of sets out of hundreds? And what exactly makes her Hispanic? The black hair, just like the police officer and countless other Playmobil figures?
Or are you arguing that it’s just not safe to have a housekeeper figure with black hair because Americans will naturally assume that she is Hispanic?
Here’s a weird fact about Playmobil: they’ve produced soldiers from across history and the world, from ancient Egypt to the American Civil War, but not a single World War II set. Isn’t that strange? An American company would have had tanks, warplanes, bunkers, parachutists, the whole nine yards.
One might almost think that they too have some painful cultural history that they’re not comfortable making into children’s toys.
