Good of you to own up to it. Apologies if I bit your head off; some folks have a habit of making up straw progressives based on absurd misunderstandings of actual progressive beliefs, so it’s easy to assume ill intent.
When I was a kid, Indians weren’t necessarily the bad guys. We knew cowboys and indians fought each other, but over what exactly, we had no idea. But cowboys and indians were both far away American things. I guess the association is different in white America.
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Makes sense. Reminds me of my experience with “Turks” upthread.
I was wondering when someone would blame Playmobil for the Shoah. perhaps the lack of WW2 sets has something to do with the complicated laws left over from the allied occupation banning such representations. Whatever your feelings about the past, If you are looking for Nazis today, I would check Westland, Michigan USA. I believe that is where they have their headquarters. I cannot be sure. You will have trouble finding modern Germans who express any sympathy for such organizations. But once again we stray from the intent of the playsets. The Native American sets are not about the Trail of Tears, they are about light hearted fictionalized western adventures. If you want to teach your children to play out the horrors of the past, I guess that is your choice. But you will not really need WW2 figures for that. Genocide and horror transcend history and national borders. I like to think Human achievement is more than just Pogroms and forced labor camps. Playmobil was never intended to reflect such a view of the world. I think it would be interesting to show the Police and hobo playset to children of different cultures and listen to their unprompted explanations of the interaction between the characters.
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Am I the only person who saw that set and went on a frantic ebay search? ($27.00 buy it now price btw 
) That set is absolutely amazing and is going to look great on my desk.
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Search for the set number on ebay. I found one for $27.
Well, if you are Agatha Christie, I suppose.
There’s one thing I don’t understand - if the author has a problem with Playmobil toy sets, why do they keep showing up for her son to play with? Is someone forcing Playmobil on this poor family? Perhaps that is the real tragedy of this story - unsolicited Playmobil. #AllWorkAndNoPlaymobil
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Indeed it was, but the mental image that most people in countries that suffered in wars with Germany in first half of 20th century have about this helmet is that of a Kaser Wlhelm or any ol’ WWI German officer. That particular piece of equipment has immediate association to German militarism. Bobby helmet doesn’t quite have the same association, doesn’t it? It being associated with German police from the same period doesn’t really help.
Sorry but seeing this in a Playmobil set makes me uneasy and well in my case they have lost a customer. I am not saying that this matter should go anywhere beyond this, i.e. my personal decision as a customer what to buy. It’s just how this is how these things actually work. You can’t ever please everyone, and someone will always be offended, but as a company you need to be aware of such things in order not to alienate too many of your potential customers.
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I believe the subject of violent toys has been covered by H. H. Munro, AKA Saki, in his short story “The Toys of Peace”. It’s pre- WWI but feels like it was written yesterday. You can read it at http://www.eastoftheweb.com/short-stories/UBooks/ToysPeac.shtml.
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Is also depends on which “Indians” you are talking about. Yes, the “trail of tears” involving the peaceful Cherokee was a very shameful thing, but much of the battles in the American West were against the Apache and Comanche, tribes that had exploited their more peaceful neighbors for generations and whose demise was not mourned by other tribes.
Hi there. I read the post and immediately thought: Wow, this is getting out of control. First of all: Yes, the sets shown in this post are somewhat stereotypical, second: I can not realley understand the uproar. Playmobil is trying to give you a glimpse of what is perceived to be the reality. I think it should not be the toys that are to be discussed, but the reality, that created the ideas behind them.
Hunters shoot animals (sometimes protect them, too). Homeless had a rather harsh life during the pre-WWI-era. Police are sometimes wielding big guns. The maiden sure is a tough problem, because she could possibly be a Latina. And -of course- she is a woman.
Turning through the article gave me the shivers. To me it seemed, that the kids and their fantasy are underestimated. Let them just play with these little figures. And if you are really wanting to get involved, then get on the ground and play with your child. There is no need of American Natives shooting the settlers, nor has the policeman force the homeless away. It’s the imagination that makes up the roles, not the toy.
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»While I know the Germans might not have quite the PC meter we do…«ROFL 
This lack of any political correctness is great, read your sentence again, please…
Have you ever seen the führerhauptquartier playmobil set nr.3345? from playmobil or the big auschwitz-bundle with 1.100.000 figures? Guess why. Political correctness is locally and nationally different, while there were not that much black slaves and killed indians in germany this is no term for PC.
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For people freaking out about the stereotyped toys, here’s a vid that shows you can pop the hair right off and swap it out - just like you can on a Lego person. Want a blonde maid? Ya got one! You can even swap out the head and arms (with a little more effort!). So, while there are still some limits - that maid will always be a woman (or a man who reaaaally liked steroids!) - the toys are adaptable to what you want to present to your child.
Hope that helped.
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Political correctness has bugged me since I was a child- Yeah, it seems so logical, but deep inside, it so often has the same texture as conspiracy theories.
It’s super-easy to take it too far, and end up with generic humanoid shapes doing nondescript actions in a world without sharp corners.
(Funnily enough, a small parade of kids dressed up as pirates with drums and sabres just passed underneath my window)
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My hunch is that for the most part Playmobil does “traditional” kids’ scenes like the cowboy and Indians one. It has more to do with romantic ideas of a sort of Disneyfied the Wild West than it does with anything political. Kids like cowboys and Indians, let give it to them. Same with cops and robbers, guns, swords, etc. Kids think they’re cool. I did when I was a kid because I knew they were just toys to be used to tell a story with. I’m still 100% for gun control as an adult.
My second hunch is that some of the Playmobil designers have a sense of humour, Their TSA checkpoint set is hilarious and can be seen as a very gentle critizism. (Well they’re real, kids need to know about them… Etc)
Sure, some of the scenes are stereotypical and should perhaps be changed. But they’re for kids, and most kids know that toys are not real. Assuming they don’t is underestimating their intelligence.
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It´s not like that or similar scenes aren´t happening every day in every city in the world. It depends how you look at it. If I had a child I wouldn´t be teaching it that the cop is the good guy for harrassing a homeless man on a park bench. Maybe this set could be a starting point to question whether there are other ways to deal with the situation. Hell, maybe the cop isn´t even busting him, maybe they´re having a friendly chat. Imagination has no boundaries after all.
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I’m just glad I grew up without this ridiculous racism and glorification of violence. I was just happy to kill the evil Germans and Japanese with my heroic Allied toy soldiers.
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Also, there are plenty of children’s media that make the tramp be the hero and the cops the bad guys (or at least the ones misled by the bad guys) - e.g. Astrid Lindgren’s “Rasmus and the Vagabond” springs to mind, though I suppose Astrid Lindgren is a greater presence around here (Northern Europe) than in the US.
I perhaps have overreacted a little to this article. It is just that Playmobil and lego were a big and happy part of my childhood, and now my children’s lives as well. We have been to the Playmobil fun parks, as well as the Lego park in Billund. I always have thought of these toys as vessels through which children can express their imaginations and create worlds of their own choosing. My kid’s worlds certainly involved epic battles and explorations, but always in a fun, light-hearted way. It never occurred to me that I should be offended by any of these toys. The worldview of Playmobil has always seemed to me happy and inclusive. Yes, there are guns and cannons and catapults, but most parents in the world feel that pretend adventure battles are a normal part of childhood, and not part of some sinister indoctrination to a cult of violence and militarism.
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