Playmobil Fi?ures Series 4: The Wizard

Company: Playmobil

Year: 2013

RRP: $AUD5 

BACKGROUND

If you’re reading this blog, you’re no doubt familiar with the Lego Minifigures range – blind-bagged minifigures, each sold individually. Lego has been releasing them to massive success since 2010, with no sign of slowing down anytime soon. Playmobil jumped on this bandwagon pretty quickly afterwards, launching its Fi?ures range in 2011. There have been four series so far, each split into two subsets – one aimed at boys and one aimed at girls.  

The Wizard I’m reviewing today comes from series 4, which seems to have been released in late 2013 (series 5 is likely to be on the way soon, I imagine). The Fi?ures range does not inspire me to collect in my usual obsessive fashion, but this is a particularly cool Klicky and I decided I had to have him.  

SCULPT AND ARTICULATION

Playmobil Klickies are built on one base figure (like a Lego minifigure), standing just under 3 inches tall. There seem to be a couple of variations (e.g. to allow for child Klickies), but most of the differentiation between figures appears to come from the accessories and paintwork. So if you’ve ever owned a Playmobil toy, you’ve got a pretty good idea of what you’re in for. However, there is an important difference with the Wizard – his robe is a solid piece, rather than simply being an accessory placed over normal legs.   
The face is cast in light skintone plastic, the body in black, the hands in white and his boots in black. Articulation is minimal – cut neck, cut shoulders and cut wrists. The hips are on a hinge, so the legs all move as one piece. Though minimal by action figure standards, it fits the aesthetic of the toy nicely.  However, the beard means that his neck movement is quite restricted, particularly once the cape is also added to the mix.

ACCESSORIES

The Wizard comes with quite a few accessories – most of which I suspect have previously seen release in other lines, but I am no expert on Playmobil, past or modern. Those with more knowledge than me should feel free to comment below.
He comes with:

*a green wizard’s hat

*an ornate silver hatband, which somewhat resembles the Assassin’s Creed logo

*a green cape, with pointed shoulders

*a green belt

*a grey hairpiece

*a grey beard

*silver wristbands

*a set of keys (?) which attaches to his belt

*a black wizard’s staff, with a (removable) translucent green mystical orb

PAINT

The “paint” on these guys seems to be largely the work of tampographs. In the Wizard’s case, it’s a little more ornate than we often see on a Klickie – a dark green pattern on the front of his lime green robe, with silver detailing further overlaid – but without hurting the simplicity of the overall design.
As he’s in a sealed bag, you won’t be able to check the paint prior to opening, but I had no dramas with mine.  

AVAILABILITY

The Playmobil Fi?ures series has been lurking around toy aisles for some time, but they don’t seem to be very readily available – the main place I’ve seen them is Toys R Us, a local Central Coast toystore and once in the Reject Shop (Series 1 & 2 only, though).
Though the figures are blind-bagged, you should be able to find the Wizard reasonably easily – his hat and staff are both quite distinct and easy to feel through the foil. 

OVERALL

As I said in my previous review, it’s probably been close to 20 years since I have played with Playmobil, but it was a really cool experience going back to it, particularly after my enjoyment of the Ghost Knight.

But though I was over the moon when I first saw the Playmobil Wizard, I wasn’t actually as blown away as I had expected once I got him in hand. Though he’s cool, he didn’t quite “pop” as much as I hoped. This should not dissuade you from purchase, as after the incredible high of a glow-in-the-dark Ghost Knight, I suppose it’s natural that other releases might not shine quite as brightly by comparison. The Wizard is a great little toy and I’m very glad to have added him to the collection. Epic photos of the battle between the two will hopefully follow soon!