Customer Reviews

Playmobil Fortress

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I first realized the potential for Playmobil toys when my husband and I bought our 4 year old son a single Playmobil pirate figure (the "Admiral"). We thought he would like it because he was very into pirates. We had no idea that he would spend literally hours playing with this pirate and the ten or so miniture accessories (sword, hat, feather pen, etc.) that came with it. So, we went out on a limb and paid the steep price... for this castle for our son for Christmas. I couldn't be more pleased. This castle and accessories have already given more hours of enjoyment than if we were to have spent the same amount buying several less expensive toys. I am now a HUGE playmobil fan. When you put this castle together you know that it is QUALITY workmanship and construction. Every piece snaps into place... He plays with this castle every day, and his imagination has no limits. One cautionary note, the accessories to the Playmobil toys are very small--this is for some reason very attractive to every child who comes over to play--and for this reason we have our castle and all the figures we have gotten on a "train table". This is very nice because it keeps everything in one place and it makes it very easy for my son to manuever around the castle. Another note, if you have a son who likes to really be destructive/rough with toys, you may be pulling your hair out. I find this out every time other kids come over and play with the castle. While it stays together very well, it is made so that you can pull it apart if you want to reconfigure it. (This is obviously too advanced for a younger child, so we don't do this.) That means that if the kids hit it or pull it hard it will come apart---not to shambles, but enough to give you a headache. Also, if you do want to give this gift assembled (eg Christmas morning) give yourself a good 3 hours to put it together. There are literally hundreds of pieces to the castle. I had a good time doing it but would not have had nearly as much fun if it had been 3am.

I bought this castle for my ten year old son when he was four. He still plays with it. We have the baron battle tower, the western fort, the big pirate ship, and countless other small accessory sets. Yes, it is a delicate toy, and has to be played with carefully, somewhat like Lego sets, but the important thing is that it is probably the only toys that you buy for Christmas or birthdays, that your child will still be playing with a year later! Every winter, all of the playmobil gets set up and played with all winter long. My fifteen year old son is a "builder" and loves to put together all of this stuff. We have bought countless hotwheels, action figures, which we still buy, but playmobil and lego top them all for maintaining a childs interest and creativity. The fun part for me has always been to set up these huge sets with my boys the day after Christmas after the company has gone. Believe me, the price is worth it when it is a favorite with your child. This year my ten year old wants all the Viking stuff. Merry Christmas!

I purchased the large castle for my son (4 yrs. old) last Christmas. We had already owned the small castle #3888 for my 5 yr. old daughter. Yes, it took a long time to construct, but it was worth it. We combined the castles into one, and have since added many other extras. I think why my kids have had such joy with these items is because we set up the castle a couple times a week, and don't leave it out all the time. I store all the pieces in a large plastic tote, along with the people & accessories in a smaller plastic box. By making it special, and not allowing the pieces to get lost, or mixed up with other stuff, my kids are able to focus their play. Playmobil is so well constructed, the company is great. I can't say enough. It is so nice to purchase a toy for my kids that doesn't fall apart, require batteries, and makes noise for them, instead of them using their own imagination. Finally, I would agree that you should stick to the age recommendation. I can see how a child under 4 would be frustrated with this system.

My son absolutely LOVES Playmobil. He is 5 years old and has played with his castle almost everyday since he received it a year and a half ago. We also have the pirate ship and LOTS of the extras so he's got an entire world built up ...
We were living in Germany where it's made so we were able to pick up some of it used ... some of it is 15 years old ... but it's just as wonderful as what they are selling today which tells you something about the quality, and, should a piece get lost or broken, if you've hung on to the parts list, every little tiny piece can be ordered from the company.
Playmobil holds up so well that if it ever does come to the point where your kids grow out of it, you'll easily be able to resale it.

We gave the Large King's Castle to our 4 year old grandson for Christmas - assembled of course! He LOVES it!!! But DO allow yourself plenty of DAYS to assemble it. It is not difficult to assemble but, I would suggest the packagers get a better system for packaging the parts rather than the helter skelter packaging. I suggest all the parts to STEP 1 be packaged together, STEP 2 parts together, etc. Half the challenge was finding the parts to each step. Also, assemble it on a large board of some sort - a train board or low table. This toy lends itself to a great deal of imagination and creativity. He also received the pirates ship. What fun - the pirates invaded the castle and put all the knights in the dungeons and, of course, made off with the treasure chest. Despite the time it took us to assemble it, it was worth it.

When me & my 4 year old son saw the King's castle on display we both fell in love with it, the detail and all the accessories were amazing I couldn't wait to buy it for him for Christmas plus I read so many great reviews here about the castle. But it turn out being a nightmare, my son was so excite when he unwrapped it but got upset when he had to wait 3 hours for daddy to put it together (I have to add my husband's comment about the toy "Don't ever buy anything that needs that much assembly again!!!")

After it was all put together we all sat and played with it, the draw bridge was fun and hiding the knight in the tower was exciting to my son, he used a lot of his imagination why I give it 3 stars. But when our 10 months old crawled over and started bash on it the tower fell off in second, which made my 3 yr old cry. The bad part about this toy is it is made to come apart so you can rebuild anyway you want, so it comes apart easily when not handle right!!! Every morning I'd wake up and find castle piece laying all over the floor, my 4 yr old would blame his little brother. And I was Constantly being ask "mom can you put this back together" sometime my son would try to put it back together himself (a 4 year old can't, I'm 30 and had a hard time putting it together) and when he couldn't get it to snap back together he'd cry, I found him Crying over the toy more then having fun!!! After our 3rd son learn to crawl (we had 5yr old, 1yr old & 7 month old in the house) the castle was NEVER in one piece; the walls would be under the bed, the tower in the closet and my 5 yr old lost all interest in it.

If you have an only child it's a perfect gift, you can setup it and teach them to be gentle (which you Have to be with this toy) but when you have 1yr & 7 month old who do Not understand 'be careful with this toy' it Will be destroy it in minutes. I would spend hours finding all the pieces & putting it back together and my 5 yr old would promise not to let the little ones destory it, but the next morning I'd find it all over the floor. And for the price you pay for this castle to see it scatter all over your floor, being step on by your 1yr old can cause you to have heart attack. I got so frusted with the toy so did my son!!! (since it was always in piece and he never got to play with it) I ended up boxing the castle up and put it in my garage and has been sitting in the garage now for 3yrs I'm waiting for all my boys to get old enough to understand you can not beat on this toy.

This toy really is not meant for a group of children under the age of 6 and not for rough boys who like to beat on their toys.

My son paid for half of this castle last Christmas before Toys R Us carried this line. We were very pleased to see Toys R Us start selling Playmobil. He is 10 now and loves his castle. The Castle and the pirate things we have bought are so far the best money we have ever spent on toys. The 3 rating for durablity is because one small piece broke because a friend stepped on it. This is definatley not a toy that children smaller than 4 should be able to get their hands on. There are lots of small detailed pieces that a toddler isn't ready to keep track of. Our son is responsible and takes care of his toys but I can see some kids just tearing this castle up. Playmobil has been around for a long time and if you take care of it you can enjoy these toys for decades. Playmobil is not affilitated with any movies or characters and it lets your child use his own imagination to create stories to act out in play.

I bought this set along with others for my boys two years ago. My husband complained about how long it took him to put it together---but the kids loved it! Unfortunately, it stayed together for a short time and then it ended up in pieces in the block drawer. But I will tell you---even though it is not put together in its intended form, my boys have been building and rebuilding forts, castles and dungeons. It is by far their favorite thing to do! It was frustrating to me to see it taken apart--but I have come to appreciate the fact that they will spend literally hours at a time building. Their creations look much more authentic than their lego buildings and they are not only building/designing structures...but they are role-playing and acting out as knights and pirates!!!!! What fun! Lots of little pieces---but they are pieces worth having.

This is a great toy. I got it for Christmas many years ago and I have since expanded it. This is the older system and playmobil is now using the system-x construction but gladly they still sell the expansion pieces for this castle. The older system and the new system are not compatible.

I really enjoyed all the hours my friends and I have spent with our castles. My brother and I are working on a wargame that uses playmobil so that we can have our armies and castles have wars. I only wish we had the time to really get into this again.

Playmobil is a great toy. It is durable but not invincible. It does take some time to set up but is not overly hard; Lego is much more difficult with a lot of smaller pieces. The historical authenticity of the design is of course questionable but better than Lego. Playmobil allows you to really use your imagination. When we were teenagers we used to set our castles up and have our towns and kingdoms and alliances and wars. Great fun!

I must admit that now being 20 with my brother at age 22 we haven't had the time to play with our medieval playmobil but still talk about it and work on the rules for the wargame. Some day we will have a massive playmobil world in our living room again...

It's fun when you have a big imagiation, but I like the toys with more action.