Customer Reviews

Playmobil Blackbeard's Pirate Ship

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I thought my mom was crazy when our six year old son opened her Christmas present to him last year - a very elaborate pirate ship fully stocked with all kinds of tiny accessories and detailed pieces. I mean, little pirate men complete with separate swords, hats, pistols, lanterns, treasure map...plastic bits of the sort that will get lost in the carpet or swallowed at the bottom of the pit we call a toy box; gee, a parent's dream come true.

So I spent over an hour the next day assembling the ship. It may not take everybody that long, but I wanted the little stickers to line up perfectly and all that. Everything went together beautifully to form a handsome, well-crafted ship with just the right amount of detailing. Sensible and durable plastic makes up most of it, except for the string that winds up and ties to the anchor. Still, this was not the babyish stuff that he was used to playing with before, but a real treasure of the kind that invites kids to use their imaginations and really play.

A few months had it sitting on its own shelf in the closet, and then suddenly one day our kid seemed to take notice of his pirate ship. It has become the hands down favorite toy ever since, played with every day, with friends or alone. It has inspired a new interest in pirates and pirating history, to the tune of a few discovery books on the subject and planning our next birthday party around a pirate theme. We have even added pirates and cannons to the set so that they could have better adventure possibilities.

Sure, a few of the tiny things have been lost along the way. Mostly though, I think this has taught our son to take better account and care of his things. A strict rule of all pirate pieces gathered and put away on the pirate ship every night before bed has helped a great deal to keep them off the carpet and out of the toy pit.

Playmobil is fabulous. I foresee birthdays and Christmases with more of the pirate collection and even the playmobil Treasure Island as gifts. Blackbeard's pirate ship is a proven winner in our family and I would recommend it to any parent as a quality toy (and one that has bought me many peaceful hours of good kids playing time, besides!).
-Andrea, aka Merribelle

"Blackbeard's Ship" is the most parent-friendly vessel that I have seen in the Playmobil fleet. As others have noted here, the (admittedly awesome) $89.99 pirate ship requires quite a bit of technical skill in assembly with a full rigging, and smaller kids are likely to pull it apart from normal play. Here, the "sails" are made of molded plastic and are "furled" as though the ship is standing at harbor. They snap on to the masts in minutes, and there are no lines to tangle and confuse.
This ship (and, I think, newer sets in general) comes with the "wide-bore" cannons that *really shoot* larger (i.e., pingpong ball sized) cannonballs that do not have a tendency to get lost (as do the near-BB-sized cannonballs on some of the other sets). Several crew members--including Blackbeard himself--are included, along with their acoutrements. The upper deck lifts off to give access to a cabin at the stern, where pirates can spread their maps out on the table or drink rum from pewter mugs.

My grandsons have hours and hours of play into this plus some other sets that have sold at Sam's Club recently. (Worth looking into around Christmas by the way. We picked up the Pirate Lagoon packaged with a bonus ship for $19.99!. As for the stringed rigging of that other ship, it did indeed come apart after a short time, but four-year-olds don't seem to notice or care. It's still great fun, and nothing beats hearing a 4-yr-old do his best pirate voice: "Ar-r-rgh.")

It is true, as others have noted, that there are many small pieces that can become scattered by younger children. I'm not sure why Playmobil does not simply permanently attach the hair and hats to their figures, for instance, and we have considered gluing them on permanently to cut down on scattering and loss.
But these are great toys and a nice route for children to take away from video games or television. Imagination just goes wild.

The price certainly is right on the Blackbeard ship. Toys 'R Us has it for the listed price of $29.99. You can't go wrong there.
Also, check out their separate "Blackbeard" set--a different character from the one that comes with the ship. The one separately sold has a braided beard, not unlike Jack Sparrow of Disney's *Pirates* fame.

My son (4 1/2 yrs)received a lot of the Pirates for Christmas. And we have played and played and played with this since putting it together. I was hesitant because we gave him the Knights castle last year and it was not quite as sturdy, the 2nd floor tends to come off if you are not careful. What's really cool is that he mixes the knights, the pirates, and some of the modern pieces together to make some very interesting stories. I highly suggest getting the Treasure Chest with this package... Because it makes a nice place to store the pieces. Also the Treasure chest can be turned into a pirate's cave by turning the backdrop cardboard over. I don't remember that being advertised. Also there is a Pirate Lady you can buy for about $2.99. She's pretty neat too. Note: My two yr old can play with this without having to rebuild it (unlike the castle.). But she tends to take the hair and hats off of everyone. This is not so much fun for my son:)

I bought my son, who is almost 3, this ship and he absolutely loves it. He plays with it for hours. He is younger than is recomended (4 plus) but he is past the age of putting things in his mouth, so I am not worried. There is a lot of assembly involved, but we had fun putting it together and figuring out how everything works and where things are supposed to go. This is a great toy!

Our Playmobil collection started last Christmas with the Playmobil airplane (which is the best toy airplane ever!!). We now have more of these toys than I care to admit. However, they are best toys out there, and the only things my kids are still playing with one year later. These toys are used everyday. We have pirates, police, an airplane, a taxi, a grocery delivery van, a helicopter, to name a few (birthdays for three boys have greatly expanded our collection). My son's fly the pirates to Florida in the airplane, where they get on their boat, and then take a taxi to the police station, and when they get hungry the grocery truck brings food - - just to give you an idea of the imagination that takes place when playing with these toys! The toys are extremely durable, but have many little pieces and accessories (a choking nightmare for a young child). My boys, even my 8 year old, enjoy these more than legos because they can still build with them (they require basic snap together construction), yet they don't fall apart like a lego truck.

On another note, we lost a piece to a beloved playmobil truck. I called their 800 service number, described the part to the service rep, who sent the piece to me in a few days AT NO CHARGE!!! All they said was Thank you for being a customer! - - When's the last time that happened to you with a toy company?

Overall, I think these are a great purchase, especially if you have a child with a great imagination. Best part of all - - no batteries and no noise!!!

I bought this for my 4 year-old son for Christmas last year. I wasn't sure how he was going to like it. As it turns out, he absolutely loves it! He loves all the little accessories that come with the ship and will spend hours making up adventures. His friends that come over to the house really like it too. My son has played with the ship on dry land and in the bath tub and it does just fine. The sails have a tendency to fall off easily, but they are very simple to put back on.

My son got this toy for his fifth birthday. He had been asking for a pirate ship for a long time, and I finally decided to buy him the best one I could find. They had this one, and it looked great, so I got it (unfortunately, it was about 20 dollars more expensive when I bought it than it is now!) It was not easy to assemble (it comes completely in pieces), but once we had it assembled it stayed that way for about a week. The anchor has a real string on it, and my son has taken to pulling it around by the anchor (it has wheels on the bottom of the ship) and loves playing with it. But the masts and big red flags came off the ship almost immediately. I would say that this toy is better suited for maybe an eight or nine year old.

This toy was able to facinate and educate children ages 2-7 as soon as it was out of the box. The pirates are not mean spirited,and able to inspire wonderful imaginative play. Bought for my grandson age 3 but enjoyed by all my nephews. I ended up buying two, one for my grandson and one to keep in the toy box at my house. For the money you can't go wrong.

All Playmobil sets are very excellent! They just have much better quality and design than any knockoffs and I consider everything else knockoffs. They are of such a high quality that you can pass them on down generations.

This set is a very good deal. The larger pirate ship costs over twice this one. Your kids, if they like pirates will play with this over and over again, and make you buy the rest of the Playmobil pirate stuff; you can't stop at one set, so buyer beware!

My son received this for Christmas 2005 and it is already a favorite. All children ages 11-4 are playing with it fighting over who gets to be which pirate. The assembly directions are horrible (maybe 2 stars) but you can muddle through. The problem with the directions is they are in picture format with no written explanation. It would help if there were both pictoral and written directions. We almost threw away an assembly piece. There is a curved styrofoam support that looks very much like packaging. All pieces seem to fit together fine and snuggly. "Super glue" will work on any that seem to come lose...just light light sabers on Star Wars toys. Will definitely purchase more playmobil.