"Of All The Pirate Joints In All The World, She Walks Into Mine ..."
Written: Dec 08 '04
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Pros: Rare female pirate figure, cool weapons, inexpensive, great as an add-on set.
Cons: Hard to find in retail stores.
The Bottom Line: She's saucy, she's sassy, she'll steal your gold and your jewels! Beware of the Playmobil Female Pirate Figure!
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| Freak369's Full Review: Playmobil Female Pirate Figure |
That title might sound a little familiar, it's a modified line from the epic film Casablanca. So why would I choose to use that kind of title on a toy review? Simple, this isn't a review of just any toy, nope, it's one of the few specialty female figures from Playmobil. She was originally part of the Special line up then was moved into the Pirate theme. Now, before you get your panties in a bunch and say that there are tons of female figures - yes, there are, but a majority of them are stuck in the traditional roles of mom, house maker or some entry level job. There's nothing wrong with those occupations, not in the least, but come on, you gotta give the girls something more than stereotypes. As soon as I heard that there was a female pirate figure in the line up I knew that I had to get it, let's just say things aren't very even on my desk and computer monitor - 95% of the figures are men so getting a female or two was exactly what I needed. I'd suggest picking up this figure to morph using other Playmobil parts and pieces but she comes with a tattered pair of pants and a rather odd expression on her face so unless you are hard pressed for female figures or you enjoy the challenge of using clay to morph your figures, stick with the original content for this femme fatale.
Playmobil Female Pirate Figure 4614
One of the first things you'll notice about this female pirate figure is her face; unlike the plain dots and lines that comprise the other figures features, she has wide eyes, a quarter moon smile and expression lines around her eyes. Her skin is darker than normal too so this leads me to think that she's modeled after some of the European pirates. I didn't just come to that conclusion lightly; I started doing some reading about female pirates and found more than a few female swashbucklers in history. Two of the most famous being Anne Bonney and Mary Read; both of which were from Europe but didn't have the darker skin [one was from England, the other Ireland] that this figure has. So the designers put a little spin on things, who knows, she may have even been modeled after Ching Shih. One things for sure, you don't want to mess with this lass. She comes with a small pistol and a bowie knife that's tucked into her waist belt but can easily be snapped into her hand when she's in close combat. The belt can be removed if you want to take it off but personally, I think she looks a lot better with it on.
If it were as simple as that to describe this figure then there's be no need to go into detail of her numerous accessories - most notably the gold earrings. These add a nice bit of flair to her outfit but that's not even the start. She has white tatty pants with edged bottoms [not removable], a nicely stenciled shirt and vesy white wrist cuffs and a matching head wrap. Her hair is pretty boring, nothing more than a standard female hair piece but the small beaded faux gold necklace more than makes up for it. Her face is what really gets me; in a lot of ways it looks like one of the Incan dolls that line the streets of Mexico but the smile is what really sets her apart from the rest of the female Playmobil figures. If it wern't for the tattered bottoms of the pants you could easily use this fiugre to create new female ones for your collection but the pants really hamper what you can do with this one. I wish the designers would have made the pants a snap on piece so you could remove them but alas, I just write the review, not create the new pieces.
Things To Know
• This figure is a little hard to find in retail stores so your best bet is hitting the Playmobil Online Store. She's priced at $2.99 at the site however if you have a store inyour area that stocks a lot of Playmobil items, you might want to try there first since most of the larger stores [like Target] sell them for a little less than the online store.
• This figure carries a "four and older" suggested age range due to the small wrist cuffs, knife and bandana. These are pieces that can easily get lost or chewed up by a younger child. Make sure that these pieces are removed before giving to a child younger than three and that they can't reach up to a table or shelf to grab it while you aren't looking.
The Bottom Line
If you are looking to add some feminine flair to your Playmobil collection, this is a great figure to pick up. She's pretty streamlined so outside of making her a rogue pirate or swashbuckler, but sadly there aren't many options for this unless you are willing to invest some time and patience into fixing the bottom of her pants. I really wish the designers would have made a three person set of female pirates, this would have helped open the door to girls who want to get in on the fun but often times feel left out because almost all the pirate stuff is boy related. This might seem off the beaten path but this figure is a great thing to use for education too; you can teach kids about the different kinds of pirates, where they came from, how they used the trade system to barter and sell their goods and some of the historic battles that often times involved pirates.
The Stats
Set Name: Female Pirate
Family Set: Special / Pirates
Playmobil Set: 4614
Number of Pieces: 14
Age Recommendation: 4 and older
Ease Of Assembly: Easy
Time Of Assembly: 2 minutes
Cost: $1.99 - $2.99
As always, thanks for the visit ...
~^V^~ Freak ~^V^~
© 2004 Freak369
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Special thanks to marytara for adding yet another Playmobil figure to the database!
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): $2.99
Type of Toy: Blocks
Age Range of Child: Whole Family
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