Man Goes In The Cage, Cage Goes In The Water…Shark’s In The Water… Our Shark
Written: Nov 14 '03 (Updated Nov 16 '04)
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Pros: Nice looking shark, colorful first mate, lots of accessories.
Cons: Kids might need a little help with assembly.
The Bottom Line: Are you a land lover looking for a little adventure? Check out Playmobil’s First Mate & Hungry Shark
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| Freak369's Full Review: Playmobil - First Mate and Hungry Shark |
The names Playmobil and Marshalls have become synonymous these days. It seems when ever we stop in to one of the stores we find some type of bargain. The toy section is usually disorganized and cluttered, hard to find what you are looking for but worth the time you invest in moving the boxes around – because you never know what you will end up finding. A few weeks ago we came across the First Mate & Hungry Shark set and at first the boys weren’t too enthused with it, they are mostly into collecting the figures and not all that interested in the sets. That all changed when they flipped the box over and saw all the detail on the first mate. When I saw that this had a suggested retail price of $9.99 but was ticketed at $2.99 I couldn’t pass it up.
I didn’t realize what a bargain I had until I started looking for this set online to see what the real suggest retail price was. As it turns out, this is a set that is now discontinued and a little hard to find. When I went to the Playmobil site to check and see if they had the individual pieces, I saw that the shark [7006] was being sold for $4.59! That’s almost twice as much as what I paid for the set. Needless to say, I am keeping my eyes peel for this set when we go to Marshalls now. Given that they are no longer being made and have some great pieces, these will make great stocking stuffers this year.
The First Mate
Well, really, he’s the only mate! A very colorful figure that the boys fell in love with as soon as they say the back of the box. The green rag hat, bold red jacket and white striped shirt all work together to give this figure an old world feel but the yellow pants aren’t all that impressive. This figure has a lot of detail to him but the best has the be the gold earrings, who knew pirates wore two earrings. The facial stubble adds to the overall feel of the first mate but I have to ask one thing – why isn’t he wearing shoes? The first mate has a small canteen with a strap, fishing pole with a string line, small sword and three small fish that I assume are used for bait. The little wooden bucket will hold a few of the fish and have a movable black plastic handle. My favorite piece has to be the seagull, with his open bill and big floppy feet, he’s just too cute for words.
The Boat
This requires a little assembly and younger kids might have a little trouble with this step so be sure to offer some assistance if you see them struggling. Te oars and foot hinge are connected to a large brown piece of plastic and need to be popped off this so they can be attached to the boat. You might want to check the edges of the pieces to make sure that they had a clean break from the plastic mold because this is hard plastic that can easily scratch skin. The boat is one solid piece and looks a lot like the small boats that are in Lego sets, the oars and foot hinge snap in to place easily and stay put. The small oar holders are probably the trickiest pieces to place into the boat and require a little force to get them seated properly.
The Shark
Almost as large as the boat, this shark is nicely detailed but again, looks a lot like the ones that are featured in the Lego sets. The hinged jaw is the only moveable part on the shark however it opens just enough to shove a small fish in and catch it on the fishing pole. The jagged edges of the sharks teeth aren’t particularly sharp but you will want to watch this around younger kids so they don’t get their fingers stuck in it.
Things To Know
There’s a small fold out photo instruction sheet that comes with this set and you will want to hold on to this in case you need to order extra or replacement pieces. Each of the individual pieces is shown with the item number under it as well as the instructions for adding the accessories to the boat as well as tying off the fishing rod and attaching the strap to the canteen. This is a fairly easy set to build but younger kids might need a little help popping the pieces out of the molding and attaching them to the boat.
The Bottom Line
Since the boys are really only interested in the figures from the Playmobil sets, I inherited the boat, fish and seagull. All in all this was a great bargain and when I saw this sitting on the shelf and the sticker price of $2.99, I almost fell over. Checking at Amazon.com and ToysRUs.com I found that this has a retail price of $9.99 but is currently out of stock. Other sites that featured this set were nothing more than link ups to the Amazon and Toys R Us website – something that is really starting to get under my skin. If this sounds like a set that your child might like but can’t seem to find this exact one, check out the Pirate section of the Playmobil Online Store to see others that are similar to this one.
The Stats
Set Name: First Mate & Hungry Shark
Family Set: Pirates
Playmobil Set: 3344
Number of Pieces: 16
Age Recommendation: 4 and older
Ease Of Assembly: Easy
Time Of Assembly: 5 minutes
Cost: $ 2.99
As always, thanks for the visit …
^V^ Freak ^V^
© 2003 Freak369
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Thanks to Suzanne for adding this to the database
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): $2.99
Type of Toy: Blocks
Age Range of Child: Whole Family
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