One of the things that sucks about falling in love with a theme from Playmobil or Lego is the price rape that occurs with online resellers. This set retailed for about $17.00 which was a steal for what you get; now people are selling it for two to three times the amount of the original price hoping that people will fall for the slick wording like "hard to find", "extremely rare" and "discontinued". Yes, it is no longer in production by Playmobil but it isn't all that hard to find if you look online and use the complete and correct name of the set as well as the set number [3287]. Since there are a lot of medieval and knight themed sets you have to know exactly what you are looking for before you start shopping around and always set a buy limit of what you are willing to spend.

You get three separate wall sections; you don't have to use these if you have other pieces that you want to add to a scene. There is a nice textured detailing to them but you can add things to it if you want to use permanent markers or paint. There are two small nubs on the bottom of the sections to keep them from falling over but if you have kids that are really into it expect the entire thing to fall over. This is a nice touch but if you have something else you want to use instead you can. You aren't locked into using anything in the set and if you find it for a reasonable price you can get multiples of it and bust it up to be used with a larger scene or to make custom scenarios. Everything is to scale which is another perk; it allows for a lot of replay value and gives kids that chance to use their imagination without having to stretch it and have to use other non- Playmobil pieces.

There are a lot of accessory pieces that come with this set; the weapons are sweet and you get full sets for both of the knights. They include a short blade ax, mace and sword. But that's not all, you also get two folded shields. When you have them on horseback they look great with a weapon in on hand and a shield in the other. For actual jousting you get two lances. Because this comes with so many different weapons and the poles you can use the knights for a lot of things so you aren't stuck using them just within a jousting scene. Since this set is to standard Playmobil scale you can use other figures and items with it. You can add it to one of the larger castle scenes or eve with some of the medium sized ones.

Both of the knights in the set are well done; they have typical jousting armor and the extremely cool flip down helmets with color coordinated plumes. Whether you use these on horseback or in actual fighting stances they look great. The only possible downside is that if you are using them off the horses you might end up with them falling over if you have them holding both a weapon and a shield. It makes them a little front heavy and the smallest amount of vibration or bump will knock them over. That might not sound like a big deal but if you have a ton of them posed near each other it can end up knocking them all over.   You can use poster putty on the bottom of their feet to keep them upright.

No jousting scene would be complete without the bells and whistles. Yes, the fence pieces are a nice accent but it's the flag poles and flags that really round out the scene. You get a total of four flags and three decorative shields. These are different from the shields that are used for the knights. The rack is done in the same style of faux wood and has a lot of uses within the set as well as with other sets. You can use it for holding the weapons in the set when the knights are jousting as well as a place for the champion knight to pose. You do have to be careful with the flag poles and the jousting lances; they are long pieces that could easily snap but the bigger danger is a kid poking another kid with one. Likewise the mace needs to be handled with care because the metal linking can break and you will end up with the ball rattling around.

Some people complained about the two horses that come with this set; how can you complain about them? They both have tournament covers and head covers so they are ready to serve their knights. The head covers are plain but there are a lot of different ways that you can accent them. Since they have a full tournament cover you don't get to see some of their detail but I have to admit that they look a lot better decked out than they do plain. Once you have the knight seated on them they are pretty stable; the horses don't fall over easily but they lack the same articulation as the Lego horses. I've never had any problems with their legs breaking but it is something that can happen if kids are throwing them around or banging them on things. There's no solid way to fix them if the leg breaks, glue won't be all that effective unless you plan in using it as just a display piece.

If you can find this for about twenty dollars it is a great investment even if you plan on only using it as fodder for other sets. It's well done and was reasonably priced and it's a shame that Playmobil had to nudge it out of productions.


^V^ ©Freak369 - 2012 ^V^


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Recommended: Yes

Amount Paid (US$): see review
Type of Toy: Other
Age Range of Child: Other