This is #5719 Playmobil Nativity Set. I was at the mall when I spotted this at the Playmobil store. The regular price is $17.99 but they had it on sale for $12.88. The set looked really, really cute and since I didn't already have a Nativity set, I figured this would be a great excuse to buy myself a toy. (Hey, I'm not playing with toys. I'm setting up the Nativity scene!)
Well, once I got back home, I was literally like a kid on Christmas morning. I couldn't wait to crack open the box, spill out all the pieces and start playing.
The set contains:
8 people figures:
- Mary
- Joseph
- Baby Jesus
- Angel
- Shepherd
- Caspar
- Melchior
- Balthasar
Also included are a manger, a stable made out of cardboard, instructions, a storybook, and numerous little accessories to dress up the figures. In all, there are 59 pieces according to the box. I didn't try counting them all myself. I was way too excited and just wanted to dive in and start playing. All of the plastic parts come in 5 separate plastic baggies. I just basically cut open all the baggies and spilled out all the pieces into one big pile. Some of the pieces are quite small and could be a choking hazard so the recommended age is 4 years and up.
Most of the assembly that needs to be done is dressing up the figures with the various accessories. The instruction booklet shows you which clothing accessory goes with which figure. You don't even need to follow the instructions. Since most of the accessories are interchangeable with any figure, you can dress them up any way you want to. But I pretty much just used the picture on the box as my guide. The most difficult part of the assembly I would say would be the camel. The reason is because you need three pieces of string: one for the tassels on his head harness and two pieces to tie onto 2 treasures chests which hang off of the camel's saddle. They only include one long piece of string so you have to carefully measure out the length you need and cut it with a pair of scissors. The good thing though is that they give you much more string than you really need so there is some room for error. In all, it took me about an hour to put everything together.
The storybook, of course, tells the story of the Nativity. It is really only 6 paragraphs long but each paragraph is reprinted in 5 other languages so it makes the book look longer than it really is. The story is also illustrated with pictures of the Playmobil figures. Kids can play along with the story by reenacting it with the real Playmobil figures.
Each of the figures pretty much looks their part, I would say, with the exception of the Shepherd. To me, he looks more like a hobo than a Shepherd. I think its because he's carrying a stick with a sack tied to it, as if he just ran away from home, instead of the traditional Shepherd's staff. One other little peeve I have is that the camel's saddle doesn't stay on tightly. It'll stay put as long as you don't move him, but once you start playing around with the camel, the saddle will slip off easily. The biggest disappointment to me is the stable made out of cardboard. While Playmobil is generally known for their quality, I think the cardboard stable is a bit flimsy and out of character with the rest of the pieces in the set. I much would have preferred a simple one made out of hard plastic. Although, I suppose considering this would only be set up once a year during Christmas, it should still last for many years.
While this set may have been meant for kids to play with, there's no reason adults can't have fun with it too. I certainly know I had a lot of fun with it and its fun to look at too. After Christmas is over, you can either put it away until next Christmas, or you can incorporate the pieces in with other Playmobil sets so the fun never ends.
So there you have it! The true meaning of Christmas, depicted with Playmobil.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 12.88 Type of Toy: Action Figure
Age Range of Child: Whole Family
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