I’ve always had a love of castles, knights and all things medieval; my Lego collection is one that I’ve worked on for years and if I disclosed how much money I’ve sunk into it, I am sure most people would tell me I need professional help. When the brood started to collect the individual Playmobil figures I figured it was a passing fad and they would end up in a huge box collecting dust. While their enthusiasm for them has died off a little, they still collect them and [shhh] play with them from time to time. That means that when I hit the toys aisles I know that most of the time the Playmobil items I pick up are safe from their little grubby hands but that wasn’t the case with the Dark Knight. Oh no, as soon as they saw the box it was all over with, I picked up three of them to have a few extra shields for the other knights but my plan was foiled when all three boxes were found empty in the trash. I’m going to have to get a little more clever with my shopping trips or pray they find something else to get into. Since my initial purchase of the Dark Knight sets I’ve picked up about five more, it’s the cheapest way to get battle accessories and hey, you can never have too many knights around.

Playmobil Dark Knight 4517

One of the first things you might notice about this knight is the large detailed shield, a nice piece to have for any knight or warrior. It’s got a tremendous amount of detail to it and the close you get to it, the more you appreciate it. This piece needs to be assembled so when you open the plastic bag and see the hole in the middle of the shield, don’t panic. What sets this apart from other shields in the knights series is that this is two toned, black around the outside and gray in the center. This works well with the coloring on the knights body armor, helmet and weapons and helps to make the figure look complete. The stenciled armor on his chest is basic but it shows up nice against his black clothing, the silver sword and axe look great when he is holding them since they are lighter than his clothing. Just like almost all the other weapons and accessories in the Playmobil series, they can be held in his hand or used in an armory. You don’t get to see much of his face or black hair due to the helmet that covers almost everything but his eyes, be sure to check out his facial expression, he’s one of the few that have eyebrows and the way they are positioned, he looks down right evil.

The figure stands almost three inches tall and thanks to his large black boots he rarely falls over, if you do encounter this problem, take a small wad of poster putty and put it on the bottom of his boots to keep him stable. This won’t harm the plastic and can be reused over and over again. When you first open the package and pull out the pieces you’ll want to make sure that you have all the accessories before tossing it in the trash, I’ve had to go through the garbage more than a few times looking for accidentally discarded items and it’s not exactly fun. Assembling the figure is a snap and while there are no directions included, you can figure it out by looking at the photos on the box. The black flowing cape that snaps on to his neck will have to be removed if you plan on having him on horseback [none are included but they do come with the larger sets] since it will interfere with how he sits. There is a nice belt around his waist that can be used to house the long blade sword and it can be removed if it proves to be too bulky for the figure however once you take it off you may have a hard time getting it back on so think twice before you remove it.

Things To Know

This was first part of the Playmobil Special series of figures but has been updated to carry the Playmobil Pals logo so if you are shopping at a store that doesn’t get stock on a regular basis, there is a chance that you’ll see this in the older packaging. In any event, it’s the same set with the same pieces, name and set number – just a different series name. You can find these at places like Target for $1.99 per set, that’s a dollar less than what you would pay at the Playmobil Online Store so be sure to check locally for this set if you are interested in picking it up. I’ve had the best luck finding these at my local Target stores but can never seem to find them at Wal-Mart – go figure. This is one the sets that carries the ׂ and older” warnings on it, some of the older sets are labeled three and older – regardless, use your discretion when giving these to kids since some sets do have extremely small pieces that could easily be swallowed.

The Bottom Line

This figure makes a great addition to any Playmobil collection or for those who are into getting the individual figures. Since this comes with three weapons it’s also the cheapest way to build up your armory. The knight is nicely detailed and the stenciling is simple and basic but the contrast between the gray tones and black really make him look awesome. He can be added to almost any of the castle or knight sets from Playmobil and since all the pieces are to scale, mixing and matching the accessories, weapons, helmets and body pieces isn’t a problem. I am really looking forward to more of these types of sets from Playmobil, they have tons of cool knights to choose from but when it comes to dark knights, you are sort of stuck with buying the larger more expensive sets.


The Stats

Set Name: Dark Knight
Family Set: Special / Pals
Playmobil Set: 4517
Number of Pieces: 10
Age Recommendation: 4 and older
Ease Of Assembly: Easy
Time Of Assembly: 2 minutes
Cost: $1.99


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$): $1.99
Type of Toy: Blocks
Age Range of Child: Whole Family