Playmofan — Matthias

Dear Playmo friend,

lovely that you dropped by. Before I tell you a little about what this site is for, how it came about and who I am, there are a few things I want to mention first.

Playmofan.ch is a purely private site with no commercial purpose.

Every picture, animation and piece of content published here was made, photographed and edited by me, and is protected by copyright. It may not be used or published elsewhere without my consent. This website is not affiliated with geobra Brandstätter, the sole copyright holder and manufacturer of PLAYMOBIL®.

Why this site exists

I started Playmofan.ch to share my passion for Playmobil photography with you. It is meant to show what can be done, to encourage creativity, to inspire people to build their own dioramas and scenes — and of course to bring joy to young and old alike.

Among older Playmo friends, I hope it also brings back memories and happy moments from their own childhood with these toys. And it is meant to show tips and ideas around 3D printing for custom builds and dioramas, where there really are no limits to what you can create.

How it all began

When I came into the world in 1973, PLAYMOBIL® did not yet exist — it was still on the drawing board at what is today its manufacturer. The first ideas for multi-purpose play figures were around, but it would take a while before they became real. At the same time, or perhaps a little earlier, the first multi-purpose figures from a company called PLAY-BIG reached the shops. PLAYMOBIL® followed in 1974. A tough competition broke out, and PLAYMOBIL® won it in the end thanks to its greater variety and its friendlier-looking figures. That was the beginning of a limitless world of play figures whose imagination knows no bounds to this day.

I first came across PLAYMOBIL® at the end of the seventies. You could say that in our generation — and perhaps in the ones that followed — the passion for playing splits into two camps: you are either a Playmobil child or a Lego child. You rarely meet anyone who lived out both to the full.

So from then on I belonged to the Playmobil children. My first PLAYMOBIL® was the big Klicky knights’ castle. Over the years the debtors’ tower, the town hall and the forge followed, at Christmas and on birthdays.

Once I had outgrown childhood, sadly everything was sold and I turned to new interests.

Decades later, in 2019, PLAYMOBIL® came back into my life through a rather childish story. Well — whether it was really childish is open to debate … :-)

It began with wanting to quit smoking. I was in a newsagent’s buying my last pack of cigarettes. Browsing through the magazines, I happened to spot a Playmobil magazine with a collector’s figure. I was immediately hooked, not least because as a child I had been an avid reader of YPS. From that moment on I decided — much to my wife’s dismay ;-) — to buy one Playmobil figure for every smoke-free day. In the end, an excellent way to stop smoking and reward yourself with Playmobil figures.

And so the collecting bug and PLAYMOBIL® came back into my life. By now I do not just collect figures: I build dioramas, and I have taken up photographing the Playmos as a hobby. I am constantly on the lookout for new and old Playmobil pieces, wandering flea markets and scouring eBay for vintage finds.

That is the story of my new old hobby, PLAYMOBIL® — how it all began and how it came back decades later …

I hope you enjoy looking through my site, with all its pictures and videos … :-)

Yours, Playmofan Matthias