July 8, 2024

The second half year catalogs have all updated to the Playmobil online sites. There isn't anything new in the Add-Ons/Plus catalog except a few Victorian reissues.

In the main catalogs there are some shields and many new animals.

First up in shields there are 5 from the newest wave of Novelmore, with significant changes in the heraldry this time around.

The other new shield is in a Halloween ruins set 71651 with a vampire face on it.

I would have preferred a bat.

Thanks to Bob there is a printing variation on one of the older Indian shields, with the buffalo facing the other direction than usual

Also from him is the newest magazine shield. It's from the 50th Anniversary Playmobil Magazine.

Also in that magazine is a new variant of Small Wyvern 3, this time in black with orange

That brings us to the animal portion of this update.

The main additions for the second half year are another small wave from Horses of Waterfall and the release of the new Junior line.

Junior replaces 1-2-3 and uses the same molds. The plastic however is a new plant based plastic. i would guess this is similar to what was recently used for the McDonalds Wiltopia releases.

Most of the sets in Junior are re-releases of existing 1-2-3 sets. Two of them are a bit different, in that they were announced for 1-2-3 for this year but don't seem to have actually been produced.

The 1-2-3 pet care set 71136 is now 71690 in Junior but has the same animal assortment. I have put them on the same page for each, and if any of the 1-2-3 set ever turn up then I can separate them out again.

Set 71137 is now Junior 71691 but there has been a change in the dog included.

71137 had the sitting dog in tan

But Junior set 71691 has the dog in white

From the Junior Aqua theme with new color variations

From the remaining re-released sets now in Junior

From the Junior themed Advent Calendar

One other new color variation is the big snail, now in the Junior line as well

The next largest group from fall is Horses of Waterfall. A smaller wave than past ones.

From the Promo Pack series there is a nursery set 71649 that includes a yellow hedgehog toy

From the Pirate Advent Calendar 71636 a blue octopus

From the Miraculous Advent Calendar 71344 there is a teddy bear with printing on it

From Novelmore 71644 there is a Wyvern type 2 in blue

That's all that I've found from these release announcements. It's always possible I've missed something, so let me know if you spot anything.

Here are a few new in person images, from the 1-2-3 theme

These next ones are from the Disney 1-2-3 Aqua sets. They will all be replaced with Junior versions in the new plastic except the pufferfish. It is being replaced with the tropical fish instead.

Replacing this pufferfish is this tropical one

That's it for today's updates.

With all these Junior replacements coming out, along with all the Horses of Waterfall this year and the McDonalds and other Wiltopia animals, we have a new record year for releases.

So far this year planned releases put us at 223 new animal variants, beating the previous top year 2023 by 17.

With the changes in plastic content to the new recycled and plant based plastics there have been a ton of new color variations. Added to those the fact the theming has been very animal heavy the last few years and it's clear we have had the biggest 3 years in animal releases ever. The total for those three years is equal to the previous 7 years combined. I expect to see a big drop in the new variants in the next year or two, but things are so unpredictable these days who knows?

I do have some animals on the way from the Funpark in Zirndorf that will be here eventually. A few new variations not seen in sets that will bump this year's total a little higher yet.

Thanks for reading - Tiermann

Back to Animobil