With the upcoming sets, playmobil seems to be turning more and more to the uglier anoretic bodytypes, so I decided it was time to take a better look at them, since I hardly messed with these so far. I have probably popped less than 10 of these (compared to the countless normal ones)... Not only they are (were?) few and far between (thank the Gods), but also they aren't that great to begin with, so, why bother? Worse, they feel fragile, and I am not one to take a high chance of breaking them just because.

But now... I must. So, armed with the KekoKrak, I went for them.

So, lets look at the different types...

First, we have the "normal" ones, male and female. From a time things were properly done, the frame varies (according to the torso, mostly^*), everything else does not. There are also the fat/pregnant klickys, but that is just a torso/legs combination. They also count as normal.

(^* the different frames and particulars with certain legs is not an object of this )

Then, the speedos. Though they are pretty nice for beach klickys, they are somewhat lacking as anything else. Well, more recently, the speedos did come out as really nice merpeople, after a first odd attempt (though the articulations need a bit of getting used to, and I do fear for them as they get older).

Speedo clothes look almost always bad (especially for males, due to the gorgeous sculpted torso) - unless they are meant to be like lycra, tight to the body (great for a diving suit). The "snap on dresses" make them look like little barrels, imo.

Worse, here they messed up. Royally. The fracking arms are gendered . Yes, there are male and female ARMS. No, I will NEVER EVER get over this. Especially because there ARE gorgeous speedo arms.

They do use the same heads as normal klickys - of course, at that point, who could imagine there'd be others!?

Then came Super 4.. (with the fairy reused for the Spirit ones)

From the first look, I always thought there was something off with the klickys. And there is. All of these have the frame as a visible part of the legs (like the kids). Compared to these, the speedos are AWESOME.

With Super 4 we had two different new types, all fracking incompatible with everything else.

The ones on the left.... I have no idea why they even exist, especially the males, since I seriously doubt most people can tell them apart, if not besides a normal one. Actually, I seriously doubt a non collector can tell them apart. <- period

Though I don't really find the males ugly - just completely pointless - I find Ruby's torso horrible. I think she looks deformed ... And the arms don't help at all. A shame, she is my favorite Super 4 character. I believe that up to this point she is the only female of that bodytype.

The fairies from Super 4 have the same bodytypes as the Spirit klickys (I will refer to these as "spirit", since they all came about with Super 4). I hate this bodytype - their arms all look like they are in the final stages of starvation, and the legs of the fairies makes them look like they have a very very full diaper. In contrast, the Spirit riding boots have a gorgeous sculpt, but the legs themselves (the articulation part) are equally horrid.

I thought the arms were speedo arms, but actually trying them, I believe they are slightly different, and they are loose if used with speedo bodies (I don't even know what to say to this).

For comparison, here are all the arms:

From left to right: normal, speedo male, speedo female, super4 male, super4 female, spirit

As to the heads... Normal klickys have a big head, but.. well... they're klickys . The Super 4 heads are somewhat flattened on the sides (though the hairs are compatible, thank the Gods, considering the beautiful new sculpts that appeared - Ruby's most of all! ). The spirit heads are actually smaller, but in my opinion they look larger, probably because of the tiny starved-like torsos.

The newer types also have thinner necks (REALLY thin, in the spirit's case), and so I didn't dare trying to pop them without the KekoKrak - and that kinda limits possibilities - no sculpted hairs allowed (I may add that the few I did pop, some have "strain marks" on that bottom pin)

From left to right: normal/speedo, super4, spirit

All the Super 4 and Spirit klickys are also plagued with printed heads, instead of molded. Besides obvious misprints (unfortunately a more and more common thing these days), it would not be a serious issue. I love all the heads that appeared with the Super 4 (for all body types).

The problem is that most of these heads since the Spirit theme come printed way too high, making them look like morons (this also happens with normal printed heads, but there, most times it's just a matter of replacing it). Also, it's Tartarus to find hairs that don't cover the eyes printed on the forehead A double shame, because I quite like the "spirit" faces too. Or I would, if they were printed on the proper place.

On a final note (at this point ), these newer bodies seem a LOT more fragile than the older ones. I mean, we can easily find klickys from the 70s, and even if played with, the worse they are is loose on the limbs or suffering from the Apollo-syndrome (aka slouching ). Unless some savage was at them, klickys don't break easily.

I fear that may change with these newer body types. Around here, not REALLY an issue. These will not go through gym classes, rodeos or diving contests, right? But in the hands of playing children.. I am not so sure. And that could also affect playmobil's image of quality and durability...

That said..... it will not stop me from collecting them too.

This concludes the overview of the body types...

Queen Tahra, November 2020