However, it wasn't as expensive as I feared (retail price is about
60 EUR), so I had it sent in my playmocrate from Germany.
It's BIG. The box has a lid over the cover, that can be lifted to
reveal a pic of the crane in all it's 1:1 glory. Hope this doesn't
catch on... or we'll end up with packages as ridiculous as the American
ones. And in order to make room for that lifting place, a part of
the wheel is cut from the picture in the front of the box. They do
that a lot, cut part of the set on the box. Not nice at all.
As in many large sets, there is a poster included – good for any
playmoholic. :)
Being naturally clumsy with wiring (agh – blinky-winkies) I feared it
would be messy to put together, but fortunately I was wrong. The
wiring is all in place, and barely visible. It's fast and easy to
assemble this huge crane, though I could live with the tires being
already in the axles. It's an annoying task.
The only no-no in assembly is an odd depiction of a part in the
instructions. I looked around for that part before realizing the
drawing was completely off in showing a piece that was right in front
of my nose the whole time.
Oddly enough, there aren't any instructions as to what can and can't be
lifted, maximum weight and so on.
The operation is easy, and quite fun. The only problem working with
this giant is the printing indicating the function of each button.
The up and down symbols are the same. Guess someone messed up.
The operator's place goes around with the crane's arm when it's
rotated, so you'd better make sure you don't run out of batteries
(3 x AA, 1.5 v) when he's up there, away from the ladder, or the
firemen will need to get the poor guy down.
Something else that seems off to me is the already assembled
rope for the crate (yay! No knots needed – some people aren't good
with those, besides wiring). The laces have different lengths, and
there's no place to hook the crate. It seems to be a problem
for whoever made the packaging: in different places the thing is tied
in different ways. And I don't think any of them would respect safety
regulations.
There are also extensive instructions as to how the crane should be
assembled for transport, with extra parts being provided for that.
I wonder how complicated it is to do that to a human-sized crane...
The crew has nothing really worth mentioning, except the fact
that playmobil® is really determined about providing its constructions
workers with the highest cell phone ratio in playmoland. One of the
guys also has a jacket that could blind sensitive eyes. On the other
guy we can once again see how LOUSY the paint jobs have become.
Where's the high quality standard there, playmobil®? When will you
get your act together again? : (
Anyway, this was a set that surprised me in a positive way. Needless
to say that anything that moves is an instant success with my cat :),
who caught the hook several times. There were no injured klickies or
material damages.
Why not play get the can ? And while we're at it, why not use
an EURO 2004 one, with our own Figo? :)
Queen Tahra, January 2004
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