The Gladiator continues the ongoing swords and sandals motif that started in the last couple of decades. We've had a few sets based loosely on Rome, and while there's no battle arena on the market today we did see enough other things return that I think we might see one again some day.
As with other blind-bagged figures, assembly is required and it's simple. You know the drill.
This one has golden elements and blue bermuda shorts. I doubt this is truly historically accurate, but's amusing to see a man in a silly helmet with Dante's beard from Clerks. The sword fits perfectly in his hand, but less so in the loop on his belt. It sticks out a bit. The sword matches the costume nicely, and the shield has a helmet on it and also looks cool. You'll like it. And once more, this figure seems to hold to my pal Seth's theory that all of the blind bag Playmobil figures are really cosplayers.
The figure has two-tone blue shorts and molded gold sandals on his feet. The dual-color injection molding has been a part of Playmobil for a long time, which not only prevents painting alignment disasters but also means that a toy could get pretty battered and you wouldn't see exposed plastic in certain spots. It's keen. The bracelets on the wrists are clip-on gold numbers, and look good too. They go right under the bulging biceps, enlarged muscles that are an uncommon find on a Playmobil figure. If you're swapping parts for customs, you may also want to use these with future weightlifters or body builder custom projects you had in the works.
I like this figure, but it's not one I'd have necessarily bought by itself. The colors are good, everything fits together well enough, and it looks perfectly fine - but it's not a theme I collect in a big way. It's still hanging out on my desk and looks cool, though. After opening so many of these I almost wish Playmobil made its own toy costume convention set so I could have these guys meandering on a massive show floor populated by hundreds of strangely outfitted plastic people.
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