16bit.com Figure of the Day Review: Playmobil "Fi?ures" Series 20 Roman Action Figure

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Playmobil "Fi?ures" Figures Roman Playmobil, 2021

Day #2,999: February 26, 2026

Roman Early for the Ides of March "Fi?ures" Figures Series 20 Action Figure Item No.: No. 70148, 8 of 12 Manufacturer: Playmobil Includes: Helmet, cape, sword, belt, dagger Action Feature: n/a Retail: $3.99 Availability: July 2021 Other: Stabbitty
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Another figure I had photographed but not reviewed for years is this Roman. We've had emperors, gods, toga people, monsters, and more from thousands of years ago, so I guess taking five years to finish this one is no big deal. It's a well-done figure with lots of good parts and clever production techniques. But it's not a monster, so it took until now to look in my backlog to say "I really need to publish or perish." The perish should be coming at some point in about 30 years, I'm guessing.

I don't know if anyone is claiming Playmobil is educational, or that kids are going to learn a lot from these toys. Certainly anything that inspires curiosity is good, and anything that might tie in to what is going on in schools might help. We had big units on Greek and Roman culture in the sixth grade, and I don't know how sets like this align with German kids or if they even take that into consideration given how each series ranges from "things a kid might want" to "this is clearly for weird adults." An armored guy with a cape, sword, and goofy hat would probably be somewhere in the middle.

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The figure has the classic bowl haircut in Conan O'Brien orange with the traditional molded-in eyes and mouth. The outfit has multiple colors of plastic injection molded together, and this is something more American toy companies should do to keep labor costs down. The arms have gold plastic injected along with white and skin colors. The leg piece does the same thing - this means kids can play with the figure, and the color can't be scraped off. It'll still look nice. The chest has a gray plastic piece molded into a white torso for similar effect, but the gold trim is indeed painted. So don't scrape it. That gray plate isn't flat either, there are hints of molded musculature in there and that looks pretty slick.

During my lifetime, almost all Playmobil figures had the same articulation. He can look left and right, with a one-part leg that swings forward. The shoulders and wrists rotate, and if you pop the cape off he can fit in nearly any vehicle from the entire history of the brand. It's hard to describe just how much I appreciate this, because even Hasbro and Kenner struggle to keep their action figures compatible when they're the same height. To stubbornly hold to 1974 engineering for decades is an incredible feat, and one of the reasons I keep coming back to Playmobil every now and again. They're always pretty good, they always work, and they're always made well.

Having said that, this was a blind bag purchase that came out of a case I bought because I wanted the Day of the Dead figures, the puppeteer, the caveman, and dead body, and many of the others - this was just a nice bonus. I don't have many sets from the Rome theme, mostly because the ones I stumbled on didn't exactly inspire me to make a purchase at the time. There are nifty statues and other elements, which would make having figures like this potentially very exciting. But I'm not one with space to do big dioramas, so I can only say that this figure is good on its own merits and is worth tracking down if you like the design. But the girl packets have a figure that's half Tinkerbell and half She-Ra, so it's hard to get excited about the silly purple and gold helmet when you could play with some of the other stuff.

--Adam Pawlus

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