Bison Playmobil Add-On 7038 Review Capsule

An exclusive to mail-order or select stores stocking Playmobil, this nifty Bison can help flesh out whatever scenes you're creating... assuming they're to involve bison. He's a solid beast with only two moving parts, but he's quite nice and hefty. Sells for about $8-$10, but he can also be found in other larger sets.

Introduction

The Bison is a solid toy designed to take a lot of abuse. The sculpt, type of plastic used, and limited number of parts make this thing a tank, able to survive wars in sandboxes the world over. He isn't exactly as posable as other Playmobil creatures, but he still looks very striking and will fit right in with new or old sets.

Animal

What you see is pretty much what you get. The toy appears to be completely free of paint, the color is all molded into the plastic components and as such, is a much stronger design.

The body is mostly a smooth sculpt except for the head, the light brown on the shoulders, and the... uh... gender representation. It's a boy... and what a boy. Playmobil animals don't always have something showing you if it's a boy or a girl, but a number of the older creatures do, including dogs and some livestock.

In this case, as mentioned above, it's a boy. No questions there.

The head is made of a few separate pieces and is capable of moving up and down. His mouth is covered by hair, but his eyes shine through nicely and the simplified design of the creature is a good one. The tail is articulated as well, but none of the legs are, which makes it a fairly solid toy, but not one that can do much. A herd of them grazing would look quite nice, but the thing is that would add up pretty quickly, and obviously, that's not something kids are going to ask for.

Accessories

There are no accessories for this creature, nor can he be outfitted with any.

Packaging

This unidentified figure comes in a bag. As it has no graphics and, frankly, is a bag with a label and no interesting graphics, we opted to save ourselves some time and not show it.

Fin

If you can score one of these cheap and need a keychain or something to hang from a backpack, it's definitely worth snagging. As the key ring elements make it difficult for her to fit in with the rest of your Playmobil toys, it may not be worth getting her to flesh out a diorama unless you have something with which to cut metal. A neat piece, surely, just not one that all fans are going to want.

Reviewed and photographed by Adam Pawlus
Sample found at Kids Center in Tucson, AZ on March 27, 2004
Reviewed on April 1, 2004.