Customized Playmobil: The Fellowship of the Ring

Almost anyone growing up in the 1990s will appreciate this one. Kids in that decade played with Lego or Playmobil (sometimes both, but you usually collected one or the other), both brands of toys doing wonders to build active imaginations. We loved Playmobil. Collected sets and sets of it, played for hours, made our own characters, enacted stories, etc. In the later '90s, the company even released a few sets that may not have been called after Tolkien's characters, but they certainly were based on them! There was Galadriel's pool with a woman in a white dress with long blonde hair and a scruffy guy in dark clothes that looked like a good Aragorn type. There was the little set with a hooded black rider  on his horse. There was the large tree with a face on it . . . and so on. Well, for those of you who (like us) still have your Playmobil put away, take a look at this fabulous way to make your favorite toys correspond with your favorite Middle Earth characters.

A really clever fan in Italy (user Marco5417 on Deviantart.com) took some of his Playmobil pieces and turned them into The Fellowship of the Ring:

We asked Marco how he did this (posted originally on the TORn forums), and he was kind enough to share some pointers for those of us who would like to try something similar.

• The Hobbits' vests are hand painted with acrylic paints, as is the fur on their little feet.
• Boromir's beard is painted, but Aragorn is the scruffy Playmobil face.
• Gimli's helmet is made on the base of an original Playmobil chainmail coif helmet. Then, he used hard paper and modelling putty to form the correct shape. Once dried and painted, the helmet is even removable!
• Legolas, Gandalf and Aragorn also feature some extensive painting on their clothes.

This opens up a world of possibilities, since the accessories and variations on these toys is pretty amazing. I mean, could you imagine a little Playmobil version of Elrond?