#klickies

[smallerplaces]

I'm thinking of moving some of the non-seasonal Klickies into the MCM McMansion in place of the Lil Bratz. While Playmobil people are substantially shorter, they're compatible enough with most of the Michaels furniture, and they stand better.

[smallerplaces]

I've started on tackling the Playmobil conundrum, because it seems like a problem that needs emotional preparation. Legos were "easy" because I'd already re-sold the kits we knew we didn't want. (And, not coincidentally, if I wanted to reduce the Lego stash, the two plastic shoeboxes contain the parts I'm least interested in using.)

This is the story of hubris.

When I moved into the family home after Mom died, her set-up of the Playmobil Victorian Mansions (both now sold) included a "mews" of three two-story Tudor-style cottages built from 1980s medieval play sets. These were a fondly remembered part of my teens, and I was glad to see them. The cottages became fixtures of the annual Christmas diorama.

Here we see Santa's workshop and garage, the large-animal vet's office, and a musical quintet of Santas.

This worked really well, and the small additional plastic bins of parts meant it would be possible to change configurations. Yay, success!

Then I insisted on opening the door at the back of the coat closet, which does not lead to Narnia. It led to where the 'rents had been squirreling away train cars and Playmobil sets. Dad instantly said "sell" for most of it, and I did so.

Where I balked at the hurdle was in discovering two bankers boxes of medieval parts. I should have said: "Oh well, I already have all the parts I need" and sold them. Instead I said: "Maybe there's something cool in here!"

And then, to make it worse, I mixed parts from the boxes with parts from the original bins when I built a temporary home for the Lil Bratz. I now have such bad chaos that I couldn't motivate myself to construct the Christmas diorama this year.

If I simply unbuild the Althaus and sort the parts, I still have "too many" to feel comfortably creative. So I've starting going through the Playmobil DB files on medieval buildings to identify what kinds of features and configurations I'd like to be able to build for this year's diorama.

Separating them back into their constituent sets is no use: the only set I distinctly remember by name is the Town Hall, which is great fun but too tall for the bookshelves where the diorama goes.

My list at this point is:

Double house with some extra walls so it can be separated into two singles (example)

1.5-bay house (example)

Building to be a cafe (example, example)

Tower (example)

Now I'm going to sit with this idea and see if I still like it when it's not fresh.

[smallerplaces]

Electric (day 12 of @look-back-month-challenge) originally had me stumped because I never electrify dollhouses. Except the one time I did -- The Great Pumpkin coffeehouse. It's lit by a string of miniature holiday lights. It comes out for Halloween and usually lingers all the way through the Playmobil Christmas Market.

Here's a view with flash. I set this up hastily in a room with no windows, so pardon the wires.

Most of the Playmobil is from my parents' collection, but a couple years ago, I bought the hipster, who comes with an ebike and charging station. The Great Pumpkin is the pumpkin equivalent of those giant orange drink stands that used to be all over California.

Giant Orange Stands of California - Weird California

Giant Orange Stands use to dot the highways of California dispensing orange juice to thirsty motorists.

[hlootooart]

Newest Photo Manipulation! I edited all the faces save the dudes with the glasses. Because clearly they’re too cool for that!

[hlootooart]

Thought I'd try some photo manipulation!

[collectingmanysmiles-blog]

When you’re a short person and a tall friend needs comforting and you’ll do anything you can to comfort them despite your lack of height! 

[littlesmilingfaces]

A taste of things to come!

A new toywiz order arrived today.