Welcome to the Playmobil Playland, where we take a peek inside those impressive blue boxes and see what treasures await within. Sometimes we’ll have step-by-step photos walking you through assembly, maybe we’ll discuss and review a particular set or theme, or maybe we’ll have an unboxing video.
Playmobil has added two new sets to their Back to the Future line-up, further cementing its place in my mind and heart as the best line of Playmobil toys! This time around, they’ve added sets from both Back to the Future and Back to the Future Part II. (I’m still holding out hope for a Back to the Future Part III train).
Specs
Back to the Future Marty’s Pickup Truck
- Product Number: 70633
- Number of pieces: 35
- Number of figures: 3 – 1985 versions of Marty, Jennifer, and Biff from the end of the film
- Extras required: n/a
Back to the Future Part II Hoverboard Chase
- Product Number: 70634
- Number of pieces: 80
- Number of figures: 4 – 2015 versions of Marty and Doc, along with Griff Tannen and a Police Officer
- Extras required: n/a
Ease of Build
On a scale of 1-5, both of these sets are about a 1.5. The majority of pieces in both of these sets are accessories, so the only pieces that bump it from a 1 to a 1.5 are putting the connectors in for the sidewalk and putting the tires onto the wheels (those are always a little finicky but never too difficult).
Coolest Features
While it comes with the BTTFII hoverboard set, one of my favorite pieces included is a Mr. Fusion piece that is actually for the Delorean playset I previously reviewed. I love the attention to detail that allows modifying the Delorean to match the rest of the set!
Now, as a kid, I wasn’t a big fan of trucks, so Marty’s love and desire of this pickup was one of the things that never really struck a chord with my in the films as much as I loved them. That being said, it seems hard to imagine a complete line of Back to the Future Playmobil toys with out it! My absolute favorite part of this set is the spray bottle and cloth for Biff to ensure the truck is clean and ready to go for Marty and Jennifer. One other cool feature of this set that I’ve not seen before in any other playsets, is the way Jennifer’s purse works. We have a TON of accessories in our Playmobil collection including a bunch of purses, but none that work like this. The purse has a handle to put into the figures hand while the strap is just exactly the right length and size to look like the purse is actually handing from her shoulder (which would just immediately fall off without the handle). It’s a very subtle, yet genius little design addition that I can sincerely appreciate.
Now on to the Back to the Future Part II set – where to begin?! For being a relatively small set, Playmobil managed to pack a ton of details in to ensure every memory was tugged when building and playing with it. All of the figures clothing is detailed to the film (with the odd exception of Marty’s shoes, but I think we can all guess why that might be), including the unforgettable meat grinder helmet on Griff and the polychromatic baseball cap Marty wears. Several street signs make us recall the Jaws 19 hologram, Goldie, and the $39 million dollar car (because inflation and capitalism, right?) The center piece of the part is a thin, translucent pond for Marty and Griff to fly over. And of course the futuristic license plate and Sports Almanac are required accessories! The police cycle is a fun addition, though with the side panels open I can’t help but think of it flying a la the Thunderhawk from M.A.S.K. which I’m fairly certain never happened in the film.
And of course, I saved the best for last. I don’t know a single kid at my school who didn’t pretend to fly around on their own hoverboard after Back to the Future Part II came out. Those hoverboards captured everyone’s imagination and yet here in 2021, 6 years after the movie takes place, the closest thing we have are misnomered hoverboards with big wheels still accepting gravity. While I imagine a bigger, more expensive set could have done something akin to the magnetic dancing ice skaters for the hoverboards, the Playmobil solution for them in a smaller set like this is still pretty cool – the hoverboard details are printed on to ensure they look spot on (and I’m glad for it because those are definitely stickers that would get beat up pretty fast), they have transparent foot pegs to hold the figures on without being obvious, and, for when they are being displayed, they also include a transparent round pedestal to give the illusion of floating. My only real negative to mention here is that the pedestals for the hoverboards do not snap into place so they take a little bit of practice to get the board and figure balanced properly and are pretty easy to knock off so keep that in mind for deciding where and how to display these.
While our current technology still pales to what we were ‘promised’ in Back to the Future Part II, the included lenticular postcard showing how Marty changed the future is pretty dang cool!
These two new sets are a perfect addition to the Playmobil Back to the Future line, and I can’t wait to see what they add next! (I’m looking at you train!)
Disclosure: This Playmobil set was provided free of charge for review purposes. All opinions remain our own.
