This Special Edition Samurai Knows Iaido

It looks like Playmobil has noticed the success of Lego's limited edition mini figure series because they have got in on the action themselves. The first ones I saw were the Euro 2012 and Olympic figures, but the one that caught my eye was the samurai figure. For the low price of $3.49, I couldn't resist adding one to my knick knack collection.

While it might be unfair to judge a toy in the historical accuracy department, Playmobil's designers did a good job getting the small details right. The samurai's armour has a nice braided effect and there's even a throat guard. The helmet looks more like something a daimyo might have worn though. If they had included a war fan with the figure I would have assumed that they were going for the daimyo look in the first place.

Overall, they did such a good job of it that the figure's standard Playmobil smile looks more menacing than cute when he's wielding all that weaponry. Speaking of the weapons, it would have been nicer if the two swords were of different lengths even if it would have added to the production costs. The only real misstep is with the front holster slot for the sword that makes it look like he wants to slice his own foot off.

Anyway, that's enough talk out of me. Check out this little guy's quick draw!