Welcome to the Playmobil Playroom, 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.

Great Scott! If you’ve been paying attention, you’ve likely noticed that Playmobil has upped their game and gotten some absolutely killer licenses recently. Ghostbusters. How to Train Your Dragon. Scooby-Doo. And now Back to the Future!

If you missed out on the LEGO Delorean, or if it was just too small and delicate for your tastes, then boy oh boy do I have good news for you!

If you’ve ever seen (or held) Playmobil’s Sta-puft Marshmallow Man, ECTO-1, Mystery Machine, Toothless, or any of the other dragons, you know just how amazingly well done they are. You literally couldn’t ask for better (affordable) renditions of the characters and vehicles.

Playmobil’s Back to the Future line has started small – it’s really just one set (plus a couple figures) – but they knocked it out of the park. And our fingers are crossed for more to come! (Dare we dream for a large Clock Tower playset or an 1885 locomotive?)

Delorean with ECTO-1 and Mystery Machine for reference

Specs

Delorean

  • Product Number: 70317
  • Number of Pieces: 64 pieces
  • Number of figures: 3 – 1985 Marty McFly, 1985 Doc Brown, Einstein

1955 Edition

  • Product Number: 70459
  • Number of Pieces: 6 pieces
  • Number of figures: 2 – 1955 Marty McFly, 1955 Doc Brown

Ease of Build

On a scale of 1-5, the Delorean is about a 2. It’s pretty easy; the only tricky parts are affixing the teeny-tiny stickers so they’re straight. The two-figure 1955 set has nothing to put together; both figures come assembled straight out of the box.

Coolest Features

Are you telling me you made a time machine? Out of a Delorean? Come on. What’s NOT cool about this?

  • The Delorean is spot on in its detail. Both doors open up.
  • All four tires swivel down so you can put the Delorean in “flying” mode.
  • Press a button and the blue strips (across the front bumper and around the back) light up, as does the flux capacitor inside the vehicle.
  • The vial of plutonium in the back of the car is removable.
  • Marty comes with a skateboard and video camera.
  • Einstein!

1955 vs 1985 Doc Brown

1955 vs 1985 Marty McFly

Playability

Trust me, you’re going to want to play with this thing. The rubber tires give a VERY satisfying sensation when you channel your inner 6-year-old and run it across the floor. Flip the tires into flight mode, and you’ll wish you could really get it up to 88 mph. Give it to a kid, and they’ll be in 80s heaven.

I really hope we see more sets in this collection. Across the three films, the options really are endless. For now, though, Marty and the Delorean are cruising around with Fred in the Mystery Machine and Venkman in the ECTO-1. They make quite the parade.

Kid Verdict

I won’t lie. I kept and built these myself. These are mine. The kids got the ECTO-1 and Mystery Machine, and pieces of both are now scattered to the winds. The Delorean will remain complete and have a place of honor in my office. But the Big Kid in me gives this one two very enthusiastic thumbs up.

Jamie Greene
Jamie is a publishing/book nerd who makes a living by wrangling words together into some sense of coherence. Away from The Roarbots, Jamie is a road trip aficionado and an obsessed traveler who has made his way through 33 countries (and counting). Elsewhere on the interwebs, he's a contributor to SYFY Wire and StarWars.com and hosted The Great Big Beautiful Podcast for more than five years. Watch The Roarbots on Youtube

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