FOX POINT — Tucked away in a Fox Point basement, one woman has amassed an impressive collection.
“I could have dreamed it, but I didn’t know it would happen," Julie Olson said.
She is talking about both the size of her Playmobil collection and the size of her following.
Olson has collected thousands upon thousands upon thousands of Playmobile pieces. She has everything from planes to whales to people to plates to flip-flops to hats to boats to horses and more.
"I don't know I think Playmobil is just so cool. It's so different and fun. And I love the little tiny pieces," Olson said.
As her collection grew, so did the community of people around her. Olson runs the account Mommy Plays Playmobil on Facebook. For the past four years, the Fox Point realtor and mom has posted funny scenes using Playmobil sets to her more than 4,000 followers.
Scenes depict current events like the boat stuck in Lake Michigan or the time flamingos ended up in Port Washington. Or, the scenes include her most popular character, Ed. He is inspired by our collective frustration with construction that seemingly takes forever, is always delayed, and makes our drives harder - especially on I-43. He is a representation of "is this construction ever going to end?"
Here is an example of one of her posts.
One of the construction companies working on I-43 was actually tagged by a Mommy plays Playmobile follower. Olson said the company took it in stride.
“They found good humor in it. They said, ‘Haha, no offense taken.’”
Her favorite scenes to make are the ones that reflect our daily lives. She showcases the ups and downs we all face with jobs, parenting, with our significant others, friendships, and more.
“(Life) can be stressful and scary and weird sometimes and tough, so you have to laugh about it," she said.
It's kind of like she is a painter depicting everyday life except she uses Playmobil.
"Yea, like Norman Rockwell," she joked.
Here's another example of one of her posts.
Olson has cultivated a community of people who buy bumper stickers and follow along for every post. The material is real and relatable with a touch of humor.
This collection of Playmobil sets, pieces, and figurines started naturally. She would buy them for her three kids. Then as they grew out of the toys, she began to sell them online. She would set up the pieces in fun ways, take a picture, and post it to a North Shore mom's Facebook page. The plan backfired on her.
Instead of being able to sell the pieces, the community thought her posts were great and funny. They encouraged her to make a page dedicated just to her Playmobil scenes. That started in earnest in 2020 during the COVID-19 Pandemic. Since then, she has taken her collection to a whole new level. She has rare pieces from all over the world like Austria, Thailand, and the United Kingdom.
"I love that people are sharing the excitement and the fun of this. And that they're laughing along with me. I'm glad that people understand my sense of humor. I value the group as a whole," Olson said.
All of this is a little weird. Olson gets that. But she isn't worried about that. Life is too short to be boring.
“I am weird, man. Let your freak flag fly. There’s no shame in this game," she said.
See more of Julie Olson's impressive Playmobil collection...
For all the fun Olson has been having, this collection has also been therapeutic. Her brother Josh died a few years ago. She found refuge in the collection.
"I processed a lot of the grieving that we've done over the last few years from Josh’s death in Mommy plays Playmobil," she said.
This grew into something she never anticipated, and she's happy about that.
As far as the collection goes, Olson doesn't have any plans to break a world record. She won't join the likes of her Wisconsin counterparts who have Guinness World records for their Winnie the Pooh or Smurf collections. Instead, she will stay more like the Indiana Jones collector from Sheboygan - the collection will grow but not in an official capacity.
“It makes me so happy. I just—it's so wonderful. It’s so fun.”
After all, it's not about the Playmobil pieces, it's about the feelings they give Olson and her community.
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