In a 1997 October 7 interview with Ruth Walker of the Christian Science Monitor, Hans Beck, the creator of Playmobil, talks about first making toys for his eight younger siblings. His (then) favorite Playmobil item was the pirate ship. He says that you have to have fingerspitzengefuhl, a German word meaning “a special sensitivity in your fingertips”, when producing historically accurate figures that comply with modern views of what’s politically correct.