[DrunkSmurf]

Was 2002/2004 the beginning of Schleiches themed release?

2002 - Marching band
2004 - Football
2005 - Classic
2006 - Halloween

Most years seem unthemed.

I remember getting easter-bunny smurf and smurfette in the mid-eighties, but don't remember whether it was part of the regular release. It seems they came out separately, specificly for Easter.

Did those Easter Six (the painter, smurf eating chocolate egg, baby in egg, et cetera) come out as an Easter special, or were they the year's series?

What about the historicals?

[Rachel]

Hi Tim, great minds think alike!! I had this very same thought last night.

I am currently going through our collection, redoing photos and adding new arrivals. For a change, I decided to work backwards and have so far got to the 1999 smurfs. Well, last night I was trying to work out exactly what you thought - when did the themes start?

I think you are right Tim, the themes did seem to start with the Marching Band smurfs in 2002. 2003 saw the New Generation and although there is the exceptions of the new basketball smurf and the hippie, the others all seem to be very modern looking. Then 2004, 2005 and 2006 all have very obvious themes.

Before 2002, I can't really see a theme for a year which included all the new releases although there are quite a few pairs that have been released eg. snowboarders, disco, horse riding, caveman, bridal etc.

I wonder if the themes are going to continue? I suppose in many ways, it is easier to work with a theme when trying to decide what should be made. It will be interesting to see.

What about the historicals?

The Historicals are a good example of an older theme but I would say these are an additional set as there were also quite a few other different smurfs released the same year.

[Syd Smurf]

There was also the Olympic Super Smurfs...circa 1980...I think?

[Fram]

Yes, this seem to be the first themes. It is striking though that in the eighties, they started to make much more Smurfettes, with some years half of the Smurfs being Smurfettes. And then you have the year with the Smurflings, the year with the animals, the year of the surprise cones, the 1998 musicians, and the year with all the babies...

[Syd Smurf]

I wonder if they would ever make a Peyo Smurf to look like the creator as some type of tribute. I wouldn't mind this even if it was on a base or something different to seperate it from the normal range.

If it was a sockel it could read...Pass the Schtroumpf