Hans Beck Hans Beck Hans Beck (6 May 1929, Greiz – 30 January 2009, Markdorf) was the German inventor of Playmobil toys. He is thus often called "The Father of Playmobil". Born in Greiz, Thuringia, Beck grew up in the town of Zirndorf. He trained as a cabinet maker and made small toy vehicles and figures for his younger siblings. He presented his model airplanes to Horst Brandstätter, owner of local toy company Geobra Brandstätter, who took him on, and asked him to develop toy figures for children. As a hobby Beck built ultra-lightweight model aircraft for flying indoors. He competed in
Batman action figures the up-and-coming toy company, Toy Biz, in 1989. Toy Biz first produced figures for the "Batman" movie tie-in, then released other DC Comics character figures under the name DC Comics Super Heroes, a name that would later be used again by different toy companies (see below). "The Flash" TV series character received a tie-in figure from Toy Biz as well. Also in 1989, the South American toy company Pacipa bought old Super Powers molds to create a line of DC Comics character figures called Super Amigos. Exclusive to South America, all of the figures were reproductions of Super Powers figures,