Hans Beck was the designer of the Playmobil figurines. He designed the figures as part of the response to the 1970s oil crisis that was making larger plastic toys more expensive. The sturdy action figures encouraged imaginative play that became a success after they debuted in 1974. He died near Lake Constance in southern Germany where he had moved following his retirement in 1998. He was 79 years old.

Beck was born in 1929 in Thuringia, Germany. He trained as a cabinet maker, then was hired as a toy developer at Brandstatter in 1958. He rose to the position of head of design, creating piggy banks, child size tractors, and plastic phones and in ’71 he began working on the Playmobil line.

It became too expensive for Brandstatter to make large plastic toys during the oil crisis of the ‘70s. They asked Beck to design a toy system with interlocking parts that could be built on. His figures were under 3 inches tall and fit well in children’s hands and had moveable arms and legs and they wore snap-on clothing. The original plastic figures included a knight, a construction worker, and a Native American. They were unveiled at the Nuremberg Toy Fair in 1974, and despite the fact that it did not see much success, one Dutch company ordered a year’s worth. Since then over 2 billion figures have been sold all over the world in 70 countries, and have expanded to include fairies, knights, Vikings, and more.