Members pencil-in Posted April 3, 2009 Members Share Posted April 3, 2009 http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/7978848.stm do toys really need to be this realistic? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members driverhasabomb Posted April 3, 2009 Members Share Posted April 3, 2009 Yeah it makes them cool. You want them to look like Gumby? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Sunsetcarcrash Posted April 3, 2009 Members Share Posted April 3, 2009 Im pretty sure in America we have had toys this realistic, if not more, and this violent, if not more for many years... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Gunner Recall Posted April 3, 2009 Members Share Posted April 3, 2009 I don't have much of a problem with it...toys are seriously effing cheesy these days. If they tossed in a ninja or two and some kinda snake themed enemy I'd be sold. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members L6Sguy Posted April 3, 2009 Members Share Posted April 3, 2009 Im pretty sure in America we have had toys this realistic, if not more, and this violent, if not more for many years... using america as a proof of anything these days is a somewhat slippery slope. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Turd Furgison Posted April 3, 2009 Members Share Posted April 3, 2009 i hope the leader of the good guys has an eye patch! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Sunsetcarcrash Posted April 3, 2009 Members Share Posted April 3, 2009 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members NetStar Posted April 3, 2009 Members Share Posted April 3, 2009 They look pretty bitchcoat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jlantsberger Posted April 3, 2009 Members Share Posted April 3, 2009 Psh, behind the times. Here in the states, we've also got recruitment video games. http://www.americasarmy.com/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Turd Furgison Posted April 3, 2009 Members Share Posted April 3, 2009 even halliburton got in on the action Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Sunsetcarcrash Posted April 3, 2009 Members Share Posted April 3, 2009 Psh, behind the times. Here in the states, we've also got recruitment video games. http://www.americasarmy.com/ And the dont even try to be sneaky about it... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members b_nehpets Posted April 3, 2009 Members Share Posted April 3, 2009 looks like robo. and rob zombie. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Loxley Posted April 3, 2009 Members Share Posted April 3, 2009 It's no doubt that things like this dull the horror of war in a child's mind. You grow up playing with your military action figures, often times, war won't become such a horrible thing as you 'played' it in your childhood. It only makes sense. When something becomes commonplace for you in your childhood, you won't be so appalled, shocked, or aware of similar or related elements in the future, and in fact, you're probably a hell of a lot more likely to join the military since the prospect of it was so much fun for you as a child, subconsciously or not. It's really sad to see parents buy kids all this stuff, I'm really glad my parents didn't, a lot of my friends who grew up on this stuff ended up being a bunch of pro-war, thoughtless, ignorant, selfish assholes. For the record, G.I. Joe has been selling in the US since 1964, and they've had the same exact idea, selling extremely accurate toy soldiers. That's nothing new here in the states, and it's not hard to see how much of an affect it has had here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members big_cat Posted April 3, 2009 Members Share Posted April 3, 2009 why don't these toy companies make a john lennon doll? i'd buy a bowie one instantly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members RadioSilence Posted April 3, 2009 Members Share Posted April 3, 2009 For the record, G.I. Joe has been selling in the US since 1964, and they've had the same exact idea, selling extremely accurate toy soldiers. That's nothing new here in the states, and it's not hard to see how much of an affect it has had here. in the article it says: "Many children relish military themed toys. But is a new range of Action Man-style figurines sold by the Ministry of Defence a harmless plaything or an inappropriate recruitment tool? In 2006, an era ended for a fuzzy-headed, scar-faced, eagle-eyed object of childish affection. Hasbro Toys ended production of Action Man in Britain after more than 30 years in which he had been the boy's toy of choice. " GI Joe was marketed in britain as Action Man (GI not being a common term here) so yeah, we've had it since the 60s too, but they stopped selling them... but now the government is Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members L6Sguy Posted April 3, 2009 Members Share Posted April 3, 2009 why don't these toy companies make a john lennon doll? i'd buy a bowie one instantly. in before queuing starts for greenwood & yorke dolls. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Loxley Posted April 3, 2009 Members Share Posted April 3, 2009 in the article it says: "Many children relish military themed toys. But is a new range of Action Man-style figurines sold by the Ministry of Defence a harmless plaything or an inappropriate recruitment tool? In 2006, an era ended for a fuzzy-headed, scar-faced, eagle-eyed object of childish affection. Hasbro Toys ended production of Action Man in Britain after more than 30 years in which he had been the boy's toy of choice. " GI Joe was marketed in britain as Action Man (GI not being a common term here) so yeah, we've had it since the 60s too, but they stopped selling them... but now the government is Ahh, I had no idea they were the same. Wow. That is lame. Again, not surprised really. Like the link was posted earlier, the US government is really keeping up with the times, they're releasing video games as recruitment tools. I used to play America's Army myself, gotta admit, it's very well-made. It's kinda funny how you can only be an American soldier in the game (or indigenous ally), and the other team always appears to be a bunch of terrorists and vice versa. It probably makes joining the military even easier since there's a rigorous in-game training for practically everything related to US Army infantry that's required to be taken before you can play, and they constantly released new training sessions before you could play new maps. The kids are learning military techniques on how to kill in the comfort of their homes nowadays. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members cobalt-60 Posted April 3, 2009 Members Share Posted April 3, 2009 Yeah it makes them cool. You want them to look like Gumby? Personally, I'm not sure which is more eff'd up. Oh, I know, hooker babies! They got "a passion for fashion"... Stay classy, America. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members RUExp? Posted April 3, 2009 Members Share Posted April 3, 2009 Remember these? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members RadioSilence Posted April 3, 2009 Members Share Posted April 3, 2009 i used to have loads of little 1:72 scale soldiers i used to play with at my grandparents' while my grandad told me stories about the evacuation at dunkirk. i used to lap it up, i had tons of Commando comics too. but i've turned out ok, and pretty much a pacifist.i still love war movies though, and have loads of history books about WWII, i find it really interesting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members cobalt-60 Posted April 3, 2009 Members Share Posted April 3, 2009 It's no doubt that things like this dull the horror of war in a child's mind. You grow up playing with your military action figures, often times, war won't become such a horrible thing as you 'played' it in your childhood. That's the thing I think is so dangerous about this stuff, it makes war seem like a perfectly good and simple way to solve disputes. This whole, we're good, they're bad, and we'll just blow them up until the problem goes away, thing. I'm not so worried about the kids as much as the adults they grow up to be, the leaders they elect and the causes they support. However, it is a small part of a much larger culture of aggression and willful ignorance combined with a high school education that doesn't really teach you much about the real world. You take that out of the picture, and pretend violence isn't so bad. I'd rather them do something else, but it isn't really dangerous. I'd rather it be made into a game or something, even if it was with lasers and helicopters, and bombs, to take away from the idea of it being about conflict resolution. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Z_Zoquis Posted April 3, 2009 Members Share Posted April 3, 2009 I'm calling a bit of BS here. I'd like to see the evidence that toy soldiers turn kids into militaristic zombies. I played with toy soldiers throughout my childhood and owned a pretty huge collection of very realistic diecast models and so forth. I'm no militant. Neither are any of my friends. However, there are large swathes of the planet where, instead of playing toy soldiers, children are forced to become soldiers. Frankly, I'd rather my kids just played with the toys. The US may have an enourmous military, but I'd argue they've shown a reasonable amount of restraint over the year sin actually deploying that military. They've got the capability to do one hell of a lot more damge than they have if they were to choose to do so. Anyone care to wonder what kinda shape things might be in if one or two middle Eastern nations had an arsenal of nukes laying about? (cue Iraq WMD jokes) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members chaosStrings Posted April 3, 2009 Members Share Posted April 3, 2009 I was a big fan of military aviation and navy when I was a kid. I had tons of books and realistic scale models I used to play with. I also had an interest in the history of WWI and WWII, when these weapons were invented, developed and used. Does this give me now a "duller" vision of war and its atrocities? No, it may even help me understand it better.Did this turn me into a weapon lover? No, I have never touched one, apart rom a kitchen knife ... I believe that trying to find a correlation between these new toys and the psychological development of a child is useless, as it analyzes only a tiny part of the issue. It is a bit like blaming computer games and music for shootings in schools ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members chaosStrings Posted April 3, 2009 Members Share Posted April 3, 2009 That's the thing I think is so dangerous about this stuff, it makes war seem like a perfectly good and simple way to solve disputes. This whole, we're good, they're bad, and we'll just blow them up until the problem goes away, thing. In my opinion/experience action figures did actually the opposite! Not only you had to create fantasy scenarios when battling with your friends, but also you had to convince your "opponent" that your AF was better and would win ... So, instead of promoting violence, it kinda developed rhetoric and dialectic! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members zachary vex Posted April 3, 2009 Members Share Posted April 3, 2009 "The problem is they contribute to the idea that guns are normal in our society, and also that they are glamorous and desirable instead of being lethal machines that are designed to kill human beings," says Louise Rimmer, from the International Action Network on Small Arms. "So if you encourage a child to experience guns in this way, you are storing up problems for later when the child is an adolescent, and may well encounter a real firearm. In which case the consequences can be devastating." Just a little reality check: I grew up with cap guns, miniature plastic machine guns, bb guns... every damned kind of gun you could have as a kid. As an adult, I have no interest in guns. Never owned one, don't even remember holding one in my hands. What's up with that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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