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keekeeree · Dec 13, 2002, 06:52 PM

Some of the "toys" available at JCPenney this holiday season...

The Camouflage Tent Set:

F*ck if my kid's going to be carrying around a bazooka Christmas morning...

Forward Command Post:

Happy Holidays! As you're all snuggled into your pajamas and safe home, you can play with an American soldier occupying the bombed out home of a not-so-fortunate family...

So call me an over-sensitive tree-hugging pacifist if you want, but glorifying war to our children is wrong.

[edit]typo[/edit]

nonhuman · Dec 13, 2002, 06:53 PM

I'm not sure it's glorifying war to give kids a bombed out shell of a dollhouse...

That being said, I have no problem with these toys at all.

The Dude · Dec 13, 2002, 06:54 PM

Sign of the times we live in.

I don't like any bit of it.

euphras · Dec 13, 2002, 07:05 PM

It�s just sick, sign o�the times as mentioned...

thunderous_funker · 07:16 PM

It certainly bothers me.

War might be necessary. It might be the obligation to freedom. But that is far cry from glorifying it and making it a children's plaything.

There may be honor in defeding freedom and fighting for what's right, but no glory.

<edit to change "there is honor" to "there may be honor">

::maroma:: · Dec 13, 2002, 07:11 PM

That Forward Command Post sickens me the most. I mean, it's one thing to have a tent and a plastic bazooka. It's another thing to have a bombed out house posing as a great place to set up camp after you've torn it to shreds from 100 miles away. I wonder if there are decals of body parts on the walls.

This sh!t makes me never want to have kids.

juanvaldes · Dec 13, 2002, 07:13 PM

I got a news flash for you guys, I had the same toys when I was a little kid.
Boy = GI Joe aka Guns
Girls = Barbi aka Fashion

Wonder if you can get any other flag then the US one with that tent though

gerbnl · Dec 13, 2002, 07:14 PM

The part that worries me is that this stuff actually sells... even at chrismas.

rampant · Dec 13, 2002, 07:18 PM

Pardon my french, but that shit is fucked. There's no other way to describe that. Someone had to think of that, and to go through with it, someone had to put LOTS of money and time into it. So who payed? I have a guess.

voodoo · Dec 13, 2002, 07:21 PM

If there is a market for this, fine. Personally, I'd never buy that for anyone. I wouldn't even have wanted this as a kid.

::maroma:: · Dec 13, 2002, 07:23 PM

Originally posted by juanvaldes:
I got a news flash for you guys, I had the same toys when I was a little kid.
Boy = GI Joe aka Guns
Girls = Barbi aka Fashion

Wonder if you can get any other flag then the US one with that tent though

This is true. I don't know if it's because there weren't any wars when I was growing up, but this seems to hit a little to close to reality (referring to the Command Post). I mean, I see stuff like that on TV, houses reduced to rubble, and families now homeless, usually missing some family members. I'm trying to think if any of my GI Joes were as graphic as this. I guess there were a couple enemies that were Russian (Cold War era).

Anyway, for some reason, that Command Post just rubs me the wrong way. The tent is acceptable. I mean, couldn't they have made a Command Post out of sand bags and military style tents? Why did they have to use a bombed out home? It's just not right.

juanvaldes · Dec 13, 2002, 07:27 PM

Originally posted by ::maroma:::

This is true. I don't know if it's because there weren't any wars when I was growing up, but this seems to hit a little to close to reality (referring to the Command Post). I mean, I see stuff like that on TV, houses reduced to rubble, and families now homeless, usually missing some family members. I'm trying to think if any of my GI Joes were as graphic as this. I guess there were a couple enemies that were Russian (Cold War era).

Anyway, for some reason, that Command Post just rubs me the wrong way. The tent is acceptable. I mean, couldn't they have made a Command Post out of sand bags and military style tents? Why did they have to use a bombed out home? It's just not right.

you definatly don't have to like it, I just wanted to point out that this is nothing new. Every christmas I would get some new gun or something for me and my friends to play war with

But we didn't have any fancy plastic tents, we built our own out of wood, a real tent or our imagination.

Landos Mustache · Dec 13, 2002, 07:41 PM

The American flag on top says it all.

rampant · Dec 13, 2002, 07:42 PM

Originally posted by Landos Mustache:
The American flag on top says it all.

Landos Mustache · Dec 15, 2002, 04:51 AM

Originally posted by rampant:

Something you wanted to say

Mac Zealot · Dec 15, 2002, 05:00 AM

I can't say anything but LOL, that's just rediculous

Cipher13 · Dec 15, 2002, 05:16 AM

No prob with the first thing.

The second is a bit disturbing... a bombed out house... but it's nothing I'd give a second thought to.

But... I digress. I don't have an opinion on this. It would require too much thought, and I'm not in the mood for that right now. Maybe later.

simonjames · Dec 15, 2002, 05:20 AM

What happened Ciph? Fry too many braincells in the post exams parties?

As to the toys - I don't like them - you don't like them - don't buy them. End of story

Kenneth · Dec 15, 2002, 05:21 AM

Whose idead was it? Must be from a thick-headed ***. I found it as a joke. Crazy Americans.

shanraghan · Dec 15, 2002, 05:38 AM

The toys wouldn't be so bad if it hadn't been for the obvious political/moral message being sent here. That kid's got a cool gun, but on a subtle (or not-so-subtle level) the whole thing is just glorifying this 'war against terrorism' that's going on. I just hope the kids who buy this are too innocent to realize the implications of what they're playing with, or else they may get some really messed up ideas in their heads. Of course, they'd probably get those in their heads anyway.

Though I can't say we're quite as bad as the terrorists we aren't altogether dissimilar: from a young age they are taught to hate us, and likewise many of us are teaching our own to hate them and glorify their destruction. If the ideas suggested by this kind of product grow to fruition in peoples minds--as they have and likely will continue to--there shall always be terrorism. That is, of course, assuming that the kids have the sophistication to understand what these toys mean. Of course, it's more likely that what they hear on the news and what their parents say determine what form the next bout of coboys and indians take. These same toys played with again a few generations down the line will have an entirely different meaning. I assume, then, that perhaps we overestimate the influence these toys will have on kids. Regardless, what is perhaps more sickening than the actual influence is the fact that it seems that there are those who wish to instill such ignoble ideas in the minds of children. In the end, however, the tent and dollhouse won't be the primary factors determing the child's temperment or excess or lack of patriotism. It'll just be a tent, gun and dollhouse, and another generation yet again learning to deal with the world in the same old ways, and in new ways.

Yes, it does look like I changed my mind mid-post. Perhaps I did, I can't quite tell. I'm still not about to go back and edit it for consistency.

korn · Dec 15, 2002, 05:47 AM

I just bought the Forward Command Post for my son. For his twin sister I bought some Barbie dolls. I have to remeber to remove some legs and arms of those dolls, so they can play together. Under the christmas tree.

Next year, when he will get bored with his Forward Command Post, we will use it as cr�che (crib)

deekay1 · Dec 15, 2002, 10:57 AM

Originally posted by keekeeree:

ahhhhhhhhh bwahahahahahaa *lol*
it's the "white trash militia dollhouse" *g*

Zimphire · Dec 15, 2002, 10:59 AM

Originally posted by juanvaldes:
I got a news flash for you guys, I had the same toys when I was a little kid.
Boy = GI Joe aka Guns
Girls = Barbi aka Fashion

Wonder if you can get any other flag then the US one with that tent though

You know I was thinking the SAME thing. They had the same stuff when I was a kid. Nothing has changed.

deekay1 · Dec 15, 2002, 11:08 AM

Originally posted by juanvaldes:
Wonder if you can get any other flag then the US one with that tent though

oh i'm sure you could get one with a "swastika" if you asked the "right" people

Spliffdaddy · Dec 15, 2002, 11:19 AM

Yeah. um. that's just awful.

Here in the south we give our kids real guns.

a plastic bazooka is for European sissy kids.

fromthecloud · Dec 15, 2002, 12:07 PM

Dang...I want one of those...

Roxie · Dec 15, 2002, 12:15 PM

Just a few words people... LIGHTEN THE F**K UP!

ringo · Dec 15, 2002, 12:47 PM

The bombed-out dollhouse is kind of disturbing. We never had urban warfare toys when we were kids.

"Sleep well little Timmy, and remember, your sister's bedroom makes a perfect mortar station if the end times come. Nightey-night"

driven · Dec 15, 2002, 12:57 PM

OH yeah ... we *NEVER* had toy solders when we were kids.

As for the "command post" ... wow ... they found a way to sell dollhouses to males ....
(In all honesty, it looks like some homes I've seen in Alabama ...)

Zimphire · Dec 15, 2002, 01:08 PM

Originally posted by ringo:
The bombed-out dollhouse is kind of disturbing. We never had urban warfare toys when we were kids.

When you are a kid, and are playing "war" ALL "war" toys are urban wafare toys.

ringo · Dec 15, 2002, 01:15 PM

Originally posted by Zimphire:

When you are a kid, and are playing "war" ALL "war" toys are urban wafare toys.

I never thought about it that way. There was always a mental detachment from the setting when I played war and the reality of where I lived.

A child of the 80s, I played with GI Joe, and ran through the woods with friends playing war...but the games never made home feel like a place where war could happen.

Maybe just a sign of the times.