Denuding our boys' toys

The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review ^ | Sunday, November 30, 2003 | Dimitri Vassilaros

[azcap]

From my own childhood experience croquet mallets make a nice submachine gun. And they usually comes in sets of 4 or 6 so you can have good game of war. The only problem is when the battle gets heated and brother says he "got you" when he clearly "missed me." At that heated point you sometimes realize you're really holding a machine gun buth rather a large wooden hammer and then the bloodshed begins.

[templar]

The do-gooders are concerned that violence is being marketed to kids as fun and entertaining.

That's because it is. I'll take The Terminator over Driving Miss Daisy any day.

[dandelion]

Pshaw - in my day we did not have crocquet mallets for machine guns. (Primarily because we did not think of it.)

We did, however, have peanut-butter-and-jelly samwiches which could be bitten into the SHAPE of a handgun; these have the added advantage of being used as survival supplies when you are stranded on a desert island in the middle of the backyard...

[Dr. Eckleburg]

I bet "Harry Potter" toys top their list of favorites.

[Cronos]

These folks are dopes, males need action. That doesn't mean that we're not cultured too. Hey, I betcha Beethoven would have enjoyed a game of football too!

[Moonmad27]

Good article. These do-gooders will never stop, despite lifetimes of proof that toys don't turn kids into homicidal maniacs. When I was a kid (a girl), I owned a toy snub-nosed 38 that now I realize was incredibly realistic, like toy guns all were back then; it sat in full view in the back window of the car all the way from Texas to California (try doing that today!). To my disappointment, the plastic gun warped in the desert sun, but playing with it didn't warp me - I've never used a real gun in my life.

[Flux Capacitor]

Up yours, Lion and Lamb. I live for Transformers and the Terminator.

This makes me furious. It's people like this who've ensured that one of my favorite childhood Transformers - MEGATRON - will never be reissued in America, even though most of the other original toys are currently being reissued. Why won't Megatron ever again see the shelves of Toys "R" Us? Why, just look for yourself:



-Dan

[MoralSense]

Gotcha beat. I had a wonderfully realistic two gun and holster set from Mattel (still have it in the closet). The guns were exact replicas of the Colt Peacemaker. As I result, my great-granddad's real Colt Peacemaker fit right in the holster, and I used to practice quick draws with it -- which made me darned quick with the toy guns, I can tell you.

[Bogey78O]

I bought my nephew a Red Ryder BB gun for Christmas and a toy crossbow.

[Flux Capacitor]

He'll shoot his eye out.

-Dan

[Jennifer in Florida]

Speaking of toys.. I'm currently searching for Christmas ideas for my 12 year old nephew. Anybody know what to buy a 12 year old boy? Help!

[Pete'sWife]

We got our son a paintball gun.

Take THAT, Lion & Lamb!!!

[Moonmad27]

That gun looks virtually exactly like the toy "Man from Uncle Special" from the 60's, which was also based on a Walther P 38. A few years back I bought a realistic toy UNCLE metal gun in London and brought it home in my luggage on British Airways; can't even think how I could get such a rare find home today!

[Inyo-Mono]

I am glad that our kids play with guns, tanks, bombers and battleships -- as toys or in video games. It helps prepare them to protect our country when they grow up.

I have been skeet shooting since I was a teenager. A great skill to have in case we are ever invaded by tiny flying saucers.

[Blue Collar Christian]

"...playing with it didn't warp me-I've never used a real gun in my life."

Would you then be considered warped if you had used a real gun in your life?

[MWS]

Well crap. I NEVER got my Megatron toy and am as bitter as can be...
(the worst part is that I somehow LOST my original Optimus Prime figure... now THAT hurts!)

[Blue Collar Christian]

Try as she might, my wife has a hard time getting me to a chick flick. I won't go to the opera or any musicals either. She knows better than to force the issue.

Of course, I don't make her go deep sea fishing or hunting with me.

That makes me an undesirable man? And all because I played violent games as a kid?

BTW, my wife will shoot the intruder of our house with her trusty P89 and ask questions later, though she didn't play violent games growing up. I hope that doesn't mess up anyone's junk science.

[chipengineer]

>I bet "Harry Potter" toys top their list of favorites.

You must have never read a Potter book. Plenty of good guy verses bad guy violence.

[Katya]

"From my own childhood experience croquet mallets make a nice submachine gun"

Good for you. My criticism of most childrens toys is how they rob them of their own imaginative play. Neither of my children watched television before grade school, so I was in complete control of their toys. My son in particular, would "hear" about action figures, but could not understand the context they were referring to.
My kids played with wooden figures like knights, kings and dwarves, and had them fight over the conquest of castles and forts. Real logs and tree stumps with which to build child size structures, sticks made into swords, and later guns....that's real play without censorship of the imagination.