Toys R Us Broken over Florida Mom's Petitions

I'd like to say that, as the skinny waif of a dude I am:
I believe that He-Man, Superman, Captain America, all of these super tall super buff guys create unrealistic standards. It's completely unfair that I should be made to feel like less of a man because all the ladies want are the He-Men of the world. There's no way I could ever be that big or buff. The geneticist just aren't there, so, as a man, I say we sue the comic book companies and get more realistic looking super heroes!
I want Fat Cap!
I want tooth pick Superman ... well ... just kill him and be done with it
Men come in all shapes and sizes, please stop objectifying us as nothing but meat and muscle


(The above post was made with complete sarcasm and meant as a parody. The above was not meant to belittle the real affects of sexism and objectification. However, it should be noted, that it does go both ways)

I just want to say.. I read this as.. I want to go to Fat Camp..

I do, but, how to get fat camp, not how to not be fat camp

I can help with that..

Drink Beer, and good Craft beer.. I can guide you through it, also marrying into an Italian family helps..

...like most real bags of meth.

How's the jingle go? I don't want to grow up, I always want to be a Toys-R-Us kid? Guess someone is trying to make adults grow up and get rid of our toys.

"I don't wanna grow up, I'm a Toy-R-Us kid
There's a million toys at Toys-R-Us that I can play with!
From bikes to trains to video games its the greatest toy store there is.
I don't wanna grow up, cause honey, if I did;
I wouldn't be a Toys-R-Us kid!"

This made me think of the the different versions of Amanda Waller. I think the original is supposed to be, for lack of a better word, butch, rigid and militarized. But, her depictions can be anywhere from obese to waif:












(^^^ even IRL, eat something, for Goodness' sake!)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Straw_man

"There's millions, says Geoffrey, all under one roof
Except Breaking Bad, Breaking Bad, Breaking Bad!"

I think you're thinking of "Chuck-E-Cheese, where a kid can be a kid." A lot of Toy Brands have been shifting towards the older collector market for a couple years now as younger kids are growing up in the electronic age and aren't playing with as much toys anymore. Although a lot of them try to continue to cater to everyone. I think here's where we differ on opinion, I don't think toy stores are just for kids anymore. At least no more than Video Game Stores were just for nerds and geeks around 15 years ago.

If you continue with the Hunger Games series, you'll find that they explore the consequences and PTSD inflicted on the "Game's" survivors.


Can someone explain to me where a kid would get the idea that this toy is of a notorious meth dealing maniac?

Edit: Breaking Bad was on AMC, and pretty much used the standard basic cable late night "cussing."

Not sure, what you mean. Where do my points fail?

Didn't read the entire thread, but I would like to point out that Hunger Games (in my opinion) is a sort of protest against entertainment these days by being very gratuitous. Sort of like Jonathan Swift's "A Modest Proposal". He wasn't really wanting to eat Irish babies, it was a satire towards the treatment of the Irish. It, like the Hunger Games, just so happens to have been a smashing success in spite of its efforts to disgust.

I've been in Southeast Germany for the last 3 years and the closest Toys R Us is in Bamburg, about 3 hours away. Not going to lie, I haven't been in one in a while so if they've been rebranding, then I probably missed it. Also, yeah that was Chuck's tagline, my bad. Jeffrey's was "I'm a Toys R Us kid!" Meh, same difference, lol. The one Toys R Us I had back home got renovated into a Babies R
Us, so maybe they just can't make up their minds about who they want to target anymore.

Hunger Games: I dunno, call me an old-fashioned 29-year old, but PTSD just doesn't seem like a topic a bunch of tweens need to dwell on. I guess I miss the days when Harry Potter was what everyone read in school. Of course, I say that then remember the other books we were supposed to read as part of the curriculum ... so #OpenMouth #InsertFoot

As far as your other arguments about the toys themselves, I agree that the toys themselves are pretty harmless. Heck, when I was little and we had My Buddy dolls for both genders of kids, you could probably swap out the boys' doll with a Chucky and the child wouldn't grow up to be a serial killer. But I don't the issue is that the toys will lead kids to try meth; that's just absurd. It's even marginally probable that an interest in the toys would make kids go check out the TV show, but that's not the issue either. I think the issue is still just bad product placement. I mean, sure if Toys R Us is rebranding, like you say (and my lack of knowledge on current events means I can't really dispute that claim), then it's really no big deal as long as the toys stay in a different section of the store aimed for adults.

Reason being, I believe, is that the whole thing opens a floodgate for other adult-themed collectibles. Characters based off horror icons, or overly sexualized female figurines all sitting right next to Ninja Turtles are sure to do something to young minds. I know I've seen Freddy Krueger and Leatherface figures on a sidecap in the G.I. Joe aisle once upon a time. Stuff like that just isn't really a good idea. Are they really that damaging, habit forming, or nightmare inducing? Probably not. It's just a responsibility thing - keep adult stuff away from kids, it's as simple as that.


But it's just different views, and I respect your's. I mean, until I had kids of my own I believed the same stuff. But now that my oldest's (he's 8) desires are changing from impossible things (like wanting to grow up and be a ninja) to more down-to-earth things (he wants to be an engineer), I've come to the realization that imagination and innocence just aren't as powerful, or protected, as I remember them to be. Not saying that Breaking Bad action figures in a Toys R Us will lead to the complete destruction of childhood dreams in America, but I do think that the innocence of kids isn't as revered anymore, and I think this is just one extremely small indication. You may just see a toy on the shelves not doing any harm, but I just can't help but see there's a bigger issue out there.

Sorry to disagree, I just do. But I don't like denying people who want these figures. I think Toys R Us' decision to remove them from both the stores and website was an overreaction. They should have at least been left on the website.

Even though Jason, Freddy, & Leatherface are creepy, gross looking figures and surely look like "bad people." I don't see how a kid would know who they were unless they've seen the movies or someone told them who they were. The only reason that mom made a stink about it was because she watched the show herself. There's just no way a kid would know who Walter White was, even if they stumble upon commercials for the show from time to time. If anything they might have thought it was the guy from Godzilla.





You know why your kid wants to be an engineer?

Robot ninjas.

These dolls by no means should be offered anywhere close to actual kids toys.

As a mother, I can definitely see how kids would be attracted to these dolls - especially the one in the hazmat suit. Kids today live in the information age and that presents many challenges for parents.

My son is really into Minecraft. This interest has drawn him to study geology and game design, both online and in books, on his own time. He's almost 9. Kids know how to use Google and YouTube. I can see a child being given the "cool hazmat guy", take a look at the name on the box, google it, and then voila a plethora of drug-laden, not-for-kids information.

Of course parents do have responsibility, but information is so easily to obtain (and children are taught how to find information in school), that not everything can be avoided. These action figures being offered in the same areas as normal toys presents an unnecessary risk to parents. In many states it is illegal to put naughty magazines at a child's level to protect their innocence. This is the same concept.