Toy's to help our kids acclimate to the police state

Here are REAL toys that were REAL educational pieces!




And its companion..




And for those future aviation mechanics...




And yes...even for those future soldiers and sailors of the US military service!!







Fine examples of toys from a creative era now long gone.


They dont make anything like this these days.



Cheers!!!!

[edit on 22-1-2009 by RFBurns]

Originally posted by RFBurns


Fine examples of toys from a creative era now long gone.


They dont make anything like this these days.



Cheers!!!!

of course they do, kids still love making stuff

here's one on amazon, just type engine model toy into google.

[edit on 22/1/09 by pieman]

reply to post by pieman


Ya that one is cool! My son wishes it was visible like the Renwal's.

Revell has a modernized visible V-8 but it doesnt have the lighted spark plugs or electric starter motor, it has a hand crank.

Still these kinds of toys are far better than this check point stuff!! Heh, my kids laughed at it!!



Cheers!!!

[edit on 22-1-2009 by RFBurns]

reply to post by RFBurns


Man, real toys were the best. Models used to be a complicated drawn out process different from building the actual item represented only in scale and functionality. Now a plane is a wing piece slid through a fuselage piece and viola! you've "built" a model plane.

I really miss my steel trucks and tractors. I had this crane that was so freaking sweet all steel with steel cable up the arm and a working mechanism. I used to stack bricks on it to weigh it down so I could lift really heavy stuff with the crane. I suppose bricks are too dangerous now too.

If I gave my kids real metal trucks to play with sooner or later one would cut himself on the jagged teeth of the payloader bucket (as I did a few times) and the government would take them away and charge me with abuse.

reply to post by pieman


$60!!!! WTF!!??

Xbox games cost $60 too. I can imagine a parent giving their kid a choice, model engine or Halo 3? What will todays kid pick?

I have a feeling those models are only bought by nostalgic adults and maybe a handful of gearhead kids.

Haha, are you seriouse? Check points, crime scene investigation, and prison toys? Why would you ever come up with this stuff as entertaining? It was fun to see mommy and daddy frisked at the air port so you want to re-enact it?

reply to post by thisguyrighthere


Those real ones sure were alot of fun to build werent they! I got 3 complete sets of the visible v8 and auto chassis still in their boxes unbuilt, saving them for when my kids have kids and they can be passed down. But I also have one of each that is completely built and still functions today after nearly 35 years of sitting on the display shelf!


Here is another old era model. What do you all think of this one?!!



Some kind of message with this one? Na, just a really cool model during the time of the Cuban missile crisis.

All these models I have shown links to come from the years 1959 through 1970.

Classics through and through!


Cheers!!!!

Originally posted by thisguyrighthere
Xbox games cost $60 too. I can imagine a parent giving their kid a choice, model engine or Halo 3? What will todays kid pick?

that's the biggest part of the problem, when did giving a 14 year old a free choice seem like a good idea.

kids do need to learn to stand on their own feet and make choices but the level of choice available is overwhelming. allowing a free choice like that is irresponsible.

and kids don't even like having that much choice, they naturally narrow it down by taking a lead from their favorite pop star or their peer group or whatever.

don't say "what would you like", say "would you like a visable v8 or would you like mechano". 9 times in 10 they'll choose one or the other and the 10th time it will usually be a request for a visable v6 or lego or something simular to the choices you offered.

When I first saw this, I was absolutely stunned. Great post! It's astonishing to think that these toys could actually be designed and manufactured. Maybe Revell could start making unmarked LearJets for "extraordinary rendition".

But, paradoxically, this thread - or, specifically, the reviews on Amazon - have actually restored my faith in human nature. I actually took the first one seriously for a sentence or two, and then I realised it was the best of the lot! Very dry, very subtle.

If you didn't bother to read the customer reviews, go back and do it. They're absolutely superb. And did you see the "tags associated with this product"? Fascism, new world order,...

Playmobil are clearly cornering the police state market niche - the SWAT team mega pack, which has 5 pieces; the police station, the roadblock set...

... the Playmobil Police Checkpoint. It's everything a colorful plastic method of indoctrination should be: mobile, plastic, and filled with red warning signs. I love setting it up outside my house. That way I feel like I have to show papers to get in. I know I own it, but it's cooler if the state lets me in. They know best.

Thank heavens for real people.

More thoughts...

Of course, I grew up building model airplanes. What kind of planes? Duh. Fighters, bombers... not too many airliners. Concorde, because it is still one of the coolest planes ever, and a 747, because it was big. I wanted to convert my 707 into an AWACS but made a balls of it.

I don't know if you guys in the US have heard of Airfix kits, but in the UK they're bigger than, say, Revell, Recently I saw a documentary about toys which revealed that the box-top artwork for all the warplanes has been sanitized. No more explosions... one illustration that showed a plane bombing a warship has been changed so now it's just overflying it. Can't help thinking that's rather dumb, myself.

I also had an Action Man (the UK GI Joe) but was never terribly interested. Loads of my friends played war games, too.

Despite this sanitized, whizz bang approach to learning about war, I have grown up a pacifist, kind of. But I do like warplanes, they are just cool. Hate what they do, love the way they look.

I agree the toys are horrid.

But, did any of you guys read any of the reviews??
There are some real classic ones there..

This one is from the Roadblock Toy..

This playset is one of the best purchases I have made for my three-year-old. In the past, when we have been stopped at roadblocks, or when during one of Daddy's arrests, he would start crying uncontrollably. Now, after playing with this for the past several months, he is perfectly docile.

As an adjunct to this product, I would also recommend that you purchase the Playmobil Armed Standoff Playset, Fisher-Price Little People Battering Ram, and the Nerf Tear-Gas Canister Deployment Gun.

Bill of Rights sold separately.

The comments were the best part of the listings on Amazon. Someone had mentioned earlier in the thread that they actually felt better having read those (a renewed sense of hope in mankind, etc.). When I was a kid I had all of the Star wars and GI Joe toys, and I had a bunch of transformers too (am I showing my age yet?), and it's not that I'm necessarily railing against war toys, I can see the downside, and of course I enjoyed them as a kid, and I haven't grown up to kill anyone or join the military. I think what's interesting here is the subtle process of getting our kids used to the "police state" presence, what would be fun about re-inacting a screening by the TSA in toy form? It's not fun in real life, why would it be fun in play-time?

On a side note, something I enjoyed as a kid (when I was in my early teens) were Estes model rockets, anyone remember those? I think I even had one that was supposed to be a tactical missile or ICMB if I remember correctly. Plus I had one that was an SR-71 which was pretty sweet.

Anyhow, thanks for making this an interesting thread folks, do keep it coming.
Peace,
Hex23

Originally posted by Nemo001
reply to post by TasteTheMagick

 

Maybe so....but you were still using your imaginations. Acting addicted? Girl...you grew up too fast! I rest my case.

You rest your case? What exactly IS your case? I don't understand what you mean by "you grew up too fast!". It really doesn't make much sense to me. Yeah, that's what we did, but you can't exactly play Mafia without it.

Originally posted by hexagram23
I'm curious if anyone is familiar with the "SpyGear" line of toys. I found this to be kind of interesting, they are all surveillance-oriented toys: www.spygear.net...

On the one hand I probably would've been into this stuff had it been available when I was a kid, but on the other hand I had a nagging vision of kids turning in their parents after having spied on them and found them to be "enemies of the state."

I'm curious what people's opinion is of this line of toys, seems kind of harmless on the surface, but perhaps we're training the future stormtroopers of the police state with such "toys." Or maybe it's just my paranoia kicking up.

Peace,
Hex23

My family is forever having to hound the School about all those forms given by the in house Social Workers and the Guidance Counselors, they now account for almost half of the school work given to school kids. Didn't know that? Pay more attention to what goes on in your kids class (This is in STL, Mo. BTW) and We have finally given them orders verbally and in writing that they are not to distribute any of these forms to our kids or they would immediately be transferred or home schooled. These forms not only question buying habits and survey their consumer responses, as well as, guaging the buying habits of their families, but, they also pry into personal aspects about the children and their families. Justify it how you want, but, in my family, too much prying can lead to getting your face shot off. there are too many ways to dispose of bodies which go unreported every year. I for one refuse to live in a police state. My family is raised to take matters into their own hands to deal with these very real threats. Any adult touches the children in my family in places they shouldn't, "authorized" or not. They die. there really is no gray area here. As for their being indoctrinated, sure, they are family indoctrinated, and everything they do and are exposed to are strictly controlled by us for just such familial indoctrination purposes. to hell with guns, we teach them, not only discipline, self control and higher education, we ultimately teach them how to kill properly and effectively with anything they can see and grab, as well as, weapons proficiency with all types of weapons, and their bare hands and bodies. They are taught how to fall, and how to take control of their environment and how to minimize the effects of potential damage-- better to be shot in the arm than the heart. This of course, is all done as they age and mature. We taught them how to read, write- properly and straight, color within the lines, read books that are well beyond what they read in school, manners, and to never let anyone touch them in ways inappropriate, and how to deal with those who do. for instance, in school they are not to respond to bully's but to immediately report to a teacher, or supervising adult, and to their families immediately. if the teacher's and supervising adults, continuosly ignore the problem, they are ttaught how to politely deal with the problem, if that doesn't work and we get tired of the abuses, they are instructed to deal with them as they would anyone else outside of school. Since we document evrything, there can be no doubt as to the method and manner of conflict resolution attempted. But if the No No areas are touched, i feel sorry for the offender, an immediate response is coming. By the way, my family have the highest scores and positions in their clases, being offered (but refused) gifted courses. they are refused because they need to be exposed to others their age, not older, and they need to be accustomed to what they'll have to deal with in life. they questioned for a long time, why other kids are so slow and behind. I could fix this Country better than any of those nuts in power. Either they are really as ignorant as my families fellow classmates (and many of their parents) or they intended a broken ignorant majority from the start and all the school money is just for Spying and Consumerism indoctrinations. These toys are just reflections of the tip of the iceberg. The best you can do for your kids is to make them good, moral, productive members of Society, while preparing them to deal with all the , bad, unproductive, immoral ones which do and will continue to outnumber them, if they are not one of the latter already.

S&F!!! I found the comments funny, I found the tag words informing, and the accompanying books sold with the purchases lend an insight into what kind of idiots would buy such things. Global Warming. Bah! And I suppose the Sun getting older, bigger, and hotter has nothing to do with nothing.

I sound serious, but, I'm actually very easy going, and once I determine the best way to deal with threats, i usually just relax, become sarcastically cynical, make jokes, and laugh. I'm not worried about anything that anyone can do. Fore Warned really is fore Armed.

And don't just blame dem's or repub's, there are way more political parties than just them. I think they all have the same goal, they just use their diverse approaches to keep folks nit- picking over useless details. As if President's aren't pre elected. My granparents believed in an idea of government, turned out it didn't really go as they believed it did either. Our Generation doesn't even bother to disillusion ourselves with lies.

I type too fast and suck at taking time to properly edit. Sorry. it's only when blogging online though. Or when something is due just as I finish scratching it out. Odd, since I've aced English, Grammar, Composition, Vocabulary, and Literature. guess, I have alot to write to alot of places and just don't have time to think through what I'm writing.

Again, Bravo on the toys, the Comments were hilarious.

[edit on 22-1-2009 by PhyberDragon]

[edit on 22-1-2009 by PhyberDragon]

At least with all of the models ( military or not ) you had to THINK. You got a sense of accomplishment and pride. And you took care of those toys. Now a child just wants to kill or destroy something on the computer games. They are being desensitized to violence.

Let's not forget when we played War or Cops or whatever with our guns and toys we got it out of our systems, rarely did we grow up to shoot our fellow classmates. What's more, we all had guns. Would you have played if only one of you got to have a gun. Isn't that how these airport, roadblock, and prison playsets work, one is the armed officer, the other is the soon to be disarmed convict.

All the quotes merit saving before TPTB erase them so here they are:

4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
Toys for Tyranny: 5 Stars for Masterful, Insidious Social-Engineering!, January 18, 2009
By lucius - See all my reviews

Durability: Fun: Educational:
Blatant social-engineering, designed to inculcate/bind our children through play.

But the depths of this collective ruling depravity are almost inconceivable: Humanity is being shaped and culled like a herd of cattle in the direction towards two castes of humans: power-elite, and inculcated, retarded, subservient workers. Not much room for the individual liberty message here:

"Gradually...the congenital differences between rulers and ruled will increase until they become almost different species. A revolt of the plebs would become as unthinkable as an organized insurrection of sheep against the practice of eating mutton."

From 1953, `The Impact of Science on Society' by Lord Bertrand Russell, noted Fabian Scientist/Socialist/Mind-twister.

This "War on _____" (insert psyop flavor of the decade, ie.drugs, terror etc...) are instrumental in the erosion of our civil liberties for the creation of a control-grid, which is a tangible aspect of the 'Scientific Dictatorship' that is being weaved around us daily. Want to learn more about long-term social engineering?

Read:

The Ascendancy of the Scientific Dictatorship: An Examination of Epistemic Autocracy, From the 19th to the 21st Century

Jane/Joe Six-pack: "Bad Boy, Bad Boy, What You Gonna Do?..." Hopefully pass on this one.

I cannot wait for the NYC expansion pack - There would be an overweight, illiterate black woman w/ 4 inch fingernails, eksplayning to me dat, "in America you are guilty until proven innocent" and "I'm jus doin my job." (Yes, those are true quotes). There will be the Sig Sauer 9MM P226 on the woman's right hip and either the Glock 26 or Kahr K9 back up weapon hidden somewhere on her person. Then I can explain to my son that in NYC only uneducated government agents and criminals can exercise their freedom to carry a firearm and since I am only a lowly, educated taxpayer I cannot. I then go on to explain that if I am ever a victim of a crime he should call Shanyqua to come and take a report and have Michael Bloomberg hold a press conference about how NYC's finest will find the perpetrator and jail them in order to keep this great city safe.

[After searching high and low for the perfect 21st century All-American toy, I alas came across the toy that searches *you*!

Lately, junior had frightened the missus and I over breakfast when he told us his third grade teacher was teaching evolution. Needless to say, we didn't have the money to file a lawsuit against the school. However, for just a fraction of that legal cost we could simply purchase this little gem to help eradicate the terrorist concepts that had been incubating in his head, such as "freedom of thought" or "unmonitored domestic travel". Lately, we even started setting this little playset up on his pillow as an alternative to money after he lost his baby teeth.

He cried when he woke, but it was a lesson well-learned. Where is your tooth fairy now, Junior? Where is your god now?! Thanks Playmobile!! /quote]

What better way to condition your kids to accept the police state and patriot act? Last thing one needs is your kids growing up to question authority!

was pretty pumped to get this model. After my Leviathan teddy-bear burst at the seams and my Guantanamo slip and slide tore into several pieces, I was looking for a petty distraction as durable as state tyranny itself.

Finally, I found the Playmobil Police Checkpoint. It's everything a colorful plastic method of indoctrination should be: mobile, plastic, and filled with red warning signs. I love setting it up outside my house. That way I feel like I have to show papers to get in. I know I own it, but it's cooler if the state lets me in. They know best.

Still, I have a complaint about this darling set. I mean, I'm no curmudgeon, and I hate to nit-pick, especially over such a usefully didactic toy. But I must-

No taser?

This playset is one of the best purchases I have made for my three-year-old. In the past, when we have been stopped at roadblocks, or when during one of Daddy's arrests, he would start crying uncontrollably. Now, after playing with this for the past several months, he is perfectly docile.

As an adjunct to this product, I would also recommend that you purchase the Playmobil Armed Standoff Playset, Fisher-Price Little People Battering Ram, and the Nerf Tear-Gas Canister Deployment Gun.

Bill of Rights sold separately.

What better way to teach the next generation how to behave in a police state then with a toy such as this? I'm really hoping that they come out with a toy in which the kids can play "interregator". Think of all the fun the little folks can have waterboarding those who "hate our freedom".

Wow! So much better than playing school or house for brainwashing---I mean, acclimatizing today's tots to the realities of the Global War on Terror. I especially appreciated the enclosed signed photo of Michael Chertoff and his letter explaining how necessary it is to start educating today's youth early with toys like these, especially as their elders just don't seem to be taking the whole thing seriously, what with posting snarky reviews on Amazon and all, and it's going to take a while to get KBR's re-education camps in Nevada up and running properly. I know my little four year-old grandson was really impressed with this set. He's now so scared it's undone a whole year of potty training and he's now wetting his pants about five times a day. He's back to playing with his old set of wooden blocks Melissa and Doug 100 Piece Wood Blocks Set and crying "Make the bad man stop, Mommy!" Last week he saw Mr. Chertoff talking about terrorists on his parents' fancy new plasma TV and he threw first the Playmobil set, which didn't do much damage, and then the wooden blocks, at the TV, which cracked the screen. His dad, who worked at Countrywide Finance, was just laid off, so it looks like they won't be getting a replacement plasma TV. I'm taking the broken TV, the Playmobil set, and the photo of Michael Chertoff to the toxic waste dump tomorrow. I have an old black and white set and pair of rabbit ears in my attic which I will loan them. Perhaps it's better this way.

This is just a sop to the authoritarians among us. I am holding out for the release of the Guantanemo Playset. Hopefully this will come with an extrordinary rendition option.

[Additional accessories include the Safe-Cracker and Jail from playmobil.
I kid you not...: Search for playmobil and Jail on amazon's site. They are there. Read the reviews on the jail one ;-)
/quote]

like the basic idea. I applaud Playmobile for attempting to provide us with the tools we need to teach our children to unquestioningly obey the commands of the State Security Apparatus, but unfortunately, this product falls short of doing that. There's no brown figure for little Josh to profile, taser, and detain? Where are all the frightened plastic Heartlanders pointing at the brown figure as they whisper "terrorist?" Where are the hippy couple figures being denied boarding passes? And shouldn't someone be forcing a mother figure to drink her own breast milk?

When I bought this toy, I was looking forward to placing my minority-action figure through the metal detector, and then running the little script I prepared: "Excuse me sir, but you have been 'randomnly' selected for additional scans. Please let us take a sample from your shoe while the computer analyzes findings for any radioactive or biohazardous material".

It's too bad that they never came out with the "Pat-Down" edition, where fat guards are groping women for weapons, and turning customers away who refuse the degrading method of search.

My only suggestion is that if this is based on the John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, please don't forget to include the bums who torment you for spare change. Thanks!

This TOY IS GREAT! But there are some things that should be added make it more realistic. I'd like to see some diversity in one of the guards and perhaps the other guard could have some drool dripping from it's lip to reflect the extremely low IQ needed to obtain this type of position. Also, add a 80 year old woman with (remove able clothes so she may be stripped searched) and a 20 something middle eastern looking man. (no need to make his clothes remove able as we are going for realism)

After your passenger spends 4 hours getting past airport security ("I Love Freedom" T-shirt draws extra attention from security) you can have your character attend a George Bush rally from behind the 1st amendment barbed wire fencing 3 miles from Bush's appearance where your character will be maced and beaten for being there. Then, to complete the trifecta of freedom your character can travel to the U.S.- Mexico border and help build the border fence while patrolling for hordes of brown skinned devils trying to sneak into our country and cut our grass.

Finally a toy that gets our kids used to living in a police state. Benjamin Franklin said that those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety. But then again, he lived in France for awhile, so what did he know about anything.

Before this toy came out I was afraid my son would not know how to cope with the new reality of American life; how to prepare him to the future, I was wondering. Boy am I relieved; so many lessons learned! Now he knows that:
1) Some people can make a decent living treating others like cattle, and the best part: the cattle is paying their salaries.
2) You only have the rights that the government gives you; you can move around the country only if you comply with government regulations, no matter how frivolous they might be. No liquid you say? except if in a ziplock bag? Check. Lighter ok because the cigarette lobby fought the no-lighter rule? Swell. All passengers searched but cargo mostly un-scrutinized? No problem.
3) You should always bow to people in uniforms, even though they might be in this job because they could not qualify for police work (because of the rap sheet or the drug abuse).

Unfortunately, this toy comes short in a few areas:
1) It does not show that if you're rich, you don't have to wait in line for hours. If you can travel first class, you get your own fast-track screening. Too bad the terr'ists have plenty of Saudi and Pakistani cash and can easily travel first class should they want to. They should have included another screening set in the box.
2) It does not come with the 300 tired-looking playmobils you would need to show the passengers waiting in line behind the screening area.

However, it does some things very well: for instance, the screening apparatus is not actually functional. This represents faithfully the actual TSA system, which, every time it is tested or audited, fails to catch anything (weapons, even bombs).

So, thank you Playmobil. I hope they will expand their product offering and give us more toys that can help our children prepare for the new reality of a much safer America; specifically, I am eagerly waiting for the Staline-style Guantanamo American gulag set, the North-Korean-style CIA water-boarding set, the KGB-style NSA phone-tapping set. Some people will whine about the loss of their civil liberties, but my son knows that the North-Korean are some of the safest people in

When we first set it up we tried it with my daughters African American Magic Jewel Ken Doll and Barbie Princess of the Nile Doll but they were pulled out of line before the security checkpoint and taken to a back room for "processing."

We haven't seen them since but received a phone call from a buddy at the state department: something about "extraordinary rendition." I hope they make it home it time for the holidays.

I want to thank Playmobil for adding Item 11 to "How To Tell if Your Country is Turning Fascist". Now we can add "pro-authoritarian propaganda showing up as children's toys" to the list. I'm sure 1930's Germany had Nazi propaganda bombarding children as well, right from birth.

This toy is a wonderful start but...I think expansion packs would really increase the enjoyment. Could you imagine the fun kids could have with the "Mother forced to drink bottled breast milk to prove it's not explosive" expansion, the "What do you mean I'm the No-Fly List?" and especially the "Body Cavity Search, Wait, What?" set.

This is a great product, but it has several shortcomings. It's a shame that Playmobil has allowed itself to be swayed by the ultra-liberal political correctness mongers. When I opened the box I was dismayed to find that all of the characters in the set are Caucasian.

We all know that only people named Muhammad, Khalil, Ahmed and Haji are selected for the random security search. I was really looking forward to my 3 year old daughter getting use from that small tube of KY jelly and that latex glove that fits the female security guard with the short-chunky hair-cut.

Also the boom box hidden in the suitcase, that has the c4 inside hooked up to a barometric altimeter doesn't work even if brought to 35,000 feet. Apparently it hasn't functioned since Pan Am went out of business.

Lastly, buying the additional gas chromatography system, has made the toy so much more enjoyable. The only bad thing about that is that I can no longer blame my flatulence on the dog, the system is that good!

purchased this product (along with the Playmobile ambulance/mass casualty incident set and the Playmobile road construction set) for my five year old son. After a few hours my son asked me why our society was so keen on infringing on the civil liberties of its citizens in the name of safety and security. Like all the other five year olds whose parents purchased this product, he is precocious and wise beyond his years.
I answered that everyone still has the right to walk anywhere in this country, and that everything else is a privilege and not a right. People who voluntarily surrender their freedoms on the altar of personal convenience have no right to complain about it afterwards. My son is now well on his way to becoming an anarchist.

I wish this toy had been around when I was a child so that we might have learned important life lessons rather than the fluffy sugar-coated false utopia of Rainbow Bright and Friends.

Excitedly I tore open the package so the little ones could start playing with a model of their future. Boy were they disappointed when they tried to get the "passenger" through the detector but he was pulled aside because he is on the "No-Fly List". I don't see the point of a toy you are not even allowed to play with.

I think the issue here is that Playmobil is a European-based company, where they don't believe in destroying their citizens' souls just because they choose to fly compared to other forms of travel.

A US-themed version however would need significant expansion
- 200 more "customers" to line up behind the security checkpoint
- some of the customers need to be business travellers who wait until the last minute to begin loading their bins and devote one bin each to their laptops, blackberries, cell phones, keys, etc etc etc
- other customers must have huge American flag t-shirts and look perfectly willing to experience this process
- extra guards to bellow instructions to the customers in line
- the ubiquitous plastic bags and bins for putting everything through X-ray
- there should be extra airport security on hand for when a "troublemaker" questions the arbitrary nature of the screenings

However, Playmobil has always been a company willing to allow you to build your sets at your own pace, so hopefully soon they will be coming out with various accessory packs to enhance this set up to a full-on American flight experience.

How about a lethal injection table? Kids can practice putting "just the right amount of" chemicals into the convicted man?

My family was planning a vacation to Europe, so I purchased this item to teach my twins about what to expect at the airport and hopefully, alleviate some of their anxiety. We also downloaded the actual TSA security checklist from the American Airlines website and then proceeded with our demonstration. Well, first we had to round up a Barbie and a few Bratz dolls to play the other family members, so that cost us a few extra bucks at the Dollar General and it is aggravating that the manufacturer did not make this product "family-friendly." Of course, since the playmobil Dad could not remove his shoes or other clothing items, unlike the Barbie, the playmobil security agent became suspicious and after waving her wand wildy a few dozen times, called her supervisor to wisk the Dad into a special body-cavity search room, (which incidentally led to quite an embarasing and interesting discussion with my twin daughters about personal hygiene and a slight adjustment to the rules we had them memorize about touching by strangers). But worst of all, since the suitcase did not actually open, the baggage inspector made a call to the FBI and ATF bomb squads which then segregated the family's suitcase (which btw was the only suitcase they provided for our educational family experience) and according to the advanced TSA regulations, had to blow it up, (since they could not otherwise mutilate the luggage, break off the locks and put one of those nice little advisory stickers on it), which we had to simulate out in the backyard with a few M-80s and other fireworks. The girls started crying. They became so hysterical by the whole experience that we could not even get them in the car when the time came to actually take our trip, and so we had to cancel the whole thing at the last minute, losing over $7,000 in airfare and hotel charges that we could not recoup do to the last minute cancellations. We've now spent an additional $3,000 to pay for the girls therapy and medication over the past year since this incident occurred, and the psychologists have told us that this will affect them for life, so much for their college fund and our retirement. Then, to top it all off, when we tried to use to playmobil phone to call the company to ask for reimbursement, as you might expect, of course the damn thing didn't even work; neither did our efforts to e-mail them using the computer screen on the baggage checkpoint; and our real-life efforts to contact them to obtain re-imbursement have also likewise been ignored. Worse yet, we had the product tested and found out that it was positive for both lead paint and toxic chemicals, having been manufactured in China by workers holding formerly American jobs, so now we all have cancer and have been given only another year or so to live. My advice - educating your kids about airport security with this toy may actually be more harmful to them than just packing them in the damn luggage with some bottled water & hoping they survive.

There are more quotes than that and I think I'm going to copy and save them all for a scrap book. One lady actually defends it and would love to see strangers stick their hands in her children's arse's and hoo ha's to protect them (?)-- from what? What could possibly be in there, does she mean to protect others from her kids blowing up the plane. I'm just plain confused and disgusted by this one:

Like most people, I hate airport security. I hate the fact that we "have to do" this.

That said, the people at the security checkpoints are not to blame for the world conditions that created their jobs. If this toy helps young air travelers be a little less apprehensive, and less "difficult" in passing through these stations, then so much the better.

Both my children attend Virginia Tech. In light of the events of the past year, I am actually very grateful that their campus administrators decided not to take a approach like this. Today my kids can live in the dorms, attend class, and try to learn in an atmosphere that is not oppressive.

However, if something like this, in some probative way, helped to keep either one of them alive, I'd favor them getting regular full cavity searches.

Also, I fly almost every week. I am kind and cooperative with the TSA gate personnel, because they're just doing their jobs. Does that make them (or me) "good brownshirts?" Does mouthing off to TSA personnel strike a blow for liberty (to borrow Harry Truman's phrase)?

Our constitution tries to protect life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Is the relative order of those words an accident? Life comes first.

Order me two of these little items...

She sounds like one of those people who watched them load Orphans and Jews onto trains. You know the ones, I just showed the men at the checkpoints my papers, they were just doing their jobs, it's frustrating, but, it keeps us safe right? I mean, if it helps my kids be better people, I won't like it, but, go on ahead and send them to those State camps. I'll even pack them a lunch and see them off. I guess it's all legal, besides, I have nothing to hide. Why shouldn't I comply? Does that make me bad. Lol. Oh well, let me get two of those star emblems for my kids.

[edit on 23-1-2009 by PhyberDragon]

I've also noticed some other shocking toys that no one has touched on yet. How about the "cashless" Monopoly game they have now? Just swipe the card and presto!

Monopoly game

Talk about getting the kids used to not using money to buy things!