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• SomeGuy

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Birthday
• 1983-08-05
Gender
• Male
Location
• Vancouver, BC
Member Since
• 2003-08-02
Occupation
• Writer; Part-Time Hero
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• James

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Achievements
• Visiting eight different myO friends in person thus far
Anime Fan Since
• Winter 2001
Favorite Anime
• Neon Genesis Evangelion, .hack//SIGN, Naruto, Bleach, Beck, Peacemaker Kurogane, Ranma 1/2 (the guilty pleasure)
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• Visit the myO friends I've missed thus far; complete a cosplay from 300
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• Writing, Gaming, Kung Fu, Movies, Acting somewhat strange in general
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• Can recognise most quotes from almost any movie/show on first listen; Can recite the entire 12 days of Christmas by memory




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Thursday, April 15, 2004

   STREET PHILOSOPHY #10: Merchandise
(Here's something I haven't done for a few months . . . . . hope you enjoy it!)


So, I'm lyin' on the couch, watching cartoons or whatever (yes, I'm 20 years old and still watch cartoons) when one of those Justice League action figure cartoons comes on. You know, where they show off those figures like Batman with fold-out wings, or Superman with crazy clip-on armour and stuff . . . oh, and some crazy lookin' gun thing too, I think . . . in any case, he's more than just red and blue . . . . . ya know, stuff like this.

I hate these things . . . seriously! Ever since I've been 6 or 7 years old, I have NEVER liked the "artistic license" action figures. I mean, sure, they're cool and all in that they do pretty neat things like change colour under cold water, or are part of a new line with new outfits and stuff . . . but still! Ick!

Now, try to follow this, if you will . . .
So, why do we buy these toys for ourselves or for others? Because we like the series or whatever it is the line of figures is for, right? So why would we want them? Well, if it's to play with them, maybe it's like me who liked to create or recreate instances that fit in the context of the universe that those figures are from.
In other words, if I had Matrix figures (which I don't [why I don't I don't know why]), I would have them all fighting all flashy like, knocking people back and forth and stuff. If they were Star Wars figures, they would be having some sort of crazy adventure over the coffee tables or something, I don't know . . .

So how does the toymaker help this along? Well, first off, if they're nice, they'll try to make the figures look like the people they represent - Lord of the Rings has done this especially well, I feel (except for poor Aragorn's face, which they just can't seem to figure out. How else? They'll give them little accessories and weapons and stuff that pertain to them. I mean, you want a toy of someone, you'd like it to at least look like the person, right?

Which brings us to my problem . . . when the hell did the Justice League ever get "mega armor"? Better question, why the hell would the Justice League NEED mega armor?! It's almost as strange as why they would ship an action figure of Cyclops from the X-Men with a pistol thingy! His eyes shoot themselves, for cryin' out loud!

I guess it all stems from my young delight in Ghostbusters and all the toys that churned out from that line . . . but ya know, my favourite toys out of all of them were the 4 ORIGINAL guys, the ECTO-1, and the ECTO-2. Why? Because they were in the show, and they looked like them! I mean, the ones dressed up in funky radioactive suits and stuff were cool, I suppose, but they just never wore things like that . . . and don't even get me started on how the toyline managed to turn a street-sweeper in ECTO-5 . . . grr . . . . .

It's kinda fitting, I guess, that now that I'm older, a lot of REALLY cool toys are out now! I mean, the Lord of the Rings ones, the Matrix ones . . . anyone see those Crouching Tiger action figures? Those were good too . . . . . and then there's the whole Ultimate Soldier line of toys that I always stare at in the Toys R Us but never buy . . . . .


I suppose that does explain a bit about myself, doesn't it? I can't say I have any real answers like I usually do for these, but, well . . . I like the toys that look the way they should. Maybe I'm infringing on people's imaginations and stuff, but I always felt that that was what my imagination was for . . . . .
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