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America can't tell fact from fiction...again...

http://www.aolnews.com/crime/article/dexter-action-figure-at-toys-r...

So, yeah. Glorifying a serial killer. Two things:

1) FICTIONAL. I don't kick every machine I see because I saw "The Terminator". I also am not scraed that Dexter Morgan is going to hunt me down to murder me. I am well aware of what is entertainment and what is real. We don't need victims avocacy groups piping in about a fifteen dollar hunk of plastic. Jack Thompson called, he wants his gimmick back.

2) So, the "toy" has some fake blood on it? Has pointy weapons? Gleeful in his violence? Which toy are we talking about, because you just described that whole action figure aisle. You can't cherry-pick your outrage. Just because this particular fictional character gets up close and personal with his action doesn't mean he's any better than GI Joe blasting away with reckless abandon at Cobra.

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Permalink Reply by Louis on September 8, 2010 at 3:05pm

Wait, seriously?

I've seen Disney movies that are more violent and more explicit than Dexter.

What the fuck is this bullshit again? Making up outrage to feed the internet outrage machine? I guess this target is small enough that we don't need much outrage.

Just an example, a video game Six Days in Falluja was canceled and it's developer put out of business because it made a game about an ongoing war. It's odd because Medal of Honor is putting out a game next month explicitly based on the war in Afghanistan. Atomic Games was just a smaller target than Electronic Arts.

As much as I'd like to think they're targeting Dexter because it's a smart show, they're probably doing this because Dexter's fan base is small (compared against most other things we make action figures for). It will probably be an easy win and the outrage machine can win a small battle, validating people's unsustainable, reactionary opinion.

After they get Dexter out I bet they'll go after WWE action figures... or more likely not.

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Permalink Reply by Al-KADIM on September 8, 2010 at 3:53pm

Medal of Honor is facing a lot of opposition and has been banned on military bases.

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Permalink Reply by Zero_6ix on September 8, 2010 at 4:07pm

Yeah, saw that. They devoted a whole ten minutes on the local news to the banning. Which is only of note because it seems that the military doesn't want its soldiers shooting and being shot at by Fake Taliban. They're only interested in having soldiers shoot and be shot at by Real Taliban. Because that part is alright. Real death is better than waiting to respawn, I suppose.

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Permalink Reply by Jennifer W on September 9, 2010 at 8:18am

Ha, I bet the most people who would buy a Dexter action figure is adults.

I saw a Hitler action figure in a convention.

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Permalink Reply by Zero_6ix on September 9, 2010 at 9:41am

Do you remember if it was the same company that made such classics as...
Crazy Cat Lady? (with crazy cats!)
Marie Antoinette? (with removable head!)
Jesus? (with "real" miracle action!)

Wait...Jesus? Well...looks like the Decepticons have a new leader...

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Permalink Reply by Prog Rock Girl on September 9, 2010 at 10:12am

It probably has to do more with the presentation of the violence (cold, methodical, instead of bombastic, unrealistic) than the level of it--much like how some depictions of sexuality are viewed as demeaning while others are viewed as liberating. In other words, people are using their subjective views as reason for censorship.

I could see this being sold at a comic store and things like that if it's for adults, but I didn't know Toys R Us sold "adult" toys (haha). Probably some kids want to play with this and they want to put on a good face like they "don't condone" selling it to kids, meanwhile that's exactly what they want to do.