[daveysockrocker]

An uptight soccer mom Susan Myers of Florida, is trying to get breaking bad "dolls" (thats what she calls them) Banned from toysrus, just like they did with dexter figures. She states that parents "should not be forced to explain why a certain toy comes with a bag of highly dangerous and illegal drugs...", Because god forbid parents talk to their kids about stuff. >_> The overzealous parent has started a petition to have them removed, so a counter petition has been established to keep them on shelves. Please sign so we make sure collectors of all ages have equal access!

UPDATE: As of tuesday October 21st, TRU gave in and pulled Breaking Bad figures, BUT since then, Breaking Bad star Aaron Paul got super pissed and tweeted a bunch about it, including a link to the petition to keep them! It now has over 35,000 signatures! Lets keep this going until all the major news outlets have to cover the story, and get TRU to put breaking bad figures back where they belong!! XD

Petition · KEEP Breaking Bad (and other Adult Collector) Figures On TRU Shelves · Change.org

[Colder Soldier]

Co-signed.

[Poison Shadow]

So... having action figures of a murderous drug dealer (and pals) taken off the shelves of a toy store is a bad thing? Meh. I see where you're coming from, and I don't have any passion on the subject one way or another, but there are some things better left to comic shops and online stores.

Toys R Us charges too much for everything anyway.

[kylactus]

we collectors should band together and start an adult toy store....oh they already have those....and they don't carry action figures!?! what a rip off!

[Dr Kain]

TRU would be dunb as **** to stop selling adult toy lines. It is the only reason they are really still in business as the kid lines are over priced compared to everyone else.

[TimothyR]

signed.

this is unbelievable.. none of the adult toys are inappropriate at all for kids.. the worst i can think of are zombies.. and i mean.. they're zombies! kids are going to love zombies at some point.. this is ridiculous. if they don't want their kids seeing that shit, don't go down that aisle, it's really that simple.

plus.. the store is called "TOYS r us" not "KIDS r us".

[En Sabah Nerd]

I signed, this is a little ridiculous. This happened before with video-games, and now it's happening with toys?! Some people would rather be whiners and cry for unnecessary change rather than take a few minutes to be a decent parent and explain to their kid(s) that not everything is meant for a child to understand yet and move on to the family-friendly things. The world isn't exactly great for real, when I have kids I probably won't let them watch the news for a long time out of fear for the shit I see on that today (daily news goes like this: X amount of drunk-driving deaths/accidents, missing persons stories, terrorism, war, ebola will kill us all, etc.)
I would ask to these concerned mothers though "what is so immediately wrong with these toys?" Yeah I get if they have excessive gore, that's not what I'd want my kid to see, but what is immediately bad about Walter White? A gun in his hand? The bag of Money? Or is it the tiny bag of meth that you have look for in the box because the sticker hides it from the front? That's it right? The meth, the only accessory they hid, the fact that it's hidden shows that there was thought about a kid seeing this.
NECA is my huge concern here. Honestly if this happens, the only truly "devastating" effect would be the loss of TRU exclusives. That and the only chain who would still carry NECA is Hastings, and those aren't as abundant as TRU.

[daveysockrocker]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Poison Shadow

So... having action figures of a murderous drug dealer (and pals) taken off the shelves of a toy store is a bad thing? Meh. I see where you're coming from, and I don't have any passion on the subject one way or another, but there are some things better left to comic shops and online stores.

Toys R Us charges too much for everything anyway.

Wolverine is technically a murderer 100 times over and hes on toy shelves. People have complained that Barbie promotes negative body images, toysrus also sells mature rated video games, and every kind of toy gun, which parents just like her have argued promote violence. Heck it can even be argued that pac-man promotes overeating if you want it bad enough. The point is this woman is expecting this store to help raise her kids, by putting her wants above anyone elses. Also, kids go into comic book stores all the time. We shouldnt have to feel dirty or sleazy because we buy breaking bad or walking dead figures, and shouldnt have to pay shipping costs from buying online, because she cant handle talking to her child, if the child even bothers to take interest enough to ask about a figure of a regular looking bald man, at all. (which I doubt.)

[Snowflakian]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Poison Shadow

So... having action figures of a murderous drug dealer (and pals) taken off the shelves of a toy store is a bad thing? Meh. I see where you're coming from, and I don't have any passion on the subject one way or another, but there are some things better left to comic shops and online stores.

Toys R Us charges too much for everything anyway.

What will happen when parents realize certain super hero lines carry similar problems?

Spawn for example and certain Marvel and DC characters have illustrious histories that cover a lot of topics from child molestation, rape, murder, drug usage, and more too. They just manage to hide it better within the packaging.

Heck, one character in particular from DC, was even featured in the Teen Titans cartoons!

It's one of those things where you need to speak now, or later when they come for the lines you buy, it'll be too late.

I do think keeping them in 'specialty item aisles' is the route to go though so parents if they so choose can avoid those aisles. That may be more problematic for building block lines though that do tend to be more intermingled. For the most part on those though, the ones buying Halo building block sets would be likely to pick up zombie ones too and most stores have those separate from normal Lego areas.(But still near the kid centric power rangers and similar kids lines.)

[Poison Shadow]

The case could be argued that someone like Wolverine has a place in the toy aisle simply because the versions little kids would be exposed to (operating under the assumption that any parents out there actually keep their kids from seeing the movies) would be the non-violent cartoon Logan, who only gets to use his claws against robots and locked doors.

Both sides of this "debate" have valid concerns, though. Personally Breaking Bad in particular will always strike a chord with me, simply because I have too many junkie cousins (at least one of which has been busted for dealing) to ever be able to enjoy a show like that, let alone be happy with how it was embraced by the masses. Do I think anything related to that subject matter should be in Toys R Us? Hell no. But I'm too close to look at it objectively. Should adult collectibles as a whole be allowed? Not for me to say. Waling Dead items certainly seem just as out of place, though, just like any number of McFarlane products during the 90's, Spawn included.

[Tiberius]

I WANT MY PLASTIC CRACK BITCH, DON'T TAKE IT AWAY FROM ME.

[Bradsdadg]

Saw this the other day and signed it

[CMIII]

while I am all about the Constitution (hell I am a Constitutionalist) I will not be signing it. TRU is way over priced and paying 5$ more for something FYE, Target, Kmart, and Walmart sell is not my goal. But I will support you 110%

[ultraman zoffy]

Signed, but why do these types of things always need to ask for money at the end? lol...

[TheBlueMarvel]

Without succumbing to a knee-jerk reaction in either direction, I think this is a debate that adult action-figure collectors should embrace. I have always laughed quietly about some of the comic characters being marketed to our children. Wolverine is a wanton murderer, yet he’s packaged as a hero (or anti-hero…you pick). I remember being just as fascinated with Wolverine as I was terrified of him growing up as a kid in the 80’s. The open secret with Deathstoke, for those of us that remember, is that he was/is a pedophile (on top of also being a for-hire murderer). Or at least that was what those Teen Titans stories from the 80’s seemed to allude to with the relationship between him and Terra (who was what? 12-13?). Sabretooth, when first introduced as an Iron Fist enemy, was a rapist and cannibal. When Creed shows up later in a Powerman and Iron Fist comic, Luke nearly kills him for what read like a sexual assault against his then girlfriend (Harmony). My point is that many of these characters are truly inappropriate for kids. While I agree that parents should rear their children without placing onerous expectations on society, I also believe that society should respect that childhood is a delicate and formative life phase. Like it or not, whether you agree or not, children are quite impressionable. Biologically speaking, the brains of kids are not fully formed. In fact, our brains don’t stop developing (on a synaptic or neural level) until we are 23-25yrs old. If this “soccer-mom” (FYI: a stereotypical descriptor that is loaded with certain prejudices) was as aware of some the aforementioned comic book character backgrounds as she is with Breaking Bad, well, we’d have a bigger issue on our hands. Be glad she’s only a fan of AMC programing. Similar to what Poison Shadow mentioned, I have a stake in this as I worked for years with inner-city "at risk" youth, specifically, teens that were in and out of juvenile remand. By the way Shadow, I don’t think you should feel like you have to recuse yourself from this debate. Your “closeness” to the issue makes you an ideal candidate for this type of dialogue. I’m not as interested in having a war of petitions as I’m interested in creating a meaningful conversation. Is there a middle ground here within the context of the larger issue? I’m not sure, but we won’t know unless the issues are fleshed out via communication.

[En Sabah Nerd]

Maybe Toys R Us should just put the adult collectibles on a shelf higher up, like a shelf at 4'6". I am not a pediatrician or anything, but 4'6" seems like ten year old height level. So then younger children won't see the stuff unless their parent hoists them up to it, in which case it's their problem for exposing that to their kid. You know what wouldn't be so bad, treating adult collectibles like video games and tobacco product. Placing it behind a locked window which requires an employee to open, that would certainly be tidier for me (I find it kinda annoying when I'm looking for NECA stuff and it's clear somebody misplaced it aisles over). That way Walter White and Freddy Krueger aren't mixing it up with Barbie dolls and TMNT. I dunno, I'm not a marketing guru and I'm not a parent, but the idea of a toy (that isn't explicitly meant to be a gun) corrupting or polluting a child's mind is a tad strange. I saw a fair amount of things I shouldn't have seen as a kid, but there are more toys now with gore and disturbing imagery on the shelves than when I was a kid, so it is different.

Additional topic: I have family members (not immediate but directly related) who have a history of substance abuse and other felonies, that doesn't stop me from liking Breaking Bad. To be fair, the show doesn't glorify the drug-world or it's effects on a person. It also doesn't make the drugs the central point of the show, they could be replaced with another illegal matter and the show would be relatively the same. Drugs are shitty to people, I know, but I wouldn't let that stop me from enjoying things (even if drugs are used as plot in said thing).

[Dr Kain]

Quote:

Originally Posted by CMIII

while I am all about the Constitution (hell I am a Constitutionalist) I will not be signing it. TRU is way over priced and paying 5$ more for something FYE, Target, Kmart, and Walmart sell is not my goal. But I will support you 110%

Your Walmarts, Targets, and K-Marts sell NECA Alien and Godzilla toys?

[En Sabah Nerd]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dr Kain

Your Walmarts, Targets, and K-Marts sell NECA Alien and Godzilla toys?

Well actually I've seen the 2014 Godzilla from NECA at Walmart next to the trading card area with the Funko legacy figures. Nothing else NECA besides that and scalers.

[daveysockrocker]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ultraman zoffy

Signed, but why do these types of things always need to ask for money at the end? lol...

thats a change.org thing. The author of the petition isnt asking for any kind of donation.

[daveysockrocker]

Quote:

Originally Posted by CMIII

while I am all about the Constitution (hell I am a Constitutionalist) I will not be signing it. TRU is way over priced and paying 5$ more for something FYE, Target, Kmart, and Walmart sell is not my goal. But I will support you 110%

none of those store sell breaking bad or walking dead or sons of anarchy figures. And all four of my local comic book stores dont either. The whole reason TRU sell these at all is because they saw a market that was being largely ignored in brick and mortar locations. And if you factor in the cost of shipping into only buying online, TRU is usually cheaper. We all shouldnt have to ultimately pay more because this lady has a particular problem with one product, when by her logic, multiple products should be pulled as well based on what people fear they can POSSIBLY teach kids.

This petition isnt about price, or just for people who love breaking bad. Its about unnecessary censorship and the slippery slope that can turn into. Its about TRU's right to sell what they want within the law, its about freedom of access and not having that impinged upon by the will of another. So lets sign it and show this lady that America is for freedom! (there was no flag emoji) ;p

[Dr Kain]

Quote:

Originally Posted by En Sabah Nerd

Well actually I've seen the 2014 Godzilla from NECA at Walmart next to the trading card area with the Funko legacy figures. Nothing else NECA besides that and scalers.

Are you sure it was the NECA version? There are like 4 companies doing Godzilla stuff currently.

[En Sabah Nerd]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dr Kain

Are you sure it was the NECA version? There are like 4 companies doing Godzilla stuff currently.

Yeah I have one, I didn't get mine from Walmart, but that's definitely it. I was so surprised to see it the first time that I picked it up to look it over. The clamshell packaging is also a dead giveaway that it's the NECA version.

[Snowflakian]

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheBlueMarvel

Without succumbing to a knee-jerk reaction in either direction, I think this is a debate that adult action-figure collectors should embrace. I have always laughed quietly about some of the comic characters being marketed to our children. Wolverine is a wanton murderer, yet he’s packaged as a hero (or anti-hero…you pick). I remember being just as fascinated with Wolverine as I was terrified of him growing up as a kid in the 80’s. The open secret with Deathstoke, for those of us that remember, is that he was/is a pedophile (on top of also being a for-hire murderer). Or at least that was what those Teen Titans stories from the 80’s seemed to allude to with the relationship between him and Terra (who was what? 12-13?). Sabretooth, when first introduced as an Iron Fist enemy, was a rapist and cannibal. When Creed shows up later in a Powerman and Iron Fist comic, Luke nearly kills him for what read like a sexual assault against his then girlfriend (Harmony). My point is that many of these characters are truly inappropriate for kids. While I agree that parents should rear their children without placing onerous expectations on society, I also believe that society should respect that childhood is a delicate and formative life phase. Like it or not, whether you agree or not, children are quite impressionable. Biologically speaking, the brains of kids are not fully formed. In fact, our brains don’t stop developing (on a synaptic or neural level) until we are 23-25yrs old. If this “soccer-mom” (FYI: a stereotypical descriptor that is loaded with certain prejudices) was as aware of some the aforementioned comic book character backgrounds as she is with Breaking Bad, well, we’d have a bigger issue on our hands. Be glad she’s only a fan of AMC programing. Similar to what Poison Shadow mentioned, I have a stake in this as I worked for years with inner-city "at risk" youth, specifically, teens that were in and out of juvenile remand. By the way Shadow, I don’t think you should feel like you have to recuse yourself from this debate. Your “closeness” to the issue makes you an ideal candidate for this type of dialogue. I’m not as interested in having a war of petitions as I’m interested in creating a meaningful conversation. Is there a middle ground here within the context of the larger issue? I’m not sure, but we won’t know unless the issues are fleshed out via communication.

I agree it should be discussed.

And you bring up some great points about the comic heroes.
I'd add to that a few:
Dr. Light as a rapist was a key aspect in a DC story. He was heavily featured as a comedic bad guy in the titans toon. Speedy/Arsenal/Red Arrow was a heroin addict. Spoiler was a teen mom(though that story was handled with care to be a speaking point on that issue!). The list definitely goes on for a lot of the comic figures that can have complaints thrown against them. Harley Quinn is also a speaking point on domestic abuse and is an iconic survivor of such occasionally sometimes still portrayed in media as having relapses in returning to the joker where it glorifies their abusive relationship.

Even X-23, the character I focus heavily on, has her own convoluted story issues that cover a wide array from abuse, prostitution, murder, and more. Pretty much all the comic figures do have some element to their backstory that could be complained about somewhere if it were spun. Even Black Widow and especially Elektra.

So while breaking bad figures are a hot bed topic for controversy because of the show, the question comes up where do you draw the line on bannings? Like book burning, once you start with one, where does it end? Once precedent is set, more would follow. The best argument for this is offering an aisle that's dedicated to that and only that. One that doesn't have the side kid stuff like Mario, Sonic or other figures that would appeal to younger.

That's my only complaint to the collector aisles at TRU now. It has a mix of kid appeal and adult appeal when it should be solely adult appeal like Mortal Kombat and similar. By having the kid appeal stuff in it(usually because it's a mainstream media/popular media and video game figures) it mixes the audience too much creating instances where parents will take their kids down that aisle without realizing what else is in there. So my concern is more towards not taking the ability of parenting out of the parents hands but in helping them. If these elements were more separate it wouldn't be as much of an issue. At least the blatant ones. Comic figure packaging tends to hide it better and has different outlets that don't carry the same convoluted back stories, but it should be noted that if one is banned, it won't be long until they come for those too.

[Greg]

This whole situation is frustrating. It's aggravating that a vocal few are able to easily "ruin" something for everyone, likely because of mis-information and failure to have a discourse. I have read waaaaaay too many comments on news articles, Facebook, etc. on these articles and there is quite a bit of foolishness on both sides. This whole issue reminds me of the Django Unchained situation from a few years back.

I don't think TRU or the manufacturer were completely out of line in selling the Breaking Bad figures. The intended age is present and easy to see on the package, while the parts that could be considered objectionable (the meth pieces) are hidden behind labels. TRU didn't advertise or promote the items in a way that they might be seen by a broad audience, and they were placed in a section near other "mature" properties. I think that the "adult" section as a whole could be placed better though, as all of my local stores have the section sharing an aisle with some kid-focused products such as Transformers.

My biggest gripe surrounding this whole event is the lack of consistency for complaints. A couple of mature toys based on a mature TV show involving drugs suddenly get singled out after being available for nearly a year, but the violent nature of nearly everything else in the boy's toys section is accepted as "ok". I am also perplexed that TRU hasn't been called out for offering M-rated video games that are totally inappropriate for children; such as Grand Theft Auto, Call of Duty, or more recently Evil Within. I don't want this to become a contest of "what's worse", but some consistency would be appreciated.

Ultimately I don't care about the actual Breaking Bad figures. I didn't like them, and don't plan to buy them. Quite frankly I found the likeness of the Pinkman figure to be the most offensive thing about the line. My concern is that any of the mature figures/lines TRU currently offers are subject to get pulled almost immediately if some folks complain they are "offensive". The Breaking Bad figures are already gone from TRU.com, and the petition has only been around for several days. It's disconcerting that a product can disappear so quickly, leaving no time for a real discussion to come up with a solution to please both sides.

[TheBlueMarvel]

@Snowflakian

I wasn’t aware of those story elements of X-23, Arsenal, or Harley. However, I read Identity Crisis and I’m quite familiar with the rape that Dr. Light committed and the resulting transgressions of the JLA members involved in the story arc. To this date, I still feel that Identity Crisis was one of the most powerful DC story-lines I have ever read (DC or Marvel for that matter). I should state that all of the adult themes I mentioned, and the additions you added, have an important place within comics and should not be challenged as artistic expressions. I simply acknowledge that, were I a parent, I would want some control over the presentation of said material to my children.

As you suggest, maybe an isle is in order. Such an effort might highlight how many adult collectors actually exist in the wild. I’m certain that most clerks believe me to be purchasing figures for my children, when in fact; I’m actually buying for myself. It could even reduce some of the stigma that some collectors experience when buying toys as adults. Any such isle shouldn’t be cordoned off like the porno section of a mom & pop video store. Rather, it should simply be labeled as a “mature toys” section so parents (with kids in tow) know what’s up and steer clear. Maybe stores could go the route of age restrictions on purchase for certain figures/toys (although that hasn’t worked so well with video games).

The crux of my objection to a counter petition is that it feels too much like drawing battle lines in the sand. Pitting two sides against one another, when as adults, we should easily be capable of creating a compromise. I see the issue of the “opposition” (so to speak): if we normalize meth use/abuse for children by adding drug accessories to toy action figures, or extend our societal celebration of characters like Walter White to kids without the intellectual wherewithal to understand the complex scenarios involved, then we can only expect a future generation of adults desensitized to the potential pit falls of hardcore drug addiction. For me, this is not so much an issue of censorship as it is one of common sense. I reserve the right to buy the things I want, but I also respect a parent’s concern that those “things” stay out of the hands of their children.