Eddy Goldfarb has created over 800 toys and novelties, including such classics as the chattering teeth, Vac-U-Form, and Kerplunk! A short film directed by Lyn Goldfarb. See more at EddysWorld.net
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The Hasbro corporation inspired outrage in the right-wing Twittersphere last week by announcing a re-branding of a heritage toy, Mr. Potato Head, as “Potato Head.” Conservative Culture Warriors expressed shock and horror that the toy ‘taters had been “cancelled,” rendered gender-neutral. Neutering the plastic mock-tubers would be difficult, as they lack reproductive organs, but this didn’t stop MAGA Twitter.
The full Hasbro press release explained that, while the name of the brand on the box will change to “Potato Head,” those boxes would still contain “2 large potato bodies, 1 small potato body, and 42 accessories” so kids can make families with a mommy and daddy, or two daddies, or two mommies, so they’ll look like their own families at home.
More:
“Right Wing Laments Loss of Mr. Potato Head’s Imaginary Genitals as Hasbro Gives Toy Line Gender-Neutral Name,” Ben Mathis-Lilley, Slate
Mr. Potato Head’s Misterectomy Clarified.” Simon Dumenco, AdAge
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Image by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com (Parody; not affiliated with Hasbro®, Ore-Ida®, or Penguin Random House®).
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The Star Toys Museum in Linthicum Heights, MD boasts a 13,000-plus collection of Star Wars memorabilia. Video by Anna Weaver, Capital News Service.
More:
“Linthicum man’s ‘Star Wars’ collection so large it has ‘gravitational pull,'” Ben Weathers, Capital Gazette
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The multinational Mattel corporation has announced three new body shapes for its Barbie doll. Soon petite, tall, and curvy dolls will join the anatomically non viable classic Barbies scattered across the floors of girls around the globe. Given the “fashionista” variations in skin tones and hair texture, there will now be 33 types of Barbies, as varied as the young women playing with them.
But what about Hijab Barbie? And Lego just issued a minfigure in a wheelchair. Just sayin’.
The Mattel corporation has introduced the Hello Barbie ™ interactive doll that not only talks, it listens. And records your kid’s conversation with her. And connects to Wi-Fi so her recordings can be analyzed by the ToyTalk ™ voice-recognition software, and the information shared with parents or … who knows. What could possibly go wrong?
Plenty, say Matt Jakubowski of LookingGlass Cyber Solutions and Andrew Browne of Lavasoft’s malware lab. Like Wi-Fi baby monitors, the dolls can be hacked by 3rd parties, and we’re not talking about Barbie’s Princess Tea Parties here, but persons of bad intent. ToyTalk says that’s not so, that Barbie’s software cannot be hacked. Frankly, we will reserve judgement until we can ask Hello Barbie ™ about this in person.
Barbara Millicent Roberts (aka “Barbie Doll“) is sporting a new look: pink hair, leopard-skin tights and fresh tattoos. While the hair and tights seem questionable choices for a 52-year-old, it’s the tats that have caused consternation:
“Tattooed Barbie Sparks Controversy, Media Frenzy,” Christina Cheddar Berk, CNBC
“Barbie dons new ‘punk’ look: Mattel defends doll as parents take aim at tattoos and bad-girl image,” Daniel Prendergast and Tracy Connor, New York Daily News
The French don’t hate Americans because of boorish Yank tourists. They don’t hate us because we’re sexual prudes or because we forced them into NATO. They hate us because we let Mattel Toys corrupt their petits garçons and make them slaves to la malbouffe (junk food).
In the beginning was the pea shooter. Boy-men of the late Neolithic placed dried peas in hollow reeds and propelled them by breath at wild beasts — each other. Curious kids may have tried large-bore chickpea models, but the weapon remained virtually unchanged until the Twentieth Century, when bored schoolboys constructed long-range, accurate, non-pneumatic peashooters from mechanical pencils or Bic pens and elastic bands. The Alimentary Arms Race had begun.
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