The Energon Pub

hellkitty wrote:I girded my loins and walked down the Barbie aisle. Expecting, of course, a whole host of careers such as you've outlined.

You should probably consider that they don't have all these dolls at one time.
I swear with God as my witness, I had some awesome Barbies. Favorite was ocean life gaurd Barbie, complete with life preservation flotation device and pet dophin. In short my most epic bath time toy when I was younger.

But that was years ago. That doll is obiviously discontinued.
*goes to look it up*

AHA!! found it... But apparently it was "Baywatch" Barbie. Heck, I still don't know a thing about Baywatch, except that from to references I've gathered it was pretty lame. So it may negate the doll's cool factor.


There it is.

Here's some cooler professions though if saving people from drowning is too lame.

Here's a pediatrician.

Sure she ain't an open heart surgeon, but I know very few little girls that want to cut open their dolls and see innards.
Adults maybe...

Here's and older Barbie. Astronaut Barbie.


Police officer Barbie...

But you see, most little girls want cute frilly things. You got you hard core job, but they stick it the little frilly tutu so little girls will buy her.

OMG!! This is fun!! I almost fogot about all these dolls I had. Teacher Babie was fun. Her outfit looks pretty silly to me these days, but who cares when you're five?
And the useable sound-making chalkboard was awesome.

hellkitty wrote:Where's Barbie in anything even approaching ANY athletic clothing?

Are you kidding? That have been TONS of sports Barbies!! I think she plays just about every popular sport on Earth...





And it isn't a doll BUT...


And TADA!! She's an Olympian too...

Hey, look: they even made Barbie-athlete's feet able to wear non-heels. I hated her shoes: Barbie was *always* losing the dang things.

Today's TRU foray (another failed quest for Skywarp--why do you elude me, Seeker? WHY!?!?) showed me Mermaid Barbie, another thing my high school guidance counselor left off my list of careers. (He left off many of Barbie's careers like 'fashion model' and 'actress' for obvious reasons.)

For my discharge, my squad bought me one of the Army Barbies (do they sell them any place other than PXs?) and 'customized' her to look like me--well, as much as possible. They lopped the hair off, for one, and wrote my slang name on her name tape. It's priceless to me, but not because it's a Barbie.

HK, like to see Barbie hump a ruck.

barbies i used to throw them acrosss the room and strip them and break them it was so fun what is the point of them any way

gentron wrote:barbies i used to throw them acrosss the room and strip them and break them it was so fun

Okay, perhaps you could pull back on the crazy?

gentron wrote:what is the point of them any way

They're toys, you see. Kids buy them to play with them, much like GI Joe, or Transformers, but for girls.

Shadowman wrote:

gentron wrote:what is the point of them any way

They're toys, you see. Kids buy them to play with them, much like GI Joe, or Transformers, but for girls.

Correction: "but for suburbanshee Stepford Wife trainees/ upcoming avatars of subalternized oppression".

They're *for* cultural training. Girls: change clothes, look pretty and be naked as much as possible.

Transformers toys are for girls. As are, of course, Halo action figures and any of those spiffy special ops military figures that come with accessories like parachutes and radios and M4s..... You boys can have the dumb stuff like Tech Deck. T-ball. Videogames that are based on actual sports (why not just go out and play the frickin' sport?!). And anything else I don't like.

HK, Kommissar of Toys.

Oh yeah, for my gender, I also annex Playmobil.

hellkitty wrote:

Shadowman wrote:

gentron wrote:what is the point of them any way

They're toys, you see. Kids buy them to play with them, much like GI Joe, or Transformers, but for girls.

Correction: "but for suburbanshee Stepford Wife trainees/ upcoming avatars of subalternized oppression".

They're *for* cultural training. Girls: change clothes, look pretty and be naked as much as possible.

Then what about He-Man? Wear damn-near nothing, and solve all your problem with violence?

hellkitty wrote:Transformers toys are for girls. As are, of course, Halo action figures and any of those spiffy special ops military figures that come with accessories like parachutes and radios and M4s.....

You can say this all you like, that doesn't make it true. GI Joe and TF can be FOR girls, but they're marketed at boys.

And how does Halo fit into this? We're talking about toys marketed at children, Halo most certainly is not. (Rated M for Mature)

hellkitty wrote:Videogames that are based on actual sports (why not just go out and play the frickin' sport?!).

Some people can't run even a fraction of the length of a football field without passing out from exhaustion. Some can't even run at all.

Shadowman wrote:Then what about He-Man? Wear damn-near nothing, and solve all your problem with violence?

He-man is a false analogy and you know it. When He-man has been around for fifty frickin' years and is in the homes of *every* single American boy, then you can possibly even think of comparing He-man's influence and lessons and cultural import to Barbie.

But to your point about violence (which is also, apparently, the lesson in *every* cartoon from Tom and Jerry onwards): yeah, well, you might notice there's a huge problem in our society regarding young folks and thinking violence is the solution to every problem. Freaky coincidence?!?! Je pense que non.

[quote}

You can say this all you like, that doesn't make it true. GI Joe and TF can be FOR girls, but they're marketed at boys.

And how does Halo fit into this? We're talking about toys marketed at children, Halo most certainly is not. (Rated M for Mature)[/quote}

How I can say this is this: I was being facetious. However, I think it's stupid and sexist for any toymaker to think that only that gender will and should play with any given toy. I grew up (oh, I'm female, btw) with legos and a Big Wheel and GI Joe the one dude and sports equipment. It's bad enough when moron toymakers think that toys must be split down the middle--apparently Mr Inchworm is now a girl's toy--but it's even worse that apparently everyone else buys into it. Maybe you think that it's gross for a boy to play with a Bratz doll, but surely if you had a daughter you'd let her play with action figures? toy cars? baseball gloves?

Second, I consider anything available at my local Toys R Us as 'marketed at children'. That seems to me to be a not unreasonable assumption. In my local TRU, Halo figures are generally five steps away from the Transformers figures. Seems 'marketed at children' to me. Is that right? I dunno. Is it what is? Yup.

hellkitty wrote:Videogames that are based on actual sports (why not just go out and play the frickin' sport?!).

Some people can't run even a fraction of the length of a football field without passing out from exhaustion. Some can't even run at all.[/quote]

Ah, now you're just being silly. Certainly wouldn't kill the average person a) cardiovascularly and b) social skills-wise to, every ever and anon to go start a game of pick-up hoops or stickball. It's a saaaaaad statement that 70% crippled me can outwalk a bunch of healthy college freshman. Were I them, I'd be ashamed. And do something about it.

HK, my favorite sport involves a machete.

hellkitty wrote:Ah, now you're just being silly. Certainly wouldn't kill the average person a) cardiovascularly and b) social skills-wise to, every ever and anon to go start a game of pick-up hoops or stickball. It's a saaaaaad statement that 70% crippled me can outwalk a bunch of healthy college freshman. Were I them, I'd be ashamed. And do something about it.

This isn't the first time I've heard someone say this. "If I can do it, every other human being on the planet must be able to as well." It doesn't work that way. Not everyone is like you, and there's a long, long list of ways someone can be unable to do these things.

Shadowman wrote:This isn't the first time I've heard someone say this. "If I can do it, every other human being on the planet must be able to as well." It doesn't work that way. Not everyone is like you, and there's a long, long list of ways someone can be unable to do these things.

Are you *seriously* trying to drop some sort of handicapped dime on me?! *ME*?!?! You DID read the part where I shared my VA disability rating, right? I can't even walk normally. Lumbar five is in about six pieces somewhere towards the end of my spine. Don't try to make me feel guilty about some long list of ways people can be unable to play a sport. You're smarter than this.

And I did say 'the average person', that it 'wouldn't kill the average person' to get outside and play a sport. That completely invalidates your criticism. 'The average person' is NOT 'everyone'. QED. I presume you're having a bad day and aren't reading things thoroughly. But before you whip out the PC Paddle of Guilt and attack me, please take a second look, especially at the small snippet you quoted of me, and actually make sure I deserve your scorn.


HK, and thank f***ing GOD 'not everyone is like' me.

Chill out.

You all keep stressing out like this and your immune systems are going to be ineffective and 'bam'...Pig Flu.

Counterpunch wrote:Chill out.

You all keep stressing out like this and your immune systems are going to be ineffective and 'bam'...Pig Flu.

SHHHHHHHHH!!! Stop f***ing up my plan!

I've got two weeks left in the semester, and an avalanche of grading, with the usual end of semester mayhem (whining students demanding extra credit--whatever that is--and make-up days--huh?) and plagiarism cases to push through. A little H1N1 would be lovely.

And being Patient Zero out here would be my 15 minutes of fame. I'd hold out for a reality show.

HK

hellkitty wrote:I've got two weeks left in the semester, and an avalanche of grading, with the usual end of semester mayhem (whining students demanding extra credit--whatever that is--and make-up days--huh?) and plagiarism cases to push through. A little H1N1 would be lovely.
HK

What is this "ex-tra-kred-it"? If I had other assignments to give I would have given them! How about try more the first time? Another case of too little too late eh?

Plagarism is getting scarier and scarier! I hard a radio piece on paper-mills and it made me realize that the only way to discourage plagiarism is to make the evidence of research worth a big chunk of the grade. (Maybe make them handwrite the notecards... no typed notes...)

Back on the Barbie topic, the only Barbies I've seen on the shelves lately with cool professions were Sea World Barbie and pet-vet Barbie. I think Mattel wants Littlest Pet Shop money.

[quote="Lorekeeper]
Plagarism is getting scarier and scarier! I hard a radio piece on paper-mills and it made me realize that the only way to discourage plagiarism is to make the evidence of research worth a big chunk of the grade. (Maybe make them handwrite the notecards... no typed notes...)[/quote]

Make 'em handwrite their paper in class. I have my students for an assignment pick ten lines of a song lyric and they have to translate it into International Phonetic Alphabet. It's too easy to go online and get a badly done one--sorta about as good as those foreign language 'translation' sites. So they do it in class. While I watch and correct them ruthlessly. With frequent reminders of useful things like "no pain, no gain."

It helps, while they're working, to break out into your best Evil Anime Princess Sinister Laugh, then drop into a baritone and say, "Y'all mah bitches."

Besides, what moron spends $10 a PAGE on a bought paper, with no guarantee of grade? I've had students buy papers like that and even without the plagiarism thing, the papers are at best Ds. They're mostly written by students from India and Pakistan, and are filled with ESL errors. Hilarious, especially the ensuing conference.

Back on the Barbie topic, the only Barbies I've seen on the shelves lately with cool professions were Sea World Barbie and pet-vet Barbie. I think Mattel wants Littlest Pet Shop money.

Frankly, I've never gotten un-creeped-out by the Barbie Head thing--you know: this giant head on a tray that (I presume) a girl is supposed to practice putting makeup on? No one else disturbed by those? And now she has two disembodied *hands* as well. And all those feather boas and such? I think Barbie's also trying to capture the nascent drag market.

Why don't they have a GI Joe head upon which young boys can practice proper application of camo? It *is* an art form. (I used to do my squads' camo. One guy always wanted paisleys, go figure).

You'll notice how Army Barbie is now impossible to find in toy stores. Barbie not capitalizing on her *assets*? And with a weapon? And no MIDOL!?!

HK, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em.

I not to long ago picked up Barbie dressed as Tippy Hedron in The Birds...a) because I'm a Hitchcock fan, b) because Tippy was hawt...still is for an older lady, and c) Its Barbie being pecked to death by birds! How can that NOT rule?