The Energon Pub

Well it's almost November and it's about that time for the Media to do their annual "Do Not Buy" toys list.. Just in time for the X-mas season!!

I am soo sick of seeing these types of people in the news and media, they are the reasons why we have our toys the way they are..

Yes we want to pride ourselves on being a country that has the safeset toys for our children, and yes Lead Paint makes me cringe as a parent. But there is a line to be drawn between protective behaviour, writing laws for such a thing, and just plain- out right- over
reacting!!!

Did you know that there are actually toy Watchdog groups out there who lobby congressional leaders to make new toy laws every year?


http://media.www.vermontcynic.com/media ... 9153.shtml

Did you know that alot of what we have suffered in the toy industry as blow backs were derrived from lawsuits by neglective parents who left their child unattended with a toy in another room..? Or those same bad parents who never once told their kid, "NO! you don't stick that toy in you mouth, you could choke!!" I mean the amount of neglect and irresponsibility is staggering.

There are some attoney's who want nothing more then to win a lawsuit and make a name for themselves, and have their lawsuit used as a reference in other cases, citing their win, and a new law imposed because of their case.. it's a total imortalizing reason these guys attack these companies, and not to mention the money...Greed fuels the lawsuit.. justice shows up every now and then..

Alot of these lawsuits are from Parents who just can't take responsibility for their own neglective actions, want huge amounts of money, so they sue the toy company.. and laws are passed which affect the toy companies, which in my opinion should be changed to laws that address Parental neglect...

Barring the G-1 Megatron fiasco in the 1980s, and the recent problems with importing Masterpiece Megatron, there has been alot of polarization by the media.. which I believe only fuels the fires of hysteria... I'm of half a mind to wonder if the Watchdog groups, Lawyers, and the media won't be satisfied till all toys are gone and all that is left is linkin Logs and Brightly colored Beach balls..

write to your congressman, do something to make a difference.. these neglective Parents deserve new laws against them, and the media needs to be swayed away from over reactive reporting, just as some of these powerful and influential Watchdog groups need to be severed from their cash flows and support..Toy companies should be able to stand up for themselves and not be chastised for their trying to bring new toys to kids, collectors and the general public...as long as they follow the rules..

there is a fine line between hysteria, people and what's reasonably safety concious.. Support awareness and not hysteria!!!

In 2002 Transformers Armada made the list of unsafe upstate new york toys:
http://www.nypirg.org/Consumer/2002/upstate.pdf

with how the movie toys have been produced, their popularity, the intricate and smaller parts, and kibble, don't be surprised if the Watchdog groups and the Media jump on a couple of Transformer toys.. there goes Optimus Prime's smoke stacks again!!!

This is the same as people blaming violence on video games. We have parents who don't want to do their job right so they get big brother to do it for them. The parents should be looked at not the product in question

I have to agree with this. It really seems like to me these days parents would rather have someone else raise their kids for them, but when little Johnny chokes on a toy because mom was to busy to watch him it's the toy companies fault for making something a kind could choke on if they put in their mouths and tried to swallow it. Um, if I recall correctly toy packages these days have choking hazard warnings on them, and if you look their not hard to find.

I'm just so sick of this kind of stuff and I really think it's getting out of hand. I'm starting to think people who think like we do should form a lobby group of our own which has the purpose of smacking these dumb parents upside the head when they pull crap like this.

Of course I say this and I'm not a parent, though I do hope to be one someday.

I'm with you on this one as well. I can't stand people passing the blame on for their own negligence. The phrase "you'll ruin it for everyone else," comes to mind in these situations.

When I was a kid my parents watched me, and told me what was safe, what was not, and why, and I can't remember ever sustaining a toy related injury. Be a good parent and watch your kids and don't screw it up for everyone else.

Similarly, I agree. Toy quality suffers because some kid wasn't taught that sticking things in your eye (for instance) hurts. It's come to be a real problem where an idiot hurts themselves by doing something blatantly stupid, then blames some poor innocent passerby for not stopping them.

I always equate it to the classic "poodle in the microwave" story.
And of course another brilliant version:
http://www.theonion.com/content/node/28331 (the Onion site seems to be having problems at the mo, but click it later, it's so true...)

you want to know why I decided to come out on this issue today? As a small business owner I receive lots of phone calls and solicitations from businesses and people looking for a company check to sponsor their events.. So I got a call yesterday from this lobby group and Watchdog association, who wanted support from my company for their legislation on tougher Toy manufacturer laws overseas, and tougher penalties for toy manufacturers...

With the recent debacles over Lead Paint in toys and such I was on board...until the propaganda machine reared it's ugly head..

This solicitor had no idea I was a closet Transformers geek, and insisted on telling me horror stories of what bad toys have done to kids across the nation..30 minutes of unending rhetoric about what has happened, flammables, choking hazards, statistics..

and in each story, I asked only one question....

"Where were the parents and why wasn't the child supervised?"

There was no answer to that, over and over again...no answer.. no information was given about what the parents were doing, and why that had not been addressed in the lawsuit, hearings, ect...

So I said, "ok, My Company and I will support your cause, but I want to know what programs your organization is proposing for Parents and their learning or training about the proper purchase for their child? What plans to educate parents in the correct way to supervise their kids while playing?"

The solicitor, said "none"..

I abruptly said, "no thank you, and do not call my office and business again."

That right there told me, that this particular organization is only out for one thing, blood and money from the Toy companies, to make it easier for unrealistic and responsibility lacking parents to sue toy companies and make larger laws, so that one day we have nothing left but Brightly colored beach balls as toys..

Man, I hear you on the solicitor thing. Notice how they try and force your response with things like "don't you think..." or "would you agree that..." type phrases? 90% of the time, these people aren't out for your opinions, they call you because they hope you haven't GOT an opinion yet.

I really like how you handled that situation. Bravo.

In that link to the list, one of the toys banned was a SpiderMan Skateboard? Banned for "Fall related Injuries."

WTF? It's a skateboard, of course a kids gonna fall off it.

We should ban paper airplanes, you can get a nasty paper cut.

Geekee1 wrote:I really like how you handled that situation. Bravo.

thanks, I had alot of training from the whole Megatron Masterpiece debates here on seibertron as well as past solicitors..

... so you would rather have some innocent 2 year old kid suffer, choke, suffocate, lose an eye etc, just so you can have your fun? It's not their fault if they have negligent parents, but they're the ones who suffer.

Actually I'm with you, was just thinking out the other side for a second there. I don't think it's the place of government to make sure everything is safe where common sense is capable of doing the same thing. Things are probably over-regulated in many ways as it is. If only they could be regulated so they wouldn't suck.

Bumblethumper wrote:... so you would rather have some innocent 2 year old kid suffer, choke, suffocate, lose an eye etc, just so you can have your fun? It's not their fault if they have negligent parents, but they're the ones who suffer.

The thing is, if the parents are so negligent that they either don't teach their children what NOT to do with a toy or watch them close enough that they catch the child before they get hurt, then something in their environment is going to get them anyway.

For example, if a mother is outside talking to a neighbor for hours, that child is just as likely to play with a knife from the kitchen or swallow some of Dad's screws from the garage. We just hear about the toys more because there isn't much you can do to child-proof a screw.

The thing is, I have NEVER gotten hurt from a toy before. My brothers (and I've got five of them) have never been hurt by a toy before. None of our friends have been hurt by a toy before. This was back in the 80's and 90's when Thundercracker had tiny missiles which shot a good distance, Fortress Maximus could break into tiny pieces that I could swallow, and that evil Magna-Doodle they mentioned in that bad toy report could have strangled me. Nothing like that happened, even though I WAS one of those unattended children. By what I've seen, NO child of the 80's and 90's should have made it out alive.

The thing is, you can NEVER make toys safe for unsupervised children. Children can eat legos, doll hair, Micro Machines, marbles, Hot Wheel wheels, etc. The can take a hammer and break apart any toy and create many jagged cutting pieces. Heck, even the plastic bag you bring the toy home in can kill the child.

I would also like to state that I'M a mother to a nine year old and she has yet to be injured by any toy. I talk to her about her toys; what she shouldn't do and what would happen if she did. I keep an ear out for her, even if she is in her room. Constant vigilance is difficult, but it is every parent's job.

The thing to remember is that some people are stupid.

In a world populated by stupid people you need to ensure that stupid people can't sue for stupid things.

It's easy to say "well the parents just shouldn't buy this toy for their 2 year old because it's for 5+". Doesn't work like that.

Secondly, there are some toys that simply should not be out there to begin with.

What sort of person would willingly buy a stripper pole and skimpy stripper bikini for their five year old daughter? Yes. Such a "toy" does exist and it's marketted at children. Forget what sort of company produces it, what sort of parent would buy it?

As for these lists, what's the big problem? They're "advisory", much like movie ratings. And here's the shocker, some parents actually love their children enough to be well informed about the things they're buying for their kids.

Could these lists be wrong at times? Sure. But nothing's perfect, and whether you're a collector with no children or a parent, at the end of the day the decision is yours and these lists do NOT force you into buying something or not.

In other words, they're harmless unless you're a psychotic fanboy upset at his precious pieces of plastic having something bad said about them.

I'm a parent of two (soon to be three) and an avid TF and LEGO collector.

I believe in high-quality products. I hate when I buy a toy only to find it is a poorly made, easily broken piece of crap.

Therefore, I support toy watch groups and their pursuit to make sure that toys are made to be safe and durable for the age group for which they are designed. I have seen and held many inferior toys made in countries without standards. There is some pure crap produced in other countries, some of it that could be quite dangerous even with adult supervision. I'm talking about plastic that deterioriates or parts that easily snap and break into razor sharp pieces.

I support high-quality toy standards because those standards lead to better built products. I don't want to spend money on toys for my kids that fall apart or break with regular play. Toys should be built to last if they are not mistreated. 74 Bumblebee and movie Payload are good examples of toys that I beliefve are subpar Transformers that should make the "do not buy" list for the average person.

Adult collectables should be treated seperately, but should also be built with quaility. Masterpiece Megatron comes to mind. Even when sold as an adult collectable, the figure has some poor quality issues that cause the thing to break even if handled carefully. That just plain sucks.

If stricter quality regulations mean that figures I spend money on aren't going to fall apart, then I fully support them.

thats why I said before, that there is a fine line between hysteria, and what's reasonably safety conscious.. Support awareness and not hysteria..

skywarp-2 wrote:I'm of half a mind to wonder if the Watchdog groups, Lawyers, and the media won't be satisfied till all toys are gone and all that is left is linkin Logs and Brightly colored Beach balls.

Actually, I think that there already is a choking hazard on Licoln Logs so they beat you to the punch. It's kind of funny that wooden toy logs that look like poop has to have a warning for you to not put it in your mouth.

at times, I wonder what happen to common sense in parents. I would not buy a toy for 5 year olds and give it to a 3 year old. Also, I do not know if the recall about lead in toys is still in effect.