Tuesday, November 15, 2011

No Playskool, just no.


So I got a giftcard from Kohls, or maybe it was a coupon, basically $10 off anything over $10. So I went over there on my lunch break and looked around. They had a pretty good sale on the toys (40% off certain items) so I ended up buying the mildly racist Potato Head set.

That's Karate Chips Potato Head, complete with butter knife sword and peeler-chucks. And a headband with a Japanese Caligraphy-esque design styled on it. That's not racist in and of itself, although it certainly is on the edge of it. But there are plenty of non-Asians who practice Karate and wear stuff like that. No, what gets me playing the race card is that on the packaging the figure is placed in front of a digital backdrop of bamboo. That is definitely playing up the Asian-ness of this figure and whatthehell? As I've mentioned before, I'm disappointedly frustrated when the only depictions of Asians in a toyline are Martial Artists.

So yeah, I bought it because stereotypical depictions of Asians in toylines is fairly hilarious to me because of how lame and sad they are, while at the same time exposing the possible ignorance of the manufacturer.

Oh well, at least the face pieces didn't include squinty eyes or buckteeth. Also not included: A Potato head. This is just the pieces to expand whatever Potato head you already have. That's perhaps the most disappointing part of all. (Although it's also probably why I was able to buy this for less than $10.)

2 comments:

  1. I think would rather it been a Star Wars or Super Hero theme.

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  2. Yeah, my aging spud trooper and darth tater need some hopmies.

    ReplyDelete