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But Do They Wear Little Latex Gloves?
Is it just me or is this
Lego security checkpoint a little odd?
How do kids play with it? Do they make a little Middle-Eastern Lego
guy for them to profile? Do they get in trouble with the American
Civil Legos Union when they do?
Whoops: Sorry, it's Playmobil, not Lego. There goes my lucrative product placement deal.
|11.25.05 @ 6:13PM|#
I thought it was pretty weird at first glance too, but less so
when I saw that it seems to be intended as an add-on to the already
very elaborate Playmobil Airport Terminal.
It would make a good addition to a 'Lil Paranoids Playset, though,
built around the MegaBloks Alien Agency sets:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0007DHTP4/reasonmagazineA/
|11.25.05 @ 6:24PM|#
The set needs a little Playmobile drug dog and some contraband for the dog to find on the passengers to make it even more fun.
|11.25.05 @ 6:36PM|#
They forgot to include the little old lady being singled out for a random body search. And some young middle-eastern types who can't be searched because it would be politically incorrect. They could even have little Syrian or Iranian passports.
|11.25.05 @ 6:41PM|#
What about the children?! The set has parts that are choking hazards. Oh, the humanity!
|11.25.05 @ 7:16PM|#
I don't get the oddness/sadness of it all. All these
Lego/Playmobil-type sets have police stations; how do children play
with those? Does Johnny Junkie get brought in for an overnight stay
while awaiting arraignment? Do the police stations include little
breathalyzer tests, tasers and clubs for beating the Rodney King
figure?
Or should all children's toys consist of Strawberry Shrortcake and
the Magical Fairy Princess Cloud Castle?
|11.25.05 @ 8:52PM|#
why is matt getting attacked?
http://cbs.sportsline.com/messages/message/nascar/1132955856-matttievsky
|11.25.05 @ 11:27PM|#
1: Does it come with a Derek Smalls figure, complete with
foil-wrapped cucumber?
2: We need a children's book called "Your First Cavity
Search."
3: Is the guy being searched supposed to be so obviously French?
Striped shirt. Sweater around his neck. Puh-lease!
Larry A|11.26.05 @ 12:29AM|#
I think it's astounding that the screeners are actually carrying
g*u*n*s.
Don't hand this toy to your kid on the way to the airplane. They'll
confiscate it.
|11.26.05 @ 5:42AM|#
Think of the educational and training value of this toy.
One can play with their kid and show her what is going to happen
next time we go to the airport. Maybe have her walk the 'suspect'
through the metal detector and maybe suggest she mutter the word,
"stupid" or "bomb." Then jump the play mobile security (PMS) all
over the 'criminal' and, for added effect, take it away from her
never to be seen again. That will teach her to keep her mouth shut,
which is a valuable airport lesson.
But wait there's more:
One can use this toy to prepare her to see mommy being taken into a
back room by our good friends the play mobile security idiots
(PMSI) for a more intense search and daddy getting dragged away by
the cops as he was foolish enough to try to stop them. PMS will
whisper her ear, "Apparently you mommy and daddy are terrorists.
Thank God we caught them!"
A must have gift for Christmas!
|11.26.05 @ 11:17AM|#
"And some young middle-eastern types who can't be searched
because it would be politically incorrect. They could even have
little Syrian or Iranian passports."
You know, because Middle Easterners don't ever gets searched at
airports. *Rolls Eyes*
|11.26.05 @ 11:59AM|#
Yep, nothing like preparing the kids from an early age to live
in the fascist utopia that both the Left and Right are aiming for.
First it was real metal detectors in the schools, now it's pretend
security checkpoints in preschool.
I weep for the future.
|11.26.05 @ 1:55PM|#
Talk about a Rorschach test -- The X-ray machine/walk-through metal detector/hand metal detector troika has been in place at US airports for about 30 years now. The uniforms on Playmobil's security guards look pretty fascist, but I'm with Kurt so far as the "social significance" of this is concerned.
|11.26.05 @ 2:01PM|#
This is not the greatest analogy, but the reason I find this disturbing yet have no problem with toy police stations is similar to the way I'd have no problem with a child having a toy doctor's kit with the stethescope and thermometer and whatnot, but would be very disturbed if it also came with a toy post-rape kit and a toy AIDS detection procedure.
|11.26.05 @ 2:20PM|#
In my day we had to build our own airport security checkpoints
out of legos. We didn't have these newfangled prefab security
checkpoints to stifle our creativity.
Also, the only color of legos we had was black. And we LIKED it
that way, dammit!
|11.26.05 @ 2:50PM|#
Playmobil also has a HAZMAT Team to clean up after the terrorists set off a dirty bomb when they can't make it through the security checkpoint. That is too funny.
|11.26.05 @ 3:24PM|#
There is no field of human endeavor which is outside the purview of Playmobil sets.
|11.27.05 @ 8:08AM|#
What Umbriel said. Baggage X-rays, walkthrough metal detectors and handheld detectors aren't some post-PATRIOT innovations, kids.
|11.27.05 @ 9:31AM|#
Phil-
True, but pre-Patriot they were just things that we did at the
airport. Now they've taken on a much greater significance, as
symbols of our new Security State.
|11.27.05 @ 12:50PM|#
I don't know if anyone else noticed, but there is also a
safecracker and getaway car.
Mixed messages aren't just for adults anymore.
|11.27.05 @ 1:51PM|#
Wow. It doesn't look like the robbers come with guns, which
seems like an inexcusable oversight.
"The two crafty bank robbers quietly sneak over to the safe. With a
torch, the robbers break open the safe and loads of money and gold
pour out! They stuff the loot in a bag and quickly leave the scene
of the crime. The Safecrackers feature a working safe lock."
|11.27.05 @ 3:53PM|#
True, but pre-Patriot they were just things that we did at
the airport. Now they've taken on a much greater significance, as
symbols of our new Security State.
Right, thoreau -- hence Umbriel's formulation: "Rorschach
test."
It's worth noting that Playmobil is and always has been
headquartered in Germany, whose concerns are quite different from
ours in America.
|11.27.05 @ 3:59PM|#
I find it fascinating that they also sell a
Portapotty with crew.
I guess there's a market for everything. :)
|11.27.05 @ 6:31PM|#
This is not the greatest analogy, but the reason I find this
disturbing yet have no problem with toy police stations is similar
to the way I'd have no problem with a child having a toy doctor's
kit with the stethescope and thermometer and whatnot, but would be
very disturbed if it also came with a toy post-rape kit and a toy
AIDS detection procedure.
I don't want to overgeneralize, but my kids have an awful lot more
firsthand experience with security checkpoints than they do with
rape and AIDS kits. Maybe others are less fortunate.
True, but pre-Patriot they were just things that we did at the
airport. Now they've taken on a much greater significance, as
symbols of our new Security State.
For children - and really, for the vast majority of adults -
they're still just things we do.
|11.27.05 @ 6:45PM|#
For children - and really, for the vast majority of adults -
they're still just things we do
Which is a sad statement on our society. Hence the point.
|11.27.05 @ 9:26PM|#
And Jesus said, "Gather unto me the little children.
Yea, verily.
Show unto me the contents of thy heart and likewise thy body
cavities."
One more time, please.
Okay, another, if you please.
|11.27.05 @ 9:39PM|#
Arguably, this could be seen as a sign of the triumph of the
markets.
Deregulation, low-cost airlines, cheap tickets, have all made it
more likely that children will be passengers on planes, instead of
just watching adults boarding and taking off from a reception area
before the metal detectors.
So, with more kids being passengers than in earlier decades, more
kids are experiencing the security measures, and these kids might
want a security checkpoint playset for verisimilitude.
|11.27.05 @ 10:09PM|#
Drop trou, tykes, and proudly display your verisimilitude. Jon H
wants to inspect it.
Just for fun you know.
|11.28.05 @ 8:42AM|#
Jennifer, why is it sad that security at airports is "just a
thing we do?" Do airlines not have a legitimate interest in knowing
who and what is going on their planes?
(I'm not supporting all the post-PATRIOT passenger screenings and
shoe removals, etc. But I've been flying commercially for 36 years
now, and have always had to go through metal detectors and
baggage X-rays. If I owned airplanes and used them to fly strangers
around, I'd use those things too.)
|11.28.05 @ 12:03PM|#
Deregulation, low-cost airlines, cheap tickets, have all
made it more likely that children will be passengers on planes,
instead of just watching adults boarding and taking off from a
reception area before the metal detectors.
Also, I don't know how it is in other cities, but here in DC you
have to go through security to go pretty much anywhere. My kids fly
maybe once or twice a year, but they've been through dozens of
checkpoints just for all our museum visits.
I'm sure that will make Jennifer feel better.
|11.28.05 @ 12:14PM|#
Actually, Krt, having to let those trashy flukies go through my purse the last time I went to the Smithsonian absolutely infuriated me. And wouldn't have done a goddamned thing to stop an actual threat, either.
|11.28.05 @ 12:39PM|#
I'd be worried if this was intended to be part of the Playmobile
Elementary School set or the Playmobile Voting Day set.
As it is, security control has been part of airports for 30 years.
Including such a set is not more a part of the Illuminated
Stonecutters of Zion's Vast Right Wind Conspiracy to brainswash
children into accepting searches than including crashtrucks is a
part of the conspiracy to condition them to accepting that their
A340 will regularly burst into flames on the tarmac.
Any objection I have to security points is not their *existance* so
much as their implimentation. By all means stop the two women with
briefcase bombs but let grampa take his crochetting on the flight.
More importantly, the real problem is the imperious 'we are the
great defenders of all that is good and you are a criminal'
attitude of the screeners. There's no reason why they cannot
conduct checks in a civilized and clueful fashion. The fact that
the 'rules, standards and practices' vary massively depending on
who you ask, but the screeners act as though their personal word is
the Law of the Land.
Jake
(who doesn't mind walking through one hoop but hates jumping
through 10)
|11.28.05 @ 12:54PM|#
There's no reason why they cannot conduct checks in a
civilized and clueful fashion.
Yes there is: that would require the hiring of civilized, clueful
people. Which would cost more money than the government is willing
to spend on Security Theater.
The Wine Commonsewer|11.28.05 @ 1:07PM|#
You guys are soooo funny--and I agree with Jennifer on all counts except the last one. I related the tale before, but the TSA people in Vegas were very smiley, friendly, courteous, and helpful as they escorted me and Mrs TWC to the special place for people who dare fly without a driver license. They made the process quick and easy. Still violates the Bill of Rights but it was really easy on us.
The Wine Commonsewer|11.28.05 @ 1:11PM|#
Okay, Jennifer, guess I'll take back Rape Kit Barbie and get something else for the House Blond. Maybe that Ken doll that comes with two martooni glasses, a lava lamp, and a couple of roopies.
|11.28.05 @ 1:15PM|#
TWC--
In South Africa, where AIDS rates are through the freakin' roof,
the local version of Sesame Street has an HIV-positive Muppet. I
understand the need for this, when practically every kid over there
either has HIV or knows someone who does, but I still think it's a
damned shame that their society is such a mess that an HIV-positive
Muppet is needed. That's how I feel about this.
|11.28.05 @ 1:47PM|#
Actually, Krt, having to let those trashy flukies go through
my purse the last time I went to the Smithsonian absolutely
infuriated me. And wouldn't have done a goddamned thing to stop an
actual threat, either.
Honestly, I'm not a fan either. The one that got me was having to
wait in a long line to get into the *conservatory*. A lady in front
of us started crabbing at me when I snarked about it to my wife. My
feeling was, I'm willing to take my chances standing amid a bunch
of damn flowers.
The Wine Commonsewer|11.28.05 @ 1:53PM|#
Jennifer, I was 100% in agreement with what you said...
I find this disturbing yet have no problem with toy police
stations is similar to the way I'd have no problem with a child
having a toy doctor's kit with the stethescope and thermometer and
whatnot, but would be very disturbed if it also came with a toy
post-rape kit and a toy AIDS detection procedure.
It is disturbing. Just expressing my displeasure in a different way
and was surprised that you apparently didn't realize it.
|11.28.05 @ 4:12PM|#
This doesn't look half as much fun as Ken and Barbie's Secret Cellar of Dark Pleasures (TM).
|11.28.05 @ 4:20PM|#
TWC--I did realize it; I was not trying to contradict you, but to elaborate on what I already said. If I expressed myself improperly I apologize.
The Winecommonsewer|11.28.05 @ 5:40PM|#
Jennifer, my misread, sorry. That is the trouble with this medium, you miss out on the nuances, facial expressions, and gestures that offer better cues when someone is in your living room sipping a glass of wine and making conversation.
|11.28.05 @ 8:33PM|#
Stevo D,
Are Ken and Barbie certifiably 18 or older? If so, I've seen their
Secret Cellar of Dark Pleasures. If not, then I haven't.
More importantly, what about the small minds being brain-soiled by
Playmobil?
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