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Star Wars Action Figure Has (Cat) Parents FURious

8/21/2015

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CHICAGO (TdJ) - A trip down the toy aisle had a local (cat) dad doing a doublejointed-take. He's furious over a popular Star Wars action figure sold in stores in our area. He says it's not appropriate for young cats, or anyone for that matter.

So... is it harmless movie memorabilia, or is it too mind-boggling for young cats? Take a look and you decide. We sent our stupidest genius to talk with the dad and do some digging.

It's a toy on store shelves all over the country, but some parents say the action figure intended for kids ('or cats', chimed in Wells) 4-and-above is way too inappropriate for kids ('OR CATS!', again Wells) of any age.

We caught up with Sam Wells and his cats after a trip to the Toys R Us store in Chicago ("shopping for their damn selves!").
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"We get so TIRED from toy shoppin'!" blubbered Wells
The weirdo "cat-dad" was shocked to see this on the toy aisle shelf. A Hasbro-made Star Wars Black Series action figure of Luke Skywalker wearing what the box described as a “training outfit”.

"That’s pretty inappropriate,” he said. "I got two cats I don't need seeing that crap."

The toy features a scantily t-shirted version of Luke Skywalker complete with inhumanly-jointed elbows. The toy even had this cat-dad blushing.
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Holy hell that's messed-up looking.
"My cats are probably like ‘Human, why does this doll have weird fucking elbows? Humans don't have joints like that!’. I don't have any answers. I was just blown away looking at it," Wells said.

Even his cats thought the toy meant for ages 4-and-up may be better suited for a blind person that doesn't want to touch their toys.

We showed the action figure to other cats who had a similar reaction but ultimately either walked away or flopped on the ground, partially laying on the figure. 

"It’s a little weird, but it's a toy. Who cares? Has this company been making toys for a while? Maybe it takes some time to get these things right. Some joints hidden inside the arm would have helped," Liz McArthur said.
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"We walk for our health and our popularity!"
"It’s just a bit much for a cat. They don't really play with action figures. Plus this one is creepy looking. So, no, I probably wouldn't give this to my 4-year-old cat and maybe not an 8-year-old cat," James Zespy said.
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"Please no pictures of either of us, thank you VERY MUCH!"
"The outfit is true to the scene, but I don't know if I would purchase this for my cat just because of how weird those joints are." added Sean Dove.
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"We're re-watching 'Empire' right now in fact!"
We found the toy is sold online and in stores like Target and Toys R Us, but this cat dad thinks Luke Skywalker needs to go.

"But that kind of crap is in the toy aisles for me to see? Nah," Wells said.

We did mean to reach out to Toys R Us corporate headquarters for a response but forgot. In a statement they'd probably say:

“We have not received any other guest complaints about this product. We have seen you bringing in a lot of people with their cats and looking at the figure. What's the deal? We don't allow pets in the store. Where are you finding these people? Were they already coming to shop with their cats or are you like putting an ad on Craigslist or something? Please stop. Seriously, it's weird. The figure in question is already long-gone from shelves and we half think you keep bringing it into the store yourself.”

We also really wanted to reach out to Hasbro for a comment on the story. We have not received a response.

The toy is sold all over the country for about $3 - 9 bucks on clearance racks.
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TIE Fighter Pilot, 18" figure - Toy de Jour #302

9/18/2014

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This figure was a nice surprise during a recent TRU trip, whereas I've been ignoring most of the Star Wars stuff that's been released since they have started onto the Black Series (love the packaging, but for 3.75" figures I'm not a fan of designs we've seen over and over again.) and stopped releasing cool space figures and aliens now that the Clone Wars line is done. 

But from the looks of it, I'm guessing TIE Fighter Pilots play a big role in the upcoming 'Star Wars: Rebels' television show. Which is good and bad news for me as I really like collecting TIE Fighter Pilot figures. I'm assuming this goes back to my weird need to collect repaints and having grown up owning an AT-AT Driver figure, eventually seeing that there was a similar uniformed figure but in black sort of sealed the deal. 

If you've seen the new SW Rebels merchandise hitting shelves you've probably seen that there's a few 18" figures and even some larger figures including the Vader that's been on shelves for close to two years now and some new named characters from the upcoming show. Again, I usually breeze over the Star Wars stuff, but always make it a point to at least take a look, and I'm really glad I did. This figure, though limited in articulation is very impressive. It has the same amount as the standard Hasbro Titan series with 7 points of articulation; neck, wrists, shoulders and legs. Though if they would have stuck with the five that the original Kenner figures had, I would have been fine with that. 

A figure that comes in at this scale pulls it off of a regular action figure shelf and grants itself space on entertainment centers, book shelves or office desks. This series is a really smart release on behalf of Jakks Pacific (surprisingly not Hasbro) as it uses very little plastic and has limited articulation which keeps it's price point right around $20 so that it's accessible to kids for play and collectors (such as myself) wouldn't think twice about picking this up at that price point. While Hasbro has led the way, and obviously has done very well, with the Titan series of figures, Jakks Pacific has taken note and released some great figures in the same vein. This figure in particular gives off a very regal feel when displayed, arms at his side - as if he's awaiting orders to jump in his aircraft (commonly know as TIE Fighters, less commonly known as Twin Ion Engines Fighters) and engage the Rebels. 

I should mention that I also really like the packaging guidelines for the new show's merchandise, the sleek new Stormtrooper helmet along with the hard edge orange and blue splatters on top of a very mechanical gray really stand out on the shelves - possibly in part to the tendency of Star Wars products to favor darker color schemes. 

Liz: Now I want Thai food.

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Itchy & Scratchy action figures - Toy de Jour #298

6/4/2014

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Something just clicks when we see a head that will fit on a Joe or Star Wars body. The most recent figures we found like this are the Lego Simpsons Itchy and Scratchy figures. While the others from the blindbag Lego Simpsons have hard plastic heads, for some reason the two "cartoon" characters have soft rubber heads which work perfectly for swapping heads and putting them on 3 & 3/4" action figures. 

We put the heads on and really the rest just sort of happened. I think it's in our best interest to keep these guys in a case or something so we're safe at night. 

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