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You are here: Home / Popular Culture / Gamer Dork / Friday Morning Open Thread: Toys!

Friday Morning Open Thread: Toys!

by Anne Laurie|  August 16, 20134:23 am| 33 Comments

This post is in: Gamer Dork, Open Threads, Popular Culture

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Via NYMag, the special effect reel for Game of Thrones.

Somewhere I have a pinback that says “Some people have kids as an excuse to play with toys. I prefer to cut out the middleman and just buy my own!” In that spirit, I objectively approve of the goofiness creative use of materials reported by NYTimes videogame critic, Chris Suellentrop, as “The Virtual World Welcomes Toy Players”:

… The characters that players control in Skylanders, as well as in Disney Infinity, are toy figures. When the toys are placed on a platform — a “Portal of Power,” in the case of Skylanders — the characters come to life on the television screen….

With Infinity, Skylanders faces its first truly formidable foe. Disney’s game is an attempt to create a gigantic virtual universe in which all of the company’s characters — from Mickey Mouse to princesses to Pixar heroes to the stars of movies and ABC television shows — can coexist. Even ESPN and ABC News are in the mix. When I first encountered John Vignocchi, the game’s executive producer, during a demonstration of Disney Infinity in Midtown Manhattan, he was building (using tools in Infinity that are available to any player) an ersatz version of Angry Birds that starred the personalities from “Good Morning America.”…

The physicality of the toys makes palatable one element of video games that players sometimes find annoying: being forced to spend additional money to unlock certain characters and special powers and locations. Paying $15 to add Mrs. Incredible to your “Incredibles” video game sounds outrageous. But when she comes in the form of a toy figure? Well, it’s at least slightly less ridiculous.

And Infinity’s intermingling of a corporation’s carefully cultivated characters and franchises is recognizable to anyone who’s seen a child fight a bedroom floor war between, say, Transformers and My Little Ponies. “You can have races with your friends, using Cinderella’s carriage with machine guns,” Mr. Vignocchi said after grafting some missile capabilities from the “Cars” universe onto the Disney princess’s post-pumpkin ride. (To which a Disney publicist interjected, “Well, that’s probably not something we would want to focus on.”) …

Apart from getting in touch with one’s inner child, what’s on the agenda for the end of another week?

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Reader Interactions

33Comments

  1. 1.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    August 16, 2013 at 4:37 am

    I just finished watching the Daily Show, I’m really going to miss John Oliver as host. I’m sure I’ll miss him more when Stewart gets back.

  2. 2.

    Lurker

    August 16, 2013 at 4:58 am

    OT: where is Cole? He’s been MIA for three days now.

  3. 3.

    raven

    August 16, 2013 at 5:12 am

    @Lurker: Except for the thread he posted/

  4. 4.

    Michael Bersin

    August 16, 2013 at 6:11 am

    I was at the Governor’s Ham Breakfast at the Missouri State Fair yesterday. Attendance (including politicians) was down this year when compared to last year. Sen. Claire McCaskill (D) and Attorney General Chris Koster (D) did not attend. There was a sign at the entry banning cameras and video unless you had a media credential. In the past there have been herds of campaign trackers. I did get a lot of photos. We entered the fairgrounds after the auction of the champion hams and bacon started at the breakfast so I did get a photo of the butter sculpture. It was a tough one – behind triple pane glass with glare from fluorescent lights and side lighting from picture window to the outside.

  5. 5.

    TheMightyTrowel

    August 16, 2013 at 6:23 am

    An excellent long read from the Guardian – Tony Abbott (the pig f&cking ultra conservative probably next PM of Australia) at Oxford.

  6. 6.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    August 16, 2013 at 6:26 am

    @Michael Bersin: Good pics and good read, how do you ban cameras being that almost every phone(smart and dumb) has a camera?

  7. 7.

    PurpleGirl

    August 16, 2013 at 6:26 am

    @Michael Bersin: Re the Butter Sculpture — Is it a pig, clothed and standing upright? Weird.

  8. 8.

    Boudica

    August 16, 2013 at 6:27 am

    What is a pinback?

  9. 9.

    NotMax

    August 16, 2013 at 6:41 am

    @Boudica

    Think campaign button.

    Message on front, pin on the back.

  10. 10.

    Anne Laurie

    August 16, 2013 at 6:45 am

    @Boudica: A pinback button, actually. I know people usually call them a ‘button’ around here and a ‘pin’ in some areas (“Got your pin for the candidate?”) but I got tired of being corrected!

  11. 11.

    Michael Bersin

    August 16, 2013 at 6:53 am

    @PurpleGirl:

    I think it’s a cow, clothed and upright.

  12. 12.

    Linda Featheringill

    August 16, 2013 at 6:54 am

    @Anne Laurie:

    Different terms in different parts of the country are entertaining at times.

    In this household, we sent the Resident Curmudgeon to the grocery store with a list that included “diet pop.” He had to ask one of the grocery personnel what that was. :-)

  13. 13.

    PurpleGirl

    August 16, 2013 at 6:57 am

    @Michael Bersin: TY. It’s still weird.

    @Anne Laurie: Did you get that at an SF convention? I have a whole bunch that I bought in the 1980s. When I attended some auto insurance rate hearings in NJ, I had some made up. I couldn’t give them to the attorneys for the state but they liked them.

  14. 14.

    Michael Bersin

    August 16, 2013 at 6:59 am

    @BillinGlendaleCA:

    In all the years I’ve attended (and covered the event), that’s the first time I’ve seen that sign posted.

    I didn’t stay for the speechifying (it’s usually pretty bland stuff, since it’s a bipartisan event). We attend to get photos and chat with politicians, campaign operatives, and other media (a few will actually tolerate us bloggers).

    The event was different this year. Less free wheeling, much more guarded on the part of the politicians. I spoke with two state representatives (both know me) who were pretty open. Other than that, it was much more subdued. I don’t think it was the rodeo clown effect either. One congressional staffer did tell me he appreciated one of our blog’s sarcastic posts on another subject.

  15. 15.

    Anne Laurie

    August 16, 2013 at 7:06 am

    @PurpleGirl:

    Did you get that at an SF convention? I have a whole bunch that I bought in the 1980s.

    Yep, or else at Tower Records (speaking of the past). Got a couple shoeboxes full of pinbacks & convention badges going back to the early 1970s, or a little earlier, like one that says “Make Something Happy, Kiss An Orc Today” from the first Ace books LOTR release!

    Also a couple dozen personalized name badges… do artists at SF con art shows even do those any more, I wonder?

  16. 16.

    Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism

    August 16, 2013 at 7:26 am

    @Anne Laurie: My FLCS has a spinner filled with buttons.

    I’m pretty sure I saw at least one personalized badge vendor at the most recent con I attended. I’ll try to remember to ask a con-runner friend when I see her this morning.

  17. 17.

    Mustang Bobby

    August 16, 2013 at 7:34 am

    Packing up and heading back to the USofA after five days at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival — and actually seeing one Shakespeare play (“Measure for Measure”). (Reviews of what I saw are here if you care.)

    I love Canada and Canadians; they don’t take themselves so seriously or think they have the FSM-given right to tell the rest of the world what to do and how to do it. I’d seriously suggest that Canada annex Monroe County, Florida (The Keys) because then I could live here and not have to put up with the one major drawback for me: winter.

  18. 18.

    Schlemizel

    August 16, 2013 at 7:43 am

    @Mustang Bobby:

    I was in Canada on a job for a couple of weeks one winter and the local news show’s weather segment carried local weather, the region and FLORIDA! I asked some of the people were I was working & they said that was standard since so many of them spent time there every winter.

    Also saw a billboard for a political party, I don’t remember the exact wording but the point was that they wanted one Canada. Iwas something about “My Canada is the Maritimes and the Northwest (basically listing the provinces and/or regions of the whole nation)” some wise guy spray painted “and Florida 4 months of the year” on it

  19. 19.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    August 16, 2013 at 7:53 am

    @Schlemizel: Back when I worked for Satan, they had their own airline (mainly with flights from Anchorage to the slope). In the winter they’d use one jet on an occasional basis to fly employees from ANC to HON.

  20. 20.

    Lurker

    August 16, 2013 at 8:05 am

    @raven:

    Well, it was quite a succint post, was it not?

    I worry about his well-being.

  21. 21.

    imonlylurking

    August 16, 2013 at 8:37 am

    Bob the graceless cat fell/jumped off of something a few weeks ago and did some damage. They’ve figure out it’s a ripped/torn ligament. He goes in for very expensive surgery tomorrow.

  22. 22.

    NonyNony

    August 16, 2013 at 9:03 am

    Grod I hate Skylanders. $10 – $15 for an in-action figure that should cost at most $5, that is only used to unlock a character in a video game and then gathers dust. For the amount they charge for those things there’s no reason it couldn’t be an articulated figure removable from the base, instead of a “training wheels” version of those stupid statues that comic-book collectors buy to gather dust on their shelves.

    At least Pokemon cards are only $5 a pack and you can play a game with them. Skylanders are like the worst of all worlds when it comes to collectible gaming. So of course Disney is going to get into the mix. (And at least my kid has finally learned that there are some things he’s not going to get a “yes” out of me no matter how many times he asks for it. Now we’ll probably get to go through that lesson all over again with the Disney crap. Yay.)

  23. 23.

    MrSnrub

    August 16, 2013 at 9:13 am

    We played Skylanders, and had a great time doing it. At one point we hunted for as many figures as we could.

    We will probably get Infinity, but will be much more casual about it.

  24. 24.

    Dead Ernest

    August 16, 2013 at 9:31 am

    @Linda Featheringill:
    My earliest childhood exposure (and confusion) with this was: sofa, couch, davenport, chaise lounge… And I’m thinking ‘chiffon’ or some such.

  25. 25.

    PurpleGirl

    August 16, 2013 at 9:38 am

    @Schlemizel: So many French Canadians become snowbirds in Florida during the winter that signs in Fort Lauderdale restaurants and some stores are in English and French, just like home.

  26. 26.

    Gex

    August 16, 2013 at 9:45 am

    Anyone have updates on JenJen and Stan?

  27. 27.

    BruceFromOhio

    August 16, 2013 at 9:47 am

    Apart from getting in touch with one’s inner child, what’s on the agenda for the end of another week?

    TRex in F14s!

  28. 28.

    Mustang Bobby

    August 16, 2013 at 9:56 am

    @PurpleGirl: I once saw a French Canadian get into an argument with a waiter in Hollywood, Florida, which is the home of many Quebecker snowbirds. The waiter was yelling in Spanish, the customer in French, neither of them using English, which both of them clearly spoke when the argument was over and they had retreated to their respective corners.

  29. 29.

    Xecky Gilchrist

    August 16, 2013 at 11:32 am

    I wondered what game producers could do that would be even worse than integrating online bullying into video games, but now I know – news personalities. SHUDDER.

  30. 30.

    Mnemosyne

    August 16, 2013 at 11:38 am

    My whine for the day: I realize that, by nature, the department I’m dealing with right now is very focused on small details, but it is VERY ANNOYING that they absolutely refuse to spell out some kind of big picture so other people can understand what it is they do. We’re supposed to do a presentation on Monday and I’m worried it’s going to suck because it’s all “well, sometimes it’s this, but then sometimes it’s that” when people just want to hear what it IS.

  31. 31.

    Joel

    August 16, 2013 at 11:52 am

    @BillinGlendaleCA: Oliver started out rough.. for like two days. He’s been a breath of fresh air since. Stewart had his time, and he was great in it. But fourteen years is long enough.

  32. 32.

    I Heart Breitbartbees

    August 16, 2013 at 1:38 pm

    @TheMightyTrowel: Isn’t Ausfailia even more conservative than the US in some regards? I remember reading about Anon protests in the form of (POSSIBLY NSFW, BUT FUNNY, LINK HERE), and the absence of an equivalent to our 1st Amendment is cause for some alarm. Also, Ruddkipz was a bit of a wanker. Face it: Australia is America with more surfers.

  33. 33.

    I Heart Breitbartbees

    August 16, 2013 at 1:40 pm

    @Joel: I get the sense that Stewart is about four or five steps from becoming a slightly funnier Dennis Miller.

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