By David Futrelle
Browsing Twitter this morning, I came across this video, which at first I thought was just a joke.
But no, these things are real. You can buy them at Target and Amazon and, I guess, everywhere else where vomiting, shitting toys are sold.
While I was initially a bit repulsed, I realized that these toys are the perfect symbol of a time in history when the news, on a daily basis, causes me and probably billions of others to (figuratively) shit ourselves in fear or vomit in disgust.
These aren’t just toys; they’re cultural commentators. And they’re a good deal better at their job than most of the commentators I see on the news or in the New York Times op-ed pages.
PS: Consider this an open thread.
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Well, now we’re one step closer to getting Stephanie Miller’s “unicorn that farts glitter”.
Great bleeding shit…
Holy laminated, oscillated, bifurcated mother of pearl…
Sweet fuck in a bucket…
Is any parent actually going to buy a toy that does this? I know I need fewer things in my house that vomit, not more.
As this is an open thread I hope people won’t mind me repeating my plea for title suggestions.
For article about the law surrounding protests; especially marches, demos, and occupations.
Ta.
Thread on the result of the House vote on prohibiting DoD facilities from being used to detain unaccompanied migrant children. This is important, because military bases would have even less oversight than the existing camps. The amendment was defeated, and 34 Dems (and all but 1 Repubs) voted against it!
I had to check Target’s online store because I could not believe these were real.
Holy crap.
Since this is an open thread, I’m curious about something: How many other people here, when reading a manospherian refer to women as “females,” always hear a Ferengi saying “FEEEEMALES?” It’s not just me, right?
Ok… that’s it… I’m calling the Protoss… glass this world, we will not be missed.
@Allandrel
I hear it pronounced the same way, but instead of picturing a Ferengi I picture a pimply middle school boy saying it. Much like manospherians, many middle school boys think girls have cooties. Unlike manospherians, most boys outgrow this.
@Allandrel: Not just you. Somebody else pointed that out and now I can’t help but hear that sometimes.
But remember, even the Ferengi started to institute feminist reforms in the DS9 era, thanks in a large part to Ishka (Quark’s mother). So it’s not entirely fair to compare misogynospherians to them.
Yes on the Ferengi-voice. Although I think Ferengi would be as equally baffled by MRAs as they are by socialists.
Also, Alaska is on fire politically and literally and it sucks.
I just moved down to Washington state for a job, and I’m watching my home state implode behind me and it’s not cool.
Our Governor and his coterie of fools make even pretty right wing republicans look moderate in comparison.
It’s a mess.
This probably belongs in the last open thread which was specifically about music, but something reminded me of it today.
Béatrice Martin is a French-Canadian singer-songwriter who records under the name of “Cœur de Pirate” (which is an awesome name). My French is basically tourist level (I learned German in school) but, oh, the feels. Nothing can do yearning like French…
@Alan
Can you do something with “Taking the Law into your own hands”?
@ Sheila
Hmm, one thing I was thinking about covering was whether you can intervene when there’s an unlawful arrest; so that might be a good sub-heading.
Is it bad that I really want one of those toys?
bad? … no….
strange…???
@Alan,
“I fought the Law, and the Law (didn’t) Win.” (from an old rock song whose singer(s) escape me).
“I fight Authority; Authority (doesn’t) Always Win” (from the John Cougar Melloncamp song).
Welcome to WA! Hopefully the cool weather keeps up so we don’t also become literally on fire like the past few years. Sorry about AK. 🙁
@ redsilkphoenix
The Clash! I used to do a radio show about the law, and that was the theme tune.
I hadn’t heard the Mellencamp song before; but I like the Duane Eddy guitar; so thanks!
Those toys are definitely not to most people’s tastes (they’re not mine either), but just because something’s aimed at a niche market doesn’t make it wrong. Personally, while I don’t exactly collect them, I do have a clown doll and a few clown toys. Regular clowns, not monster clowns. I keep them out of sight most of the time because this bothers some people.
So @weirwoodtreehugger, you do you, even if people think it’s strange or uncomfortable. And I mean that in a genuine, non-condescending manner.
That reminds me of those little LOL Surprise Babies that either spit, cried, or peed and I don’t care for them at all.
And there’s also tons of collectable blind bag toys that are poop based. I blame the emoji for making it popular again.
…This probably shouldn’t need to be said, but just in case: The only real exception to you-do-you is if one’s primary or sole reason for engaging in something is to make people nonconsensually feel uncomfortable or even harm them… in that case, either you-don’t-do-you or else find someone who consents to feeling/being “violated”.
…Or you’re engaging in a valid form of protest. That’s an exception to the exception. And then we get into the thorny issue of what counts as “valid form of protest.” Damn, this is complicated.
I mean, those freak me out, but I also had a Betsy Wetsy so I guess I shouldn’t judge
I’m not only grossed out by the vomit/poop thing, I’m concerned about what future generations (or…I don’t know…a tourist group of alien visitors) will think about us when they find these things and their *spew* in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Tell your friends not to buy this plastic crap and its fake rainbow-positive message.
@ Allandrel re “Feeeeeemales!”
I always hear it in Natalie Wynn’s (ContraPoints) voice from her incel video.
This isn’t a new thing as Me and not you pointed out with Betsy Wetsy. But man, those critters are ugh-leee! They all look ill. They all seem to be female…
It almost seems like there some product placement money backing it, given the things you force-feed the poor unicorn chimeras with: Poopsi, Caca Cola, Mountain Doo Doo, Farta, Dr. Pooper, Cacada Dry, #2 Poop Beer, Poopitos, etc.