Military toys at attention
Maria Weiskott and Gail Ma -- Playthings, 5/1/2003
They may be under attack, but no one's raising a white flag of surrender. Especially not in this flat toy market.
Manufacturers of military type toys—many of which are not "toys" at all, but rather come under the umbrella of collectibles—will be generating products that replicate martial equipment used in the Iraq war. Even in spite of recent events capturing media attention.
In the months ahead, Blackhawk replicas by BBI and Iraqi Freedom figures by Dragon will be hitting the shelves.
But even before they do, the decades-old controversies surrounding these types of products have already hit the airwaves.
Last month, a New York City mom brought "war toy" controversy to the fore. Dressed in an Easter bunny costume, the woman was arrested for causing a disturbance at Manhattan's Astor Place Big K over the sale of what she called military-themed holiday baskets.
But Kmart hasn't been the only mass retailer to recently become a target over such toys. Wal-Mart pulled questionable toy guns off its shelves in New York after being sued by the New York State Attorney General's Office for selling plastic guns that violated safety rules.
These incidents aside, a large majority of what are commonly referred to as war toys, though, really are collectibles—like the Corgi jeep replica here. Replicated military artifacts depicting history date as far back as the Pharaohs.
Collectors love them! And buy them—often at great cost. All the more reason for manufacturers to make them and for retailers to sell them.
