No More "Breaking Bad" with Toys R Us

     

Most people have heard about the petition that was created on change.org a week ago by Ft Myers, Florida mother, Susan Schrivjer, to ban the sale of 'Breaking Bad' action figures (manufactured by Mezco Toyz) within Toys R Us.  Schivjer, who admitted to being a fan of the show, made a compelling argument that the figures were adult in content and should not be sold amongst children's toys; especially since they are packaged wearing hazmat suits and with components to create [fictitious] meth.    In her defense there are a plethora of shops that specialize in collectable action figures for adults and the 8,000 people that signed her petition appear to agree that those shops and NOT the place that [for years proclaimed to be] “where a kid can be a kid”.

    As of [late] Tuesday, the New Jersey based toy retailer expressed to the Associated Press that is would be pulling the action figures from its shelves and website.  This move has many believing that the voice of concerned parents/citizens is not mute to the ears of big business.  That in a day and age where it seems that children are being left to their own devices and parented via TV and social media…….someone still cares about who and what influences developing minds.

    Or, due to the petition’s close proximately to the largest shopping season of the year, the retailer decided damage control far outweighed potential loss of sales that a ‘scandal’ would create.  With 8,000 signatures surfacing in a week, and various media outlets reporting on the dolls being on the shelves, it would appear to be the most plausible business move. 

    Keep in mind, Schrivjer’s petition was not without opposition…..and that opposition came from a Manhattan Beach, California father by the name of Daniel Pickett.  According to Pickett (who launched his own petition to keep the action figures on the shelves), it is the responsibility of parents to govern what their children is exposed to.  Pickett also contends that Toys R Us has a longstanding reputation for stocking toys for all ages, and that tradition [if you will] should not be interrupted because subject matter that will be exposed to children in other arenas anyway.  Both parents on either side of the argument appear to agree upon that point, while differing as to what is appropriate to explain and govern in an environment targeted at children.

     3,000 signatures to Pickett’s petition give the impression that they too have no issue with action figures riddled with adult content are completely appropriate for display and sale in an environment where at any given time small children can be seen riddling the aisles.  Toys R Us does indeed have an adult figurine section in the store, and the “Breaking Bad” figurines were placed there [in limited supply], therefore, Pickett’s argument having such a backing is understandable.  But one may be inclined to point out that the other figurines are not accompanied by chemistry components that are widely known to exist in the world of meth making.

     When “Hunger Games” debuted to the world, the action figures made to accompany the film were displayed and sold at the retailer to zero chatter.  Many across the web have  also taken time to point out the amount of violent, adult content latent video games that are displayed and sold at the store as well and are in opposition to what has been labelled as of Wednesday as a ‘ban on “Breaking Bad’ dolls’. 

     Regardless of the side of the line drawn in the sand pertaining to this topic, for the time-being, “Breaking Bad” figurines will have to be purchased elsewhere by die hard and/or novice collectors.