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Game of Thrones Toys: Thinkgeek & GeekLegacy

A while back I started to wander my local superstore late one night. While wandering I had a nostalgic curiosity with what kind toys are available to children in this day in age. While wandering the isles expecting to see toys similar to what I played with as a child, which I did find, I found these toys on the shelf. My first reaction was cool the Game of Thrones franchise has grown to the point where toys on the series are in demand. Then I thought, “What a minute if these toys are in demand than that means that children of this age group know about and possibly have watched the series.” Having watched most of the series myself I noted that there is a considerable amount of VERY adult content in this series. So why are these toys marketed amongst toys intended for children between 8-12. My solution at the time was to take a picture as discreetly as possible as to not attract any more attention to myself than my mere presence was already drawing, with the intention of later writing an article about this very issue later. After some research on the issue I discovered that this question has been brought up before with other titles such as the Halo. Because this situation is mainly a matter of opinion and will vary depending on the child in question this situation is fairly controversial.

“Adapted from the popular series of fantasy novels by George R.R. Martin, GAME OF THRONES is set in the fictional medieval kingdom of Westeros and follows a large cast of intertwined characters through political intrigue, emotional drama, and fierce battles. Lord Eddard Stark (Sean Bean) begins as the show’s central figure, acting as chief adviser for his boyhood friend, King Robert (Mark Addy). Stark must act as protector and patriarch of his family and the throne itself as threats emerge from both distant lands and nearby traitors. As the series progresses, betrayals large and small change the political landscape of Westeros irreversibly, leading to ever more complicated alliances and plot twists — not to mention brutal battles and struggles for survival.”^[1] The series depicts several scenes where people are murdered and/or torchered where blood and gore are displayed in grotesque ways. The series also contains full nudity, exposed sex, and drinking to “get drunk”. The series was given a parental rating of “Not for Kids” by the Common Sense Media ^[1] and TV-MA by IMDB.^[3]

Halo is a video game series by Bungie and Microsoft game studios. “HALO takes place in the future, where humans are fighting a losing battle against the technologically superior “covenant,” a group of alien beings driven by radical religious beliefs to destroy all humans. To make things worse, it appears they have found a new weapon of incredible power: “HALO,” a mysterious and massive ring/space station orbiting a foreign world. As the game progresses, the player discovers an enemy even worse than the covenant: It would seem that while the covenant was attempting to activate halo, they inadvertently released “the flood,” a vicious alien life form that survives by taking over the body of an organic host and then spreading to the next victim. Once released, “the flood” immediately begins possessing the covenant and humans alike, and the player realizes “the flood” must be stopped to prevent the destruction of the entire galaxy.^[2] Halo was on of the first video games to involve the use of graphic violence & gore depicted in its scenes. The game also depicts Zombie like creatures that were thought to frighten kids. The game was originally rated M for mature and is still listed as such on IMDB^[4] however, Common Sense Media has since lowered that rating to 16 years of age or more.

Something else we should consider is the ideal we are trying to defend, Childhood. Childhood as we know it didn’t exist until around the sixteenth- seventeenth century.^[5] Before then any persons beyond the age of infancy was considered an adult. In ancient greece, male Spartans that lived through infancy were pared up with an elder male whose job was to “take him under his wing.” One of these expected duties was to have sex with the boy.^[6,7] Shortly after this “training” the soldier was expected to fight in wars and to protect his country by spilling the blood of his enemies. Growing up in rome wasn’t much better either. In Pompeii the walls were littered with sexual depictions and prostitutes were considered a government sanctioned profession.^[8,9]

Children untill quite recently were very exposed to what is today considered adult content. Yet, with the emergence if the information age Children are being introduced to these adult situations more often. Very soon society will have to decide for our future generations if we should support this renaissance ideal of Childhood. Or maybe an information revolution should take place and products like the toys that started this article should be encouraged on our youth. What would you do?

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