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Just a thought I'm throwing out there...How is selling Jack The Ripper and other true life murderers acceptable, and so many people are against Dahmer/ Gacy etc. figures?
Is it just a fact of enough time passing to make it acceptable?
Will a Dahmer doll be acceptable in 100 years?
Thoughts???
I fear the trend.
I think for me it is the fact that so much time has past. all the families of the victims are gone. also it wasnt in a time that we witnessed. some reason the shock of what folks like Dahmer seems worse since its so recent. the others make it hard to feel they really happened. I dont know why else the Ripper doesnt bother me and Dahmer figures would
What chaser said. I think these people have become more like "legends" for lack of a better term, and due to the time period, they are more folk tales, even though they were real people.
Making a modern day serial killer would be in very bad taste... especially to the families of the victims.
It always disturbs me the fascination people have with people like Charles Manson, and who write him fan mail each day...
I originally went to college to be a criminal psychologist, and have done tons of reading on serial killers, and I understand the fascination factor... my fascination was more with how their minds worked, and what led them to do the atrocities they committed... and how to recognize the patterns to prevent it and/or catch existing ones. I have read numerous books, but I would never want an action figure of any of them.
When I think of Billy the Kid and Rasputin, and the others, they seem more like "folklore" now to me, with the likes of Dracula and Dr. Frankenstein.
Will they make a Dahmer figure 100 years from now? Who knows... we'll all be dead then anyhow. I'd like to think not, but you never know... I'd like to think I won't see one in my lifetime...
<font color="#cd6600" size="1">[ March 11, 2004 11:55 AM: Message edited by: pairadocs ]</font>
As many others have said, I believe that people think it's "ok" to make these figures because the people in them are no longer really viewed as real people. We know they existed, we know their crimes, but the times they came from are long gone, and they and their victims and the close families of their victims are all dust now. They are historical figures, pieces of the past, and all of them have a great deal of myth and legend surrounding them. These people have nothing to do with us. I mean, I'm half turkish. vlad the impaler murdered countless turks. do I care? nope. has nothing to do with me. he's one of my favorite figures from this line, and he's also someone that I've been fascinated by for a long time.
history has always been a passion of mine. especially the "monsters" that it contains. lady bathory was also a favorite of mine to read about, so I'm thrilled that there will be a figure of her as well. and as for rasputin, didn't disney or some similar company make a children's movie out of his story? if you can show an animated rasputin dancing around with rotting body parts dropping off of him to children, why would an action figure aimed towards adults be a problem?
now, I do not think that modern day killers should be made into figures. serial killers interest me. I have several books on the subject. but I would not want a figure of ed gein or albert fish.
Figures based on murders that took place over a hundred years ago, who cares.
Figures based on murders that took place yesterday or even 10 years ago, no way.
There is something to be said for showing respect to the families of those who have lost loved ones. But over time, and I mean a lot of time it moves from recent tragedy to historical event.[like said above]
I think toy companies or any company for that matter just need to play it by ear and use good judgement, which is what I think McFarlane did in this case.
<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">EXACTLY.Quote:
Originally posted by Peter Peeker:
and where do ya draw the line?
if we get Dahmer, why not rapists and child molesters?
I fail to see a difference between a man who brutally murdered his fellow countrymen and consumed their blood hundreds of years ago (Vlad Tepes) and Dahmer.
How does time make it more or less acceptable?
While I would agree that the historical figures in Monsters 3 are highly stylized to the point of fiction, it doesn't change the fact that they were real.
Frankenstein's monster isn't real.
Dracula isn't real (though he was INSPIRED by Tepes).
Werewolves aren't real...
There IS a difference.
It's true that people like Jack the Ripper and Elizabeth Bathory were monsters because of the acts they committed, but I think they are the wrong direction for the Monsters line to be going, especially with so much fan support for stuff like mythological monsters, cryptozoology, and another "classics" line.
I know Todd hasnt made any of those guys, but wasn't there some little company that made them?
Most of you sound like me, were only interested because we wanna know what makes these kinda people tick, like you all said maybe in 100 or more.
I hate to say it but I too am fasinated by serial killers. not as in I approve or like what they did but to see how their minds work and how those that study them catch them. I still wouldnt want modern day serial killer figures though
For me the guys in Monsters 3 have been fictionalized & movisized so many times, those are the figures I'm getting.
Elizabeth Bathory is "Countess Dracula" (1970-Hammer) as far as I'm concerned.
Billy the Kid's a cool looking cowboy/outlaw figure that looks nothing like Billy.
Jack's "An East Wind Coming" (gotta get a Holmes figure) or the guy from "From Hell" etc.
I'd really have no interest in figures of modern day serial killers.