My daughter, Natalie, and I had a fun talk in the car the other day which I wanted to share with you all. She wanted to know (in that incredulous 15 year old’s voice) why Boys called their dolls, “ACTION FIGURES” as if no one would notice they were actually playing with dolls. She cracked me up. This comes on the heels of seeing a picture of her last big crush on his mother’s facebook page dressed up as Captain Underpants. I thought the question deserved an answer.
According to Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Action_figure The term “action figure” was first coined by Hasbro in 1964, to market their G.I. Joe figure to boys who wouldn’t play with dolls…
Wikipedia continues…An action figure is a posable character figurine, made of plastic or other materials, and often based upon characters from a movie, comic book, video game, or television program. These action figures are usually marketed towards boys and male collectors. Redressable action figures are sometimes referred to as action dolls as a distinction from those which have all or most of their clothes molded on. There are more than 40,000 known unique action figures and more than 700 brands.
Action figures are particularly popular with boys because they represent traditional masculine traits and are closely associated with the public sphere. While most commonly marketed as a children’s toy, the action figure has grown wide acceptance as an adult collector item and has been produced specifically with this in mind. In this case, the item may take on the statuesque properties of being intended solely for display.
HMMMMM…Sounds like a doll to me!
Listen to what the Wikipedia entry has to say about dolls: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doll Wiki says:… – A doll is a model of a human being. Dolls have been around since the dawn of human civilization, and have been fashioned from a vast array of materials, ranging from stone, clay, wood, bone, cloth and paper, to porcelain, china, rubber and plastic.
While dolls have traditionally been toys for children, they are also collected by adults, for their nostalgic value, beauty, historical importance or financial value. In ancient times, dolls were used as representations of a deity, and played a central role in religious ceremonies and rituals…
Archaeological evidence places dolls as foremost candidate for oldest known toy, having been found in Egyptian tombs which date to as early as 2000 BCE. In Egypt, as well as Greece and Rome, it was common to find them in the graves of children. Most were made of wood, although pottery dolls were buried with children from wealthier families. Dolls with movable limbs and removable clothing date back to 200 BCE….
Talk about a time honored tradition. We humans have been using dolls for millennia. Having that little model of ourselves to play with as a comfort, companion, surrogate, or superhero is intuitive for us. We all just get it. So, who was your first Action Figure?
