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Government Idle Your Rights Online

Amazon Sells Out Predator Drone Toy After Mocking Reviews 147

parallel_prankster writes "Amazon users are addressing the drone controversy with sarcasm. Maisto International Inc.'s model Predator drones are selling out on Amazon.com Inc.'s website as parody reviews highlight how the toys can help children hone killing skills, mocking a controversial U.S. practice. The toy is a replica of the RQ-1 Predator, an unmanned aircraft that the U.S. Air Force has used in combat over Afghanistan, Pakistan, Serbia, Iraq and Yemen, according to the product description on Amazon. Only one of the $49.99 military-style toy jets is available for purchase on Amazon's site, which is brimming with assessments laced with dark humor. 'You can't spell slaughter without laughter,' one pithy joker wrote."
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Amazon Sells Out Predator Drone Toy After Mocking Reviews

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  • Just f***ing awesome. Haha.
    • Re:Awesome (Score:5, Funny)

      by Jeremiah Cornelius ( 137 ) on Sunday February 17, 2013 @01:56PM (#42929127) Homepage Journal

      Now Johnnie and Susie have another toy to celebrate their gradual development in our new, post-Orwellian future!

      I thought that having just this one was somehow, inadequate:
      http://www.amazon.com/PLAYMOBIL&%23174;-36138-Playmobil-Security-Check/product-reviews/B0002CYTL2 [amazon.com]

      Now? We need an EasyBake Backscatter nudity scanner, a "pat down" edition of "Operation" and a GI Joe Seal Team Six bin Laden's Lair play set.

      Duty Now For The Future!

  • Thanks /. (Score:2, Insightful)

    by cultiv8 ( 1660093 )
    We helped sell that last toy jet! I love it how we just stuck it to corporate america, down with the man! *runs, ducks*
  • by PPH ( 736903 ) on Sunday February 17, 2013 @01:44PM (#42929031)

    ... for a press release from the Iranian Air Force about their newest UAV development.

  • they need... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by fyngyrz ( 762201 ) on Sunday February 17, 2013 @01:47PM (#42929051) Homepage Journal

    ...supreme court dolls.

    You pull a string, and they say things like:

    "The supreme court can modify the constitution because the supreme court says so"

    "interstate, intrastate, meh. Get me a bagel."

    "public use means where people can see it."

    "ex post facto, ex post schmacto. It's simply retroactive."

    "It's not additional punishment if we say it isn't."

    "Double jeopardy? No, no, just go after them in civil court." ...and so on.

    • by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 17, 2013 @02:04PM (#42929199)

      Don't forget the Congressional Inaction Figures.

      • by fyngyrz ( 762201 ) on Sunday February 17, 2013 @02:27PM (#42929393) Homepage Journal

        ...they only work if you buy the lobbyist figure set.

        • by wierd_w ( 1375923 ) on Sunday February 17, 2013 @06:41PM (#42931107)

          Larry the Lobbyist playset comes with Larry the Lobbyist action figure, a play mirror, 3 hooker action figures, sugar packets, and a briefcase filled with play money.

          Mix and Match what Larry the Lobbyist says by affixing different logos to his briefcase!

          When combined with the Politicial Inaction figures from the Congressional-Regressional playset, Endless combinations of interaction are possible!

          *Congressional Inaction figures respond differently based on the amount of play money inside the briefcase, and also according to how many hooker action figures and how many sugar packets have been spilled on the play mirror.

    • by Improv ( 2467 )

      I think a libertarian/"constitutionalist" (quotes intentional) bobble head doll would be even more hilarious.

    • by Myopic ( 18616 ) *

      I wish to subscribe to your bulletin. Who else would you want to decide what is or isn't allowed under the Constitution?

      • Who else would you want to decide what is or isn't allowed under the Constitution?

        SCOTUS decides what the government will treat as constitutional or not; their opinions do not change what is actually constitutional. Just like a bad call by the refs doesn't change the rules of a game, even if there's no appeal, a bad call by the Supremes doesn't change the Constitution.

        • by Myopic ( 18616 ) *

          Right right, whatever, but when faced with a disagreement about what the Constitution means, then someone has to decide in order for us to take actions. What is meant by "is Constitutional" and "isn't Constitutional" is some kind of judgement which blesses or prevents an action. It is pretty much meaningless for you to say things like "what is actually constitutional" because of course there is no objective meaning to the document; it's meaning is a property of the brains which ponder it. So if two brains d

    • Why don't you right-wingers just SHUT UP?
  • News for Nerds, recycled Fark stories

  • G.I. Joe (Score:5, Insightful)

    by hawguy ( 1600213 ) on Sunday February 17, 2013 @01:48PM (#42929065)

    Just wait until these people find out that G.I. Joe [wikipedia.org] has been turning children into war machines for half a century. He has a full complement of air, ground, and water assault vehicles. [wikipedia.org] He has even militarized outer space with his own space shuttle [figure-archive.net].

    • Yes, I'm puzzle at the sarcasm here. It's a war toy, somewhat more up to date than the war toys I played with as a kid, but cap-guns, soldier action figures, grenades, bazookas, model jet fighters, tanks, and battleships... I played with all of these. There's nothing new about this.

      • Re:G.I. Joe (Score:4, Insightful)

        by fuzzyfuzzyfungus ( 1223518 ) on Sunday February 17, 2013 @02:23PM (#42929351) Journal

        Yes, I'm puzzle at the sarcasm here. It's a war toy, somewhat more up to date than the war toys I played with as a kid, but cap-guns, soldier action figures, grenades, bazookas, model jet fighters, tanks, and battleships... I played with all of these. There's nothing new about this.

        This is probably why most of the review-snark is focused on our wacky adventures in novel legal interpretation with a side of collateral damage, rather than the (not particularly exceptional, if comparatively cheap) capabilities of the drone itself.

        The news isn't that weapons have marched on; but that we really haven't been covering ourselves with glory when it comes to using them.

      • by DarkOx ( 621550 )

        It's a war toy, somewhat more up to date than the war toys I played with as a kid, but cap-guns, soldier action figures, grenades, bazookas, model jet fighters, tanks, and battleships... I played with all of these. There's nothing new about this.

        There is something new here. All of the real life analogs of the toys you listed require the operators of those things to put themselves in harms way. We could have a separate discussion about if its a good idea to glorify war in the eyes of our children through play or not but there is something different about a drone.

        Do we want to teach our children the good guys kill from far away and attack enemies who have no capability to do them any immediate harm?

        Children are not going understand the other legal

        • Yes we do (Score:5, Funny)

          by SuperKendall ( 25149 ) on Sunday February 17, 2013 @07:21PM (#42931267)

          Do we want to teach our children the good guys kill from far away

          If we want to raise smart kids, yes. That makes a lot more sense than going where someone can hurt you.

          and attack enemies who have no capability to do them any immediate harm? ... unless you get close, then the have guns, mines, explosives planted in roads, succeed bombers, etc.

          Do you also teach your kids its safer to cross the highway by dodging cars rather than using the pedestrian overpass?

        • Do we want to teach our children the good guys kill from far away and attack enemies who have no capability to do them any immediate harm?

          Yeah, flying planes into buildings.. Nope, the bad guys didn't have any capability for immediate harm.

      • When you played soldiers as a kid you probably didn't choose to be a Nazi torturer, unless you were a very, um, special child.
    • by Anonymous Coward

      When did G.I. Joe claim the right to kill american citizens without the constitutional right to due process?

    • G.I. Joe offers terrible training, suggesting that revealing, borderline homoerotic costumes make good battle armor, that hanging onto the sides of vehicles is a safe way to move around a combat zone, that the enemy is absolutely incompetent and can't shoot worth a damn, and it's OK if you can't shoot worth a damn either...and those are just the tip of the iceberg.

  • by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 17, 2013 @01:56PM (#42929129)

    You've had a busy play day - You've wiretapped Mom's cell phone and e-mail without a warrant, you've indefinitely detained your little brother Timmy in the linen closet without trial, and you've confiscated all the Super-Soakers from the neighborhood children (after all, why does any kid - besides you, of course - even NEED a Super-Soaker for self-defense? A regular water pistol should be enough). What do you do for an encore?

    That's where the US Air Force Medium Altitude, Long Endurance, Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) RQ-1 Predator from Maisto comes in. Let's say that Dad has been labeled a terrorist in secret through your disposition matrix. Rather than just arrest him and go through the hassle of trying and convicting him in a court of law, and having to fool with all those terrorist-loving Constitutional protections, you can just use one of these flying death robots to assassinate him! Remember, due process and oversight are for sissies. Plus, you get the added bonus of taking out potential terrorists before they've even done anything - estimates have determined that you can kill up to 49 potential future terrorists of any age for every confirmed terrorist you kill, and with the innovative 'double-tap' option, you can even kill a few terrorist first responders, preventing them from committing terrorist acts like helping the wounded and rescuing survivors trapped in the rubble. Don't let Dad get away with anti-American activities! Show him who's boss, whether he's at a wedding, a funeral, or just having his morning coffee. Sow fear and carnage in your wake! Win a Nobel Peace Prize and be declared Time Magazine's Person of the Year - Twice!

    This goes well with the Maisto Extraordinary Rendition playset, by the way - which gives you all the tools you need to kidnap the family pet and take him for interrogation at a neighbor's house, where the rules of the Geneva Convention may not apply. Loads of fun!

    (Source: Amazon listing)

    • Wouldn't matter if you had a supersoaker or an assault rifle against a government that has drones, an airforce, a huge army, tanks and bombs, not to mention biological, chemical and nuclear weapons. This isn't two armies with muskets and cannons like in the 18th century, the battle between the patriots (who don't seem to have risen up at all in the last 200 or so years in any case) and the US government will not go so well for the patriots.

      • I think that, though you raise valid points, the outcome would not be nearly as bleak as you expect.

        • I think that, though you raise valid points, the outcome would not be nearly as bleak as you expect.

          As in any revolutionary/insurgent/freedom fighter type of scenario, it would depend primarily on how many people were on your side against the government. One guy with an assault rifle against the entire US army is only going to end one way. One million guys with petrol bombs, sticks and stones is something else.

  • Missing (yet) in the Amazon catalog are puppets, in particular of judges, senators and other high government positions. They could use it in a (incoming) role playing game called Lobby, a bit much like Troika [nytimes.com], but with puppets to give it more realism.
  • It'd be a hoot if the toy were more expensive than the actual drones.

  • Some of the comments are the standard comment drivel you get anywhere, but many are really well written. I haven't had so much fun reading reviews since three wolf moon.

  • And strangely enough, it has 6*6*6 customer reviews right now ..
  • real geeks would want it in 20mm or 28mm scale so it would fit with the rest of our models - and you Airifix re issue those Operation Herrick sets in 172 stat oh and some models of the tasty Jackals and Coyotes would be nice.
  • Proves that for the weapons fetishists, a toy is as good as the real thing. Better, in fact, because you don't have to actually put on a uniform and risk being caught in some third world country without your bag of cheetos and mom's meat loaf.

    Man, they really showed those dirty fucking hippies what's what when they bought up all the $50 toy model drones, d'nt they? Red State Trike Force...ASSEMBLE!

    You can have my 1:87 scale die-cast Predator drone with display stand when you wrest it from my cold dead han

    • Re: (Score:2, Informative)

      by SourceFrog ( 627014 )

      Proves that for the weapons fetishists

      This is the most contrived attempt I've ever seen to artificially try work an off-topic ad hominem attack on gun owners into an unrelated discussion.

      Incidentally, it is the same administration (the one you support) using drones like this to murder children [alternet.org] overseas, that are pushing for gun control.

      • PS to be clear, both Republicans and Democrats (I supported neither) have supported and perpetuated the same violations, so that was not a partisan jab, it was a jab at immoral murders, by any human being who has a sense of moral outrage against murder without due process (which should be qualities not really related to nationality or party affiliation).
      • This is the most contrived attempt I've ever seen to artificially try work an off-topic ad hominem attack on gun owners into an unrelated discussion.

        Oh, I've done much better.

        By the way, I'm a gun owner.

        Incidentally, it is the same administration (the one you support) using drones like this to murder children overseas, that are pushing for gun control.

        And you support the turds who believe that weapons ownership and brandishing same is a god-given right but don't want any nations but the US and Israel to ow

  • http://www.nitroplanes.com/projet-drone-2500mm-kit.html [nitroplanes.com]

    And it flies. Be afraid, be very afraid..

  • I visited the Yamato[0] Museum in Kure near Hiroshima a few years back. The gift shop had model kits on sale, including the Revell "Enola Gay" B-29. Given that the mushroom cloud over Hiroshima had been visible in Kure just down the coast, I thought it was in dubious taste. I still regret not buying the Mitsubishi Zero plushy toy though.

    [0]The centrepiece of the museum is a 1:10 scale model of the battleship Yamato.

    • I visited the Yamato[0] Museum in Kure near Hiroshima a few years back. The gift shop had model kits on sale, including the Revell "Enola Gay" B-29. Given that the mushroom cloud over Hiroshima had been visible in Kure just down the coast, I thought it was in dubious taste.

      I'm not sure I want to know what you consider actual bad taste then.

  • well the poor kids probably think all the shit they see on tv re government and wars, iran, north korea etc is all part of a big tv show like ben 10 or spiderman

    how are the barack obama dolls doing in slaes?

  • Anyone know where I can get an RQ-170 in hot pink?

    http://rt.com/usa/news/iran-us-drone-obama-933/ [rt.com]

  • If you can't have a model drone, you might as well get a "Droney - the friendly surveillance drone" tshirt!

    http://www.topatoco.com/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=TO&Product_Code=TMW-DRONEY&Category_Code=TMW [topatoco.com]

    funky49

    Full disclosure, I own this shirt and it is soft.

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