Went Christmas shopping for kids and discovered...

**lil' juicer** · 11-22-2001, 08:09 AM

All the action figures look like they are on heavy doses of gear! I remeber the GI Joe's from the early 70's, but have not payed that much attention to action heroes until I started shopping for my nephews. Its just an irony i can't let go of: A country that makes gear as illegal as crack yet applaudes the results of gear in sports and apperance.

**muscleup** · 11-22-2001, 08:17 AM

LMAO....I to was thinking that GI.JOE was pretty shredded ....

**lil' juicer** · 11-22-2001, 08:20 AM

When i was a kid the G.I. Joes were just in good shape. They looked like they did plenty of cardio and push-ups.

ptbyjason · 11-22-2001, 08:27 AM

You won't believe this but I found a scientific research article on this very thing yesterday. It was about how action figures look like they are on steroids and how it affects kids. I still have some more research to do (I'm developing another one of our domains), I will see if I can find it next time and I will type it up for everyone.

**Adaptek** · 11-22-2001, 09:23 AM

Originally posted by ptbyjason
You won't believe this but I found a scientific research article on this very thing yesterday. It was about how action figures look like they are on steroids and how it affects kids. I still have some more research to do (I'm developing another one of our domains), I will see if I can find it next time and I will type it up for everyone.

Have you been in the Twighlight Zone recently?

**TNT** · 11-22-2001, 09:30 AM

Originally posted by lil' juicer
All the action figures look like they are on heavy doses of gear! I remeber the GI Joe's from the early 70's, but have not payed that much attention to action heroes until I started shopping for my nephews. Its just an irony i can't let go of: A country that makes gear as illegal as crack yet applaudes the results of gear in sports and apperance.

You're right - what you've described is often called the "adonis complex," which impacts kids through everything from the redesigned, bulked-up GI Joe to today's WWF (when compared to the pro wrestling that my grandfather used to watch years ago).

Want some fun reading? Go to Yahoo and do a search on "GI Joe" and steroids (put the "GI Joe" in quotation marks). You'll see a load of articles that have addressed this issue.

And I hate to tell ya - this does not only influence our kids, it influences us as well.

**lil' juicer** · 11-22-2001, 09:33 AM

Yeah, I was about to swear off gear until I went toy shopping. Now i can't quit until my delts are bigger than my head.

**nautica** · 11-22-2001, 09:39 AM

Oh Yeah, This is a good one I found. I know if I had a choice my GI Joe would be juiced up.

BOSTON (AP) -- Since the 1960s, male action figures appear to have been on a steady diet of steroids , beefing up to inhuman proportions and giving boys a skewed definition of masculinity, a psychiatrist says.

In a study published this week in the International Journal of Eating Disorders, Harvard psychiatrist Dr. Harrison Pope said male action hunks are sending boys the wrong message, much as Barbie gives girls a twisted picture of perfection.

He said his studies have shown increased emphasis on muscular males over the years, and the latest analysis continues the trend.

"We chose to study the toys because we could measure them and they were good examples of the trend," Pope said. "We talked to many kids and the toys they liked the most were very muscular figures."

Researchers measured the circumference of GI Joe's waist, chest and biceps at different stages of development over the years.

The original GI Joe from the 1960s, scaled to human dimensions, had a biceps circumference that equated to about 12 inches, similar to an ordinary man.

But a GI Joe Extreme from 1997 had a biceps circumference of more than 26 inches, almost the size of a small man's waist. In comparison, the biceps of real-life home run slugger Mark McGwire measure about 20 inches.

Even Luke Skywalker, nearly two decades after a more slender action figure was released for the original Star Wars series, was clad in an open robe hanging over a well-defined chest in a 1995 model, Pope said.

"Before the 1960s, people weren't using anabolic steroids so men would lift weights and stay within their natural body size," said Pope, also a researcher at McLean Hospital in Belmont. "But now, the unnatural is possible."

Another reason to explain the trend is the emergence of women.

"Women can now fly F-16s and join what were male organizations," Pope said. "Men's bodies, particularly their muscles, are the only thing that can't be taken away from them by the courts and other organizations."

Wayne Charness, a spokesman for Hasbro Inc. in Pawtucket, R.I., which makes GI Joe, Star Wars figures, Batman and Superman, said their sizes have fluctuated over the years.

"As for our superhuman figures like Batman and Superman, they are based on cartoon characters and their proportions are likely to remain superhuman," he said.

Martin Zelin, a psychology professor at Tufts University, said studies have shown that many eating disorders have been linked to false body images.

"It seems perfectly reasonable that just as women who are anorexic have been influenced by the images of thin models, boys could be influenced by muscular men."

Men have to realize they shouldn't feel pressured to conform to standards set in the media, Pope said.

But some people like Gail Pierce, a manager at Gold's Gym in Woburn, said views of the male body already have changed.

"The proof is in our logo. When Gold's Gym started (more than three decades ago), we used a man that looked like a muscle head. Now, that man is lean, fit and more intelligent-looking."

ptbyjason · 11-22-2001, 09:42 AM

Originally posted by Adaptek

Have you been in the Twighlight Zone recently?

No I haven't lost my mind. Thank you TNT and Nautica for backing me up on this.

**XBiker** · 11-22-2001, 09:42 AM

Think GI Joe has ever done Fina?

And, what's a good stack for GI Jane?

**lil' juicer** · 11-22-2001, 09:48 AM

I think the idea is as old as Greek statues. I would rather my kids play with toys that make them strive for perfection than mediocre figures or that purple fat fuck "Barney" or Winny the Pooh!

**PaPaPumP** · 11-22-2001, 12:20 PM

Originally posted by lil' juicer
Yeah, I was about to swear off gear until I went toy shopping. Now i can't quit until my delts are bigger than my head.

Me three. I won't stop until I'm as ripped and full as one of those plastic dolls.

**dane26** · 11-22-2001, 06:56 PM

let me get something straight.....i can blame my steroid use on the GI Joes i played with when i was 6? wait til i tell my parents

**primodonna** · 11-22-2001, 08:05 PM

on a related topic...i think Barbie's gotten some implants...in her chest AND ass

**dane26** · 11-22-2001, 08:23 PM

yeah....she's got a ghetto booty. just my type of girl

**primodonna** · 11-22-2001, 08:34 PM

how come Ken still looks a little on the feminine side?

**Billy Boy** · 11-23-2001, 04:46 AM

Interesting post never thought about it before but you guys are right he must of been injecting most of his life!!LOL

All action figures are muscle bound but look at their legs they look like Barbies shame on them!!

**pureanger** · 11-23-2001, 04:52 AM

I think hes just a genitic freak

**lil' juicer** · 11-23-2001, 10:09 AM

Plastic ain't so bad. You can get a life size plastic blow-up doll with K-Y jelly for about 100 bucks. Thats not so much $$ when you figure how much you will be saving on a dinners and movies!