February 7, 2013

PetaPixel | CNET
Just in time for Valentine’s Day, Michael Zhang highlights a very cool toy: a 1/6 scale “War Journalist” figure, complete with camera bag, interesting facial hair, and laptop.

He also has a press pass and some serious glass.

Interestingly, this handsome lad isn’t the only war photographer action figure floating around. This clean-shaven fellow on eBay, who seems to have been born in 2010, sports a fancy “Nikno” strap and a “Lecia” camera, and current bids are about $111 for a kit including camera bag, water bottle and spare rolls of film. Film?

But wait, there’s an even earlier “War Photographer” action figure! A somewhat less glamorous “War Journalist” figure hit shelves in 2004.

In an interview with John T Wong of Toy News International, BBI’s James Hung said the figure “was inspired by a friend of mine who was a freelance photographer providing battlefield shots for various press agencies.”

Every year hundreds of journalist are killed in their “line of duty” while trying to provide accurate and often real-time information for the public. In this respect, they are courageous soldiers without weapons. They are there to collect and report the facts to let the truth be told.

I have not been successful in locating Hung, but I’d like to share with him some ideas for other figures: “Copy Editor: Unsung Hero” (smells like coffee, weeps when you move him to centralized hub); “Digital Journalist: What Does He Do Again?” (comes with several pairs of rectangular glasses, frequently vanishes to attend conferences, not eligible for buyout); “Investigative Reporter: Angry Survivor” (has only one outfit, insults you when you ask how things are going).

Related: Barbie to sell Malibu “Dream House” (The New York Times)

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Andrew Beaujon reported on the media for Poynter from 2012 to 2015. He was previously arts editor at TBD.com and managing editor of Washington City…
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