Supporters of Hugo Chavez plan line of Venezuelan action figures

[WriteDown]

Source: Newsday

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Look out Spiderman! Here comes — Simon Bolivar?

Inspired by socialist President Hugo Chavez, a father and daughter are hoping to launch a line of action figures from Venezuela's history to counter the popularity of "imperialist" American superheroes like Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman.

Joyce Parra and her father, Angel, have drafted drawings for action figures they call "Venezuela's Heroes," including independence icons Simon Bolivar and Francisco de Miranda, as well as Antonio Jose de Sucre, a general who helped Bolivar free Venezuela from Spanish rule.

"The idea isn't to get rich," Joyce Parra, 26, told The Associated Press on Wednesday. "What we want to do is make them available for the children whose parents cannot afford to purchase such toys."....

Read more: http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-lt-venezuela-chavezs-superheroes,0,7569331.story

---

I always KNEW Batman/Bruce Wayne was an imperialist with his expensive cars and high-flying crime fighting equipment! :rofl:

[Radical Activist]

1. That's kind of cool.

We need something like that in the US. We could start with action figures for Mother Jones and Saul Alinsky.

[Veruca Salt]

38. A couple I like...

but we could definitely do with a bigger selection of historical action figures. And for some it would also be a learning experience as well.

[Judi Lynn]

39. Whoa! Now you're talking! How about Alexander Graham Bell, and Madame Curie?

http://www.notablebiographies.com.nyud.net:8090/images/uewb_02_img0079.jpg http://www.achievement.org.nyud.net:8090/achievers/eli0/large/eli0-030.jpg

Albert Schweitzer, and Jonas Salk

http://www.chuckdodson.com.nyud.net:8090/uploads/images/albert-schweitzer.jpg http://www.famouspeople.com.nyud.net:8090/famous/_images/thumbs/35.jpg

You did make the greatest choices for action figures already.

[Veruca Salt]

41. Ohhh, all excellent choices!

There could even be different lines too - you could get figures from the 'sciences', 'government', 'movements' etc. I know I would kill for an Ada Lovelace action figure!

And just found the following:

'Curie, Einstein, Newton, Darwin, Tesla'

I really do think it would be great to have a line of figures specific to American history though. How neat would that be to recreate some of the great moments in history with a side of random humor? Yes, I admit, I am a nerd. :)

[Lost in CT]

2. Didn't the Soviet Union make there own Rambo film once????

This is so many different flavors of fail...

[Belial]

3. Thats kind of sad....

[David__77]

4. Well it's better than "GI Joe."

People laugh, but these are Venezuela's heroes.

[bitchkitty]

5. I wish Rafael Correa had an action figure.

Anatomically correct, of course! :)

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

6. Here's a little something to get you by.

I'm not into dudes but he's one good looking bastard.

[bitchkitty]

7. YUM! n/t

[Judi Lynn]

10. That guy is one striking Latin American President, by golly!

http://www.judiciaryreport.com.nyud.net:8090/images/Ecuador-Rafael-Correa.jpg http://www.interet-general.info.nyud.net:8090/IMG/Rafael-Correa-1-4.jpg

http://www.infolatam.com.nyud.net:8090/img/banco/4214G_rafael_correa_madrid.JPG

Colombia's little fascist Álvaro Uribe wants to invade him!

You just never know about people, do you?

[Judi Lynn]

22. I'm glad right-winger Senator Mitch McConnell DOESN'T have an action figure.

Or Republican campaign strategist, Nathan Sproul, or Larry Craig, or John Vitter.

http://indiedesign.typepad.com.nyud.net:8090/2009images/ipd2009/file_fotos/mitch-mcconnell-collage.jpg

http://www.bradblog.com.nyud.net:8090/Images/Sproul_crop.jpg http://z.about.com.nyud.net:8090/d/politicalhumor/1/0/-/n/1/larry_craig_mcconnel.jpg

http://i80.photobucket.com.nyud.net:8090/albums/j182/swiftian/071107/vitter_baby.jpg

[Judi Lynn]

8. Your crude attempt to use anything you stumble across for an attack suffers

from any level of perspective.

DU'ers already discussed a couple of years ago the fact a video game had been created featuring blowing up Venezuela.

Last Updated: Thursday, 25 May 2006, 16:46 GMT 17:46 UK

Venezuelan anger at computer game

Venezuelan politicians have complained about a forthcoming "shoot-em-up" computer game that simulates an invasion of the South American nation.

In production by Los Angeles-based Pandemic Studios, Mercenaries 2: World In Flames is based around the overthrow of an imaginary Venezuelan "tyrant".

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has long accused the US of planning to invade, something Washington denies.

His supporters say the game aims to drum up support for a real invasion.

~snip~
Yet Pandemic's publicist Chris Norris said its designers "always want to have a rip from the headlines".

He added: "Although a conflict doesn't necessarily have to be happening, it's realistic enough to believe that it could eventually happen."

~snip~
In Mercenaries 2: World In Flames, gamers play soldiers sent to overthrow "a power-hungry tyrant messes with Venezuela's oil supply, sparking an invasion that turns the country into a war zone".

Venezuelan congressman Ismael Garcia, a supporter of Mr Chavez, said the computer game was preparation work for a real invasion.

"I think the US government knows how to prepare campaigns of psychological terror so they can make things happen later," he said.

More:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/5016514.stm

~~~~~~~~~~

An oil-rich country diverting its oil-wealth to the poor instead of corporate America, its democratically elected leader repeatedly painted as a tyrant.

Is it time we covered the role of propaganda in video games?

How many times have we been able to deploy napalm against civilians in a video game? When do we get to play the part of an invading force seeking to overthrow an extreme religious nutcase who thinks his own nation has received 'a calling from beyond the stars'?

http://www.ivirtuaforums.com/us-war-propaganda-in-video-games-t376

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mercenaries 2: World in Flames

Platforms: Xbox 360 (Reviewed), PlayStation 3

Publisher: Electronic Arts

Developer: Pandemic

ESRB Rating: Teen

31 August 2008, 1-4 players, $59.99
by Ryan Smith

In Mercenaries 2, you are encouraged to do things like destroy a shanty town full of shacks with a tank (to take down a few military targets) or hire a drunken Russian pilot to flatten an entire downtown of a city, and it’s all handled with a casual but brutish humor.

The overarching theme in Mercenaries 2 is a simple, Machiavellian one: Kill people to get paid, and if you don’t get paid, kill the people who don’t pay you.

This message is hammered home in the very first mission, where the mercenary you choose agrees to do a job for Ramon Solano—a fast rising Venezuelan politico—who double crosses you instead of paying you for extracting a kidnapped associate for him because he is tying up loose ends before setting himself up as dictator by way of political coup.

So what do you do as an honest mercenary? Seek revenge and kill him, of course. That’s the main crux of the plot.

Sure, there is some political intrigue going on in the background—Venezuela is in the midst of rebellion, with oil the central focus of the conflict, and its army is doing its best to maintain control of the country, but there are a number of factions looking to take control: Universal Petroleum, the People’s Liberation Army of Venezuela, the Chinese army, the Allied Nations (aka the US), and the Rastafarian Pirates. However, it feels like it’s all just window dressing for your hunt for Solano.

On an interesting sidenote, then Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez publicly condemned Pandemic Games in 2006 for making Mercenaries 2 not because of its violent content, but as propaganda created to drum up support for an invasion because the game depicts the virtual invasion of Venezuela, the overthrow of its government, the destruction of the country’s major cities and rural areas, and the takeover of the oil industry.

~snip~
Overall, Mercenaries 2, especially in co-op mode, is a fun diversion for a few hours, but there are too many small bugs, feelings of repetitiveness, crappy dialogue and ludicrous plot points to make it feel like a top action title for the 360—not to mention the feeling that you have to check your sense of morality at the door.

http://www.popmatters.com/pm/review/mercenaries-2-world-in-flames/

[WriteDown]

9. Stupid Wonder Woman...

and her Amazonian imperialism.

[Judi Lynn]

11. I haven't seen that one. Do you have a link?

Spend some time trying to get a grasp of what "imperialism" means. I don't think it means our believe we need to stay the #### OUT OF LATIN AMERICA.

Leave those countries alone. Butt the #### out. All your attempts to rally hatred against leftist leaders will fail. The world has learned since the U.S. used to run rough-shod over the people by financing coups and Dirty Wars there.

You're going to have to learn to live with it.

[WriteDown]

12. Flew right over your head.

Nothing to do with hate, only hilarity. Reminds me of this.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tanya_Grotter

[Judi Lynn]

13. You failed to make sense. You don't go over peoples' heads if you're misfiring altogether.

"Amazonian imperialism" needs to have a foundation in reality first.

[WriteDown]

14. Wonder Woman...

She was an Amazon if I remember correctly.

[Judi Lynn]

15. Where does the "imperialism" apply? n/t

[WriteDown]

16. From the article?

"Inspired by socialist President Hugo Chavez, a father and daughter are hoping to launch a line of action figures from Venezuela's history to counter the popularity of "imperialist" American superheroes like Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman."

This doesn't answer the most pertinent question though. Will Hugo have a kung-fu grip?

[Judi Lynn]

18. "Amazonian Imperialist" doesn't seem to work. n/t

[sufrommich]

21. Hugo spent some of his radio time railing against those

imperialist Batman and Robin, too.

"It's the battle against Superman, against Batman, against Robin, against all that poisons our minds and makes us admire the empire from the time we are children," Chavez said."

[Judi Lynn]

23. Maybe you can explain what the "Amazonian imperialist" is. n/t

[WriteDown]

25. Article stated that Wonder Woman is an imperialist figure..

Wonder Woman is an Amazonian. Therefore, she's an Amazonian imperialist.

[sufrommich]

26. It was a freakin' joke about Wonder Woman from what

I could tell. :rofl:

[WriteDown]

24. Not Robin too?

Ugh.

The Dark Knight always get the shaft it seems.


edited for clarity.

[LanternWaste]

28. I think, as WW represents part and parcel of Americana

I think, as WW represents part and parcel of Americana, describing Amazonian Imperialism is a bit disingenuous, as pretty much all the DC and Marvel characters were based on American cultural phenomenon, rather than any insightful expose into Amazonian culture and current Amazonian economic practices.

Unless of course believes that Aquaman represent Aquatic Imperialism.

Regardless, as it seems that the majority the my co-workers that I supervise all appear to have these popular and trendy little dolls all over their workstations-- from superheroes to sports icons, it doesn't really come as any surprise to me that other nations and other cultures may do the same thing.

As one of my co-workers has a Che Guevara doll on the top of his computer, I'll ask him if the ratty beard is painted on or if it'd actual horse-hair as that may give us some insight as to whether the Chavez doll will have kung-fu grip.

What actually strikes me as odd in all of this is that I'm finding out that adults and grown men actually collect dolls and show them off... :shrug:

[UTUSN]

17. I thought it had already been done:

[sufrommich]

19. lol. nt

[Judi Lynn]

20. How would Hugo Chavez with chandeliers above his head resemble an action figure?

Maybe something more like this would represent an action figure:



http://www.newsbleat.com.nyud.net:8090/bush_kiss.jpg http://www.moremuslimthanobama.com.nyud.net:8090/moremuslimthanobama/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/bush_and_saud_sword.jpg

http://z.about.com.nyud.net:8090/d/politicalhumor/1/0/q/C/bush_loca.jpg

[rabs]

27. that is hilarious, GWB as action figure

One of the hot toy sellers for Christmas 2005 was a Hugo Chavez doll. It is called the "chavecito."




Punch he button the back and it says:

"I arrived here to do all humanly possible to help all the Venezuelan people realize their dreams and their desire to be free and equal."


In neighboring Colombia, the Hugo Voodoo doll has been on the market for a while. It comes complete with pins for Colombian Hugo-haters.



and here is the Hugo Uribe doll. It is called the "uribito." Punch the button and it spouts out a dull phrase of one of his inauguration speechs.



what is missing is a Correa doll, so kids can play at war; Colombia vs. Ecuador and Venezuela.

:shrug:

[UTUSN]

31. A category that would more accurately include BOTH Huguito-Shrub would be "Buffoon."

Unfortunately, when buffoons attain Power, they are not funny.

That said, your eternal implication is that anybody who detests Huguito MUST BE a Shrub-lover. Deep in your heart you know that's just wrong. Maria Conchita ALONZO will tell you at the drop of a hat.

Since you are always asking everybody for proof (of their OPINIONS) and lecturing people about how your vastly superior knowledge should lead everybody to study up, how about your providing:

1) Your credentials, the source of your Venezuelan expertise (studies, living there, national origin there, whatever)

but more importantly,

2) Your agenda: You are clearly driven by SOME organizing principle (ONE, not many), so how about putting it out there. I mean, we know where Faux/Roger AILES is coming from; it's fair to ask you to spell out YOUR motivation. Mostly, you don't really talk about the Venezuelan people: It's all about this unfathomable personality worship of this little thug.

Oh, and to the poster (way above) who seems to have a physical crush on the CORREA dude, what is this a THUG-groupie thing?!1

And dear Judi, I've said several times that I assume that your intentions are idealistic (even if I don't have any proof of that), but please don't turn this into an interminable "debate." If you don't want to answer what YOUR MOTIVATION is, just either say so or don't say so, just drop it. Cheers!1

[AlphaCentauri]

32. Conchita the one who said that she was slut

now that she is older is changing her attitude to politics

[UTUSN]

33. Here's a parallel: A negative note by a monk, negative about Robin Hood, has been discovered

If it had been about Hugo CHAVEZ, the Huguito groupies here at DU would say, "Well, yeah, you're citing a wingnut, Fascist MONK as a source!1 Probably CIA funded!1"




http://search.live.com/results.aspx?q=Luxford+Robin+Hood&src=IE-SearchBox
**********QUOTE********


(PhysOrg.com) -- A freshly-discovered document highlighting negative attitudes towards Robin Hood has been deciphered by an academic at the University of St Andrews.

http://www.physorg.com/news156178681.html

Feared by the bad, loved by the good? Scientists discover previously unknown document on Robin Hood

.... Dr Julian Luxford from the University's School of Art History found the reference to the legendary figure in an inscription from around 1460 which appears in an English manuscript owned by Eton College.
Dr Luxford, an expert in medieval manuscript studies, explained, "The new find contains a uniquely negative assessment of the outlaw, and provides rare evidence for monastic attitudes towards him." ....

Dr Luxford continued, "The new find places Robin Hood in Edward I's reign, thus supporting the belief that his legend is of thirteenth century origin."

A translation of the short inscription, which contains only 23 words in Latin, reads, "Around this time, according to popular opinion, a certain outlaw named Robin Hood, with his accomplices, infested Sherwood and other law-abiding areas of England with continuous robberies." ....

The discovery has been written up as an article which will be published later this month in the Journal of Medieval History. ....

********UNQUOTE********

[Billy Burnett]

34. Citing Maria Alonso as credible on anything is downright silly.

I toured with her band in the 80's and know her all too well. ;)

She is all over the map flip flopping on all topics politically related to the Latin Americas and Caribbean. Calls Chavez worse than Hitler. :crazy:

At a performance in Caracas she uttered some nonsense during some mid performance banter about the evil bastard Castro - and the crowd loudly booed and jeered her. I told her afterward that she should keep her mouth shut on that topic - Castro is a working people's hero. She went into a tirade, screaming an inch from my face about why commies should be shot. Needless to say, I wasn't interested in signing on for a second tour with her. She's a self aggrandizing diva who's pulls tantrums and strikes out at the least among her stage support crews and band members. "Mujer loca" was the nik the tour band gave her. On a side note: Nice looking breasts though. She seems to be fixated on showing them to all who'll peek :) , then screams at people for being voyeurs. :crazy:

Ask Maria, she'll say something different depending on the direction of the wind and what's circulating in the bloodstream.

[UTUSN]

36. Glad that your citing her "nice breasts" adds SO much to your opinions!1

How does her calling Huguito "worse than HITLER" and calling Fidelito "evil bastard" make her "all over the map"?! Either you don't know what the idiom "all over the map" means or you were referring to the literal, geographic places that she dared to utter (how COULD she?!1) her opinions. I've heard of about TWO or THREE (less than FIVE) of her comments regarding Huguito and she has never said "something different depending on the direction of the wind".

Her personality traits have no bearing on her being a Venezuelan who has first hand knowledge and has a right to speak opinions.


Your making this all about Maria Conchita ALONZO is a diversion and a distraction and possibly name-dropping for your own gratification. I only mentioned her because she's a Venezuelan who speaks out negatively about Huguito. I do not follow her career, her personal habits, or anything else about her. I don't think I could even pick her out in a photo gallery.

Your citing Fidelito as "a working people's hero" appears to assume that I will agree with you. I am a working people and he ain't *my* hero. And before the Huguitos start calling "freeper" and "wingnut" at me, I'm just a Big Umbrella Democratic party voter. And, no, I don't stay up any part of all night memorizing talking points from CHEENEE or KKKarl. I just dare-------GASP---------to have a opinions and to----------DOUBLE GASP!1--------voice them!1 how DARE I!1

[Billy Burnett]

40. I didn't even mention Fidel's son, Fidelito.

FYI, she's Cuban born.

I mention her breasts because it is her fixation to show them off to all who'll look, then scream at people for looking. :crazy:

You mention that you couldn't even pick her out in a photo, and because I know her, I thought I'd give you some background on her since you cite her as a source.

[UTUSN]

42. She's not my source for my opinions. I cited her as somebody else with an opinion that happened to

similar to mine.

[Judi Lynn]

43. I'm sure you know her brother, Roberto Alonso is the bastard who was harboring 130 paras

at his ranch, "Daktari" near Caracas, and was caught partway through the opposition's plot to use them to overthrow the guards at Miraflores and kill Chavez, as per their testimonies when the Venezuelan authorities ran them in, when a witness tipped off the police. Roberto's the primary advocate of "guarimba," or violent protest, which encourages Venezuelan students to get out there and pull out all the stops in the streets, go for broke, make complete asses of themselves, and if the cops over-react, it's good for news pieces, politically. You may recall they bring those industrial sling-shots to demonstrations, and even killed a man with a marble shot right into his brain.

He's been hiding out in Miami, having fled from the Venezuelan police, and backed John McCain in the last campaign, even giving speeches for him, along with Maria Conchita. Anyone who's got a lot in common with him isn't someone you'd want to shake hands with!

http://media.miaminewtimes.com.nyud.net:8090/war-on-hugo-ch-aacute-vez.1530649.51.jpg

Roberto wants you to fight with the Venezuelan police
showing them no mercy! No skin off his nose, not that
he couldn't spare it!

[sufrommich]

35. "unfathomable personality worship "

The answer to all your questions. The Jonas Brothers would be so lucky to have the unquestioning ardor of the "Latin Revolutionary" fan girls and boys here.

[AlphaCentauri]

29. What Color Is Your Superhero?

But more interesting than the movie itself is the changing face of the new American comic book fanatic. The perennial image of the nerdy white suburban kid locked away in the basement with his boxes of comic books is no longer operative, because as America browns, the comic book audience is browning with it.

Ethnic diversity is worming its way into the panels of superhero comic books and into the legions of people who love them; the midnight lines for Watchmen were more diverse than they would have been 20 years ago. In Junot Diaz's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, "The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao," the title character escapes into comic books, science fiction and role-playing games to cope with the miseries of his life. This further alienates the already shy, awkward and overweight Oscar from his peers in their Dominican-American neighborhood in New Jersey, because he can't share his geeky sensibilities with anyone.

But judging by the "diversity" of superheroes, storm troopers and anime Samurai who descended on midtown Manhattan for the New York Comic Con at the Jacob K. Javits Center last month, if Oscar had been born a decade later, he wouldn't have been so lonely. Issues of Spider-Man featuring nerd in chief Obama's smiling grill, now in its fourth printing, are hawked to the greedy crowd of geeks looking for the best comics swag. The throng of comics fans clad in homemade tributes to their favorite characters now includes heroes of color such as Mr. Terrific, Static Shock and Black Panther.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/07/AR2009030700094.html

[cobalt1999]

30. They'll have a pretty good market with some here on DU

[Veruca Salt]

37. As an action figure collector I highly approve...

now where can I get some? :)

[mecherosegarden]

44. To compare Chavez with

General Bolivar, General Miranda, and General Sucre is shameful!

I wonder if the Chavez figurine will come with his chewing coca leaves!

:mad:

[Judi Lynn]

45. Game critique from a beloved websiste:

Shit Yeah, Motherfucker

http://www.borev.net.nyud.net:8090/mercenaries2.jpg

Shit yeah! It's finally fucking out! After two long years that video game where you blow the living shitsticks out of a "fully destructible Venezuela" is in the stores. Aww don't get so sensitive, you freaking beaner pussies. It's about a fictional Venezuelan leader named Ramon who drives up oil prices so the US special forces have to go in and set things right. It's the way the world works, asshole, and besides, it's just a game you crybaby foreign fucks. Don't get so freaked out by the realistic Caracas street scenes or just cuz you blow up brown skinned civilians for points, fuckin' whiny wetback taco fucking BAM! BAM! BAM!

...shit yeah.

http://www.borev.net/2008/09/