User blog comment:Raidra/Creepy Craft for Children/@comment-4849011-20141213012652/@comment-24040907-20141218232429

The entire thing sounds pretty interesting. Wait a minute…OCD Gas Mask? Yeah, that’s me. I’m the Obsessive Compulsive Disorder’ed Gas Masker. But what I don’t understand is; is it a toy or a legitimate gas mask? Under normal circumstances, I’d say that it’s just a toy and that they’re pulling false advertising, but seeing that this is an old advertisement, it probably was real. Toys back then were always either extremely real or extremely dangerous.



I can see why they would market it toward boys. Boys grow up playing War. They always have and they probably always will. Gas Masks are, as I’ve noted before, a symbol. A symbol of pandemic, war, and even the apocalypse. Of course, since modern society (bored and restless as it is) drools over the idea of a zombie apocalypse, the Gas Mask has become a symbol of hope for them. A symbol of action. Movies, video games, heck- even music feature the iconic mask these days because people love it. To the popular culture hivemind, everyone wants to live in the zombie apocalypse. And in the zombie apocalypse, you have the Survivors (that’s you) the Zombies (that’s everyone else) and then there’s always that third mysterious faction of gas-masked marauders that are ‘’way’’ more powerful and capable then you (Major corporations, the Government).



It has gone oh, so far beyond little tikes running around with toy guns playing war. The Gas Mask has become…the face of the world? A metaphor for the perilous existence of mankind.



How did I not win that costume contest?



And yes, I know all about the precautions they used to take for Air Raids. You know, my Papa used to go outside in the night and smoke, and when the Drill Siren would go off, he’d cup the cigarette so that no one could see the light.



And I understand the way they marketed it to kids who “no longer want to envy their dad or neighbor.” That’s actually kind of sweet. Kids usually want to be like their parents. They tend to look up to them, and imitate the things they do, sometimes without even knowing it. Maybe one day, if we ever achieve world peace, the people of the future will go onto horror-story websites and wonder why kids ever dressed up like policemen or soldiers.