I first heard of the game Halo when someone died from playing it. The 20 year old, Chris Staniforth, had developed deep vein thrombosis (DVT) and died of a lung blockage – as he was spending too much time playing the game on his Xbox 360. Of course, this could be argued that it wasn’t the game in question that caused his death, but it did lead me to discover that this was indeed not a game for children. It has a 15 certificate too. So I was very surprised to find that you can buy Halo Mega Bloks toys!
Now maybe I do not understand what a “normal” teenager is like because my children (all of them even the 4 year old) have grown out of Mega Bloks, they’ve moved on to Lego. Maybe it’s because they feel that Mega Bloks are babyish – and that, in actual fact, the Mega Bloks have a fresh new appeal in providing such a more grown up toy? It’s not a risk I am prepared to take this Christmas though I tell you.
The only other thing I can think of is that Mega Bloks are indeed aiming this product at children who are indeed too young for its content. Arguably the actual toys are just figures that shoot (at aliens by the way, so that apparently makes it okay). I know lots of parents let their children play games that they are not old enough for the certification, but surely that is different from a large retailer of children’s toys such as Mega Bloks actively seeming to encourage it? What is this saying about the distributors too?
May be I am missing the point. Is it a clever oxymoron? Mega Bloks obviously know a lot more about children’s toys than I do – is there a market? Have you bought Halo Mega Bloks toys as a present? What age are the children that are playing with them? Do they know the link to the game or are they just appealing due to the “in-game sounds” and enhanced weapons?
You may also be interested in this post about whether Grand Theft Auto is suitable for a 9 year old.
This is not a sponsored post.
It really annoys me when toy/magazine companies produce these items as the original content is clearly not suitable for the age group that they have aimed the follow up merchandise. Not only does this lead to children being exposed to content they don’t need to know about to early it also makes us parents out to be the bad guys as we won’t then buy them the games/movie it comes from.
It does seem very strange, why push children towards something that is clearly not suitable for them?
I read the Grand Theft Auto post too and tbh it scares me. With a son whose friends are obsessed with the Wii, I know I’m going to have to make some difficult decisions for him one day 🙁
What happened to letting kids be kids? Mine is still a bit young for us to feel the full effect of stuff like this, but I hate that there’s stuff on offer for kids to play with way out if their age bracket. Says the mother who felt aggrieved at her 9 month old being bought a doll. Sigh.
Linking up from #pocolo today xxx
It may appeal to someone like my just 5-y-old who hears his (much) older siblings talk about these games – it would be a way of him feeling included whilst still being more age suitable. It’s a sad fact but younger children with teen siblings grow up faster – he is not interested in Thomas like his peers. So yes, I might buy it. Although he already loves Lego so might also be past it!
OK I never thought about it like because mine want Minecraft and Angry birds to be grown up. Guess if it was something my oldest was into it may be a different story.
OOh blimey I’ve not seen these. I always associate Mega blocks with young children….Halo Megablocks just conjures up violent images in my mind. Wow!
Maybe we’re all missing out on a craze for grown adults playing with building blocks…. actually I’m not sure which of the two answers is more disturbing! visiting from #pocolo
I completely agree with you and it is scary that they even consider this acceptable. I think it’s wholly inappropriate personally. I find the current trend by some toy manufacturers to ‘push’ a product no matter what is putting me off totally. That’s why I like Playmobil-good quality traditional toys but modernised appropriately. Sorry, rant over.
I saw these yesterday and thought it was a bit strange to have a game like Halo linked with toys aimed at such young children. I also read your
GTA post and totally agree. My husband has the new game and even he is shocked at the content. We have an agreement its only played went the kids are in bed. Its certified 18 for a reason! Xx
The other post isn’t mine, it was a guest post on another blog – but yes I’ve seen grown men on Facebook shocked at the content of that game
It does seem strange! Why base a toy on a game kids cannot play….
I’m sure these companies think us parents just don’t care, or that we are stupid or both! I think that all they are doing is dressing these toys up to make them look ‘cool’ when surely the children who do play with them are just too young to understand. A strange marketing decision. Great post. Thanks for linking to PoCoLo xx
Can I just say that these are not aimed a small children…..they are very much like Star Wars lego and my 13 and 16 year old boys love them.
They are made by megablox, but certainly aren’t the chunky giant plastic blocks you associate the name with.
We have bought the boys one each for Christmas in sale in Smyths (half price at £40 each) and know that they will keep them quiet for a good few days before being displayed on a shelf!
I’m relieved to hear that the target audience isn’t young children – however where they were placed when I saw them was mixed in with the other toys for a preschool audience. Thank you for commenting.
this really gets my back up, i cant blame just the companies however if parents didst buy them they wouldn’t make them x
Looks like a ploy to get kids hooked on it young so that they want the products when they’re older. Luckily there are mothers and parents who can highlight this like you have!
Dropping by from #Pocolo
I agree. My son loves Skylanders and has the Mega Bloks for it too, however, having seen my OH play games like Halo, there is no way I would buy any product relating to this game for my son. It is not appropriate. What next? Grand Theft Auto Mega Bloks? How about Call of Duty? Kids need to be kids and protected as much as possible from these kind of things whilst they are young enough to be.