# Playmobil's toy pirate ship includes a metal collar for the black passenger **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 8, 2015, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/playmobils-toy-pirate-ship-includes-a-metal-collar-for-the-black-passenger/733960 "2015-10-08T22:22:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2015, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/playmobils-toy-pirate-ship-includes-a-metal-collar-for-the-black-passenger/733960/1 "2015-10-08T22:22:15Z")
Hmmmmmm > **[Pirate Ship Toy With Black Figure And Collar Stirs Controversy](https://www.cbsnews.com/newyork/news/pirate-ship-toy-controversy/)** > > The box contains a miniature metal collar, and the instructions say it's supposed to go around a black passenger's neck. > [@](#): > > the box contains a miniature metal collar, and the instructions say it’s supposed to go around a black passenger’s neck. > > \ > > “You cannot have this specific accessory and call it anything else,” she said. “The fact that you can Google it, look it up and say what it is. … It’s a slave collar.” > > \ > > The maker of the pirate ship, PlayMobil, said in a statement: “The pirate figure is clearly a crew member on the pirate ship and not a captive. The figure was meant to represent a pirate who was a former slave in a historical context. It was not our intention to offend anyone in any way.” What next? An illegal immigrant border crossing bus with secret compartments? ---
**Author:** ![Uosdwis\_R.Dewoh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Uosdwis\_R.Dewoh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uosdwis_R.Dewoh)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2015, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/playmobils-toy-pirate-ship-includes-a-metal-collar-for-the-black-passenger/733960/2 "2015-10-08T23:25:05Z")
Meh. Not really something to get upset about. When piracy was rampant there was also slavery. If we remove everything historically troublesome from toys the whole pirate ship wouldn’t exist in the first place. I guess the company could have been more clear in the instructions on what the character was about. ---
**Author:** ![Master\_Wang-Ka](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/master_wang-ka/32/3325_2.png) [@Master\_Wang-Ka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Master_Wang-Ka)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2015, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/playmobils-toy-pirate-ship-includes-a-metal-collar-for-the-black-passenger/733960/3 "2015-10-08T23:30:38Z")
There were plenty of black pirates. Being a pirate beat the hell out of being a slave, and many nonwhite people opted for the change in lifestyle. Most white pirates were Europeans, and didn’t give a rat one way or the other, really. That being said, that was a rather thoughtless accessory to stick in there for the black guy… ---
**Author:** ![Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b487fb/32.png) [@Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walken_After_Midnight)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2015, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/playmobils-toy-pirate-ship-includes-a-metal-collar-for-the-black-passenger/733960/4 "2015-10-09T00:02:50Z")
He [doesn’t get a sword, either](http://www.ruralking.com/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/p/l/playmobil_toys_pirates_ship_pieces_5135.jpg). The way the figures are positioned kind of makes it look like there are two “couples” on board ship - that the top pair are gazing at each other and smiling doesn’t help… 😃 ---
**Author:** ![cornflakes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@cornflakes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cornflakes)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2015, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/playmobils-toy-pirate-ship-includes-a-metal-collar-for-the-black-passenger/733960/5 "2015-10-09T04:43:48Z")
Wow. I’m so naive that I read the OP title and thought they were wearing bondage gear. ---
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2015, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/playmobils-toy-pirate-ship-includes-a-metal-collar-for-the-black-passenger/733960/6 "2015-10-09T04:48:15Z")
Pretty sure that is a new world native and not intended to be black, look at the hair and skin tone. Pirates keeping a slave, are you kidding me they were such nice peop… Modern people forget what pirates were about. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2015, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/playmobils-toy-pirate-ship-includes-a-metal-collar-for-the-black-passenger/733960/7 "2015-10-09T05:20:56Z")
> [@grude](#): > > Modern people forget what pirates were about. I got the image on [this page](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ThePiratesWhoDontDoAnything) from a book. ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2015, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/playmobils-toy-pirate-ship-includes-a-metal-collar-for-the-black-passenger/733960/8 "2015-10-09T05:20:58Z")
So are you saying in the fairness of historical accuracy that an Auschwitz playset would be okay? Yep I godwinned it. ---
**Author:** ![mistymage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mistymage/32/459_2.png) [@mistymage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mistymage)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2015, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/playmobils-toy-pirate-ship-includes-a-metal-collar-for-the-black-passenger/733960/9 "2015-10-09T05:22:50Z")
> [@Omar\_Little](#): > > So are you saying in the fairness of historical accuracy that an Auschwitz playset would be okay? > > Yep I godwinned it. I was thinking maybe a Trail of Tears set, myself. Hey… it has horsies and doggies and cute lil papooses! ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2015, 9:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/playmobils-toy-pirate-ship-includes-a-metal-collar-for-the-black-passenger/733960/10 "2015-10-09T09:58:04Z")
> [@Omar\_Little](#): > > So are you saying in the fairness of historical accuracy that an Auschwitz playset would be okay? > > Yep I godwinned it. Playmobil makes electric train sets. Trains were used to take people to Auschwitz. Playmobil makes little buildings and little people figures and Auschwitz had buildings and people, so they’ve pretty much already developed the basic Nazi concentration camp playset. Also, no doubt they have cowboys and Indians playsets. Kids will play cowboys and Indians and be completely insensitive to the oppression that was inflicted on the Indian by the white man. Also cops and robbers. Kids will play cops and robbers, totally dismissing the huge problem of police brutality, American’s high incarceration rate, and the disproportionate number of blacks in the nation’s prisons. Clearly, Playmobil is out to destroy civilization as we know it with these nefariously evil toys! 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2015, 10:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/playmobils-toy-pirate-ship-includes-a-metal-collar-for-the-black-passenger/733960/11 "2015-10-10T10:43:30Z")
That is, Playmobil’s toy pirate ship includes a metal collar for the black pirate. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2015, 11:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/playmobils-toy-pirate-ship-includes-a-metal-collar-for-the-black-passenger/733960/12 "2015-10-10T11:24:47Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > Also, no doubt they have cowboys and Indians playsets. I’d tend to doubt that they still have these… ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2015, 11:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/playmobils-toy-pirate-ship-includes-a-metal-collar-for-the-black-passenger/733960/13 "2015-10-10T11:51:40Z")
The decks aren’t gonna swab themselves. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2015, 12:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/playmobils-toy-pirate-ship-includes-a-metal-collar-for-the-black-passenger/733960/14 "2015-10-10T12:00:15Z")
> [@grude](#): > > Pretty sure that is a new world native and not intended to be black, look at the hair and skin tone. > > Pirates keeping a slave, are you kidding me they were such nice peop… > > Modern people forget what pirates were about. Pirates were thieves, often because they didn’t have better options. Pirates weren’t cartoon villains who you can assume always chose the “bad” option just because. They did have to work together for their mutual benefit. [5 Ways Pirates Were Way More Modern Than You Realize | Cracked.com](http://www.cracked.com/article_20448_5-ways-pirates-were-way-more-modern-than-you-realize.html) — #5. Pirates Had Health Insurance #4. Pirates Had a Form of Gay Marriage #3. Pirates Practiced Religious Tolerance #2. Pirates Were Equal-Opportunity Employers > [@](#): > > In a time when the job options for women consisted of “servant,” “wife,” and “prostitute” (and all three of which were variations of the word “property”), piracy was an attractively viable career choice. This is because some pirates didn’t give one peg-legged starfish fart about gender roles when they crewed their ships – if you could murder and pillage with remorseless glee, they’d happily take you aboard. And if a woman wound up out-pirating her scurvy comrades, she could even become captain … #1. Pirates Had Democratic Elections ---
**Author:** ![Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b487fb/32.png) [@Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walken_After_Midnight)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2015, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/playmobils-toy-pirate-ship-includes-a-metal-collar-for-the-black-passenger/733960/15 "2015-10-10T12:16:03Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > The decks aren’t gonna swab themselves. I fear it’s more than just decks he’s a-swabbin’. Arrr, shiver me timber! ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2015, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/playmobils-toy-pirate-ship-includes-a-metal-collar-for-the-black-passenger/733960/16 "2015-10-10T13:53:13Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > Playmobil makes electric train sets. Trains were used to take people to Auschwitz. Playmobil makes little buildings and little people figures and Auschwitz had buildings and people, so they’ve pretty much already developed the basic Nazi concentration camp playset. Also, no doubt they have cowboys and Indians playsets. Kids will play cowboys and Indians and be completely insensitive to the oppression that was inflicted on the Indian by the white man. Also cops and robbers. Kids will play cops and robbers, totally dismissing the huge problem of police brutality, American’s high incarceration rate, and the disproportionate number of blacks in the nation’s prisons. Clearly, Playmobil is out to destroy civilization as we know it with these nefariously evil toys! 😛 The point; you missed it. There’s a vast difference between selling a toy train set and selling what you acknowledge is a slave collar designed to go around a black person’s neck. The only thing that can be said in PlayMobil’s defense is they’re saying he’s an ex-slave. And that’s plausible; the idea of an ex-slave becoming a pirate is a common trope in the genre. But they should have gone a little further and realized that slaves would remove their slave collars when they became free. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2015, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/playmobils-toy-pirate-ship-includes-a-metal-collar-for-the-black-passenger/733960/17 "2015-10-10T14:14:55Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > The only thing that can be said in PlayMobil’s defense is they’re saying he’s an ex-slave. And that’s plausible; the idea of an ex-slave becoming a pirate is a common trope in the genre. But they should have gone a little further and realized that slaves would remove their slave collars when they became free. Maybe it gives him a +1 to defense and all the other pirates are jealous. ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2015, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/playmobils-toy-pirate-ship-includes-a-metal-collar-for-the-black-passenger/733960/18 "2015-10-10T14:58:00Z")
Maybe they should have an especially-thin and redheaded pirate to represent the [Irish](http://www.irishcentral.com/roots/history/High-school-student-disproves-professors-theory-that-No-Irish-Need-Apply-signs-never-existed.html), who often had trouble finding other work. History is scary, people. Stuff happened. Are we going to lie to our children and say it didn’t? ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2015, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/playmobils-toy-pirate-ship-includes-a-metal-collar-for-the-black-passenger/733960/19 "2015-10-10T15:31:14Z")
> [@robert\_columbia](#): > > History is scary, people. Stuff happened. Are we going to lie to our children and say it didn’t? There’s a big gap between denying bad things happened in history and turning those bad things into toys. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2015, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/playmobils-toy-pirate-ship-includes-a-metal-collar-for-the-black-passenger/733960/20 "2015-10-10T15:39:02Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > There’s a big gap between denying bad things happened in history and turning those bad things into toys. Third Reich Barbie. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/playmobils-toy-pirate-ship-includes-a-metal-collar-for-the-black-passenger/733960.md?page=2)