Doll Held Hostage In Iraq

[jamcat]

Interesting sick but creative hoax:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/02/01/iraq/main670972.shtml

[GodMedia]

Interesting sick but creative hoax:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/02/01/iraq/main670972.shtml

I collect Dragon and other military figures, and that does indeed look like a Dragon figure to me. The machine gun in the picture also looks like the little guns that are available for 1:6 scale figures.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v435/GodMedia/image670866x.jpg

"Cody" head from Dragon Toys:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v435/GodMedia/Pic-DR-70304Xb.jpg

"Cody's" uniform. Note the pockets on the vest and the machine gun coloring:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v435/GodMedia/Pic-Dr-70304a.jpg

[jamcat]

Yeah, I have one of those Dragon figures. 'Cept mine is of a Japanese swat-type police unit guy. Must say they have lots of detail. Almost like the Todd McFarlane of G.I. Joe type figures.

What didn't make the Iraq image look right were the shotgun shells on the vest. Looked too big. And the way the machine gun was held in the picture. I mean really, like a terrorist is just going to be holding the end of the gun? They should have used another figure to hold the gun. Or use the same one, but of course Photoshop the image to make it look like 2 different figures.

What would have been cool is if they had used a George Bush figure with a gun to it's head. That would have been funny.

[GodMedia]

What didn't make the Iraq image look right were the shotgun shells on the vest. Looked too big.
Yeah, I thought those were shotgun shells or ammo magazines too at first. If you look on the clean picture of the vest, though, you can see that it's just how the bad digital camera photo makes the pockets on the vest look.


And the way the machine gun was held in the picture. I mean really, like a terrorist is just going to be holding the end of the gun? They should have used another figure to hold the gun.
That looked suspicious to me too. But, the hand of another figure would have looked too unreal and really given away the hoax too easily.


Or use the same one, but of course Photoshop the image to make it look like 2 different figures.
Anyone dumb enough to think we'd fall for this cheaply done hoax is probably not going to be adept enough at Photoshop to create anything believable. It was probably better to just do the photo and leave it like it is. Maybe they meant to crop the photo, or thought that the photo wouldn't show the grip with no hand on it.

On a side note, I wonder if this wasn't originally a scenario photo done by a 1:6 hobbyist that somebody found and used in their hoax. Men With Dolls (http://pub133.ezboard.com/bmenwithdolls), a 1:6 hobbyist site, often has pictorials of little dioramas of 1:6 figures that are done by hobbyists. I could easily see one of them making this scene as part of a pictorial and then someone finding it online, maybe not realizing it's a toy, and then using it to make some kind of claims like these people did.

[GodMedia]

BTW, here is a slightly large picture of the figure that shows more detail:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v435/GodMedia/KidnappedCody.jpg

This was the text included with the photo by it's originators, "Mujahadeen Brigade":

"Our mujahadeen heroes of Iraq's Jihadi Battalion were able to capture American military man John Adam after killing a number of his comrades and capturing the rest," said the statement.

"God willing, we will behead him if our female and male prisoners are not released from U.S. prisons within the maximum period of 72 hours from the time this statement has been released."
Meanwhile, Jihad Watch (http://www.jihadwatch.org) has posted this (http://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/2005/02/004897print.html) funny little follow-up to the original story.

Sadly there are real soldiers that have been taken and hurt:

The only American soldier known to have been taken hostage is Pfc. Keith M. Maupin, 20, of Batavia, Ohio, who was shown in a video in April being held by militants. Another video aired in June showed what purported to be Maupin's slaying, but the picture was too unclear to confirm it was him and the military still lists him as missing.
Let us not forget the real men and women out there. Whatever view we may have on the war is irrelevant when it comes to remembering that these people are doing their best no matter what and we should think well of and for them as often as we are able. Thank God that this prisoner was just a toy, but the people with their lives on the line each day around the world are not.

[jamcat]

More on the doll hoax:

http://www.chicagoredstreak.com/frontpage/mid-news-midhostag02.html