Found this AP story moving today...

The Associated Press

BAGHDAD, Iraq The U-S military says no soldiers have been reported missing in Iraq.

This, despite a claim posted on a militant Web site, saying that a U-S soldier was being held hostage and that he'd be killed in 72 hours unless the U-S released Iraqi prisoners.

The claim was accompanied by a photo -- purportedly of a soldier with a gun to his head.

But a toymaker says the figure in that photo looks oddly familiar. Dragon Models U-S-A says the image bears a striking resemblance to a military action figure made by the company.

The figure in the photo is seated on a concrete floor with his hands behind his back, and he appears stiff and expressionless.

My wife just called me on this topic. Hillarious.

The AP reporter must feel like an idiot as the first report made no mention of it being a doll.

Jim

I am glad that it is a doll.

I'm glad too......altough it's funny some people actually think this is real, I'm not sure how far one can go with making jokes about this....(I'm talking about the people who brought this pic into the world)

Greetings,
Martin

What a pathetic attempt. If this is the best Zarkowi can do after getting his behind kicked by the Iraqi election, then I say let's send GI Joe to rescue him.

agreed, does this fit into the guidelines as modern events?

Only if it turns political or someone goes off on some rant. The fact that the story is about a DML action figure makes it notable to modelers (many of who collect them).

Just play nice and nobody need get upset.

I would really like this site to be able to deal with an "occasional" current event issue like this without having to make it a political slugfest.

Thanks,
Jim

Now if only the Ninja Turtles would go kick some butt!

hmm whats next.. will they show us their new moden arsenal of M1 Tanks they received from the food for oil program...

:-) :-) :-) :-) i can see it now....New from DML Action Figures, SGT Faker, a Doll, of the only Doll to be used as a terror weapon by the iraqi militants! :-)

what next, News Just in, Donought Dolly Barbie found after years in a Cambodian POW Camp :-)

This appeared on Dragon's website this morning:

We bring history to life.

Presumably also news agencies.....Jim :-)

I thought this was someones sick joke, but on the way to work this morning, I heard about it again on the radio. I asked the guys in my sho if they heard about it and my Cheif said he saw something about it on the news last night.
Here is the story on MSN.com:

"Daubts Cast On Claim US Soldier Kidnapped"

I bet they thought they would get a scar out of us. Even though it isn't really that funny, we can still laugh about it a little bit. Goes to show you that those idoits who posted this cant scar us that easiely........

Thank God these guys are safe...



Shaun

Cobra Commander could not be reached for comment...

UPDATE: A spokesman for DML says it is "Cody," a doll they are selling in Kuwait. That info is on a crawl on Fox News Channel. Man, you can't buy that kind of publicity...

Maybe who should negotiate for "Cody's" relaese. We can offer them "Ken" in exchange!!!!!!!!!!!!!

All of the Spanish TV stations were running the story as well as the interview with someone fromDragon-USA. Ain't no such thing as bad publicity - even better, free publicity. Only question is how are they going to include the story on the new DML Tiger...Jim

If you look at the gun, there's no clip!

Are these the remaining mambers of the Village People? Where is the Biker dude and the Chief? :-)

I know I am kinda late on this reply, but been on 12hr shifts for a couple days. This topic kept us pretty busy for awhile when it first came over the news (Im military...intelligence at that...) And the first thing we saw was some crappy video about the hostage. Keep in mind most of the videos from these insurgents are very poor in quality, so at first the idea seemed somewhat feasible. Thankfully it turned out to be false within a few short hrs of its release. You gotta hand it to em for the ingenuity though...that flag looks pretty scale!

There is a clip. It is supposed to be a black 20-round clip. That was the first thing that I saw too. At first, I thought the terrorists were holding the soldier's own weapon pointed at him because I hadn't seen many Car-15s (though if it were a real soldier it probably would've been an M4) in insurgent hands. I didn't realize how right I was until I saw it.

What I find interesting about this is how the AP screwed up the original story, remade a correct story, and I haven't heard from them since. The story seems to be downplayed some now that we know the real story. That isn't to say that it won't be told. I mean that the news agencies took it from the first page of top stories but to the "lighter" side of things.

Also, while the free press is a good thing for Dragon, I just hope Dragon treads VERY carefully on how they use it.

Jeff

Hmmm, now I wonder if those shots of Neil Armstrong walking on the moon wasn't really a GI Joe?

Maybe those Iraqi insurgents just got tired of all the fightin' & killin' that they decided to do some sort of a hostage diorama using the Dragon action figure & some digital photography to post it on their website. :-)

Uh,Bishop,




Thats an oxymoron. (++) (++)

Jim
thanks for clearing that up, and i agree with the "occasional" current event issue too.