jaccilyn: my 15 y/o son collects homies. we get them when we go to pizza hut. he has a lot of them and is actually going to use them to make a dioramna for a future sociology project in school...
like you said:. i saw them as toys jesting about the hip-hop style that is so popular in our society today. i never looked at the toys and said, "oh look! they're latin american!" let alone latin american gangsters
i never saw them as "latin american stereotypes", and i'm half latino. i just saw them as cute and never found them offensive and still don't. my son certainly doesn't want to join a gang or think that being a gangsta is glamorous because he has these on display in his room... neither do his friends.
i have some of the ones you have, and a lot of "ho's", and a big dog and four little puppies. sometimes we take turns arranging them in different ways and stage little scenes and make up little stories about them, like this kid's in trouble because he forgot to feed the dogs, or line them all up as if they're waiting to get into the new austin powers movie, etc. Then the other person has to guess what's going on, it's pretty funny.
anyway have fun collecting homies - i do.
luv,
~incense