Lucha Libre Mask Giveaway Gets Bodyslammed

Andy Chalk

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Nov 12, 2002
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Lucha Libre Mask Giveaway Gets Bodyslammed


In what has to be the day's biggest disappointment, Slang has announced that the plan to include a free luchadore mask with sales of Lucha Libre AAA: Heroes del Ring [http://www.amazon.com/Lucha-Libre-AAA-Heroes-Xbox-360/dp/B002I0HAOO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1286226028&sr=8-1] has been canceled.

Here's the deal: Either you know what lucha libre is, or you don't. And if you do, the idea of getting a free mask with your purchase of Lucha Libre AAA: Heroes del Ring is pretty freakin' awesome. I'd probably make a point of putting the thing on and speaking with a crappy Spanish accent every single time I played the game, because I'm just that kind of guy. But it's all just a dream, because Slang [http://www.slang.vg/], the publisher, has pulled the plug on the giveaway.

It turns out that some pencil-neck geeks decided that the masks don't comply with the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008. "Rather than post a warning sign on the official AAA mask, we have decided to cancel the mask pre-order gift with purchase because we could not in good conscience distribute them to consumers due to the potential health risk," said Slang CEO Abraham Bautista. Marring the "sacred" masks with a warning label, it seems, was out of the question.

So what went wrong? Were the masks haunted by the ghosts of a thousand angry luchadores? Did an eight-year-old girl turn into a rippling wall of muscle who would only respond to "El Diablo Blanco?" Were playgrounds across the country being overrun by youngsters tearing down jungle gyms and threatening to snap other children in half if they weren't given a churro, like, immediatamente?

Sadly, none of the above. The masks tested positive for phthalates, which at least one study has linked to a heightened likelihood of autism in children. Not nearly as cool as a heightened likelihood of being slammed through a table, perhaps, but probably more in line with what product safety regulatory bodies test for.

Slang said it is "working on securing a new premium item/gift to replace the mask and that will represent the rich tradition of Lucha Libre." Luche Libre AAA: Heroes del Ring steps into the squared circle on October 12, on the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii, PSP and Nintendo DS.


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Corpse XxX

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Jan 19, 2009
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I love wrestling.. have many of the smackdown games.. But this game i have not even heard about before...

*wandering off to youtube to have a gazer*

EDIT: Returned from youtube now, the gameplay mechanics look awfull, the wrestlers movements resembles more those of a robot than of a human..
 

Booze Zombie

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Dec 8, 2007
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What's with people insulting beards lately?
Seriously, what'd my facial hair ever do to you?!

Granted, I don't have any actually growing out of my damn neck, but still, it hurts, man!
IT HURTS!

Heh.
 

RowdyRodimus

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Apr 24, 2010
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That's ok, I have a few lucha masks packed away in my closet along with my boots and singlets. No, I'm not Mexican or a luchadore but there is nothing funnier than a white guy wrestling in Mexico using random Spanish words as a name and then proceeding to completely botch every attempt at Lucha style wrestling. (It wasn't intentional either, I just wasn't agile enough to do it so we used that as part of the gimmick and had me rely on power moves)
 

Therumancer

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Nov 28, 2007
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Well depending on the degree and type of autism it's possible that it would result in people being slammed through tables and so on. :)

Honestly though, what do the make the masks out of? I wouldn't think it would be that expensive to make "real" ones to package with these games, and I'd imagine most of them probably don't have problems with the chemical composition which I'm guessing might have come from manufacturing them on the cheap.
 

Sean Strife

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Jan 29, 2010
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Dammit... the whole reason I preordered this game was for the mask. They better give me my own personal midget wrestler to walk around with. I'll take Mascarita Dorada, Slang.
 

mistwolf

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Feb 1, 2008
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Err, Phthalates only have little to do with autism, but a lot to do with various other things. Asthma and breathing problems are a big one, birth defects of various types are also highly linked to them.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phthalate

There's a reason that these are strongly frowned upon by the FDA, CPSC, and such. They are really not good, especially for kids, who these masks would be most likely to end up with. This was the responsible reaction, sad though it is.

Phthalates are mostly found in rubbers and silicons, so things likes baby bottles, sex toys, pleather and rubber clothing are all possible vectors, and most reputable manufacturers of all of them make a point to advertise that they are phthalate-free.

However, I do want a Luche Libre mask! One without evil
 

LawlessSquirrel

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Jun 9, 2010
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Unfortunate, sounded like a good bonous. Wonder what they can replace it with if they want to stay true to lucha libre...don't know if they can match the mask.
 

mooncalf

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Jul 3, 2008
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I had to safely process gas equipment contaminated with pthalates in the form of LPG (propane) condensate residue, it's other side effects include male infertility and impotence IIRC. So definitely a good choice to pull them from the box package, a shame, hope they come up with something neat to replace it.
 

Andy Chalk

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Nov 12, 2002
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I don't care about phthalates. I just want to see somebody get hit with a chair!