DC Comics Targets Girls With New Superhero Universe And Toy Line

[LazyAza]

Why do they all have the same boring disney princess face/body type?
Why are harley quinn, kitana and poison ivy hanging out with these other heroine characters?

This whole thing is very confusing, tonally that art smacks of the same tiring kid aimed teen-drama cliche crap that is usually thrown at young girls when surely any girl who is in to comic based stuff likes the whole good guy bad guy dynamic, fighting etc stuff that boys enjoy them for. Maybe I'm just reading too much in to it already and they'll actually do something interesting with this but ah so far I gotta wonder if its little more than a half assed marketing stunt.

But then I guess its better than nothing.

 

[Nazrel]

So they're targeting girls.

So what?

They targeted men, EXCLUSIVELY, for nearly 80 years.

God forbid they have ONE thing that targets girls.

Also, I feel like I'm a comic nerd for pointing out that both Harley Quinn AND Poison Ivy have definitely had moments where they bucked their villainous nature and became heroes. Poison Ivy even led a double-life working for the CSI division of the Gotham PD (under a fake identity) because she wanted to do some good. A more "heroic" Harley Quinn is still running around in the Injustice universe (largely because The Joker is dead so his bad influence is gone).

The general criticism seems not that they are targeting girls, so much as the perception that instead of simply acknowledging the existing female fan base, and attempting to monopolize on it by increasing production of female action figures, and creating more gender neutral advertising; they have instead turned them into something completely different; barbie, complete with their own segregated barbie universe.

Look at those designs; Do you not have concerns that the principle focus will be along the lines of "Who am I going to take to the Prom?"

 

[fezzthemonk]

JUST WRITE BETTER FEMALE CHARACTERS!!!! STOP MAKING NEW UNIVERSES TO FIX A SMALL PROBLEM YOU IDIOTS!!!!!!!! oh and please bring back young justice (oh my static...)

 

[Gorrath]

As everyone else and their sister has said, can we just have Young Justice back instead? Holy hell did that show do a good job of appealing to both genders; even if the relationship drama bits got a little tiresome for me, I understand why they were there. Young Justice was a pretty darned good show, damnit!

 

[Scarim Coral]

Why do I get a feeling we are going to see their attempt on the whole Monster High/ Equestrian Girls doll lines?

 

[happyninja42]

"Let's cancel Young Justice because too many girls are watching it and not buying our toys!"

Ok so at least 3 people in this thread have made this comment. Is this actually something that was officially stated about canceling the show? I never watched it, but it seems...odd, that a statement like that would be listed as why a show got canceled. "Too many girls were watching our show." I mean, really? Please tell me this is just nerd culture cynical conspiracy theory.

 

[Nazrel]

"Let's cancel Young Justice because too many girls are watching it and not buying our toys!"

Ok so at least 3 people in this thread have made this comment. Is this actually something that was officially stated about canceling the show? I never watched it, but it seems...odd, that a statement like that would be listed as why a show got canceled. "Too many girls were watching our show." I mean, really? Please tell me this is just nerd culture cynical conspiracy theory.

Here's the article on it.

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/130556-Paul-Dini-Superhero-Cartoon-Execs-Dont-Want-Female-Viewers

 

[McMarbles]

Why they'd go with Bumblebee and not the new Power Girl, I'll never know. Or would she be too similar to Supergirl?

And where's Zatanna?

And why Harley and Ivy? The lineup's 28% wasted on Batvillains.

 

[Fox12]

Wow, a lot of cynicism.

Guys, these are toys. There are very few gender neutral toys. Go checkout the children's section.

I, for one, see this as a positive.

You can follow the link at the bottom of the article to see how gender neutral they are.

These toys are not gender neutral. I'd be ecstatic if they were. They are not.

Sorry, I should have clarified a little bit more.

I know their not neutral, and that their targeted toward young girls. I just don't think that's necessarily an awful thing, since there's a male equivalent. People can joke about "separate but equal" or whatever, but in this case I don't think it's a big deal.

 

[happyninja42]

"Let's cancel Young Justice because too many girls are watching it and not buying our toys!"

Ok so at least 3 people in this thread have made this comment. Is this actually something that was officially stated about canceling the show? I never watched it, but it seems...odd, that a statement like that would be listed as why a show got canceled. "Too many girls were watching our show." I mean, really? Please tell me this is just nerd culture cynical conspiracy theory.

Here's the article on it.

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/130556-Paul-Dini-Superhero-Cartoon-Execs-Dont-Want-Female-Viewers

I...just...I...wut...I... (O_O) Gah!

 

[Callate]

Trying not to judge before things really get launched. Much like something like MLP:FiM, the amount of care and quality that goes into the thing makes all the difference.

But I do hope that some day we can wrap our brains around the idea that all-female superhero teams are not the only way to make superheroes appeal to girls, and that it is in fact possible to make a product that appeals across the spectrum.

 

[Davroth]

Wow, a lot of cynicism.

Guys, these are toys. There are very few gender neutral toys. Go checkout the children's section.

I, for one, see this as a positive.

You can follow the link at the bottom of the article to see how gender neutral they are.

These toys are not gender neutral. I'd be ecstatic if they were. They are not.

Sorry, I should have clarified a little bit more.

I know their not neutral, and that their targeted toward young girls. I just don't think that's necessarily an awful thing, since there's a male equivalent. People can joke about "separate but equal" or whatever, but in this case I don't think it's a big deal.

But that is why people are cynical about these kinds of things, including myself. This is gender segregation. It only reinforces the idea that men and women can't like the same stuff. This is no different then the pink aisle. Or GI Joe. This isn't a new, bold step. It's more of the same they have been doing for decades now.

 

[Lightknight]

Yes, this is the way to do it. Create new lines of comics to accommodate specific tastes. Kudos on DC for doing this. Marvel just bastardizes their existing franchises to force niche requests on everyone.

 

[Fox12]

Wow, a lot of cynicism.

Guys, these are toys. There are very few gender neutral toys. Go checkout the children's section.

I, for one, see this as a positive.

You can follow the link at the bottom of the article to see how gender neutral they are.

These toys are not gender neutral. I'd be ecstatic if they were. They are not.

Sorry, I should have clarified a little bit more.

I know their not neutral, and that their targeted toward young girls. I just don't think that's necessarily an awful thing, since there's a male equivalent. People can joke about "separate but equal" or whatever, but in this case I don't think it's a big deal.

But that is why people are cynical about these kinds of things, including myself. This is gender segregation. It only reinforces the idea that men and women can't like the same stuff. This is no different then the pink aisle. Or GI Joe. This isn't a new, bold step. It's more of the same they have been doing for decades now.

I suppose you have a point. Stores that keep their toys in the same isle don't seem to suffer for it. It's a little bit sad that we give our sons a BB gun, and our daughters an Easy Bake Oven.

Although, I did love my BB gun as a lad.

 

[happyninja42]

Wow, a lot of cynicism.

Guys, these are toys. There are very few gender neutral toys. Go checkout the children's section.

I, for one, see this as a positive.

You can follow the link at the bottom of the article to see how gender neutral they are.

These toys are not gender neutral. I'd be ecstatic if they were. They are not.

Sorry, I should have clarified a little bit more.

I know their not neutral, and that their targeted toward young girls. I just don't think that's necessarily an awful thing, since there's a male equivalent. People can joke about "separate but equal" or whatever, but in this case I don't think it's a big deal.

But that is why people are cynical about these kinds of things, including myself. This is gender segregation. It only reinforces the idea that men and women can't like the same stuff. This is no different then the pink aisle. Or GI Joe. This isn't a new, bold step. It's more of the same they have been doing for decades now.

I suppose you have a point. Stores that keep their toys in the same isle don't seem to suffer for it. It's a little bit sad that we give our sons a BB gun, and our daughters an Easy Bake Oven.

Although, I did love my BB gun as a lad.

I hated my BB gun as a lad. My brother killed a blackbird with it and I felt like shit after watching it die. Never wanted to use a gun again. Not trying to get onto you for liking yours or anything, just pointing out the variance. I did like my GI Joes and He-Man, Transformer action figures a lot though. But the actual projectile weapon, nah, I was fine without that thing. xD

 

[Fox12]

snip

Heh, fair enough, we never shot anything with it. I never understood the appeal of hunting, either, for that matter.

 

[flying_whimsy]

So... someone at DC actually thought that the best way to overcome the stigma of being seen as a sexist corporation in a sexist industry was to create a separate, but presumably equal, universe specifically for girls? May I assume they're also working on gender-specific lunch counters, schools, and water fountains, too?

And then they partner with Lego, who have a terrible track record at handling girls' toys. @_@

I don't want to judge too harshly here (I'm not bitter about what happened to Young Justice, but I see where a lot of people are coming from in relation to this move by DC), especially since Lauren Faust has been pushing for a cartoon along these lines for years (immediately after she left mlp she made some shorts that are extremely similar in art style to that image in the article). A show itself based on this could be lots of fun (I enjoyed Faust's shorts), and anything with more Harley Quinn and Batgirl is a win in my book.

This just seems like a stupid move on DC's part: instead of fixing issues they are just sort of throwing a tantrum and saying "here, have your own stupid girly universe with drama and all those other stupid stereotypical things girls like." It actually seems kind of sexist to me, but then again DC has been pretty sexist as of late anyways.

I think DC has been pretty stupid with almost everything for the last decade.

 

[Banjo-Kazooie Blue]

Remember that time Teen Titans got really popular among younger girls who then bought comics featuring Starfire and, Raven only to find that the source material was WILDLY different from the show?

That's the one...I'm just curious to see how Convergence and the 2016 DCU will look while they're rolling out this new line. It looks like that line will be separate but comic ratings or not, new fans are going to want to look at other material featuring characters they like. I don't think the above will happen again but you never know.

That's not The Titans, that's Red Hood and the outlaws from the new 52, and it's notorious for the character assassination of Starfire.

http://blip.tv/at4w/at4w-red-hood-and-the-outlaws-1-6841656

Than you for pointing that out to that person that obviously doesn't read comics.

 

[Ichiro Oogami]

I don't see the problem with this plan. Let's just wait and see how this all pans out. Remember that most of the audience doesn't participate in message board arguments.

 

[Gordon_4_v1legacy]

Why they'd go with Bumblebee and not the new Power Girl, I'll never know. Or would she be too similar to Supergirl?

And where's Zatanna?

And why Harley and Ivy? The lineup's 28% wasted on Batvillains.

Probably be too similar to Supergirl. What's really a shame is there's no Catwoman so the villains could be the Gotham City Sirens, but we could also get enemies like Circe, Cheetah and Silver Swan so we have here a chance for some unknowns to get their day in the spotlight.