Six-Year-Old Upset By Lack of Female Friendly Avengers Toys

[josemlopes]

Yet no one complains that Hawkeye isnt in the box too, they are minor characters in comparision to the big 4/5 if you count the villain.

 

[Rebel_Raven]

Man, it always bothered me that the female characters got shortpacked so often. Made them rare, thus collectable, thus frikking expensive.
Thunderblast from Transformers (Ya know, the femmebot that turned into a boat?)goes for 80 dollars these days!

But yeah, I didn't even have to watch the movie to know how minor she, and Hawkeye would be.
http://youtu.be/pb9l988kqL4
As much as I loathe it, if there's anything truely aimed at males, it's action figures, and they target's often too young to buy on sex appeal. or be caught dead playing with something that has boobs.

I grew up on a mixed bag. MLP, GI Joe, transformers, stuffed animals. I collect a little now and then.

 

[Terramax]

We just had a major automotive failure in this country in part because the automotive industry decided to hell with new ideas, let's push large, expensive gas guzzlers in a bad economy and amidst high gas prices!

And now they're pushing to pass laws restricting sales of electric cars (look at Tesla). I know the automotive industry isn't exactly the toy industry, but the whole "companies love money more than X" isn't always enough to break their mentality.

Actually, from the looks of things, it's quite frequently not enough.

Whilst I get the point, I don't think this is the best example. Electric cars have been restricted in the US exactly because of wanting to make more money out of petrol-fueled cars. I think if anything, this example proves how their lust for squeezing as much money as possible actually backfired on them, and confirms their narrow mindedness due to the want for financial gain.

 

[Sarge034]

So, I wonder how much of this is her just regurgitating what she hears her parents are saying. I'm serious. If her parents came out and said this they would be just more people complaining on the internet, but because they get their 6 year old daughter to say it she gets headlines. Wonder if I could start a business out of this... But what should I call it? Damn, everything I come up with makes me sound like a pedo.

OT- They make a Black Widow action figure, but she is not in the box art. Deal with it.

 

[Sarge034]

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Spoiler

 

[Trivea]

Honestly? I wish they would stop trying to put female characters in comic books as anything but a plot device altogether, and I'm a girl. No, it's not because "omg they get in the way of my hot boys", it's that they can't create any character without a Y chromosome and not absolutely ruin her. I mean, seriously, male superheroes are cool, but female superheroes? And supervillains, for that matter. I mean, come on, they couldn't even get a female version of their own long-lived character right.

Spoiler: Because only males can look thoroughly ridiculous.

"No, female Loki can't have that helmet! It looks stupid!"
"We had no problem making Loki look stupid in that helmet as a guy for XX years."
"No! Loki's female now! Sex appeal! More boobs, less helmet!"

I may be generalizing here, but I think a lot of the problem has to do with the fact that most comic book creators have never interacted with a girl they didn't draw. Of course, Sailor Moon was written by a woman, and look how well that turned out. But seriously, you have the female love interests (who exist to get saved), the female superheroes (who exist to get saved while wearing spandex), and Aunt May (who exists to hit the villain over the head with her purse while waiting to be saved).

 

[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

There is no Black Widow action figure? Because I got this one as a gift last month: http://www.hottoys.com.hk/productDetail.php?productID=75

Let me check...

Yep, it's still next to the TV set.

DON'T JUDGE ME!

 

[Yuuki]

Since when was Avengers as a franchise ever aimed at females? Actually let me rephrase that, since when has ANY superhero-comic-based movie ever been aimed at females in any way??
Everyone knows why Black Widow was in the movie...it's not for her abilities (or even her role), it's because Scarlett Johansson is HOT and guys will automatically enjoy such a character as long as she's not too bitchy/useless. That's a niche which Black Widow fills in nicely, that's why she's there. What? Everyone's thinking it

Too bad this 6 year old girl isn't aware that Black Widow action figures are likely to in far higher demand from grown-up males than little girls, and there is a huge cult-like demographic of female action-figure collectors that far exceeds her tiny imagination.

Then again I don't really blame her, she's fucking 6.


Next week: Six year old girl upset by sky being blue

 

[lastjustice]

It's not as bad as transformers back in 86. Arcee was a major characters in the film and the 3rd season, and never got a toy till many years later. Usually toy lines manage to sneak in one or two girls. Like visionaries made 2 females, both water creatures, so they were pitted against each other. My sister wanted to get a spider girl toy from super hero squad for my Niece/god daughter since she had the toys from my nephew to pass down, but spider girl was only sold with a vehicle. It ended up becoming too rare and worth too much money later because of that to justify buying.

I started watching Teen titans with my niece because as a series where both genders get fairly represented for most part. I think her favorite character is probably still beast boy since he's funny, but she loves it.(her older siblings usually stop and watch when I put it on for her. It is still a really good show.) She still loves the avengers, but I wanted to expand her horizons of the geek world.It's a job for a godfather hehe..(and as an uncle for all nieces and nephews.) Offset her sports nuts father.

 

[shirkbot]

Hm. Fair point, none of the siblings I live with engage in such toys anymore, so I'm rather in the dark, but it seems to me there's no reason to not move to a general 50/50 gender split in toys. Although not in the realm of toys, Avatar (The Last Airbender), while still a childrens show, had damn near a hard 50/50 split on gender, and every kid I know seems to adore the show, seeming to imply that there's not even a loss in money either.

Kids, in general, don't really care what gender characters are as long as they are awesome.

OT: A fair point. Fairer point: Black Widow is currently the only female Avenger. Isn't the whole exercise stilted from the get-go?

 

[anian]

Maybe teach her that life is almost always unfair, but that she should strive to make the world a better place, become a CEO of a toy company and change that or become a role model for women everywhere or a comic book writer or anything freakin' else, instead of all that, her parents teach her how to make video rants and the internet promptly responds by spreading it around. YAY, PEOPLE!

 

[Vizen]

As someone who works for one of the largest toy store chains in the UK, i can confidently say the Black widow figure is extremely rare, we have been selling the merchandise now for just over a year and only recently have we received the figured linked on Amazon and in limited quantity,

Hawkeye (who also isn't on the majority of the merchandising) has been in stock fairly consistently (about the same as Loki) along with his bow.

Also she isn't available in the larger figure series which is objectively better and only reserved for Ironman, The Hulk, Thor and Captain America.

Girls tastes are changing the majority hate Barbie these days. We sell way more Monster High in comparison and both boys and girls have been requesting the figure in question to complete there avengers sets.

 

[shirkbot]

If anyone should be pissed about inequality in toys it's the giant green rage monsters.

Why do you think he hasn't turned back into Banner?

This made me chuckle, so I shall re-post it for all. Thank you.

Ah, yes, Joss Whedon lamenting the poor, downtrodden women.
Joss Whedon can bite me for his fucking crocodile tears for women.

It's the public's fault for taking him and raising him up as some sort of supa feminist icon.

He's very good at writing team dynamics, but otherwise he's nothing particularly special.

Companies like to stereotype. But they like to make money more.

Companies like to play conservative and are not always welcoming of new ideas. The fact that developers need to fight to just to get female focus group reps should indicate something's wrong here.

Companies will almost always use old ideas until they make negative money before attempting new ideas. It's part of the reason the U.S. has such absurd copyright laws: Companies just want to use the same properties and ideas forever. If you want something new you basically have to have a new company do it or legally end their ability to do what they've been doing.

 

[Scarim Coral]

Awh, sound like she should start a petition/ kickstarter to make Black Widow into a proper toy.

Still this isn't the first time that companies think action figure should be male characters figure only (I looking at you Mattel Avatar: The Last Airbender toys)!

 

[Pinky's Brain]

They should just roll Pym and Janette into one character and add Wasp as a female power house to the line up (scarlet witch might be important in avenger's 2, but her power set doesn't really promise a prominent role in fights).