Recently, there has been a backlash related to the designs of some female fictional characters, specifically Merida from Brave in the wake of her induction into the Disney Princess line, and the women of superhero comics, with cries of “sexism” “objectification” and “male gaze”.

The Merida part of it is one of the biggest non-issues I’ve seen in a while. There is nothing “sexy” about her design…an off the shoulder dress does not show cleavage. Personally, I like the addition of her clan’s tartan on her belt.

The superheroes one, however, is the more pressing matter.

http://goodcomics.comicbookresources.com/2013/05/20/she-has-no-head-6-stupid-superheroine-designs-that-need-redesign-stat/

I came across this article today, and it has thoroughly rustled my jimmies. Not only for the author’s arrogant, entitled, and immature attitude, but for her mentality that “fully-covered = good design”.

While the art, by Kris Anka and Meredith Mcclaren, is nice, the designs, mostly Mcclaren’s, don’t grasp who most of these characters are.

Making female characters androgynous is not how to end objectification. In fact, this sends the message that the very concept of femininity is wrong.

There is nothing wrong with sexy women, or sexy men. Sexiness often goes hand in hand with physical, social, and societal power.

I like looking at sexy women. Seeing a cartoon woman in a bikini does not intimidate me, because I know it is a stylized depiction, and anyone who turns to drawings to validate their identities is probably insecure.

While not all characters should conform to this mold, too many of these kinds of redesigns try and strip any and all sexuality from the characters, regardless of its context.

And to Kelly Thompson, I feel that you did not handle this situation in the best way

Just because the majority of responses to the designs are negative does not mean that any and all dissenters are “basement dwelling socially inept comic book fans”, or the especially insulting term “dudebros”.

By disabling comments it proves that you do not want to spark discussion…you only want a self-serving echo chamber. And echo chambers will not change the thoughts of readers, artists, writers, or the comic book industry.

Sometimes I think people like you don’t want comic books, video games, or other media to change at all…you just want to feel oppressed, feed your victim complexes, and take no responsibility for what you say or what you do.

And that’s a damn shame.

http://widget00.mibbit.com/?settings=d52dfb94df3da54f292c95410ab8c25b&server=irc.mibbit.net&channel=%23monsterhigh

Monster High chat on Mibbit…come in and discuss dolls, customs, webisodes, fanart, and anything else MH related.

I think I have too many Lagoonas. I have to sell one of them but I can’t decide… So monster high fans which of these Lagoonas is leaving the house?

Next week I’ll probably be heading back home for vacation, and the other half of my collection is there, including DT Cleo. I’ll see about packaging her up.

I asked /co/ so I figured I’d ask Tumblr…gentlemen, (and ladies) how do we fix Psylocke?

I’ve been toying around in HeroMachine3 with the idea of a “proper” MCU Mandarin design.
I’ve always thought he was a cool villain, especially with his connection to Fin Fang Foom, and it bothers me when he is called an inherently racist and un-salvageable character.
The MCU version (which might give him a name…how bout Mr. Han for now?) would have origins as a rival businessman of Tony Stark’s (Chinese or Chinese-American?), but he doesn’t believe that human ingenuity alone is the path to power. Combining modern tech, ancient Chinese martial arts and sorcery, and power rings forged from recovered Chitauri tech, Han Long opposes Tony Stark as The Mandarin!
Perhaps “The Mandarin” is an ancient mantle, inherited through the centuries in secret by those who follow the path of the black arts.

I think 616 Mandarin might be an actual ancient Chinese sorcerer who has kept himself alive with black magic, but that may have been a retcon. Sliding timescale and all that.

As of right now he mostly wears a modern business suit and his rings. MCUMandarin would only wear his robes when he’s supervillain-ing, and even then they’re not too gaudy.

MCU Fin Fang Foom might be an alien serpent, possibly similar to the Chitauri serpents in Avengers…Mandarin’s rings could control him somehow.

Okay I’m not a die-hard Star Trek fan, but the reveal that Benedict Cumberbach’s character really is Khan pisses me off.

I’m not normally a supporter of social justice crap, but this kinda shit is not acceptable in this day and age. And it’s not just Star Trek.

Ra’s al Ghul and Talia should have been Middle Eastern, and Bane should have been Latino. The Mandarin or Killian should have been East Asian.

And The Last Airbender…I really don’t rage over that anymore because we all know it was bad, (the whitewashing was only one of the film’s many, many problems) the studios know it was bad, and we won’t be getting any more films the ruin the world of Avatar.

Now you might think I’m a hypocrite for supporting them, but not a black Human Torch.

But there’s a difference…studios might not have to give “white” roles to other ethnicites if they let the already established nonwhite characters be played by people of accurate heritage.

So I was eating lunch at Denny’s when I came across this onion ring…it seemed very negative about everything

Okay so apparently there’s gonna be a spinoff of Monster High called Ever After High that features fairy tale characters. Cupid is moving there to serve as the link between the 2 worlds.

I’m…not sure how to feel about this, I’m afraid Mattel will stretch themselves too thin. Fairytale dolls seem redundant since Mattel already does the Disney Princess line, and isn’t there a line of zombie fairytale characters also coming out?

Okay, I’ve just read 2 articles on Geekosystem claiming that Tumblr’s “ironic fandom” for a 30 second anime promo dubbed “Swimming Anime” somehow convinced Kyoto Animation to make it into a full series.

And that is straight up bullshit.

It was cute while it started, but anyone who things that a few thousand posts on the internet convinced Japanese animators that something was worth making is just deluding themselves.

Free! was always going to be a series…there’s a little thing called animation lead time. It takes months and years for cartoons to be storyboarded, written, animated and voice acted.

Barring a few exceptions like South Park, animation is rarely able to make changes and turnarounds at the speed of the internet.

So while “Swimming Anime fandom” got a few laughs, don’t think your posts had any influence on Japanese animators.