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soc_puppetAnd now, the pictures are here! Stealing my mom's PhotoBucket bandwidth, as it's a) easier, and b) more readily available than mine at the moment.
...I have no idea what's going on here, except that we're sitting at aShinto Shrine picnic table, and I appear to have already opened my ice tea.
Smile for the camera! Marshmallows are tasty, and make rediculous microphone substitutes.
See? Rediculous.
Okay, mostly tasty.
Candy with a stick and a marshmallow. Not the easiest things to put together, yanno?
Msbbt having just eaten a marshmallow (I think). Tasty sweetness approved!
And what better to go with tasty sweet marshmallows than raspberry ice tea? Mmm-mmm, say I.
There were a few more, but Mom doesn't seem to have sent them to me, so you must content yourselves with these!
On a completely unrelated note, I finally got around to drafting that letter to Nickelodeon regarding their lack of female plastic action figures. Figured I'd post it here, so people could help me look over it for places that need editing and/or rewording and such. Or possibly even steal my format so they can write-and-mail their own copy or something. Anyway, letter.
Dear Nickelodeon,
It is my pleasure to tell you that I recently had the opportunity to browse through the selection of Avatar: The Last Airbender merchandise available at a local department store. My delight at seeing a number of minor characters and even Aang in a themed costume quickly turned to dismay when I noticed the number of female characters represented; that is to say, zero.
Being well out of your target audience – that is to say, female and twenty rather than male and in grade school – I can understand that you would not have fans like me in mind when marketing your toys. I was, however, disappointed that a show with so many strong, well-developed female characters wouldn't even have one available in plastic. While I can understand Aang having three different forms in that size alone, him being the main character among other things, this does not change the fact that a nameless, faceless Fire Nation soldier was mass-produced before Katara, a member of the main cast, was. I do sympathize with the need for villains for the heroes to face, but in the aftermath of season two, I feel that Azula and her companions could fill that role quite well, in addition to being strong female characters themselves.
In the most recent set of action figures that has been released, I noticed that positive female role models had again been overlooked in favor of the vigilante Jet and King Bumi (who, while interesting and strong characters in their own right, are still secondary at best when compared to Katara and Toph). My only consolation was that Katara and Toph "Hairbending" dolls had not yet been marketed towards female viewers – and, arrogant though it may seem, I can now only hope that my mentioning them has not inspired their creation.
In closing, I wish to impress upon you that I am not the only female fan – or fan in general – who would like to see the rest of our beloved main cast finally available in plastic. I do understand that cost is something to consider when marketing toys (as well, in this case, as the lack of female torso molds with comparable proportions to the female cast in Avatar – that is to say, somewhat realistic proportions), but I for one would be happy with even a limited set being made available only through the Nickelodeon web site, even as a test run. I would even be able to stomach seeing Katara and Toph action figures marketed as dolls with pink cardboard backgrounds if it meant their creation – provided, of course, that they were not just turned into more 'fashion' dolls, and at least kept vaguely with the ideals that the show has sought to embody.
Until such a time as I next see fit to write (hopefully jubilantly), I thank you for your time and consideration, and remain,
Sincerely
[Socchan’s real name here]
[Signature of same]
Of course, if you want to write your own, you may not actually be satisfied with said action figures being marketed as dolls with pink cardboard backing, but that's fine with me, too. I'm just desparate enough for said plastic figures to suggest it.
Anyway, with the actual writing done, about all I have left to do is any remaining cleaning, and then finding the correct address to write on the envelope. Which might take a little while, but whatever! As long as it's done before the end of March, I might be able to fit in a little bit of an extra punch, yanno? And then after that (and after I get a few more figures, probably) I can start making photo theater wherein the dolls themselves complain about the lack of girls :3Especially now that there's a Jet figure. "With no Katara around, now it seems we have to start dating, Lee!" "Oh noes, what ever shall we do?" "I can think of a few things..." *is shot*
Edit: Arguments that Zuko himself is a teenage girl will not be put in this particular letter, though they will be taken into consideration and laughed at in private.
...I have no idea what's going on here, except that we're sitting at a
Smile for the camera! Marshmallows are tasty, and make rediculous microphone substitutes.
See? Rediculous.
Okay, mostly tasty.
Candy with a stick and a marshmallow. Not the easiest things to put together, yanno?
Msbbt having just eaten a marshmallow (I think). Tasty sweetness approved!
And what better to go with tasty sweet marshmallows than raspberry ice tea? Mmm-mmm, say I.
There were a few more, but Mom doesn't seem to have sent them to me, so you must content yourselves with these!
On a completely unrelated note, I finally got around to drafting that letter to Nickelodeon regarding their lack of female plastic action figures. Figured I'd post it here, so people could help me look over it for places that need editing and/or rewording and such. Or possibly even steal my format so they can write-and-mail their own copy or something. Anyway, letter.
Dear Nickelodeon,
It is my pleasure to tell you that I recently had the opportunity to browse through the selection of Avatar: The Last Airbender merchandise available at a local department store. My delight at seeing a number of minor characters and even Aang in a themed costume quickly turned to dismay when I noticed the number of female characters represented; that is to say, zero.
Being well out of your target audience – that is to say, female and twenty rather than male and in grade school – I can understand that you would not have fans like me in mind when marketing your toys. I was, however, disappointed that a show with so many strong, well-developed female characters wouldn't even have one available in plastic. While I can understand Aang having three different forms in that size alone, him being the main character among other things, this does not change the fact that a nameless, faceless Fire Nation soldier was mass-produced before Katara, a member of the main cast, was. I do sympathize with the need for villains for the heroes to face, but in the aftermath of season two, I feel that Azula and her companions could fill that role quite well, in addition to being strong female characters themselves.
In the most recent set of action figures that has been released, I noticed that positive female role models had again been overlooked in favor of the vigilante Jet and King Bumi (who, while interesting and strong characters in their own right, are still secondary at best when compared to Katara and Toph). My only consolation was that Katara and Toph "Hairbending" dolls had not yet been marketed towards female viewers – and, arrogant though it may seem, I can now only hope that my mentioning them has not inspired their creation.
In closing, I wish to impress upon you that I am not the only female fan – or fan in general – who would like to see the rest of our beloved main cast finally available in plastic. I do understand that cost is something to consider when marketing toys (as well, in this case, as the lack of female torso molds with comparable proportions to the female cast in Avatar – that is to say, somewhat realistic proportions), but I for one would be happy with even a limited set being made available only through the Nickelodeon web site, even as a test run. I would even be able to stomach seeing Katara and Toph action figures marketed as dolls with pink cardboard backgrounds if it meant their creation – provided, of course, that they were not just turned into more 'fashion' dolls, and at least kept vaguely with the ideals that the show has sought to embody.
Until such a time as I next see fit to write (hopefully jubilantly), I thank you for your time and consideration, and remain,
Sincerely
[Socchan’s real name here]
[Signature of same]
Of course, if you want to write your own, you may not actually be satisfied with said action figures being marketed as dolls with pink cardboard backing, but that's fine with me, too. I'm just desparate enough for said plastic figures to suggest it.
Anyway, with the actual writing done, about all I have left to do is any remaining cleaning, and then finding the correct address to write on the envelope. Which might take a little while, but whatever! As long as it's done before the end of March, I might be able to fit in a little bit of an extra punch, yanno? And then after that (and after I get a few more figures, probably) I can start making photo theater wherein the dolls themselves complain about the lack of girls :3
Edit: Arguments that Zuko himself is a teenage girl will not be put in this particular letter, though they will be taken into consideration and laughed at in private.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2007-03-15 04:52 am (UTC)The letter looks great! *_*
no subject
Date: 2007-03-18 06:21 pm (UTC)Thanks ^_^