Homework Help

[soc_puppet]

Yeah, so, will get to other comments and stuff later, but right now I want volunteers!

I am seeking opinions on the No Action Figures of Strong Female Characters situation that I can quote in a paper for Comp II. Contributors will remain anonymous for safety reasons. If you can offer an opinion on these, or portrayal of female characters in cartoons in general - especially cartoons aimed at the 10-14 age range - I'd love to hear it and use it if possible.

Please? ♥?

Comments

[girlquinn.livejournal.com]

It's somewhat sad that markets generalize what buyers want. They assume that female figures won't appeal to boys. In the lower age range, that might be true, but what about the older buyers, the ones that actually collect for the sake of collecting and not for play?

Being a child of the 80's, I grew up on Voltron, Transformers, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I was an avid action figure buyer of Ninja Turtles especially and I bought all the different variety of characters, including April O'Neal, the persistent reporter and source to the Turtles (Yes, looking back, I'm surprised that they even bothered to make one in the first place). But my next door neighbor, a boy named Ryan who was a year my junior, had about as many Turtle figures as I had... except April. He instead had Casey Jones, the masked vigilante wielding bats and hockey sticks. What was April's accessories? Erm, I believe it was a microphone and camera. Imagine my surprise when I watched the Ninja Turtles movie that came out last summer; April can actually fight? Where the heck have I been?! That's not to say that Ninja Turtles didn't have strong female roles at all. There was Lotus Blossom, a ninja who Leonardo fancied, if I remember correctly. But strong female cartoon characters were few and far between, and sometimes not even part of the main cast. But back to April's actions in the movie... I'd like to believe that writers can see that their audience is changing, but is that wishful thinking? Do they realize that females are watching more of "boy cartoons"? Because let's face it; pink fairies riding on purple ponies talking about how they all want to be friends as they prance around their magical world while playing tambourinee... well, that's just BORING. And STUPID. And positively NOT INTERESTING. At least, I would think so.

As materia_indigo said, there doesn't seem to be a strong enough market for girls to action figures. That probably explains why there are no darn Avatar figures (Come on, people!! Please give me at least one Katara, Toph and Suki. I don't need "Watertribe Warrior Aang", decked out in an outfit he never even wore in the series).

[soc_puppet]

Ooo, turtles = a good example I'll probably have to use that.

Most of what I remember about Voltron is being really damn confused over Pidge's gender.

(I'm trying to change that, I really am! Hell, I'd settle for a limited time, online-only series of female action figures for Avatar, but lord knows we won't get that either. ...Though admittedly, the shipper in me fell pretty hard for the Watertribe Aang. On that note though, HOW ARE THEY IGNORING THE ZUTARA MARKETING NICHE. IT IS HUGE AND RIGHT @#$%#$ THERE, AND THEY ARE DOING NOTHING WITH IT. GUYS, MAKE A KATARA, YOU'LL SELL RIGHT OUT AND YOUR ZUKO SALES WILL GO THROUGH THE ROOF IF THEY AREN'T THERE ALREADY. *is done ranting now, rly*)