DC Super Hero Girls
April 23, 2015 9:39 PM   Subscribe

DC is partnering with Mattel, Lego, Random House and others to launch DC Super Hero Girls universe for girls. Here's seven things CBR hopes they can acheive.
posted by Artw (32 comments total) 4 users marked this as a favorite
 
Sad how they all have THE EXACT SAME BODY TYPE because girls should all be of average height and thin.
posted by papercake at 9:52 PM on April 23, 2015 [1 favorite]


The last time DC went after girls proper was the ill-fated Minx line...

/facepalm
posted by The Tensor at 9:57 PM on April 23, 2015


I would honestly trust Marvel about 10 times more to do this right, but let's see. At least they're trying (to get those girl dollars), I guess.
posted by Joakim Ziegler at 10:18 PM on April 23, 2015


Looking at Supergirl, flying and miniskirts really don't mix.

I don't know comics, and I'm worried by the skinniness of the girls shown, but this might be a step in the right direction.
posted by YAMWAK at 10:26 PM on April 23, 2015


I would honestly trust Marvel about 10 times more to do this right, but let's see

I love the MCU but Marvel's track record on diversity and inclusivity isn't anything to write home about either.
posted by kmz at 10:28 PM on April 23, 2015 [1 favorite]


On the positive side, Harley Quinn's here, and not oversexualized.
posted by Pronoiac at 10:41 PM on April 23, 2015 [2 favorites]


In terms of comics I trust them more, in terms of Merch... Disappointed, But Not Surprised: Disney Excludes Black Widow From Avengers: Age of Ultron Merch
posted by Artw at 10:42 PM on April 23, 2015 [1 favorite]


kmz: "I love the MCU but Marvel's track record on diversity and inclusivity isn't anything to write home about either."

I know, but they're less... macho, for lack of a better word.
posted by Joakim Ziegler at 11:07 PM on April 23, 2015 [1 favorite]


The Nu52 comics were horribly bro-tastic. They've edged back from that a little with stuff like Batgirl and Gotham Academy recently... I do fear a little that this "for girls!" Business will mean they decide everything else is for boys and double down on the broishness, maybe give up on GA and the like, but I'm thinking it's mainly about the merch rather than the comics.
posted by Artw at 11:30 PM on April 23, 2015


I hope the Lego line is the regular minifig line, not the Lego Friends/Elves sized figures.

But outside of that, I think this will be a good thing - until, of course, fans of these girl-positive versions of DC characters grow up and still want to buy comics.
posted by robocop is bleeding at 3:04 AM on April 24, 2015 [2 favorites]


I am so glad that the little girl dressed up as Wonder Woman is wearing makeup in her photo. Because that's crucial to being a female superhero.
posted by miss tea at 3:26 AM on April 24, 2015 [2 favorites]


Man, they just don't get it. It's almost like the whole idea was devised by a guy who realized that their market was lacking a core audience, but he just wasn't sure about how to go after it. Then he saw his four year old daughter watching Frozen for the umpteenth time and was like Oh........princesses!
posted by triage_lazarus at 3:45 AM on April 24, 2015 [4 favorites]


Man, they just don't get it. It's almost like the whole idea was devised by a guy who realized that their market was lacking a core audience

Here's my problem. DCAU Teen Titans -> Teen Titans Go already HAS that audience.

They've poured a lot of resources into **successfully** developing that property, and ( ignoring Nu-52 Starfire ), it's primed and ready to go. All they needed to do was add in some extra people and roll with it, so my fear is that this is indeed pink-washing, and it's not going to end well.
posted by mikelieman at 4:21 AM on April 24, 2015 [2 favorites]


Sorry Robocop is bleeding, according to my AFOL friends they're planned to be in mini-doll format rather than minifig format.
posted by Just this guy, y'know at 4:30 AM on April 24, 2015




I can't wait for the Darkseid's Minions set of dolls in this line. "Trade ya Virmin Vundabarr for Mad Harriet!"
posted by delfin at 5:15 AM on April 24, 2015


From 1992: The never-produced Wonder Woman and the Star Riders
posted by 1970s Antihero at 5:21 AM on April 24, 2015


My bet is this will last just as long as Minx, with a similar level of resources and effort. When it fails, dudes will be able to say "See? Girls don't buy comics." Then it's just back to business as usual for DC.
posted by triage_lazarus at 5:23 AM on April 24, 2015 [1 favorite]


When it fails, dudes will be able to say "See? Girls don't buy comics."

Try saying that on the Internet and not getting savaged.

This DC line is already being torn to threads in various parts for Katana being a Japanese cliche, Bumblebee being the only other on-white character, Harley and Ivy not being lesbians (or bi, or lovers, whichever applies these days), Batgirl's hoodie.

Oh, and being "for girls".

Oh, and the lack of Catwoman.

On the plus side, personally I like most of the redesigned.

But it seems like whenever they do this, they get savaged for not going far enough, but if they don't try something like this, they get equally savaged for, say, a lack of toys.

For DC to try this when, as I understand it, Young Justice was cancelled because "girls don't buy toys" is brave for a corporation like Warners. It recognises there is an audience for this sort of thing.

I do lament there are no Super Best Friends Forever cartoons I have not seen.
posted by Mezentian at 6:01 AM on April 24, 2015 [1 favorite]


I just wonder if will amount to anything. Mostly, I just want Young Justice back. That show succeeded in making me excited about DC, which excluding Secret Six, I hadn't been for years.
posted by triage_lazarus at 6:08 AM on April 24, 2015


Sorry Robocop is bleeding, according to my AFOL friends they're planned to be in mini-doll format rather than minifig format.

While it's likely they will go with Friends-fig format, I haven't read any solid confirmation of this yet.
posted by Fleebnork at 6:47 AM on April 24, 2015


See, and I thought these were adorable. I would have wanted one, as a girl. I kinda want one now. They look like the Super Friends Forever cartoon, which is fun and enjoyable.

Yes, body types, ok, but superheroes do mostly conform to one body type. They're basically super-strong athletes/gymnasts. In the superhero world, the fight is to have women/girl heroes who are allowed to keep their clothes on. Which these do!

They're not pink. I like them. I would absolutely buy them for a girl. Or a boy who wanted some girl heroes in his action figure lineup.
posted by emjaybee at 6:53 AM on April 24, 2015 [1 favorite]


I would bet money on tyeLego being minidolls, to match the Disney Princess and Elves line.
posted by Artw at 7:13 AM on April 24, 2015


So, I have a kid who's 11 months old now, and being the person that I am, I beanplate a lot of the stuff we expose him to. Licensed characters are one of those subjects I spend a lot of time thinking about. It's pretty tough to avoid them altogether, and I am not convinced it would be worth the effort for us to do so, but I do consider the toys and clothes we choose. I was thinking just the other day that the classic Disney characters don't sit right with me, and the reason is because as far as I'm aware*, they pretty much only exist as trademarks. (*I'm largely out of the loop on kids' entertainment -- if there are any cartoons featuring Mickey Mouse and friends they're not on my radar). They squick me, not to the extent that Cayce in Pattern Recognition was squicked by the Michelin Man, but on that same continuum for sure.

For that same reason, this news bugged me as well. The designs are cute. But it would be nice if DC was going to, you know, actually produce some comics featuring these characters, 'cause that's what they're known for, right? Producing actual content? They want the parents' money but it's apparently not worthwhile to put anything meaningful behind the superhero princess facades.
posted by trunk muffins at 7:45 AM on April 24, 2015


the ill-fated Minx line

Previously on The Beat
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 8:00 AM on April 24, 2015 [2 favorites]


Yup, just checked back with aforementioned AFOLs, you're right, no official confirmation of mini-doll format.
posted by Just this guy, y'know at 8:18 AM on April 24, 2015


I could be pleasantly suprised, I guess, but I doubt it.
posted by Artw at 8:21 AM on April 24, 2015 [1 favorite]


MetaFilter: I could be pleasantly suprised, I guess, but I doubt it.
posted by mikelieman at 8:30 AM on April 24, 2015 [2 favorites]


The Tensor: The last time DC went after girls proper was the ill-fated Minx line...

/facepalm


The name was controversial even when the imprint was launched. But the new venture was a HUGE deal at the time. Nothing like it had been attempted previously in the American market. DC devoted a quarter of a million dollars to the marketing alone. One of the creators, British writer Mike Carey, worked on a series with his teen daughter.

But most importantly, it was a series of titles that didn't all portray women as accessories to men or damsels in distress. They weren't particularly sexist. They didn't depict women with overinflated, unnatural-looking bodies. Or subject them to the 'male gaze'.

So there was a lot of potential.

Unfortunately, the entire imprint was mostly made up of titles from male creators. (Frustrating because tokyopop in particular regularly featured series with women who were artists and writers.) The titles didn't sell that well, either. The imprint was cancelled a little over a year after its launch.
posted by zarq at 8:44 AM on April 24, 2015 [1 favorite]


And, on the same day DC announced this kinda near idea, they also pitched for the exact opposite audience: Frank Miller Making A Third Dark Knight Comic Titled The Master Race.
posted by Mezentian at 4:26 PM on April 24, 2015 [1 favorite]


The Minx line failed for a lot of reasons, but I think it had to do with the fact the books just weren't very good. I read all of them (although not at the time they were out) and they're still hanging around my house. A few work well and actually feel like things teenage girls would want to read (Waterbaby by Sophie Campbell [then Ross Campbell] was one of them, as was the Brian Wood one but well ... we know how that ended up) but they were mostly a lot of "this is what a well-meaning adult thinks a teenage girl will like!" And ... no. (Also, I think too much was made of the imprint's name -- this was a generation of girls who'd grown up with Bratz dolls, after all.)

(Compare the book Mariko Tamaki wrote for the Minx line -- Emiko Superstar -- to the two books she's done with Jillian Tamaki -- Skim and This One Summer -- and the difference is pretty clear.)

I think this new DC Super Hero Girls line could work, mostly because it seems more like a toy tie-in line than a comics product. That has its own issues but I like the designs. I think this has potential. I think DC knows somewhere that they are leaving some money behind, even if it's just with parents who like comics who want something for their little girls. And I'm cool with that.

(As someone who has lamented the different minifigs in the Friends/Elves/Princess lines, I was surprised to see they're only a tiny bit taller than classic minifigs. I think the designs of them are more flexible and I wouldn't really hate if Lego branched them out into more of their other lines, too. Classic minifigs are classic, I know, but I really like the new ones. If the Super Hero Girls stuff uses those, I'd be more happy to buy the sets, personally.)
posted by darksong at 4:36 PM on April 24, 2015 [3 favorites]


Yup, just checked back with aforementioned AFOLs, you're right, no official confirmation of mini-doll format.

I'm an AFOL myself. We probably get our news from the same sources.
posted by Fleebnork at 7:37 AM on April 25, 2015


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