some particularly apropos web comics
(One thing I don’t like about Cat and Girl is that doesn’t provide permalinks until a new comic is up, so I’ll have to remember to come back and fix this link tomorrow. ETA: Whew, I remembered.)
It’s so fucking true, though. They did start remaking My Little Pony and Carebears and Strawberry Shortcake (although the new version’s hat totally sucks), but they’re remaking them AS children’s toys, not in the kitschy/trendy mode that boys’ toys get rereleased in. He-Man and Thundercats now have multiple seasons out on DVD, but I haven’t seen any Rainbow Brite or Gem anywhere, and I somehow doubt that people are primarily buying Thundercats for kids.*
Admittedly, the former shows figure larger in my personal childhood than the latter, but man, what I wouldn’t give for a CD of the music from Rainbow Brite for the purposes of ironic rocking out. I do own the soundtrack to The Chipmunk Adventure, you know, and if it came out on DVD I would snap it up in a HEARTBEAT.
You do get a little Carebear and Rainbow Brite stuff at places like Hot Topic, but it seems like it doesn’t stay out very long. I still regret not buying a Rainbow Brite hoodie at Ragstock like two years ago, because I haven’t seen one since.
Just to be a little hypocritical here, the new Transformers trailer IS totally fucking awesome. God, I can’t wait. Optimus Prime, my first love, now in LIVE ACTION.
And in another vein altogether: We have a history: a web card
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*So far, the only thing that has stopped me from buying Thundercats on DVD is a) it is super freaking expensive and b) I know, I KNOW that I would not really enjoy watching it as a 25-year-old adult-type person, and I don’t want to trample on this fragment of my happy childhood.
December 21st, 2006 at 3:05 pm
I yi yi yi yi yi like you VEEEERRY much!
… ’cause we’re the GIRLS of ROCK and ROLL!
December 21st, 2006 at 8:06 pm
I think the general idea amongst the people who release and promote such things for older audiences is that “Women don’t want toys or watch cartoons” just as “girls don’t play video games”. I think it ties into that whole “women are more mature than men” thing that most people seem to subscribe to. Girls don’t get to have fun even if they just wanna have it. :p
With that said, I do get crap from the occasional person over the things I own.
Also you brought up a rather painful memory for me. The one where my uncle threw out my Optimus Prime. He was awesome. He had the trailer and it opened up and fired missiles and he was made of metal and was all red and shiny. There was also this button that you pressed when the trailer was closed up and a car would burst out of the back. So awesome.
December 22nd, 2006 at 4:27 am
I am, slightly, inclined to think that if they did bring this kind of thing out as apparel more often, it would still not sell as well as the stuff for boys. And I think it’s probably because girls’ stuff is meant to be cute, rather than cool (in the eight-year-old sense, not the high-fashion).
While I would totally buy a Rainbow Brite pencil case (to replace the one I had when I was five!), I’d probably admire the cuteness of, say, a T-shirt but not actually buy it. I can’t really carry off cute*. Not everyone can.
Whereas I’ve often thought that men’s fashion is more… universally applicable. Unless it’s a pretty extreme fashion, guys don’t have to worry so much about looking silly in something. Hey, I’d wear a Space Invaders t-shirt without worrying that people were thinking I was trying to be cute.
*Leaving aside the dubious rationale behind “schoolgirl” outfits for women of drinking age… There’s actually a picture on Facebook in which you can see me in a schoolgirl costume. Unfortunately.
December 22nd, 2006 at 8:20 am
Re: the hoodie…eBay, my friend.