What's Missing in Action Figures.

[eastofthemoon]

secondlina post today, reminded me of a few thoughts I had the other day while I was in the toystore.

I was in the toy section and I happened to discovered they made action for Storm Hawks Not one of my favorite shows, but there are worse cartoons out there and a couple of the characters do make me laugh. But I digress. Anyway, I was curious, picked up the toy and looked at the back to see the whole list of the action figures that were made. Sure enough, there were no action figures for ANY of the female characters (even for the one main female and the one female villian, who is pretty much the reason for the show's plot).

This also reminded me years ago, when I was in middle school, they made action figures for the cartoon "Mummies Alive" and they actually did make a toy based on the one female main character, Nefertina. However, finding her to buy was almost impossible. I think there were many fans that didn't even believe the toy itself existed. I didn't know it existed until I looked up on the internet and saw it on e-bay a couple of years later.

This has ALWAYS annoyed me. When I was a kid, they was always at least one female character in cartoons for the girls to relate to (recalls her April O'Neil action figure) and they would normally make the one main female character into a toy for the girl fans, but now they don't even bother doing that anymore. I know that this is one issue that has irrated many of my fellow Avatar: The Last Airbender fans. There are plenty of actions figures on Aang, Sokka, Roku, Zuko, even King Bumi but there are none for the female characters like Katara, Toph, or even Azula. Considering the fact that some of the most powerful fighters in the show are the girls (especially Toph and Azula) so it would only make sense that there should see toys on them.

Now, I realize that the toy companies arguement is that if a cartoon is aim towards boy and therefore the toys would be aimed towards boys and they wouldn't want the female action figures as much as the male ones and thus wouldn't make good sales. Personally, I don't really buy that. There are plenty of girls who watch the show and would love to get their hands on a Katara figurine (and many of them are not children I might add). Besides, I can't help but think if I was a boy, I would like to have a complete set with all of the main characters. It just not fair to the fans of the show that love all of the characters, both the male and female.

Comments

[dqbunny.livejournal.com]

Agreed. Look at the Italian action figures for Slayers. Even Kenshin had figurines for Kaoru.

[rowenathewitch.livejournal.com]

The italian action figure set doesn't have Zelgadiss. Apparently, they discriminated chimeras instead of women XD (or since another set has Zel but not Amelia, they discriminated Z/A fans XD)

Jokes apart, you are right, they sold enormously back in the old days...

[ichiban-victory.livejournal.com]

All the more reason to make your own, I suppose. I haven't gone to a toy store in forever, but I already knew that most action figures are geared toward boys. Toy manufacturers are sadly in it for the money, and don't want to invest anything in something that won't sell. You'll see this trend in even video games, where the main character is almost always male, since game makers don't want to scare off guys from playing the games. (The Metroid series does star a female bounty hunter, but in the first NES game this wasn't known. The game manual made it sound like Samus Aran was in fact male, and only those who beat the game within an insane amount of time got the special end where she takes off her power suit, revealing herself to be female. It was such a huge shock to boys who had been working on the game for so long, but it must have worked, since most guys are more than happy to play a female bounty hunter now.)

I've not been very impressed with American-made action figures, anyway. The paint job is usually pretty bad, and the toys are so gimmicky. ("If I insert this disc into the character's hand, it'll shoot across the room. Wow!") I think I'll go the route my parents did and boot my kids to play outside away from a ton of toys, so the gender stereotyping isn't shoved down their throats.

[earthstar-moon.livejournal.com]

Good point, and it is more fun to make your own.

The thing is, there is a market for making toys towards girls. As rowenathewitch mentioned in secondlina's post, when Sailormoon came out there was there were a million toys that were made and sold, mind you that show was geared towards girls more than boys.

Some toys are better made than others. It really depends on much thought the company put into it. As I kid, I remember I would sometimes play with my brother's toys. However, I will admit, I was more likely to play with my stuffed toys and give them tea parties (and they sometimes wore birthday hats). XD

[ichiban-victory.livejournal.com]

What are you, a girl? ^_- I didn't play with my stuffed animals so much, because then as now, I preferred to keep them in good condition. (I still have most all of my stuffed animals.) I really preferred playing with the metal dump trucks and such we had (we really played with them outside in the dirt), making imaginary ships out of metal barrels or inner tubes, or even jumping on the trampoline. Or the tree fort was always fun. *laugh* I'm a poor excuse for a girl, aren't I?

I hated most toys made for girls, and still do, really. Stuffed animals are all well and good, but the scores of dolls and dress up things just never appealed to me. Those Sailor Moon dolls scared me when they came out, but Tuxedo Mask was half decent. I still laugh my sister bought me him as a joke. (The only man ever bought for me.)

[rowenathewitch.livejournal.com]

They did this even for Avatar, a relatively new tv show?

As I said in secondlina's post, it's the good old Smurfette Principle

It always puzzles me that american cartoons and comics lack female characters, and the few that are present are unbearable, and they don't sell their toys, while the american society is much more open to women (more than Italy, at least ^^)

[earthstar-moon.livejournal.com]

Yup. Which is weird because there are so many female characters in the show, both villians and protanganists (including Toph who is probably the most powerful earth bender ever and Azula who can be said to be one of the top two villains to defeat in the show). The fans of Avatar have even written letter and tried to start petitions in hopes of getting some female toys made.

It's really a bit of a paradox when you think about it. @_@