Warner Bros. and DC Entertainment are listening to us folks and they are launching a complete line–toys, books, LEGO, apparel, etc.–all based around female super-heroes and super-villains from the DC universe.
We’ll get to see Wonder Woman, Supergirl, Batgirl, Harley Quinn, Bumble Bee, Poison Ivy, Katana, and many more as empowered teen girls. Young girls have sorely needed their own set of inspiring super characters for a very long time, and they are finally getting them. I don’t have a daughter, yet, but I do want my son to have great female characters to grow up with, and I couldn’t have hoped for better.
“DC Entertainment is home to the most iconic and well-known Super Heroes including Wonder Woman, Supergirl and Batgirl,” said Diane Nelson, President of DC Entertainment. “DC Super Hero Girls represents the embodiment of our long-term strategy to harness the power of our diverse female characters. I am so pleased that we are able to offer relatable and strong role models in a unique way, just for girls.”
Read the full press release at DC Comics.
On the one hand, yes, absolutely there should be books/toys/videos that appeal to boy and girls, and can be enjoyed by both.
On the other, let’s not pretend that products like Batman Unlimited aren’t aimed strictly at boys (there are no female toys, and no female heroes in the cartoon specials). Traditional heroes are considered such “boys toys” that characters like Black Widow, Gamora, and Wonder Woman are erased from apparel.
If this initiative means kids like mine can get a Wonder Woman toy that suits her? Awesome, awesome, awesome.
Couldn’t agree more! I’d love to see the lines between boy and girl toys blurred, if not completely erased. But since that probably won’t happen in my lifetime, I am thrilled to see something other than pink fluff coming to the girls’ section. My two-year-old son picked himself out a pair of pink sparkly shoes a couple of weeks ago and that’s fine with me too 🙂 I’ll be more than happy to shop for him in both sections so he can get cool male and female heroes!
Oh, my four year-old son isn’t going to leave me alone until he has every single one of these.
You know what would be better than DC creating a new line to target girls and younger readers?
DC changing their existing line so it stopped being deliberately hostile and exclusionary to girls and younger readers.
Word is, they’re doing that right now. They seem to have realized that targeting young men (late teens, early 20’s) was a bad idea, so the New 52 universe is merging with the old universe and some “best of both” is happening. It started… last month, I think? An event they’re calling Convergence.
I haven’t seen much on what will happen after the fallout, but some of the more popular female-lead titles (Bat-woman, I think) will remain, while others will open up for more inclusion.
… Ugh. “inclusion”. I’m talking like I’m at work.
I agree. In a perfect world there would be no such thing as “boy” and “girl” toy sections and there would just be awesome toys for all kids that included all great characters in a non stereotypical or gender-biased way. Until that happens though, I think this is a great step forward.
Oh wow…does this mean LEGO Friends-style DC Superhero Girls?
*toddler grabby hands*
GIVE IT TO ME! NOWWWWW!
I’m optimistic about this, and while I’d be A-OK with DC-themed Lego Friends figures, I’m still hoping form more proper minifigs of heroines. My biggest hope is that they nail the ‘appeals to a wide variety’ vibe like Hasbro did with MLP,
I would like to see the Lego stuff just be more good regular Lego and not the Friends figures. My son isn’t old enough to play with regular Lego yet, but I’ve heard that most kids, boys and girls, prefer the minifigs over the Friends figs.