Last movie watched...

[DaveGYNWA]

And my 2 girls (4 & 6) are obsessed with Groot and Gamora - they haven't even seen the film, only the posters and the post-credit 'Grooting' sequence.

But can we find any Gamora related clothes for them, or girlie-style Groot stuff? Can we f........!!

[pictsy]

And my 2 girls (4 & 6) are obsessed with Groot and Gamora - they haven't even seen the film, only the posters and the post-credit 'Grooting' sequence.

But can we find any Gamora related clothes for them, or girlie-style Groot stuff? Can we f........!!

There's no GotG merchandise for young children available?

[DaveGYNWA]

There's no GotG merchandise for young children available?

There is - as long as the child doesn't mind that Gamora has been left out of the group.

Example: http://www.disneystore.co.uk/guardians-of-the-galaxy-t-shirt-for-kids/mp/71654/1500002/

[The Legendary Shark]

No Gamora? Hmph - sod 'em.

[pictsy]

There's no GotG merchandise for young children available?

There is - as long as the child doesn't mind that Gamora has been left out of the group.

Example: http://www.disneystore.co.uk/guardians-of-the-galaxy-t-shirt-for-kids/mp/71654/1500002/

Wow.  That's pretty shitty of Disney.

[Richmond Clements]

http://www.businessinsider.com/female-characters-left-off-guardians-of-the-galaxy-merchandise-2014-8?IR=T

[Hawkmumbler]

I has heard of this but hoped it wasn't true. I should have known better than to be optimistic.

[Theblazeuk]

I am pretty sure I saw a Gamora lego figure..

[Hawkmumbler]

Everyone has a lego figure. Moe from The Simpsons has a lego figure.

[The Legendary Shark]

I bet it's to do with Disney's Puritanical streak - the name is too much like Gomorrah, which we can't have.
.
"Mommy, what's Gamora?"
.
"A city of unrepentant sinners, deviants and monsters that was so evil it was destroyed by God."
.
"Ooh - like Hollywood?"
.
"Er..."
.
Disney - saving you from difficult questions!

[TordelBack]

Everyone has a lego figure. Moe from The Simpsons has a lego figure.

And to be fair, many many action figures too. 

The Gamorra thing has been an utter disgrace, but surely the blame lies with Disney's licensees rather than the Mouse himself - Disney did, after all, bankroll her as a fantastic character and arguably joint lead in a terrific movie, and there's no shortage of her in the Marvel books at the moment (although they are heavily weighted towards Rocket and Groot, and who can blame them), and she is as already noted a Lego minifig, expensive 'deluxe' 6" and 12" action figures and a MiniMate (most arguably aimed at adults), so it's not like this is an edict from on high - it's a number of individual decisions to leave her out of the mainstream affordable world of kids' toys. 

Whereas I can see that rack after rack of unsold Padmés and Black Widows must be a disincentive to manufacturers and retailers, they do need to take a more sensible view of the makeup of their ranges, and how it affects their demograhpics.  The single biggest step would be to desegregate the toy aisles, something that genuinely makes my blood boil every time I walk into a toy shop.  (Lego in particular should use their vast market share to insist that all their ranges be shelved together). Right now it's like gender apartheid in those places.

[Professor Bear]

There's an interview with Paul Dini somewhere on the web where he's quite open in describing how marketing executives in meetings outright and vocally hate his superhero shows being popular because Dini puts female characters in their main casts even though superheroes are "for boys" and execs don't know how to sell superhero merchandise to girls.  There is just so much wrong with this approach, but I think the idea that success of anything female is seen as a bad thing is probably the most damning.

His interviewer, Kevin Smith (who named his daughter after Dini-created Harley Quinn, another character hated by marketers and DC comics), makes the brain-thumpingly obvious point that if girls won't buy an action figure, just put the brand name on something they will buy.

[Tiplodocus]

Speaking of gender politics...

RIDDICK
Which is sort of like a space-Conan where Vin Deisel solves all problems by applying a bit of Vin Deisel.

It's was actually shaping up to be quite good fun. The first forty minutes which is a "hard as nails" Castaway - but then the rest of the cast arrive.

These mercenaries all seem like useless wastes of space especially Starbuck whose character doesn't even get a name and is defined by who she will fuck.

Which kind of ruined it for me.

[TordelBack]

His interviewer, Kevin Smith (who named his daughter after Dini-created Harley Quinn, another character hated by marketers and DC comics), makes the brain-thumpingly obvious point that if girls won't buy an action figure, just put the brand name on something they will buy.

My 5 year old niece is superhero-dressup obsessed, but her commercial options seem to be reduced to Iron Man and Superman costumes (which she looks great in, but still...).  It's all pretty depressing (although I have just this second realised what I can get her for Christmas, so that's a positive).

I really want to see Riddick, but every time I read a review like Tips', I remember why I haven't done so.

[pictsy]

Disney is no stranger to this type of controversy and they do have a responsibility (and power to effect change) towards licensees.  It's their product, after all, and how the licensees present that product reflects on Disney.  It is certainly horribly seeing the demarcation of "girls toys" and "boys toys" not least because it suggest this exclusionary attitude is acceptable to young people of today.  Obviously this attitude has caused problems for me as a woman who is into 'boy's stuff'.  It causes problems for my young niece who doesn't follow any female "gender roles" and is getting bullied at school for it. 

It's appalling that this has been an issue since August and nothing has seemingly been done to correct it.  Girls clearly like GotG.  It's not 'for boys', just like video games, comics, sci-fi etc aren't.  Believe me, I know they aren't. 

Sorry for getting angry.  This sort of thing really affects me.

Anyway, because this is the movie thread I have recently watched Mr Deeds, Happy Gilmore, The Wedding Singer and Spy Kids.  I've been giving my brain a rest this weekend