Sunday, October 18, 2009

Some of These Are Just WRONG


































As a lifelong fangirl, I am excited by the sheer number of female superhero costumes now available for the average gal for Halloween. Last year, we saw a great assortment: Supergirl (which I did pick up, and even wore last year), Wonder Woman, Batgirl (granted the Batgirl costume they produced looked NOTHING like any Batgirl I've seen, but that's besides the point), and a female Robin. (Female Robin is pictured above). I applaud all of these choices because all of these characters have actually appeared in comics. (Don't forget that there was a female Robin first in Miller's Dark Knight Returns and then briefly when Spoiler took over a few years back for something like a half a issue). New this year, apparently: Jade (I think they are actually calling it Green Lantern on the packaging, but those of us in the know can approve of this costume), Emma Frost the White Queen (again, makes sense, because both of these are indeed female characters in the comic book world). Pictured here are just some of the new offerings for this Halloween season that defy logic: a female Captain America (sorry boys, but no matter how hot she looks, this just doesn't work for me on any level. yes I know that there was that female Captain America character in the M2 universe, but she didn't look like this), Spider-man (god knows if they are calling this costume "spider-man" or "spider-woman" on the package, but this reeks of WRONG. and yes, I know there is a Spider-woman in the Marvel U, but THIS is not her costume. If they had produced a costume that actually looked closer to Spider-Woman's regular costume, I wouldn't have an issue with this), Black-costumed Spider-man/Venom (ugh, this looks awful! make a Black Cat costume already if this is what you want to do!), Flash (OMG, really?). And last but not least, we have the slutty version of poor Zorro here. Wow, that one is in a category all its own. The Zorro people should sue this company for making this piece of shit. I understand the need to produce sexy super-hero costumes for the ladies, but couldn't they just work with the ones that already exist? I've yet to see a store-bought version of Harley Quinn, what about Power Girl (that outfit is sexy enough without tweaking), Raven, Starfire, Vampirella (I mean COME ON, this is already such a whore-ish costume it's a no brainer), any of the female Legion characters, BATWOMAN already please (and no the weird Batgirl costume they've been producing does NOT count, it needs to come with a beautiful long-locks red wig thank you very much), Question (they could sell the Batwoman and Question costumes as a two-pack!), Storm, Marvel Girl/Jean Gray, and the list goes on for some time. Now maybe some of these do exist out there at the stores, it's not like I did a ton of research, most of the ones I mention and picture here were offered through Previews (with the exception of that god-awful Zorro-whore). I am VERY happy that suddenly we have SO many options for the fangirl and non-fangirl alike (who knows, maybe somewhere out there a gal will pick up the Green Lantern/Jade costume and then will wander into a comic store to pick up Blackest Night, it COULD happen), but some of these choices have left me rather annoyed. It's like the companies didn't bother to ask REAL fangirls what we would like to see available on the shelves this year. I guess I wouldn't have a problem with this whole thing if they started making MALE versions of the Wonder Woman costume, the Catwoman costume, and Emma Frost. Surely if we can have female versions of male characters as costumes, how about the other way around. Turnabout is fair play if you ask me.

I'm sure most of the men on the planet don't care one bit if any of these are actual characters or not, as long as they can convince their girlfriend or wife to wear it they will be as pleased as punch. Btw, if that is indeed the case, I too have issue with THAT because these same comic fans have TONS of issues with various super-hero movies or video games not staying true to the character etc., but THIS is ok. I really shouldn't try to find logic where there is none to be had, I should know better, after being in this industry for 18+ years.

5 comments:

  1. The worst part is that half of these slutty superhero costumes come in teen sizes. Thank God I have boys.

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  2. That's right, I totally forgot! Absolutely unbelievable the garbage they make for teen girls.

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  3. ..........Whorro?

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  4. It just seems easier to make tarted up versions of male costumes than the other way around. How would you even make a male Emma Frost costume other than just dressing in drag? (though a drag queen Emma Frost would be all kinds of awesome - paging Matt Fraction for the biggest plot twist yet in Uncanny X-Men)

    I think the worst one is the "Spider-woman" outfit, mostly because, as you point out, they have multiple real Spider-woman and Spider-girl outfits they could have used to make a costume. Or Black Cat would be great. I'm actually surprised they haven't used her in the movies yet.

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  5. I'm pretty sure that is supposed to be Arisia (the Green Lantern of Space Sector 2815 and Hal Jordan's girlfriend for a while).

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