Where the Boys Are

Last year, a friend of mine had a son, and as a joke, I offered to pay her to name him Bruce Wayne. She didn't accept, of course, but the habit of me calling the baby Batman stuck, so when another one of my friends found out that she was going to have a daughter, it was decided that she would be Wonder Woman. It's weird, I know, but my hope is that one day, both of these children will grow up to love superheroes. That's my gift to them, for better or worse. My intent was to get them gifts that had something to do with their respective superhero mascots. It's very hard at their age, since there isn't much superhero stuff made for infants. So far, I have gotten some stuff for Batman, but I have yet to find anything for Wonder Woman. I was expecting that. Sadly, there isn't a lot of superhero merchandise out there for little girls, if any at all. (I did anticipate there at least being a movie during her toddler years that would lead to more Wonder Woman toys, but I guess that's not happening.)

Anyway, when the DC Super Friends Action Figures came out, I was thrilled. Sure Batman and Wonder Woman were still too young for them, but they would grow into them. I was going to buy them now, so I could make sure I got them. (I remember how hard it was to find some of the figures in the Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends line when we were getting them for my nephew. I had to order Cyclops from Canada.) The problem is, there is no Wonder Woman. I've looked in stores. I've looked on-line. Mattel doesn't even have the toys listed on their website. I have found Green Lantern, Flash, and Aquaman though. Aquaman! The character everyone makes fun of. He gets an action figure before Wonder Woman.

So what am I supposed to do? Do I get Batman his toy and not get anything for Wonder Woman? That would suck. It would have been awesome to be able to get a Batman and Batmobile and Wonder Woman and her invisible jet. Now I probably won't get anything. Why don't you want my money Mattel? I really love the My First Batmobile too, and the Batman, with his little smirk. This sucks.

And while I'm bitching about the lack of representation for my gender, is it just me or are the female characters disappearing from the Legion of Superheroes cartoon? I still think it's a really great show, and my favorite characters weren't any of the girls (I like Superman and Brainiac 5 the best), but I at least appreciated that they were there. This week's episode didn't have a single female character in it, not even to just stand there and look pretty. Have we even seen Triplicate Girl since she became Duo Damsel? I would like some follow up on that. On the plus side, we did get both Supermen this week. I love when we get both Supermen.

Oh, yeah, and what the hell was with the JLA forming on The Batman without a single female character. No Wonder Woman. No Black Canary. I expect better from my Saturday morning cartoons, or at least better than Smallville. One would think women would have gained some ground since the 1970s Superfriends cartoon, not lost it.