Cpl_Otter: August 2007 Archives

Fan Expo Canada was held this past weekend at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, in the shadow of the CN Tower. That is, it would have been in its shadow if the sun had been shining, but it was an overcast and occasionally rainy day. The Convention Centre itself seems to be mainly underground anyway.

Please allow me a moment to gripe about the Happy Meal Toys at McDonalds. The current toys are characters from the Legion of Super Heroes cartoon. The promotion has gone on now for several weeks and is nearing its end. I just got Bouncing Boy today, though he doesn't actually bounce. Somebody missed an opportunity when they didn't make him out of that rubber that super-balls are made from. That would have been cool. In fact, not only does he not bounce, he can't actually stand independently at all. He is in a pose that makes it impossible. Of the "good guys," only Brainiac 5 has the capability of standing on his own. They seem a bit ridiculous that way, but that's not what I'm complaining about.

At times McDonald's offers two sets to choose from- the "boy toys" and the "girl toys." I won't begin to suggest that this practice is very un-PC of them. It's been my experience that my daughters really do want Barbie toys over Matchbox cars, and I'm sure parents of boys experience the opposite. You can argue that we've programmed them that way, but that's not my point either.

Somewhere along the line, some executive decided that superhero toys must be "boy" toys, so the Legion of Super Heroes cartoon tie-ins are promoted as such. The counterpoint to the boy's choice now are stuffed animals tied to the Build-A-Bear Workshop stores. I think it could be argued that both the Legion and the animals could have been designed and promoted in a way to appeal across the genders, but there's more that bothers me.

Since the decision was made that the Legion was going to be for boys, only the male members of the Legion were manufactured. Thus, we have Superman, Lightning Lad, Brainiac 5, Timberwolf, and Bouncing Boy, but there is no hope of getting a Saturn Girl, Phantom Girl, or Triplicate Girl. They are also offering three villains- Mano, Tharok, and Validus. It seems absurd that their packaging identifies each one as a member of the Fatal Five, but there are only three of them. Of the two that are missing, I'm guessing the Persuader's axe looked too violent for a Happy Meal, but the Emerald Empress was almost certainly left out merely because she's a girl. Girls are too icky, apparently.

Thanks for your patience. I finally have the time to put together the pictures that I took in San Diego. I guess I'm not that late, since Comic Book Resources just finished their Photo Parade today too.

For more of picures, click on the Extended Entry, below. I should have some edited video done in the next few days too.