Age of the Geek

Teamwork fails against corporate idiocy

     Let’s talk a little more about “Guardians of the Galaxy” this week.

     In case you couldn’t tell from the trailers, the Guardians of the Galaxy are a very diverse group of individuals that save the day by joining together for a common cause. There’s the snarky Star Lord, the snarkier Rocket Raccoon, the loveable Groot, and Drax the Destroyer.

     And... there’s one more, right?

     Oh yeah, Gamora, the Most Dangerous Woman in the Universe.

     You could be forgiven for forgetting about Gamora, because it appears that the people handling the general merchandise for the movie have as well. By some strange coincidence, it seems that the only female member of the team has been omitted from a fair amount of “Guardians of the Galaxy” merchandise.

     T-shirts and coffee mugs that prominently feature the other four characters don’t seem to have any room for Gamora on them. One shirt in particular is even designed with five columns to display characters, which would be appropriate for a team with five members, and then goes and omits Gamora in favor of displaying the other four characters multiple times.

     Toys aren’t much better. Among the various LEGO sets based on the movie, a Gamora figure is included in only the most expensive set. And while Minimate figures of Star Lord, Drax, Groot (with Rocket), and even secondary characters like Ronan, Yondu, and a generic alien bad guy can all be found at Toys-R-Us, the figures for Gamora and her sister, Nebula, will be sold later this month exclusively in specialty shops.

     Among the most glaring omissions is at the Disney Store. An online search for “Guardians of the Galaxy” shows that, out of eight articles of clothing available, exactly zero of them include Gamora. In fact, the singular item in the store that acknowledges Gamora’s existence is her figure for the Disney Infinity video game, which is bundled as a two-pack with Star Lord.

     Let me make this perfectly clear. At the Disney Store, which touts itself as “The Official Site For Disney Merchandise,” you cannot buy so much as a T-shirt that features Gamora. Not alone or alongside her four male compatriots.

     This isn’t entirely unexpected. Disney bought Marvel (and Star Wars) specifically because they wanted properties that appealed to young boys and the executives in charge of this kind of stuff specifically do not want girls interested in it. Toy manufacturers in particular are notorious for this kind of segregation. Good cartoons, which are largely funded by the toy industry, have been cancelled because they appealed to too many demographics.

     But even then, this is still ridiculous.

     Let’s ignore, for the moment, that 44 percent of the people who saw “Guardians of the Galaxy” were female. Let’s even ignore that idiocy that is Disney’s outright refusal to market their product to half the population.

     Since when did acknowledging that girls even exist become a deal-breaker?

     I remember being part of that coveted young male demographic. I remember occasionally seeing T-shirts and notebooks that only featured the three male Power Rangers or only the two female ones. And I also remember that, when given the option, I picked the merchandise with five out of five Power Rangers over the stuff with three out of five Power Rangers every single time.

     Likewise, I don’t recall ever thumbing my nose up at any X-Men merchandise because it featured Storm or Marvel Girl.

     I refuse to believe that there is a significant enough number of kids out there who won’t accept a T-shirt that has a girl’s face printed on it to justify this kind of omission. And even if there were, this is not an attitude that should be encouraged.

     Particularly when it comes at the expense of kids who would prefer to have the whole team represented.

Travis Fischer is a news writer for Mid-America Publishing and wonders if people at Disney even watch the movies that the stuff they sell are based on.