Tag Archives: Go-Go Tomago

Offended, Insulted, and Not Shutting Up

Hey, readers! We regret that we must interrupt this programming with another little piece of criticism aimed at Marvel’s Hierarchy of Seneschals.

Yes, I just called them that. Until they either wake up or are replaced by people who actually know what they are doing, I am not changing that moniker.

Marvel announced that in the next season of their animated series, Avengers Assemble (to be re-titled Avengers: Secret Wars), Jane Foster will debut as “Thor.” Some of you, certainly, see no problem with this. But several other fans, including me, have had problems with this change since it was made in the comics. See the links below to find out how much we dislike it:

http://comicvine.gamespot.com/thor/4005-2268/forums/i-like-jane-foster-as-thor-but-i-dont-1697781/

http://www.theimaginativeconservative.org/2014/07/say-it-aint-so-stan-female-thor.html

http://community.comicbookresources.com/showthread.php?582-By-the-Gods!-It-s-THOR-Appreciation/page52

http://www.breitbart.com/london/2015/02/14/female-thor-is-what-happens-when-progressive-hand-wringing-and-misandry-ruin-a-cherished-art-form/

https://voxday.blogspot.co.uk/2015/02/men-in-women-suits.html

http://kaimaciel.tumblr.com/post/144803890339/my-honest-opinion-on-jane-foster-as-thor

http://www.comics2film.com/if-she-be-worthy-thor-jane-foster-marvel-101/

While I am not a huge fan of the Prince of Thunder, the fact is that I do like him, and I prefer him as a Prince, that is, a male heir to the throne of Asgard. Jane Foster is an agreeable character, and I would be excited to see her in the TV series. But I would prefer that she debuted as herself: no superhuman powers, no magic hammers, none of the “new” idiocy with which the writers and their handlers have decided to outfit her.

Jane Foster’s strength was once her “mortality,” her humanity. It would not matter to me if she turned up in the cartoon as a nurse or as an astrophysicist, as she is portrayed in the films. She has carried herself well in both those fields of endeavor; as either of these professions and many others suit her character.

Yet Marvel, in its attempts to stay ahead of the latest fads, decided this was not good enough for her. Someone, somewhere, must have complained about the enchantment on Thor’s hammer, which of course read: “Whosoever holds this hammer, if he be worthy, shall wield the power of Thor.” A lot of people are getting hung up on pronouns such as “he” and “she.” “He” is what they come down against most vehemently nowadays.

To raise Cain (ooh, how gender-specific of me) over such an inconsequential thing is beyond dim-witted. Mjolnir can be wielded by whoever is worthy. That can be a man, a woman, an alien (remember Beta Ray Bill?), or an android (did we all forget Vision that fast?). The inscription is a generic; if a worthy lady had come along and picked up Mjolnir, the only reason Thor would have been astonished was because he is used to lifting the hammer, not sharing it with others.

Thor has been a male character for more than a thousand years, since he was created by the Ancient Norse. And, as others have pointed out, Marvel’s version of Thor has been adored by thousands of girls everywhere right from the get-go. His fan base is not getting any smaller, people, and neither are the crushes on him.

But in an effort to appease the talking heads, Marvel has disregarded the feelings of its fans – you and me – in order to curry favor with the ‘elites.’ Never mind that we are the ones who have supported Marvel all these years, they are determined to continue flogging dead horses in order to receive the praise of people who otherwise sniff condescendingly at them and their medium.

Yes, you read that right. I called this gender-switch for Thor a dead horse. It is a dead horse. It has been a dead horse for decades, but the ‘intelligensia’ is so desperate to keep making money off of it that they insist it is still twitching. People continue to scream about women being oppressed in the United States and Europe because, for instance, they “do not make as much money” as men.

Have a look at these links here, readers, and see if you agree with that assessment:

ISIS Burns Caged Women

http://nytlive.nytimes.com/womenintheworld/2016/06/06/19-women-burned-to-death-after-refusing-to-have-sex-with-isis-fighters/

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2016/06/06/19-yazidi-girls-burned-alive-for-refusing-to-have-sex-with-their-isis-captors.html

http://www.wnd.com/2016/06/isis-burns-19-girls-alive-for-refusing-sex-slavery/

Persecution of Christians by ISIS

http://www.wnd.com/2014/12/nun-pleads-for-christians-raped-sold-killed-by-isis/

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/425942077231304272/

http://www.breitbart.com/national-security/2015/10/05/report-syrian-christians-cry-jesus-isis-mass-beheading/

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3261075/ISIS-sliced-12-year-old-Syrian-boy-s-fingertips-father-Christians-failed-bid-convert-Islam-executed-group-victims-shouted-Jesus.html

https://www.thereligionofpeace.com/attacks/christian-attacks.aspx

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/isis-crucifies-children-for-not-fasting-during-ramadan-in-syria-10338215.html

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2015/07/02/isis-executioners-spare-no-one-killing-74-children-for-crimes-including-not.html

Jihadi Brides

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/isis-s-austrian-poster-girl-jihadi-brides-have-changed-their-minds-and-want-to-come-home-9789547.html

http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/577347/British-twin-girl-jihadi-brides-want-to-return-to-home

http://nypost.com/2014/10/10/pregnant-teen-girls-who-joined-isis-weve-made-a-huge-mistake/

http://ijr.com/2014/12/220140-150-women-refused-isis-sex-brides-terrorists-responded-heinous-way/

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2016/08/12/uk-teen-girl-who-went-to-isis-area-syria-reported-killed.html

Rape Abroad

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2016/07/10/leaked-document-says-2000-men-allegedly-assaulted-1200-german-women-on-new-years-eve/

http://www.breitbart.com/london/2016/01/21/revealed-full-list-of-1049-victims-crimes-committed-during-cologne-new-years-eve-sex-assaults/

http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/636944/Cologne-sex-attacks-list-crimes

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3684302/1-200-German-women-sexually-assaulted-New-Year-s-Eve-Cologne-elsewhere.html

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-35231046

https://www.buzzfeed.com/jinamoore/cologne-attacks-on-women?utm_term=.tk5ewAR5Y#.lujLvXlo9

Women in the U.S. do not know how good they have it. That is the truth.

Why is Marvel so determined to gender-switch characters like Thor and Iron Man when they have real-life stories like these, which are far more important and only a few minutes from their fingertips, to incorporate into their comics? In the 1940s they lampooned Hitler, and in the 1950s and 60s, they bashed the Communists. But in this brave new world, they are suddenly afraid to so much as mention the beasts that burn women in cages for refusing to be sex slaves? Why would they rather have us watching Captain America be “revealed” to be a secret HYDRA operative, when the real HYDRA (better known as ISIS) is out and about in the world beheading and crucifying children?

Do they really think that we are buffoons with such banal interests that our only care is why the inscription on Mjolnir says “he” instead of “person”? More to the point, readers, is this how you want the people running Marvel to think of you? It is not how I want them to think about me, that is for sure!

But apparently they not only believe we are navel-gazing twits, they are extremely eager to shove that belief down our throats – along with the notion that they “have” to do this because their universe has “too few” super heroines.

That is guff spewed by people who do not know what they are talking about, and I can prove it. Below is a roll call of some female Marvel heroines that regularly see – or have regularly seen – combat in the Marvel Universe:

The Invisible Woman/Sue Storm-Richards
Wasp/Janet van Dyne
Scarlet Witch/Wanda Maximoff
Mockingbird/Bobbi Morse
Black Widow/Natasha Romanoff
Mantis
Moondragon
Hellcat/Patricia Walker
She-Hulk/Jennifer Walters
The Blonde Phantom
Miss America
White Tiger/Ava Ayallah
Squirrel Girl
Spectrum/Monica Rambeau
Carol Danvers
Sharon Carter
Crystal of the Inhumans
Medusa, Queen of the Inhumans
Storm/Ororo Munroe
Jean Grey
Psylocke
X-23/Laura Kinney
Jubilation Lee
Firestar/Angelica Jones
Surge
Honey Lemmon
Go-go Tomago
Julia Carpenter
Jessica Jones Cage
Rescue/Pepper Potts
Silver Sable
Black Cat/Felicia Hardy
Echo/Maya Lopez
Firebird/Bonita Juárez
Jocasta
Dazzler
Rogue/Anna Maria
Shadowcat/Katherine “Kitty” Pryde
Boom-Boom
Silverclaw/Maria Santiago
Quake/Daisy Johnson
Jessica Drew
Mirage/Danielle Moonstar
Sif
Valkyrie/Brunhilde
Yellowjacket/Rita DeMara
Gamora
Lilandra
Wolfsbane
Elektra
Dust
Magma
Misty Knight
Colleen Wheeler
Polaris/Lorna Dane
Phoenix/Rachel Grey Summers
Dagger
Torunn
Maria Hill
Tigra
Songbird/Melissa Gold
Namora
Namorita
Darkstar
Magick/Ilyana Rasputin
Emma Frost
Stature/Cassie Lang
Siryn/Theresa Cassidy
Sasquatch/Snowbird
Domino
Marrow
Blink
Kate Bishop

This is by no means a comprehensive list. Still, if this sample inventory has not made your eyes cross, then you should visit this site: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Marvel_Comics_characters:_A. It lists many, if not most, of Marvel’s characters. Scanning through it some years ago, I was left wondering why Marvel seemed to be having so much trouble coming up with new male characters, since they were adding more new females than males!

Now what reasonable critic can look at these catalogs and conclude that Marvel has “too few” heroines? Marvel’s heroines have always stood with their male counterparts to face down evil. But the fact is that some of these ladies have been and remain more popular than others. This is natural, and their male compatriots have suffered the same ebb and flow of fan admiration over the years. Some characters are simply more popular than others. This does not negate the existence of the less well-known male heroes, so why do people seem to think the reverse is true when discussing Marvel’s lesser known heroines?

Marvel has no need to gender-swap its male characters. Avengers Assemble is a perfect platform from which to show their less eminent or forgotten heroines and heroes. They could even use the series as a stage to create new heroines, the way Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends did in the 1980s.

This post was published for two reasons, readers. One, I have had a burning desire to tell off the ignorant critics of Marvel Comics for quite some time. If they want to evaluate Marvel’s characters properly, then they should do their research before they open their big, fat mouths. If they are too lazy or indifferent to do that, then they should sit down and shut up, leaving the people who do know and love Marvel’s characters to enjoy them undisturbed.

Second, I wanted to make clear to Marvel just how deeply offended and insulted I am, underscoring my latest letter to them. (BTW, thanks for all the views, Marvel. It is sooo nice of you to drop by! 😉 ) They believe that to keep my patronage they have to turn their fictional universe upside-down and inside out.

That is a perfect way to lose my money, not keep it. The Mainstream Marvel Universe which Stan Lee, Don Heck, Jim Romita, and all the others created is my favorite Marvel playground. And I want that universe, with all its flaws and foibles, back. This does not mean that I want the characters wearing their original costumes and hairstyles. I do not want them using radio and ‘60s slang. I simply want their histories and identities to stay fixed as they were originally conceived and, if possible, built up for the better.

Alternate universe spin-off comics, TV series, and movies are fun (with the exception of the Ultimate Universe). But they are not the universes I benefited from first. That universe – the 616 universe – is the one I love best and will always enjoy more than any other.

If Marvel thinks they have to ruin that world in order to keep my interest, then they have made a grave error. I understand that it is not easy to continue a series that has survived for fifty plus years. That is not the issue. The issue is Marvel’s desire to play patty-cake with people who despise them while using them as a tool. Once they are done, they will discard Marvel like a hot potato – and then what will become of the heroes we care for and the ideals for which they stand?

I do not want to see Marvel destroyed. I want to be able to share it with many more people over the coming years of my life. But I cannot follow a bunch of lemmings over a cliff into the ocean, nor will I allow them to lead others over said precipice into said sea. Not without a fight.

Whether you agree with this article or not, readers, think about what you read in the links embedded here. Learning is not simply memorizing mathematic formulae or deciding how to identify yourself. Education is supposed to teach you to how to think, not what you are to think. As long as you can think for yourself, the Enemy will have a more difficult time catching you.

I prefer not to be caught, and so I prefer to think. It is a whole lot harder to escape a trap than it is to avoid it in the first place.

So start thinking, Marvel!

Until the next mess,

The Mithril Guardian

Big Hero 6 – A Brother Story

2 Replies

Big Hero 6 is an animated Disney movie that came out in 2014, I believe. Loosely based on Marvel Comics’ Japanese super hero team, Big Hero 6, Disney changed a few things when they made the film. I will not go into those changes, but there are links at the bottom of this post to articles about the comic book Big Hero 6. If you would like to look at those, readers, feel free to do so.

I saw Big Hero 6 earlier this year. For awhile there, I did not think it was worth talking about. I enjoyed it, but not as much as I had thought I would.

Not too long ago, though, I saw the movie again. And again. And again. Maybe it was not that impressive in theaters (for me, at least), but I find now that I really do not mind having it on.

As I was watching it one of these last two or three times, I remembered something a friend mentioned to me. This friend was discussing a movie called Warrior, which I had only seen the end of. My friend mentioned a scene where one of the brothers in the movie hugs his drunk father as he (the father) collapses, overcome with liquor. This friend said, “I don’t know, but I think there aren’t enough brother or father stories out there. You know what I mean? We have lots of movies about mothers and daughters, and sisters, but very few about brothers, and fathers and sons.”

Thinking about what my friend said, I realized the rightness of this statement. I cannot even begin to guess how few films there are about fathers and sons. Sure, stories about one father and one son exist – The Road, Real Steel, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, and (to a lesser extent) Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull are all evidence of this.

But what about two sons and their father? Or brothers, however many there may be in the family? Those are harder to find. The Sons of Katie Elder is one film; Warrior is certainly another. But there are more movies about sisters, daughters and mothers, a father and a son, than there are about brothers, or sons and father.

Watching Big Hero 6 yet again, it hit me that this film has a fair bit of what my friend was talking about. In the movie, Hiro Hamada has an older brother, Tadashi. Both of them are science whizz kids, though Hiro apparently has the higher IQ. But, instead of using his gift productively, Hiro spends his time betting on and winning robot fights. This is where the film starts out; when Hiro’s latest ‘bot fight lands him in trouble with the owner of the last ‘bot he trashed.

Luckily for him, Tadashi arrives before the ‘bot fighter’s lackeys start throwing punches. Tadashi picks Hiro up on his scooter and asks if he is hurt. When Hiro says no, Tadashi hits him a couple of times to emphasize his point as he shouts, “Then what were you thinking, knucklehead?!”

Tadashi and Hiro both end up in the hoosegow when the police arrive to arrest all the battle ‘bot fighters. Their Aunt Cass picks them up and reprimands them both, apparently unaware that Tadashi’s only crime was trying to keep Hiro out of trouble.

Tadashi finally comes up with a plan to keep Hiro off the streets and get him to use his “big brain” for something more than illegal robot brawls. He takes Hiro to the San Fransokyo institute of Technology, saying he “has to pick something up.”

Hiro is not happy with this; since he sees no point in his going to college (he graduated high school at thirteen and is now fourteen). What is he supposed to do in college, listen to professors tell him stuff he already knows? He derogatorily refers to Tadashi’s school as “the nerd school,” and Tadashi’s work place as a “nerd lab.”

But once Hiro gets a look at the robotics and chemistry projects Tadashi’s friends are working on, he starts thinking better of the school. He is also impressed by Tadashi’s robotics project, an inflatable robotic nurse called Baymax. And, once Hiro meets Tadashi’s mentor, Professor Callaghan, the man who invented Callaghan’s Laws of Robotics, the deal is sealed. Hiro now wants to go to “nerd school.”

Unfortunately, Tadashi dies early on in the film. We do not get to see much more of him, but what we do see is enough. This is a brother movie. Tadashi and Hiro’s interactions are what start off the film and Tadashi’s influence on Hiro – even after his death – is what drives the movie. From beginning to end, Big Hero 6 is inherently the story of the relationship between two brothers who are also the best of friends.

In fact, I am not the only one who noticed this. In a bonus feature on the DVD, the Disney animators who brought Big Hero 6 to life all said that it was the brotherly relationship between Tadashi and Hiro that attracted them to the film. When the head animator asked if any of the other animators present had brothers, a good number of hands went up.

Big Hero 6 is probably not much more than a ripple in Hollywood writers’ circles, sadly. I cannot say whether it is the beginning of a trend or not. It would be very nice if it was.

But all the same, it is a hopeful sign. If Disney can do one movie about brothers, why can they not make another? And then another one? There are many possibilities for brother stories out there. The writers at Disney – and in Hollywood – do not have to look too hard to find them. If the animators for Big Hero 6 were attracted to the story because it reminded them of their brothers, then writers need only look to their own brother relationships for story ideas.

That is my two cents on the subject, anyway.

Excelsior!

The Mithril Guardian