Tag Batgirl

Nerdvana: Super Best Friends

silverstar 1 Comment

There’s far too much animosity in the world today.

Spy_vs_Spy_(MADtv)

 

After a while, I get tired of seeing pairs of characters constantly hating each others’ guts and always being at each others’ throats. This is why today’s Nerdvana takes the opposite approach and pays tribute to some of my favorite besties in fiction. Today we celebrate…Super Best Friends, some of my favorite fictional best friend duos. As you should know by now, we’re big on duos here at Twinsanity.

BLUE BEETLE II (TED KORD) & BOOSTER GOLD

Blue Beetle and Booster Gold

I know these days lots of peoples’ favorite Blue Beetle is Jaime Reyes because “he was in Young Justice and that was the best DC show eva and I hate Cartoon Network for cancelling it for Teen Titans GO! and blah blah blah blah blah”, but my favorite Blue Beetle is and always has been Ted Kord, the goofy genius with the amazing tech. For a time during his reign, it looked like Ted was being groomed to be the Tony Stark of DC, and I definitely could’ve gotten behind that. Ted wasn’t dark, brooding, perfect or overly serious; he was fun, good natured and self-effacing, something you rarely see in capes nowadays. Another reason I like Ted Kord is because he was bosom chums with another C-list at best superhero, Booster Gold, everyone’s favorite time-traveling glory hound. Together the 2 of them formed the duo of Blue & Gold, getting into wacky shenanigans and even dare I say…

boostertedbromance

While Booster Gold has made a few TV appearances already, we’ve seen very little of Ted in animation, mainly because by the time of the DCAU and the subsequent superhero media boom, Ted Kord was already deceased in the comics. Darn shame. Maybe after DC reboots and retcons their universe for the umptee-seventh time, they can resurrect Ted, and then maybe we can finally get some Blue and Gold antics on a TV show or DTV movie. Personally I’d totally be up for some “BWAH-HA-HA!” action somewhere. Fun, goofball superhero buddies are sadly rare.

blue-beetle-and-booster-gold-100437

Let’s get ludicrous!

SUPERGIRL & BATGIRL

supergirl-batgirl

I’ve already went over this briefly in Carpin’ and Gripin’, but one of the many reasons why Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice left me cold is because I’m personally sick and tired of Supey and Batsy’s nonstop pissing contests that DC and popular media insist on perpetuating post-Dark Knight Returns. This is why I’m glad to see that whenever Superman and Batman’s female counterparts, get together, they actually get along. When Batgirl and Supergirl team up, they don’t start fuedin’ and fussin’ like cats and dogs, they’re fast friends, working together and complimenting one another, Kara’s arsenal of alien powers meshing well with Barbara’s big brain and incredible tech arsenal. (In fact, their friendship calls to mind a show idea I tried developing many years ago called Super Trouble!, about 2 silly young aspiring girl heroes who were always getting into crazee situations, think Broad City meets Freakazoid!.) I still dig Superman and Batman as they’re the parentheses of the superhero world, but I’d really like to see this ongoing chest-pounding contest between them come to an end; they could learn a lesson from their teenage girl offshoots. maybe one day we can get a response movie called Batgirl & Supergirl: Dawn of Besties.

LYRA HEARTSTRINGS & BON BON

Lyra and Bon Bon

No, these 2 aren’t superheroes or even main characters, but our site, our rules. My favorite 2 background ponies, each one belonging to my 2 favorite Pony Tribes (no offense to the Pegasi, but I’ve always liked the unicorns since they can do magic, and the Apple Family, Mr. and Mrs. Cake and Bon Bon made me a fan of the Earth Ponies–I can’t resist the country, candy and desserts); the MLP fan base turned these 2 random characters into a cute and endearing coupl…er, um…DUO. Yeah, duo. When Lyra and Bon Bon finally made their speaking debut as said characters in Friendship Is Magic‘s 100th episode “Slice of Life”, they didn’t disappoint:

 

OK, 3 things:

  1. Awwww, obviously.
  2. Sitting cross-legged is quite an achievement for a horse, and
  3. I think it’s pretty obvious that DHX is, or is at least teasing hardcore, that these 2 are supposed to be a couple. If there was any doubt before, then we got this:

 

No, I’m not delusional, I know that’ll NEVER happen in canon, but I wouldn’t be against it; I find Bon Bon (or Sweetie Drops) and Lyra to be profoundly cute together, in any regard, I’m OK with them just being BFFs (Best Fillies Forever).

Soul Daddy

“I dunno y’all, I’d like to see me some filly on filly action. That’d be groovitatious!”

Yeah, I think we’re done here.

Peeks: DC Super Hero High Special Trailer

goldstar 4 Comments

For weeks now, we’ve been watching the webtoons of DC Super Hero Girls and have been asking “When the heck is Supergirl going to show up? And when is Barbara Gordon going to put on the suit and become Batgirl?!?” Well, it looks like our requests will finally be answered. Warner Brothers Animation and DC have produced an hour long TV special which will is set to premiere on Boomerang on March 19 at 10 AM (I’m assuming that it will be 10 AM since the 19th is on a Saturday). Here’s the trailer. Have a look:

THE HIGHLIGHTS (aside from the obvious two):

  • Wildcat makes his debut in this series (voiced by John DiMaggio), making him among the few “normals” working at Super Hero High.
  • This will be Gorilla Grodd’s first speaking appearance in DC Super Hero Girls (also voiced by John DiMaggio). Also, this will only be the 2nd time that we’ve seen him since “Welcome to Super Hero High”.
  • The special’s plot involves Granny Goodness and the Furies (Hearing Granny being voiced by an actual woman will take some getting used to. I guess that I’ve just been spoiled by Ed Asner doing the voice).
  • I’m pretty sure that the girl in the red outfit is Lady Shiva (I’m embarrassed to say that I thought that was Wonder Woman wearing a different outfit the first time I saw the trailer), although I have to wonder if having both Katana and Lady Shiva on the same show isn’t just a tad redundant. I know that the characters aren’t exactly the same, but they’re sort of similar.
  • There were more characters besides the main 6 girls in the cast shot just before the usual title card; on the left, Frost, Cheetah, Hawkgirl and Starfire. On the right, Miss Martian, Star Sapphire, Catwoman and Lady Shiva. I don’t know if this is a permanent change or just something for the special.

OUR THOUGHTS:

  • One viewer on YouTube commented “Finally, some action in this!” Is it wrong that I wasn’t missing the action? Sure, this is an hour long special, so it’s no surprise that the story is going to more plot driven than the average webisode, which is usually about 3 minutes long on average, but I actually preferred the simple plots and the lack of villains and good vs evil hero/villain battles. I’m hoping that WB/DC will reserve the action driven plots for the half hour specials and that the webisodes will remain self contained slice of life comedy focused stories.
  • Side note: Could fans stop asking to see a teenage Bruce Wayne or a teenage Clark Kent on this show? Listen, I like Superman and Batman. They’re THE heaviest hitters in the DC universe, but I personally have no need or desire for either character to appear on DC Super Hero Girls, and the reason why I don’t need or want to see them here is because they’re so iconic. Those guys are such major players in the DC universe that if Clark or Bruce ever were to enter the picture, the show would immediately become all about them and the other characters would instantly be reduced to sidekick status. That especially wouldn’t be fair to Wonder Woman, the intended main character of this franchise. It’s like how Luke Skywalker’s appearance was saved for the very end of Star Wars: The Force Awakens with the promise that he’d play a larger role in the next film; it’s impossible to have Luke in a Star Wars project and him not be the main character. Supes and Bats are the same way, and having Batman and/or Superman (two guys) stealing the spotlight wouldn’t the smartest strategy for this particular project. What’s the last word of this series’ name? There ya go.
  • From a design standpoint, I have to say that Martha Kent looks pretty good for an older lady.

I’ll definitely be checking this one out. I personally have no desire to see “villain of the week invading bad guy battles” on DC Super Hero Girls, but I’m going to watch anyway because we’ll finally be seeing freakin’ Supergirl and Batgirl on the show! Sign me up!

 

 

 

Cartoon Country: Early Impressions of “DC Super Hero Girls”

silverstar 1 Comment

 

dc-super-hero-girls2

Back in April, Twinsanity did a Peeks on the DC Super Hero Girls initiative, a new franchise devoted to ‘girl power’ and female empowerment, which just got under way this fall. Now that we’ve seen some of it, I figured I’d give you all my early thoughts on what we’ve seen so far. I’ll let the web series explain the premise so I don’t have to:

 

And here’s the first webisode (there’s also a full song version of that “Get Your Cape On” number, but I’ll spare you that):

 

OK, now for my rambling thoughts:

  • Of the 7 characters DC has designated to be the lead characters here (Wonder Woman, Batgirl, Supergirl, Harley Quinn, Bumblebee, Poison Ivy and Katana), I admit that I’m only really interested in 3 of them: Wondy, Babs and Kara. I’m not an avid comic book reader (most of my comic book superhero knowledge comes from TV and movie adaptations, internet research, fan sites and general nerd osmosis) so I admittedly don’t know much about Katana, and frankly, what (admittedly little) I’ve seen of her here isn’t leaving me hungry for more. Katana just seems to be kind of, there, like window dressing that you don’t really notice. I’ve never been a big Poison Ivy fan (I like Ivy’s design here, but that’s about as deep as my enthusiasm for the character gets) and I’m already a little tired of Harley Quinn. The latter’s a shame, since I’ve been on kind of a pro-clown kick lately and so I wanted to like Harley more, but even more so than Madeline Hatter from Ever After High, this version of Harley just reminds me way too much of Pinkie Pie, and the Pink One is best taken in small doses for me. Harley could easily become annoying if overdone, and I really hope that doesn’t happen here. As for Bumblebee, eh, I’m just not feeling her. Bee is basically just DC’s equivalent to Marvel’s Wasp, and like Wasp I’ve always found her powers, well, silly. Shrinking and bee-blasts, whoop-de-smegging-doo. Plus, I wish the artists had stuck with Bumblebee’s Afro-Puffs; I don’t know what that brown and gold thing on her head is supposed to be. I’ve said this before, but if DC just wanted an African-American face among the crowd, I personally would gone with Vixen.
  • The Good: the characters and art style look very nice. The bright colors, soft hues and tones are decent. The characters look like living dolls, which isn’t surprising, given that this series is meant to promote a doll line. The Not-So-Good: its’ principle setting is a high school…again.

 

I get that this is aimed at kids, I get that the obvious inspiration from Monster High is obvious, and I also understand that the producers needed some way to bring all of these characters together, but come on. Apart from Harry Potter, UBOS, Monster High, Ever After High and Star Dreamers, the use of high school as a principle setting is beyond tired. I hated, Hated, HATED school as a kid, so the last thing I wanted to see when I came home and switched on the tube was a bunch of shows about kids going to school. I probably would have just made Wonder Woman, Supergirl and Batgirl roommates in a high-tech clubhouse or something, but that’s just me.

Master_Shake

“Can someone think outside the friggin’ box?!”

-That said, I do like some of the fun the writers seem to be having with the concept, like the numerous cameos (Miss Martian, Cyborg and Starfire, cool!), Amanda Waller as Principal and Gorilla Grodd as Vice-Principal. VP Grodd reminds me of Beast from X-Men. I also like how none of the students and teachers are avowedly villainous; everyone is basically gray here. This series’ idyllic take on Metropolis as this beautiful place where Supers and Normals peacefully co-exist appeals to me, I hope we get to see more of it outside of the school walls.

  • I like how Superman and Batman are decorated alums who have already graduated from Super Hero High. Makes sense, since few people would pay much attention to Batgirl and Supergirl if BatMAN and SuperMAN were around. I still find it a tad strange that DC went with Wonder Woman rather than Wonder Girl, though I understand why:

making-money-hand-sign-83682406

Wonder Woman is THE most popular and well-known super-heroine in the DC Universe, and as such DC likely figures that a) it would be insane to not include her as one of the main characters, and b) Wonder Woman will sell more dolls off the shelves than Wonder Girl would. After all…

 

 

And now, some of the web shorts (so far), and my thoughts on them:

-As previously stated, I feel the high school setting has been done to death, but the edifice geek in me does like the design of Super Hero High.

-The “She’s shy” bit with Miss Martian was cuter than the button on a teddy bear’s nose. I hope we get to see more of the alien students in future shorts, hopefully they’ll finally get some dialogue.

-Greg Cipes returns to voice Beast Boy. Nice. I know he’s not a girl, but I’d like to see more of him here, so long as he’s not portrayed as a moron like he was in the 2003 series.

-OK, so Babs is hiding her super identity here…why? I was under the impression that everybody could just be who (and what) they are here. I’m sure this’ll be addressed later on.

More Wondy/Harley shtick. Blah blah blee blah. Not much to see here, let’s move on.

OK, writers, can we spotlight some other characters besides Wonder Woman and Harley Quinn now? When do we get to see Barbara as Batgirl? When is Supergirl going to show up? And was that really how the short ends? But hey, at least we get Tom Kenny as Crazy Quilt.

Kind of odd that no one caught on to the fact that Cheetah was sabotaging Wonder Woman there; kind of flies in the face of the producers’ claim that DCSHG would have “no mean girls or mean girl cliques”. However, anything that features the talents of Maurice LaMarche is worth watching.

-These latter 2 shorts bring to mind another nitpick I have with these shorts: they don’t seem to have logical satisfying endings. They don’t end so much as they just…stop. It’s not because they’re just webisodes, shows like Barbie: Life in the Dreamhouse manage to fit in a lot of jokes, character and story in just 3 to 5 minutes, so it’s not like such a feat is impossible. This bring me to another nitpick: these shorts aren’t as funny as they could be. They’re not unfunny, but the writers could be pushing the zany envelope a lot further than they have been so far. Again, I get that these are made for young girls and all, but they’re too restrained. Maybe I came in with the wrong expectations, but I was expecting something like a girl-centric Super Hero Squad Show.

superherosquad_heros_1280X960

Now that’s comedy!

I have no problem with the shorts being comedy focused over action, but if you’re gonna do that, be funny! Don’t hold back.

My overall rating (so far):

Meh

I don’t hate DC Super Hero Girls by any stretch, but it’s not exactly wowing me either. Of course, things are still very early; the producers have said that they already have about 20 or so episodes in the can and are said to be working on more. Maybe the show will find its’ legs and improve as it goes on, here’s hoping. This is an ambitious undertaking, I’d hate to see it go bust.

 

 

 

Peeks: DC Super Hero Girls

silverstar 2 Comments

Are you a fan of Girl Power?

Of course you are. Well, it looks like Detective Comics is jumping aboard the Girl Power train. Introducing the DC Super Hero Girls initiative.

Warner Bros. And DC Entertainment In Partnership With Mattel Launch DC Super Hero Girls, A New Super Hero Universe Designed Just For Girls, Slated For Fall 2015
Mattel to Launch Company’s First Action Figures for Girls

Unprecedented Initiative to Include Digital Content, TV Specials, Made-For-Videos, Publishing, Toys, Apparel and Other Products

Random House Children’s Books to be Master Publishing Partner The LEGO Group to be Exclusive Construction Partner

Beginning in Fall 2015, DC Entertainment, Warner Bros. Animation, Warner Bros. Consumer Products and Mattel join forces to launch DC Super Hero Girls, an exciting new universe of Super Heroic storytelling that helps build character and confidence, and empowers girls to discover their true potential. Featuring DC Comics’ most powerful and diverse line-up of female characters as relatable teens, DC Super Hero Girls will play out across multiple entertainment content platforms and product categories to create an immersive world.

Developed for girls aged 6-12, DC Super Hero Girls centers on the female Super Heroes and Super-Villains of the DC Comics universe during their formative years – prior to discovering their full super power potential. Featuring a completely new artistic style and aesthetic, DC Comics’ icons such as Wonder Woman, Supergirl, Batgirl, Harley Quinn, Bumble Bee, Poison Ivy, Katana and many more make their unprecedented teenaged introduction. Each character has her own storyline that explores what teen life is like as a Super Hero, including discovering her unique abilities, nurturing her remarkable powers and mastering the fundamentals of being a hero.

“DC Entertainment is home to the most iconic and well-known Super Heroes including Wonder Woman, Supergirl and Batgirl,” said Diane Nelson, President of DC Entertainment. “DC Super Hero Girls represents the embodiment of our long-term strategy to harness the power of our diverse female characters. I am so pleased that we are able to offer relatable and strong role models in a unique way, just for girls.”

The initial launch of DC Super Hero Girls in Fall 2015 will include an immersive digital experience, original digital content and digital publishing – providing opportunities for girls to interact with characters, learn about the storylines, and engage in customizable play. TV specials, made-for-videos, toys, apparel, books and other product categories will begin to rollout in 2016.

“Developing a Super Hero franchise exclusively for girls that includes all of the key components of a comprehensive entertainment experience – from content to consumer products – is something we are excited to be doing in conjunction with our great partners,” said Brad Globe, President of Warner Bros. Consumer Products. “It’s really an honor to be part of this cultural moment and to be delivering a concept so rooted in a relatable and empowered theme that the characters of DC Comics are uniquely able to present.”

As master toy licensee, Mattel is collaborating with DC Entertainment, Warner Bros. Animation and Warner Bros. Consumer Products on DC Super Hero Girls‘ narrative creation, interactive digital activations and ultimately a toy line launching in 2016. Mattel category-leading firsts include a line of characters for the action figure category, an area of the industry that has been primarily developed with boys in mind, and fashion dolls featuring strong, athletic bodies that stand on their own in heroic poses.

“Partnering with the best and being the best partner is of paramount importance,” said Richard Dickson, President, Chief Operating Officer, Mattel. “Together with Warner Bros. and DC Entertainment, the DC Super Hero Girls franchise will further expand our already powerful girls portfolio. We know Super Hero is a culturally relevant theme and the DC Super Hero Girls franchise will engage and inspire girls, providing cues to explore heroic acts through play and into real life.”

The Random House Books for Young Readers imprint of Random House Children’s Books has been appointed the master publishing partner for the franchise and will be creating a portfolio of books that will bring the DC Super Hero Girls world to life, beginning in Spring 2016. Random House’s publishing program will be complemented by a series of original graphic novels from DC Entertainment. The LEGO Group will also be key to building the DC Super Hero Girls franchise, leveraging their experience and success engaging girls in creative construction play to bolster this universe through an array of LEGO building sets designed to inspire girls’ imaginations. Additionally, consumer products partners around the world will be engaged in creating a merchandise line dedicated to DC Super Hero Girls across all key categories.

Thanks to James Harvey at World’s Finest for the info.

Here’s a first look:

DC Girls

The designs look very doll-like, almost Disney-esque, but Mattel, the company that gave us Barbie and Monster High, is behind this; clearly the plan is to sell dolls, hence the toyetic look. Some of the designs are pretty decent: I like how Supergirl seems to be a mix of her 90’s Superman: The Animated Series look with the Sakura-style sneaks, and her early 2000’s look with the blue costume. The collar gives her a schoolgirl like appearance. (No bare midriff, but oh well.) Kind of odd that they opted to go with Wonder Woman instead of Wonder Girl here, given that the emphasis is supposed to be on youth; why not use the teen Wondy when you have one? I guess DC figured that more people would be familiar with Wonder Woman, but that didn’t stop Lauren Faust from using Wonder Girl in Super Best Friends Forever. Either way, she looks good, I like the blue hair and star-studded pants. The shield seems kind of unnecessary since WW can block projectiles with her bracelets, though. Lets be real here: the main (if not only) reason Bumblebee and Katana are here is so there will be some non-white faces in the bunch. I honestly don’t know much about Katana and my only exposure to Bumblebee is the TV shows Teen Titans and Young Justice, so I’m a bit murky on their histories, so forgive me if I say that they’re kind of obscure characters to include. That said, I personally would’ve chosen Vixen over Bee in a Tantu Talisman rubbing split second, but that’s just me. I’m kind of sorry Miss Martian didn’t make the cut, but maybe she’ll show up in the second wave. To play both sides of the fence (or perhaps just to include more characters) we also get some villains, namely Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy; but I can go along with that I suppose; given that the goal is to make these characters attractive to girl consumers, the villain characters will likely be more annoying pranksters than out-and-out evil doers; their designs are OK, especially Harley’s. Bit o’ historical trivia: when Haley Quinn first made her debut on Batman: The Animated Series, I thought Harley was kind of lame, but to update that story, I think she’s kind of cool now. I actually think Harley’s more interesting and fun when she’s not mooning over the Joker, plus I like her skill set; I’ve always been a sucker for flippy gymnasts. I like the combination of black, gold and dark blue on Batgirl’s costume, and of course, Barbara’s front and center, and the only 2 villains depicted here are Gotham villains. Why?

batman

Because BATMAN.

The article mentioned TV specials, which, if successful, could lead to a DC Super Hero Girls series, but where would such a show air?

If this were to become a series, under current circumstances said show would likely be an online exclusive. I don’t see Cartoon Network being interested in a DC cartoon unless it was going to be Teen Titans GO! goofy, not to mention that DC and CN are kind of on the outs right now after what happened with DC Nation and the boy-skewing CN likely wouldn’t be all that keen on acquiring a girl-centric show. No way in Helsinki is Disney going to air a DC show, and I just don’t see Discovery Family having any interest; the only animated shows they have are the leftovers from Hasbro’s reign, and they don’t seem to be in a hurry to pick up any more cartoons.

The only one of the Big 3 kids’ networks I could see showing any interest in airing this would be Nickelodeon, since the toys are made by Mattel and Nick has aired some specials based on Mattel properties before such as Monster High and some Barbie specials. I can definitely see DCSHG going to Nick before the boy-skewing Cartoon Network. Mattel has been putting adaptations of a lot of their products on the web (Monster High, Ever After High, Barbie, Polly Pocket, etc.), so overall, I’d say the internet would be the most likely outlet for this should Mattel and DC decide to turn this into a series.

Speaking of TV shows, the announcement of this project, some folks on the interwebz have begun assuming (and who knows where they got this idea) that the launch of DC Super Hero Girls will somehow mean that we’ll finally be getting a series version of Super Best Friends Forever, the 1-minute shorts which aired as filler segments between shows on DC Nation, depicting Supergirl (Nicole Sullivan), Wonder Girl (Grey Delisle) and Batgirl (Tara Strong) as MLP-esque besties rendered by none another than Lauren Faust herself.

Superheroism is Magic!

Superheroism is Magic!

Uh, no. Why would the announcement of this mean that SBFF is coming back? There’s not going to be a Super Best Friends Forever show. That ship has sailed. The time to have jumped on that would’ve been back in 2013, when DC Nation was still relevant and Lauren Faust was still available (she’s working on a feature film currently). If anything, this project only decreases the chances of that happening. Why would DC need or want to resurrect some shorts from like 2 years ago when they now have this new property initiative with multiple platforms to mack on? That would be like if Warner Brothers Animation launched a new property called HB Racers or something like that, with popular Hanna-Barbera characters such as Fred Flintstone, Scooby-Doo, Yogi Bear, and other HB stars in global races in stylized vehicles, and they had all the bells and whistles planned for it: toys, T-shirts, video games, DTVs, the whole 9 yards, and somebody said, “Hey, maybe now that they’re doing this we’ll finally get that Wacky Races Forever series that was a failed pilot that CN didn’t want back in 2004!”. The latter makes the former redundant, and there’d be no point in doing both ’cause it’s the exact same idea. For all intents and purposes, DC Super Hero Girls IS Super Best Friends Forever: The Series, in spirit if not in name.

I’m all for giving girls the spotlight once in a while, goodness knows it’s overdue (though I find it a tad annoying how in the wake of Powerpuff Girls, nowadays it seems that producers seem to think that the only way to make girl protagonists interesting is to make them superheroes or crime fighters–I’d like to see more girl-centric comedies myself), so I’m curious to see how DC Super Hero Girls plays out. This should be interesting.

On a final note: going back to DC Nation for a minute, one reason why Cartoon Network dropped the ax on Young Justice was because it was garnering greater viewership among girls than boys. Just pointing that out.