Geek Chic

I found a vest and tie that I want to wear at Geek Girl Con next month. The vest had plain black buttons, and I replaced them with crystal-looking plastic ones in pale lilac. The tie is purple with a subtle pattern and texture, silk. But it's not plain anymore...

I got a screen capture of my Night Elf druid (my first toon) emoting a /roar, sized it to fit on my tie (it's about 5.5 inches tall, and 3 inches wide). I deleted out all the background, lightened it to increase the contrast in Photoshop and printed it out on an iron-on transfer sheet (Jolee's Boutique Easy Image for dark fabrics, glitter). Once trimmed, I peeled it off the backing, which was tricky. The film is actually fairly thick, but it's like anything else you have to peel: you have to catch a corner and try not to damage it in the process.

The instructions are for ironing on cotton. I couldn't find anything to tell me how to do it for silk, so I just proceeded as if it was cotton. *shrug* I was a thrift store tie; if I screwed it up, I was out $4 but gained the knowledge that it doesn't work on silk.

It actually worked quite well. The texture of the material shows through the transfer, which makes it look better than if it was essentially a big sticker. If I had to do it over, I would lighten the printed image even more, because the printer laid down quite a bit of ink. I would have preferred to put a couple layers of paper towel in the tie, to avoid the back seam showing through when I ironed it, but it was sewn in a way that I couldn't do that.

"You roar with bestial vigor. So fierce!"

I might do a whole series of these, because I can. My only other 90 is a Tauren druid (love the class), so I think I'll limit myself to the upper-level toons. That way I won't end up with a couple dozen ties... >_>

This Just In: WoW MegaBloks

Just got home from an errand-run that I completed with a trip to Toys R Us. Out of curiosity, I checked to see if they had the MegaBlok's World of Warcraft sets in yet...

I didn't see any of the larger sets, only the 4 vehicles and 4 different faction dudes (2 Horde and 2 Alliance for each). They look pretty damned cool. :D

Very cool, but... this blog is about plastic heroines... and this set is sorely lacking in females, unless you count Sindragosa. Of the 19 characters that are available (according to their website) not one is female!

I'm completely unsurprised. You shouldn't be, either, if you've been reading this blog at all. *sigh*

World of Warcraft Figures

Four years ago, my husband surprised me with a subscription to World of Warcraft (Wrath of the Lich King). He'd been playing, and thought it would be something we could do together. Hello, my name is Wendy, and I'm an altoholic. I've played every class, every race, worked at all the different professions. My first toon is a Night Elf druid (Alliance). She was the first I raised to level 80. I made a friend in a bar (fine, it's an inn) in-game, and he invited me to play on his main server and join his guild on the Horde side. Because I enjoyed the class, I started another druid (Tauren), but I played her a little differently, feral instead of balance. I got her to 85 (after the Cataclysm expansion) before returning to level my first girl to 85. Blizzard Entertainment certainly has.

Like any blockbuster franchise, there's been plenty of licensed products, from t-shirts to collectible card games to action figures. My husband's class of choice is mage. On his desk in his office stands Tamuura, Draenei mage; she's gorgeous. Made by DC Unlimited (Series 3, released in 2008), she's more sculpture than action figure, which would be my complaint of all the DCU figures I've seen. They're amazing to look at, the detail is incredible, but the points of articulation and poseability of those figures suffers. However, when you consider the cost of their mini statues, an action figure with very little action is a much less expensive option ($20-ish) than the PVC statues that are basically unarticulated action figures for $70+.

Anyway. I found what appears to be a comprehensive list of all the WoW action figures on wowwiki. Unsurprisingly, there aren't many girls in that roster. And one of the most important figures in the lore, Jaina Proudmoore, has no figure of her own. Not sure who's in charge of what gets made as a figure and what doesn't, but that's just dumb.

I picked up Shandris Feathermoon on ebay, made by ToyCom in 2003. I'm happy with her over all, but there's some sculptural issues that I don't care for, like the very limited (nearly nonexistent) head mobility. She's doesn't have the same level of detail as the DCU figures would have a few years later, and honestly isn't as attractive as Tamuura. (Here's a detailed review of Shandris, complete with an unboxed photo; I agree with pretty much all he has to say.)

While it might be awesome to have the entire collection of figures (55 figs to date), I have nowhere to put them, unless we build an addition onto the house. (Which would be cool... impractical, expensive and unnecessary, but cool.) I can appreciate this guy's collection of the first 6 series from DCU (and the cases he's got it in), but it's just not an option for me. I'll concentrate on the ladies. They are:

• Shandris Feathermoon, Night Elf archer (ToyCom, series 1)
• Valeera Sanguinar, Blood Elf rogue (DCU, series 1, 2007)
• Sister Benedron, Human priest (DCU, series 3, 2008)
• Tamuura, Draenei mage (DCU, series 3, 2008)
• Amberlash, succubus demon (DCU, series 4, 2009)
• Lady Vashj, Naga sea witch - Deluxe figure ((DCU, series 4, 2009)
• Alathena Moonbreeze, Night Elf hunter (DCU, series 5, 2009)
• Sylvanas Windrunner, Forsaken queen (DCU, series 6, 2010)
• Garona Halforcen, Orc rogue (DCU, series 7, 2011)
• Confessor Dhalia, Forsaken priestess (DCU, series 8, 2011)

My issues with the series in general: light on the females (not surprising, really) in general and key females in particular; the series are rather weighted toward a few races, notably Human, Night Elf, Orc and Forsaken. There are currently 12 playable races in the game, and those 4 races I just mentioned make up 29 of the 55 (arguably 57; there's a 2-pack of Murlocs, and a Gnome comes packed with a Kobold, not counting pets/minions) figures. Of the 26 remaining, 8 are not playable races* (there's a Pandaren that will be a playable race, but not til the expansion is released). In short, the other 8 races get shortchanged, big time.

My dream wishlist for WoW female figures includes:

• Lady Jaina Proudmoore (Human)
• Aegwynn (Human)
• Queen Moira Thaurissan (Dark Iron Dwarf)
• Stormcaller Myrla (Dwarf)
  
• Queen Azshara (Naga)
• Margatha Grimtotem (Tauren)
• Aviana (Demi-God)
• Therazane (Earth Elemental)
• Greatmother Geyah (Mag'har Orc)
• Aggra (Mag'har Orc)
• Gwen Armstead (Worgen)
• Myzrael (Titan)
• Eonar (Titan)
• Vile Priestess Hexx (Troll)
• Shoni the Shilent (Gnome)
• Lilian Voss (Forsaken)
• Mylune (Dryad)
• Thisalee Crow (N'Elf)
• Lady Liadrin (B'Elf)
• Sirana Iceshriek (Harpy)
• Ishanah (Draenei)
• Boss Mida (Goblin)
• Queen Angerboda (Vyrkul)
• The Bone Witch (Vyrkul)
• Annhylde the Caller (Val'kyr)
• Ysera (Green dragon)
• Alexstraza (Red dragon)
• Sindragosa (Blue dragon, in her undead dragon form)
• Tyrygosa (Blue dragon)
• Chromie (Gnome - though actually a Bronze dragon)
• Onyxia (Black dragon)
• Subjugator Yalqiz (Shivarra - demon)

I could probably come up with more, but the game really is quite male-dominated, and notable females are scarce. And even if DCU or some other manufacturer made all those figs (let's call them $20 each for easy math), that list is $600! /faint

Getting Started

The Point of All This

While waiting for the servers to come back up from their weekly maintenance (ye gods, I hate Tuesdays), I started browsing internet shopping sites, scanning for any action figures that needed to be mine. I found two before I thought I better stop; I don't have room to display all the ones I have as it is! So to pass the time non-constructively, I started looking for various sites that dealt with female figs, and found a couple that seem to be currently unmaintained. Action Girl (AKA Sarah Dyer) compiled a kick-ass list (actually several) but the pages haven't been updated since 1999. John Fuller has a smaller list of females and non-white action figures, not updated since 2009. So I thought, if no one else is, maybe I should.

The goal of this blog is to inform and inspire grrl geeks and the boys who love us. I will write the occasional review for a figure, possibly rant at the state of women in comics, but mostly I want to maintain a record of female figures in case the two I mentioned above disappear entirely! Not entirely certain how I'm going to do that in blog format, but I do not want to take on another website at this time. So while I figure out how I'm going to manage this project, here's maybe some proof of my sincerity.

Yes, I unboxed them. Because they're toys, not an investment.
And because I wanted to play with them. :D

My Personal History with Action Figures

I started collecting figures after I ran across an article in Lee's Action Figure News & Toy Review #32 [June 1995] entitled "Deadliest of the Species: Collecting Female Figures." The writer in me cringed -- with only two genders (male/female) that should read "deadlier," but I overlooked it, mostly, and started reading. I was intrigued, and apparently so were a lot of collectors. Female figures are generally short-packed in an assortment, for a couple of main reasons. One: The line is usually built around a male hero and everyone will want to have the main hero in the assortment, so there's several of them in a case. Two: By and large, it's male children who play with action figures, and they don't want the girls. Because we have cooties or something. The end result is fewer females in an assortment, which is frustrating as a collector.

In 1995, my husband and I were young and child-free. We read comic books, went to comic book shops regularly, and that's when I encountered that issue of Lee's and started collecting. I cruised the toy stores, I went to shows, and I collected. In our small apartment, there was no place to put them, so they stayed in boxes. We we had our daughter and moved to a house in the 'burbs, they stayed in boxes, because there was still no where to put them. And while I did still pick up a few here and there after she was born, for the most part, collecting went on hold in 1997. By the end of 2000, she was diagnosed with autism, and that made me reconsider where disposable cash got spent. Only a few figures were purchased after 2000, which turned out OK, since the market was cooling considerably.

We moved again in 2010, and the finished basement finally gave me a chance to unbox my girls. O! happy, geeky day! Days, really, it took quite a while to get them unpacked and arranged on the shelves. And rearranged, and shelves moved, and rearranged again. I saved all the cards they were blistered on, and most of the tchotchkes they came with went into small zip-top bags, labeled with what figure they came from. But before I did that, I spent days photographing them in the packaging -- front and back -- using a photo table and a boom softbox strobe flash. I carefully inventoried them all, even the ones I wasn't able to display. Presently, my collection is at 307 figures. Not so many, really, there are collectors at DASH with way more than I have (but when you're collecting the boys, it's easier, eh?).

I'm far from an expert, and I haven't religiously followed the trends in figures for years, but since I'm not proclaiming to be, it's all good, right? Enjoy the ride!

My server should be back up; I have to go finish getting Loremaster of Outland now...