Thai Food & Superheroines

Today was the IAmElemental interview and I can’t thank Julie enough for being accommodating despite her hectic schedule. She emailed me and suggested we go to Pure Thai Cookhouse on 9th Avenue (HIGHLY RECOMMENDED IF YOU LOVE THAI). I agreed, despite never having Thai food before.

I arrived, quite taken by the place as it is small as most places are in New York and we sat down and ordered. We started talking and she struck me as a woman with conviction. She told me about the company, working in the toy industry, Hasbro (and how they didn’t give me an interview), Mattel (and how they never got back to me), and how the “Less hooters, more heroines” catchphrase came to being. We even talked about Wonder Woman.

I told her how I appreciated her company’s existence which you should totally check out because really, it’s awesome. iamelemental.com is the thing you should check out. Do it, I’ll wait.

Meanwhile, the food was amazing, but there was SO MUCH. I couldn’t eat it all. We decided to walk together afterward and she said if I had anymore questions, I could definitely email her. So it was a very productive hour and I found out a lot I could use for my thesis.

I also emailed AJ Mendez Brooks agent for an interview and how to hear from her in the next few weeks before Crazy is My Superpower comes out. Think positive thoughts for me on that front.

The First Female Artist of Wonder Woman

Nervousness is all I felt this morning as I prepared for one of the biggest interviews of my life. The first female artist of Wonder Woman, Trina Robbins, had agreed to be interviewed by me for my thesis.

A few months ago, I had been hoping to interview both Trina Robbins and Gail Simone, but as Gail Simone is always busy and when I messaged Trina on Facebook, I wasn’t expecting anything. Then a few weeks ago, Trina got in contact with me and asked me to email her to set up a date. I did so.

We originally set it for this past Thursday, but she had something come up, so we switched it to today. I was super nervous all morning. I set everything up, tested it, made sure that everything was in place and finally decided to call around 12pm as agreed.

I called and told her how nervous I was. She was an utter delight. We talked about Wonder Woman, family, action figures and it went really well. The recording went great and everything came out clear in the recording. So next up is IAmElemental on Thursday.

 

Wonder Woman, Batgirl, Harley Quinn, Jessica Jones

These four women are what I have decided to focus my thesis on in addition to female action figures. One of the main reasons for this is that each one represents something that resounds with women: Wonder Woman for strength, Batgirl for disability, Harley for abusive relationships, and Jessica for trying to move on.

One of the biggest problems with a thesis is narrowing it down, but for me the problem seems to be where do I go now? In addition to setting up some interviews over the next two weeks or so, I am also going around to stores and recording their boys and girls toy sections. Why? Well, mostly to show that we need more action figures that portray women as strong and not needing saving. Is that so much to ask?

Perhaps so, but if this past month has been any indication, there’s a LOT of research I still have to get through and I cannot wait.