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GAME OF THRONES Recap: A Queen’s Justice is Hard to Swallow

Hello, fair citizens of the Realm! It’s that time of year again—the most wonderful of them all— Game of Thrones  season. And, in addition to winter: spoilers are coming! (And maybe a few swears, too. Woops!) As this is a recap, it goes over everything in crazy detail, so proceed at your own risk and don’t say we didn’t warn you!

Where to even begin with this episode? Should we go with the most obvious, squee-inducing moment (when Jon met Dany), the most savage (when Cersei served Ellaria Sand an eye-for-an-eye), or the most heart-rendering (when Sansa, boss of the North, and her poor Three-Eyed brother, Bran, reunited)? To say nothing of the miracle of Ser Jorah of House Friendzone or the savagery of Grandma Time, Olenna Tyrell! Which is a very long-winded way of saying that tonight’s episode of Thrones was not messing around, bringing us forward in the story even faster than WE thought possible.

That said: this episode focused on the women of the Realm—see why I keep saying we should change the name of All Kings Considered to All Queens Considered?—and how they wield and lose their power. From Dany’s concession to Olenna’s admission, it was a chorus of ladies singing tonight’s song of ice and fire. So what happened in “The Queen’s Justice” and what does it mean moving forward? PLENTY.

Daenerys “The Baenerys” Targaryen

Call me lame for loving the Realm’s most Basic queen if you must, but can you blame me, really? Daenerys could so easily be like Cersei. Genetically, no one’s a bigger ticking time bomb than the daughter of Aegon Targaryen, the Mad King that Robert Baratheon overthrew (after Jaime kingslayed him real good), kicking off this latest instance of the game of thrones. Socially, no one else vying for power has seen less of the Seven Kingdoms she wishes to rule. And yet! And yet! She has surrounded herself with so many of the smartest Westerosi inhabitants and seems to have learned from the myriad mistakes she made when she freed Slaver’s Bay. So we cannot help but feel as though she might actually be the best ruler of the bunch. So much of that was seen in how she handled Tyrion’s maneuvering when King in the North, Jon Snow, arrived.

Commence internal and external freak-outs because the thing we’ve all waited 7 seasons for has finally happened.

That’s right, THE COOLEST COUSINS AUNT AND NEPHEW THIS SIDE OF THE REALM HAVE FINALLY MET AND OH MAN DO THEY NOT LIKE EACH OTHER BUT OH JEEZ IS IT SO, SO GREAT ANYWAY. Only neither of them know they’re related and ugh, can we like get to that bit already, PLEASE? (I’m dyin’.)

BUT STILL! The song of ice and fire, this is it! Right here! Even Melisandre said as much! It’s all very exciting and tense and maybe also a little bit sexual but that’s partially because this series loooooooves it some familial fornication (eugh).

Jon and Dany aren’t insta-buddies off to save the Realm at once, however: Dany doesn’t believe Jon’s story about the army of the dead (though she does seem to think Ser Davos’ speech was more literal than Tyrion suspects—clever girl), and she is none too pleased about his inability to bend the knee. Dany even got all “well actually” on Jon Snow, sassing him about history but Jon was all “girl I know and still I ain’t here for this.”

Dany has the same blind spot as everyone else in the Realm: Jon Snow ain’t worried about the people, he’s worried about the monsters. And also why is it so hard to convince a girl who birthed literal monsters — dragoooons! — that undead ones might possibly be real? Thankfully/later, Tyrion does what he does best and gets Dany to submit to letting him mine some dragonglass so he can go off and play at war while Tyrion and Dany do the real warrin’—which, ahem, didn’t go so well now did it?

Mad Queen Cersei Lannister

Speaking of the things that didn’t go well for Tyrion and Dany: The Lannisters have leveled UP, y’all! Look at them, pulling a Whispering Wood and eye-for-eyein’ it like some sort of psychosavants! Olenna was right: Cersei is a disease, and everyone around her’s catching it. (Though we admire Cersei’s ability to out-maneuver the ultimate game-player, Tyrion, because that is NO small potatoes.)

The current ruler of the King’s Landing roost may have outsmarted her very smart brother, but she’s standing on the shakiest ground imaginable: that which is hoisted up by her own madness, the promises of a fickle ironborn, and her increasingly-less-jazzed-about-it brotherlover. She sent both of the men off to foil Tyrion’s plan—the Greyjoy ships sail to Casterly Rock to take out the Unsullied that are sacking it on the DL, and Jaime Lannister heads to Highgarden for their money and supplies—and wore a truly, truly fabulous dress while doing it (seriously Michele Clapton, I need you to do a ready-to-wear line inspired by the dresses on this show).

That said, she did have another one of her Classic Psycho Cersei moments, took her newest prisoners, Illaria and forced her to watch as she used the same poison that killed Myrcella on her OWN Sand Snake daughter and sentenced her to a life of watching her daughter rot. It was truly savage in an episode rife with motherly savagery.

Sansa “Please Don’t Mansplain Me” Stark

This interaction between Jon Snow and Tyrion, I think, sums up everything good about Sansa Stark this season: “She’s much smarter than she lets on.” “She’s starting to let on.” “Good.” HELL YES IT IS GOOD THAT SHE IS LETTING ON. And not only that: homegirl is a more thoughtful and forward-thinking ruler than Jon or Ned or anyone else that’s led Winterfell thus far. GET IT GIRL. With every relieved breath that Sansa has yet to die at the hands of this show (but do you blame us for worrying?), a tiny baby ice dragon gets its wings, I swear it.

But the best Sansa moment of all was certainly when Littlefinger tried to mansplain to her why the Lannisters were not to be trusted and Sansa was all, “oh so the people that murdered everyone I love are bad? lol k cool got it!!!” It was the biggest eyeroll of a sentence and I loved it.

Of course we’d be remiss to not freak out and shed eleventy billion tears for that Bran and Sansa reunion because OH MY GOD. I was so not expecting that. AT ALL! AND HOO, DID IT MAKE MY HEART SING. Of course Bran has gone “Full Raven” and is fairly insufferable now but it’s fine because, like he said, “When The Long Night comes again I need to be ready.”

Lady Olenna “HELL YEAH I MURDERED YOUR INCEST BABY!” Tyrell

OLENNA! OLENNA! OLENNA! GO TELL ‘EM! Sorry there really isn’t much else to say here but scream over and over the name of Our Lady of Highgarden and Our Hearts, who finally DONE TOLD THE LANNISTERS WHAT WAS UP and that it was she, not Tyrion, that murdered their mad king, the nephewson previously known as Joffrey. Yes, she died, and it was messed up (albeit not surprising) but truly NONE OF THAT MATTERS BECAUSE SHE DONE TOLD THEM THE BUSINESS. She dropped that mic even as the poison was still making its way down her gullet LIKE A TRUE G (the “g” in this instance also stands for grandma). GANGSTER GRANNIE RULES THE REALM OF MY HEART because ugh, what a moment.

I love you, Lady Olenna. And I will never forget you.

Other Odds and Ends:

Did Varys get a spray tan?
Can y’all PLEASE slow this show down? Like damn—ships DO NOT MOVE THIS FAST IN THE REALM AND IT IS ANNOYING. Don’t establish a space and distance and then just throw it all out the window because you’re antsy! It’s lazy and annoying y’all. Like yes, we love seeing so much happen but GOSH we miss the journey they all used to go on, and the GRRM-y platitudes of seasons past.

“How do I convince people who don’t know or trust me how to believe in something they’ve always thought was fake so I can protect everyone from it?” lol MAY I SUGGEST YOU TALK TO A FEMINIST OR A BLACK PERSON, JON SNOW? Boy get thee to the Summer Islands STAT.
Three cheers for Ser Jorah! Maybe now that you’re free of greyscale you can go back to being continually rejected by the woman you love.
No Arya this episode made me sad, but I’m not surprised because I AM CONVINCED SHE IS GONNA STRAIGHT MURDER LITTLEFINGER NEXT WEEK and all will be well in my soul.
Melisandre is going to Volantis: DOES THIS MEAN WE’LL ACTUALLY/FINALLY GET TO SEE VOLANTIS ON THIS SHOW?! (It is literally the coolest-described city in the whole book series.)
But also an eye raise to her ominous: “I will return dear spider, one last time. I have to die in this strange country, just like you” comment to Varys.
Ser Davos giving Dany the “he’s a damn bastard, he has no birthright, people just believed in HIM” business made us look a the song of ice and fire in a very different way. Both of them have no religion—they have either belief in themselves or the beliefs of others guiding their hands (versus religion which is a belief in something else entirely, removed from the self). It’s an interesting allegorical expression in an already rife-with-the-stuff text. JUST SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT I SUPPOSE.

Images: HBO

Alicia Lutes is the Managing Editor, creator/co-host of Fangirling, and resident Khaleesi of House Nerdist. Find her on Twitter but only if you really want to because like, I’m not your boss.

Peter Hollens Covers “Hands of Gold” from GAME OF THRONES

Earlier this season on Game of Thrones, Arya Stark came across a group of Lannister soldiers and she spared their lives. At least we think she spared them after hearing Ed Sheeran‘s soldier perform a song that she had never heard before: “Hands of Gold.” However, that song already existed within the world of George R.R. Martin‘s A Song of Ice and Fire novels, although the context was completely different. Now, musician Peter Hollens is sharing his extended cover of “Hands of Gold,” complete with GoT cosplay!

Even in the novels, the full lyrics of “Hands of Gold” aren’t known because Tyrion Lannister took some drastic actions. There are spoilers ahead for a subplot that never made it into the TV series. You’ve been warned!

“Hands of Gold” was written by Symon Silver Tongue, a singer who used the lyrics as creative way to blackmail Tyrion about his relationship with Shae. Even Tyrion later admitted that Symon was a talented songwriter and he even came to like the song. But Tyrion eventually had the man killed to end his constant attempts to extort more and more from him. In the end, Tyrion recited the lyrics he knew while killed Shae in his father’s bed, and afterwards, he was haunted by the song whenever he thought of Shae.

Without that context on the show, the natural inclination is to think that the “Hands of Gold” refers to Jaime Lannister, a man who infamously has a golden hand. If the lyrics are foreshadowing the future, it may give credence to the theory that Jaime will be the one who finally murders his sister, the mad queen Cersei.

Hollens has covered many Game of Thrones songs before, as well as other fan favorite movie, TV, and video game themes on his popular YouTube channel. Hopefully the series will give him more opportunities to cover music before it reaches the end of the seventh season on HBO.

What did you think about Hollens’ cover of “Hands of Gold”? Let us know in the comment section below!

Image: Peter Hollens

This Adorable Fish and Scuba Diver Met Every Day for 25 Years

Is there anything more heartwarming than an unlikely cross-species friendship? We’ve seen dogs and cheetahs, baby Nigerian dwarf goats and sweaters, and dogs and robots, and now there’s another adorable one to add to the list: a scuba diver and a fish (via Twisted Sifter).

One day about 25 years ago, Japenese scuba diver Hiroyuki Arakawa was in the depths of Hasama Underwater Park in Tateyama, Japan when he spotted Yoriko, an Asian sheepshead wrasse that looked like it was hurt. So he started taking care of the fish by feeding it crabs and nursing it back to health. 25 years later, they’ve seen each other virtually every day and they’ve forged a pretty special bond.

“I’d say we understand each other,” Arakawa said. “Not that we can talk to each other, but it just happened naturally. I kissed her once, but I’m the only person she will let do it.”

Arawaka is 79 years old, and he’s been scuba diving for the past 60 years. He explained the beginning of his relationship with Yoriko:

“We decided to build a shrine gateway [underwater]. The shrine’s gate is at a depth of 65 feet. Yoriko lives by the shrine’s gate. I think it was around 30 years ago that I first met Yoriko. […] One day, she was by the shrine’s gate, exhausted. She couldn’t catch her own food. I fed her about five [crabs] every day for about ten days. She’s a lot better now.

I think anyone can get an animal’s attention by feeding them. But to touch or interact with them is harder to accomplish. I’m not sure if it’s the nature of the kobudai or not, but it’s probably because there is a sense of trust between us. I guess she knows that I saved her, that I helped her when she was badly injured. So for me to be able to do that, I have an amazing sense of accomplishment in my heart.

We’re not crying, you are. Let us know what you think about this touching story in the comments below.

Featured image: Great Big Story/YouTube

Justin Roiland Shares Alternate RICK AND MORTY Jokes

This weekend, it’s time to get schwifty again! Nearly two full years after the second season, Rick and Morty is back for a third season on Adult Swim. And if last April’s surprise season premiere is any indication, the new episodes may be the wildest yet. Series creators Justin Roiland and Dan Harmon have explained that one of the reasons that the new season took so long was the desire to match or exceed the previous season’s quality. Now, Roiland and Harmon are sharing a glimpse at their writing process.

In a newly released video from Adult Swim, Roiland and Harmon revisit “Mortynight Run,” the second episode of season 2. Within this clip, the duo explain how they come up with multiple jokes for each script and use the writers’ room to pick their favorites. For the first time, Roiland reads the alternate jokes in character as Rick and an alien bystander. Fair warning, the language in the clip is pretty NSFW, and Roiland even admits that some of the jokes are at his own expense.

For comparison’s sake, the following clip shows the gags that ultimately ended up in the show, including the entire “Roy” sequence where Morty went through an arcade game that simulated an entire lifetime of a man named Roy.

That was a brilliantly realized idea, and it’s part of the episode’s alien Dave and Buster’s scene that could have easily been mined for more comedy. But one of the strengths of this series is that it will introduce fantastical concepts for just a few jokes and then simply move on to the next round of gags. It’s a breakneck speed for the comedy, and the show is better for it.

Rick and Morty season 3 will officially kick off this Sunday, July 30 on Adult Swim.

What did you think about the alternate jokes? Share your thoughts in the comment section below, and don’t miss our chat with Justin Roiland and Dan Harmon at Kyle Hill’s Science of Rick and Morty Comic-Con panel!

Image: Adult Swim

WAYWARD SISTERS Is Bringing Female Empowerment to the SUPERNATURAL Universe

Get your salt and your iron ready, there are potential Supernatural spoilers ahead!

If you’ve watched Supernatural for long, one thing you’ll notice is that the show is pretty dude-heavy, and the women on the show don’t often last long. It’s not uncommon for them to die in gruesome or seemingly careless ways (see Charlie Bradbury, Meg Masters, or Eileen Lehy).

So when the show introduced characters like Sheriff Jody Mills, Sheriff Donna Hanscum, Claire Novak, and Alex Jones, it didn’t take long for fans to flock to those women. With Sheriff Jody taking in Claire and Alex as her adopted daughters and helping Sheriff Donna come to terms with the supernatural world around her, fans started to latch on to an idea centering around these women. Jody evolved from a rule-following civil servant to a badass hunter and sort of mama bear on the show, not only with Claire and Alex, but even with Sam and Dean–something that executive producer Andrew Dabb said Kim Rhodes perfectly brought to the role.

You couldn’t help but love Jody, Donna, and her girls, and it didn’t take long for the fandom to start asking for a spin-off focusing on their stories. After many tee-shirt campaigns, Tumblrs, and social media campaigns, the spin-off Wayward Sisters was announced.

Wayward Sisters was a huge success for fans, showing that showrunners really do listen to what their viewers want, and highlighting the very real interest in stories about kickass women. And in a time when we’ve got Wonder Woman dominating the box office and a female Doctor flying the TARDIS, it’s pretty awesome that Supernatural fans will have some badass, female hunters to cheer on as well. Kim Rhodes, Sheriff Jody herself, was quick to thank the fans for all their support in bringing the show to life.

1/? YOU did this. Your voices. Your presence. Persistence. Resistance. Joy. Rage. LOVE. You ARE DOING this. #WaywardSisters

— ΞXΓЯΞMΞ ҜIM (@kimrhodes4real) June 20, 2017

At San Diego Comic-Con, I asked Supernatural‘s executive producer, Robert Singer, about the huge fan movement that brought the show into being. He called the entire thing a “chicken and egg” situation. “We always loved the Jody character and the two girls,” Singer explained. The Supernatural team definitely saw the potential in Jody’s little family. So they floated a few things out to fans, and after seeing the intense and growing passion the fandom had for those character, they finally decided that a spin-off would be the best way to highlight and expand on the characters.

“We’re excited about it, and we really think it’s female-empowering,” Singer said, “And we don’t think there’s anything really like this on TV right now, and after 12 years of super-testosterone guys, we’re excited about watching what the women can do.”

Jody, Donna, Claire, and Alex all have incredibly fascinating backstories that we’ve only gotten to scratch the surface of on Supernatural. It will be great getting to see a better picture of Jody and Donna as sheriffs and part-time hunters, to learn more about Claire and her life as a hunter and Jimmy Novak/Castiel’s daughter, and Alex’s attempts to live a somewhat normal life despite being raised by a vampire coven.

Of course, Wayward Sisters isn’t only focusing on Jody, Donna, Claire, and Alex. Jody will also be taking in a new, “wayward daughter” negatively affected by the supernatural world, Missouri Moseley’s granddaughter, Patience Turner (Clark Backo). Patience is a powerful psychic running from the forces of evil who want to control her powers, who ultimately finds refuge with Jody.

Backo’s character doesn’t only bring in another complex woman into the mix, but she also brings some much-needed diversity to the Supernatural universe. Of course, one character does not a diverse show make, but it’s encouraging to see the Supernatural universe start to broaden its stories to elevate the women in the universe as well as start on a road towards a more inclusive cast.

One look at Kim Rhodes’ Twitter can show you how important this spin-off is to the fans, and she and the entire cast are taking it seriously. While we don’t know much about the show, there’s already been suggestions of ways to expand the cast even further. Recently, Rhodes teased a way to bring back the beloved-but-dead character Charlie Bradbury (played by Felicia Day).

You know… there’s an alternate world…. *continues plotting* https://t.co/oJe9fEPrY2

— ΞXΓЯΞMΞ ҜIM (@kimrhodes4real) July 24, 2017

Of course that’s nothing more than friendly Twitter conversations, but we can hope, right? So while we still may be at the very beginning of this journey–there isn’t a release day for the spin-off, but we know the backdoor pilot will be airing in season 13 of Supernatural, so Wayward Sisters will premiere some time after that–the Supernatural universe is about to get a pretty exciting shake-up.

What do you think of the Wayward Sisters spin-off? What are you most excited to see in the show? What other characters would you like to show up? Let’s talk about it in the comments!

Feature Image: The CW

Gif Credit: Giphy, Giphy

McDonald’s Sent Half a Gallon of Szechuan Sauce to the Creators of RICK AND MORTY

Well, it’s settled, folks! Dreams do come true if you work hard enough for them. Saturday night, Justin Roiland, co-creator of Rick and Morty, tweeted out some pictures of an impressively large bottle of McDonald’s Szechuan Sauce that was sent his way.

Holy shit. pic.twitter.com/vNEIfHTmNU

— Justin Roiland (@JustinRoiland) July 30, 2017

“Holy shit” is right, Justin! You deserve that beautiful 64 ounces of McNugget goodness. We should celebrate how a joke in the season 3 opener of Rick and Morty caused one of the biggest companies on the planet to recreate a nearly 20 year old recipe! How do we know it’s for real? Well, take a look at this tweet from McDonald’s.

SOS 073017 2130EST TWTR 3x.5GAL pic.twitter.com/pHvDzKVYMv

— McDonald’s (@McDonalds) July 30, 2017

The package that Roiland received came with a note from a “Chef Mike” (we’re guessing either McD’s Haracz or Lingo) explaining the sauce’s journey to our dimension:

Justin,

We finally did it. It took months, but we’ve finally brought back some Szechaun Sauce.

We’ll spare you the physics, but turns out, Dimension C-1998M is a dimension where it’s always 1998. 1998 every day. No smartphones, no social media. It’s a weird, scary place. But they’ve got Szechuan Sauce on the regular menu.

So here we are with some precious cargo–the Szechuan Sauce you remember and some sou-venirs from the some of the dimensions we tried along the way.

We wish we could’ve brought more sauce though, but we couldn’t risk keeping the a portal like that open. Think about it, if you knew in 1998 that McDonald’s would have All Day Breakfast in 2017, would you really want to stay in 1998? Of course not. If we left the portal open, we’d have puka shells, bucket hats and boy bands as far as the eye could see. It’s too risky, even for sauce as delicious as this.

A few lucky fans will also get to experience the glory, but the first bottle in this dimension is for you.

Stay Schwifty,

Chef Mike

You read that right! Somehow, some lucky fans will get their own Szechuan sauce. However, we can’t figure out if those fans have already been chosen or if it has something to do with that latest McDonald’s tweet. Either way, we’ll keep our eyes peeled on Twitter and Szechuan hashtags in case there’s a contest or if we need to make fast friends with a lucky recipient.

Pretty Schwifty, right? Let’s discuss this awesome bit of saucy goodness in the comments below!

Image: Rick and Morty | Adult Swim

You Need These Gorgeous GAME OF THRONES Tarot Cards

HBO’s sprawling adaptation of George R.R. Martin’s fantasy epic Game Of Thrones is an unbelievably popular show with some of the highest ratings on premium television and–after six seasons–a whole lot of merch. Jewelry, t-shirts, scarves in the colors of your favorite house. If you can imagine it, HBO has probably made it. Bu we have found what might be the most on brand bit of GOT merch yet, this incredible Game of Thrones tarot deck that Chronicle Books previewed this year at SDCC.

Tarot cards date back to the 13th century and are best known for their more mystical use as tools for divination. Each set has four suits, like a regular deck of cards, and each suit has ten images. When a card’s pulled, the image that’s revealed can tell the reader about certain aspects of the subject’s life.

In this magical deck, each of our fave characters will represent the different symbols that tarot cards hold. From the box’s cover we can see that Bran will be the Hermit, Cersei will be the Queen of Swords, and Daenerys will be the Empress. At SDCC, Chronicle revealed that Arya will be on the Death card, Tyrion will play the part of the Fool, and Jon Snow will be standing alongside his–SPOILER ALERT–fellow Targaryen as the Emperor.

The deck’s author, Liz Dean, explained that Game of Thrones was the perfect inspiration for a tarot deck. “Archetypes are the foundation of every great tale–and Game of Thrones is an outstanding story, a rich weave… From the icy landscapes beyond the Wall to the hot deserts of Dorne, the world of Game of Thrones is replete with symbolism: an abundant source for a new tarot deck.”

We totally agree that there’s a plethora of incredibly symbolic characters the tarot deck can explore, from Sansa to Sam Tarly to Oberyn (RIP BB) to Brianne. Which of your absolute faves do you want to see in the finished deck? Will you be pre-ordering this radical addition to your GOT collection? Let us know in the comments!

Images: HBO, Chronicle Books

Robert Kirkman, Eli Roth, James Cameron Address the Underrepresented Stories in Comics/Horror/Sci-Fi

When you’re told a new television series is set to explore “the untold stories behind” the histories of various pop culture genres, it feels natural to ask the question: will the stories so often erased in these scenarios—that of women and people of color and other minorities—be showcased? It was a question we posited to three of the men behind AMC’s new year-round documentary series, AMC Visionaries (coming sometime in 2018), at the Television Critics Association’s 2017 Summer Press Tour. And Robert Kirkman, James Cameron, and Eli Roth came prepared to address such a quandary.

Regarding comics—something The Walking Dead creator Robert Kirkman is set to address in his “Secret History of Comics” episodes—Kirkman pointed out two episodes in particular.

“We’re actually doing two episodes about this specifically,” he told us. “We’re doing one about the creation of Wonder Woman, which is credited as being created by William Moulton Marston, but a lot of people don’t know he had a polygamous relationship with two women, and those two women were actually very instrumental in the creation of Wonder Woman. So we do a deep dive into who they were as people and everything that inspired their lives and led to the creation of this character that’s now the lead of a blockbuster movie of this summer.”

Regarding race, Kirkman went on to add that, “we’re also doing an episode called ‘The Color of Comics’ that kind of explores the history of black characters and the lack of black characters in the comic book industry, which touches on the creation of Black Panther, the Marvel character, and has a focus from the 90s called Milestone Comics which was founded by a bunch of African American comic book creators to create characters that appealed to them and represented them because there was a very huge lack of representation for them in comics, even in the 90s.”

Eli Roth, a horror savant and frequent collaborator with indie horror creators, was quick to hat-tip the woman who started it all for his genre of choice—Mary Shelley.

“You wouldn’t have horror without Mary Shelley and Frankenstein,” Roth explained. “And going back through history, what we want to do—like Robert has done and James has done—is have a show for the casual horror fan but also go really, really deep. And as we all know we’re losing these masters; they’re disappearing every week.”

He later went on to add that, “Our show’s going to be [broken up] by sub-genre … but I want to get Catherine Hardwicke, I want to get every single Caché—any kind of and all of the women—any women that’s directed a movie, because there’s a lot of fantastic entries, certainly Slumber Party Massacre, there are a lot of films people don’t know were directed by women that were slasher films that were their sort of comment, they were actually feminist movies.”

Roth also highlighted another creator, the late George Romero. “Look at what he did,” Roth effused. “I mean, at the height of the Civil Rights’ movement, he puts an African American as the lead of Night of the Living Dead. And at the end of the movie he’s shot by a bunch of rednecks, not because of the color of his skin, but because they think he’s a zombie but obviously, you know, you can read into the implications with that. What he was doing with racism and race and using genre to explore racism in America was just so ahead of its time and just as potent today as it was fifty years ago, so absolutely it’s something we’re going to discuss in different episodes.”

Though he was only appearing via satellite, director James Cameron also acknowledged the myriad ways in which science fiction has been a positive space for women—even though he did not explicitly state whether or not his own episodes would highlight the contributions of women and people of color.

“I think the role of women in science fiction has been varied, and we want to look at it, [but] we’re not going to do any specific episodes. We’re doing 6 episodes and they’re themed around space travel and dark futures, dystopia, time travel—things like that.”

Still, he caveated that the ties to those oft-otherized people’s stories will be undeniable in the connective tissue of the series itself. “Throughout it, we want to have this thread of analyzing the interaction between science fiction and society. Not only how science fiction changed and evolved and manifested the anxieties of society—such as the monster movies that emerged out of the fear, and the dystopian stories that emerged out of the fear during the Cold War period, things like that—but also how science fiction expressed changes in society and even anticipated them. So it’s a bit of a checkered story.”

“Science fiction, traditionally, back in the ’30s and ’40s, was a vision primarily by and for men, and the female writers often had to have noms de plume that sounded like male names.,” Cameron added. “But then as you got into the ’60s and the ’70s, science fiction became a kind of forerunner in breaking down social barriers, whether it was around race or gender, the role of women in these future societies, and I think some of the strongest women in film, period, are in science fiction movies. And, you know, we still don’t have enough female directors in general, let alone female filmmakers working in science fiction movies, but we certainly have a plethora, now, of women writing great science fiction movies, starting with Ursula K. Le Guin, and so on, back in the ’60s. And I know I’ve already mentioned D.C. Fontana, who also wrote for Star Trek in the ’60s, and interestingly she used her initials because she didn’t want the Hollywood powers-that-be know that she was a female science fiction writer, which was still seen as a very male genre even then.”

Time, and content, will ultimately tell us if the docu-series will achieve this aspirational look at the worlds of comic books, science fiction, and horror, but it’s heartening to see that they were ready for the question.

What do you think of the comments from these creators? Would you like to see more stories about the contributions of women and minorities in these worlds? Let us know in the comments below!

Images: AMC; Warner Bros.

Alicia Lutes is the managing editor at Nerdist, host of Fangirling!, and frequent over-sharer on Twitter!

Hasbro’s Marvel Toy Team on the Future of Comic and Movie Toys

It may not have escaped your notice that Hasbro has really upped their game on Marvel action figures this year. From dead-on actor facial sculpts like Michael Rooker’s Yondu to elaborate build-a-figure giants like Warlock, they’ve been killing it with detail. At San Diego Comic-Con, I got to talk to Hasbro’s Dwight Stall (senior Design Manager for their Marvel team) and Ryan Ting (Global Brand Manager) about what they’ve done right so far, and what the imminent future holds.

Stall says the improvement this year, while not necessarily a natural progression, is due to the notion that “our team is constantly not allowing itself to just sit on something that’s doing well and let it ride. We’re always looking for ways to improve our craft.” Ting also points out that key to this is the close relationship with Marvel Studios: “they provide us great reference, and allow us to do the most accurate movie figures and television likenesses to date.”

One of this year’s biggest announcements, one they had demurred on when asked in previous years, was a Marvel Legends series featuring Netflix versions of Daredevil, Elektra, the Punisher, and Jessica Jones. Though Krysten Ritter appeared to have provided incentive by calling for her own action figure on national TV, the Marvel team say they were actually working on it before that (it takes over a year to design a brand-new figure, which is also why you haven’t seen Star Wars make Old Luke Skywalker until now), though the timing worked out well to get them more publicity for it. They do not at present have plans for TV-based Luke Cage and Danny Rand, though a 4-pack of comic-styled versions of Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Iron Fist, and Luke Cage is coming. As for Agents of SHIELD, they’re not ruling it out like they did in the past, and say it is certainly possible.

When the first Avengers movie came out, Hasbro’s Marvel line was predominantly focused on a 3-3/4 inch scale, with very limited 6-inch figures. Now, that ratio has reversed, a decision that has been purely market and fan driven. As guaranteed a hit as Avengers seemed to be, there was still some hesitation the public would support a massively produced 6-inch figure line. “The more these characters become pop-culture relevant to the world, the bigger the opportunities are to make them in their plastic forms,” says Stall. Ting notes that 2017 is the first year with three big Marvel movies (technically one is half-Sony, but unlike the Marvel Fox movies, Sony’s actually do get toys), “and that translates into more product for us.” They’re not abandoning 3-3/4–Thor: Ragnarok is getting some nicely detailed smaller figures, including a Gladiator Hulk–but they’re having no difficulty selling the bigger ones. Ting sees fandom as a whole supporting 6-inch scale across all toy lines–not just Hasbro’s–and says there’ll be no shortage of them moving forward.

Perhaps the best news for movie-based Marvel Legends fans is that figures who maybe were not given their due before from previous films are fair game, thanks to a new scanning technology that uses not only 3-d modeling of actors’ heads and bodies, but also takes a color scan of their faces and prints it directly on the figure (the Kurt Russell Ego figure, now available in a two-pack with Star-Lord everywhere, was the first). I mentioned Black Widow and Hawkeye, which received a vague but possibly affirmative response (“they’re high on the list of targets we want to address in the upcoming years”), though Stall responded to my Mickey Rourke Whiplash request by saying the tattoo deco costs would be “astronomical.” Ting says everything in the Marvel Cinematic Universe up until now is fair game–with the possible exception of The Incredible Hulk, which shares some rights with Universal–and he’d love to see Marvel get behind a tenth anniversary movie line that could revisit or debut older characters in the line.

But there’s a new Legends scale on shelves now, with 12-inch coming back in a big way. It’s something that has been on hiatus for a while at that level of detail (cheaper, limited-articulation figures aimed at younger kids have been around), but it’s one beloved by older collectors. “I think sometimes resting a line helps reinvigorate the fans’ passion,” says Stall, saying Hasbro’s first attempt in 2007 had to follow a Toy Biz line that had already made most of the major A-list characters, leaving them a less popular selection to add to it. “But now with it being off for a few years, we’re able to go back and start all over again with these super-powerful A-list characters” like Thor, Daredevil, Wolverine, and next year the movie-based Black Panther, which could be a test for more movie figures in that scale.

Speaking of Toy Biz, towards the end of the year Hasbro will be paying tribute to those original Marvel action figures of the early ’90s with a classic-styled Vintage Legends line that imitates the old-style packaging and reimagines the figures as if they were made with today’s technology, sculpting level, and even character selection: while Wolverine, Captain America, Spider-Man and Iron Man reference their original figures, the line will also include Black Widow, who was never part of that series. Widow will also be the first figure of a new “riders” series that will see her on her motorcycle (they’ve clearly heard the complaints about an earlier toy that did not) and also include Ghost Rider on his flaming bike.

Walgreens exclusive Fantastic Four comic-based figures will continue: the entire team has been sculpted, but they need to keep selling well in order for fans to get them all. So far, so good.

As for Infinity War, and whether they’ll get to make all 40+ figures, the team said they weren’t allowed to talk about that just yet, but with a wide variety of products that would include multiple exclusives, they’re certainly hoping to get to as many as possible.

Do you like what you see so far? Let us know in comments!

Featured Image: Hasbro

Images: Luke Y. Thompson

This Optimus Prime Toy Charges Your Phone

Transformers, robots charge your phone! If you could reread sentence that to the tune of the original theme song, that would be great. If not, well, you get the gist. This week, Hasbro has revealed some of the exclusive toys you can pick up at Hascon, the company’s very own convention, starting September 8th. Making a strong showing at the convention will be Transformers, one of Hasbro’s strongest brands, even if it’s been in disguise as five less-than-Oscar-worthy films. And one toy in particular stands out.

Optimus Prime would be a cool toy in its own right, sporting both sword and shield, but this Optimus does not transform into an eighteen wheeler. Instead, he transforms into a portable power pack that will charge any device compatible with micro USB.

The power pack supports 6,500 mAh of battery. To put that into perspective, the iPhone 7’s battery holds 1,960 mAh, so little Optimus can charge your phone more than three times over. The Optimus Prime Power Pack will set you back $50, which is actually pretty good for a charger of this size/super cool toy. However, if you don’t have a phone or for whatever reason hate having a charged phone, you can also get a simple Transformer.

This one doesn’t pull any tricks and just transforms into a simple militarized car.

This toy costs $25 and will also be available at Hascon, but tickets are quite a bit more, coming in at $60 for a one day adult pass.

Do you need a sword-wielding robot to charge your phone? Who doesn’t? Let us know in the comments below and on Twitter.

Image: Hasbro