Marguerite Bennett's Blog, page 229
October 1, 2016
"You are not lost. You are here. Stop abandoning yourself. Stop repeating this myth about love and..."
-
Ask Polly: Why Should I Keep Going?
by Heather Havrilesky
(via oessa)
disgustinganimals:
pizzacatsandboobs:
kaible:
This is one of...
This is one of my favorite posts because that cat’s fucking name is fucking meatloaf
Let us just appreciate that this person’s dad didn’t know when they would be home and so he couldn’t plan for them to be able to join the family for dinner, but he knew with no doubts that dear sweet Meatloaf staying in that exact position for hours was an absolute in this scenario. Truly, that cat was named well.
one of my favorite posts on tumblr over the course of 5 fucking years.. clearly i need a life
Meatloaf is a reliable cat and did not steal the money for selfish reasons. A rare friend.
kateordie:
drtanner:
suicunesrider:
uneditededit:
Remember in 1993 when Jurassic Park was...
Remember in 1993 when Jurassic Park was like…the end all, be all of special effects?
not gonna lie that still looks intimately real
I’m still somewhat convinced that someone sold their soul to create the special effects in Jurassic Park because that shit is over 20 years old and it still really, really holds up, better than the stuff in a lot of current movies, even.
Fucking witchcraft, man.
Practical! Effects!
joehillsthrills:
eartheal:
littlez13:
I always struggled...
I always struggled drawing hands before anyone told me what to do. So here is a HANDy dandy drawing reference to see the steps on an actual hand. There are three big muscles in the palm. The thumb lump is most important because without it you’ll never even get the shape right. Circle up the knuckles and draw bendy lines (red) to connect them. Make sure the fingers go from medium-tall-short-shortest just slightly (index=>pinky finger). Notice the big red squareish shape around the palm-that’s the first thing I do. Note: every infer has 2 knuckles don’t forget the thumb does too…just in a weird way.
HOLY SHIT
I’m re-posting this so it’s on my tumblr and I can reference it as needed, because I am an awful fucking cartoonist, but I live in hope.
"[Editor’s Note: The author of this piece is a former Marvel employee and wishes to remain..."
[Editor’s Note: The author of this piece is a former Marvel employee and wishes to remain anonymous.]
Disney does not care about Marvel’s female market, which makes us virtually invisible. I could probably populate Pluto with the amount of Princess items Disney makes. But where are Gamora and Black Widow? This exclusion of women from Marvel movie merchandise is completely purposeful. I know; I was there.
While working at Marvel post-acquisition, I saw a deck circulated by Disney’s Brand Marketing team. I’m prohibited from sharing the slides, but the takeaway is that, unlike the actual demos, the desired demographics had no females in it whatsoever. I asked my supervisor why that was. Ever the pragmatist, he said, “That’s not why Disney bought us. They already have the girls’ market on lockdown.”
I’d entered the comics industry because I was a comics fan. It hurt to see so plainly that to Disney, people like me didn’t matter. My demographic was already giving them money anyway, with Disney Princess purchases. Even now, there’s no incentive to make more Marvel merch for women, because we already buy Brave and Frozen products.
This does not come as a surprise, really. Anyone who knows about branding and marketing can tell you how most gender-skewed business models work (and most businesses are gender-skewed). It starts when we’re babies. Blue for boys, pink for girls. Separate, but equal. Sound familiar?
Disney bought Marvel and Lucasfilm because they wanted to access the male market. To achieve this goal, they allocate less to Marvel’s female demo, and even less to a unisex one. They won’t be interested in changing how they work until consumers understand what’s going on.
So let’s delve deeper into how licensing works. To obtain a Marvel license, you typically have to be a successful company with access to big distribution channels, like Wal-Mart, Carrefour, Target, Tesco, etc. Marvel sometimes licenses to smaller companies, but the contracts work the same. There’s a minimum guarantee, royalty rates, and a payment schedule.
Most contracts never fall below $100K for a minimum guarantee, and large companies like Hasbro will pay millions over the course of a few years. Royalty rates vary by style guide and distribution channel. Movie style guides tend to have a higher rate due to actor likeness fees, and the standard royalty rate is about 12%. To pay Marvel $25K, a licensee has to make over $208K. Moreover, they need to pay their employees and manufacturers and make a profit. For Marvel movie properties, licensees need to make as much money as possible in a short amount of time. Movie characters are hot only for a few months, so both Disney and the licensees will resort to what they know best: the “separate, but equal” strategy.
Now that my short intro into licensing is over, how do we change things? When complaining about the lack of Black Widow, don’t just tweet at Marvel and Disney. Contact the licensees. They need to know there is a high demand. They need those numbers. Look into companies like Mad Engine, Hasbro, Jay Franco, etc. Look at the tags and find those companies. Demanding Frozen products for boys would be a balanced, conjunctive step.
Another route is to create your own company and get a licensing contract. 3D printers for clothing will soon be available. Save enough capital to buy one and you could flood the market with apparel that feature the Avengers, Justice League, and Guardians of the Galaxy as they were meant to be: co-ed teams.
Personally, I don’t think we need Marvel, DC, or Lucasfilm to pave the way for us. Giants will only move when there are other giants around. For example, when an indie film becomes successful it makes waves and influences the rest of Hollywood. HerUniverse and WeLoveFine are already successfully paving the way for women’s licensed clothing lines. We need more independent content that spotlights women heroes, super or otherwise. Hellboy, Wanted, and The Green Hornet didn’t break into the billions, but they are good examples of putting another horse in the race.
Content is queen. The most lasting way to change what’s around you is to create something new. So, comics creators —especially women—more spectacular women superheroes who headline their own books from Image, Dark Horse, Oni, Top Cow, you name it, would also be incredibly helpful. And indie pubs, make those comics and pitch them to Focus Features, Lionsgate, New Line and so on.
It’s time to start getting creative about our strategy. Let’s all brainstorm and share tactics. In the immortal words of Audre Lorde: “The master’s tools will never dismantle the master’s house.” It’s time to make our own tools.
”- Invisible Women: Why Marvel’s Gamora & Black Widow Were Missing From Merchandise, And What We Can Do About It
(via fyeahmcublackwidow)
September 30, 2016
dggeoff:
wxmyn:
what makes you think that jesus, a man murdered by police, would support darren...
what makes you think that jesus, a man murdered by police, would support darren wilson
OH SHIT
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