Chances are, most of us will never be superheroes; but now, thanks to Marvel, the most painful aspect of non-superherodom (the lack of a personalized action figure, obviously) has been mitigated. Well, for some of us, anyways. Starting tomorrow, you can head to stores near you and have a Marvel action figure made, featuring your very own face. As long as you’re cool with being either Iron Man or Captain America. Sorry, girls; superheroes aren’t for you I guess.
As part of Marvel’s “Super Hero September,” Marvel and Hasbro joined forced with a 3D printing company called 3DPlusMe to bring you what could have been a super opportunity. From September 19th to September 28th at participating Walmarts and Sam’s Clubs across the US, you can plunk down $45 for your action figure doppelgänger, which will be created through a face scan and 3D printing.
According to the press release, the action figures you can choose from are Captain America or Iron Man—which super mega blows, since the 3DPlusMe machine at cons also produces MODOK and Black Widow figures. Black Widow is even visible on the 3DPlusMe website. I mean, sure, I could head to a Walmart and have my face slapped on an Iron Man doll (boom! Lady Iron Man). But for countless young girls out there who love Black Widow, who love The Avengers, who saw Guardians of the Galaxy a bunch of times because Gamora is so awesome, representation is important. The whole point of this project is to literally put your face onto a superhero; to be able to envision yourself as a hero, to immerse yourself in that narrative. Marvel, Hasbro, and 3DPlusMe are telling girls that, unless they want to become traditionally male characters, they don’t get to be superheroes. That’s for boys.
Safe to say, I’m pretty sick of this shit.
Here’s video of the 3DPlusMe machine in action (where you can see Black Widow as a printable option), from the Marvel booth at San Diego Comic-Con, and it looks pretty rad. I’m nowhere near any of these participating locations, but maybe by the time they make their way to me, they’ll have added a Nebula figure (and that’s what I really want, let’s face it).
(via Gizmodo, image via Hasbro)
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