Why no Disney Descendants merch for boys?!
My girlfriend and I get each other into fandoms. I got her into Star Wars, and she got me into the Disney Descendants movies, and we both share a mutual love for Harry Potter.
I watched the Descendants movies and immediately became obsessed. I went online to find shirts, toys, anything related to it, but was disappointed that the only available merchandise was for girls. I understand that this is the target audience, but it doesn't really make sense to only market it to girls considering that the main cast consists of 2 boys and 2 girls, making an equal 50% for each gender. The second film having pirates could also be a marketing tool for the male audience, so I don't understand why the only merch is for girls. I have seen this happen time and time again with other fandoms. I used to love going to Hot Topic to get t-shirts for Invader Zim, especially since this was the only store that sold any sort of merchandise for this show. I was disappointed that the store slowly phased out shirts for boys, not just for that show, but for other fandoms as well. I very rarely go to Hot Topic anymore and when I do I can't find shirts for boys that are in my fandoms. The only things I can get there are Funko POPs but that's pointless since I can get those at every store. Hot Topic used to have exclusive merchandise, and they still do, but I can no longer do business with them since I am not a girl. This sends the message that males are not allowed to express their love for fandom. The Disney Parks used to have the stereotype that "girls=princesses and boys=Pirates", but recently they have changed their image to "Both genders can be Jedi and superheroes." This is an awesome move, and I wish they would market Descendants merch to boys as well. Ashley Eckstein, voice of Ahsoka Tano, made a clothing line called "Her Universe" and I was ticked because a lot of the stuff was really cool, and I couldn't get it because I'm male. She announced at Celebration last year that the name is being changed to "Our Universe" and will now market to both genders. This is an awesome move. and I wish Disney would follow suit with Descendants. My 13 year old sister doesn't understand why I like these movies so much. I was watching the "Wicked World" shorts on Youtube and she said 'Seriously?! This is for 10 year old girls" to which I retorted 'You like anime, and you're not Japanese." She shut up and left me alone for the rest of the day. The fact is, people are entitled to like whatever they want. I remember a story Liam told about a year ago on the show about how he wanted to get a Elena of Avalor doll for Remy at the Disney store and then felt self-conscious about it afterward because some jerk gave him a dirty, judging look. It's not really anyone's business what you like or why you like it. They have no right to judge. The fact is, society is evolving. My Little Pony was for girls 30 years ago, but now we have the Brony fandom. One might argue that Star Wars and Marvel were originally for boys, but now girls are getting into it as well. Going back to what I said earlier about Harry Potter: When J. K. Rowling was trying to get it published, her publishers advised Joanne Rowling to use the initials "J.K." because they believed boys would not read a book written by a woman. (Seriously. Joke's on them now. She's a billionaire). Also, Susanne Collins wrote The Hunger Games series, which has a female protagonist, but plenty of males love it. I'm also ticked that when I do find something for boys on websites such as Hot Topic, it costs 50% more or higher than the merchandise for girls, although one might argue that's because of the gender wage gap, but that's a soapbox for another day. If I had a son or daughter, I'd let them play with whatever toy they wanted. If a boy wants to play with My Little Pony, or a girl wants to play with Hot Wheels, that's for them to decide. I hate the double standard that girls can like things intended for boys, but boys cannot like things intended for girls. Fandom is an abbreviation of "Fan Kingdom" and whether it have a small handful of members or a gazillion, at the end of the day, your fandom is your fandom, and you should feel free to express your love and passion for it regardless of gender. When Princess and the Frog came out, Disney decided to change the name of the Rapunzel movie to "Tangled" to appeal to the male audiences. They did the same thing with "The Snow Queen" (Frozen). Moana is the only one that did not go through a title change, but still pulled in the male audience by focusing on the adventure aspect of the story and the character of Maui. Descendants has plenty of male characters that boys love. Focus on Jay, Carlos and Harry. Make shirts of them, make toys of them that don't look like Ken dolls so boys don't feel self-conscious. It really makes no sense that 50% of the cast of Descendants is male. yet they alienate the male fans.