Tuesday, January 29, 2019

Representation Matters

I read on a Lego blog (based in Australia) that Lego released a special Chinese New Year set, but only in the Asia-Pacific region. So none of us in the rest of the world can buy it, and when I checked the Lego website all they had was some stupid, ugly Blockhead thing. This is so unfair! Not just China, but many Asian countries celebrate Lunar New Year, because they are on the Lunar Calendar. This set could have sold to many immigrant communities in America, Europe, etc. but Lego completely missed this opportunity.

This reminds me of how Mattel made a big deal out of announcing 16 or so inspiring women Barbies for Women's Day, but only 3 of those dolls were ever offered for sale. What was the point of making all those diverse dolls like Chloe Kim, if you're not going to sell them to the Asian parents craving dolls to give to their daughters?

Anyway, on Black Lightning, they finally killed off Khalil after teasing several last-minute efforts to save him. I guess they finished their redemption arc on him, but I'm so relieved that the show's pace picked up with Henderson meeting Gambi, Grace reuniting with Annissa, and Tobias finally assembling a new team of henchmen. After his sister died and then Syonide died, all Tobias ever did was blame Khalil and terrorize him, expecting him to fill all roles including that of Lala who had also died. Everything slowed to a crawl, and the repetition of his bullying got old fast. Finally Tobias is moving forward with his evil plans and though he's still cruel, he's got more people now to spread his evil around. With Jennifer using her powers more, hopefully the show will be more watchable and less bleak. They've gotta find something to do with Lynn, though.

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