Shoreline Comics 419-N Shoreline Village Dr. Long Beach, CA 90802 (562) 435-7827 Local Comics Shops inspire all kinds of feelings in us. Love, loyalty, indifference, fear of the unknown. I was lucky enough when living in London to have the most wonderful LCS in Orbital Comics. Even better, the last months that I lived in…
My Best Period Ever: Thinx Are the Next Generation Menstruation Product
A few months back, I exited a subway car and came face-to-face with an ad that said, “Period-proof underwear that protects you from leaks and sometimes the patriarchy, but not from manspreading. We tried tho.” Wait, huh? I wondered as I passed underneath, transfixed (as transfixed as a citizen in a walking city can be anyway,…
Walgreen’s Wonder Woman Make-Up Collection: Beauty, Brawn, and Brains
Walgreen’s long awaited Wonder Woman collection has finally hit stores. The Wonder Woman collection includes a brush set, red lipstick, a pack of three lip glosses, an eight set eyeshadow palette, a three piece set of liquid liners in gold, blue, and black, bronzer, a pack of two nail polishes, and a “comic book” that includes lipstick, eyeliner,…
Mom’N’Pop Culture: Girl Scouts Are More Than Just Cookies
I missed my usual Mom’N’Pop Culture post at the beginning of the month, and I’m going to blame the cookies. Thin Mints, Samoas, Tagalongs, Dos-si-dos, and about four other varieties of cookies peddled by little girls wearing adorable, sometimes toothless smiles, and patch-covered vests, are to blame for every missed deadline over the past two months.
The Working Class Substitute to the American Girl Dolls
What I love and simultaneously resent most about sites and online magazines, like Bustle, Buzzfeed, The Hairpin, and The Toast, is how they fuel my childhood nostalgia. It’s like kids born in the 1980s are retroactively trying to create online fan cultures over fandoms and cultural artifacts long past their expiration date (which is really…
The Funko Phenomena
Think of this as an ode to Funko. Actually don’t, because my bardic skills are quite lacking, but my love for (read: obsession with) Funko’s pop culture collectibles ought to be quite clear soon enough.
Can Companies Criminalize Cosplay?
The upcoming Supreme Court case of Star Athletica, L.L.C., Petitioner v. Varsity Brands, Inc., et al. has a lot of people in the geek community concerned that this may be the case. The case involves cheerleading uniforms—but it does have potential ramifications for cosplay and wearable fandom items. In this case, Varsity claims that designs can be…
Final Fantasy Meets Louis Vuitton in Recent Collaboration
In another geek culture meets high-end fashion moment, Louis Vuitton recently unveiled the latest from their Spring-Summer 2016 collection which features Lightning from Final Fantasy XIII.
#WheresRey: Why Do We Still Need Fan Outcry to Get Hasbro to do What It Should Have Done in the First Place?
In a not so shocking sexist merchandising twist, fans learned that the latest edition of Star Wars Monopoly would not include Rey, the main character of The Force Awakens film. After the fan outcry, Hasbro announced that it would remedy this issue by including Rey in the updated version. In a statement to Entertainment Weekly…
Play to Date: Fallout, Women-Consoles, and Porn
Welcome to the second installation of my miniseries, Play to Date, in which we discuss the strange, perhaps upsetting, perhaps useful overlap of dating and gaming. Have your own dating/gaming anecdotes? I’d love to hear them.
Star Wars: Let’s Talk About That Metal Bikini
As the release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens fast approaches, Star Wars is, unsurprisingly, on the minds of many fans. The latest chatter stems from a rumour that Disney intends to retire “Slave Leia” from its merchandising plans. Many fans are upset by this, while others are happy to see it gone. The Slave Leia bikini…
Fitbay’s “Size Finder”: Finding a Frock in a Haystack
Shopping for clothing is one of my most hated activities. There’s nothing more upsetting for me than trying to shop in normal high street stores and trying on clothes that will never fit me. But while online shopping takes this experience out of the mix, it does have its own risks with ordering incorrect sizing…