The Ultimate Superheroines Forum

Do you love one more than the other? Love both for different reasons? Who are your favorites of each group?

I have favs in each group.

Are you asking whether we prefer a straight-up parody of a DC character such as Wonder Woman or similar analogue characters such as Ms. Americana and Princess Paradise?

I personally have some reservations about producers using the actual Marvel and DC characters. All it would take would be for DC/WB or Marvel/Disney's lawyers to flex their legal muscle and a load of producers would suddenly be left unable to sell their back catalog and stockpiled unreleased videos.

In addition to being safer from legal threats, I also find analog characters more interesting as a concept. They're instantly recognizable as being (loosely) based on the Marvel and DC originals, but they're not bogged down with mainstream continuity. This gives producers more freedom and flexibility to do their own thing while still having a character who kinda resembles Wonder Woman.

Besides, I miss the good old days of creative parody names such as Flesh Gordon and Dale Ardor.

They've each got their appeals - like Heroine Addict said, parody characters certainly provide more of a legal shield, and even let you mingle elements of different characters. Ms. Americana, for instance, arguably owes more to Adam West's Batman (down to her secret ID's initials!) than she does to Lynda Carter's Wonder Woman.

But, being addicted to Don's works as I am, I've got an inherent bias toward "mainstream" heroines, if only because of how rarely he writes them. Ah, does absence ever make the heart grow fonder...

I've dabbled with the mainstream characters so if I get a C&D I can just take them down and it doens't sink my business. Some producers would be destroyed.

Plus I'm not sure how well a Wonder Woman based movie does vs say a star spangled heroine loosely based on WW. I like the later since the former has been so empowered now that capture/sex is practically impossible. Gal gadot's version resisted a God and she walked around fine breathing toxic pepper gas.

Heroine Addict wrote: ↑

8 years ago

In addition to being safer from legal threats, I also find analog characters more interesting as a concept. They're instantly recognizable as being (loosely) based on the Marvel and DC originals, but they're not bogged down with mainstream continuity. This gives producers more freedom and flexibility to do their own thing while still having a character who kinda resembles Wonder Woman.

Yeah this is why I like knockoffs better. The audience knows what to expect, but the writer doesn't have to perfectly match everyone's expectations of the original character. We know what happens when Supergirl goes near green rocks, but if green rocks (or even a different color of rocks) have a different effect on The Flying Brick, nobody gets mad.

I can go either way when it comes to WW. Having a different version of her with a name is fine. With those I like to see how her powers and weaknesses change up. With Supergirl though, I usually perfer her to a parody version. Just because she’s my fav and I want to see her rather than Star Girl or something

I'm loving that there's so much appreciation for the original parody heroines... Obviously, given I work as a sidekick to Ms. Americana lol