First Impressions of Gal Gadot's Wonder Woman

As part of their Comic-Con panel, Warner Bros. gave us the first look of Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman (who will not be receiving her own film, but having a glorified cameo in Batman & Flying Batman's film). Because I'm a huge Wonder Woman fan, I thought I'd give my initial impression of the costume. 

Honestly, I have rather mixed feelings about the costume. I really like the look and the shape of the costume, having always preferred versions of the Diana's suit that possessed a skirt. However, I absolutely hate the heels. Adding heels to Wonder Woman's outfit was a horrible idea and whoever made that decision should be slapped. hard. 

Also, I getting really sick and tired of all the desaturated pictures coming out of DC and Warner Bros. They're trying so hard to be "dark" and "edgy", but it just looks dull and lifeless to me. Would it be too much to have at least a little color once in awhile? 

What do you think of Gal Gadot's Wonder Woman costume? Do you like it, do you hate it, or are you indifferent? 

Legend of Korra Going Digital: My Thoughts & Concerns

Art by Bryan Konietzko

Bryan Konietzko, the co-creator of Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra, posted this picture to his Tumblr page after the news broke that Nickelodeon would cease airing two episodes of The Legend of Korra per week, and would be pulling the last five episodes from its airing schedule.

The other co-creator, Michael Dante DiMartino, also made the following comment on his Facebook:

"Hang tight, Korra fans. There is 1 new episode this Friday at 8, then the rest of the season will be available from various sites online. We'll let you know when we have more details. Thanks!" 

As one might suspect, this announcement has sent the Korra fanbase into a crazed frenzy. Many fans feared Nickelodeon had decided to cancel the show mid-season. While that doesn't seem to be the case, the specifics are still shrouded in mystery and we will not know anymore until after the Korra panel at this year's Comic-Con in San Diego. If you'd like to keep yourself up to date about The Legend of Korra and the developments around this announcement, I suggest checking out AvatarSpirit.com.

Personally, I have very mixed emotions about this. Part of me is saddened by the news that I won't be able to tune in on Friday nights to watch two new episodes of Book 3. While that airing schedule was a little strange, I kind of like getting two doses of Korra goodness. Also, I wish they could give us more concrete answers about which websites will be hosting the Korra episodes, when they'll be posted, and what this means for Book 4 (which is nearing the end of its production).

However, another part of me wonders if the move to digital might be a godsend for the series. Its not secret that Nickelodeon has treated The Legend of Korra horribly. They've screwed with the scheduling, bungled the advertisement for it, and have shown almost no confidence in the series. I've always found this odd, especially considering that The Legend of Korra is the sequel to one of the most successful cartoons of the past decade, was highly rated, and probably raked in a lot of money for Nick. You'd think they'd give the creators more benefit of the doubt because of that. Apparently you'd be wrong.

What do you think? Do you think the move to digital will be a good or bad thing for The Legend of Korra? Also, what do you think of Book 3? Do you like it, or not? I'm personally enjoying it a lot at the moment.

*UPDATE* We've received some clarification about what will be happening with this move to digital. Beginning on August 1st, the remaining episodes of Book 3 will be appearing weekly on Nick.com and the Nick app, as well as platforms like Amazon, Google Play, Xbox, and Hulu.

Random Musings: Why Changing a Character's Ethnicity Isn't a Bad Thing

The New Sentinel of Liberty!

While on The Colbert Report last week, Marvel's CCO Joe Quesada revealed that Sam Wilson (a.k.a "The Falcon") will be taking on the title of Captain America this fall. When Marvel teased that Steve Rogers would be passing on the iconic shield, many people speculated that Wilson would be the one to receive it due to his longtime partnership with Rogers. Although many fans are happy with the announcement and excited to see this new take on the Sentinel of Liberty, a very vocal minority of fans have cried foul.

These "fans" labelled the decision as disrespectful to Captain America's legacy, believing the move is just an obvious ploy to pander African American fans and nothing more. These people are most likely the same people who criticized the decision the introduction of Miles Morales as the Ultimate Spider-Man or the casting of Michael B. Jordan as Johnny Storm in the upcoming Fantastic Four reboot. They see this decision as a slight against their favorite character, believing this change in ethnicity is is going against the true nature of the character due to the character almost always being depicted as a white guy.

Of course, this belief is total bullshit.

Yes, Captain America has almost always been depicted as a Caucasian male. However, there is nothing about the character that requires him to be that ethnicity. Captain America's core concept is a hero that truly believes that a person should always do what's right, no matter what the cost is. As long as the character remains true to that concept, their ethnicity (or gender, for that matter) shouldn't matter in the slightest.

Captain America is Captain America, whether its Steve Rogers or Sam Wilson behind the mask.

Also, I find it weird that some fans find it hard to accept an African American as Captain America, but will easily buy a world where a teenager can be bitten by a radioactive spider and gain superpowers or a scientist can accidentally combine the DNA of Tomas Edison with his pet cockatiel, creating an anthropomorphic bird genius. They can accept that, but find Captain America being black too much. I can't be the only one who sees the problem here, can I?