It’s July, which means San Diego Comic-Con is just around the corner! This year, I’m making my triumphant return to San Diego, so stay tuned as we’ll be announcing various NOC-related events and gatherings all week. Just follow #SDNOC on twitter.
Continue reading “Announcing Racebending’s Annual Super Asian America Panel for SDCC 2018”
Even though we originally wanted him to play Peter Parker in Civil War, there’s a new campaign to get Ryan Potter a live action superhero role. As previously discussed, #RyanPotterForTimDrake is the latest fan-led hashtag that’s gaining steam on the internet. Part of the reason is because Potter himself has been very vocal about it. So he came on Hard NOC Life to talk about what it means to be Robin. Just in time for #BatmanDay!
In this case, “all time” refers to two years. You see, today marks the second anniversary of the official launch of the site. Since that time, we’ve amassed dozens of contributors, hundreds of articles, thousands of readers, and hundreds of thousands of views. It’s humbling, and as the site’s lead editor, I want to thank each and everyone who has made the Nerds of Color what it is today, two years later.
So before we move forward into Year Three, I wanted to look back at the last two, and share ten of the most read posts in the history of the blog. Also, if you haven’t already, be sure to follow us on twitter and Facebook where we’ll be sharing links to these classic posts all week. Anyway, on to the countdown!
Over the weekend, The Hollywood Reporter revealed that Marvel Studios had not yet cast the role of Peter Parker — who is either going to have a cameo or a pivotal role in next summer’s Captain America: Civil War before launching into his own franchise within the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Back in April, news sites were reporting Ender’s Game star Asa Butterfield was the frontrunner for the role, but Marvel is still screen testing several young actors.
One young actor who isn’t being tested — but should — is Ryan Potter who is best known as the voice of Hiro Hamada in Disney’s Big Hero 6. And I’m not the only person who thinks so!
Continue reading “Marvel, Please Cast Ryan Potter for Spider-Man“
by Sean Miura | Originally posted at Down Like JTown
Last week was a big week for Big Hero 6. Not only did the film take home an Oscar, but its DVD and Blu-ray releases hit stores Tuesday and owned the Best Sellers list on Amazon.
I’d been anticipating Big Hero 6 since the first teaser slowly revealed a jaw-dropping rendering of San Fransokyo, the Tokyo/San Francisco hybrid that sets the stage. Though I am wary of any films that feature Asian… anything, there was a certain nostalgic familiarity in the Kingdom Hearts-style pan over the city.
Continue reading “Seeing San Fransokyo: Thoughts on Big Hero 6“
Tonight marks the official debut of Fresh Off the Boat in its regular Tuesday night time slot. Though it did pretty big numbers last week, tonight’s airing is the make-or-break since it’ll be going up against ratings behemoth NCIS — as well as our beloved The Flash. This is why god invented DVRs.
But the Huangs weren’t the only Asian American family to show up on television last week. Over on the Disney Channel, the Callistos made their debut as well with the premiere of the new Disney Junior series Miles From Tomorrowland. And just like FOTB, a precocious Asian American tween is at the center of the show.
Continue reading “Asian American Boys as the Hero? Props, Disney”
We try not to stray from the geek-o-sphere too much here at the NOC, but it’s kind of hard to deny that the one pop cultural topic that’s taking up all of the oxygen is the announcement of the 2015 Academy Award nominations, and the near 100% shut out of people of color in all the major categories1. The most egregious of these snubs was the almost complete dismissal of Selma. The Martin Luther King biopic was pretty much a lock for multiple noms for most of awards season but only managed a Best Song and a (token) Best Picture out of the deal. Star David Oyelowo and director Ava DuVernay were left on the outside looking in.
And if you need a direct connection back to the nerd world, Oyelowo provides the voice for the Star Wars: Rebels baddie Agent Kallus and Topless Robot wants DuVernay to direct a Marvel movie (something the director isn’t opposed to, by the way). So there.
Having just been nominated for a Best Animated Feature Oscar, Big Hero 6 will be available on Blu-ray, DVD, and Digital HD on February 24. Since that’s just a month away, most retailers already have the movie available for pre-order. Fred the Fanboy would be pleased to know that several different packages of the movie will be made available including The Collector’s Edition, the Target Exclusive, and the Wal-mart Exclusive.
Continue reading “Lots of Big, Nerdy Options for Big Hero 6 Pre-Order”
Hard NOC Life returns with a look at the phenomenon that is Disney’s Big Hero 6. Joining Keith on the panel are Christelle Gonzales (@christellexoxo), the newest NOC to join the fam, and comics artist David Nakayama (@davidnakayama), who penciled the 2008 Big Hero 6 comic series for Marvel and co-created Wasabi No Ginger and Fredzilla with Chris Claremont.
Continue reading “Comics Co-Creator David Nakayama Talks Big Hero 6“
It’s too bad that in making its first movie based on a Marvel comic Disney didn’t decide to take a real leap into the future, say, by making Hiro a girl…
— Manohla Dargis, The New York Times
Dear Ms. Dargis,
I was born in Vietnam shortly before the tanks rolled into Saigon and my family was forced to flee. Raised in South Minneapolis’ largest, poorest, and most racially diverse neighborhood, my father taught me to walk to the library and got me hooked on free books. Later, I would learn to run there, mostly to avoid the myriad groups of bullies wanting to beat me for whatever reason they could conjure that day, and I would read books and comics to take me far away from who I was and where I was. It is safe to say that the majority of my boyhood was spent imagining that I was anything but who I was.
Continue reading “An Open Letter to The New York Times’ Critic Manohla Dargis about Big Hero 6“
by Adriel Luis | Originally posted at Smithsonian APA NOW
This past weekend’s box office numbers are in, and Disney’s latest project Big Hero 6 stands soundly on top. This might not come as a big surprise, considering that Frozen-fever is still holding every auntie’s TV hostage — but the film still breaks ground, especially in the scope of Asian Americans in cinema. And Hollywood should take note.
Continue reading “Big Hero 6 Shows That an Asian American Cast Can Top the Box Office”
Is it possible to love and be angry at a piece of art at the same time? These are the feelings that are vying for dominance after seeing Disney’s first foray into the Marvel archives: Big Hero 6.
My daughter and I saw it in 3-D in a theater where every seat was taken by people of color. Indian, Arabs, AAPI folks, African-Americans… I’ll type it again: In the sold out theater, every person there was a person of color. It was an astonishing sight and feeling. So much of the pre-film chatter were parents talking about “feeling comfortable” bringing their kids to see a film where the heroes “finally look, well, something like them.” This was the exact same reason that I brought my daughter… and the film looked cool as hell. And it was.
Continue reading “Big Hero 6 aka Why They Do the Brotha Like That?”
This is a big weekend for nerds. Not only is Christopher Nolan’s highly anticipated, IMAX-sized space adventure Interstellar opening on theater screens of all sizes, Disney is also releasing Big Hero 6, its very first animated film based on a Marvel property since the House of Mouse acquired the House of Ideas in 2009. When the deal went down, I know a lot of fanboys salivated over the prospect of a Pixar-produced Marvel movie, and while this isn’t that, it looks pretty close.
We at the NOC have been stoked for Big Hero 6 for a while now. Not only is it the first animated Disney flick with an Asian American male lead, it’s got one of the most diverse cast of characters (and voice talents) of any Disney movie. It’s also Disney’s first post-Frozen vehicle, and just from looking at the merchandising already available, BH6 looks to be just as big, but more on that later.
Back in May, I wrote about Marvel and Disney getting ready to start a big promotional push for the upcoming animated movie Big Hero 6 later this year. At that time only a few names had been announced for the voice actors: Jamie Chung as Go Go Tamago and T.J. Miller as Fred. Maya Rudolph was announced as part of the cast but was tied to an unnamed role. Today, Disney finally announced the actors for the rest of the voice cast.
Continue reading “Casting for Big Hero 6 Goes Big on Diversity”
If you haven’t seen it yet, Disney and Marvel just released the first trailer to this winter’s upcoming Big Hero 6.
I first was introduced to Big Hero 6 while interviewing artist David Nakayama in July 2008 at San Diego Comic Con. I had asked Nakayama what he was working on for his next project, and he told me about the Big Hero 6 mini-series he was working on for Marvel in a story written by one of his all-time heroes, Chris Claremont. Set in Japan featuring a group of Japanese superheroes, Nakayama provided details about how they really wanted to emphasize a lot of Japanese style into the art of the five-issue mini-series. I was excited to hear about Big Hero 6, and picked up issue #1 a few months later when it was released.
