While looking at random Harry Potter merchandise at Universal Studios, I found a cart full of pins. They had a lot of neat ones, including house pins and prefect badges. Though the latter was only for Gryffindor and Slytherin, which is a constant source of annoyance for me. I want Ravenclaw stuff, dammit!
Then I spotted a Head Boy badge. I started searching for a Head Girl badge, but couldn’t find one. I asked the person working the cart, thinking they may just be out. Nope. She and her coworker said that they only make Head Boy badges, and they agreed that it didn’t make any sense. They wondered when they’ll eventually make a Head Girl badge too.
…Sigh. I know in the grand scheme of things it’s dumb and insignificant, but it’s the little things. How hard is it to include the ladies? It’s one thing to exclude houses that the majority of people (wrongly) think are stupid or boring or crappy or insignificant, but why exclude a gender that the majority of people… oh. :\
Dammit. That’s just depressing.
I mean, REALLY depressing. A lot more so than I was expecting.
A part of me wants to be snarky but I just can’t muster the energy, even though the jokes write themselves.
I want Ravenclaw too! And here I thought I was the only one! (I didn’t really think that, I just hadn’t actually heard anyone else say it before.)
Oh, all right, I’ll tell the jokes. Maybe it will make me feel better.
*ahem*
“No ‘Head Girl’ badge? But then how will they know who the Head Boy is dating?”
“But now the only way I’ll be able to do my Hermione cosplay is find a red-haired boy whose arm I can hang off of…”
Nope, not working. These are awful and they’re making me feel worse.
Bullshit on both counts, but the Head Boy badges are especially perplexing. They probably have a lot more nerdy girls than similarly nerdy boys reading Harry Potter and shopping for HP-themed merchandise. They would accordingly make more money off Head Girl badges.
You could so be Head Girl of Ravenclaw too. I think the shirt alone proves it.
I wonder whether J.K. Rowling knows about this. How very ironic that merchandise for a series *written by a woman* leaves out its female fans.
I see what you did there
The books even mention Head Girls explicitly, by rank and by name, so they canonically exist and matter. Harumph.
Penelope Clearwater, she was Head Girl, right? I had a dream that she left Percy for his owl. My fan fiction writing brother told me that was the most brilliant crack pairing ever.
Ravenclaw!
Pshaw!
Hufflepuff has the best parties!
No way, ravenclaw parties have trivia contests and word games and then we have a contests to see who can make up the longest spells (german is good for this) and then we play apples to apples only with magic apples that talk and sometimes we larp wizard chess and oh my fsm I’m a HUGE nerd when I started I was kidding but this all sounds like so much fun!
Hufflepuff parties you prolly all just eat food, drink pumpkin juice, and listen to music. Just like you do every other day. Boooooring.
At Slytherin parties we make long and complicated plans about how to ruin everyone else’s parti-oh I wasn’t supposed to tell you that.
>_>
LOOK A BASILISK
*runs away*
As far as I’m concerned, in the REAL Harry Potter, Harry and Hermione are both Ravenclaws. MoR, just sayin’.
Heh, so what you’re saying is, you bring a basilisk to slytherin parties and everyone gets stoned?
#FirstWorldProblems
stupid subtle sexist oversight by promotional co. that’s probably only loosely associated with Rowling and probably run by rich old white men.
she probably doesn’t see a dime for any of that merchandise, either.
Not that I’m condoning it, but Head Boy Percy was a character with a famous last name and was totally in the films, whereas Head Girl Penelewhatsit was probably only on for five seconds, if that. And probably just the back of her head. So she’s not as popular for the cosplayers.
Gryffindor!
Party more!
Hufflepuff!
Wizard stuff!
Ravenclaw!
Hell naw!
Pretty sure that’s everyone!
-Potter Puppet Pals
I’d want a Head Boy badge just to make the same jokes Spike from Buffy made about the position.
I consulted the authorities (read: my daughter) and they claim, quite officially, that Lily Evans was a Head Girl; the same about Minerva McGonagall. The authorities state also very forcefully that these are important characters, not to be treated lightly on pain of severe penalties.
Off the record: the authorities are known to be wrong sometimes, so corrections will be appreciated. On the other hand, they are rarely wrong about Harry Potter as far as I know …
Get out of my head, Charles.
Oh, one more addition: the authorities have just stated that Slytherin is the best, because Malfoy is a sweetie. I know it sounds like a major disappointment to most of you, but yes, unfortunately that’s official too.
I was going to say that no head girls were mentioned by name in the novels, but this just shows that I wasn’t paying attention. My bad.
I am the only person I know who wants to be in Hufflepuff. Stouthearted, honest, loyal…I’d be honored to be so selected.
I hate to be the first to go there, but I know it’s on at least some of our minds…doesn’t it seem a bit freudian to walk around with a badge naming yourself “head girl”? I’m too classy to make jokes about it, but it seems to me a major gaffe.
According to the Harry Potter Wikia entry for Head Boy, canonical Head Girls include Minerva McGonagall and Lily Evans as well as Penelope.
Googling around, there is another badge style that has both “Head Boy” and “Head Girl”; the “Head Boy” style shown above seems to have been the style worn by Tom Riddle aka whatshisnose. So maybe it was made with just Tom Riddle cosplay in mind.
Presumably it’d be a welcome vacation from the boob jokes. O.o
Nymphadora Tonks was the total Hufflepuff package. I bet they do have the best parties, but the only thing I’d worry about is their tattoos… you gotta be careful with those magical tattoos, and since Hufflepuff is the outsider house, you know they’ve got tons of ’em.
I also noticed that lots of stuff at the park seems to be either Gryffindor or Slytherin. But I’m in Ravenclaw!
I saw the carts and bought journals from them. However, I didn’t notice the Head Boy pin, though of course I agree with you they should definitely have a Head Girl pin as well. Hermione’s one of my favorite characters from the story, and I remember being really happen when I started reading the books that there’s an intelligent girl as one of the main characters. Why would they just leave out (a) something that’s in the story and (b) a very large percentage of the fans?
Scriptural evidence of Lily being Head Girl:
[Hagrid to Harry] (J. K. Rowling, Philosopher’s Stone, Ch 4, p. 45)
Personally I think we ought to contact Universal Studios about this (hopefully unintentional) oversight. http://www.visitorsatisfaction.com/contactus/
Sending in my questions right now.
Ravenclaw for the win! The blue matches my eyes.
I want to get a Ravenclaw House Tie. I have a Ravenclaw iron-on patch on my backpack, but the zippers died and I haven’t worked up the spell to fix them properly.
Will no one defend Slytherin? It’s the only house I’d consider joining.
Slytherin!
Let me in!
>:-)
No, PZ, you will be joining Ravenclaw like everyone else.
Ravenclaw is the best. On Pottermore, there was no question that I was going to be sorted there when I took the personality test.
Universal Studios really should have Head Girl badges, too. For equal representation, of course, but also because the female characters in the books rock.
I see boob jokes as more annoying because nothing has been done to elicit them (aside from having boobs)…but pinning something on yourself that’s suggestive in that way is opening yourself up to testosterone-fueled innuendo; if that’s the sort of humor that annoys a person, then said person shouldn’t invite the jokes (and yes, I also think it’s a bad idea for young men in skinny jeans, multi-colored scarfs, and a penchant for carrying wands to pin something on their chests labeling themselves as “head boy”). It may not seem fair to be labeled in such ways, but that we don’t live in a just world doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be realistic about the world in which we live.
Ravenclaw FTW!
Merchandising issues are generally fairly complicated with Harry Potter stuff. Warner Brothers doesn’t usually commission merch, manufacturers ask them if they can make stuff.
At the Infinitus convention there was a panel with a Borders (RIP) merch rep and she was asked what was up with the lack of Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff merch. She told us that the retail shops (such as Borders) and even the WB would LOVE to have more of these, but the manufacturers don’t feel enough would sell. Which is of course non-sense.
Then you have the issue of regional merchandising. Each region of the world gets different merch contracts. So there is TONS of HP stuff being made in Japan/England/Germany, etc. that is not legal to be sold here.
So the question is who is commissioning the merch for Universal? Is it through WB merch department with a sub category for the theme park (because of the tons of exclusive theme park only merch) or is Universal handling it itself using rules and guidelines by WB?
On a side note, regarding the lack of proper house products. The WWoHP is still actually the best place to find merch for the other houses. In particular I bought an amazing huge rubber Ravenclaw magnet, and an INCREDIBLE Ravenclaw beer stein.
That being said, the lack of a head girl pin is still awfully stupid.
So wow. Universal Studios just called me and they’re forwarding my complaint up to management. The Head Boy badges are a brand new item and the representative says that the each new bit of merchandise has to go through a screening process and be approved by JK Rowling before being presented to the public. He’s hoping that the Head Girl badges are on their way but hasn’t heard anything specific.
That’s pretty awesome that Universal got back to you. Please keep us up to date on anything else you hear from them!
Huzzah for Ravenclaw! I knitted a Ravenclaw scarf for my niece; she’s very proud of being different than everyone who has Griffindor scarves, and also of being intellectual. Also she’s pleased to be in the same house as I. :)
I’m with you, PZ! Slytherin forever!
One of my most prized possessions is a hand-made full-length Slytherin scarf with my name knitted into one end… in futhark runes.
I have odd friends.
It’s very warm and wooly though. Good for Wisconsin winters!
HUFFLEPUFF!!!!!!!!!!!
The search process is extremely simple and can be done very effortlessly. All you have to do is to get the private information of the individual from the records. Then you start searching the details against the databases that are present. There are some criminal databases that are present for a city and there is a national one too, that has a list of criminals from all more than the country. The Background Check helps you to check if the individual whom you are checking is a component of this database.
First off: Haha, “whatshisnose” nice. Secondly: Where did you find these head boy AND head girl badges? Because I’m looking for some for my Maid of Honor and Best Man.
This is still an issue, I was at the Harry Potter studio tour in the UK on Friday and they had Griffindor and Slytherin Head Boy badges but no Head Girl ones, when I asked I was told they had “run out”.