ABSTRACT
Walk into any toy store, and the once-predominant American comic book superheroes have been demoted to the back of the store. Whether as action figures, trading cards, video games, or coloring or picture books, Superman, Batman and Robin, Wonder Woman, Spiderman—and even Donald Duck, Mickey Mouse, and Woody Woodpecker—now take a back seat to another set of mythical characters. In store windows, where the most popular and best-selling items are displayed, one finds the Pokemon characters Pikachu, Charizard, Mew, and MewTwo, along with Dragon Ball Z action figures, Transformer robots, and Gundam Wing Mobile Suit humanoid robotic fighter planes. 1
