I responded with a quick "She's not a New Warrior... yet!"
Which prompted an observation that Squirrel Girl was a running gag character (which is true) who was made into a "Tumblr fat acceptance character" by artist Erica Henderson and Marvel Comics (which was news to me). This forum member then noted "While New Warriors may be second tier Marvel, they aren't a jokey gag comic and have plenty of solid characters to compose their team. Just shows Marvel is more concerned with pushing characters no one wants to buy to meme them into success (won't work) than respecting the legacy of their IP."
Keep in mind that the New Warriors have been around for over 25 years and it's true that they have several great members such as Firestar, Speedball, Nova, and Justice. But they also have had several forgettable incarnations such as their reality TV days (where they were joined by members Microbe and Debrii) and their ex-mutant day (where they were joined by such ex-mutants as Beak and Stacy X). Plus they've had other forgettable members such as Hindsight Lad, Redneck, and Aegis. So adding a dynamic character such as Squirrel Girl really shouldn't be a huge deal -- especially since she has a romantic history with Speedball, who's a long-term New Warrior and who hopefully will be appearing on the TV show himself!
But I'm going back to the "Squirrel Girl as a fat acceptance character" idea. Is this true? I rarely go onto Tumblr, so have no clue about what happens there. But I've been a regular reader of UNBEATABLE SQUIRREL GIRL since it debuted back in 2015. I've never perceived her as a fat acceptance character, though she certainly an accepting character. That's part of her charm.
But the objecting forum member assured me that "Erica Henderson made her into a fat acceptance character by changing her from her sexier appearance into a fat and ugly character (mimicking herself)." I was then told "she wasn't a fat character, and then she made her into one."
So I'm confused. Because I don't think that Squirrel Girl is fat. Not in the least. The image up above is the most "fat" that I've seen her -- and that's because she has a human-sized squirrel tail tucked into her pants.
Here are some Squirrel Girl images from my blog -- not exhaustive, but a sample collection:
Maybe it's just me. Maybe I'm a closet "fat acceptance sjw." (I mean, it's not a stretch to image that I'm at least a low level social justice warrior, right?) What do you think? Is Squirrel Girl fat? Because I'm not seeing it.
Share your thoughts in the comments section below...