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A fun fast paced start to what has the potential to be a very good new comic series!

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Originally published at NBC Asian America

I am an avid toy collector, and every few years I like to take stock of the number of action figures that feature Asian American and Pacific Islander characters. When I started doing this in 2009, it was difficult coming up with enough figures to fill out a Top Five list. Fortunately, it has become much easier to populate these lists since AAPI visibility in pop culture has dramatically increased in the intervening years. In fact, I actually had a difficult time winnowing down this year’s list since there are so many AAPI action figures from which to choose! Moreover, nearly every slot on the list is populated by female characters, which hopefully puts to rest the fallacy that girls don’t buy action figures.

Sabine Wren from Star Wars: The Black Series (Hasbro)

Last year, when Stars Wars: The Force Awakens merchandise flooded stores across the globe, one character was conspicuously missing from most shelves. Though Rey was the lead protagonist of the billion-dollar-grossing film, toys featuring Daisy Ridley’s likeness were few and far between. This discrepancy launched a public outcry and was documented on social media via the #WheresRey hashtag. For this year’s Rogue One launch, Hasbro and other licensors were sure not to make the same mistake and had Felicity Jones’ Jyn Erso prominently included in everything. (For what it’s worth, since Rogue One finally features Asians in space, you can also get three different Asian characters from this film alone!)

While we will have to wait until next year’s Episode VIII to see action figures featuring Kelly Marie Tran, you don’t have to wait to get Star Wars figures of a kickass Asian female protagonist. Sabine Wren, one of the heroes of the animated Star Wars: Rebels series, is not only coded as a woman of color on the show, she’s also voiced by Indian American actress Tiya Sircar. And now her character finally gets the deluxe treatment of the collector-friendly Black Series line. In addition to multiple accessories — including a removable helmet! — this six-inch figure gets the detailed sculpting and paint applications fans have come to expect from Hasbro.

Silk, Ms. Marvel, and Nico Minoru from Marvel Infinite Legends (Hasbro)

Speaking of Hasbro’s line of deluxe six-inch action figures, this year has seen a number of Asian American heroines make their plastic debuts in various waves of the popular Marvel Legends line. Earlier in the year, in a wave dedicated to Spider-Man and his allies, Hasbro released its first ever figure of Cindy Moon, aka Silk. Last month, as part of a wave of figures tied to the theatrical release of Doctor Strange, saw the release of Nico Minoru, a fan-favorite character from the critically lauded Runaways comic. But the hottest item on the list by far is Kamala Khan’s Ms. Marvel, also making her first appearance in the line.

Agent Daisy “Quake” Johnson and Agent Melinda May from Pop! Vinyl (Funko)

Hoping to join their fellow Marvel super heroines under the tree this year are the Funko Pop versions of the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Chloe Bennet’s Daisy Johnson and Ming-Na Wen’s Melinda May. In the last few years, Funko has cornered the collectible market with thousands of officially licensed pop culture characters that all sport the same iconic chibi design. Seriously, everyone loves these figures. If you’ve ever been to one of the major Comic-Cons, you’ll see the lines at the Funko booth rival those of the most star-studded Hollywood panel. For our favorite Asians of S.H.I.E.L.D., the Pop! Vinyl style is the only way to currently get a mini-Chloe Bennet or mini-Ming-Na for your desk at work.

Katana from DC Multiverse: Suicide Squad and DC Super Hero Girls (Mattel)

Over the last few years, DC Comics has been determined to make Katana the company’s most prominent Asian superhero. In addition to prominent roles on Cartoon Network’s Beware the Batman animated series (voiced by Sumalee Montano) and on The CW’s Arrow (played by Rila Fukushima), Katana was also a featured member of this summer’s blockbuster Suicide Squad film and a core member of DC Super Hero Girls, a multimedia initiative including middle grade novels, animated webisodes, and toys designed to get young girls interested in superheroes. At this year’s Comic-Con International in San Diego, Mattel offered an exclusive Katana “action doll” — complete with multiple accessories, rooted hair, and elaborate window-box packaging — that quickly sold out. Fortunately, Mattel has just released the DC Super Hero Girls version of Katana in six-inch action figure form. And according to the author Lisa Yee, Katana is next in line for a solo novel due in July.

Moana’s Island Adventure and Moana’s Ocean Voyage (Lego)

It’s no coincidence that Disney stakes out Thanksgiving weekend every year to release its latest animated behemoth to dominate cinemas — and merchandising just in time for the holidays. Think Frozen or Big Hero 6. This year’s entry is no exception. Moana has been atop the box office since its opening weekend and has already crossed the $100 million mark domestically.

Of course, a Disney Princess movie would not be complete without waves of related merchandise. Your local toy store will have shelves lined with all kinds of dolls and figurines. My favorite, though, are a couple of Lego sets that allow kids to build and recreate two key scenes from the film, as well as mini-figures of Moana (Auli’i Cravalho) and the demi-god Maui (Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson). It’s important to note that there has been a lot of criticism from Pacific Islander communities about how Disney is using Moana to commodify and capitalize on Polynesian culture. Moana’s inclusion on this list is not meant to defend the actions of our corporate overlords. Still, I’m glad that kids of color who love Legos and Disney Princesses finally have one who looks like them at least.

For the first time since I started doing these AAPI action figure lists, I’ve reached the end but could still name at least a dozen more figures. Perhaps that’s symbolic of the gains Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders have made in the greater pop cultural landscape.

Despite being sworn in as a United Nations Honorary Ambassador for the Empowerment of Women and Girls in October, Wonder Woman will soon step down from her post. The appointment, which would have […]

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Spotify listeners—ever wonder who’s behind creating the R&B/Soul playlists? Mjeema Pickett, Spotify’s Global Programming Head for R&B, serves as the curator for the most soulful playlists on Spotify including Are & Be, Gold Edition, and Soul Coffee, which generate over 2 million streams per month.

Prior to joining Spotify, Pickett programmed music videos on VH1Soul for 10 years and became the director of music for both VH1 and VH1Soul in 2012. During her tenure, she oversaw the development and creation of music video playlists that aired on the channel. Before that, she had a long stint in radio, where she really dug in and began to develop her expertise. Her ongoing passion and knowledge for R&B and Soul music helped to propel the careers of many artists.

I sat down with Pickett at the music streaming service’s NYC office to get the details on artist discovery and how she curates some of the most popular playlists on Spotify.

What is your process in discovering new artists? Do artists pitch you directly?

I use different kinds of ways. I look at my social media to see what people are talking about, and I’ll also go to blogs just to stay up with everything.

I’ve been in the business so long. There may be some kind of middle person to make the introduction, like a radio promotions person I knew from my radio days or a publicist that I knew from working at VH1.

You stumble across a song that peaks your interest. What’s next?

I’ll listen and think about what playlist the artist could fit in. I manage around 25 playlists. Some songs that may fit the ‘Soul Coffee’ playlist may not fit into ‘Gold Edition’. A new artist could go into ‘The Newness’ but the song won’t fit into ‘Chilled R&B’ I go into evaluating the song or artist by looking at the playlist hypothesis.

Full stop. Let me explain what the hypothesis is according to the Spotify curator. The hypothesis sets the stage for the mood and experience for the end user/listener.

How do you determine the hypothesis?

With R&B, it’s pretty much a feeling. R&B and Soul is a mood. It gets you going.

For instance, if you’re going to curate R&B playlists, you have to have the good throwback playlists. That’s a given. People love their throwbacks; people love the memories. We curate playlists like I love my 90s and the 80s. I also know that you have to have your slow jams. (Folks do love the slow jams.)

But then there’s ‘Soul Coffee’. I love that playlist because you can sit down at home, have coffee, work or chill to it. It’s just good quality music. It’s the new good stuff, but I sprinkle some old hits in there too.

Sidenote: Pickett refers to ‘Soul Coffee’ as the urban coffeehouse playlist and it’s the perfect description. That’s what she envisions for all of the playlists—to match perfectly the mood with the music.

Even with ‘Soul Lounge,’ it’s great for chilling; you know, you may not listen to it while getting ready in the morning but maybe during happy hour, or when you get home from work and you’re winding down or just hanging with your friends.

Can you tell us about the testing process after you decide to add an artist to the playlist?

We get research instantly—that’s the cool thing about Spotify that is different from my years in TV and radio. In radio and TV, you have to wait a week for call out research or different types of reports. But with the data analytics we use here, we can find out within a day if a song is working; we know how many people skip it, we know how many people listen, and how long they listen. We can see all the activity—on the playlist as a whole or individual songs.

So how long will you leave a song like on a play to test it out?

It depends if I see potential. It’s really case-by-case. A song might be a little new, so you want to give it a chance to breathe or people to get familiar with it. Or 80 percent of listeners skip it, so you know it’s not working.

Case in point—Check out the Spotify #2016Wrapped listing. The data shows the most popular songs and artists on the platform. 

Pickett is excited about what’s to come next year for Spotify. A few developments are in the works, but as I listen to Pickett, the focus is all about the end user, as curator access to instant feedback continues to evolve the listening experience. Check out some of the R&B playlists on Spotify and see for yourself.