Riley Maida's impassioned discourse on the stereotype-filled marketing of children's toys -- particularly "pink stuff" -- went viral a couple years back. If you haven't seen it in the past, sit back now and enjoy watching a child explain what some manufacturers seem unable to acknowledge -- namely that "some girls like superheroes, some girls like princesses; some boys like superheroes, some boys like princesses."
Two years (and a couple missing teeth) later, the now-6-year-old isn't giving up. In a new YouTube video (watch above), she laments the lack of Black Widow-themed Avengers merchandise, saying, "It's like Black Widow doesn't even exist." The rant partly mirrors her now-famous 2011 monologue: "they think that boys wouldn't want to play with a girl action figure, and girls wouldn't want to play with boy action figures."
In an email to HuffPost Parents, Riley's mom, Sarah Maida, explained: "Riley has been outraged by this for the last six months or so. ... She does have a Black Widow action figure that we ordered online but what she's really angry about is that you can't find her anywhere in any stores."
"They even leave her off the party supplies (except for one balloon where she is in the back and half the size of the other characters)," mom wrote, "which ruled out an Avengers themed birthday party for Riley."
"If you start looking (which I have because I'd like the poor kid to get an Avengers t-shirt or something), you'll find a hundred examples of her being left off all kinds of products. I'm not really a fan of Black Widow or most of the female comic characters I see for a whole host of reasons, but Riley loves comics and I want her to be able to find female characters (even if I don't think they're perfect)," she added.
Unfortunately, Riley seems convinced that her friends are buying into the gender stereotypes she sees in the world around her: "Every kid in my school gets the message the toy stores are telling us. But the messages the toy stores are telling us are wrong."
Her closing request is one that many kids and parents share: More girls' superhero underwear, please.