Star Wars: The Force Awakens director J.J. Abrams has heard pleas from the #WheresRey campaign. And he’s not happy about the lack of representation for the star female character.
During holiday shopping, most couldn’t turn a corner without Star Wars merchandise staring them in the face. However, one character seemed to be missing from a lot of the merchandise focus which many, including myself, assumed the popular lead character Rey was sold out due to high demand. But we’ve recently learned Rey has been purposely left out of some merchandise.
Let’s take a look at one of the biggest omissions for a game of Monopoly; Notice anyone missing?
The set features Darth Vader, Rylo Ken, Finn and Luke Skywalker. But not Rey. Maybe this is just a coincidence? After all, the set clearly has two of the good guys and two bad guys.
But as more fans started to notice a trend, a social media campaign dubbed #WheresRey started snowballing, especially after this 8-year-old girl’s letter. In an attempt to control a PR situation that could quickly turn bad, Hasbro released the following statement:
“The Star Wars: Monopoly game was released in September, months before the movie’s release, and Rey was not included to avoid revealing a key plot line that she takes on Kylo Ren and joins the Rebel Alliance.”
So adding Rey to Monopoly would have spoiled the plot but adding a Storm Trooper in Finn with questionable allegiance to “the good guys” doesn’t give away any story lines? Got it.
As if that wasn’t enough, we also have this exclusive toy set featured at Target:
I mean…what the hell?
I’ve stated previously about my disdain for the lack of choices when it comes to action figures little girls can look up to but to exclude THE STAR OF THE MOVIE from one of the biggest premiers in entertainment history is inexcusable.
Many on social media have become increasingly vocal over the lack of Rey merchandise and that messaging made its way to the ears of The Force Awakens director, J.J. Abrams.
Talking with Entertainment Weekly, Abrams commented on the #WheresRey situation:
“I wish I had more details about merchandising and the schedule,” he said. “I’m learning things as you are. I will say that it seems preposterous and wrong that the main character of the movie is not well represented in what is clearly a huge piece of the Star Wars world in terms of merchandizing. […] I read that she wasn’t in the Monopoly game and was quickly making phone calls about this because if it were true — and it is true, and now Hasbro, of course, has said they’re going to put Rey in — it doesn’t quite make sense why she wouldn’t be there. She’s somewhat important in the story.”
The “somewhat important to the story” comment by JJ is essentially asking these companies just what the hell they’re thinking. Not only have they overlooked a central character from a blockbuster movie but they’ve also missed out on a huge revenue stream over the holidays when demand is at its highest.
Luckily, it seems these companies have heard the cries because while Toys R Us still marks Rey toys as “for the boys,” Hasbro announced a new wave of merchandise debuting later this year.
Hopefully “This should begin to make things right.”
