“Star Wars: The Force Awakens” has already done much to give the world a new female action hero – the first female protagonist in the “Star Wars” saga, Rey. The film also passes the Bechdel test, which simply needs to have a movie with at least two female characters speak to each other about a topic other than a man.
However, the “Star Wars” merchandising team apparently didn't get the memo that Rey, played by Daisy Ridley, is the heroine of the box office record-breaking movie because she seems to be inexplicably missing from many toy sets coming out in conjunction with the movie.
The latest culprit to cut out Rey is the new “The Force Awakens” themed Monopoly set from Hasbro. The new circular-shaped board is a new look for the popular money-dealing game which features characters from “Star Wars” as game tokens instead of the classic pewter pieces.
Available to play are tokens of newcomers Finn, Kylo Ren, and familiar classic Trilogy characters, Luke, and Darth Vader – notably, Vader doesn't even appear in the new film except for his burned mask on Kylo Ren's shrine, and the figure of little Luke looks more like his attire from “The Empire Strikes Back” rather than his Very Lonely Luke hermit get-up.
Why is the protagonist of the film not featured? That is the question many fans are in a furor about.
On Twitter, the hashtag #WheresRey has resurfaced because of the Monopoly set. Previously, toy collectors were mystified why many action figure sets, like one sold at Target, for example, would feature a random TIE Fighter and Stormtrooper rather than the lead character of the movie herself.
One woman even posted this perfect handwritten letter from an eight-year old to express the world's collective disappointment at the omission of this great new female hero that a new generation of girls – and boys! - can look up to.
8 yr old asks, How could you leave out Rey in SW Monopoly? @LetToysBeToys @HasbroNews @PigtailPals #WheresRey pic.twitter.com/EnOs56PQE5
— Carrie Goldman (@CarrieMGoldman) January 4, 2016
In a statement sent to Mashable, Hasbro said Rey was not included to avoid revealing a key plot line in the movie.
Meanwhile, some Rey action figures are in such limited quantity yet have such high demand that toys which originally retailed at $10 are now surfacing online at a ballooned price of $45 or more – proving that there is indeed a market for female action figures and to not include Rey in “The Force Awakens” toy merchandising is simply mind-boggling and unjustifiable.
