#WheresRey? Star Wars Fans Search For Missing Protagonist In Merchandise
Recently, Star Wars released a family friendly game as a part of their merchandise licensed through Hasbro, Star Wars: The Force Awakens Monopoly. You have the option to play as one of four characters from the series: Darth Vader, Luke Skywalker, Finn or Kylo Ren.
Sounds cool right? Two characters from the Dark Side and two from the Light? Well not quite.
It’s come to many fans’ attention that Rey, who is no doubt the protagonist of the series, is missing from much of the Star Wars merchandise, including this popular game.
Fans are pretty upset about the oversight and have taken to social media to ask #WheresRey – a movement which is starting to trend on twitter as a result the lead characters missing whereabouts. Users want to know why and how Hasbro, thought to give airtime to Darth Vader (who basically doesn’t make the film) and neglected to include the hero of the movie.
As Legion of Leia points out, this isn’t the first time Hasbro has forgotten about some of the female leads in their licensed merchandise. They previously forgot Gamora was part of the Guardians of the Galaxy team and even left Black Widow out of all the Avengers sets. What is going on?
Can someone tell @DisneyStudios that they forgot a character? #WheresRey pic.twitter.com/ccVCbgUONp
— Becky Coutts (@Couttsbw) December 19, 2015
Others are asking why department stores, particularly Target in the US, aren’t marketing Rey or the film franchise itself to many of Star Wars’ inspired young female fans. Not only is Rey is missing from the t-shirts, games and some figurine collections, but Star Wars memorabilia can only be found in the ‘boy’ section of the store. As @LizRugg mentions on Twitter, “It’s not just that Rey is not marketed to boys, #StarWars is not being marketed to girls.”
https://twitter.com/LizRugg/status/683767512077484032
Social commentator Clementine Ford recently took to facebook to air her frustration, pointing out the strangeness that you can play a character that is no longer a part of the series (ie. has died 30 years ago), yet not Rey.
In this edition of Star Wars VII Monopoly, you can play one of four characters: Luke Skywalker, Finn, Darth Vader or…
Posted by Clementine Ford on Sunday, 3 January 2016
Although, to be fair, Rey is not missing entirely from merchandise. So far, Rey collectables include several t-shirts, a plushie (cuuuute), an action figure which also includes her speeder, and some costumes for the kidlets. So there is some stuff out there, but some argue it’s not enough considering the film basically follows her journey.
Representation Matters. #Rey #WheresRey #StarWarsTheForceAwakens pic.twitter.com/sZEbWARz61
— Matthew A. Cherry (@MatthewACherry) December 29, 2015
Maybe there’s a plan for more Rey merchandise to be released soon? If consumers are willing to buy more, there’s no doubt brands will answer to that demand with more Rey for everyone! I mean, how could you not cater to fans like this:
https://twitter.com/CarrieMGoldman/status/683819496759537664/photo/1?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw