Where's Rey?

I recently read an article by Leonard Pitts and saw a few videos all regarding the same topic –Where’s Rey?

If you haven’t heard about this fiasco, long story short, Hasbro excluded all toys featuring the character of Rey in their lineup of toys for Star Wars: The Force Awakens. The toy manufacturer claimed that including Rey in their toy lineup would spoil plot points. This is a complete load of crap because she is featured in the trailer, masked and unmasked, and is seen within the first fifteen or so minutes of the movie. I think this is ridiculous and I don’t understand why they chose this route.

I was very surprised to hear that this is not the first time that Hasbro has excluded female characters from their toy lines. This happened with Gamora in their Guardians of the Galaxy toy lineup as well as with Black Widow in their Avengers toy lineup. Perhaps they think that these fantasy/action movies are more geared toys males and that the young boys in their target demographic would not want to play with toys depicting female characters. I don’t know. I thought we were past the gender divide, but maybe these heads of corporations think otherwise.

Personally, I think it is extremely important for female representation in toys for little girls, especially in such a popular and well-known property like Star Wars. Rey may be a creation of the Mouse House, but she is no Disney Princess. It’s fine for little girls to aspire to be princesses and want to wear frilly dresses and tiaras, but it’s not often that they have a female role model that breaks this stereotypical mold. Rey is a scavenger, a pilot, and she’s not afraid to get dirty and fight for what’s right. I think she’s a brilliant role model for women everywhere, not just little girls, and the toys should reflect this.

I’m hoping that Rey does not turn into the next Slave Leia. Personally, I don’t see the problem with Leia’s slave outfit. It’s a representation of what she was at the time, a slave. Unfortunately, Leia has been turned into a sex symbol because of this and it’s all people seem to think of when they think of Leia. They forget that she is a strong, wise, witty, and tough adversary for the Rebel Alliance, who is now the leader and general for the Resistance. At the moment, Rey has not been given any provocative outfits and I don’t know why she’d ever need them. Besides, she’s a Disney Darling now, so it’s a long shot that that would ever happen.

A second wave of toys has been released, including Rey, so all of this controversy should be silenced.