She is the latest Star Wars hero and a hit with old and new generations of fans. But too often the plucky scavenger and pilot Rey has been found missing from toy shelves, a decision by retailers the director JJ Abrams has called “preposterous and wrong”.
The director of Star Wars: The Force Awakens reportedly said he wished he had been given more details about merchandising and merchandising schedules, during a Saturday press tour promoting his Hulu project, 11.22.63.
Entertainment Weekly quoted him as saying: “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 merchandising.”
Fans of the character, played by the British actor Daisy Ridley, have used the hashtags #WheresRey or #WhereIsRey to campaign against toy manufacturer Hasbro and retailers such as Target, which have prioritised less prominent male characters over Rey.
A Hasbro toy version of the Millennium Falcon is accompanied by Chewbacca, Finn and BB-8 figurines, and a Target figurine pack has Kylo Ren, Chewbacca, Finn, Poe Dameron, a stormtrooper and a TIE fighter pilot.
The current version of Star Wars Monopoly features four characters: Finn, Kylo Ren, Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader but no Rey. Abrams said that when he learned of the omission, he quickly began making phone calls. “It doesn’t quite make sense why she wouldn’t be there. She’s somewhat important in the story,” he said.
Hasbro made an about-turn on Thursday, announcing a future edition of the Monopoly game featuring Rey. “We love the passion fans have for Rey and are happy to announce that we will be making a running change to include her in the Monopoly: Star Wars game available later this year,” the company tweeted.
