Star Wars: The Force Awakens revolves around the story of staff-wielding scavenger Rey.
(That's hardly a spoiler; she's front-and-center in the movie poster, after all.)
But in the world of Star Warstoys, Rey's been hard to find — and fans took to social media, under the hashtags #WheresRey and #WhereisRey, to complain about all the movie merchandise that left her out.
Target's Star Warsfigurine 6-pack? Finn, Chewbacca, Poe, Kylo Ren and two unnamed characters: a Stormtrooper officer and a First Order TIE fighter.
Central heroine: Nowhere in sight.
Avengers set - no Black Widow
— Jamie Ford (@JamieFord) November 12, 2015
Guardians set - no Gamora
Star Wars - no Rey. She's THE MAIN CHARACTER. #WheresRey pic.twitter.com/TvYUeiA49o
Hasbro's "Battle Action" Millennium Falcon? Comes with Chewie, Finn and BB-8: Rey's gotta hitch another ride.
"The soccer ball gets more love," complained one fan on Twitter.
Bedspread? No Rey. Disney store display? No Rey. Barnes and Noble bobbleheads? No Rey. Walgreens shelves? No Rey.
In some of the Rey-less displays, her products might not have been stocked by individual stores — or may have sold out.
But in many other cases, toys featuring her simply hadn't been released.
The new Star Wars Monopoly game was one of the most egregious offenders. It features four characters: Finn, Luke Skywalker, Kylo Ren and Darth Vader.
That's two characters from the new films, and two from the classic trilogy, says Hasbro. Or to look at it another way, that's — OK, OK, nowit's time for a spoiler warning from here on out —two key characters from The Force Awakens, one dude who's on screen for, like, a minute tops, and one character who is literally deadand appears only as a crumpled helmet and a super unhealthy hero-obsession.
And no Rey, the star of the film.
The Monopoly game was targeted by many #WheresRey tweets — and by a letter from an 8-year-old fan who pointed out Rey's essential role in the film's plot.
.@JillPantozzi .@Epbot 8 yr old asks Hasbro, How could you leave out Rey in SW Monopoly?! #WheresRey pic.twitter.com/PGMzJWWrhy
— Carrie Goldman (@CarrieMGoldman) January 4, 2016
After the backlash, Hasbro has set a new course.
"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 game company said in a statement. The news was first announced by EW on Tuesday night.
Hasbro said Rey was not initially included in the game to "avoid revealing a key plotline" — an argument some found specious, since she was clearly going to be a central character based solely on early promotional materials.
(And as The Guardianpointed out, Hasbro's explanatory note was clearly not written by a true fan: They confused the Rebel Alliance and The Resistance in their statement.)
Hasbro also points out that Rey is featured in Star Wars-branded games of Hands Down, Guess Who and Chess, and that two new Rey action figures will be arriving in stores this month.
Meanwhile, Lego featured Rey in its line from the start — as a standalone figure, with her speeder and as part of the Millennium Falcon set.
All three products are currently out of stock.
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