These Aren't the Toys You're Looking For: #Where'sRey?


So Star Wars came out, and it was amazing. I won't spoil anything for you, but you should
I'm all for Frylo Ren here, but I'd
also like a Ms. Po-Rey-To Head.
Image Source
definitely see it.

Unfortunately, this post is about something I haven't seen. It's missing from toy departments all over the country. It's Rey. You know-- Rey! The main character. The awesome girl who kicks some real butt and stands up to the Dark Side baddies? The girl who can repair space ships?

As I wondered through the toy section of Kohl's the other day, the trending discussion of missing Rey toys was confirmed. The aisle was filled Star Wars merchandise, but no Rey. There was even a Kylo Ren Mr. Potatohead... and no Rey.

Let's have a little flashback to my childhood to share why this issue causes me so much rage.

It's 1998. The Star Wars trilogy is playing for a second time in theaters, and I'm out-of-my-mind excited. I've seen the movies before, but not on the big screen. A large-scale movie rerelease also meant something else-- toys! With the rerelease of the movies, Star Wars toys were everywhere! My sister and I had a Millennium Falcon, some Ti-Fighters and X-Wings, and-- the crown jewels of our collection-- the action figures. One of the action figures, however, was ultra special-- Leia.

This looks like the coveted Princess
Leia that my sister and I had.
Image Source
My sister and I were all about Luke and Han, but Leia was a girl. she kicked butt, gave orders, and had some serious strength. We usually shared action figures-- we had one Luke, one Han, one Chewie, etc-- but there were two Leias. We didn't share Leias.

So why can't girls now have the same experience? Why are toy companies so reckless and uncaring? Rey is the main character of the movie. Would you leave Katniss out of a Hunger Games action figure set? No!

The toy companies have responded with the argument that "boys won't want to play with a girl action figure." Really? There are two things wrong with this argument. One: Boys are not the only half of the population who plays with toys. Two: Yes, boys will want to play with the Rey action figure-- because she's awesome. I didn't only play with the action figures of girl characters as a kid. If I had, I would have only had one toy...

Overall, this was hugely disappointing. Hopefully toy companies can learn from this mistake and fix it for the release of the next Star Wars movie.


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