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A site called “Sweatpants and Coffee” has just posted an anonymous insider whistleblower report on the Where’s Rey? controversy that has seen the main character of the world’s most popular movie left out of the toys for that movie: in January 2015, a number of toy and merchandise vendors descended on Lucasfilm’s Letterman Center in […]
“Princess toy sales are in freefall. Disney can’t give away princess toys anymore,”
Really? I’m pretty sure we’re still in the middle of Frozen-mania.
When I was a kid I would never of bought a Rey doll, its like a barbie, stop being a femnazi men relate to male characters, end of.
Yes, Rey is hard/impossible to find in stores, possibly indicating that they didn’t produce enough of her toys, but if you look at what’s been made, though out of stock, you’ll see that Rey is fairly well represented. Given that, I can’t take a claim that vendors were specifically told to exclude her seriously. (That said, I really need them to get the Black Series figure back in stock.)
I know another “anonymous insider” doesn’t help the case, but it is absolutely true that this was an intentional decision on Disney & Lucasfilm’s part. You won’t find anyone willing to go on the record to corroborate this because the companies that rely on those lucrative licenses are legally (and professionally) bound to keep their client’s decisions private.
Hasbro has taken so much heat for this when their hands were tied. The same is true for all of the Avengers merch; Disney bought Marvel & Star Wars specifically to be their “boy brands”, and the people making decisions are determined to keep their brands gender specific, regardless of the wide appeal these properties and characters demand.
“They put a huge investment into marketing and merchandizing the Kylo Ren character. They presumed he would be the big breakout role from the film. They were completely surprised when it was Rey everyone identified with and wanted to see more of. ”
This is the first believable “anonymous insider” line I’ve read so far. And not just because every store I go to has boxes and boxes of Kylo Ren stuff on the shelves, a few Stormtroopers, and almost nothing else. It fits with the mentality – who’s going to be the breakout character? The one that looks the coolest. Who has the coolest look? Why the guy with the facemask and lightsaber, duh!
The idea that Rey might turn out to be the coolest character might not have even entered their thoughts. These are toy executives after all.
When I was a kid it would have been weird to have Luke, Han, Vader, Ben, Chewie, and Greedo action figures, but not Leia.
“Eventually, the product vendors were specifically directed to exclude the Rey character from all Star Wars-related merchandise, said the insider.”
Ben Trigg: “Yes, Rey is hard/impossible to find in stores, possibly indicating that they didn’t produce enough of her toys, but if you look at what’s been made, though out of stock, you’ll see that Rey is fairly well represented.”
As an uninformed observer, I can only note that the only way these two statements could both be true is if the product vendors specifically ignored direct instructions to produce no Rey merchandise. Failing that, either this anonymous insider is lying or at best grossly exaggerating, or commenter Ben Trigg is lying about the product sent to market. I’m inclined to believe commenter Ben Trigg.
This is what happens when the sales and marketing people make the decisions. They are so caught up in there stats and numbers that they forget they are selling things to people, things based on a story. In this story, Kylo Ren murders one of our favorite heroes of all time, and Rey is the hero who fights him and will surely bring him to justice eventually. Mythology over metrics, people. Of course we identify with her more.
I don’t know what all the fuss is about exactly, it seems like this all came from the fact that she was left out of the Monopoly game, but it’s not like she’s been left out of anything anyone actually cares about (action figures and Lego sets, Pop! figures, etc).
She was part of the first wave of each type of figure released by Hasbro (3.75″ and 6″), her speeder was one of the first vehicles released, her Funko Pop! and Hot Toys figures were released along with all the other main characters from the movie, her speeder was one of the first sets that Lego put out (her minifigure was available in the Millennium Falcon set as well), and her build-a-figure Lego set is among those released along with the other main characters from TFA.
I think it’s just a matter of supply not meeting demand; when you have one character everyone wants but comes one or two per case and is mixed in with random aliens and droids that didn’t have a single line in the movie you’re not going to be able to find it anywhere. I’m not saying Disney hasn’t screwed up on this a bit in the past (just ask any fan of Black Widow action figures) and for all I know this could be legit, but I don’t think it’s as big a deal as it’s being made out to be.
The only figure that I know I can find when I go to the toy aisle is Finn. Nobody buys Finn.
#blackactionfiguresmatter
I love it when I’m right.
http://geekdad.com/2016/01/wheres-rey/