The lack of Daisy Ridley’s Force Awakens character in Star Wars Monopoly had some fans asking, “Where’s Rey?”
Welcome to our first Most Craved episode of 2016! On this, our 84th episode, we’re asking a question that has been asked by many a Star Wars fan this week, “Where’s Rey?” Daisy Ridley’s The Force Awakens protagonist is missing from Hasbro‘s new edition of Star Wars Monopoly. Is this lack of representative indicative of an increasing gender inequality in merchandising or is there another explanation? Regular hosts Jenna Busch of Legion of Leia and William Bibbiani of CraveOnline investigate in the player above! Our own Silas Lesnick is out on assignment this week, but he’ll be back on Most Craved soon!
The “Where’s Rey?” question was initially answered by Hasbro with the following statement:
“The Star Wars: Monopoly game was released in September, months before the movie’s release, and Rey was not included to avoid revealing a key plot line that she takes on Kylo Ren and joins the Rebel Alliance.”
It’s certainly true that efforts were made to suggest that John Boyega’s Finn was going to emerge from The Force Awakens as the movie’s preeminent Force sensitive character. Finn was the only hero character featured with a lightsaber in the trailers and on the D23 poster. Now that we know the full story, however, fans are left to wonder if keeping Rey’s lightsaber skills a surprise ultimately did more harm than good. What’s more, this instance isn’t the only case of female characters being removed from the spotlight when it comes to all manner of genre entertainment merchandise.
The good news for fans asking “Where’s Rey?” is that Hasbro has already announced that future editions of the Star Wars Monopoly game will include the character. Rey also appears in a variety of different currently available toy versions, including as 3″ PVC figures, LEGO minifigs, as a Disney Infinity gamepiece, several Funko Pops and, from Hasbro itself, in the classic 3.75″ inch line, the 6″ Black Series and the 7″ Disney Store Exclusive Elite Series line. There’s also a very impressive Hot Toys version that should be available soon.
Unfortunately for some fans, the popularity of Rey (who is also often packaged with the similarly popular BB-8) has Rey in short supply on a lot of store shelves. Have you been able to find the Rey toys you or your children want in stores or are you still asking “Where’s Rey?”
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