Hasbro added Rey to their Star Wars: Monopoly game after an 8-year-old called them out
“Without her, there is no Force Awakens,’’ the girl wrote. “It awakens in her!’’
Call it a correction to the balance of The Force.
Hasbro, the multinational toy and board game company based in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, has drawn intense social media criticism this week for omitting the female protagonist of Star Wars: The Force Awakens from the film’s Monopoly game.
Fans of the newest film took aim at the toymaker for not including Rey, a scavenger from the planet Jakku who encounters a droid on the run from The First Order, as one of the game pieces. Instead of the thimble, battleship, iron, and dog, Hasbro included original trilogy protagonists Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker and new film stars Finn and Kylo Ren as the movable tokens.
Late yesterday, the company announced they had reversed course, and would be adding Rey as a playable character to the game, citing the fandom’s “passion for Rey.’’
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Many social media users who expressed their anger online using the hashtag #WheresRey, including this letter posted on Twitter by author Carrie Goldman from her eight-year-old daughter, Annie Rose.
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Hasbro later issued a statement to Entertainment Weekly and responded to Goldman’s tweet, saying that Rey was not included because the game was released months before The Force Awakens hit theaters, and they did not want to spoil the experience for moviegoers.
(Warning: If you have not seen the movie, the following statement contains a small spoiler.)
“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,’’ Hasbro wrote.
Why including Rey means that a major plot point is spoiled remains unclear. But customers who bought the game on Amazon weren’t afraid to express their displeasure, as noted by The Wrap.
“Really? You DON’T include a ‘Rey’ game piece to use with this?!?!’’ one user said in a review. “Why this game left out ‘The Force Awakens’ main protagonist baffles the mind … and is inexcusable. This is even more inexplicable given that Disney and Lucasfilm have stated they are pushing for more ‘girl power’ and strong females in the movies. And … only four players can play the game?“
“It is (as has already been stated multiple times in these reviews) RIDICULOUS and SEXIST that of the four playable characters, there are no women,’’ another buyer wrote. “Rey is the protagonist of the film, for crying out loud!’’
Luckily for these fans, this disturbance in The Force has been quelled.
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