npr:
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 Wars toys, 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 Wars figurine 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.
Bedspread? No Rey. Disney store display? No Rey. Barnes and Noble bobbleheads? No Rey. Walgreen’s 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.
#WhereIsRey? She’s On Her Way, Says Hasbro
Photo: David James/Lucasfilm
If manufacturers refuse to make Rey toys and merch, it seems to me that the perfect response would be for fans to start screenprinting and 3d printing and distributing their own.