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Where’s Rey? Insider Says Vendors Removed Star Wars Character to ‘Improve Sales'

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Joni

Member
I find it hard to believe that Disney (makers or Frozen) bought Lucasfilm and gave them this much rope to hang themselves by avoiding female merchandising. This is the same company that erased the EU for product synergy.

I don't find it hard to believe that the company that ignored Black Widow and Gamorra ignored Rey.
 
Did they stock her in relatively equal numbers at the toy's launch? If it doesn't sell enough to justify restocking, then that's that. If demand were there, retailers wouldn't turn their noses up at the money and Hasbro or whoever would be pumping toys out in a rush to avoid lost sales. Boys not wanting "girl" toys is a societal problem they shouldn't have to bear beyond neutral advertising and store placement, imo.

Rey's assortment in the figure case releases was equal to that of other characters like Kylo, Phasma, etc in the same action figure releases. Typically one Rey per case, no different from Kylo and company. The demand for Rey is obvious though, and it seems they needed to pump out more Rey toys it shows. Course the currently releasing wave of toys has a bunch of Rey in it now, so things will be changing.


Its anecdotal, but I've been to Toys R Us, 3 Wal-marts, Best Buy, Target, and Gamestop, and seen Kylo Ren shit everywhere, and 0 Rey.

If Kylo Ren is selling out it sure as hell ain't where I live (Atlanta).

Because Kylo has been the focus of the toy lines, hes not going to sell out since hes gotten the most push of anyone and has most toys of anyone produced. Is he selling poorly? No, hes just on everything, including this years banner header on every SW product.
 

NekoFever

Member
No boy wants to be given a female toy?

Are they sure?


12540986914_b07ece954e_b.jpg

She's impersonating a male there, to be fair.
 
It's not like this is news either, though - Disney is doing the same shit with Marvel movies and the female characters there. Black Widow, Scarlet Witch and Gamora are notably absent from a lot of merchandise and promo material.
 
Its anecdotal, but I've been to Toys R Us, 3 Wal-marts, Best Buy, Target, and Gamestop, and seen Kylo Ren shit everywhere, and 0 Rey.

If Kylo Ren is selling out it sure as hell ain't where I live (Atlanta).

I think his Infinity figure is selling well next to TFA starter pack which comes with Rey and Finn but that's because his character is OP as fuck in the game. When the figures came out Kylo was immediately sold out at my nearest Best Buy. Poe is definitely the lowest selling.

I find it hard to believe that Disney (makers or Frozen) bought Lucasfilm and gave them this much rope to hang themselves by avoiding female merchandising. This is the same company that erased the EU for product synergy.

There have been speculations that the only reason Disney bought Marvel was so they can attract more of the male demographic since they already have female buyers. That's starting to sound true for Star Wars.
 

Nev

Banned
Don't a lot of Lego sets have Rey though? I have that set with her and her transport thing (and a tusken lol). I wish she had the lightsaber but I understand why they wouldn't put it in.

Lmao @ thinking that dumbass Kylo Ren
(who bitch-killed his fucking father which happens to be one of the most loved characters in the franchise, that was his death sentence for being a liked character for the public)
would be more popular than Rey or Finn, everybody I know hates him except for one 17yo newly self-proclaimed otaku who thinks Sasuke is a "fantastic" character, whereas I haven't heard a bad thing about Rey; everybody likes her.

Just fire the ones in charge of these decisions.

It's not like this is news either, though - Disney is doing the same shit with Marvel movies and the female characters there. Black Widow, Scarlet Witch and Gamora are notably absent from a lot of merchandise and promo material.

Those have nowhere near the importance of Rey though, since she's the main character of the movie and evertything revolves around her one way or another. It makes even less sense here.
 
Did they stock her in relatively equal numbers at the toy's launch? If it doesn't sell enough to justify restocking, then that's that. If demand were there, retailers wouldn't turn their noses up at the money and Hasbro or whoever would be pumping toys out in a rush to avoid lost sales. Boys not wanting "girl" toys is a societal problem they shouldn't have to bear beyond neutral advertising and store placement, imo.
The demand is there. The product is not. Thus why kids and their parents are complaining about lack of choice.

Girls play with star wars figures too anyway :/
 

Christopher

Member
The demand is there. The product is not. Thus why kids and their parents are complaining about lack of choice.

Girls play with star wars figures too anyway :/

The product is there...there are Rey action figures...and my son loves to play as her in Disney infinty due to her staff.
 

BibiMaghoo

Member
The demand is there. The product is not. Thus why kids and their parents are complaining about lack of choice.

Girls play with star wars figures too anyway :/

You do realise that this position of not making female action figures is based upon decades of having the product and there being no demand right? The original star wars figures and leia are a notorious example of this. They could not sell them at all. I mentioned this in other threads but it has always been this way for other toys also. Transformers, females did not sell. Visionaries, females did not sell. Thundercats, females did not sell. It's not like they are trying to be bastards about it, but that decades of trying has made such companies wise to a simple fact.

Boys do not want girl toys, and it is boys that are the market for such things. That is not to say I approve of them simply not trying, but people are ignoring the reasons why it is the case. It's not about equality, it's about making money.
 
The demand for more Kylo toys probably came from when that first teaser trailer came out and everyone talked for months about Kylo's lightsaber. We dissected that saber and his character.
 

lenovox1

Member
You do realise that this position of not making female action figures is based upon decades of having the product and there being no demand right? The original star wars figures and leia are a notorious example of this. They could not sell them at all. I mentioned this in other threads but it has always been this way for other toys also. Transformers, females did not sell. Visionaries, females did not sell. Thundercats, females did not sell. It's not like they are trying to be bastards about it, but that decades of trying has made such companies wise to a simple fact.

Boys do not want girl toys, and it is boys that are the market for such things. That is not to say I approve of them simply not trying, but people are ignoring the reasons why it is the case. It's not about equality, it's about making money.

But that's the thing, Rey is not a "sidechick." I get that they hadn't seen the movie. But it's insanely shortsighted to not prominently feature your main protagonist in merch, and that's all there is to it.
 

Farsi

Member
lol it's 2016. Women play a huge role at the box office. Of course they relate to the only female hero in the movie and the little girls want her toy.
 

Shaanyboi

Banned
You do realise that this position of not making female action figures is based upon decades of having the product and there being no demand right? The original star wars figures and leia are a notorious example of this. They could not sell them at all. I mentioned this in other threads but it has always been this way for other toys also. Transformers, females did not sell. Visionaries, females did not sell. Thundercats, females did not sell. It's not like they are trying to be bastards about it, but that decades of trying has made such companies wise to a simple fact.

Boys do not want girl toys, and it is boys that are the market for such things. That is not to say I approve of them simply not trying, but people are ignoring the reasons why it is the case. It's not about equality, it's about making money.

a) she is literally the main character

b) your examples are from the 70's and 80's


Show me some relevant examples to back this up.
 
It's going to be damn hard to buy toys for my kids when we have them. No gendered pink or blue shit.

It'll probably just end up being Lego and video games.

I make a concerted effort with my wife to give our daughters (4 and 3) non-pink toys, and cool shit (superheroes, star wars, etc...). I was fucking livid when I went to 5 stores and found 1 piece of Rey merch (the one with her face covered up on her speeder).

Its bullshit. These marketing execs need to do their job and quit relying on outdated perceptions.
 

Farsi

Member
Lmao @ thinking that dumbass Kylo Ren
(who bitch-killed his fucking father which happens to be one of the most loved characters in the franchise, that was his death sentence for being a liked character for the public)
would be more popular than Rey or Finn, everybody I know hates him except for one 17yo newly self-proclaimed otaku who thinks Sasuke is a "fantastic" character, whereas I haven't heard a bad thing about Rey; everybody likes her.
.

You're gonna really piss off KyloGAF with this one, but it's true.
 
You do realise that this position of not making female action figures is based upon decades of having the product and there being no demand right? The original star wars figures and leia are a notorious example of this. They could not sell them at all. I mentioned this in other threads but it has always been this way for other toys also. Transformers, females did not sell. Visionaries, females did not sell. Thundercats, females did not sell. It's not like they are trying to be bastards about it, but that decades of trying has made such companies wise to a simple fact.

Boys do not want girl toys, and it is boys that are the market for such things. That is not to say I approve of them simply not trying, but people are ignoring the reasons why it is the case. It's not about equality, it's about making money.

You do realize the reason that this has happened for years is people being sociologically trained to think girls need pink princess shit while boys get everything else, right?

The reason girl toys never sold is because girls were not taken nor allowed through the boy toy aisles (I have seen this firsthand, its disgusting) - and boys would pass by the girl toys which were often boringly made (reference the princess leia figure posted earlier) and go for the cool looking ones.

This has all changed. Your example wasn't even correct back then (in its reasoning) and definitely isn't now.
 
kids don't even play with toys anymore, let alone girls.

kids as soon as they are conscious get iPads so they can watch all the explicit rap videos and porn they want

kids don't like toys or cartoons or video games. they like drake and porn
 

Shaanyboi

Banned
Don't a lot of Lego sets have Rey though? I have that set with her and her transport thing (and a tusken lol). I wish she had the lightsaber but I understand why they wouldn't put it in.

Lmao @ thinking that dumbass Kylo Ren
(who bitch-killed his fucking father which happens to be one of the most loved characters in the franchise, that was his death sentence for being a liked character for the public)
would be more popular than Rey or Finn, everybody I know hates him except for one 17yo newly self-proclaimed otaku who thinks Sasuke is a "fantastic" character, whereas I haven't heard a bad thing about Rey; everybody likes her.

Just fire the ones in charge of these decisions.



Those have nowhere near the importance of Rey though, since she's the main character of the movie and evertything revolves around her one way or another. It makes even less sense here.
B-b-but... she's a Mary Sue!
 
As far as the first in that picture, she had figures she was just not in that one collection bundle.
As far as the Falcon, many are not included. Hell HAN is not even with the Falcon. What's up with that.

She's the fucking main character - it would make more sense for her it to be a pack of 5 variations of her in different outfits than to not have her at all.

Same applies to the Falcon. Han is on it about half the time Rey is, and not once does Finn do a damn thing on it except help fixing 1 thing (badly) and shoot a TIE.

kids don't even play with toys anymore, let alone girls.

kids as soon as they are conscious get iPads so they can watch all the explicit rap videos and porn they want

kids don't like toys or cartoons or video games. they like drake and porn

you'd make a better marketing exec than these shills
 

Shaanyboi

Banned
I go to amazon and just type 'Rey' and see lots of Rey toys, including several types of figures.


Is this really a thing?

I don't know that most kids are getting their stuff from Amazon. And even so, a toy existing vs. being made available to retailers are two separate issues.
 

shoreu

Member
Blatant sexism. Another disgusting example of feminazi discrimination against men.

Wait, what?


Don't talk shit about Kylo. He has an actual history and arc and coherent motivations in TFA. A great, flawed villain who was clearly set up to evolve into a more intimidating adversary. Justified angst doesn't automatically equal emo, Jesus.

Wrote this post to Linkin' Park.

But seriously, I mean what I said.

I'll never respect or be intimidated by that child .
 
kids don't even play with toys anymore, let alone girls.

kids as soon as they are conscious get iPads so they can watch all the explicit rap videos and porn they want

kids don't like toys or cartoons or video games. they like drake and porn
That's raising your kids right.
a) she is literally the main character

b) your examples are from the 70's and 80's


Show me some relevant examples to back this up.
I don't think there were any April O'Neil toys when TMNT 2014 came out. But then again who would want a toy of a porn star?

Edit: Oh shit! Never mind. She even comes with sais.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00ITKVKGG/?tag=neogaf0e-20
 
I don't know that most kids are getting their stuff from Amazon. And even so, a toy existing vs. being made available to retailers are two separate issues.

Amazon is a retailer.

Also kids get stuff from parents, who do shop online, on the biggest online shop there is.
 

Misha

Banned
You do realize the reason that this has happened for years is people being sociologically trained to think girls need pink princess shit while boys get everything else, right?

The reason girl toys never sold is because girls were not taken nor allowed through the boy toy aisles (I have seen this firsthand, its disgusting) - and boys would pass by the girl toys which were often boringly made (reference the princess leia figure posted earlier) and go for the cool looking ones.

This has all changed. Your example wasn't even correct back then (in its reasoning) and definitely isn't now.

Girls don't play with certain toys because they're boys toys
they're boys toys because girls don't play with them

C3PO: Because he's holding a thermal detonator!

:)
i'm impressed
 
Where I live, there were Poe Dameron and bb-8 toys everywhere before christmas , now there are just a few, I dont know if Kylo Ren, Finn or Rey sold well, because it seems to me that the stock remains about the same for those. Anecdotal of course.
 

Farsi

Member
So glad the public is speaking up about this. It's about time we had a market response to complaints about the "boys don't like girl characters" line they keep pulling. Sorry Hasbro the mob has spoken. You can quit being afraid to try new things now.

Damn right. Boys love girls toys. I'm one of those boys.

Za9MSWv.png


It's small but it'll keep growing.
 
'No boy wants to be given a product with a female character on it.'

What the hell is this backward-ass thinking? Boys often play with so-called feminine toys. It's only after some idiot tells them "that's for girls" that they stop. Children don't come programmed to play with exclusively dolls or footballs, yet society forces them into these corners.
 

wildfire

Banned
I don't think kids really care. If the character is cool, the character is cool. Regardless of everything else.

Boys do like to play with masculine toys and girls like to play with feminine toys. That still doesn't mean Rey shouldn't have been made in the first place. Nothing in Star Wars says it's for guys/boys only even in the original trilogy.
 
Boys do like to play with masculine toys and girls like to play with feminine toys. That still doesn't mean Rey shouldn't have been made in the first place. Nothing in Star Wars says it's for guys/boys only even in the original trilogy.

No.

Do you have kids? Even if you do - do you realize that statement is inherently wrong?

My daughters love Star Wars, Marvel, DC, etc... (4 and 3 yrs old). My 4 yr old is OBSESSED with the Hulk.

Can you name a character more "masculine" than the Hulk? He's so masculine he is a raging green muscle monster every time he gets pissed.

They bypass Barbies in the toy aisles completely. My oldest daughter's favorite SW character is Kylo Ren.

That statement = not true, at all. It only becomes true after social conditioning.


"I bet he weighs like 30 pounds soaking wet under that little black dress of his."

I heard Kylo Ren has an 8-pack. That he's totally shredded.
 
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