Everyone by now has seen the movie Star Wars the Force Awakens, unless you’re an avid Star Trek fan and despise anything from the light or dark side. As for the rest of us, we know that one of the main characters in that movie is none other than Rey, the scavenger who ends up playing an incredibly large and important role in the movie, so much to the point that many believe she is the new figurehead of the Star Wars franchise moving forward. But for us toy collectors we can all agree on one thing – there isn’t much Rey out there to purchase (maybe … two figures so far?) given that this movie is now the third largest grossing movie in the entire world.
The folks at Hypable.com have posted an article where they’ve spoken to an “industry insider” (who wishes to remain anonymous) who claims that the missing Rey product wasn’t accidental – that in fact, the executives of Star Wars purposely asked vendors of Star Wars product to leave the character out of their plans stating that “no boy wants to be given a product with a female character on it”. The article goes on to make a statement regarding our beloved Power Rangers franchise.
“Diminishing of girl characters is common in the industry,” the anonymous source relates. “Power Rangers asked us to do it. Paw Patrol, too.” Allegedly, this philosophy has developed into a solid mandate in the toy industry to “maintain the sharp boy/girl product division” and “marginalize girl characters in items not specifically marketed as girl-oriented.”
This sort of practice is VERY evident if you’re a Power Rangers collector – namely the missing female Ranger Keys from the Power Rangers Super Megaforce toy line, not to mention the severe lack of a Poisandra figure in Power Rangers Dino Charge and the rather poor case assortments when a girl figure is included (ie: 1 or maybe 2 total figures in a case of 12). Another case in point – the Legacy Vehicles that have been released at Toys’R’Us that feature a Saber-tooth Tiger zord but with a Green Ranger figure and not the Yellow Ranger figure. And let’s not forget the initial “purple” triceratops zord for Power Rangers Dino Charge back at SDCC 2014 to which the statement “Boys don’t want to buy pink toys” was uttered, then retracted at Power Morphicon 2014 (stating the fans had been heard), and then denied that it ever happened altogether by the end of that convention (stating it had yet to be painted … even though it was clearly hand-painted purple).
Now many would be quick to blame Bandai America for these slights. And while maybe perhaps a bit of the blame is indeed on them, the most important thing to remember is that they are simply a license holder – Saban Brands decides who gets to make product for the franchise and gives direction (and approval) on all product. That would mean that this “decision” would come from Saban Brands more than anyone else, but that the overall marketing strategy is “if your making action figures, make them for boys, and boys don’t want girl action figures”.
However – things do seem to be turning around. Bandai America stated at the last New York Comic Con that they plan to finish the Ranger Keys that were missing, specifically the girls, and more girl figures have been released (Pink Ranger, Dino Drive Pink Ranger, Dino Steel Pink Ranger, Purple Ranger, Dino Drive Purple Ranger). With such strong female characters written by the Power Rangers Dino Charge team, like Shelby (played by Camille Hyde) and Kendall (played by Claire Blackwelder) it is refreshing to see toys of these characters on the shelves.
Hopefully as we continue to progress forward and break down barriers, toy manufacturers and the executives behind the franchises will stop trying to tell us what is a boy’s toy and what is a girl’s toy and just focus on creating strong representations of strong characters and let the customers decide for themselves.
Please check out the full article from Hypable.com by clicking here
Our article - http://news.tokunation.com/2016/01/2...irl-toys-31338
Original article - http://www.hypable.com/star-wars-toy...to-exclude-rey
It's not surprising, unfortunately. It's kind of the same for the 'girl' brand I avidly follow, too (GEE I WONDER), but inverted.
I really do hate this mentality that boys don't buy female characters, but it hurts most for Power Rangers because they're a unified team. Any kid wanting to complete a team is gonna have a hell of a time as they sit with 4/5 muscle bound dudes desperately searching for the harder to find Pink ranger.
It's not at all surprising, but still rather... disgusting to know that this mindset is still such a big thing in the toy industry these days. Things are changing for the better, but really slowly.
That said, while I'm disappointed in the lack of Rey merch in some areas (Monopoly and other non-toy items), I think the backlash over the "lack of Rey" was over hyped. She's certainly difficult to find, but that has more to do with her selling so fast than it does with a lack of options for her.
It's just the situation of "MAXIMIZE PROFITS!"
But as long as it's someone raised from the GI Joe and He-Man era of toy buying at the helm, at the end of the day, things won't change.
It's a lot easier to get fans voices heard these days to rectify these problems, but it's still rather annoying that they won't fix the issue until much later in the line.
What's funny to me is that this is obviously a slight at Hasbro and their Star Wars releases, which yes are mandated by both Lucasfilm and Disney.
However, in their own franchise, Transformers, they've held two fan votes to create characters and both have been females (Windblade and now the Victorian combiner). They've also improved on their "Marvel Legends" figures having female characters more and more in the assortments and more and more available ... even if during the movie years the toys are few and far between.
This is an age old marketing thing - boys don't buy girl toys. I get it. But the only way to buck the trend is to allow the customer to make the choice instead of making it for them, leaving them to wonder "Where are the girl toys?"
Not surprising. Most younger girls don't seem to be into action shows while boys are normally are. I have a 8 year old and 12 year old second cousins don't seem to be in action shows. They are more into the live action teen drama shows on Nick and Disney Channel. While my three year old second cousin is really into stuff mainly market to boys like Spider-Man and Sonic.
So is what’s being said is that girls don’t play with boy-aimed toys?
The situation between Saban and Bandai reminds me of something I read about Hasbro and Marvel(though thankfully they seem to be trying lately.)
Even though this sadly doesn't surprise me, I still find it odd because I remember back with MMPR it seemed like they were actively trying to appeal to everyone. But maybe that was just a result of how huge MMPR was more than anything else.
Regardless, I hate that this remarkably stupid and outdated idea that either girls aren't into action, or boys don't want female characters. Both of those are complete Horseshit. Believe me, I wanted a lot of female characters when I was little. Know why? They were characters I liked, they were characters from shows and books I enjoyed. Likewise, I know quite a few women into things too often perceived as being male oriented.
Keep reading: Hypable.com - Power Rangers Executives didn't want girl toys - Page 2
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