There Is No Good Reason for Rey's Absence from 'The Force Awakens' Monopoly Game

We already know that some people are not happy that the main character of Star Wars: The Force Awakens is a woman. If sexism is rampant throughout the gaming community, you damn well better believe the same is true for the community of people whose lives pivot around the latest Star Wars film.

For instance, a group of men's rights activists called Return of Kings claims they cost Disney over $4 million in ticket sales based on a Twitter poll they conducted asking followers if the "social justice nature" of The Force Awakens affected their decision to see the film. It's a sad reality to have to confront, but yes, these people do exist.

Lunatics aside, there does seem to be a sense that consumers might not be ready to accept a woman as the one, true hero of what is becoming one of the most successful movies of all time. Daisy Ridley's Rey is unquestionably the main character of The Force Awakens—this generation's Luke Skywalker, if you will—but she hasn't necessarily been championed as such through the film's marketing. There's no better example of this line of fearful corporate thinking than Hasbro's The Force Awakens Monopoly game, which features Darth Vader, Luke Skywalker, Kylo Ren and Finn as pieces, but no Rey. This doesn't make much sense.

"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," a Hasbro spokesman told Entertainment Weekly. But it still doesn't make much sense.

This may be the best example of Rey's curious lack of prominence everywhere outside of the actual film, but it's not the only one, and fans have created the #WheresRey hashtag to voice their frustration.

Rey is also absent from some Millennium Falcon toy sets, which is especially strange considering (spoiler alert!) she pilots the ship in The Force Awakens.

But Rey's exclusion from the Monopoly game has received the most attention because it clearly lacks any justification. There is absolutely no reason why she should not be included over Finn—other than, of course, because she is not as marketable. Whether that's actually true is hard to measure, but Hasbro certainly seems to think it is, which is disturbing. This letter shouldn't have to be written: