PAWTUCKET – Bowing to public pressure, toy giant Hasbro will introduce a game piece of the character Rey into their latest version of Star Wars Monopoly, claiming the female protagonist had originally been omitted to avoid spoiling a scene in the film where she purchases a railroad.
“We can certainly see how it would appear that we omitted Rey because we don’t wish to appeal to female consumers,” said company spokesman Greg Shipley in a press conference earlier today. “But the reality is that we didn’t want to lessen the dramatic weight of the scene where she spends $200 and buys that railroad.”
Shipley added that fans of the film – the fastest ever to gross 1 billion dollars, and the record holder for highest grossing opening weekend – will know that the purchase of a railroad by the young scavenger is one of the film’s pivotal moments. “It sets the stage for her conflict with the villain Kylo Ren, who had himself been working on getting all the railroads, despite General Hux’s insistence that the First Order focus on space-utilities. So you don’t want to give that away.”
Many consumers upset over Rey’s lack of representation in the film’s merchandise are glad Hasbro is adding her to the game. But some feel their justification for excluding her doesn’t add up, when other key plot points from the movie – from Chewbacca’s brief but expensive stay on a hotel-rich planet, to resistance pilot Poe Dameron’s second place beauty contest win and subsequent 10 dollar windfall – are portrayed in the board game with what appears to be no hesitation.
“This is a teachable moment,” conceded Shipley. “We’ll be more mindful of managing character representation AND spoilers as we adapt future Star Wars films for Monopoly.”
Episode 8: The Little Car and Episode 9: Rise of the Top Hat will hit theatres 2017 and 2019.
