Are Hasbro deliberately ignoring the female Star Wars toys… and fans?

Oh Hasbro, the fans have turned and demanded more female action figures… and why not?

It seems that yesterday Hasbro shot down the idea of more female action figures in the upcoming Rebels toy line during a Q&A with The Jedi Temple Archives.

Here’s the original question:

Q: Where are the action figures for the female characters from Rebels, like Hera, Sabine, or Maketh Tua? Male characters like Ezra and Kanan have been released multiple times already in many formats and scales, yet the best we’ve seen on shelves so far is a single Sabine with a non-removable helmet and a yet-to-be-released Hera, both of whom are packed with re-released Stormtroopers. Female characters have always played an integral role in the Star Wars saga, from Leia in the original trilogy to Padme in the prequels to Ahsoka and Asaaj in The Clone Wars and have always been among the first characters released in figure form, yet for this new chapter in the Saga, they’ve barely been a blip on the radar.

They replied that they feel they have released “plenty of female characters in the line…”.

Em, the only female figure so far is Sabine and she comes with repackaged Stormtrooper and a Mandalorian helmet that cannot be removed, so essentially she’s not exactly an obvious female figure!

So, they sent a new answer:

A: Hasbro actually has some great new characters from Rebels hitting shelves now such as Sabine and Hera and have recently been releasing more females within our Black Series and Saga Legends line such as Mara Jade, Toryn Farr, Bastila Shan, Luminara Unduli, Padme Amidala (Geonosis), and a number of great Leias such as Ep IV, Endor and the awesome Boushh disguise that was revealed at NYCC. 

So, that’s great that all these figures are out there, but the ten-year-olds who are going crazy over Rebels at the minute can’t even get a Sabine or Hera figure off the shelf… I bought a Sabine figure of Amazon last week and I’ll not tell you how much I paid for it as it’s verging on being a collector’s item already, due to the fact that it’s the short-packed figure.

And I, for one, think Sabine and Hera are pretty badass.

And check out the image of the Target exclusive Phantom toy (below)which comes with… Kanan! Em, but Hera is the owner and pilot of the ship and Kanan has been made available in at least three different ways so far.

Don’t forget that, while there could certainly be an argument that this is unfair on the girls, and there’s an underlying sexist argument to be made, it’s also the boys who are being outdone; if I was a kid I’d want Hera in my Phantom toy.

I mean, it’s be like having the Falcon and no Han figure.

And that’s just not cool, Hasbro.

Not cool at all.