With all the success of the new Star Wars movie one would think Disney created the perfect commercial success. According to Time magazine, it is the highest grossing domestic film of all time. People went to see it over and over again. The one thing that Disney did not succeeded in doing was creating toys for the young female fans.

Overall, Star Wars has never been the best at creating toys for girls. In the original series the only major female character was Leia. There were more action figures for the male characters. The same goes for the prequel series; Padmè action figures were not as easy to find as Anakin, Yoda or Obi-Wan.

Part of the problem is the ratio of male to female characters. Even with that, the company should still market the female characters better to get recognition from girls who want to play with their favorite character.

While one would think it would be obvious that Rey would not get as much attention in the toy’s marketing, there should have been hope. Lucasfilm previously owned the Star Wars franchise and one might have expected Disney — known for targeting a more balanced, and often, fact, mostly female audience — to maintain a better balance of representation of the sexes. Interestingly, both of these film productions are owned by The Walt Disney Co. — perhaps the parent company was making some of the same decisions with both producing film studios.

This problem started before the movie even came out. When Disney started to release Star Wars merchandise, one could tell right away that Rey was going to get shortchanged. The company made it seem like she was not going to be a big part of the movie. If she were, then more toys would have been made after her.

There is no denying that females love Star Wars as much as the male audience. All one has to do is hop onto sites like Her Universe or ThinkGeek Inc. to see how much merchandise is out there for female fans; however, even that is often only for older fans.

These fans started loving the movies as young girls. This should show Disney how big of a potential market they have — an audience that will be fans for life and not just when the movie is popular or a year or two after it comes out.

The best thing would be for Disney to reach out to the female audience through toys like Rey action figures and costumes. Instead of just selling rebel pilot costumes and storm troopers, add in Rey’s costume; let the young audience dress and mimic the character they so very much love. Use this opportunity as a chance for Rey action figures to replace their Barbies.

It is not just Rey who is missing out on market, but Leia as well. She still plays a vital role in the new movie. There is a giant market sitting there as well. If young girls do not jump on the chance for toys modeled after her, the older girls will. These girls grew up idolizing Leia just as the young girls will do with Rey.

There is a whole group that Disney is leaving out with the Star War toys. They do not realize how many girls are looking up to Rey and wanting toys to play with. Instead, they choose to follow the past model of focusing mainly on the male characters in the movie.

Unlike previous movies, people are now speaking up about it. Soon Disney will have to do something if they want to keep a major part of its audience.