As Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker nears, merchandise for the film is sprouting up, but there’s a character who is notably absent from images on various shirts, tote bags and whatever else it is Disney is putting on store shelves to promote the movie.
Rose Tico (played by actress Kelly Marie Tran), a character who debuted in 2017’s Star Wars: The Last Jedi has been part of promotional art and posters alongside the rest of her cast members, but as some fans have noted on Twitter, Rose’s likeness has been actively removed from these same pieces once they’re put on merchandise Disney is trying to sell. It’s not just a one off either, it’s a trend in several of the officially-licensed products.
Another example: artist's original posted to his twitter, vs the version going on the Topps card pic.twitter.com/ZHRC4roSzQ
— Jenny Nicholson (@JennyENicholson) October 4, 2019
The version of the movie poster featuring Rose from leaked merch designs, vs the version of the poster ultimately going on shirts, trading cards, and tote bags pic.twitter.com/Av4RZqpUvJ
— Jenny Nicholson (@JennyENicholson) October 4, 2019
If you’re not privy to Star Wars controversy, reception to Rose’s character by a subset of fans was negative. This got to the point where these same people actively harassed Tran off of social media as if she had anything to do with the writing of a character they didn’t care for. Tran did eventually respond in an essay at the New York Times, where she opened up about how the harassment affected her self-esteem, but affirmed she wouldn’t let these people stop her from continuing her work on the franchise.
However, given that Disney has opted to make a point to remove her character from merchandise, it brings into question if the company cares more about pandering to an terrible and loud minority of people who are angry that Star Wars might be for people aren’t them than it does about standing beside their cast member and her fans who want to see Rose on their shirts.
Rose had a fairly sizable role in The Last Jedi, but given these changes to merchandise I can’t help but wonder if some suit has made an executive decision about how much screen time Tran should get in the next movie, but I suppose we won’t know for sure until Rise of Skywalker comes out on December 20.
If you’ve managed to stay spoiler free this long, you can probably make it another month, but if you’re worried about stumbling upon spoilers for Rise of Skywalker before next month, check out some tips on keeping your brain clean of unwanted Star Wars information.
