Anger over Star Wars merchandise grows as Rey absent from shelves

Not since The Empire built a second Deathstar with a similar design flaw to the first has a manufacturer so miscalculated a major release.

Furious Star Wars fans have taken to social media to protest after yet another piece of merchandise emerged which omits lead female character, Rey.

POTENTIAL SPOILERS BELOW: WARNED, YOU HAVE BEEN

While angered fans already created the hashtag #WheresRey late last month to protest a lack of Rey merchandise available in toy stores in the lead-up to Christmas the recent discovery that she was also missing from the Star Wars: The Force Awakens version of Monopoly has created enough anger and frustration to send almost everyone over to the dark side.

In the game players can choose from four of the franchise's male characters – Finn and Kylo Renn, who are admittedly main characters in the film, or Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader - one of whom doesn't even appear in the latest picture, and the other whose role consists of blankly staring into space.

What I did there, see you?

The most scathing critique has been from 8-year-old fan and now full-time disenchanted little girl Annie Rose whose mother shared a letter she penned to toy manufacturer Hasbro after discovering Rey's absence.

"Without her THERE IS NO FORCE AWAKENS," Ms Rose writes. "Without her the bad guys would have won."

"Besides, boys and girls need to see women can be as strong as men!"

The board-game has fueled a growing chorus of anger at how the film's lead has been represented – or not, as the case seems to be – in movie merchandise.

The hashtage #WhereisRey began gathering steam before Christmas as shoppers questioned why such an important character was missing from the shelves.

Many felt the omission was unforgiveable:

However, there could be another more reasonable reason for Rey’s absence: her popularity.

The popularity Star Wars' most compelling heroine since Princess Leia has made the figures harder to get a hold of than dry socks on Dagobah.

Rey figurines were almost sold out on Amazon and Rey figures had been going for higher prices on eBay than Finn Figures.

Which doesn't explain her absence from the Monopoly set mind you.

Either way, a little force may be needed to get Rey back on the shelves.