Toy manufacturer Hasbro has backed down in the face of Star Wars fans outraged that Rey, the young female lead in The Force Awakens, was missing from their new edition of 'Star Wars Monopoly'.

The special Star Wars tie-in edition of the popular board game included four player tokens, which included Finn (John Boyega), Kylo Ren (Adam Driver), Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader, but Daisy Ridley’s tenacious heroine Rey was missing from the set, which left a lot of fans mystified.

Star Wars The Force AwakensThe 'Star Wars Monopoly' game was notable for the absence of Daisy Ridley's Rey (above)

Responding to fans on Twitter, the company stated on Wednesday (January 6th): “We love your passion for Rey, and are happy to share that we will be including her in the Monopoly: Star Wars game, available later this year.”

It followed an initial statement from Hasbro in 2015, when the game was last updated, that they didn’t want to give away plot details of The Force Awakens by including her.

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A spokesperson had said to Entertainment Weekly: “The 'Star Wars Monopoly' game was released in September, months before the movie's release, and Rey was not included to avoid revealing a key plot line that she takes on Kylo Ren and joins the Rebel Alliance. Fans will see more Rey product hitting store shelves this month.”

Nevertheless, it seems to have triggered a sexism row, with many pointing out that Rey’s omission meant that all four tokens represented male characters.

The Force Awakens, which was released in mid-December, continues to do stunning business at the box office, recently becoming the fourth highest-grossing movie of all time in the UK, after adjusting for inflation, with £94.1 million brought in since release. It also means that it’s the biggest film of 2015, having overtaken Bond movie Spectre’s £93.5 million.

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