Steve Evans, the design director for Hasbro’s Star Wars line, has been working for Hasbro since 1999, not to mention playing with Star Wars toys since he was a kid, so he’s got a lot of insight into how and why these toys matter. In a feature at Co. Design, Evans revealed that his favorite toy that he’s ever worked on is the figurine of Rey from The Force Awakens:
I’m actually very, very fond of the three-and-three-quarter inch Rey figure … It’s because of what it stands for. Just because of the way it’s embracing girls into the brand more. I have a son and two twin daughters and my girls are infatuated with Rey. They think she’s brilliant.
Evans also went on to emphasize that he doesn’t believe the toys he makes are “for boys,” even though that may have been how marketing teams framed them back in the ’70s and ’80s when the first Star Wars toy lines came out.
We are designing them for ‘fans’. That’s all we like to say. A fan can be 4, can be 44, or can be 94. Can be male or female. I’m seeing grandparents, parents, kids, kids and friends, aunties, uncles, everything. Everybody is getting engaged with Star Wars because it’s transgenerational. I think the movie that’s coming out epitomizes that because it’s the classic characters and the new characters. We know that we provide toys, playsets, and tools for engagement for families, young kids, middle aged men and women. Everybody. That’s what I think makes it so great. It’s for everybody. Star Wars is for everyone.
(via Co. Design and email tipster, image via Toys R Us)
—Please make note of The Mary Sue’s general comment policy.—
Do you follow The Mary Sue on Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, Pinterest, & Google +?
