Hasbro Feels They've Released "Plenty of Female Characters" In Star Wars Rebels Line - I Do Not Think That Word Means What You Think It Means - Updated

Toy Fair is happening in New York, and there's been some disheartening news from Hasbro. Getting figures depicting female characters is an ongoing challenge, and that's especially true with Star Wars Rebels. Hera Syndulla and Sabine Wren are equal members of the primary cast in the animated series, yet they weren't part of the first wave of Rebels toys (that was a point of contention at last year's Toy Fair) and even now there's only a single Hera figure and a single Sabine figure. Nevermind that multiple versions of figures have already been released for Ezra, Kanan, and the Inquisitor.

But, Hasbro doesn't see a problem. Paul of the Jedi Temple Archives attended the Hasbro Q&A and besides discussing the challeges of getting the Rebels toys to stores (it's been near impossible to find any of the 3.75" Rebels toys), Paul asked about the presence of female figures from Rebels and also from Star Wars as a whole:

Q: Where are the action figures for the female characters from Rebels, like Hera, Sabine, or Maketh Tua? Male characters like Ezra and Kanan have been released multiple times already in many formats and scales, yet the best we've seen on shelves so far is a single Sabine with a non-removable helmet and a yet-to-be-released Hera, both of whom are packed with re-released Stormtroopers. Female characters have always played an integral role in the Star Wars saga, from Leia in the original trilogy to Padme in the prequels to Ahsoka and Asaaj in The Clone Wars and have always been among the first characters released in figure form, yet for this new chapter in the Saga, they've barely been a blip on the radar.
A: Hasbro feels they have released plenty of female characters in the line.

PLENTY? TWO figures is PLENTY?!

source

I am so disappointed and frustrated by this statement. And insulted.

And let's back up to look at the representation of figures for Ahsoka Tano and Padmé Amidala. Yes, I counted. As of 2012, Hasbro had released 7 3.75" Ahsoka Tano figures as compared to 14 of Anakin Skywalker and 13 of Obi-Wan Kenobi. They released 26 Padmé Amidala figures as compared to 61 for Anakin Skywalker and 58 for Obi-Wan Kenobi. Both Ahsoka and Padmé  were primary, lead characters. Does "plenty" mean all we can hope for is half or less than half of the figures made for male characters?

Thanks, Hasbro, for making me feel like female fans and female characters don't matter to you... again.

UPDATE #1, 2/18/15: Hasbro asked Jedi Temple Archives to revise their response to the question to the following:
"Hasbro actually has some great new characters from Rebels hitting shelves now such as Sabine and Hera and have recently been releasing more females within our Black Series and Saga Legends line such as Mara Jade, Toryn Farr, Bastila Shan, Luminara Unduli, Padma Amidala (Geonosis), and a number of great Leia’s such as Ep IV, Endor, and the awesome Boushh disguise that was revealed at NYCC."

UPDATE #2, 2/18/15: Hasbro reached out to me to let me know the interview posted by Jedi Temple Archives was not recorded and that what Jedi Temple Archives posted was paraphrased.

Huh. I can almost hear them backpedaling. Also Hasbro, it's Padmé not Padma.

h/t Club Jade