[Trivial Psychic]

This whole thing kinda reminds me of the Django Unchained controversy from a few years back, where NECA showed off their figures from the Tarantino flick, and people responded in a negative manner, causing NECA to pull the figures altogether. People lambasted NECA's decision to do it by claiming that it was only a movie character, but NECA took the PC road claiming that regardless of it being a movie character, the character is still a slave in the movie and suggested that perhaps the world doesn't need an action figure of such.

Now I personally don't care if there is never a Slave Leia ever released again. I've had 30 years of chances to grab one, in various media and scales, and to this day, I still do not own one, because it's not a look or representation of the character that I care to have. And there is still nothing stopping me at the moment, from going back and grabbing one of those figures, as there are literally hundreds of thousands floating around there, with good representations, just waiting to be bought. So if another is never made, big deal. It honestly doesn't bother me. The times have changed, and fictional character or not, there just isn't a need to glorify slavery in plastic.

And if a grown woman wants to dress up as Slave Leia, then go for it. If it makes a woman feel empowered or sexy to wear it, then enjoy. Who am I to judge? It's a costume from a movie. Honestly, I saw far worse (not to mention sexist and risque) costumes on a trip to Party City yesterday than Leia's gold bikini look from Jedi.

As long as that particular scene isn't removed or altered from the original source material, I'm alright with Disney's decision. Now, if they are indeed changed or edited when the eventual re-release of the original pre-special edition trilogy drops (which Disney announced earlier this year is coming) then it's rage, rage, rage, and with good reason, as it would be no different than someone drawing a mustache on the Mona Lisa simply because they don't like the expression on her face. You are taking someone else's work, and changing it to better suit your own needs.

I used to collect 1/6 scale military action figures, and I remember similar arguments over the rarity and controversy over Adolf Hitler figures in that scale. Military enthusiasts and WW2 action figure collectors like myself thought that there was no harm in owning one simply because it was a historical figure, there were plenty of different Axis soldiers available to us, and that it was not necessarily a representation of our beliefs. And then there was the other camp, that believed it should not exist, simply because historical figure or not, the world doesn't need an Adolf Hitler figure, because of what HE represented. While I used to argue that they were wrong for thinking that back then, it is now that I probably realize that they are right. Genocide, like slavery, sex slavery and trafficking are real world problems that probably shouldn't be on our toy shelves to be played with, fictional character or not...

There is another realm to explore however to all of this however. If Slave Leia toys and media are being washed out of the Star Wars universe going forward due to the implied sexism and slavery issues, then is Anakin Skywalker's origin due for a ret-con as well? After all, he was Wattoo's slave,...and a child slave at that, and child slavery is one of the greatest sins going on in the world today...period.