Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker Shirt Brings Back Rose After Backlash

Last week saw the release of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker merch, with fans noticing that Rose Tico had been blatantly removed from a number of items following their initial reveal online, with one t-shirt company confirming that they had previously received incorrect artwork and Rose would, in fact, appear on a specific t-shirt. While this doesn’t account for the various other pieces of merchandise which saw Rose’s erasure, it at least brings her back for this specific shirt, yet we’re left to wonder how the oversight could have occurred and whether or not Rose will be represented in merchandise as we head towards the film’s release.

Over on Twitter, one user tagged the company Absolute Cult to ask them why art featuring Rose would appear in a book, while their t-shirt featured that exact same art, only with Rose cut out. The brand confirmed, “We would never remove her – she wasn’t included on that design asset from Disney when we first designed the shirt. Will look at addressing this asap if there is an updated asset… our Rose tee from The Last Jedi was one of our best sellers!”

The brand followed that tweet with a link to where the shirt with updated art could be purchased, confirming, “There’s Rose.”

Sadly, this is just the latest in a long line of setbacks the franchise has earned relating to merchandise, female representation, and Rose Tico.

When Star Wars premiered in 1977, it was completely overwhelmed with fans wanting to purchase merchandise, with Christmas of that year seeing the release of a pre-order offer for the series’ first action figures, resulting in fans unwrapping empty boxes featuring artwork of the characters and a certificate which was redeemable for the figures once they became available.

Heading towards the release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Poe Dameron and Finn dominated the merchandise, offering very few items depicting Rey, resulting in the “#WheresRey” hashtag dominating social media. Disney claimed that her merchandise was held back as to not reveal the key role she played in the film, as many of the film’s trailers implied that Finn would be the main protagonist.

Rose Tico debuted in The Last Jedi, quickly becoming a fan-favorite character. Some viewers, however, didn’t enjoy the film or Rose, resulting in actress Kelly Marie Tran being subjected to racist and sexist harassment across social media. The harassment was so intense that Tran ultimately deleted her social media channels as to avoid the toxicity.

The upcoming film could be the last time we see Rose on the big screen, as the sequel is set to conclude the Skywalker Saga.

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker lands in theaters on December 20th.

Are you glad to see Rose on merchandise? Let us know in the comments below or hit up @TheWolfman on Twitter to talk all things Star Wars and horror!