The Conversation
6-Year-Old Helps Convince Toy Company to Make Little Green Army Women
After 6-year-old Vivian Lord traded her arcade tickets for some plastic toys on a recent trip with her family, she wanted to know why there weren't any green Army women to play with, only men. So, with the help of her mother, she wrote a letter to a handful of toy companies asking why they didn't make women figures.
"Why do you not make Girl Army men, my friend's mom is in the Army too!! So why don't you make them too," the letter read.
She said she had seen pink military figurines before, but her response was, "Girls and [people] in the army don't wear pink."
BMC Toys in Scranton, PA was one of the companies to receive the girl's letter. BMC makes the original tiny green Army figures that are sold in bulk so that kids can hold fake battles, or stage ambushes against the neighbor's cat.
Jeff Imel, the owner of the company, said he had been thinking of making female troops for years. He even posted some drawings his sister did of female toy designs on his company blog last summer after hearing from a retired Navy sailor who had the same question as Vivian.
"To do a new set of figures like this, it's about the cost of a modest new car, you know, so I checked the couch cushions, came up empty," he told WNEP-TV.
But when he got Vivian's letter, he was reminded of the need for a more diverse toy market, so designs are now in the works for an expanded line of female plastic troops. The poses will include a captain figure holding a handgun and binoculars, a kneeling soldier with a bazooka and a standing figure holding a rifle.
"Whether it's a dinosaur, or Davy Crockett, or an Army man, maybe having a set of plastic Army women will help some kid somewhere be the hero of their own story at playtime," Imel said. "And I think that's a good thing for everybody."
The new line of female Army figures is slated to hit the market before Christmas 2020. You can follow the BMC Toys Facebook page for updates.
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