Jurassic World Dinosaur Toys Were Turned Into Boys By Accident, Hasbro Says

The perils of genetically-modifying dinosaurs is one of the core lessons at the heart of Jurassic World, and one major movie-toy manufacturer might be getting the message.

Hasbro, which makes Jurassic World merchandise, was caught advertising the plastic models of the female dinosaur from Jurassic World as male, a mistake that led to a round of criticism from fans and journalists.

Yahoo Movies reached out to Hasbro and heard back from a spokesperson for the company who said the switch “was an oversight” and that Hasbro is “in the process of updating the language with the correct information.” The company said the copy on the website would be updated to reflect the change.

As of Friday afternoon, the Hasbro site included the below product description for the action figure for Jurassic World’s snarly big bad, the Indominus Rex:

The description of the dino as a “he” raised eyebrows both because there’s no way to actually identify the gender of a dinosaur toy, and because the film franchise has long emphasized the fact that its revived prehistoric monsters were female. The Indominus Rex is clearly referred to as a “she” in Jurassic World, and 1993′s Jurassic Park made a point of saying that all the dinosaurs were bred to be female, so as to not have them reproduce on their own. (Remember "clever girl?”)

Arguing over the gender of dinosaurs may seem inherently silly, but there is some context: Jurassic World already suffered some criticism surrounding its treatment of the movie’s female lead, Bryce Dallas Howard’s stuffy, high-heel-wearing park manager Claire. And more broadly, the gendering of toys has been a hot issue of late, thanks to the controversy surrounding the lack of Black Widow toys attached to Avengers: Age of Ultron.

The kickass ultra-agent was absent from much of the film’s product tie-ins and was even replaced in a set of toys meant to re-enact a crucial scene in the film. The situation earned a rebuke from Mark Ruffalo, whose Hulk was well-represented in the merchandising.

Disney, Marvel’s parent company, seems to have learned its lesson. Earlier this week, Yahoo Movies got a tour of the company’s upcoming line of fall and holiday season merchandise. The company rep noted that instead of a traditional gender split of toys for boys and girls, it will market many products as gender-neutral. It’s a solution men and women everywhere can applaud.

Watch a (female) Indominous Rex rampage in ‘Jurassic World’: