After receiving a letter from a 6-year-old girl who asked for a female version of the iconic Green Army Men figurines, a Pennsylvania toy maker debuted the female figurines for the first time at the Chicago Toy Soldier Show.
Jeff Imel, the president of BMC Toys in Scranton, Pennsylvania, was inspired to make the toys after receiving a letter this summer from Vivian Lord, a 6-year-old first grade student in Arkansas.
“Why do you not make girl army men[?],” Vivian wrote in her letter. “My friend’s mom is in the Army to[o] so why don’t you make them to[o]?”
Vivian’s mom, Brittany, told ABC’s Good Morning America the family was on vacation in July when Vivian used tickets won at an arcade to collect Green Army Men figurines.
After playing with the toy soldiers, Vivian asked Lord why none of them were girls.
A Google search was fruitless: “We could only find some pink ones and she quickly pointed out those were not women…just men in pink and Army men don’t wear pink.”
Vivian continued to talk about it for days, so Lord asked her daughter if she wanted to write a letter to toy companies.
BMC Toys was the only company that replied.
“It was an easy response for me because I agreed with her,” Imel said. “I’ve since heard from a lot of women have told me they wanted to have this toy when they were growing up.”
Imel plans to have the Green Army Women figurines available by Christmas 2020. They will come in four different military poses.
Way to go, Viv!!! I hope we see them in Toy Story 5!