A six-year-old girl from Little Rock, Arkansas, prompted a toy company to create a new line of toys when she wrote to them complaining that none of their army figurines were women.
Vivian Lord, was playing with her brother's toys one day when she realised that none of the plastic army characters resembled her. In a bid to change this, the young girl wrote a letter to several toy manufacturers including BMC Toys in Scranton, Pennsylvania.
The letter caught the attention of Jess Imel, owner of BMC Toys, who said it was the first time he had received a letter like that from a child. And whilst he had been asked before to create female toy soldiers, Vivian's letter was the reason for the toys' development.
In conversation with CBS News he said that she put the idea to the top of his list of priorities. Later he said, "I'm going to do it."
During the process, Jeff even shared with the young girl some of their concept drawings, but she was still confused as to why it was taking so long.
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"They were doing sketches, but they were busy making boy army men," said Vivian. Jeff later had to explain that because of the small scale of his company, every decision he made had to be thoroughly thought through.
Nonetheless, it wasn't long before Jeff commissioned the first prototype. The figurines will be available to buy by Christmas 2020 and will come in four different military poses.
These will include a female captain holding a handgun and binoculars and a kneeling female soldier holding a bazooka.
The six-year-old, who promised in her letter "she would play with them everyday", was over the moon when she heard the news of their development. Jeff said he was incredibly pleased to have realised the Vivian's dreams and to help "girls be the hero of their story."
Amazing work from a six-year-old.
Featured Image Credit: BMC ToysTopics: Toys