O/T FUN: Lost toy lines!
 

I just thought, we all know about TMNT, it's had 3 different toy lines (original, next mutation, current) and pretty much had toys in stores from 1987-2004 (excluding a few years around 1997-2002, but kbtoys always had TMNT), but what about all those toys from the 80's (or 90's) that seems the world has forgotten.

Post what you think is a forgotten toy line.

Here's a few of mine:

Cops n' Crooks: this line seems to still have a pretty decent following, but nothing has been done for it since the mid 80's when it had one wave of figures and a short run cartoon by DIC. This is the line that all 80's toy enthusiasts remember, but don't do anything to support it.

Army ants: I just stumbled upon these while looking up a dinosaur figure I found in my basement, this is one of those toy lines that I probably would have bought as a kid had it been available to me.

Street Sharks: Seems like yesterday that horrible 90's tmnt rip off was on the silver screen. Personally I hated street sharks because it was a property that knew it was a rip off and still wanted to compete. My friend had a few toys and they were pretty much lame. You couldn't move the legs and they were too big and bulky to fit in with any other toys.

Mighty Morph'n Power Rangers: Don't get me wrong, I know power rangers is still going and kids are still eating it up, but what about the original show that spawned it all. I can't say I really like Power Rangers all that much anymore, I sold all my toys at a garage sale, and the ones that I couldn't went into a box in my crawl space, but Power Rangers does still have memories for me, so when are we going to see a dvd release of the original show? Kids will buy anything with power rangers on it, but now a days it's like Power Rangers: Dinosaur Ninja Time Travelling EXTREME! Show the kids what power rangers was like before it REALLY sold out.

Finally (I want to leave some for you guys to come up with) Definitely Dinosaurs. I didn't know what it was called, but that's nothing 5 minutes and a google search can't fix. You might remember these, they came out in 1987 and I think they came with cavemen. I found a dinosaur while cleaning my basement and I was like, "seriously where the fuc* is this from?"
This is probably one of the few lines I probably don't care if it does come back, might even prefer it didn't, but I had to mention it.


Edit: Here's another, wow this site is great, Barnyard Commandos by none other than PLAYMATES TOYS!
http://www.virtualtoychest.com/barnyard/barnyard.html

Check out www.virtualtoychest.com for pictures of the lines I spoke of above, and to find more you recognize and think is a dead line.

I remember a bunch of cool 80's toys that have been forgotten.

Extreme Dinosaurs
Blackstar
Brave Starr
Tigersharks
Conan
Dungeons & Dragons

These are just some of the cooler lines that i can think of off the top of my head.

Nah, Conan's a cult classic and is getting new action figure treatment from McFarlene (they'll be out this August).

Extreme dinosaurs! Excellent. My cousins bought me the raptor a long time ago, he's in my basement crawl space now. I think that was the spin off of street sharks right? Which reminds me of Dinosaucers, another forgotten line, so forgotten that the original line was cancelled during production :(

Oooh! Gobots! Not the crappy hasbro bought out gobot's name and turned em into preschool gobots, but the original 80's ones made by like bandai or w/e. Oooooh I have to go find all my gobots now!! I think I lost em but hopefully I'll find them.

Thanks for participating guys, I don't think this thread it'll get locked it has a lot to do with TMNT, these are the toy lines that TMNT crushed :p

I remember these animals who had like armor on and kinda machineish. The deer had a drill hand,mouse a shovel hand. I still have some in my basement. I love those things! and Snalians!

Actually, Gobots saw a revival of sorts in Japan (not counting the Transformers Gobots you already mentioned).

In Japan the toyline was called Machine Robo. It had it's own anime featuring scantily clad women and everything. When the toys got imported to America they called them Gobots and gave them their own Hanna Barbara cartoon.

Well, last year new Machine Robo toys started production along with a new anime series. The original anime series is available on DVD in the US if anyone's interested in seeing super Japanese versions of Scooter and Cy-Kill (but not the Rock Lords, those were strictly an American thing).

lol! NOT the rocklords. Thannk goodness right?

Thanks for the info Dr. I might just have to look around for that dvd, is it subtitled or dubbed? I'm not a fan of anime, but I would pay cash for a badass scooter!

I'd actually rather have the old hannabarbera cartoon though.

I liked Street Sharks.

Lost as in forgotten, or lost as in, they've never been released?

There was of course, a wave 2 of Darkwing Duck figures, and Gizmo duck was to be one of them, the closest thing to a Ducktales action figure.... but that got axed...

Also, a Ripping Friends toy line.... that fell through...

And since fun4all filed for bankruptcy, we may not see the well hyped Sesame Street action figures.... Dammit... they were going to make Guy Smiley and the Two headed monster!!!

SWAT Kats. Man, I miss SWAT Kats... I'm so bummed that I never picked up any of those action figures before they vanished.

I wanna see picks of the SWAT Kats toys,

Ooh, Street Sharks! I remember Street Sharks! Come to think of it, I may have to dig a few of those out when I get home...

They were blatant rip-offs of the TMNT, but so what? I was really into sea life at the time, and these things were right up my alley. I remember bits and pieces of the old TV show, but not much...

And as much as I (almost) hate to say it, I've been really nostalgic about the MMPR lately. Probably all the way up to the end of the Zeo season. I dug out my original Megazord and Dinozord and have them standing on my "vintage" toy shelf right now. Hey, those were a part of my child hood!

Out of curiosity, why would this thread get locked?

HERE is a link to a site featuring some of the old SWAT Kat merchandise.

Street Sharks were flippin' awesome. I loved those action figures. 'Still got Jab and Slammu, used to have Ripster and Blades/Streex. Maybe some day I'll find some on eBay.

SwatKats ALSO kicked major ass. I remember when they'd have those huge ass marathons on CN. Thems were the days.

And Clone Ranger, you're not alone. I've been feelin' a bit nostalgic toward MMPH lately too. I've been lookin' for the original zords on eBay for quite awhile now.

Oooh! Gobots! Not the crappy hasbro bought out gobot's name and turned em into preschool gobots, but the original 80's ones made by like bandai or w/e. Oooooh I have to go find all my gobots now!! I think I lost em but hopefully I'll find them.[/quote]

Gobots were nifteh back when Tonka was a competing company against hasbro, but Transformers just takes the cake in this field, that's why hasbro was able to buy out Tonka.

I was going to mention swat kats in the original post, but I was hoping someone else would. (I already talk... or rather type too much) I actually still have a swat kats figure I pulled out of the 1.99 bin at kbtoys a loooong time ago.

And you guys are definitely not alone. I didn't want anyone making fun of me so I wasn't going to admit I missed the old toys. A few years ago you were considered gay if you liked MMPR but not as gay if you liked TMNT (this is jr. high we're talking about). Now it's awesome to like TMNT, but you're still gay if you like MMPR? I'm not going to go out and buy the new toys or anything, but yeah there's a crap load of memories attached to the power rangers.

I actually found my blue ranger/billy flip head figure, and there's RUST all over the figure. I didn't know plastic could rust! Me and my friends used to take our figures to the pool back in the day, so it's understandable why it happened, but still!

Nah man...nobody has the right to call you "gay" even if you want to collect Polly Pocket. Whatever makes you happy. Why should any of us give a flip what somebody else thinks? Even though, in all technicality, "gay" means "happy." There's a mind bender...

I'm 19 now, and it's actually "cool" to get with a group of people my age and talk about TMNT, Power Rangers, etc. I don't mean socially cool (though it may be that, too), I just mean it's fun. And at the end of the day, that's what it's all about. Should I care more than I had fun with my friends talking about childhood toys, or what a bunch of jerks thought of me? I'm telling you, there's no easier way to start a conversation with my generation than to spout off "Damn, that Pink Ranger was HOT!" at about 3 in the morning during a video game marathon...

Elite5Raph, I am so glad you mentioned Slammu. I had been picturing him all day in my head, and it was killing me that I couldn't think of his name. Remember those awesome boxes the Street Sharks came in? Possibly some of the best packaging I've ever come across. A plastic "steel" bar cage, surrounded by the cardboard box. Awesome!

Swat Kats! Awesome. That show freaken rocked. A shame it only lasted two seasons, it was the best thing on Cartoon Network at the time (this was back when Cartoon Network was first starting out and all it had to offer was Yogi Bear reruns).

It always bugged me that they only did two seasons (26 episodes, I think) yet put the show on reruns in the afternoon action slot (pre-Toonami) for several years. Couldn't they have just made new episodes? A total loss. Now they won't even rerun it. :(

I never bothered with the action figures, I wasn't that in to it. But I'd buy the show on DVD if it ever came out.

The Pastmaster = my favorite villain on the show.

Swat Kats had enormous potential for a toyline. Too bad it only got the four figures. I was pleasantly surprised at how cool all the villains were.

As far as MMPR that toyline was pretty good until the 8 inch line died. There seemed to be a lot more of those figures based on the sentai teams that came before Zyuranger (the original MMPR) but I've only been able to find pics of just a few.

As far as most underrated toyline, that has to go to C.O.P.S. That line was articulated out hte wazoo plus each figure usually had a ton of accessories and had capguns. It's probably in the top ten of greatest toylines ever.

OMG DID I FORGET COPS?!

We were actually watching Cops in the store today, DIC put out a dvd with like the first 3 episodes or something. I keep searching for a loose complete bulletproof (the black dood) on ebay but can't seem to find one at a decent price. The toys were awesome and the show was even better! I actually saw pictures for a second wave of figures (which looked really awesome) but it got canned. I might have to put COPS in my top 10 favorite cartoon of all time it's that good.

CloneRanger: Yeah that's what I meant, a few years ago you were dead meat if you wore a TMNT shirt to school, now it's "retro" and is acceptable socially. Personally I don't give a flying f*** what most people think is socially alright, since there are people out there that do much weirder things than collecting toys. Working at a comic store I've met people I wouldn't want coming in a 10 mile radius of me outside the store. I'm 17 now and most of my friends know and don't really seem to care.