Toyless Toyline Character: Difference between revisions
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In [[Merchandise-Driven]] media it's typically pretty easy to set apart the characters whose toys are getting advertised. They're the ones that take the spotlight in any given story, save the day in the end, etc., or are otherwise just made to look cool by the narrative itself. They'll have more character development, more detail in their character model, more gadgets; everything about them ''screams'' toyetic in loud plastic-mould colors.
But not this character. This is the [[Ensemble Darkhorse]] of the toyline-driven media, that bursts into the scene like a [[Highly-Visible Ninja]] with a rocket launcher and a banner reading, "[[Homestar Runner|Buy all our playsets and toys]]" only, after rushing to the toystore mouth drooling and brow sweaty you find out, he doesn't have his own toy. Often they'll be [[The Ace]], appearing for a brief storyline, showing up everyone else, and then never seen
Most of the time for a [[Merchandise-Driven]] franchise the toys are either (a) designed first and the show/comic makers make a story around the characters, or (b) the toy makers and show makers work together, so everyone else is likely to be a [[Flat Character]], or even [[No Name Given]]. Often there are actual limits set to how much attention can be given to these characters; a non-toy character that's not just a [[Tagalong Kid]] being allowed to be prominent is next to unheard of.
It seems bizarre and even out-of-
Why this happens varies, sometimes a writer that's been banging his shackles against the wall long enough manages to loosen them enough to get creative and inject a character into the story for the character's own sake. Sometimes a [[Monster of the Week]] winds up getting a little more attention than usual and starts looking [[Toyetic]].
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Compare [[Canon Foreigner]].
{{examples}}
▲== Anime & Manga ==
* Artemis, Navi, and Star Upper from ''[[Beast Wars II]]'' and Rage from ''[[Beast Wars Neo]].'' ''BWII'' and ''Neo'' actually invert this, being principally made up of characters [[Palette Swap|adapted]] from toys that had no representation in ''[[Beast Wars]]'' previously.
* In the beginning of ''[[Yes! Pretty Cure 5]]'', Nozomi, Rin and Urara were predicted to be the biggest hits because they were the youngest characters; therefore, they were introduced first and got their toys first, and Karen and Komachi got their toys either late or not at all. However, Rin proved to be unpopular and Karen somewhat of an [[Ensemble Darkhorse]], so they switched places. This is most prominent with the second season's merchandise; Rin and Komachi got their dolls late, they were never given trading figures, and their articulated figures can only be bought as a set from Toei's own shop.
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** Another compelling reason not to make real-world version of some of those cards arises when they have card texts with conditions like "The soul of whoever loses this Duel is forfeit to the winner".
* ''[[Digimon Xros Wars]]'' posits a strange example: the series was always quite clearly [[Merchandise-Driven]], with the main character's [[Combining Mecha]] forms clearly designed for the purposes of easily combining toys, and such toys accordingly ensued. Midway through the series came [[Chrome Champion|OmegaShoutmon and ZekeGreymon]], two Digimon who combined into Shoutmon DX. All three [[Mons]] were obviously designed in such a way that hypothetical toys of the former two could be easily combined into a Shoutmon DX figure, yet no such toys of the characters ever materialised despite all three characters being very important.
* Despite the infamously [[Merchandise-Driven]] nature of ''[[Gundam]]'' that will produce kits for even the most obscure variants, ''[[After War Gundam X]]'' suffers from several gaps in Gunpla production, including Jenice the series main [[Mook]] suit.
== Comic
* Several characters from the ''[[G.I. Joe]]'' comic, most notably Kwinn the Eskimo and Dr. Venom.
** Kwinn the Eskimo eventually did gain a figure but it was many years after the character's debut and last scenes in the comic. Ditto for Dr. Venom. But we are still waiting on Billy and on Bongo the Balloon Bear.
** The Baroness was introduced to the franchise long before getting her action figure in 1985; this may not have been simply due to the "female character taboo", as Cover Girl, Scarlet, and Lady Jay had action figures much earlier.
* The ''[[Transformers Generation 1]]'' comics had a few more, such as Scrounge, Blaster's [[The Woobie|unfortunate little buddy]] from issue #17 and Jhiaxus, a major villain from the ''[[Transformers Generation 2]]'' comics. Emirate Xaaron, from the UK comics and the latter parts of the US Marvel issues, wasn't based on a toy, but is pretty easy to make as he is mostly a gold and orange Megatron. That said, he'd make a lousy toy - he hasn't transformed in so long he theorizes the shock from merely attempting it could kill him!
** One such character, [[The Caligula|Straxus]], recently got a toy well over 20 years after his debut (though it's called Darkmount due to a case of [[Writing Around Trademarks]].)
== Film - Animated ==
* The villains from the ''[[Barbie]]'' movies rarely have toys made of them.
* It looked like [[Disney Fairies|movie-verse!Vidia]] was going to be this way, until a doll came out recently. Even book-verse!Vidia gets the merchandise shaft a lot, though she does have a doll (uber-rare), some art set thing and a one-coin figure.
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** The [[Big Bad]] of the film, Unicron, a giant robot that transforms into a planet-eating planet, had his toy trapped in [[Development Hell]]. And perhaps luckily so, considering how little the prototype resembled the character. Despite this, he remained a recurring villain in the next season, and his head still orbited Cybertron as a [[Continuity Nod]]. We finally get a toy when ''[[Transformers Armada]]'' makes him the final enemy.
== Film
* Alice from ''[[Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen]]''.
** In ''[[Transformers: Dark of the Moon]]'', Mirage/Dino only has a die-cast (because Mattel holds the rights to Ferrari - said robot's alternate mode - toys)
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* The LEGO toyline for the [[Star Wars]] movies which began in 1999 skipped many rather important characters for several years. Scout Troopers were the first imperial soldiers with Stormtroopers first appearing in 2001 and even then in very few sets. The Star Wars Icon Yoda first appeared as a figure in 2002, Lando in 2004 and Mace Windu in 2005. Nute Gunray and Palpatine/Darth Sidious as non-Emperor, the main antagonists of the Prequels were skipped until 2009, when they only got figures in the style of the "The Clone Wars" CGI Cartoon. A Life Action version of Gunray was made however, but the ultimate evil is still left out.
** Also weird is [[LEG Os]] selection of which clone troopers should be released as figures. From the special colored legions only rather obscure ones get chosen like the 327th Star Corps (the yellow ones from episode 3 which killed the blue alien chick on the jungle planet with half a minute screen time), the Shock Troopers (red ones which followed Palpatine around in three scenes) and the 442nd Siege Battalion (green ones which didn´t even appear in any of the movies, comics, games or books). The 212th Attack Battalion and 501st Legion are very popular by being directly under the command of Obi-Wan and Anakin, but they are chosen not to be released.
* Another ''[[Star Wars]]'' example: One travesty (for fans) is that Kenner never made Bantha figures to go with the Tusken Raiders. It wasn't until 2007 that Raider figures got their mounts when Hasbro released them.
== Live
* In ''[[Power Rangers]],'' most of the toy molds are carried over from ''[[Super Sentai]]'', so if a character wasn't in ''Sentai'', a toy might not exist. Also, it's reversed in the cases of some characters and concepts that were major in sentai but only slipped into a little of [[Power Rangers]]' sentai footage and got toys brought over. "So [[
** This has also happened with Zords. Sometimes it makes
== Video Games ==
* Of the monsters of ''[[Fire Emblem Gaiden]]'' and ''[[Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones]]'' only three (Bael, Gorgon and Necrozombie) have appeared in ''Fire Emblem Cipher'' and the monster typing is otherwise used for the Faceless and many variants of Risen from ''[[Fire Emblem: Awakening]]''. This wouldn't be too weird, but Lyon's cards are made for monster tribal while many ''Gaiden'' and ''Sacred Stones'' characters have anti-Monster effects.
== Web Original ==
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* ''[[Hero Factory]]'', its successor, is somewhat better with this with its significantly smaller cast, and most of the toyless characters are minor support staff for the protagonists who aren't all that important (though, their designs in the TV series are such that it's virtually impossible to make a decent scale model of any of them, no matter how expansive your stock of LEGO is).
* ''[[Monster High]]'' has a few.
== Western Animation ==
* Sparks, Big Lob and Pythona in ''[[G.I. Joe]]''. Sparks appeared in a couple of episodes during the first season as a communication officer for the Joes before retiring from duty, while Big Lob and Pythona were exclusive to ''[[G.I. Joe: The Movie]]''.
** [http://www.yojoe.com/action/07/alexsparksverdi.shtml Sparks] and [http://www.yojoe.com/action/10/biglob.shtml Big Lob] were eventually made into collector's club exclusive figures in 2007 and 2010 respectively. We're still waiting for Pythona.
* Neither Sqeaky Cleen nor any of the female characters (Mainframe, Nightshade, Ms. Demeanor and Mirage) from ''[[COPS (animation)|COPS]]'' were action figures to start with. And we do mean "start with"; like ''[[Transformers]]'' and ''[[G.I. Joe]]'', [[Merchandise-Driven|the toys came first]].
* The Peculiar Purple Pieman Of Porcupine Peak from ''[[Strawberry Shortcake]]'' in the second generation line; though he seems not to fit, being a villain, back in the 1980s, he ''was'' represented. First-generation characters that appeared in the animated specials but not the toyline include T.N. Honey (''Big Apple City'') and four of the Berrykins (''Meets the Berrykins'' introduces ten of them, but only six became toys).
** Despite showing up in the first special in 1980, Plum Puddin' didn't get a toy until 1984, by which time he had become a she ([[Word of God|According to Hasbro]], this is because dolls of [[The One Guy|Huckleberry Pie]] didn't sell very well).
* [[The Eighties|The 80's]] ''[[He-Man and the Masters of the Universe|Masters of the Universe]]'' cartoon had a few characters who were introduced apparently to promote new action figures, but said figures never materialised - Strongarm and Lizardman for instance. The Sorceress and King Randor didn't receive action figures until the final wave despite being major characters in the cartoon.
** And there were some obviously not introduced to promote new figures, and did not get any, such as Queen Marlena. Count Marzo didn't receive a toy until the ''Masters of the Universe Classic'' line despite appearing in both the original series and the 2002 reboot. Evilseed has it even worse, having shown up in the original and the 2002 reboot but still not having a toy. 2002 ''was'' pretty bad at this, though; Clawful, one of Skeletor's main henchmen, never got a toy in that line, either.
* The original ''[[Transformers Generation 1]]'' cartoon had a bunch of characters who'd fit the bill:
** "The Search For Alpha Trion" was a second season episode that introduced Optimus Prime's mentor, Alpha Trion, and girlfriend, Elita One, both recurring characters without toys. Also worth mention from this episode are Firestar, Moonracer and Chromia, all three ''named'' fembots that take the spotlight for at least part of the episode. A possible reason Alpha Trion was ommitted is that didn't seem to have an alterate form, meaning he wouldn't fit in with the toyline.
*** Alpha Trion, Elita-One, Chromia and Moonracer actually ended up getting exclusive botcon toys eventually (though Moonracer and Chromia have to share).
** Fan favorite Nightbird, a female ninja robot introduced in "Enter the Nightbird." Though she's never seen again after this episode [[Ensemble Darkhorse|she's not likely to be forgotten any time soon]].
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*** Dirt Boss too.
** Ramjet and Slipstream - who would only have required further recolors of Starscream, being clones of him. Inverted with Dirge, however: he is actually the ''only'' toy-exclusive character to be based on this series, and therefore the only character not to be mentioned in the [[All There in the Manual|Allspark Almanac.]]
** Sari, as well, {{spoiler|despite being a Transformer}}. Ramjet got his own toy eventually, but no such luck for
* ''[[Centurions]]'' has a few examples of this trope. Crystal Kane, the team's [[Mission Control]], was never an action figure; neither were [[Team Pet
* In the ''[[Littlest Pet Shop (animation)|Littlest Pet Shop]]'' TV series, Chet was the only one of the major characters who wasn't made as a toy.
* In its last two seasons, the [[Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 1987|Ninja Turtles]] faced fiction-only [[Big Bad]] Lord Dregg. Carter, the Turtles' equally toyless [[Sixth Ranger]] human ally, was introduced around the same time.
** Also, while two of the Punk Frogs (Genghis and Napoleon) had action figures, Rasputin and Attila did not.
* Many characters and vehicles from ''[[The Real Ghostbusters]]'', such as the Ecto-Ichi.
* Mira Nova, Commander Nebula, and over ''3 quarters'' of the villains in ''[[Buzz Lightyear of Star Command]].''
* [[The Smurfette Principle]] strikes again: Neither of the female knights from ''[[Visionaries: Knights of the Magical Light]]'' began as action figures. They weren't even planned to be adapted to the toy line's (canceled) second year.
** Also from ''[[Visionaries: Knights of the Magical Light]]'': Merklynn, the powerful wizard who sent the knights on their quests, wasn't powerful enough to become a figure. At least Hasbro planned to include a holographic image of him in the unproduced Iron Mountain playset, but he was not planned to be a posable figure.
* ''[[My Little Pony]]'' occasionally dipped into this trope for background characters during the G1 and G3 eras. Then they fully embraced it for the G4 adaptation, ''[[My Little Pony:
** It gets even stranger when you realize that there are over 50 [[God-Created Canon Foreigner|characters who have toys but don't appear in the show]] (mostly [[Palette Swap
** This even extends to accessories, like the 12 dresses introduced in an episode all about dresses, 6 of which make cameo appearances in other episodes and are featured again in the first [[Season Finale]]. You won't find those dresses on store shelves.
** Naturally, the show's large [[Periphery Demographic]] fandom, frustrated by the lack of official toys from Hasbro, have started making them themselves. A good plushie version can go for over a hundred dollars on eBay.
** This is slowly being remedied in 2012 as some of the supporting and background ponies are getting toys and one of the toyline ponies (Blossomforth) finally made the jump to the show.
* The main-trio of ''[[Star Wars: The
== Other ==
* ''[
▲* [http://www.nevermadetoys.com/ Never Made Toys] is a website that based on this phenomena. It's primarily based on the 80's cartoons.
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Toy Tropes]]
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