History Main / ToylessToylineCharacter

** One such character, Straxus, recently got a toy well over 20 years after his debut (it's called Darkmount, after his base of operations, for some reason - likely trademark-related.)

** Arcee, the AffirmativeActionGirl, who would stay for the rest of the cartoon's run and remained one of the primary main characters (in a show with LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters) despite not having an equivalant toy.

** Kranix, [[LastOfHisKind sole survivor of Lithone]], who got fed to the Sharkticons almost immediately after appearing the second time.

* [[TheEighties The 80's]] MastersOfTheUniverse cartoon had a few characters who were introduced apparently to promote new action fictures, 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.

** Blackarachnia was one of the first exceptions to the 'no girls' rule, but her toy was basically Tarantulas's painted purple. In the show BA is yellow and black.

** Ravage's ''BeastWars'' appearance existed only as a ShoutOut to TransformersGenerationOne, but was still given a totally new design and even an episode or two focused on him.

* The ''TransformersAnimated'' version of ''Omega Supreme'' - very male, very {{Badass}}, very important, with plenty of screentime, was not a toy.

** Ramjet and Slipstream.

** All of the non-sentient robots.
* ''BeastMachines'':
** Megatron's form at the end of the series.
** Botanica.
** Diagnostic Drone.

** Blackarachnia is an exception to the 'no girls' rule, but her toy was basically Tarantulas's painted purple. In the show BA is yellow and black.

In a boys' show, generally the TokenGirl and the armies of {{mooks}} are exempt from toy line privileges, and in a girls' show it's the same for the male characters and, oddly enough, the villains.

* Thanks to the SmurfettePrinciple, ''ThePiratesOfDarkWater'''s action figure line included Zoolie—who wasn't even a member of the crew of the ''Wraith'', and rarely appeared in the series—but not Tula.

* ''MonsterHigh'' has a few.

* The [[TransformersGenerationOne Generation One]] comics had a few more, such as Scrounge, Blaster's [[TheWoobie unfortunate little buddy]] from issue #17 and Jhiaxus, a major villain from the ''TransformersGeneration2'' 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.

** [[DarkActionGirl Lariska].

[AC: Other]]

** The animated series mostly averted this with a few exceptions. Namely, Sparks, a one-time communications officer who later appeared as a TV broadcaster (having already retired from the team since then), and Big Lob, a basketball player who appeared only in ''TheMovie''. On the Cobra side, Pythona from The Movie never got her own figure, even though Golobulus and Nemesis Enforcer were released as part of a Cobra-La Team three-pack along with a Cobra-La [[strike:generic mook]] Royal Guard.

* None of the female characters (Mainframe, Nightshade, Ms Demeanor, Mirage) from ''AnimatedSeries/{{COPS}}'' got action figures.

* There are some major robot characters in ''{{Transformers}}'' that were never designed with a toy in mind or the actual toy sits in its own version of DevelopmentHell. (Humans are a given, of course, as the toyline is made up of transforming robots). In some cases it's inspired fans to do a kitbash to make their own.
** The original [[TransformersGenerationOne Generation One]] 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.
*** There's always fan favorite Nightbird, a female ninja robot introduced in "Enter the Nightbird." Though she's never seen again after this episode [[EnsembleDarkhorse she's not likely to be forgotten any time soon]].
*** Devcon, from "The Gambler" is also pretty popular.
*** Deceptitran, the primary antagonist in "Sea Change".
*** "Forever Is a Long Time Coming" gave us Beta.
** The [[TransformersGenerationOne Generation One]] comics had a few more, such as Scrounge, Blaster's [[TheWoobie unfortunate little buddy]] from issue #17 and Jhiaxus, a major villain from the ''TransformersGeneration2'' 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; he is mostly a gold and orange Megatron.
** ''TransformersTheMovie'' introduced us to Arcee, the AffirmativeActionGirl, who would stay for the rest of the cartoon's run and remained one of the primary main characters (in a show with LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters) despite not having an equivalant toy.
*** The BigBad of the film, Unicron, a giant robot that transforms into a planet-eating planet, had his toy trapped in DevelopmentHell. Despite this, he remained a recurring villain in the next season, and his head still orbited Cybertron as a ContinuityNod. He eventually got a toy... ''twenty years later''
*** Kranix, [[LastOfHisKind sole survivor of Lithone]], who got fed to the Sharkticons almost immediately after appearing the second time.
** ''BeastWars'':
*** Transmutate didn't get a toy until the 10th Anniversary line, when you had to combine bonus parts packaged with other toys.
*** Tigerhawk was forced to be KilledOffForReal after two episodes because they ''weren't sure'' they were making the toy (as in, weren't sure they ''weren't'', either... and eventually did.)
*** Blackarachnia is an exception to the 'no girls' rule, but her toy was basically Tarantulas's painted purple. In the show BA is yellow and black.
*** The Vok, the mysterious aliens that were the focus of one of the main story arcs. Of course, as floating glowing skull thingies, there's not much about them that demands one.
*** Ravage's ''BeastWars'' appearance existed only as a ShoutOut to TransformersGenerationOne, but was still given a totally new design and even an episode or two focused on him.
*** There is also Megatron's form at the end of ''BeastMachines''.
*** Artemis, Navi, and Star Upper from ''{{Beast Wars II}}''.
*** Botanica, from ''BeastMachines''.
** From ''TransformersEnergon'' there was Padlock. Of course, he existed just long enough to get shot in the back by Shockwave, thus spurring Wing Saber to seek revenge.
*** Debatably, there was also Wing Dagger, but he was quickly reformatted into Wing Saber, who did get a toy.
*** Though for once the human companion [[TheWesley Kicker]] ''did'' get a toy, as did non-Transformer villain Alpha Q.
** The ''TransformersAnimated'' version of ''Omega Supreme'' - very male, very {{Badass}}, very important, with plenty of screentime - doesn't have a toy despite fans clamoring for it.
** Neither do Mixmaster and Scrapper.
** Or Ramjet and Slipstream.
*** Sari, too, doesn't have one, [[spoiler:despite being a Transformer]].
*** All of the non-sentient robots as well.
** Almost all generations of Transformers also have the opposite - characters that have a toy but never appear in the show. For example, most of the "Scout" class toys from the Transformers:RevengeOfTheFallen toyline, while in pretty much the same style as the movie characters, either never appear at all in the movie, or only their alt modes do as normal vehicles (though Ransack, who turns into a biplane(!!) does appear in the novelization).
** On the plus side, with the ''Transformers'' creators' love for the MythologyGag, and RunningTheAsylum, any fiction-only Transformer, especially if it's from the cartoon, is likely to become the inspiration for a character in a later series, giving them another chance at making it to the toyline. ''TransformersAnimated'', for instance, has its own version of Arcee.
** As did ''Energon'', where she was a fairly prominent character. Most popular characters will eventually get a toy of some sort, even if it's a Universe line, a Botcon exclusive or whatever.
* In the beginning of ''[[YesPrecure5 Yes! Precure 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 EnsembleDarkhorse, 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.

* This phenomenon has appeared in the ''{{Yu-Gi-Oh}}'' anime and card game, as well; there are a ''ton'' of cards shown in the anime (and mangas) that were never made. While some of the more obvious ones (such as the [[UrbanLegendOfZelda infamous Seal of Orichalcos]] won't ever be made due to being GameBreaker cards, some of them are legitimate themes that would have been a blast to play, like the Armor cards from [[SeasonalRot the DOMA arc]] that were sadly never developed.
* Parodied by ''[[WalkyVerse Shortpacked!]]'' in [[http://shortpacked.com/comic/book-6/01-seasonal-employee-affective-disorder/squirrelgirl/ this strip]].
* In its earlier seasons, the [[WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles1987 Ninja Turtles]] had an action figure for nearly every character under the sun. Later on, Playmates neglected to release an action figure version of BigBad Lord Dregg from the show's last two seasons.
** Or Carter, the Turtles' SixthRanger human ally who was introduced around the same time.

** Also from ''{{Visionaries}}'': 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.

In a boys' show, generally the TokenGirl and the armies of {{mooks}} are exempt from toy line privileges, and in a girls' show it's the same for the male characters and, oddly enough, the villains. This trope is for when a character who doesn't fall into one of those categories, for whom all evidence would point to them having a toy, still doesn't.

*** Hasbro is trying to correct this, giving us Kwinn Scar-Face and Hard Master in different figure packs, and some others as convention figures.
** Most of the ''GIJoeExtreme'' characters never got their own figures due to the cancellation of the toyline.
* The girl ''PowerRangers'' never get as many figures as the guys - they do make the basic forms but the male rangers always get all kinds of crazy powerups that never show up in the show. Most likely this is because they have to make completely separate molds for the females, as well as the fact that boys, the primary audience for the series, would rather not play with toys of the female heroes. (In the early days they did have a few girl-targeted toys featuring the heroines...)
** This fact led to one rather bizarre incidence in the 2010 ''MightyMorphinPowerRangers'' toyline, in which they made a robot sabertooth tiger for the Yellow Ranger but included a ''Green'' Ranger figure to ride it.
** In their defense the girls do get canon power up toys, something a lot of toy companies would never do, and the older lines did recieve female variant figures.
* The villains from the ''{{Barbie}}'' movies rarely have toys made of them. They did, however, make a doll of ''Barbie herself'' when she played the villain (Eden Starling, equally [[TheGrinch Grinch-y]] DistaffCounterpart to Ebenezer Scrooge) in ''Barbie in AChristmasCarol''.
* It looked like [[DisneyFairies 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.

* ''StarWars'' was weird. Just 12 action figures at first, one of them the blink-and-you'll-miss-him "Death Squad/Star Commander." Meanwhile, PeterCushing as Darth Vader's ''boss'', and the man who orders the destruction of Alderaan, doesn't get an action figure til about 1995.
* ''{{Flintstones}}'' Vitamins didn't include Betty until 1995, when she replaced Fred's car.
** Justified due to the fact that the makers of the Vitamins had trouble making a mold that would incorporate Betty's thin waist without the vitamin breaking in the bottle.
* A number of ''{{Bionicle}}'' characters qualify, including two-thirds of the Toa Hagah team, [[DarkActionGirl Lariska]], [[TheAragorn Toa Helryx]] and [[BigGood Artakha]].
** There's also a number of quasi-examples that aren't directly marketed, but are built from existing parts. A number, like Graalok the ash bear, the Shadowed One, and Botar, were designed by LEGO and alternate building instructions were included with the toys. Several others, mostly Rahi beasts and Dark Hunter mercenaries, were [[ContestWinnerCameo designed and built by fans and then canonized]].
** One weird sort-of aversion happened with the Matoran villagers, who were major supporting characters but didn't have any figures on store shelves for the first few years. The reason it's a "sort-of" aversion is that a series of Matoran figures ''were'' briefly available... ''in Happy Meals''.
* Poor, poor, [[strike:Katara]] every single female character of ''AvatarTheLastAirbender''.
** Ozai,as well.
** And Roku.
*** Katara was planned for the next series after fan outcry, but the line flopped pretty badly.

* [[TheEighties The 80's]] MastersOfTheUniverse cartoon had a few characters who were introduced apparently to promote new action fictures, but said figures never materialised - Strongarm and Lizardman both spring to mind. There's a partial aversion with The Sorceress and King Randor, who didn't receive action figures until the final wave despite being major characters in the cartoon.

** The [[TransformersGenerationOne Generation One]] comics had a few more, such as Scrounge, Blaster's [[TheWoobie unfortunate little buddy]] from issue #17 and Jhiaxus, a major villain from the TransformersGeneration2 comics.
*** Though eventually Straxus did get one, ''twenty-four years later''. Jaws dropped.
*** Jhiaxus also had one, not identical to his appearance in comics, but his bio revealed he was the same character.
*** Emirate Xaaron, from the UK comics and the latter parts of the US Marvel issues, has never received a toy despite being so easy to make; he is mostly a gold and orange Megatron. There's a lot of gold Megatrons, but no one is labeled "Xaaron".

*** Recently Arcee got a toy in the Animated line and while it doesn't fit perfectly with the non-animated toys, it's a big hit even with the people who disliked Animated. Hasbro is shocked that a figure fans have requested for over 20 years is such a hit. Her success alone revived the Animated line a bit and two more TRU exclusive figures are going to be made.

*** Blackarachnia is an exception to the 'no girls' rule, but her toy was basically Tarantulas's painted purple. BA is ''yellow and black.'' She did eventually get new molds to herself later on.

**** In Japan, he has a toy. Online, it goes for about a hundred bucks, so other than Japanese kids who got him when he as on the shelves, only the most dedicated fans can have the Ravage that ''actually looks like Ravage.'' (Black repaints of Cheetor that don't resemble Ravage in any way do ''not'' count.)
***** Even worse, after using it to create a convention exclusive Transmetal Tigatron figure, Hasbro ''lost the mold'' to Japan!Ravage, preventing them from using it to give us Westerners the figure in the 10th Anniversary line.
*** There is also Megatron's form at the end of ''BeastMachines''. Come on, giving Optimal Optimus a new head (for Megs' final form was based on one of Optimus' former powerups, to taunt him) wouldn't be that hard!

* ''TheCenturions'' has a few examples of this trope. Crystal Kane, the team's MissionControl, was never an action figure (unless bootlegs count), probably because the toy company thought boys wouldn't be interested in the TokenGirl. Rex Charger and John Thunder, the new recruits who were introduced in later episodes, lost out because the toy line was canceled before their planned figures could be manufactured. And then there are {{Team Pet}}s Shadow the dog and Lucy the orangutan, and {{Killer Robot}}s Groundborg and Seaborg. Why weren't they toys? Who can say?

* For the same reason, the generic {{mook}}s from ''[[{{ptitle2g52qh17}} Bucky O'Hare]]'' got an action figure, but the CatGirl pilot Jenny—a major character—didn't.
** Jenny was scheduled to become a figure in the second year of the toy line, which was canceled due to disappointing sales of the first year.
* The toyline for the first ''JurassicPark'' movie had most of the major human players from the film, but John Hammond and Lex Murphy were noticeably missing. Lex's actress Ariana Richards was reportedly upset to the point of crying when she found out her character wouldn't be getting an action figure.

* MonsterHigh has quite a few.

-->''"As fate would have it, maybe Karg wasn't all that cool. The rest of the villain quartet all got action figures. Karg got forgotten."''
-->--'''Matt Caracappa''' of X-Entertainment.com in his article about a sequence from the ''MastersOfTheUniverse'' movie

In a boys' show, generally the TokenGirl and the armies of {{mooks}} are exempt from toy line privileges, and in a girls' show it's the same for the male characters and, oddly enough, the villains. This trope is for when a character who doesn't fall into one of those categories, for whom all evidence would point to them having a toy, still doesn't. This is not just any character who doesn't appear in his story's toyline. Also note that with many long-running franchises, sometimes toys will be made of these characters and marketed to collectors. The point isn't that no toy ''exists'', but that when the media was made, the character wasn't being used to advertise one.

* Thanks to the SmurfettePrinciple, ''ThePiratesOfDarkWater'''s action figure line included Zoolie—who wasn't even a member of the crew of the ''Wraith'', and rarely appeared in the series—but not Tula.
* For the same reason, the generic {{mook}}s from ''[[{{ptitle2g52qh17}} Bucky O'Hare]]'' got an action figure, but the CatGirl pilot Jenny—a major character—didn't.

* Thanks to the SmurfettePrinciple, ''ThePiratesOfDarkWater'''s action figure line included Zoolie—who wasn't even a member of the crew of the ''Wraith'', and rarely appeared in the series—but not Tula.
* For the same reason, the generic {{mook}}s from ''[[{{ptitle2g52qh17}} Bucky O'Hare]]'' got an action figure, but the CatGirl pilot Jenny—a major character—didn't.

** Also from ''{{Visionaries}}'': [[{{Merlin}} 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.

-->''As fate would have it, maybe Karg wasn't all that cool. The rest of the villain quartet all got action figures. Karg got forgotten.''
-->'''Matt Caracappa''' of X-Entertainment.com in his article about a sequence from the ''MastersOfTheUniverse'' movie

* For the same reason, the generic {{mook}}s from ''[[{{ptitle2g52qh17}} Bucky O'Hare]]'' got an action figure, but the CatGirl pilot Jenny—-a major character—-didn't.

* The villains from the ''{{Barbie}}'' movies rarely have toys made of them. Hell, they didn't even make a doll of ''Barbie herself'' when she played the villain (Eden Starling, equally [[TheGrinch Grinch-y]] DistaffCounterpart to Ebenezer Scrooge) in ''Barbie in AChristmasCarol''.

* Many charecters and vehicles from TheRealGhostbusters, such as the Ecto-Ichi.
* Mira Nova, Commander Nebula, and over 3 quarters of the villains in BuzzLightyearOfStarCommand.

* For the same reason, the generic {{mook}}s from ''[[{{ptitle2g52qh17}} Bucky O'Hare]]'' got an action figure, but the CatGirl pilot Jenny—a major character—didn't.

* ''ThePiratesOfDarkWater'''s action figure line included Zoolie—who wasn't even on the crew of the ''Wraith''—but not Tula.
* The generic {{mook}}s from ''[[{{ptitle2g52qh17}} Bucky O'Hare]]'' got an action figure, but the CatGirl pilot Jenny—a major character—didn't.

* The generic {{mook}}s from ''[[ptitle2g52qh17 Bucky O'Hare]]'' got an action figure, but the CatGirl pilot Jenny—a major character—didn't.

*** Terrence also recently got a doll in the toyline.

* The Peculiar Purple Pieman Of Porcupine Peak from ''StrawberryShortcake'' 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 some of the Berrykins (''Meets the Berrykins'' introduces ten of them, but only six became toys).

*** Artemis and Navi from ''{{Beast Wars II}}''.

*** Blackarachnia is an exception to the 'no girls' rule, but her toy was basically Tarantulas's painted purple. BA is ''yellow and black.''

* ''StarWars'' was weird. Just 12 action figures at first, one of them the blink-and-you'll-miss-him "Death Squad/Star Commander." Meanwhile, Peter Cushing as Darth Vader's ''boss'', and the man who orders the destruction of Alderaan, doesn't get an action figure til about 1995.

** The [[TransformersGenerationOne Generation One]] comics had a few more, such as Spanner, Blaster's [[TheWoobie unfortunate little buddy]] from issue #17 and Jhiaxus, a major villain from the TransformersGeneration2 comics.