History Main / ToylessToylineCharacter

** Prince Gristle did not get any toys made of him until the release of ''WesternAnimation/TrollsBandTogether'', where he got a blind box figure. Compare this to his love interest, Bridget, getting several toys.

* The onee-sans in ''Series/InaiInaiBaa'' used to get a lot of merchandise back in the day (specifically during eras from the Kana-chan era to the Koto-chan era), but once the merchandise decided to just focus on Wanwan and U-tan, they barely got any merchandise, only appearing as images printed on the bonus gifts that come with the magazines and in coloring books. The only onee-sans to get merch once Koto-chan left was Yuki-chan, who got an Air Friends doll, and Haru-chan, who got a Gashapon figure.

* The toyline for ''Film/X2XMenUnited'' only featured a portion of the cast, meaning a lot of characters like ComicBook/{{Storm}}, ComicBook/JeanGrey, ComicBook/{{Mystique}} and Pyro were omitted anyway. But the real surprise is that Lady Deathstrike, a cool villain who was featured very prominently in all of the marketing for the film, didn't get a single figure to her name.

* ''Franchise/{{Cars}}'': The die-cast lines encompass a wide variety of characters from across all three movies and all of the short films released in-between. However, none of the characters introduced in the tie-in games, such as the Queens cars (Vince, Lenny, Barry, and Sonny) from the [[VideoGame/{{Cars}} first game]], or the foreign guest racers (Giovanni, Otto, Gudmund, Koji, and Emma) from ''VideoGame/CarsMaterNationalChampionship'', ever received their own toys. Especially JustForFun/{{Egregious}} with the 2009 ''Race-O-Rama'' line, which [[InNameOnly doesn't have any characters or paint jobs]] from ''VideoGame/CarsRaceORama''.

** Downplayed with the Renegade Snoop, who did have a figure planned for release, but did not see the light of day in the American market and was only publicly released in Australia's Machine Men line as well as Europe's Robo Machine line.

* Shea Fontana's ''WebAnimation/DCSuperHeroGirls'' was made to promote a toyline by Mattel, but the only characters besides the main heroines to get their own dolls are Starfire, Cheetah, Frost and Hawkgirl, with none of the male characters getting toys at all. This is slightly mitigated in the LEGO sub-line by at least including minifigures of Steve Trevor, the Flash, Mad Harriet, Lashina, Eclipso, Lena Luthor and Krypto, but Katana is curiously the only one of the main heroines to ''not'' get her own minifigure.

* Practically all the official action figures and model kits for ''VideoGame/MetalGearRisingRevengeance'' revolve around Raiden. This is likely due to the game's development having been outsourced to Creator/{{PlatinumGames}}, resulting in all of the game's original elements being co-owned by them. Since Raiden was an established character from previous ''VideoGame/MetalGear'' games, the rights to his character are fully owned by Creator/{{Konami}}, making him exempt from any co-ownership. Want a Raiden figure? You have your choice of Play Arts, Revoltech Yamaguchi, Hot Toys, and Gecco (with some of these being available in [[PaletteSwap recolors]] as well). On the other hand, if you want a Bladewolf to accompany your Raiden, then tough luck. Want a Jetstream Sam or any of the Winds of Destruction for your Raiden to face? Too bad. The only non-Raiden merchandise based on ''MGR'' was a pair of Dwarf Gekko figures sold by Sentinel Toys, which were enemy mechs previously introduced in ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid4''.

* Shea Fontana's ''WebAnimation/DCSuperHeroGirls'' was made to promote a toyline by Mattel, but the only characters besides the main heroines to get their own dolls are Starfire, Cheetah and Hawkgirl, with none of the male characters getting toys at all. This is slightly mitigated in the LEGO sub-line by at least including minifigures of Steve Trevor, the Flash, Mad Harriet, Lashina, Eclipso, Lena Luthor and Krypto, but Katana is curiously the only one of the main heroines to ''not'' get her own minifigure.

* Shea Fontana's ''WebAnimation/DCSuperHeroGirls'' was made to promote a toyline by Mattel, but the only characters besides the main heroines to get their own dolls are Starfire and Hawkgirl, with none of the male characters getting toys at all. This is slightly mitigated in the LEGO sub-line by at least including minifigures of Steve Trevor, the Flash, Mad Harriet, Lashina, Eclipso, Lena Luthor and Krypto, but Katana is curiously the only one of the main heroines to ''not'' get her own minifigure.

* Despite being one of the title characters, no toys have ever been released for Kazooie of ''VideoGame/BanjoKazooie''. Banjo got one toy release based off of his ''VideoGame/DiddyKongRacing'' appearance, but because Kazooie was not with him in that game, she was not included. Interestingly, there ''had'' been plans for a Banjo-Kazooie toy to be released, but it fell through and only the finished, painted prototype (which ended up [[http://www.egmnow.com/articles/news/now-you-can-own-this-rare-prototype-banjo-kazooie-toy-for-20k/ selling on eBay for a cool twenty thousand dollars]]) was made. (As the duo would ultimately make it into ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosUltimate'', they would eventually get an Toys/{{amiibo}}, which does prominently feature Kazooie.)

* Creator/BillMantlo's ''ComicBook/{{Micronauts|MarvelComics}}'' series for Marvel featured several original characters, as the toyline from Mego didn't have that many characters to begin with. The series was also integrated into the MarvelUniverse's existing Microverse. The series not only outlasted Mego's ''Micronauts'' toyline, it outlasted Mego itself! And although Hasbro owns the rights to the toyline now and have licensed them to Creator/IDWPublishing, Marvel gets to keep the characters it created (such as Arcturus Rann and Marionette), and any characters that were already renamed and modified from the toyline (e.g. Bug, who was based on the Galactic Warrior figure), and Marvel renamed their Micronauts group the ''Microns''.

** ''Film/AvengersAgeOfUltron'' has figures for everyone from ComicBook/TheVision and ComicBook/{{Ultron}} to ComicBook/NickFury and Comicbook/WarMachine. In contrast, there's almost no merchandise for ComicBook/{{Quicksilver}} or the ComicBook/ScarletWitch, who are two of the film's most important characters.

** Due to complicated licensing issues, very little ComicBook/SpiderMan merchandise was released for ''Film/CaptainAmericaCivilWar'' (an odd example since a deal regarding profits from Spider-Man merchandise sales helped lead to Disney and Sony making the deal to bring the character into the MCU). There was also absolutely nothing for Helmut Zemo, the movie's BigBad.
** A frequent criticism of Hasbro's Marvel Legends line (as well as the previous 6" movie figures in the same style and scale) is that movie villains tend to get ignored. Examples include Whiplash from ''Film/IronMan2'', Comicbook/RedSkull from ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheFirstAvenger'', ComicBook/{{Loki}} from ''Film/{{Thor}}'' (though realizing [[EnsembleDarkhorse this grave error]], Loki was subsequently included in the 6" lines for ''Film/{{The Avengers|2012}}'' and ''Film/ThorRagnarok''), Ronan and Nebula from ''Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy2014'' (though Nebula later received a 6" figure in [[Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxyVol2 the sequel]]), Yellowjacket from ''Film/AntMan1'' and Kaecilius from ''Film/DoctorStrange2016''. Interestingly, the Mandarin from ''Film/IronMan3'' ''was'' going to get a Marvel Legends figure, but it was scrapped for unknown reasons. These omissions proved significant enough that Creator/{{Hasbro}} later launched a special 10th anniversary line for the MCU, which finally included characters like the aforementioned Ronan, Yellowjacket and the Mandarin.

* While most of the characters from ''WesternAnimation/{{Rugrats}}'' got plenty of toys, Kimi only got two Burger King toys and a doll of her in a wedding dress. This even extended to the product line for ''WesternAnimation/AllGrownUp'', where she only got one doll.
* Daisy the Diesel Railcar from ''WesternAnimation/ThomasAndFriends'' oddly lacks a Trackmaster/Plarail toy. She also hasn't had any merchandise from 2009 to 2022, which is odd considering [[AscendedExtra she appears much more in the newer CGI era than the model era]].

* ''WesternAnimation/PuppyInMyPocketAdventuresInPocketville'', which is also one of Mondo TV’s many works, is also a weird case. None of the human characters aside from Kate has gotten a doll, not even the children that received Chosen Pets. However, usually the more prominent Pocketville characters have their own toys, as more minor characters such as Holiday, Steel Wool, unnamed chickens, Milo, Ellie, Dr. Schwartzer, an unnamed lion cub, Andre, the three Puppy Trotters, the two bear chefs, and more do not have their own figurine.

** The ''Anime/PrettyCure'' franchise is hit with this with the ''S.H. Figuarts'' line. Currently, ''Anime/YesPrettyCure5'' and ''Anime/HappinessChargePrettyCure'' lack Figuarts, and ''Anime/FutariWaPrettyCureSplashStar'' took ''ages'' to get any. While ''Splash Star'' and ''Happiness Charge'' make sense, as they both were very unpopular when they came out, the original ''Yes! Pretty Cure 5'' don't seem to have a reason.

* Speaking of which, ''Comicbook/SecretWars1984'' only existed to push a line of Marvel action figures from Creator/{{Mattel}}. Despite this, a ''lot'' of prominent characters from the series never got their own figures, including most of the Avengers and X-Men. What makes this so jarring is that a few characters who didn't appear in the comic ''at all'' like Comicbook/TheFalcon, Baron Zemo, and Comicbook/{{Daredevil}} ''did'' end up getting figures. The disconnect between Marvel and Mattel was so great that Creator/JimShooter created Comicbook/SpiderWoman II, Volcana and Titania specifically because the toyline wanted more female characters, only for Mattel to then decide they weren't doing that, allegedly because they suddenly realised they'd need another mold (this is also apparently why there was no Hulk figure).

** A frequent criticism of Hasbro's Marvel Legends line (as well as the previous 6" movie figures in the same style and scale) is that movie villains tend to get ignored. Examples include Whiplash from ''Film/IronMan2'', Comicbook/RedSkull from ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheFirstAvenger'', Comicbook/{{Loki}} from ''Film/{{Thor}}'' (though realizing [[EnsembleDarkhorse this grave error]], Loki was subsequently included in the 6" lines for ''Film/{{The Avengers|2012}}'' and ''Film/ThorRagnarok''), Ronan and Nebula from ''Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy'' (though Nebula later received a 6" figure in [[Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxyVol2 the sequel]]), Yellowjacket from ''Film/AntMan1'' and Kaecilius from ''Film/DoctorStrange2016''. Interestingly, the Mandarin from ''Film/IronMan3'' ''was'' going to get a Marvel Legends figure, but it was scrapped for unknown reasons. These omissions proved significant enough that Creator/{{Hasbro}} later launched a special 10th anniversary line for the MCU, which finally included characters like the aforementioned Ronan, Yellowjacket and the Mandarin.

-->-- '''Scary-Crayon's''' review of the [[http://www.scary-crayon.com/spectare/tmntova2/ part two]] of ''[[Anime/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtlesLegendOfTheSupermutants Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles]]'' anime.

* Out of the countless [[EnvironmentSpecificActionFigure Batman variant figures]] in Hasbro's ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond'' toyline, Only three Jokerz (J-man, Smirk, and Spike), Blight, and The Joker Virus from the Batlink sub-line were released, leaving other villains like Inque, Shriek and Spellbinder without action figures.

* The only characters of ''WesternAnimation/ActionMan2000'' to get their own toys were Action Man, Dr. X and Professor Gangrene, with no figures made of Grinder, Fidget, Rikki, Asazi or Quake.

!!Examples:

* ToylessToylineCharacter/{{Transformers}}

* The ''WesternAnimation/TheBotsMaster'' was intended to be a MerchandiseDriven show, but in the end, only a handful of the large cast of characters were made into toys [[ScrewedByTheMerchandise due to poor sales cancelling both the toyline and the show itself]], making the rest of the cast, who very much look designed to be made into toys, into this.

[[folder: Toys]]
* ''Toys/{{BIONICLE}}'' itself was primarily a toy-line, and the story got second billing. As such, any originally non-toy story-only character had to be ''very'' lucky to receive a toy. Of course, this being Franchise/{{LEGO}}, filling in the gaps for oneself through building is encouraged. In fact, some of the side characters got their official toy depictions through contests held by LEGO, where the best design would go on to become canon; and many more minor characters (including most Dark Hunters and many Rahi beasts) were outright created by fans in this way.

[[folder: Tabletop Games]]
* Back in the day, ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'' rulebooks had stats for units or special characters that didn't have their own official model yet, leading hobbyists to convert their own [[OurOrcsAreDifferent Ork]] [[AwesomePersonnelCarrier Battlewagons]] or heroes like [[AirJousting Nuadhu "Fireheart"]] of the [[SpaceElves Eldar]] in the meantime. But then other miniatures manufacturers started selling models for such units, prompting GW to take legal action - and unexpectedly lose. The company's controversial response was to drop any model-less units from the rulebooks altogether, which infamously {{Nerf}}ed the Tyranids for almost a year by taking away their ability to field ({{Organic|Technology}}) {{Drop Pod}}s[[note]]The cut happened in January 2014, but towards the end of that year a replacement with similar rules called the Tyrannocyte was released[[/note]] and axing over half of the Dark Eldar special characters.
** This sometimes overlaps with UnseenNoMore. An arguable example of this is Szarekh the Silent King, who while being alluded to in the Necron lore for a long period of time, did not get a miniature until 2020. More traditional examples include background characters such as the High Lords of Terra (barring [[ActionGirl Morvehn Vahl]], an instance of RememberTheNewGuy in 2021).
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Western Animation]]

* ''WesternAnimation/Ben10'':
** During the show, Ben unlocked many new aliens, however, a ton of them were never made as toys, such as Chamalien, Atomix, Eye Guy, Ultimate Way Big, Ditto, Fasttrack, Gutrot, etc. Some of them, like Chamalien, Gutrot and Atomix have been made, but they are unlicensed bootlegs, and were only sold in China and India.
** In Ben 10 Omniverse, Bandai wanted Skurd, to be in the show because of an idea for something that allowed one Omnitrix alien to use the abilities of another. They made this concept so they could make toys based around it, however, the toys were never released.
** In the reboot, the Omni-Enhanced and Omni-Kix forms were created so Playmates could make toys of them, however a ton of them were never released, such as Omni-Enhanced Grey Matter, Omni-Enhanced Stinkfly, Omni-Enhanced Wildvine and Omni-Kix Rath.