Toylines that jumped the shark

Discussion in 'The Toyark' started by Takeshi357, May 24, 2011.

  1. Takeshi357

    Takeshi357 "Research"

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    Today, I suddenly remembered something out of the blue. Remember how the troll dolls used to be a big thing in the 90's? You know, the one with the multicolored combable hair and stuff? I remembered that shortly before the fad died, there was this obvious attempt to appeal the male demographic...by making troll action figures clad in armour and stuff. Even back then I thought it was pretty ridicilous.

    So I was wondering, can anyone think of any other examples of something like this happening? An example would be if TMNT would suddenly don spacesuits and leave New York...wait, that actually happened didn't it?
     
  2. shibamura_prime

    shibamura_prime Food Truck or BMW Moderator

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    Last edited: May 24, 2011
  3. mx-01 archon

    mx-01 archon Well-Known Member

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    Speaking of which, you could count in the 80's/90's Ninja Turtles toyline as well. There was an equal mix of fairly cool and really weird stuff that came out near the end of the line.
     
  4. firehawc_69

    firehawc_69 cloppers = ignore list

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    Action Masters
     
  5. shibamura_prime

    shibamura_prime Food Truck or BMW Moderator

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    The 90's X-Men line can be thrown into the pot too. Each line would try to bring us figures of obscure characters like Deathbird or flavors-of-the-week like amnesia Magneto "Joseph." But later in the run, space suits and ninjas ruled the day... like this guy:

    Ninja Sabretooth - X-Men Ninja Force
     
  6. Metal Chaos

    Metal Chaos The Spark of Chaos

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    So that's what it would look like if Gamera and Don King had children.




    Seriously though, a LOT of toy lines have jumped the plastic shark in big big ways. The TF/Marvel TF/Star Wars Crossovers are just way too silly imo. Batman has a suit/gadget/vehicle for everything under the sun, Spider-Man has more costumes than an entire Broadway Musical, the X-Men have a fleet of personal watercraft that can merge into one vehicle for when they wanna have fun in the sun and destroy an entire beach all at the same time, seriously why would Iceman go swimming in his ice form and in the OCEAN NO LESS? Salt and ice do not mix, maybe Professor X should spend more time TEACHING his students instead of having them fight crime in colorful spandex.*





    *Old man has his students wear skin tight spandex and revealing clothes, now we know why he was always sitting down.
     
  7. mx-01 archon

    mx-01 archon Well-Known Member

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    Those lines are not the same thing as jumping the shark.
     
  8. Metal Chaos

    Metal Chaos The Spark of Chaos

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    To me it is, for them to have mechs that turn into giant versions of themselves, it's just ridiculous and there's absolutely NO REASON for it.
     
  9. mx-01 archon

    mx-01 archon Well-Known Member

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    The reason is that kids like Star Wars/Superheroes and Transformers, so roll them into one fun package and see if it works or not. The Star Wars ones are doing okay, the Marvel ones not so much, so the Marvel ones got canned, while the Star Wars ones are still continuing.
     
  10. transtrekkie

    transtrekkie On the level.

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    I think the Star Wars TF line jumped the shark by having too many Clone Wars/New Trilogy toys. I'm a hardcore SW fan and want original trilogy bots.

    That said, Masters of the Universe jumped it with their 200x line by having so many different He-Man and Skeletor variants that they basically became Barbie. Transformers jumped the shark with pretenders and GI Joe jumped it when everyone started wearing space suits. Go Bots jumped it from the beginning as did Supernaturals.
     
  11. Foster

    Foster Haslab Victory Saber Backer #3 Veteran

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    This thread makes me wonder if there were ever Happy Days toys.
     
  12. Metal Chaos

    Metal Chaos The Spark of Chaos

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    Aaaaaayyyy



    [​IMG]


    [​IMG]
     
  13. Foster

    Foster Haslab Victory Saber Backer #3 Veteran

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    Magnificent!
     
  14. Takeshi357

    Takeshi357 "Research"

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    I kind of consider GI Joes to be this, around when they suddenly went into all the space stuff.
     
  15. Spiderus Prime

    Spiderus Prime TFW SpongeBob and TTV's MS 2.0

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    BIONICLE jump the shark with the when form Village/City/Claw Village/Underwater City/Sky Island/Swampland to Gladiators in Space! (In least we've have two Mata Nui toys.)
     
  16. An Army of Bees

    An Army of Bees WTF@TFW Podcast Editor Veteran

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    Batman The Animated Series. I never thought a toyline could survive on 400+ variations of a single character.

    They did Gladiators in Space?
     
  17. grimlock1972

    grimlock1972 Optimus, serving up the primest of ribs since 1984

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    MASK the last series or so put out in 1987 and 1988 had some set that reall went odd with The holoclone things and spit apart vehicles that both parts looked half ass compared to earlier MASK vehicles.
     
  18. VSpec

    VSpec TF Forza Painter

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    i kinda like those TMNT trolls.
     
  19. boxorak

    boxorak Lacking Shelf Space

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    Sort of; The Gladiators were aliens on a different planet.
    I didn't really mind the Glatorian line, although that might have been when I didn't know Bionicle was ending the year after that.
     
  20. transtrekkie

    transtrekkie On the level.

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    They were made by Mego in the late 70's and the Fonz can be seen frequently on the pages of Toyfare.