Throughout the decades, kids franchises have become institutions thanks to solid cartoons and memorable toylines. Franchises like Star Wars or Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles have toylines that aren't only memorable, but feature some of the most valuable toys ever made.
The '80s and '90s were filled with franchises that never got the same fair shot that some series did. Up against impossible competition for their era and lacking the same backing as more popular franchises, they couldn't go as far. These days, many of these franchises have gone forgotten, even though they had some of the greatest toys for their audience.
10 Bots Master Gave Kids Another Outlet For Their Combining Robot Battles
In the early ‘90s, French cartoon Bots Master came to the States on Fox Kids. The series took place in a futuristic world where engineer Ziv Zulander fought against his former employers, RM Corp, after learning of their plans for world domination. Ziv’s allies in this war were a group of sentient robots known as the B.O.Y.Z.Z.
The toyline for Bots Master featured both Ziv and his boys, as well as the Jungle Fiver — a group of transforming robots that could combine into an even larger robot. Bots Master gave the enemies action figures too, presenting plenty of options for kids interested in megazord fights.
9 Zoids Allowed Kids To Build Moving Toys
When people think of Zoids, they mostly just think of the anime series that aired on Cartoon Network. What they forget is before the anime series ever existed, there had already been companies bringing the toys over to America.
Zoids were massive model kits that kids could assemble to create cool-looking mechanical dinosaurs that could move around on their own. However, without any lore from comic books or cartoons, there wasn’t much reason for kids to buy Zoids other than just thinking they looked cool on the store shelves.
8 Legends Of Batman Presented Different Versions Of Batman And Robin Throughout Time
In 1994, DC was well aware of Batman's popularity. Between the films and the cartoon series, they were doing everything they could to make a profit off the Dark Knight. One such creation was the Legends of Batman, a series of figures based on the Elseworlds comics that were popular at the time.
Anyone who grew up in the ‘90s might remember having an action figure like Samurai Batman or Viking Batman, and all of them came from the Legends of Batman line-up. They were well-designed figures, but without being attached to the cartoon, they didn't see the success movie figures and the Batman: The Animated Series action figures reached.
7 Exo Squad Featured Humans In Mecha Exo Suits
Exo Squad was a series that perhaps came out a few years too soon, or was on the wrong network. USA Network aired two seasons of the space war drama in the early ‘90s, telling the story of humanity fighting to win their freedom back from the Neo-Spacians they’d created and used as a workforce. The toys worked off the show's gimmick: every conflict occurred inside mecha battle suits known as "Exo-Frames."
Even though they were expensive, kids could buy a new exo-frame with their favorite character included, and swap characters between Exo-Frames. Exo Squad didn’t last long enough to make a memory in most kids' minds, but these toys remained high-quality action figures. Fortunately, space war drama got another chance when the top-grossing Gundam franchise came out years later.
6 Centurions: Power Xtreme Let Kids Swap Accessories Between Heroes
Centurions had one of the most clever action figure ideas from the ‘80s. Each hero could equip themselves with different configurations for their missions. Thanks to the characters' and toys' designs, the equipment could be mixed and matched as necessary.
The show Centurions knew what they were doing too, as the different protagonists would frequently call on each other’s equipment, or combine different configurations to make themselves more effective. The flaw with Centurions was simply that the show was designed for syndication, and after getting its sixty-five episode run, no one wanted to keep making it.
5 Mighty Max Created Giant Playsets Where Kids Could Have An Adventure
Mighty Max was another series from the ‘90s that deserved far more credit than it got, but it was up against impossible competition. The series focused on Max, a teenager with the power to traverse space and time, thanks to his magic cap.
The toys for Mighty Max were just as clever as the show. The toy series featured a series of playsets with figurines inside, allowing kids to carry out their own adventures within these mini-worlds. While most sets were tiny and pocket-sized, there were larger sets to satisfy fans who wanted more out of their adventures.
4 Total Justice Featured Characters From The DC Universe Who Never Got Into Cartoons
Superheroes were popular in the ‘90s, even if they didn’t have blockbuster movies coming out all year round. At the time, DC made several attempts to leverage their popularity with children, including the action figure line Total Justice. This line, from Kenner toys, focused on making toys based on the popular JLA comic series.
Total Justice featured toys of the heroes fans wouldn’t find anywhere else, like Kyle Rayner, Tim Drake, and all the other DC heroes who never fulfilled their destiny. As expected with anything from the ‘90s, each figure came with snap-on armor and some gaudy giant weapons. Still, this toyline was the perfect place to get heroes who only existed in the comics.
3 Iron Man Featured All Of Iron Man And War Machine's Different Armor Designs
Iron Man was one of the first Marvel heroes to get a cartoon following the success of Spider-Man and X-Men: The Animated Series. The character was practically made for cartoons and merchandising, especially considering how many armors he could use on television and in the comics.
Toy Biz released several waves of action figures based on the cartoon Iron Man series. The series’ strange gimmick was adding additional armor to these already armored figures. Sometimes it worked, as some of Iron Man's armors required exo-armors on top of them. Others became overly complex. If nothing else, the toyline featured some of Iron Man's most powerful armors.
2 Mummies Alive Focused On Mummies Who Could Equip Metallic Armor
The edgy nineties could take anything and turn it into a kids cartoon... even mummies. Within the series Mummies Alive!, Presley Carnovan was the reincarnation of Prince Rapses and was being hunted by the sorcerer Scarab. His only protectors were his bodyguards from the past, mummies who could call on the spirits of Egyptian gods.
Even though this concept was offbeat, the Mummies Alive! action figures were surprisingly well-designed. Each of the bodyguards came equipped with snap-on armor to represent summoning the Egyptian gods’ powers. They even included a cool Pyramid Battle Station for a base and different vehicles for bigger fans of the series.
1 Big Bad Beetleborgs Tapped Into The Same Toy Ideas As Power Rangers
Big Bad Beetleborgs was yet another series trying to capitalize off of Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers’ success. As with any Power Rangers-esque series, the toyline had everything for every kind of fan. The transformation devices and the Beetleborgs’ individual weapons were available for fans who liked to roleplay.
Of course, Big Bad Beetleborgs also had action figures of the Beetleborgs, who featured much cooler designs than the average Power Ranger. While people make fun of this series now, the show was never canceled. Saban simply ran out of footage, meaning Beetleborgs never got to have the long-lasting influence Power Rangers did.