Or; the girls who didn't make it -- unproduced prototypes
Some of the girls who are missing almost made it -- they actually made it to the prototype stage before being axed. Some even made it into displays at Toy Fair, but eventually got pulled from the line because they were under-ordered, or the line as a whole didn't seem healthy and the girl figure was chosen as the one to kill off. Who knows what drives the whims of toy makers? These are the most frustrating cases to me, because they came so close!
The recently missing:
While you can never be sure that a figure is gone for good (sometimes they
pop up in a line a year or two later...or you see their parts show up in
a different line -- scary!!) there's a few girls that I think can be declared
MIA for now:
From Zorro: Lady Rawhide. Part of the second series which probably
never even made it to the factory. All mention of the second series is gone
from Playmates' website. In any case, I hardly think a woman in lingerie,
weilding a whip, was going to go over in TRU...
From Starting Line-Ups: two female basketball players were
announced, Sheryl Swoopes and Rebecca Lobo. Of course, the minute I wrote that both had disappeared, the Sheryl Swoopes figure showed up. But Rebecca Lobo is still nowhere to be found.
From Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: the Shadow Ninja Venus and
Deluxe Turtleflage Venus, both announced at ToyFair and both apparently
cancelled along with the rest of the "new" line.
Not actually missing:
So far, every female cancelled or pulled from the Playmates Trek line has
ended up rescheduled. Also, Playmates apparently plans to sell figures direct
or as exclusives to get the rest of the line out. The only figure I haven't
seen rescheduled so far is the 9" Kira with two costumes shown at Toy
Fair.
Also not missing is Toonsylvania's Melissa Screech -- unfortunately, however,
she didn't start shipping until the line was clearnanced, so she's
near-impossible to find.
And from the history books, here's a few girls that almost made it....
| ALIEN (Kenner, 1979) | ||
| Ripley in deck uniform | 4-1/2" | |
| Ripley in spacesuit | 4-1/2" | with removable helmet! |
| Never in catalogs, this entire line (also including an alien, and male crew members) made it to prototype stage but was cancelled, probably after the infamous 18" Alien was pulled off the market. | ||
| DALLAS (Mego, 1981) | ||
| Miss Ellie, Sue Ellen, Pamela and Lucy were part of a 3-3/4" line that someone at Mego must have been on drugs to think would sell to stores. The one photo I've seen indicates that we didn't miss much. This line is notable for consisting (in theory, anyway) of four female and two male characters. Now, there's a ratio! | ||
| DARKWING DUCK (Playmates, 1991) | ||
| Morgana MacCawber, Darkwing's Morticia Addams-like "ghoulfriend" was canceled along with the rest of the second series. | ||
| G.I. JOE:EXTREME (Kenner, 1996) | ||
| MayDay | 5" | |
| Yes, the one nice-looking figure this entire line has finally been officially pronounced "cancelled". Amazingly, almost every other figure from the 2nd wave managed to trickle out in small numbers, but the girl, who you know would have sold, gets axed. | ||
| GREASE (Mego, 1979) | ||
| Mego unsuccesfully tried to sell an 8" line based on the movie -- Sandy and Rizzo are pictured -- but retailers yet again told them no. Just think how much fun kids could have had playing "Rizzo tells Kenickie she's knocked up!" | ||
| GREATEST AMERICAN HERO (Mego, 1982) | ||
| Pam, "TV Girlfriend" | 8" | |
| Pam was planned for this line based on the TV show, but Mego went out of business before making any of the 8" dolls! | ||
| INDIANA JONES AND THE TEMPLE OF DOOM (LJN, 1984) | ||
| Willie Scott | ?" | |
| The entire line never made it out -- but going by the photo of the Willie Scott prototype, it was probably a blessing -- and I'm sure Kate Capshaw would agree. | ||
| KNIGHTS (Mego, 1975-6) | ||
| Guenevere | 8" | |
| This was Mego's 8" line based on the Knights of the Round Table. Guenevere was planned, and a prototype was made, but she never came out, although Arthur and Lancelot did. What's the fun of two halves of a romantic triangle, I ask? | ||
| SHE-RA/PRINCESS OF POWER (Mattel, 1984-6) | ||
| When the 3rd line of She-Ra figures came out, a 4th add-on line was announced, with descriptions, called the Star Sisters. They were never made, but would have been a nice addition to the She-Ra universe. Check out these long-lost She-Ra sisters on the He-Man and the Masters of the Universe website: Starla, Jewelstar, Tallstar, and their companion, Glory. Also scope out the rest of their prototype area for a cute early version of Teela! | ||
| SKELETON WARRIORS (Playmates, 1995) | ||
| Talyn (Human princess) | 5" | |
| A cute female human was in the original line-up but pulled from the first assortment -- she might have made it in later, but the entire line tanked in a big way and nothing else got made. | ||
| STAR WARS (Kenner, 1980s) | ||
| Gargan | 3-3/4" | the six-breasted dancer from Jabba's Palace (yikes!) |
| Mala | 3-3/4" | Chewbacca's wife, from the SW Holiday Special |
| Jessica Meade | 3-3/4" | From the Droids cartoon |
| Leia in ceremonial gown | 12" | Much prettier than the one that came out! |
| Leia in Bespin gown | 12" | I recently saw photos of this prototype-only cutie. |
| A few more women that might have populated that galaxy far, far away...The entire Star Wars line is pretty light on female figures, although that's due to the film series' lack of female characters in the first place. Personally, I suspect that the enormous success of this huge toy line with virtually no female presence may have a lot to do with Kenner's attitude towards female characters ever since! | ||
| SWAT KATS (Remco, 1995) | ||
| Molly Mange was cancelled along with husband Mac when this line tanked. | ||
| WATERWORLD (Kenner, 1995) | ||
| Atoller Helen | 5" | |
| This film's female lead was actually shown in
toy catalogs, but never made it to shelves -- probably for the best as the figure was awful and the line bombed anyway! |
||
| WONDER WOMAN AND THE STAR RIDERS (Mattel, 1993) | ||
| An entirely female line mixing a few DC characters with new ones -- for full details see the newly revised Wonder Woman and the Star Riders page! | ||
Languishing in Limbo
And then there's the girls who have been the wall-flowers of the action figure world -- the ones that weren't even attempted, or at least not seriously. It's hard to believe, for example, that out of the hundreds of Superman toys made over the years, there has never been a Lois! And what about the Super Power line? Great toys, but where were the girls? Wonder Woman was the sole female out of 34 figures -- Supergirl, Batgirl, Hawkwoman and Black Canary are only some of the well-known female DC characters passed over in favor of new male characters invented specifically for the toy line! Here's some of my most missed characters and figures -- along with some inventive artists' home-made versions. Note: amazingly enough, the characters on my list are suddenly starting to come out!! Maybe next year this list could be either small, or nonexistent! Wouldn't that be a dream....
| Aliens (Kenner) | NEWT |
| It's hardly surprising they didn't make a little girl in a "space marines" line, but it would have been nice! | |
| Beetlejuice (Kenner) | LYDIA DEETZ |
| Important in the film, and the star of the cartoon. Yet no-one ever made her!! | |
| Robin Hood | MAID MARION |
| There have been a couple different Robin Hood lines , but no sign of anyone ever doing Marion! | |
| Star Trek (Playmates) | M'RESS |
| Okay, so no one's ever done merchandise from the animated Trek series, but just look how cute M'Ress could be! (Figure by the amazing Ian McLean). Hey, Playmates, want an idea...? | |
| Superman | LOIS LANE |
| Any Lois Lane! Think April O'Neil, for gosh's sake! It seems so obvious...Lois was included in one of the STAS micro playsets, but really, it hardly counts. | |
Rescued from oblivion!
Due to the combination of girls actually buying action figures (thanks to the Power rangers) and the collecting fad surrounding female figures, a lot of characters are finally being made that have been overlooked for years or decades. Amazingly enough, most of the characters on my original "languishing" list came out after I wrote it! While there'll always be female characters (as well as male -- it only took 20 years to make a Wedge!) that are overlooked, I hope that this list can eventually be longer than the others here.
| CAMMY | Street Fighter II |
| It was a shame that Cammy was left out of Kenner's GI JOE Streetfighter set, as well as their movie line. But, girl-friendly Toy Biz to the rescue! Cammy came out in the 2nd set of Streetfighter VS. Xmen, albeit in one of her recent videogame outfits. | |
| PRINCESS LEIA ORGANA | Star Wars (Kenner) |
| Okay, I think I am about ready for them to STOP making every version of Leia that ever appeared, and didn't actually appear, in several sizes. She was rescued from oblivion with a vengeance, with numerous 5" versions and 4 12" versions so far. I think they're going to run out of outfits soon -- but hey, it's not like they've got many girls they can make thanks to the girl-less Star Wars universe. | |
| SUPERGIRL | Superman: the Animated Series (Kenner) |
| Well, the direct market Supergirl finally made it out, and while I still think the skirt is just annoying -- it's actually so much nicer than I expected based on seeing the prototype this summer. A little articulation would have been nice, but oh well. Now, if they would just add Supergirl to the animated doll line..... | |
