Toy Lines from Failed Films/Series

[palitoy]

Butch and Sundance weren't completely in a vacuum though, Mattel had just launched "How the West was Won", Empire was selling "Legends of the West" and Gabriel was still pumping out Lone Ranger. So while it looks weird to us now, Cowboys weren't that big a gamble in the late 70s.

[Mikey]

Mars Attacks

Loved the movie and I still can't understand why it wasn't more popular.

Remember seeing the figures gathering dust years after their release.

[toys2cool]

Mars Attacks

Loved the movie and I still can't understand why it wasn't more popular.

Remember seeing the figures gathering dust years after their release.

it's got a huge following

[Falstaff13]

Butch and Sundance weren't completely in a vacuum though, Mattel had just launched "How the West was Won", Empire was selling "Legends of the West" and Gabriel was still pumping out Lone Ranger. So while it looks weird to us now, Cowboys weren't that big a gamble in the late 70s.

It wasn't as big a gamble then as it would be now, and western toys continued to sell far better in Europe long after that allure died in the US, but Empire was always a small distribution (though I loved then and still love that line), and if you read movie trade mags from the time, there wasn't an expectation for Butch & Sundance to be that big of a hit--there was a feeling already that the western was gasping some last breaths.

[palitoy]

It wasn't as big a gamble then as it would be now, and western toys continued to sell far better in Europe long after that allure died in the US, but Empire was always a small distribution (though I loved then and still love that line), and if you read movie trade mags from the time, there wasn't an expectation for Butch & Sundance to be that big of a hit--there was a feeling already that the western was gasping some last breaths.

Oh I'm sure it was, I don't know much about the film but all I was saying was in the 1970s, there were at least 2-3 Western themed toy lines every year. Even though the film may have been a clunker, Kenner even pitched it the next year as "The Real West". So Cowboys weren't entirely dead as they are now.

[acrovader]

Mars Attacks

Loved the movie and I still can't understand why it wasn't more popular.

Remember seeing the figures gathering dust years after their release.

I know that I pretty much hated it.

[starsky]

also i remember the lost in space movie figures and wild wild west movie figures sitting on pegs collecting dust as well!

[Boshek]

I loved the Robin Hood line. I remember seeing the figures for the first time at KB toys right before my mother and I went to see the movie.

Nearly all of the figures were remakes of the Superpowers line; Robin Hood was Green Arrow, Will Scarlett was Robin, The Sheriff was Lex Luthor, Little John was Hawkman. The only figure I never had was Friar Tuck, I got him much later at a toy show; he had a Gamorrean guard body from Star Wars.

It's amazing how well the figures came out: Robin Hood had his fingers ready to draw a bow and Friar Tuck was wearing sandals!

[MysteryWho]

I've found myself really admiring the Robin Hood line, although I've never seen the film. They just seem like they would have made really cool generic figures back in the day, they have a real fantasy appeal. Perhaps it's my having not seen the film that gives me this perspective, but there is something really cool about them and I know I could have used them in amongst my other Kenner figures and Joes as some sort of sword and sorcery characters.

[samurainoir]