Friday, June 27

Female Warrior Toylines that failed

She-Ra Princess of  (1985) is best known of the following which I call female warriors but others might refer to as female He-Mans. She-Ra was He-Man's sister. She-Ra had a main male villain, Hordak who was supposed to be He-Man's villain, he even came as a He-Man toy and was not part of the She-Ra toy line. Catra, Entrapa and Double Face were the only villainesses in the toy line. She-Ra had dolls, coloring books, storybooks, posters, stickers, birthday stuff, her own animated series, and now DVDs. She was the only popular one. The other ones were ignored.
 
Golden Girl and the Guardians of Gemstone (1983)
Galoob came out with this toy line in 1983, it predates She-Ra. They had t-shirts, coloring books, board games and books. It somehow is remembered by toy fans but it was pretty much forgotten. It has a unique distinction of having a group of villainesses. They didn't have an animated series.
For more information on Golden Girl: http://www.thelaironstormisle.com/
 
Wonder Woman and the Star Riders (1992)
Probably done to have a recognizable Wonder Woman to attract the toyline but it didn't really work... actually it wasn't even released! Mattel made the prototypes. The only thing that exist that gave me an inkling about this was a mini comic that came with Minibuns. I got it thanks to a speech teacher I had, I think she got it from there. Anyways, the dolls were later used for Tenko and the Guardians of the Magic.
 
Saban's Tenko and the Guardians of the Magic (1995)
A cartoon doesn't equal a hit. Tenko wasn't exactly a warrior but the dolls of Wonder Woman and the Star Riders were used for Tenko. Tenko was a real life magician and she had live-action segments. This show aired on Fox Kids and was produced by Saban Entertainment, who is responsible for Power Rangers. It was canceled after one year.
 
Princess Gwenevere and the Jewel Riders (1995-1996)
This show lasted two seasons and it was syndicated. It had a toyline. It had fans but it didn't last passed two years and it is not as memorable as She-Ra. She was known as Starla outside of the US. Other Arthurian characters in the show include Merlin and Lady of the Lake. It was a pretty good series.