But what about the cartoons of the 80’s that didn’t make it? Those franchises which had potential nut have instead disappeared. Here are some examples of what I mean. There are toys I played and/or shows I watched, and yet noting ever came from them. And since I’ve gotten into trouble before, let me say while the word forgotten is in the title I am sure many remember these franchises very fondly.
Before I get to the five, I was going to mention Popples until I realized that this franchise has been rebooted on Netflix. This was a cute toy and harmless little cartoon show. And of course a comic book. But since I love sharing things that people can never forget, here is the opening intro which is a real earworm:
Brave Starr
From Filmation, who gave us He-Man, we have Brave Starr! It’s a western show about cowboys… on an alien planet. Called New Texas. With robot horses. What? Yeah, at least Cowboys of Moo Mesa made sense. But the toys were cool and thanks to my brother I had a few of them.
Silverhawks
Brought to you by Rankin/Bass (really?) is the story of bionic heroes to fight a bionic mob boss. Man, this sounds silly! They are similar to Thundercats…really really similar to be honest. But the toys look cool and I probably played with a few of them. I guess there is an underground movement to return this to movies but whether it will ever happen remains to be seen.
GoBots
Here’s a line meant to compete with Transformers. Even though it came first. And then became part of the Transformers universe. Except not really because someone else owns them too. Man I read the Wikipedia article and got a headache. Anyway, these were like transformers but on a smaller scale as if they merged with micro machines. And I liked them, they were a little easier to handle. The most memorable thing about these were the ads and the kick ass theme they had in them.
Captain Power and the Soldiers of the Future
What a cool idea…that was maybe a little too cool for its own good. This show wasn’t really a cartoon it combined live action with computer animation. The premise was that in the 22nd century a cybernetic revolt has resulted in the enslavement of the human race by intelligent machines. Captain Power leads a small group of fighters to oppose them. The cool part? The toys were interactive. It was sort of a light gun and you’d fire at the TV and play along. It was a good idea but a little to adult and/or violent for a children’s show at the time. Watching the intro I get a real “Power Rangers” vibe. There are rumors of a reboot in the works.
M.A.S.K.
Kinda sad this one isn’t around. As far ideas go, this one unique. Ok get this, M.A.S.K. stood for Mobile Armored Strike Kommand. Yeah the K is lame, as if they had the acronym first and then were screwed. Or, as Linkara puts it- because poor literacy is cool! They were and underground task force that fought against a criminal organization called V.E.N.O.M.-Vicious Evil Network of Mayhem. Kind of like G.I.Joe. So what was cool about M.A.S.K.? Rather than a vehicle transforming into a robot the vehicles were two in one, so a motorcycle could also be a helicopter or a camaro could turn into an airplane. Even better, the people wore masks that….god help me I have no idea. I could have sworn thy had a purpose or gave powers but maybe they just made the people look cool. The vehicles were imaginative and fun.
And yes, there is supposedly a revival of some sort in the works
I thing the king of franchises that didn’t go anywhere was DinoRiders. Like everyone else, I had nothing to do with either the toys or cartoon. Though it does sound like a cool idea. It had dinosaurs, aliens, and robots! Check the video below and see if you agree that this is one franchise that should have taken off.
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