Loaded question, I'm sure...the correct answer might be "all of them!". What I'm looking for is what figures do you miss seeing the most on store shelves? What toy lines died out way too early?

Of course I miss the old vintage lines like M.A.S.K. and Super Powers. But I'd have to say, the two lines that I really miss and that died out too early IMO:

SOTA Street Fighter - the NECA figures have nothing on the sheer awesomeness of the SOTA line. I remember going crazy hunting down the Gamestop exclusive repaints, even driving to Colorado Springs to pick them up for A-F board members. I actually helped broker the deal for local haunt and now-defunct ePlanet Toys to sell the exclusive brown Guile figure. That ended up being a mess, long story. But in it's prime, this was such a fun line to follow and collect. I'm still bummed it died a slow death over the last 18 months, and I still wish we would have at least gotten another couple waves.

The other one - GIJoe Sigma 6. This might be the most fun line I have collected. It definitely divided the Joe fanbase, with the urban vinyl styling, but they were so funky and cool. As soon as I opened the first Snake Eyes S6 figure, I was TOTALLY hooked. Yes, the line had a ton of repaints, but the last year of it had some amazing figures. It was such a bummer when it was cancelled, and the dagger in the heart was seeing the fantastic stuff that never came out - Short Fuze, Zanzibar, Iron Fist,and the Adventure Team sets with Dusty, Colton, & Wet-Suit. It's a kick in the teeth to just look at the protos still today.

So, there's my sob stories. Join the misery and tell me what lines you guys miss the most!

DC Minimates

As Marvel goes into 30+ waves, it just gets more painful. Every new Marvel minimate I see I think "imagine if the DC line made this many characters?" Plus, the DCD minimates really pushed minimates to a new level overall, and they were doing obscure characters as if the line would be around for 30+ waves (Ambush Bug!?!). But it only lasted 8 waves. Lame. Sadness. Bring them back.

I got images of Spider-Man in a soccer uniform and of X-Men figures with snap-on monster armor. My point is that if a toy line goes on too long, eventually we get really lame incarnations of our favorite characters just for the sake of continuing the line. To answer your question however,

This may be a little too recent a toyline, but I really miss Mezco's Underdog line. One series and that was it? I really wanted a Shoeshine Boy, Overcat and some of the other characters.

Of course DC Direct has crushed my hopes so often. I absolutely love the Superfriends figures. While a scale Hall of Justice would be cost-prohibitive, to me the line will just feel incomplete without Apache Chief, Samurai, Black Vulcan, the Wonder Twins and El Dorado.

I'm tempted to list Batman Beyond. the show reignited my passion for the Bat-hombre. Unfortunately the line was just so dominated by different colored Batmen, that I lost interest. We got Blight, Jokerz Leader and one other Jokerz, but I believe that's it. To me this line was a colossal wasted opportunity.

I can't believe I forgot to list Gargoyles.

I long ago purged my collection of all things not DC but there are a few lines that I still hang on to.

I would have loved if Palisade were still around and producing Muppets/Sesame Street/Fraggle Rock. They were doing such great things with that line I would happily buy them all until I was old and infirm.

Resaurus is another company that died to soon. The biggest line from them (for me anyway) was the Bone series. I know that they toys reverted to Cartoon Books and the core cast was completed, I would love to have Dragon, as well as some other ancillary characters in that line as well.

For DC I miss DC Pocket Superheroes and the DC Minimates. I owuld even buy more Minimates with C3 building kits if they were to ever go back to that format.

Popeye was a good short lived line, as was the Pink Panther.

I guess the one I miss the most was the 8" DC Heroes line by Kenner with the cloth costumes.

In the long run, I am probably ok that these lines all came and went, but wouldn't it be nice ... [cue music]

Sesame Street-- didnt even make it to figure #2

Gargoyles-- 2nd Season was toypalooza with all the new gargoyles, mutates and Angela, and never got to see any of the Pack. (I would love this line to get a rebirth.)


Darkwing Duck-- Wave 2 missing still makes me sad.

Tale Spin-- Really wanted a Wildcat, more Sky Pirates, and Shere Khan and Bagheera Pilot.

Personally I wish Realm of the Claw had a wave 2 as well..

For me it is two lines that were canceled before they even got made and those are Palisades 3-3/4" T2 and Planet of the Apes lines.

I guess you can throw Playmates Trek movie and the planned 2010 TOS line, too :-(

SOTA Streeter Fighter. All they needed was maybe 2 more waves. I actually dreamed they got the Mortal Kombat license as well and I'd finally have my dream of SF and MK figures in perfect style/scale and beating the hell out of each other on my toy shelf.

MOTU 200x. The new classics help, but too many cool characters didn't make the cut while the pegs drowned in endless He-man and Skeletor re-makes.

DC Minimates/C3 sets.

And the line most in need of a modern revamp is Thundercats! Come on, Toy Powers That Be, give us Liono and crew!!!

I believe that this is one of the most overlooked and underrated lines ever. The design and quality figures was astounding. I really give Hasbro props for the work they did on Sigma 6. Well, well done.

That said, here are my picks:

Palisades Muppets/Sesame Street
I am almost ashamed to say this now but towards the end I did have some fatigue with the Muppets line. And I was kinda glad it ended. But I was excited about Sesame Street and am terrible sad we never even got the first wave.

Mattel Flash Gordon
Kind'uv obscure but this vintage line was pretty cool and ended before we got some of the major characters, ie Dale and Prince Baron.

200x MOTU
So many more characters I wanted in this line. Stactions were appreciated but just didn't do it for me.

Clone Wars Animated Figures
No, not the current Clone Wars figures. The ones that tied into those 5 minutes cartoon shorts. I think I had heard that they stopped making these because there wasn't enough fan demand. BS. They were freaking awesome!

Super Powers would top my list. Still hurting about Darkseid's Tower of Darkness.

Other sad memories mentioned above:

Playmates' Darkwing Duck/Tale Spin
Mezco's Popeye
Mattel's Flash Gordon

Plus:

Centurions (John, Rex, and Crystal never made it.)
Silverhawks (Couldn't match Thundercats' staying power.)
Visionaries (Another failed Hasbro effort. C.O.P.S. had better luck.)
Captain Action's late 90's revival. (Classic Jonny Quest was on the way!)

I really miss companies like Playing Mantis, Resaurus, and Palisades.

But the saddest blow was Toy Biz not producing their Defenders line. I've wanted Nighthawk and Gargoyle figures since 1981.

Old school, I will have to go with Super Powers and Battle Beasts. Newer stuff would include DC Minimates and DC Direct Pocket Heroes. I LOVED the Pocket Superheroes. I still want to know who was in the unreleased set Julius spotted in his tour of DCD. I still think a Joker and Batgirl were due.

I also miss the GI Joe classic comic packs that came out a few years ago. The ones based on original molds and had the o-rings.

Same here! We finally got the real General Flagg and most of the Oktober Guard thanks to those awesome packs.

Buffy The Vampire Slayer. From the Palz figures to Diamond select ones

Total Justice/JLA - I really loved this line.
The Power Rangers 15th Anniversary line - So much stuff I wish I had grabbed.

A little off topic, but I miss the days of cheaper but official toylines.
Like all those re-released marvel figures that were only about $3-4 dollars back during toybiz.
If you didn't want to fork out the money for the regular wrestling or Power Ranger figures, there were bendable versions.
You don't see that often these days.

1. DC Super-Heroes 9" Cloth Uniform-based line by Hasbro. Oh, how I wanted a Flash from this line! I would buy these over Mattel's Retro-Hero line. Too bad Hasbro didn't do as good a job with the similar styled Marvel figures, once they got the license.

2. DC Minimates by DC Direct. I sill feel DC Direct tried to kill this line with the last wave. At least this line spurred Diamond Select to improve Marvel Minimates, both in design and characters selection.

3. The Muppets by Palisades Toys. I kind of quit this line in the end (which is why I don't have Rowlf & The Backstage Playset) and what I have isn't even on display, but I appreciate it more now that it's gone. Heck, I wish Palisades was back!

Is it okay to add Marvel Legends by Toy Biz to the list? They weren't perfect, but this will always be Toy Biz's line, IMO. I liked DC Direct's Pocket Heroes too!