Well it's 2018 (yeah, I'm bad at this), I hope you had a fine Christmas and got everything you wanted. I did alright, but when you get to my age (39), your gifts tend to be socks and body soap sets. It's during Christmas II tend to reminisce on childhood memories, littered with the elation I felt at opening life-long favourites like Stinkor, Manta Force, Ultra Magnus (with the rubber tyres on the white Optimus Prime), and that crocodile guy from The Get Along Gang. But everyone and their sister does that sort of thing, so allow me the indulgence of treading into more sombre territory by focusing on the toys that never made into my, or your, or anyone's stocking. The toys that didn't appear on the shop shelves because of lack of demand; that one missing character in an otherwise popular line; the toy company going under; or the tie-in media getting cancelled etc.
Cancelled/unmade toys is a subject that's been written about- by people more qualified than I- before, so I wont cover the more well known ones like rocket-firing Boba Fett, Niko from the Galaxy Rangers, and that mountain playset where the Visionaries were supposed to go on their holidays. Instead my list of toys are the never were, almost was, and could never be, so the following is a more personal and esoteric list than an encyclopedia of toylines/companies that went out of business, or digging up painful childhood memories. Let the disappointment commence!