You Simply Will Not Believe These 8 R-Rated Movies Received Kid-Oriented Toy Lines

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Published May 2, 2026, 9:01 AM EDT

Shaun Corley is a Staff Writer for ScreenRant, a position he has held for five years. While he enjoys many types of comics and graphic novels, he has a particular interest in the licensed Star Trek titles.

The 1980s saw a proliferation in action figure toy lines, spurred on by the success of Kenner’s Star Wars products. Before the Star Wars toys hit shelves, many action figures were larger, roughly equivalent to Barbie dolls. Kenner broke with tradition, creating a line of 3 ¾ action figures that would quickly become the industry standard.

The success of Kenner’s Star Wars toys inspired other companies to get into the act. Some, such as Hasbro’s GI Joe: A Real American Hero, kept the same scale as the Star Wars figures, while others, such as Mattel’s Masters of the Universe, opted for something bigger. These toy lines in turn became hits, and inspired many others to get into the act. By mid-decade, LJN had unleashed the Thundercats, which became a huge success in its own right. Then there were others, such as Centurions and Sky Commanders, who fell by the wayside.

In many cases, these movies had an “R” rating they more than earned, making the fact they got a toy line remarkable in the first place.

Kenner’s Star Wars toys also inspired companies to pursue lines based on popular movies and television shows. Companies such as Kenner and Mego were already doing this, but Star Wars showed the true potential of cross-media franchising. In the rush to find “the next big thing,” some toy companies pursued licenses for movies that were not aimed at children. In many cases, these movies had an “R” rating they more than earned, making the fact they got a toy line remarkable in the first place. Here are eight of the wildest.

8 Over The Top

Did the World Really Need Action Figures Based on an Arm-Wrestling Movie?

By the time Over the Top debuted in theaters in early 1987, Sylvester Stallone was at the top of his game. After breaking through with Rocky, Stallone would headline another action-oriented franchise: Rambo. These movies, along with others such as Cobra, made him one of Hollywood’s most in-demand, and highest paid, actors. All of this indicated Over the Top would be a huge success. Yet the film, directed by shlock-meister Menahem Golan, was a dud at the box office, and did not fare much better with critics either. Over time, however, it has developed a cult following.

Even with Stallone’s superstar status, a toy line dedicated to Over the Top might seem to be a stretch, but manufacturer LewCo made them anyway. The range boasted Lincoln Hawks, Stallone’s character, as well as others. The figures, which were large for the time, had features that simulated arm-wrestling. There was even an arm-wrestling table for them. LewCo did not stop there: they also created a wrestling table for kids, as well as dumbbells.

Since Over the Top flopped in theaters, the toy-line was short-lived, and hardly even marketed in America. Over the Top’s production company, Cannon, put too much faith in Stallone’s ability to draw an audience, and likewise, LewCo may have underestimated the demand for tie-in toys. LewCo went out of business shortly thereafter, and today the Over the Top action figures can command large prices on the secondary market.

7 David Lynch's Dune

While Not Rated “R,” Dune Is Not Kid-Friendly Either

Today, David Lynch’s attempt to adapt Frank Herbert’s epic Dune is a bona-fide cult classic, but in its day it was a highly anticipated movie, albeit one that failed to find an audience at the time. Lynch was so distraught over the final product, he had his name removed from the credits, and practically avoided big-budget film making for the rest of his career. That is not to say Lynch’s Dune is bad. There are unforgettable scenes that burn their way into the imagination and stick with you long after.

Dune was built up to be the next Star Wars, which meant there would be merchandise, including the requisite toy line.

Dune was built up to be the next Star Wars, which meant there would be merchandise, including the requisite toy line. LJN, also known for their line of WWE toys, released an entire wave of action figures based on Dune. Many of the film’s principals received toys: Paul Atreides, Lady Jessica, Gurney Halleck and even Baron Harkonnen. LJN also created a Sandworm toy. However, the film was poorly received, and the toys quickly disappeared from shelves, and are now going for top dollar on auction sites.

Dune is the rare non-rated “R” David Lynch movie, but it is still far from kid-friendly. The film is ripe with unsettling and frightening imagery, not to mention its pacing may be off-putting and boring to some children. Yet more importantly than that, some of Dune’s characters, such as Baron Harkonnen, have subtexts making a toy totally inappropriate for kids. Today, McFarlane toys make Dune toys, based on the remakes, but they are aimed squarely at adults.

6 Terminator 2: Judgment Day

One of the Best Action Movies Ever, Terminator 2 Inspired an Amazing Toy Line

Terminator 2: Judgment Day roared into theaters in 1991, cementing Arnold Schwarzenegger as Hollywood’s top action star, but also James Cameron as a high-powered director. The movie built on the previous entry, becoming one of the rare sequels that surpasses the original. Terminator 2 is a high-octane race against the clock, as the T-800 must stop a more advanced model from altering human history. The film featured innovative special effects, and broke new ground in computer-generated imagery.

All 8 Terminator Models Ranked Worst To Best

The Terminator franchise has seen many different Terminator models, but as Skynet has come to find, not every cybernetic organism is created equal.

Despite the film earning an “R” rating, Terminator 2 still rated its own action figure toy line manufactured by Kenner. The line received three waves of figures, including a “3D” subset. Most of the toys were some sort of variation on the T-800 or the T-1000, but John Connor got a figure too. The line also featured vehicles that did not appear in the film, such as the “Heavy Metal Cycle.” Kenner’s Terminator 2 line also gave fans one of the coolest play sets in toy history: the Bio-Flesh Regenerator.

Yet as cool as Kenner’s Terminator 2 line was, it did not last long. While the film had definite action-figure potential, there are only so many variants of the two Terminators a company can make. One subset of the line, “Future War,” introduced a “Cyber Grip” villain, one of the few other bad guys Kenner made besides the T-1000.

5 The Alien Franchise

Kenner’s Aliens Toys Were High Marks of Action Figures

Ripley carrying Newt and holding a gun in Aliens

In 1979, director Ridley Scott showed there was plenty of terror left in outer space with Alien. Starring Sigourney Weaver, the film launched a multimedia franchise that is still going strong. When the first Alien debuted, Kenner produced a solitary Xenomorph figure, but it came and went in stores. Nevertheless, it showed there was toy potential in the franchise.

Year 2120 · Prodigy City How Well Do You Know Alien: Earth? “You have my sympathies.”

👽XenomorphThe perfect organism

🧬HybridsWake up, Wendy

🏢Weyland-YutaniBuilding better worlds

🧠ProdigyBoy's toy box

🚀MaginotCargo: five specimens

OPEN THE AIRLOCK →

Alien: Earth is the first live-action TV series ever set in the Alien universe. Ridley Scott executive-produces, but the creator and showrunner is a two-time Emmy winner better known for FX's Fargo anthology and the mind-bending Marvel series Legion. Name him.

ATaylor Sheridan BNoah Hawley CDan Trachtenberg DJon Spaihts

✓ Correct! Noah Hawley — the Fargo and Legion showrunner who spent years developing the project with Ridley Scott and FX before the pilot finally shot in Thailand in 2023. Hawley wrote, directed and produced the opening episodes, and framed the series as a “prequel-sidequel” to Alien, set two years before the Nostromo incident rather than centuries later in the Prometheus timeline.

✗ Wrong personnel file. The answer is Noah Hawley. Dan Trachtenberg directed Prey and is attached to Predator: Badlands, not Alien. Jon Spaihts co-wrote Prometheus with Ridley Scott but isn't involved in the TV show. Taylor Sheridan runs Yellowstone and its spin-offs. Hawley's Fargo sensibility — long silences, icy dread, corporate black comedy — is all over Alien: Earth.

The series premiered on August 12, 2025. In the U.S. it aired on FX with next-day streaming on one of its corporate siblings, and rolled out internationally through Disney+ as a Star-branded show. What's the U.S. streaming home?

AMax BHulu CApple TV+ DParamount+

✓ Correct! Hulu. FX aired the linear broadcast on August 12, 2025, and Hulu carried next-day streaming under the “FX on Hulu” label — the same pipeline as Fargo, The Bear and Shogun. Internationally it lived on Disney+ under the Star banner. Apple, Max and Paramount all have their own sci-fi tentpoles, but Alien is a 20th Century / FX property, so it sits inside the Disney ecosystem.

✗ Wrong network. The answer is Hulu. The show premiered on FX on August 12, 2025, with next-day streaming on Hulu, because the Alien IP belongs to 20th Century (now part of Disney). Max would be a WBD show, Apple TV+ is the home of Silo and Foundation, Paramount+ has Strange New Worlds. Alien is an FX / Hulu / Disney+ title top to bottom.

Hawley deliberately placed the show so close to Ridley Scott's 1979 original that characters, fonts and corporate logos match. Ripley's Nostromo doesn't reach LV-426 until 2122. When does Alien: Earth take place?

A2093, the year of Prometheus B2120, two years before Alien C2179, the year of Aliens D2218, a century later

✓ Correct! 2120 — exactly two years before the Nostromo signal is picked up in the original Alien. Hawley built the whole production design around that proximity: the CRT monitors, amber-on-black typography and tape-spool tech of the 1979 film are all in place, because we're only a couple of years out. Prometheus (2093) is decades earlier; Aliens (2179) and Resurrection (2381) are long after.

✗ Wrong stardate. The answer is 2120, two years before the Nostromo picks up the distress signal in Alien (2122). Prometheus is 2093. Aliens is 2179. Resurrection is 2381. Hawley chose 2120 specifically so the show could share the 1979 film's chunky analog production design — tape machines, CRTs, amber-on-black terminals — and feel like a piece of the same world.

At the heart of the show is the first successful “hybrid” — a dying child whose consciousness is transferred into a synthetic adult body. She's given a Peter Pan-themed codename, and the actress playing her is the daughter of a Homeland and Billions star. Who is she?

ASydney Chandler as Wendy BMaika Monroe as Tinker COdessa Young as Wendy DSadie Sink as Darling

✓ Correct! Sydney Chandler plays Wendy — the first hybrid whose human consciousness is successfully uploaded into a synthetic body by Prodigy Corporation. Chandler is the daughter of Kyle Chandler (Friday Night Lights, Bloodline). Wendy's cohort of hybrids are all named after characters from J.M. Barrie's Peter Pan — the “Lost Boys” — echoing Boy Kavalier's fixation on never growing up.

✗ Wrong character file. The answer is Sydney Chandler as Wendy. She's the daughter of actor Kyle Chandler, and Wendy's name comes from the Peter Pan motif Hawley uses across the whole hybrid cohort (the “Lost Boys”). Odessa Young, Maika Monroe and Sadie Sink are excellent young actresses, but the Wendy role belongs to Sydney Chandler, who carries most of the show's POV scenes.

Every Alien story needs a synthetic. The show's android-mentor-to-the-hybrids is named Kirsh — part Bishop, part Ash, part quietly menacing. Which long-limbed Hawley collaborator (Fargo season 4, Justified) plays him?

AMichael Fassbender BWalton Goggins CTimothy Olyphant DMatthew Rhys

✓ Correct! Timothy Olyphant. He'd already worked with Hawley on Fargo (season 4, as U.S. Marshal Dick “Deafy” Wickware) and brings the same dry, unnerving calm to Kirsh. Fassbender's David / Walter synthetics belong to the Prometheus / Covenant era. Walton Goggins and Matthew Rhys are both in the same orbit but not in Alien: Earth. Olyphant alone is the synthetic watching the Lost Boys.

✗ Wrong operative. The answer is Timothy Olyphant as Kirsh. He'd worked with Hawley on Fargo season 4. Michael Fassbender played the synthetics David and Walter in the Prometheus-era films, not the TV show. Walton Goggins is in The White Lotus. Matthew Rhys is a Hawley veteran too (Perry Mason) but isn't the synthetic here. Olyphant's Kirsh is the Ash/Bishop analogue.

The Earth of 2120 is carved up between five mega-corporations — Weyland-Yutani, Prodigy, Lynch, Threshold and Dynamic. The Prodigy Corp., which owns the hybrid program and effectively runs the city where the show is set, is ruled by a baby-faced trillionaire wunderkind called...

APeter Weyland BBoy Kavalier CCarter Burke DMichael Bishop

✓ Correct! Boy Kavalier — played by British newcomer Samuel Blenkin, whose Black Mirror episode “Loch Henry” put him on Hawley's radar. Boy is a Peter-Pan-obsessed twenty-something trillionaire who funds the hybrid program as a way to “save” terminally ill children (and, not incidentally, invent an obedient synthetic super-soldier). Peter Weyland is the Prometheus founder of Weyland-Yutani, and Burke / Bishop are from Aliens.

✗ Wrong corner office. The answer is Boy Kavalier, played by Samuel Blenkin. Peter Weyland is the founder of Weyland Corp in Prometheus. Carter Burke is Paul Reiser's corporate villain in Aliens. Michael Bishop is the Weyland-Yutani exec in Alien 3 who shares a face with Bishop the synthetic. Boy Kavalier is Hawley's original creation — a techno-Peter-Pan running Prodigy Corporation and the hybrid experiment.

The entire plot kicks off when a Weyland-Yutani deep-space research ship, returning to Earth with five live xenobiological specimens in its cargo hold, crash-lands in Prodigy City. What's the name of that ship?

AUSCSS Nostromo BUSS Sulaco CUSCSS Maginot DUSCSS Prometheus

✓ Correct! The USCSS Maginot — a Weyland-Yutani research vessel named after the doomed French defensive line of WWII, a tip-of-the-hat to the idea of a barrier that fails the moment it's actually tested. The Maginot comes down in Prodigy-controlled territory with five different alien specimens in its hold, which gives Hawley a pretext to introduce four new creatures alongside the familiar Xenomorph.

✗ Wrong transponder. The answer is the USCSS Maginot. The Nostromo is Ripley's commercial towing vessel in Alien (1979) — it never made it home. The Sulaco is the Colonial Marine ship in Aliens. The Prometheus is the Weyland research ship in Prometheus (2012). The Maginot is Hawley's addition — and the name telegraphs that its defenses against what's in the cargo hold absolutely do not hold.

Wendy and her fellow hybrids — Slightly, Tootles, Curly, Nibs, Smee — are all codenamed after characters from the same children's story. Boy Kavalier reads the book aloud to them like a bedtime ritual, feeding a theme of arrested development that runs the entire season. What's the book?

AThe Hobbit BAlice in Wonderland CPeter Pan DThe Wind in the Willows

✓ Correct! Peter Pan. The hybrids are the “Lost Boys,” Wendy is their Wendy, and the whole conceit — children who never grow up, trapped in adult synthetic bodies — comes straight from J.M. Barrie. Hawley has said in interviews that the Peter Pan overlay is what attracted him to doing Alien on Earth: the horror of corporations grafting eternal childhood onto people who should have been allowed to die.

✗ Wrong bedtime story. The answer is Peter Pan. The whole hybrid cohort — Wendy, Slightly, Tootles, Curly, Nibs, Smee — takes names from J.M. Barrie's Neverland. Boy Kavalier himself is a Peter figure, a trillionaire who refuses to grow up. Hawley has leaned hard on the metaphor: children kept frozen in synthetic adult bodies by a corporation that promises them they'll never have to die.

REVEAL MY SCORE →

Prodigy Assessment Complete Your Clearance Level

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Lost Boy — or still trapped in cryosleep?

⤴ RESTART CYCLE

Kenner went back to the well in 1992, ultimately creating four waves of Aliens toys before canning the line in 1995. According to legend, Kenner approached 20th Century Fox, who originated the Alien franchise, with a proposal for an animated series. While it never materialized, Kenner went ahead with the toys. The first wave featured variants of characters from Aliens, the 1986 follow up, as well as a variety of Xenomorphs. Subsequent waves would include even more Xenomorphs before it folded.

Today, the Aliens toys produced by Kenner are fondly remembered by action figure collectors. Some of the Xenomorph designs from the line, such as the “Gorilla” variant, found their way into other Aliens media. In addition, many of the figures came bundled with a Dark Horse Aliens comic. While most movies in the Alien franchise earn a hard-R, its potential with kids is untapped.

4 Predator

If Kenner Made Aliens Toys, It Is Only Fair It Would Do the Same For Predator

The Predator franchise kicked off in 1987, and it continues today. The first film, anchored by Arnold Schwarzenegger, was a tense, survival-based science fiction affair that received an “R” rating upon release. A sequel, starring Danny Glover and set in an urban environment, followed in 1990. In addition, Dark Horse Comics began publishing Predator comics alongside their Aliens offerings.

Inspired by the success of its Aliens toys, Kenner released its first wave of Predator toys in 1994. The line, which lasted for three waves and ended in 1996, consisted solely of Predators, or “Yautja.” Each variant featured some sort of gimmick or action feature. Kenner also produced a limited line of vehicles for its Predator line.

Although Dark Horse linked the Alien and Predator franchises as early as the 1980s, it would not be until 2004 that an Alien vs. Predator movie got off the groud.

Dark Horse Comics was the first to link the Alien and Predator franchises, which was followed up by Predator 2. Kenner got into the act a few years after it canceled the Predator line, releasing the Alien: Hive War collection. The line, which was sold exclusively at Kay-Bee toys, mixed the two franchises together, anticipating the live-action movies of the 2000s.

3 Robocop

Did Robocop Become What It Set Out to Parody?

Paul Verhoeven’s Robocop shot up theaters in 1987, earning an “R” rating, more than any other film on this list. In fact, when Verhoeven submitted Robocop to the MPAA for a rating, the agency gave it an NC-17, forcing him to make serious cuts. Even then, the movie is uber-violent, full of gruesome death scenes.

Robocop’s gratuitous, over-the-top violence should have made it a hard sell for a kid-oriented toy line. Yet Kenner was undaunted, and perhaps sensing that kids loved Robocop anyway, unleashed Robocop and the Ultra Police just a year after the film was in theaters. Consisting of two waves, Robocop and the Ultra Police pitted the titular group against the “Vandals.” In addition to Robocop variants and the Vandals, the line also produced an ED-260. The toys were undeniably cool, and gave young children of the 1980s a chance to own a Robocop action figure.

Robocop's two sequels were written by comics' legend Frank Miller.

As anyone who has seen Robocop knows, the film is a satirical sendup of consumerism and humanity’s tendency to violence. The film is peppered with fake advertisements for war-like and hawkish products and toys. A line of action figures based on Robocop might seem to indicate the point of the movie went over Kenner executive’s heads.

2 Rambo

A Blood-Soaked Look at PTSD In Veterans Is Hardly Action Figure Material

1982’s First Blood, based upon David Morell’s novel of the same name, helped launch the Rambo franchise. The book and movie were a brutal and unflinching look at the treatment Vietnam veterans received upon coming home. Its protagonist, John Rambo, was dealing with PTSD when a small-town sheriff decided to try his mettle with the former Green Beret. Rambo held an entire police department at bay before his former commanding officer intervened. The movie inspired many sequels, which drifted from the original premise.

In 1986, Coleco released a line of action figures based on Rambo, titled Force of Freedom, which coincided with a cartoon of the same name. The line featured not only Rambo, but also Trautman, his superior from the films. Coleco also created an entire supporting cast for Rambo, which included KAT, a master of disguise. Coleco also produced vehicles and playsets, including the enormous S.A.V.A.G.E. Strike Headquarters.

As one might imagine, parents were none too thrilled with toys based on an R-rated franchise like Rambo.

As one might imagine, parents were none too thrilled with toys based on an R-rated franchise like Rambo. The FCC received many complaints from parents and educators about the animated cartoon, which was produced to advertise the toy line. As a result, both cartoons and toys were gone within a year.

1 Police Academy

How Did Police Academy Ever Get a Toy Line?

The Police Academy series began in 1984, and by decade’s end had produced six films following the wacky hijinks of newly-minted cops. The first film earned a hard “R” rating thanks to its raunchy jokes, many of which have not aged well. Subsequent entries in the series dialed down on the sexual jokes, instead leaning more into the slapstick elements.

Despite all of this, Kenner released three waves of Police Academy toys, beginning in 1988 and concluding in 1990. The line consisted of characters from the films, as well as new ones created by Kenner. In addition, Kenner produced vehicles and playsets for the line. Kenner’s toys coincided with an animated series and a comic book produced by Marvel’s young-readers oriented STAR imprint. Given the off-color nature of the Police Academy movies, the fact it got not only a toy line but comics and a cartoon is truly mind-boggling.

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