I have to agree with you there Dev, for as much negativity as there is out there towards Spin Master, we are quite lucky to have all of the things that we did get from this movie. To be honest though, I am somewhat disappointed with how they handled the line from a business perspective, because if you compare it to the new Pirates line, they really dropped the ball as far as planning goes. In a 6 month window of time from the beginning of the promotion strategy until the bitter demise of this line, SM produced 2 series of toys, with Series 2 being incredibly scaled back due to the impending cancellation. In that same amount of time, Jakks Pacific, the folks in charge of Pirates, have 5 waves of basic figures planned, 3 or 4 waves of 6 inch figures, a few 12 inch ones, 3 waves of deluxe figure sets, a big ticket item (Queen Anne's Revenge), roleplay toys, and various other promotional sets of figures, and some of their basic figures stretch back into the previous films. Quite an aggressive strategy, and one that would have worked nicely for TL if it had been implemented properly. That's not to get down on SM for their work with TL, I just think it could have been handled a little better planning-wise is all. But enough about that, on to the point of this thread.
If they were to continue making merchandise, I think the things I would like to see would be the following: (I'll break them into groups)
Role-play Items:
Definitely would've liked to see more Identity Discs, like CLU, Castor, Quorra, etc. or even a Build-Your-Own kind of thing, where you can choose what color disc it is and what color the lights are, similar to the B-Y-O lightsaber kit that they have for Star Wars. I also would've liked to have seen the Classic Discs as well, TRON and Sark colors. I think a harness type thing that could have the discs attach to them would've been cool too. You could also make a better Baton and even an electronic Baton katana/staff/other weapons set too.
Basic Figures:
I'd love for Castor to see a wide release, as well as Gem, Bartik, Jacket CLU/Kevin, Black robe Kevin, Helmetless Sam, Quorra, CLU, and Tron, and maybe the other Sirens and some disc warrior combatants. Then, I wish they would've made a wave or two of the Classic figures, like the original CLU with Bit, Kevin, TRON, Sark, RAM, Yori, Dumont, the Classic Sentry, and maybe even an MCP of sorts that lit up and said phrases from the film.
Vehicles:
I wish we would've gotten more cycles, like Rinzler's, a generic program cycle and a generic Sentry/Black Guard cycle. I would want CLU's light jet as well, as his has another set of wings and guns that the generic ones do not possess. The Classic cycles would've been cool too, and they could've filled out a shelf nicely. A Classic or modern Light Tank would've been nice and would give the Light Runner some decent competition.
Playsets:
I think the biggest of the missed opportunities here was the lack of playsets. In a movie where the world itself is one of the big highlights, to not have playsets of some kind is just not fathomable to me. They could have done CLU's Command Ship with lights and sounds, a removable top panel allowing for access to the inner areas and several different spots for figures to interact with the vehicle. Then, a Recognizer with lights and sounds, a working lift feature, and functioning cockpit area and Guard slots on the legs would have made for a cool way to display the figures. And for a true playset, you could do either Kevin's house, the End Of Line club, the Portal, the Disc Arena, or Flynn's Arcade, all of which could have cool hidden features.