Power Rangers as a whole

The nature of Merchandise-Driven shows is that if they make it too obvious the toys don't sell as well. Linkara pointed out that past about Lightspeed Rescue that the zords, weapons and super modes start blending together because it feels like they are in a hurry to advertise as much stuff as they can. It's the Infinity +1 Sword that takes three episodes to acquire that becomes the must-have toy. The merchandise can't always predict those trends but keeping track of that is what keeps the brand popular.

Reminds me of the first Transformers movie, where Brawl got both a large leader class figure and small deluxe figure but Blackout and Bonecrusher had the more memorable action scenes and got smaller toys. Hasbro was kicking themselves as the smaller figures were the more popular characters.

Do you not know that in the service one must always choose the lesser of two weevils!

I dunno, I really dont see any future other than that. I would love being wrong, but lets face it. 30 years is a good run, most franchises would KILL to be profitable for 10 years TOPS.

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I think the issue goes further. Like I said, most shows, you can't get a Megazord for cheap. They are extremely expensive sets. The Cosmic Fury megazord (who isnt even a good megazord I mean look at it) has a sales price of about 75$ USD. That's not cheap.

You can buy Ranger figures, but those have their own issues. For one, theres 5+ rangers to a team who are, for the most part, identical save for color. No one but the most hardcore fan is gonna dip for more than one Ranger because you have one, you effectively have them all.

The "lets add more toys" aspect for sure diminishes the value of individual things, I don't disagree there.

Edited by Ghilz on Apr 30th 2024 at 12:47:31 PM

There aren't any real 'size classes' for Power Rangers toys the way there are for Transformers, are there? Zords in particular.

You've got the roleplay props like morphers and weapons and masks which tend to be relatively inexpensive, likewise for figures of the Rangers, but if a kid wants to have a cool Megazord battle (the main attraction of the TV show), that's the part that costs a pretty penny. Moreover, they don't even make toys of most of the monsters, shooting that play pattern right in the foot.

Funny, because back in the Lost Galaxy, Time Force, Wild Force etc days there were these little playsets that at the very least gave you a cheap (if non-transforming) option for zords. No idea how well those did, though.

Edited by Chortleous on Apr 30th 2024 at 2:08:06 PM

Over all the years there have been a few options for cheaper megazords. The occasional megazord action figures which of course didn't transform. A few series in the Disney era did actually have smaller versions of the Megazords which did combine. There were a fair few obvious compromises, but I think they worked pretty well for cheaper toys, I remember having some for Operation Overdrive which I quite liked. Some◊ examples.◊

Power Rangers does still have different price points, they're just less obvious because they're usually very different things. You have an action figure, a megazord, a morpher, etc and they'll all fill out the different levels. For action figures you had multiple to the same wave. The others may have been singularly-priced, although ocassionally you'd get multiple different options (like how Dino Fury sold the red zord on its own, then two-packs of pink + green and blue + black, as that way they could charge the same price).

The answer to "who wants a Cosmic Fury figure" is supposed to be kids. I have no idea how that actually worked out. I feel like the Lightning Collection was at least a good idea in theory, and showed that some collectors absolutely do want action figures. And also that some people are nostalgic for post-MMPR, or heaven forbid post-Zordon.

I get that, but my point is I don't think a nostalgia fueled 10 episode series acting as a capstone for the entire franchise is gonna do that very well as opposed to a 20 something episode series that more self contained they can get into. To say nothing of how Dino Fury before it just moved around from TV to Netflix.

And the older viewers you're bringing by having Billy and Lord Zedd, they aren't there for the Cosmic Fury suits.

Lightning Collection is a fine idea for older collectors, the way Transformers Studio Series is. But your core audience, and your core buyers, are kids. And I think PR lately hasnt been great at making them want to get into Power Rangers.

Edited by Ghilz on Apr 30th 2024 at 6:01:08 AM

As mismanaged from a creative standpoint the Saban Brands era was they still understood on some level that they were making the show for children.

Hasbro has maybe pivoted too hard in the other direction, trying to appeal to nostalgia-driven adults. I can see the rationale but I guess that's the result of having too many child-oriented toy IPs in your stable.

INT is knowing a tomato is a fruit. WIS is knowing it doesn't belong in a fruit salad. CHA is convincing people that it does.

I heard that Gokaiger had low ratings. The idea of Cosmic Fury failing because it banked too heavily on nostalgia just reminded me of that.

De Romanīs, lingua Latina gloriosa non fuī.

No? While we don't know much about the reboot there's literally a page on the show runner's website saying that episodes will be an hour long. And while it's entirely possible for the info to be outdated I don't see any way that that'd gone up without being taken down after the fanbase found out about it and made a big deal of it. If it's inaccurate you'd think it'd be taken down by now but it was discovered nearly three months ago and is still up.

TV ratings are kinda misleading (though yeah, Gokaiger had middle of the road for the time TV ratings). Gokaiger arguably didn't become the fan favorite show that it was until 3.11 and its aftermath.

INT is knowing a tomato is a fruit. WIS is knowing it doesn't belong in a fruit salad. CHA is convincing people that it does.

While I am absolutely obsessed with ratings, I think ratings, unless a huge anomaly recent new Sleeper Hit, dont really matter anymore. Like yes Kimetsu No Yaiba suddenly introducing itself in the top 10 WAS a huge clue to its popularity. But for Sentai, Precure and other stuff ratings have never really matter anymore, like yes they ARE THE highest rated and thus top dog but its more TOY SALES what matter.

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x3 I don't know how they expect people to be happy about another MMPR with another Zordon, Zedd, Rita dynamic. At least the different seasons had new casts of characters. Nostalgia again perhaps?

Mileena Madness

I mean they've been doing basically the same thing for Transformers for about 2 decades now. Optimus Megatron, Bumblebee, usually on Earth (To the point where I am so glad Earthspark is mixing up the formula a bit). And it's been working fine. Don't see why PR would be immune to "various iterations of the same premise".

Though what gave the transformers franchise a shot in the arm was Beast Wars, which was different than G1.

And Sentai survives without having nostalgia for any one season.

Edited by Cortez on May 1st 2024 at 11:54:20 AM

That is fine and dandy, but that's because Japan IS used to the anthology series approach, that a new series does get embraced by kids and adult collectors. While Power Rangers had some of this Anthology staying power, it eventually ran out.

I think another way to save Power Rangers would be airing on a nostalgia Diginet. Broadcast Diginets are mega successful and appeal to adults and kids who are cordcutters, airing Power Rangers could be a great way to rebuild mainstream cred.

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Tbf it depends on the franchise. Ultra started off as a shared universe before ending. They tried the Sentai method of each series is an alternate universe. But eventually returned to the original contunity.

"That's right mortal. By channeling my divine rage into power, I have forged a new instrument in which to destroy you."

And now it's back to mostly standalone series with ocasional crossovers to show they're in the same Multiverse

"Bingo! If two species hate each other, they will wipe each other out on their own."

TBF Ultra is weird with its nostalgia. It tends to reuse monsters quite a lot, occasionally with having episodes be sort of stealth homages to old episodes. There's also a lot of Ultras who have collectable power-ups based on the previous Ultras, although they seem to have calmed down on that now. Also the 2021 and 2022 series Trigger and Decker were sort of reimaginings of the 1996 and 1997 series Tiga and Dyna respectively, albeit with the twist that they both exist as different universes within the same multiverse and there is some crossover. That was weird.

Strangeness asside, it does seem like a mix of the old and the new works out pretty well for them. PR might be able to do something like that, but one could argue that's what Cosmic Fury tried to do and that didn't end up too well (although one could also argue it was kind of set up to fail).

It just occured to me what could save Power Rangers. Some sort of answer to Me TV Toons but for live action kids shows that could air over 30 years of Power Rangers and kids and adults could fall in love with the franchise again.

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I feel like the brand truly gutted itself by most of the entire ranchise from an easily accessible source like netflix

If you want to make new fans from their spanning franchise, keep them at least busy with other shows than make them wait

Pantheon server for all who click here. Freaking lost $410 and I am hunting down for a nuke to reign down.

almost the entire show is officially-uploaded on You Tube, it's easier to access than most long running shows.

Welp, add that to the list of Terrible Ideas That I Knew Were Terrible Ideas But Did Anyway...

Yeah, availability probably isn't the sole issue, here.

Edited by Chortleous on May 7th 2024 at 2:30:10 AM

Yeah I was about to bring this up. But Youtube, despite being the lead streaming thing, just isnt very good for promoting or nurturing a brand.

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Neither is Netflix. Sure you get a banner for 2 days when your show is new but after that you're buried down unless your show becomes a sensation a tends.

It's no secret that the face of TV is changing and even the streaming landscape is in flux with most major player struggling to make their money back. I doubt children's tv is immune.

Edited by Ghilz on May 7th 2024 at 6:04:16 AM

I mean if a major show hops to another platform, I think it's best for it to be once very accessible.

And hard to be upset when some shows haven't been available for years.

Plus, being able to bing the holiday episodes in lazy succession.😁