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OPINION - Bandai America drops the ball
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I've got nothing to add. I've not bought a PR toy since... Time Force so I've been watching this all from afar. Still, I completely understand your frustration, and I'm in total agreement. There is just no excuse for this, not after all the hype and promise that went into building it up, Gold Ranger in particular, and I get the feeling the response will inevitably be something along the lines of "Well, you guys should just be glad we made it at all!".
If budget was such an issue, then I have to ask, why flood pegs with metallic versions of figures people already have, which no one asked for? If they're going to make a proper colored Gold Ranger a convention exclusive, why not just do *those* instead? It's heartbreaking and it's sickening, how PR fans have been treated in the last few years. I think Joe fans get more respect from Hasbro, and that line has effectively been dead since 2013. |
So a very nice opinion piece, while I'm not entirely invested in the Power Rangers toyline like others are I can see why a lot of people are angered by this. But since this seems like a good thread, I should mention that, BoA has to be doing something wrong when I'm more of a fan of Power Rangers than say Star Wars or Marvel, yet their stuff tempts me to buy it more than Bandai's.
So let's have a bit of history with me and my strings towards the series, it starts in December 2013, got the Goesei Morpher or whatever they called it, for cheap because it was an after Christmas sale. For a Morpher it is surprisingly solid and the Power Ranger cards I had collected previously out of novelty had an actual purpose with this Morpher, that was cool. Skip forward for a bit, Super Megaforce as a line never interested me aside from the Standard Action Figures, and more so just the Silver Grunts and Prince Vekar, and I could never find them to army build with. And when they started to do the Red Rangers and Sixth Rangers, never had the money due to being in a rough spot at the time. In fact, I never started caring about the main figures completely, until they announced with Dino Charge, they'd be releasing more than just the main General and Grunt, this is when I became more active. Got Fury, Wrench, Snide, and snagged a Lord Zedd when he was around because I love the villains, and they make nice set piece enemies for SH Figuarts and other figures of similar size. Same goes with Ninja Steel too, don't care about the Rangers, just the monsters, got the chainsaw weasel, cat, and bulldozer dude (Cannot remember their names), and then two grunts, I've been seeing them pop up at my Walmart more so I may just do some Army Building of those, at least four. What I'm trying to say is, for a passing by consumer and collector like me, that is rarely into the line, when your standard sized figures are more appealing to me than your Legacy Line, and when the standard figures I get aren't even the rangers but monsters, your doing something wrong with the legacy line. Like to be honest, what puts me off is just the size of the Legacy Figures, never was a fan of that size anyway even if I do have a Doctor Doom figure of that size but hey, I love Doctor Doom so that's why. Which is why I would totally get the Psycho Rangers if the line continued. It's just you know, I hope their done well.... ... Because damn, ToysRus, let me tell you. I had a 20% off Coupon for about a month that expires tomorrow. I could get a Legacy Figure for cheap, and they even had a Ninja Storm Blue which I was interested in... but despite that prospect, and the fact that there were tons of other options (Mostly MMPR Movie and other shelf warmers), I didn't get any. Not even 20% compels me to just dip slightly into the line until I want to get serious. I even forgot Gold Ranger was coming out and when I heard he did I was like, "Oh, maybe if they have him..." but the color issue is just a bit annoying to me to where I wouldn't purchase it even with the 20%. Seriously though if the line dies, it dies, I hadn't collected yet and had no interest to start seriously collecting until the Psychos got announced. If they don't make it to shelves? It'll be a sad day but I'll move on, and probably spend my money somewhere else. Man that was a long ramble on toys, surprised I could type that much to be honest. |
it's absolutely heartbreaking. I've been very accommodating with the legacy line of figures. I've not been upset at the poor paint or incorrect paint apps. The should thing didn't bother me, nor the helmet issue. I was more than happy to buy and took these as minor issues, but this Zeo Gold is the line for me. It's just cheap looking. It's not worth $20, it's not even worth $10.
I'd be happy to pay $25 or even $30 for a gold painted or plastic shield that looked liked we expected but I won't even pay for this turd at reduced prices. Shame on BOA. Shame. |
the major problem with bandai is they are wasting all of the budget on useless stuff that was never used in the sentai footage like the bikes, cockpit modes, ninja stars, repaints because of that,
everything that gets used that's important in the sentai footage like the morphers, weapons, figures, megazords gets shafted and messed up. they have to go back to focusing on quality and not quantity. |
They dropped it years ago. I quit supporting them.
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Impressive piece.
I don't agree with the "orange" part, but it certainly isn't gold. Nor is it worthy of a purchase. I feel like BOA is just making wrong decisions left and right. While I'm speaking for only myself here, Legacy Zords that have minimal diecast to the point it doesn't affect the figure would be awesome and I'm pretty sure not many want a Legacy Zord that doesn't combine at all. I'm not asking for SoC quality here. |
The common argument usually tossed around for something like this is usually "it's just for kids so they don't have to try."
But the thing about that is, kids are NEVER as dumb as executives think they are. And the kids deserve fun stuff too. |
First off I just want to commend you Chris for writing an article like this and the prior one about the females, rather than being a shill for Bandai like certain others. Bandai needs to be called out on their BS or else things are never gonna change for the better.
On to the topic at hand, this shoddy assortment of Legacy figures doesn't surprise me in the slightest. The 6.5 inch Legacy figures have been riddled with problems from the get-go. From the terrible MMPR Red helmet sculpt, to the inaccurate shoulders on the MMPRs, to the grey belt fiasco. The build-a-figures no one asked for and ensuing lack of weapons. The questionable scale and body sculpts. The terrible distribution (MMPR Pink double packed, MMPR Red only single packed, 2nd wave Space Rangers impossible to find). To say this line has been a clusterfuck would be an understatement. Ultimately I think the entire 6.5 inch line was a mistake. Bandai was doing really well with the 5 inch figures and I don't know why they didn't just stick with what was working instead of trying to emulate Marvel Legends. In one year we got the complete MMPR and Super Megaforce teams, 3 villains, a Red Ranger from every team, and 8 sixths. The following years we got 7 Dino Charge Rangers, the 6 MMPR Movie Rangers, and 13 villains. To scrap all of that progress and ask those who want older complete teams to start over at a new scale for double the price is where they lost me. The only way that wouldn't have lost me is if they had been spiritual successors to figuarts, but near 7 inch figures with roided men and anorexic/silicone breasted women is not what I wanted from a PR line, and the fact that they didn't even come with personal weapons was the icing on the cake. I think the line is beyond salvageable at this point and Bandai should put it out of it's misery and go back to making cheap but respectable 5 inch figures which actually scale with their main line, as well as over a decade of older villains/vehicles/accessories/playsets. https://i.imgur.com/75utIPm.jpg |
I think the shill comments are uncalled for. I'm sorry some people can't be as angry as you. That is unprofessional of you.
I personally didn't care for those shorter rangers. I don't like small toys like that. That being said, Bandai's behavior with this line is unprofessional. I agree, you want people to buy your products at full price, then make me want to buy it. I can take a guess. They thought they could get away with reusing the same molds for every team. For some silly reason they though people buying these figures were doing it for the megazord. Like WTF, we are doing it for the rangers. Bandai let's make it simple. We want full sized Legacy Megazords without basic product issues like loose parts or bending. We want them to have some mobility. We want the SoC type stuff. Not everything needs to be damn metal. There are bits you can cheap out on because the quality is good enough. Hell I think you should encourage people to mod their figures like the gundam models. We want the Legacy figures to look screen accurate. That means no roids, not barbie boobs. Men are not masturbating to these figures(I hope). We can get porn on the internet now. Take the figuarts and make those. They are damn near perfect. Give us the damn weapons pack. If you want, put them with the female characters. That way you can sell those and also say you did the whole team. Why you thought retailers needed so many of the female figures is beyond me. I would love to chat with the people in charge. I think they are some archaic ideas on how business works. |
I agree with everything, EXCEPT for one thing. Why are people upset about the non-transforming legacy zords? I see it as giving up the ability to transform in exchange for more articulation. They appear to be even more articulated than the Soul of Chogokin Megazord. It's meant for people who want to display them individually, what's so wrong with that?
edit: Though, I wouldn't be opposed to them doing what they did with the voltron figures. |
This is devolution at its finest if there ever was one. A terrific display of punk-ass behavior is what this is. If Bandai America thinks they can get away with this tomfoolery selling dollar store quality merch at full price they are wrong. Judging by the experience Chris had this is like paying for a full course meal at a nice restaurant only to be served TV dinner by a waiter literally smoking a box of cigarettes. They failed the fans and they failed their customers.
They didn't just drop a ball. They placed a huge sickly beast of your choice on a faulty banquet table and have it defecate right in front of you like there is no tomorrow. They seriously need to get their act back together. AND WHAT IS UP WITH THIS PAINT JOB? THIS IS SUPPOSED TO COST ME 25 US DOLLARS?! Even the Jason toy himself is disappointed. LOOK AT HIS FACE. http://www.tokunation.com/attachment...2&d=1510333880 And I've seen bootleg power rangers figures that had better quality paint jobs than this. Even if that is not the quality of the final product, seriously I would not want to buy this if this is what you display for promotion. I would not be surprised if the photographer was appalled as well taking this picture. |
I'm pretty sure that they just used an actual vintage figure for those images, which speaks to another level of laziness on their part.
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I've lurked for a while and this article made me finally create an account, so I could post and say thank you for writing this piece. Apparently my rant was too profane to post, so I'll keep it clean and short by saying that I will be voting with my wallet and I hope you all do as well, at least until Bandai America gets their act together.
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Appreciate everyone's input. At the end of the day I just want quality to be a non-factor going forward. Release these figures in whatever crazy-ass way they want, just make sure they're painted correctly.
Get Zeo Gold's color right. Get some white paint on the screws of the Dino Thunder figures so it doesn't look so absurd. I'll spend $25 per figure if these problems can be corrected. But part of me believes that extra $5 would be pumped in to something I'm not interested in instead of going back in to the figures. |
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I think the ship started to sink the moment they revealed the legacy 6 inch figure line.
The one that they touted as "Listening to complaints and doing away with the He-Man styled figures" ...Only to release slightly less muscled men, and still impossibly proportioned women. It didn't bother me (That's a lie, I was peeved), but it was kind of just a sign that they're not really interested in fan feedback. They just want to try and use the right keywords to get fans buzzing constantly over the next release. Hell, you can see their desperation as, rather than teasing the Psycho rangers, they're outright telling people "If every fan doesn't drop $60 on the previous waves, you're not getting them at all" like a parent telling their child to finish their dinner for dessert. They're done playing the game, and it shows. When Hasbro, a company that's being ardently screamed at for cutting costs (Notably paint apps) on their figures is being heralded as superior in comparison, then there's a problem. |
While I know that Megazords are a popular idea for Build a Figures, it would have been cool if they went a different route with that, and by that I mean Monsters, like the MMPR guys have parts for Goldar and stuff, that would have been cool, and you'd have a villain to pose them against.
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What forbidden words am I saying in the post I'm trying to write. I'm trying to stick up for Bruno and Mia who didn't deserve to be slammed in this article. Is MMPRYOYS a banned word?
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I had a much better written post that keeps getting denied. It keeps saying there are either bad words or too many links (there are none in either case?!?!?
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Ultimately Megazords are a terrible build a figure because they don't contribute anything to the 6.5 inch line. They're not in scale with the Rangers, and there's no 6.5 inch monsters for them to fight, so what's the point? What good does having a 6.5 inch Megazord to go with my 6.5 inch Rangers do me? Alpha is a step in the right direction, though it's a shame it couldn't have been Dark Specter. It's also probably too little too late given how fed up people are with this line. |
I was planning to get all of Zeo and Dino Thunder, but this move could be a total deal-breaker. I'll hold out hope that that one photo is somehow not representative, or that it's not as bad as it looks, but it could literally be the difference between Bandai getting >£200 of my money and them getting sweet FA.
It almost feels like they're trying to fumble the ball at this point. Blaming fans for their own failure to do market research, releasing metallic figures and standalone zords that no one seems to have wanted, refusing to confirm the Shogun Megazord that lots of people definitely want (and now announcing Astro Megazord instead, I read), lack of articulation on the Movie legacy figures, constant quality issues... I bought the con-exclusive Fighting Spirit set last month and found not-insignificant quality issues on two of the three figures, so they can't even get the special releases right. I'm in the minority that is actually into the build-a-megazord (though on balance I would prefer weapons but WHY NOT BOTH, BANDAI??), but the choice to not paint ZeoGold will persuade me to stop collecting, for sure. It's a real shame. |
I feel like I need a picture of an Alpha 5 flipping a table.
I feel like all of this is accurate. And sad. |
When they IMO screwed up Red Rangers helmet in the first wave I figured, well alright.. Then rereleasing them in metallics with their weapons.. annoyed. Then more issues, QC problems, and now this. Nah, I'm good Bandai America, I'm done. First Bandai Japan cuts Sentai, and then you add insult to injury. Fool me once, fool me twice, not even going for round three.
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The Legacy Megazords and weapons/morphers started to irritate me with their ever increasing price tags given BoA's mentality of "they'll buy anything and we can set the price to whatever we want". (Where the hell is the Shogun Megazord!?)
However, it's when BoA first announced the Legacy Ranger figures...I thought maybe they were turning around. I thought they were going to have them resemble the S.H. Figuarts Super Sentai/Power Ranger figures in scale, poseability, and accessories, which is how I wanted to see Power Rangers done as. You know, looking like the source material. Instead, we got oversized, roided out figures...AGAIN. And they were claimed to be "for collectors". Well, I think most collectors wanted non-roided out Rangers, BoA. So were they really for collectors...or were you assuming kids would get their parents to shell out $20 a figure like Marvel Legends that badly? Whatever the case, I supported the line briefly through the first waves, buying the MMPR figures. But when they announced re-releases of the same figures but NOW coming with their weapons rather than the "nobody asked for" B-A-F- Megazords... I was angry and finally said "F-Power Ranger toys". Seeing how the Zeo Gold Ranger as well as the rest of the new Legacy line is going...yeah, glad I decided that. Good riddance I say. I have that amazing Gold Ranger figure released in the Jungle Fury line years back for my Gold Ranger figure. |
MMPRToy is not the spokes person for Bandai. That being said did you even see the video where They point blanked asked about the paint on the figures and it was explained how that works as far as pricing and everything? It seems to me you didn't see the info or the fact the guy told MMPRToys that they should be able to make it look like the prototype..... Their rep in the video seems to be the one that mislead everyone about who this fig was going to look in the end Not MMPRToys. It also seems to me everyone wants a $200+ figure with every bell, whistle, paint, and weapon for a $20 price point....... If you don't like it don't buy it. If I can find it I will buy it and fix the paint because I like a challenge and Understand that every single paint detail they do on these figs cost quite a bit of money. Was the rep wrong for stating what he did? HELL YES, but to throw MMPRToys under the bus because the rep gave bad info is Ridiculous!
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People shouldn't have to paint collectors figures to make them accurate. And they certainly shouldn't have to just to make them the right colour. These aren't model kits. And even if they were Bandai's trademark shade of puke gold wouldn't look better than this figure does. |
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"Whether it’s Bandai themselves or their bonafide spokesperson MMPRToys" The paint job comments isn't the issue, it's who you are taking a jab at to me. Now the expense of the figures. Some of these elements would not require a significant expense. An accurate Red MMPR head wouldn't have been more expensive. A correct paint job wouldn't be more expensive. Grey belts was unprofessional. The interior of the morpher not having black paint would have been forgivable if they were consistent. Weapons are a mixed bag. They would have to make a new mold. They couldn't really reuse them. The issue was how they handled it. Again unprofessional. The con red ranger getting a cheap little sword. Okay fine. But then how they went about releasing the others was unforgivable. A lot of this shows they simply do not care how they present themselves to their customers. |
I share the frustrations of many; Zeo Gold looks bad.....
they simply pinched pennies and simply think we are a joke. Bandai is just telling fans they are lucky to get anything and either buy something subpar or the line is cancelled. That is why they keep delaying new Legacy Megazords and have little communication with fans about future plans. They do not think the fans are anything more than a tool. Someone should tell BOA that their future is adult collectors and kids are moving on to electronics in droves. If BOA wants to survive, treat their current fans a little better and offer better products. I cannot believe I saw the Legacy line jump in price, while lowering the quality and removing the BAF. COmplete lack of respect. |
THIS! This is what I have been saying since I discovered the zord builder crapfest! Bandai America has no respect for consumers, be it collectors or children. They shit out sub par collector items that make BoJ kid toys look like collectors items, and then vomit out dollar store quality toys for the kiddies to play with because "kids don't care about quality toys, but parents should still be overcharged for them." I'm sorry but kids aren't going to play with greasy plastic hollow toys, and parents aren't going to buy toys that feel that cheap for $35. This whole mustard yellowish orange on the gold ranger scandal is just icing on the turd cake. I am done with Bandai America. Hell I am done with Power Rangers for now. I am actually going to get into collecting Digimon toys again, from Japan no less.
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In regards to cutting costs and expenses, the examples you stated could indeed be the result of cost-cutting measures. It really just comes down to what costs were cut and how they impacted the manufacturing process. There are many variables associated with production lines, not just material costs. Did the new BoA regime re-locate the production process to a new factory with less-skilled/experienced workers? Fire QA/QC personnel? Any one of these hypothetical changes could potentially result in production issues similar to what we've seen over the last year or so. |
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And the reason they started using new molds for the Megazords after Jungle Fury was because parents didn't want to pay the higher cost for the Japanese mold. |
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I don't care about this line anymore. After I saw how mess up zeo gold ranger look I done with this. Heck I don't think the line will last to see the psychos get release.
It really crazy and shitty how bandai shit all over the legacy figures and at the same time they give so much to their dragonball z line. |
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Is it because it was a soft plastic-good gold plastic? In Transformer perspective, GPS is and was a thing, but has since been rectified. It's possible to do a gold swirl plastic on the cheap.
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