Womanly Powah
 

Had a thought. Well two of them. The first is I suck at trying to come up with a clever title for my new threads. And the second is here needs to be a real female Red. Samurai started the idea. But I mean more than just a three episode, or so, arch. From start of the series, to the end, a real female red ranger. Or American could do it. We already gave Zyranger Yellow a sex-change. So why not make an American red for an entire season?

Okay, start your flaming now.

Cause if Megaforce ends up being Goseiger, or Gokaiger, I hope they do this. Yes, I just said here I hope they make Marvelous a woman.

I'd welcome the change but I understand why it'll probably never happen.

The primary target market for "Power Rangers" is boys ages 5-9 (ish) and most of them probably wouldn't be willing to enjoy a show starring a girl.

Paladin pretty much hit the nail on the head there.

Have either of you heard of a show on Nickelodeon called 'The Legend of Korra' by any chance?

"Korra" is an excellent show but it is also radically different from "Power Rangers."


I'm sure a series with a female lead COULD work but at the moment its an uphill battle against the standards of action programming.

They had a female Red Ranger, but then she turned out to be evil :lol

Yes, but its not a show I'd instantly compare with Power Rangers.

I'd like to be proved wrong anyway, I think a female red ranger as a fully fledged team member could work well.

Yep. And apparently the producers really had to fight to get Disney to allow even that.

They're making the same mistake Powerpuff Girls made. Assuming what the show is, instead of looking at the audiance. I know girls, and women, who watch and love Power Rangers. Just like alot more boys, and men, watched Powerpuff Girls. Yet they marketed it towards Girls solely.

^This

A female Red Ranger could work, and would work. And it would bring more girls into watching the series. And yes they had to fight Disney for it, that's Disney. This is Nick. They love Girl-Power, have you seen their line-up recently? And there have been popular kids shows with female leads before, Paladin. Not exactly an uphill battle to something that already exists. Like Destroy said: Korra. Yes, it's not the same show as Power Rangers. That wasn't the point he was making. I think, correct me Destroy if I'm wrong, that the point he was making was it's an Action Show with a Female Lead. And is doing rather well. On the same network. And really? You never know untill you try. Power Rangers survived Disney and it can survive trying a female Red Ranger.

Honestly, I think a female red Power Ranger could totally work - especially with Hunger Games being so big right now. I don't see Japan ever doing it, though. It's a much more conservative and patriarchal country. We may get the occasional female team leader (Kakuranger, Timeranger), but the red is the iconic role and I can't see Toei ever doing a permanent female Red (just like we'll never have a Kamen Rider show with a lead female Rider - or likely even a permanent secondary female Rider).

Go to the toy aisle and see how many toys there are of the female characters vs. the male.
I'd be fine with a female red ranger (As long as there's not some contrived reason why she's red), but toy sales matter.

But how many girls within Power Rangers intended age group do you know that watch it? Men and women watching it is all well and good, but they're all but a fraction of the overall audience for the show.

These are also both very good points. Yellow and Pink shelfwarm like there's no tomorrow over here.

And how quick did Shinken Kaoru Red sell out?

The figuarts? It was an exclusive so I have no idea how well it sold.

The answer is quickly. Even on BBTS it sold out quick.

So the exclusive toy aimed exclusively for adult collectors sold out.
That's not a good example.

I'll get started immediately!

I would love a female Red, but Toei seems unlikely to do it anytime soon, and if Toei doesn't do it, Saban won't do it. From the Power Rangers side of things, it simply won't happen because while gender changing might be feasible for Yellow Rangers, who are side characters, to gender change a Red, who is the main character, would be too obvious and jarring.

Toei *might* do it, although it won't make much financial sense for them. Girl's toys simply don't sell well outside of collectors. Even when I was a kid, the Yellow and Pink Rangers shelf-warmed like mad.

That's a Figuarts, it's catered to adult collectors who LOVE female Toku characters.

Not enough for any of them to ever get a mass release though :lol

Such a shame isn't it? It's especially depressing for someone like Kaoru Shinken Red, who is both a RED and a legend represented (no less the Shinkenger representative) in Gokaiger, to not get a mass release.

Badly. You can still obtain her very easily and she goes for around 3000 yen second hand, which is far lower than most exclusives, let alone web exclusives. The fact BBTS ran out of their limited stock of a very limited figure doesn't prove anything.

The demographics simply show that Power Rangers is most popular amongst young boys. It's why the girls never get powered up versions, get fewer toy releases and why we'll likely never see a female red lead. Legend of Korra may be a good example of how it could work, if the show was aimed at a different audience. But it could just as easily fail if they tried that and lose their old audience at the same time, which would outright kill the show.

Don't get me wrong, I'd love to see a female red, but they're not going to suddenly change their target demographic, just as My Little Pony isn't going to change because of the sudden interest from Brony's.