is the power ranger franchise only focused on toys sales rather than the series?
 

since power rangers got started,the merchandise sales go through the roof,but should the franchise focus on the toy sales instead of giving us a entertaining show for kids and the adult fans? whats your thought on this?

(and if anyone asked,yes the sales finance the show,my point is should the sales get more attention rather than the show?)

All toku is about merchandise, some are just more shameless than others.

thats true but is it a excuse of rushing through the show instead of taking their time and listening to the fans?

The Japanese are pretty good at hiding the "giant toy commercial" in a show by now (hey, they've had plenty of time to practice). Saban Brands and Disney? Not so much. In fact I'd say the decline in story in recent years could be put down to the same kind of risk averse post-recession BS that's plaguing so many companies at the moment.

The economics of it should be simple. If you don't put money into an investment, you get little out. Invest more, achieve better quality, better sales follow. Unfortunately all people focus on at the moment is the cutting costs method of profit maximization...

In other words, this shamelessness isn't going to change until some bright spark changes it. Swings and roundabouts really. It'll swing back the other way eventually I'm sure.

I don't think it's as fair a split as you make it sound. Goseiger for example was extremely gratuitous in its toy focus and that wasn't all that long ago, neither was Kamen Rider Kaubto but by all regards that had pointless Rider's coming out of its butt all over the place. Hmm...wonder why that is.

/Just felt the need to add this as this board - including myself - has been shitting on Power Rangers A LOT lately and we really don't need another 'Power Rangers is toy commercial bahwah while Sentai is for GROWNUPS' thread of utter nonsense.

Not sayin that is necessarily where this was gonna go, but it'd be nice to nip that in the bud before the cancer grows.

Couldn't have put that better myself. Kamen Rider, Power Rangers, Super Sentai, everything outside of Garo exists to move merch. That's why the shows aren't improving. Because the toy sales are so astronomical there's no reason to.

Locke is right, all toku is about merchandise, some more shameless than others.

You're awfully sensitive about this cancer. :lol I think Tokunation is not quite so fanatical about Sentai compared to most message boards out there.

You're probably right. I guess it's just because the franchise I love has turned into everything the haters claimed it to be over the course of Samurai through to Super Megaforce to the point where even I can't defend it any more and so I'm now extra sensitive to it all. Sigh.

That's the crux of what I was trying to say.

I totally didn't mean that SS is for grown ups. Just watch a few seconds and anyone can see that's untrue.

What I meant to highlight was that Japanese film makers have been working with Tokusatsu as an art for decades longer than the West has. Surely they know/have more tricks than the West? On the flip side, you could say that we have every chance to draw on toy-oriented western non-toku stuff, but I think Saban proves that not everything translates well across genres.

But it's as you say. After all having more experience in the genre does not necessarily mean that super sentai is any less prone to toy fixation than power rangers. They could do great things (Gaim proves that for me), but the bottom line shows them they don't need to.

Ah well, right? :lol It's still fun for the most part.

I'm hoping Gaim will mark the flip back towards "quality show sells toy", when the high ups realise what's possible... unless of course Gaim does poorly by the end of its run... I'm not really keeping up with the numbers.

I absolutely loathe comments like this, simply because they are (collective they being Saban and Bandai of America) listening. That's why we have Tommy coming back, and others for the end of Super Megaforce.

It's why we have a metal Dragon Dagger, Dragonzord, etc.

There are tons of fans out there (more so than I've seen in any other franchise) that have these ideas that are great, but only to them. That's fanfic material. So when people say "they're not listening to the fans" it's more like "they're not listening to my opinion of what would be a good idea and is better fanfic fodder anyway."

Not that you're specifically saying that, but improvements have been made over the years. There's no denying that.

Unfortunately, "they" cannot listen to it all, for various reasons. This, in many ways, makes many of the fans upset, for various reasons.

Again, I'm not saying youare upset, but Power Ranger fans can be pretty damn ridiculous at times.

You know I was the same way before but it was on a different message board and about Green Lantern that I became overly sensitive too. I learned that it only matters what I think of a show and I just enjoy what I watch which is why I love so much of the shows I do.

To turn this back on topic I know Toku is a toy commercial and like I said it doesn't bother me, I am enjoying PRMF and SMF I mean I wish they had a better plan but I enjoy it.

that's true and btw the legacy dragonzord and dagger looks awesome

Transformers, G.I Joe, TMNT, The Marvel/DC cartoons, Pokemon, Yu-Gi-Oh, Digimon, Beyblade, Gundam and Zoids were made to sell merchandise. Power Rangers/Super Sentai, Kamen Rider and Ultraman are not the only ones that are made to only sell toys.

Obviously.

Case in point:

GI Joe had two decently received movies (not Transformers-esque in terms of money brought in, but still decent). But because it failed to launch toy sales, GI Joe has been officially scrapped by Hasbro.

Same reason they scrapped the animated series on The Hub.

On the flipside shows like Kyoryuger print money, so the show still caries on even as sentai reaches all new lows in the ratings. I guess that should hopefully fill people with confidence who fear their shows may run out of steam (arf) but it should also fill you with worry as to when (this is increasingly seeming like a more fitting word than "if") the show creators stop trying to give anything worthwhile to accompany those toys. You could argue that Saban certainly already has.

I'm certainly pretty sure in myself that PR will be a toy only brand long before SS is, and given the way Kamen Rider is going, it may end up outliving Sentai. I guess taking a decade or so break is good for the toku.

I think DBZ might fit in the merchandise driven bill since Toei ended Kai at the Cell saga because of poor toy sales from what I can remember (This was back in 2011). Also Episode of Bardock was made to promote SSj Bardock in Heroes.

Actually, from what I recall, G.I.Joe Renegades was doing okay on the Hub, but Hasbro thought it would be a good idea to can the show to plan out a new show to be closer to what they were doing with the then upcoming G.I.Joe: Retaliation movie that then got pushed back in release.

Hasbro basically had no faith in Renegades outside of giving it a few figures in the 'Hunt for Cobra' line they were doing even though a prototype of the Coyote (vehicle they drove around in) and Flint's Jeep were shown.

It's a shame as it had potential even if it was the A-Team with Joes. It was kind of building up to how G.I.Joe really got formed with all the guest appearances in every episode.

Look at how many AWESOME shows died because of no toys. Tron: Uprising, Beware the Batman. Both were awesome, Tron moreso (that show was incredible) and yet because they ahd no toyline, they got shitcanned. Thundercats, oh Thundercats, had weak toy sales, and so it too went away.

I was especially upset at that last one... and then a friend of mine had the nerve to say "That show sucked anyway. You should just watch the original, it's much better than that shit." to me.

Very we'll put friend. But as FightingSpirit said, most companies are stuck in post-recession cutback-to-profit mode. They just don't see the potential to push the effort through to get a great product. The product is good, not great. They lost the drive to make art, to make money. Yeah, sometimes things must be sacrificed to gain other things, but it shouldn't be at the cost of the original goal. Now as far as progress goes, there's been some. They are listening, but only to the extent of profitability. Some ideas don't make it, for good reason, but some make it and are held over to extend the product line. Case in point, the Dragonzord/Daggger. Wouldn't have worked so many years earlier. And despite the recent lack of Sentai announcements, Figuarts are rushing the market and flooding collector shelves. I'd call that a win. But to close it up, it's going to wax & wane. It's the law of economics. I doubt we'll see anything remotely like our heydays. We'll get the occasional good season or couple of episodes, but nothing groundbreaking. It's all about the toys now, and remember, today's kids aren't like those of our day. Short attention spans, and that's who their market is. Hell, they have to contend with video games & idevices. Sorry for the loooooong rant.

i think it varies with people, but with me i think toys are the most important thing when it comes to pr and toku because if you dont have any, its very hard to enjoy it because these shows are meant for these toys.

i think that's why alot of people have problems with pr because they dont buy toys and focus on it being something serious.

that's how i feel, im going to be honest as much i love watching pr/toku over the years without toys, as times it's very difficult to enjoy it. why do i watch it is because i like to keep up with the episodes no matter how difficult it is and plus it takes my mind off of problems.

when i buy toys for pr, it feels different and fun without worring about nitpicks because it keeps me focused and physical. that's just me.