Bandai to decrease the number of girl action figures in the Power Rangers toy lines
 

Front page link - http://news.tokunation.com/2017/10/1...-rangers-46627

Story copied below

----------------------

Over the last couple of years the idea of “boys toys” and “girls toys” has been part of a topic of conversation, especially when it comes to gender identity. Major retailers like Target have chosen to remove the idea of a “boys” and a “girls” section of kids’ clothing in favor of simply a “kids” section. Now, we attempt to stay out of politics here at TokuNation because we like to see ourselves as a way for people to allow themselves a distraction from something you’re likely seeing or hearing about in the 24/7 news cycle however we felt it necessary to bring this portion of conversation to light.

A few years ago we wrote an article regarding a quote from a Hypable story where it was stated that there was pressure in Power Rangers to NOT feature or release girl action figures because Power Rangers is a boys action figure line. That story, for us at least, went viral on social media, reaching nearly 50,000 people on Facebook alone. Bandai America reacted quickly in the convention circuit and announced that girl action figures (and girl Ranger Keys at the time) were coming and that they were not going to cut the girls out of the line.

Boy, how times change.

At this year’s New York Comic Con, Bandai America openly stated to numerous fans in attendance that in the future they would be decreasing the number of girl action figures available in the various Power Rangers toy lines due to the fact that they’re not selling. And, in all honesty, they’re right – shelves are full of Power Rangers Ninja Steel White and Pink Rangers (and Yellow, because Yellow has traditionally been female) and the 6.5″ Legacy line of figures are swamped with Ninja Storm Blue, Mighty Morphin Pink, Mighty Morphin Yellow, and In Space Yellow figures.

Recently, our friends at Power Rangers NOW revealed the press photos of the upcoming figures in the first assortment of Power Rangers Super Ninja Steel. Missing from the line up are any female action figures. Our site sponsor BigBadToyStore.com put up a pre-order for Wave 4 of the 6.5″ Legacy Power Rangers figures. The case assortment does not contain the two Mighty Morphin female Power Rangers (Pink and Yellow) and instead opts to double up all the male figures.

Bandai America has stated themselves and used the YouTube channel MMPRToys to tell fans and collectors that if they want to see the new figures they need to buy the female figures. The quote from Bandai America at New York Comic Con is that the Psycho Rangers, a fan-demanded line of figures from Power Rangers In Space due out (originally) in late 2018, are ready to ship but won’t because female figures are clogging the shelves. This is correct though horribly stated. In order for new toys to ship out to stores, the old toys have to sell first. In this instance, the female figures are the leftovers from the older waves, and would need to sell first before the new wave releases. Hence, “buy the girl toys or the new toys won’t come out”.

In a world where Wonder Woman can be a dominating box office presence and an inspiration for young girls everywhere, we challenge both Bandai America and Saban Brands to do more to empower the female characters in Power Rangers to make them more desirable to all fans, young and old, boy and girl. Instead of being side characters to fill out a roster, do more to flesh them out so everyone will want a representation of that character in their collections. Power Rangers has always been progressive, featuring strong lead roles for so many different ethnicities in times where white skin males made up the majority of superheroes. In a world where discrimination against women continues to rock headlines, Power Rangers once again can be a pioneer in equality if it chooses to be.

However, with Uchu Sentai Kyuranger looking more and more likely to be the next adaptation of Super Sentai, a team that features 12 total heroes with only 2 of them being female, we may have to wait 3 years or more for that to happen.

On the plus side, the official comic book Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, published by BOOM! Studios, has revealed that there was an original team of Rangers before the teens we knew – and they featured a female Red Ranger (along with a Pink male Ranger to boot). So while the collectible side of things seems to be highly male-skewed, we have to give credit where credit is due to both Kyle Higgins, writer of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, and Saban Brands for approving these stories and adding more depth and diversity in to the history of the Power Rangers.

But what does the future hold for the Power Rangers toy lines? Are girls really diminishing from the toy line? And is that a bad thing for a brand geared towards boys? And can we blame Bandai for decreasing the number of toys that don't sell (that just happen to be female)? Or do we blame Bandai and Saban Brands for not marketing their female characters in a more appealing way for kids and collectors alike? Join in our discussion.

Bandai America sure are a bunch of sexist queers are they?

To be fair, Bandai America has facts to back them up, if their sales data says the female rangers aren't selling, then that's probably not a lie.

The fact they are women have nothing to do with it Mugenlazlo. Bandai has been over supplying the stores with them. They are easy to get. People want the other rangers.

It probably doesn't help that the female Ranger figures have boobs like coconuts and wasp waists. If I were a parent I wouldn't feel super great about buying these figures for a little boy or a little girl. Yeah there are other toys with jumbo jugs out there but the likes of, say, Marvel Legends tend to at least have the excuse of accuracy to their source materials while the Ranger figures have far more exploitative designs than the show.

And yeah the male figures are built like WWE superstars but we all know that's a different kettle of fish.

Even with all male figures they would still shelf warm.

I cannot speak on the non-Legacy figures, but I had to skip on buying the early waves because of their choice to go with build a zord instead of complete figures with weapons. With the new metallic MMPR im more than happy to pick up the figures and do my part to clear the shelves. It's a self fulfilling prophecy, they don't think girls sell so they short the quality on those figures, and then those figures don't sell because they're getting short changed. When I was a kid I had to have full teams because it was the full team. In a world with shows that bring the perceived gender divide, Bandai is just behind the curb and trying to pass the buck. Make pink/white/blue/yellow/purple actual characters first and not just "girl" characters, make the figures shine and not just something they feel obligated to make, and then come back and have this conversation down the road. We wanted those keys and the keys were great and we bought them, just apply the same logic.

Perhaps if they changed the body shape of the figures, male and female, things would be better?
I know we're past the era of the barbie figures of the girl rangers, but they're still just refusing to give them normal body types.

Also, these figures aren't doing well period. I remember hearing either Saban or Bandai encouraging fans to buy extras to make sure the other waves can get made

And it’s now time for another rendition of “Jonny Wonder Discusses Sexual Dimorphism in Play Patterns.”

I also have a video by Christina Hoff Summers on standby.

They are refusing to give normal body types to everyone.

Speaking of the male ranger figures they should take it easy on the muscles. They look like Gold gym era Arnold stole all the morphers and morphed into each and every one of them. If it were still the 90s go crazy but them looking like roided out versions of themselves do not help.

Let point the most likely reason the girl figures aren't saling is because most store don't put everything on the shelves, meaning most likely that the girl ranger figures are still in the back rooms.

I could see them reducing the female rangers by a third; but seriously, don't drop 'em completely.

Here's the problem:

1) The female rangers are the only ones on the shelves. Because of that, the stores don't order more figures, and thus the figures as a whole don't sell. Include the female rangers in the first wave, then the males in the second. By the time the second and third waves hit the shelves the female rangers will be gone as they should be. Adjust for demands accordingly. Because Bandai does not do this, my area never got the sixth ranger figure because all they do is restock on female figures that don't sell. I don't want to buy figures I already own.

2) The proportions are terrible. The males look like shrunken He-Man in spandex, and the females look like a short Jessica Rabbit in leotards. Those aren't exactly the proportions of ninjas. Super Sentai/Power Rangers are average to extremely skilled people blessed with supernatural or advanced powers with a high tech/mystical suit for protection. Essentially biker ninjas with giant mechas. They should look strong, but not overly buff, and sleek, but not frail or too skinny. And what's with the boobs? God, not even Barbie has breast like the ones on some of these female ranger figures. It's just as awkward as seeing a male figure with a massive bulge. I wouldn't be too surprised if parents aren't buying these figures for their kids for this very reason. Liberal parents would find them sexist, and conservative parents would find them obscene.

3) Bundle packaging. If people want the red ranger, they must get pink with it. Full team package for collectors and holiday sales. Or if people want to get the megazord include the female figures in the package. Red is the central figure of the line. The only ones most kids want is the red ranger and the megazord. Even the other male figures don't sell that well. And the sixth ranger hasn't been as popular as it once was since Zeo's Gold Ranger.

4) Marketing. Effective marketing is essential to toys. Toy sales are down on all fronts. Kids just want their tablets and video games. Make an incentive for buying the figures, like unlocking characters/levels/abilities on PR video games and app games if they purchase the figures. Give them a reason to want these toys. And improve the show and write the characters better (I include this in marketing as the show is basically a 22 min commercial for the toys).

^
Agree with your 1 and 2 point of your post.

Also keep in mind when toys don't sell certain stores that carry them won't order anymore.

Like today I was out running errands and went into Gamestop to ask if they will be getting the new wave of Legacy figures with Zeo and DT. Guess what NO they will not be ordering anymore. The reason I ask was I got In Space black, blue, and pink from them. So in the long run will only Walgreens be carrying the Legacy figures or not is a question I have?

Also don't forget Toysrus is dealing with money problems at the moment if girl figures are clogging the shelves they won't be ordering the new wave either. Lastly Toysrus could go belly up so if that happens.....hmm Bandai gonna really have mayhem with the legacy figures. Would love to see how that shitstorm goes down between Bandai and Toysrus lol.

Limit the female figures, fine. But don't cut them out. Incomplete teams are worse than no teams at all.

Also, maybe lose the 90s body styles you've been using for DECADES Bandai. Make them normal proportioned.

Look at the S.H. Figuarts Rangers as an example to follow.

Heck, when they announced the Legacy line, I recall many people posting their hope that Bandai would make them look like the Figuarts so they would belong...and instead, the damn 90s roided man body and impossible for the real world big breastes, tiny waist female bodies...again.

I agree, however Ninja Storm blue was an improvement from the Figuart counterpart. The Figuart was the wrong shade of blue and ugly as heck. The Legacy one, once you get past the breast and waist issues, is a far superior figure.

I know, none of the stores in my area sell anything but MMPR Pink (w/ silver belt), and In Space Yellow. The only ones they restock on are Ninja Storm. The only ones that sell are MMPR Red, Green, and White. The Legacy Line should do something different with the figures. I would much rather pay $30 to $40 for a full team of 5 " figures with less articulation and more weapons.

BOA: Girls Toys don't sell all that well
Me: Yeah, tell that to DC and Star Wars.

And Transformers who are making new female Transformer figures.

Wait I'm confused, are female figures merely being reduced per wave or cut out completely?

That's great but I want figures with full articulation and not gimped versions. That's the point of the legacy line. I don't just want to have the colors.

Still I think the core of the issue is that Bandai has been treating all the figures as equal.

I've never seen non red/white/green male figures warm the shelves. The problem is the store simply don't restock because they go by codes. The codes say a yellow MMPR figure is the same as a red MMPR figure(ignoring waves for a second).

Bandai just make each figure separate. So when the manager sees a color is out of inventory, they order more of that as opposed to putting out another pink mmpr.

I'm vexed. Since when has Bandai ever done female figures beyond the main suits? Every specialty version of a character (like those ranger to zord transformers) have been the male rangers. Every powered up version has been a male character.

Neo, my stores are flooded with the MMPR Legacy White Ranger and both the Yellow and Red Space rangers.

The Walmart I work at still has Dino charge pink and purple figures. They aren't even on clearance which is wierd. Maybe the the figures as a whole aren't sellIng??? We already have some ninja steel figures on clearance. I do agree to limit them instead of not releasing them and have incomplete teams. Change the body molds too.

That's not what they're saying. They said they're going to ship less copies of the female rangers because they're not selling as well. At least, that's how it reads to me.

So basically the way toylines used to be?

I'm okay with this.

Part of the issue, especially with the Legacy assortment, is the case assortments within.

The first wave (2x MMPR Green, 1x MMPR Red, 1x NS Red, 1x NS Yellow, 1x NS Blue) was done perfectly. Yeah, you had some NS Blue shelf-warming, but if you saw 4 or 5, that means that 20 to 24 other figures had sold.

The second wave they got stupid. (2x MMPR Pink, 1x MMPR Blue, 1x MMPR Black, 1x IS Red, 1x IS Yellow). This is where the bulk of the shelf-warming started. Now you had NS Blue, some NS Yellow, and twice as many MMPR Pink on the shelfs, with a few IS Yellow to boot. They filled an entire case assortment where 1/2 was female.

The third wave is just idiotic. It started fine (2x MMPR White, 1x MMPR Yellow, 1x IS Blue, 1x IS Black, 1x IS Pink). But out of fear that the line was beginning to become stagnant in sales, they decided to hammer down the MMPR portion, and changed the case assortment to two different assortments (3x MMPR White, 3x MMPR Yellow) or (2x MMPR White, 4x MMPR Yellow).

The fourth wave they decided to release MMPR again with weapons. The first assortment, which only hit specialty stores like Walgreens, did 2x MMPR Red and 1x of the other core MMPR Rangers. PERFECT!

But again, because the females from the previous waves have scared them, all future case assortments only have 2x of each of the male Rangers, leaving Pink and Yellow in the dust. An overreaction to a lack of sales due to poor case assortment decisions that Bandai is now, seemingly, trying to blame the fans for (ie: you didn't buy the girls so now you don't get new toys).

I also partially blame the marketing. I get that it's a boy's action show and thus action figures are targeted towards boys. But you can make strong female characters desirable for boys. The show is responsible for doing that. The figures themselves - yes, still too beefy boys and the girls are still too porn-star like in their physique.

Hopefully one day Bandai will get past their "girls have to look like supermodels with giant boobs" and "boys have to have 8 packs" stereotype and create figures that actually look like the suits. The age old marketing of "boys buy male action figures that are super muscle like" doesn't work in today's age. Kids now just want something that looks like they saw on the show. I would challenge them to create a line where instead of beefcakes (that honestly are just remolds of old pieces of older lines to save cost) we get screen-accurate figures.

One day.

Why not just limit the female Rangers to one per wave?

Really don't see the need to cut them out completely, unless this is being done to clear old inventory.

I hadn't paid attention to the pack assortments but sweet freaking zed, what are they thinking. Shelf clog is entirely their fault if that's the way they're packing cases. Hasbro understands how to do it to minimize warmers. The weapon MMPR wave looks like good numbers. I found 2 reds and then a red and black, so so far, so good on that wave. Maybe if it sells like crazy they'll think about recomposing their distribution? Honestly I don't understand why they split BAZ and season assortments. That seems like it would add to the shelf clogging by having 2 half teams instead of strategically packing single teams with red or 6th doubles.

If I'm feeling charitable I'd say they'd over estimated the demand for certain figures.

We are in 2017 where we are faced with all feminist movements and not-equality and you tell me "We're stopping from making girl action figures because boys don't buy them"?

How about making better figures with better assortments and better distribution instead of using 1930s ideals to excuse the lack of sales?

And by the way, I think most of people who buy your products (especially the Legacys releases) are adult collectors who care little about the gender of the characters they're buying. Because really, I don't like to use this stereotypical way of thinking, but I don't think kids are the ones who want your MMPR/Saban Era releases instead of your recent Neo Saban stuff.

I know I haven't bought any releases from the Legacy line (besides SDCC MMPR Red) because I simply can't find the figures. Past the initial release of these figures, every time I walk into a Target or Wal-Mart, I only ever see MMPR White, MMPR Yellow, In Space Yellow and maybe Ninja Storm Blue.


Bandai gets the impression that we simply don't want to buy female action figures, when that's not the case (the Marvel Legends line is a testament to that). We just don't want to buy a specific Ranger and then not be able to complete the rest of the team. I mean, I don't know why it's mainly the female figures pegwarming, but I figure it has more to do with poor case assortment + distribution versus female characters not selling. Especially since, from my understanding, the 6.5" Legacy line is supposed to be aimed at adult collectors (hence the emphasis on older series versus newer ones), and collectors don't care about gender.

Maybe it's the way the waves are set up. Teams are split up amongst two waves, which isn't necessarily a terrible idea. But the issue is that with no guarantee that there will even be room for the next wave (and thus the remaining members of a particular team), people get weary about buying what's already there.

Bandai says it's geared towards collectors, but is still sculpted in a mindset to get kids to buy them (hence super muscles and super boobs). Tying the Build a Figure Megazord to each particular season was an old gimmick to try and get waves to sell - "You can't complete this one Megazord unless you buy figures from THREE total waves!". Mwa ha ha, that means we'll get at least 3 waves of sales! That and then "Hey WalMart, we guarantee these 3 waves will sell because they have to buy from all 3 waves to build the MMPR Megazord!".

And don't kid yourself - the reason the Psycho Rangers wave is having a MMPR Alpha 5 Build a Figure isn't because Bandai wants to shove more MMPR down your throat - it's because retailers wanted a bigger guarantee that those figures would sell. The original figure that was proposed in that wave would have been awesome, and it wasn't Bandai or Saban who nixed it, it was the retailers.

Case in point - Power Rangers toys aren't as popular and successful as we'd all like them to believe, and thus Bandai is hamstrung by retailers on their choices and options, and because MMPR sells so well retailers want more and more MMPR and less and less non-MMPR.

Ultimately this boils down to a company decision that was excused off in a very poor way.

Girls action figure lines like DC Super Girls, Monster High, E=MC2 and even Wonder Woman sell. It is possible to find out how good or bad they do against other lines. But girl figures in a boy toy line? Not so much.

I see this as cultural in part. I have seen parents not buy girl colored toys because they were girl colored. Children learn gender identity early on. We can even get religious about it all (but won't).

Would better packaging/marketing help? Maybe. If you saw a picture of the female actor on the box and it said "Yellow Ranger/Character Name" on it, would it draw more to say 'Hey that's a strong character, I like that!". Or if you slapped a sticker on to say Wonder Woman - Ranger Armor, would that draw your attention more?

I think Super Boobs should be a new show. Yep. No, not that way you dirty minds.

Bandai's marketing gimmick thus far in the Legacy line has been "How can we force people to buy the female figures?". The "Build a Figure" portion is the main key and one reason they won't abandon it. To build the Megazord, you HAVE to buy the female figures. But what happens when no one cares about the Megazord? And that's where we're at right now - kids don't care about building the Megazord, so the female figures sit.

One suggestion I've seen a lot of is to package the torso/head with the female figure. That might work but only if the Megazord is a desired figure. I don't believe that it is because I don't believe the Megazord figure is something kids are wanting to build. Why? Because for another $15 you can just have your mom and dad buy you the big robot anyways.

So how do you market the female figures to be more desirable to kids?

For starters, if you're going to do a Build a Figure, make it something different than a toy that doesn't even function with the main gimmick that makes it desirable (aka transforming/combining). Make it a NEW character, or a villain character. As an adult I wanted to buy some old toys from an older series because you got to "CREATE A NEW POWER RANGER!". Marvel Legends does it in a way where you create a larger figure from the line - like Onslaught, Juggernaut, etc.

I'd say make the female figures carry the accessories for the team. Let the other 5 figures for that line carry the pieces for the Build a Figure, and release the female figure with all the weapons or an extra awesome accessory that kids and fans want.

Granted, it's all for nothing if the retailers don't buy in to it, but at this point I'm sure they'd be down for something to make the female figures sell. But if the future is now "No female figures", which you see in the new assortment of Wave 4 at online retailers, then I'm out.

I think they'll lose their primary market if they nix the female figures entirely. Or they'll lose enough of the completionist that it will have a heavier effect on sales.

I think better pack assortments is the easiest first step for them. Again, ala weapon MMPR.

Second is the reevaluation of the baf. The biggest problem is its a zord. You can buy a superior version for less money. If Marvel Legends started doing all the giant sized characters in the 12 inch line, no one would feel the need to build them. The big bad from the season is the obvious choice. Rita, Zed, even Goldar for the MMPR waves seems like a given, or just a goon like the Putties. They can't make it the 6th ranger unfortunately because of they have to completely redesign the ranger mold for that. Build an Alpha seems like a better idea than a zord at the very least though I don't know how well the movie figures sold.

My preference would be to go the Black Series route, nix the BAZ, and pack in the signature weapons or accessories. It causes me no end of frustration to see Ninja Storm on the shelves and pass because they don't have their freaking weapons. I loved that season and want to see the rest of the team, the Thunder brothers are some of my favorite rangers, but they just aren't full figures. It would be amazing to get the figure, their signature weapon, and an unmasked head. To double down on the BS comparison, they build up their character and develop them. You can see the figures that are peg warming because A) Redundant/over saturated character or B) throw away undeveloped character.

Bandai backed themselves into a corner. The BAF was an organic creation to fill a need with ML, but companies seem to think you can just throw any old thing into pieces and sell a wave. Doesn't work like that.

I really want to support this line, and I like these figures, just Bandai is making it really, really hard. I just wanna get a Titanium Ranger. Is that too much to ask?

That's not what I've encountered. In just about all of my local stores, female figures are clogging the shelves.

And let's face it.. kids gravitate to what they're interested in. Powerful leads won't guarantee that the female figures sell.

Gender identity is a real thing, but a majority of people have the one that matches them physically, and girls tend to like girly things, and boys like traditional boy things.

I mean, if they added an action hero or whatever to a Barbie show, that doesn't mean me, as a male, is going to have any interest in it.

Great! I guess that's confirmation we can definitely kiss goodbye to chances of a complete Legacy MMPR Helmet and Power Weapon collection if they don't want to dedicate any time to anything pink or yellow! :(

What was the original figure proposed for the Psycho Rangers?

I feel the reason MMPR sells isn't just because of the nostalgia factor, its because Saban is acting like MMPR is the only thing worth pushing! Personally, I think he is pushing it and inflating the market, intentionally or unintentionally, cause of the love people have for MMPR and the belief that the only way the PR culture can survive is if you double-down on how much MMPR is out there!

Sounds like Bandai's between a rock and a hard place here.

On one hand they have retailers breathing down their necks to make their toys unclog their shelves and on the other they have fans telling them to make/not make certain figures.

Makes me wonder if it wouldn't just be better to nix it from retail and just sell it exclusively online?

Saban has tried to push non MMPR before, it didn't sell and people don't care so they're going where the money is.

Even Disney at one point considered rebooting MMPR as a cartoon series.


And some people keep pointing out Wonder Woman yes that movie did well but the majority of toys for it were marketed towards girls. And unless I'm remembering wrong their wasn't a dedicated boys' toyline for it but a subline in DC Universe.