What If Bandai pulled a cronshorship from Sentai, due to Abarekiller's controversy
 

We all know the story, where Abarekiller was supposed to be evil to the end, but due to his low toy sales, higher ups demanded him to turn good at the end stretch of the series. If they didn't, Bandai will no longer sponsor Super Sentai. If they did, then which company will sponsor Super Sentai then ? Well, I'm here to answer that...

Takara or Tomy sponsors Sentai
Those are the popular picks, considerig Takara sponsored Gridman in the 90s, and Tomy made Ruukendo afterwards; they are the obvious choice. And that's before they've merged in 2006. On the plus side, they would give Sentai mechs articulation and a face lift, i.e. much cooler and refined. Same goes for a weapons. Considering the fact that Bandai of America imported merch from Japan before Operation Overdrive, so it's a plus. On the down side, Takara would give them a list of things, they could annd could not do, which would be a headache for Toei to appease.

That's the picks I know. Tell me, which Japan toy companies you know, besides Bandai, Takara, or Tomy. And one more thing...

Chogokin Optimus Prime/Convoy is a must !

If they lost their sponsorship, they wouldn’t magically have another company take control. They’d cancel the whole thing.

Is this an actually true story or is it one of those "totally true" fandom rumours, because I have literally never seen "Abaranger almost got Sentai killed!" before today.

Not News or Rumors so moved this under the Tokusatsu Show discussion forum

It's somewhat rooted in truth, but not as dramatic as people make it out to be.
The producers wanted Abare Killer to be a villain to the very end. Mikoto's actor also felt that would be the best case, due to how horrible he was as a person.
Due to the poor sales of Abare Killer themed merch, Bandai pressured them to change things up, giving him a last second redemption arc and turn him good, along with a heroic sacrifice.

While it's rather clear now, Abare Killer made it very apparent that villain toys really don't sell well in Japan.

Abaranger was also somewhat poorly received. Staff members have acknowledged that it wasn't as popular with kids.

So Abaranger had a negative impact on Sentai (Which apparently the 20th anniversary special will lampoon), but as for it "Killing Sentai?" Nawh. It's immediate predecessor and successor, Hurricanger and Dekaranger, did gangbusters.

Thank you.

But Abaranger's toy sales were great, even though it's not as high as Gao or Hurricanger.

I'm talking that the show itself was poorly received. Members of the staff have admitted as such.

I hope the same applies to Transformers Energon/Super Link.

The Super Sentai series has had ups and downs financially, but Abaranger wasn’t uniquely detrimental to its survival.

This Abarekiller's low toy sales reminds me of Fiveman's low toy sales in 1990.