[acdcguy]

I my opinion, I believe these toy companies have lost touch with their core consumer base. A decade ago Bandai America tried to appeal to nostalgia as many OG Power Rangers fans had entered their 20s and were reflecting on their childhood. It was lukewarm and heavily based on MMPR nostalgia and combined with a line that was already disliked by many fans (aka zordbuilder). Bandai would eventually lose the license to Hasbro who again pivoted to MMPR instead of taking advantage of the 20th anniversaries of the latter seasons.

These companies never understood the niche fandom of Power Rangers, expecting fans to spend more for less. Even the toys directly marketed at children felt cheap compared to more contemporary properties. Ultimately both companies failed to deliver what the fans wanted and could not move merchandise. Had Power Rangers stayed with Bandai things may be a little different as Power Rangers was their flagship, and now Bandai is rare to come by in stores these days. They barely take advantage of their Digimon IP, and most are licensed IPs that Bandai does not own and are typically imported from Japan. Hasbro on the other hand has seen a devaluing of Star Wars and Marvel toys, which are of much more value to Hasbro despite Hasbro only having the license to make those toys for Disney. While outright owning the Power Rangers IP (though I am sure there is some weird licensing from Toei and Bandai Japan for adapting Super Sentai merchandise they clearly dislike dealing with).

Hasbro expected Power Rangers to compete with their larger brands without a good quality show or movie to accompany their merchandise. They never released megazords for anniversary releases. Their lightning figures released randomly and the quality declined over time while costs continued to rise. It got to the point where stores like Target and Walmart refused to stock the last megazord Hasbro produced for the series.

Fast forward to now, and we are more than a decade removed from Bandai's Legacy Line, something that was mildly successful. Most of us are in our 30s now but likely are still childless due to the cost of living and difficulty finding full time work with benefits and being exploited by robber barons that lobby the U.S. government to prevent healthcare reform and healthy work-life balance and paid vacation*. Millennials and Gen Z have significantly less buying power than previous generations which handicaps our ability to be parents and consumers.

*full discloser this is not a political rant, just the reality of the situation.

Naturally, niche fandoms like Power Rangers is going to suffer in this environment. Changing the toy licensing yet again to another company and reducing the cost and value of the merchandise of a 32 year old TV series (based on a Japanese show celebrating its 50th anniversary this year) and marketing it to the very few children of Millennials and Gen Z is not a winning strategy. Companies managed to survive the Great Depression, and as we move forward into uncertain times, the best they can do is pander to thriving markets like China, or manage to find that balance between quality and cost and reduce the quantity of production, aka focus on anniversary releases with just the figures and a re-release of the megazord of the featured anniversary season.

That said, the constant pivot to MMPR is another losing strategy. Most people that wanted MMPR that had spending power already picked up the original Daizyujin, the 1993 Dino Megazord, the 2010 release, the Legacy edition, the Soul of Chokogin release, and the Hasbro ZAP release. MMPR is so oversaturated that anyone could get these second hand at conventions or go to eBay or other auction sites. Yet I rarely see re-releases for the series that had successful toy lines, TV show aside, like Wild Force and Ninja Storm. Power Rangers SPD is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year. The season was set in this year! It was one of the biggest seasons for Gen Z Power Ranger fans. Why is there no anniversary merchandise for it?

The Power Rangers brand is in serious need of proper direction from someone that respects and loves the franchise and can work with the reality of the situation and can get a toy company to actually release quality toys at a fair price, and celebrate Power Rangers as a whole instead of causing over saturation to the MMPR brand. Consumers vote with our wallets, and with little spending power we have left, we aren't going to invest in low quality for us or our children (for those of us who do have children) on a brand most of us already have something from it.