[acdcguy]

I currently work at ToysRus and bad news guys Power Rangers toys are not selling. And they haven't been for quite some time. The store is reducing the section of Power Rangers to a small pocket next to TMNT toys. And in my local area for toy shopping: Target has reduced their PR area to a sliver, putting most toys on clearance, and both Walmart and Kmart has completely removed Power Rangers from their physical stores altogether. This is a sad time in toy sales for Power Rangers. But why are the sales going down? Here are my thoughts as to why:

1) First and foremost the 22 minute long show has always been simply an extended advertisement for the toys. In order for the toys to sell the show must be entertaining for children and adults alike. People won't invest their money into a show they feel has lost a lot of luster since it's debut over 21 years ago. Even young children don't want toys from a show they aren't interested in watching. Power Rangers went from being the "coolest show on TV" to the very thing young fans are being mocked for by their bullies. Kids don't want toys that make them a target for bullies.

2) The Zord builder set. Though an interesting concept at first, it has effectively destroyed what the original Super Sentai mechas were all about. They destroyed the actually fun gimmicks and replaced them with large awkwardly shaped "legos." If kids want legos they'll ask for it. They can be more creative with legos than with zord pieces.

3) And finally, the marketing. It's crap. Even when I had Nickelodeon still on my cable I rarely ever saw a commercial for any of the Power Rangers toys. I remember when I was little, before the internet became huge for shopping, the advertisements made the toys look awesome and they told you when and where to get the item. Then when the internet became the go to place for shopping, you didn't have much difficulty finding the new Power Rangers megazord and related zord pieces. Now they have this weird "quiet marketing" scheme where each new toy from the current toy line randomly shows up in various stores in selected areas, making it harder to find in areas not selling the item yet, not easy to find at all online. And is only available on eBay but at triple the cost! Ex: The current line the Q-Rex didn't show up here until two weeks after it showed up in California, the Turbo Falcon was not available until a month after it showed up in California (both were not listed on Amazon for the longest time), and the Ninja Zord is still hard to find in my area, not able to purchase online, available on Walmart.com but currently out of stock (just recently became available mind you), and is currently selling on eBay for an outrageous about of money.

As you can see from my prospective at least, the toy sales are not doing so hot. So what does this mean? Is the end of Power Rangers and it's toy line? Share your thoughts.