[Kamen Rider Lucha]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Neoblackdragon

I guess what I'm getting at is why wouldn't BOJ just reopen the line and create new updated figures themselves?
Why wouldn't Hasbro just do it without Bandai?

Hasbro owns the toy license for Power Rangers in the Americas (specifically the US, Canada, Mexico, Latin America, Argentina, Columbia, Chile, and Peru), some of Europe (specifically the UK, Germany, France, Switzerland, Turkey, and Greece), and Australia. Legally, Hasbro, and only Hasbro, can sell Power Rangers toys in those territories.

Bandai owns the toy license for Super Sentai, and everything associated with Super Sentai (including the Power Rangers brand name), pretty much everywhere else in the world. Legally, Bandai, and only Bandai, can sell Super Sentai and Power Rangers toys in the territories not covered by Hasbro.

Hasbro can't sell Super Sentai versions of the Lightning Collection figures in Japan because BOJ owns the license for everything Super Sentai (including Power Rangers) in that territory. Doing so would be illegal.

Theoretically, BOJ could sell Super Sentai versions of the Lightning Collection in Japan, but only if Hasbro -- the company that owns the Lightning Collection's sculpts/molds, completely independent of the toy license -- decided to license the sculpts/molds to Bandai. Hasbro won't do that -- and Bandai won't ask -- because the two companies are extremely fierce competitors. Neither company has an incentive to help a major rival make money.

Now, BoJ could make new sculpts and molds that are similar -- but not identical -- to the Lightning Collection's. However, when BoJ released a similar line years ago (i.e. SH Figuarts' Super Sentai figures), they discovered that there wasn't enough of a market for these kinds of Super Sentai figures in Japan. They won't endure the costs of developing an entirely new, Lightning Collection-esque line of action figures when a similar (arguably better) line didn't earn enough money to continue the releases.

Make sense?