Power Rangers General Discussion Thread

[ZakuConvoy]

Well, the solicitations for July are out. We do get the listings for the last ongoing issue (122) and the one-shot grand finale (Darkest Hour).

...But, instead of talking about that, I just want to point out a couple of covers from the second Godzilla/MMPR crossover that I think are neat.

Spoiler

Godzilla combining with the Dragonzord! And Kaiju Rangers! Oh, I'm hoping we get toys! Oh, this is the kind of nonsense that crossovers are MADE for!

Let's see here.

Black is Godzilla.
Pink is Mothra.
Red is Rodan.
Green is Manda.
Blue is Anguirus.
And Yellow is Baragon.

...I think. I'll admit, some are kind of hard to identify.

 

[Ookalf]

Spoiler

Let's see here.

Black is Godzilla.
Pink is Mothra.
Red is Rodan.
Green is Manda.
Blue is Anguirus.
And Yellow is Baragon.

...I think. I'll admit, some are kind of hard to identify.

Spoiler

There's a clearer look on one of the other covers, and the artist of that one identified them.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1781846461501592048

You got most of them, but Black is actually King Caesar, and Green is Godzilla.

As for getting figures of them, I feel like that would require Hasbro to have the slightest interest in resuming making Power Rangers toys, and the odds of that are looking lower all the time...

 

[LBD "Nytetrayn"]

So, question: It's been a year or so since the ZAP Astro Megazord came out, and I'm wondering if anyone has figured out any fixes for some of its issues, like the crooked arm ratchet and droopy front half of the shuttle that seems to be in every video I see with the thing.

Tried Google, and their increasing uselessness has failed to bring back much of anything.

 

[spikeriley]

And meanwhile, a different version of the first MMPR episode Day of the Dumpster has been released on YouTube:

 

[Steevy Maximus]

So, I got to relay this:
My Walmart just did a summer toy reset. Action figure section expanded to the largest it’s been since AT LEAST 2009, carrying over a dozen lines it hadn’t touched in years.
But what surprised me? This store, which hadn’t carried Power Rangers since the first year of Beast Morphers, was suddenly carrying a Zord assortment and roleplay assortment.

It’s jarring that, for a line Hasbro is, seemingly, abandoning to a licensee, is still be carried, as a new item, by my podunk Walmart. Really starts to make me wonder if Power Rangers wasn’t successful…or just not successful enough for Hasbro’s tastes?

 

[spikeriley]

So, I got to relay this:
My Walmart just did a summer toy reset. Action figure section expanded to the largest it’s been since AT LEAST 2009, carrying over a dozen lines it hadn’t touched in years.
But what surprised me? This store, which hadn’t carried Power Rangers since the first year of Beast Morphers, was suddenly carrying a Zord assortment and roleplay assortment.

It’s jarring that, for a line Hasbro is, seemingly, abandoning to a licensee, is still be carried, as a new item, by my podunk Walmart. Really starts to make me wonder if Power Rangers wasn’t successful…or just not successful enough for Hasbro’s tastes?

I have to think so, as in my Wal-Mart, they still have a lot of Pink Space Ranger and Yellow Zeo Ranger Lightning Collection figures that are just warming the shelves, so chances are they may not have sold enough to warrant giving the license to Playmates.

 

[Steevy Maximus]

I have to think so, as in my Wal-Mart, they still have a lot of Pink Space Ranger and Yellow Zeo Ranger Lightning Collection figures that are just warming the shelves, so chances are they may not have sold enough to warrant giving the license to Playmates.

And then, my counter to that would be the fact I could still find PEGS of Snake Eyes movie figures at Walmarts all the way into last fall, two years after the film was released. Yet, GI Joe remains in Hasbro’s full control (That said, I still think Joe is “on the edge” in that regard).

But then, maybe Hasbro is following Mattel’s example with Masters of the Universe:
Mattel licensed out the brand to Super7 in 2016-ish as the live action film development stalled out and the entire MattyCollector initiative seemed to be getting shuttered. Super7 made stuff until Mattel revoked the license in 2019, when new management seemed to be more interested in investing in owned brands. 2020 Origins gets soft launched at Walmart, and 2021 sees the full press of the Netflix series and Masterverse.

I wonder if development just…stalled out at Hasbro, particularly after Goldner’s death. With no movie and no clear course for the kids segment (animation, sentai adaption, or something new), Hasbro is opting to license out Power Rangers to keep the brand relevant while reducing their own costs. At least until they decide on a direction for Power Rangers that would justify moving production back in house.

I think the only reason we haven’t seen GI Joe licensed out like that is because the brand remains in that “holding pattern” of movie development.

 

[Daith]

Joe actually has been decently successful in the Classified line. Snake-Eyes itself failed hard but the line overall outside of that has been selling well enough. Most of the normal waves have been hard to keep around. The worst I see is some of the retro carded figures, sub team repaints, and some of the larger packs. Also various Vipers and other Cobra foot soldiers always prompts some army building.

But as far as Power Rangers, it’s really been a lot of self sabotage. Lightning Collection was doing alright…. Until they ran out of MMPR figures and kept trying to rehash it while never completing teams people were waiting for. And then while a lot of the side stuff was ok, again the drip feed of stuff with little outlook of completion. I love getting the helmets they did but I think a lot of people got burnt when Zedd and Drakkon happened before Yellow, Black, and Green happened.

And while the TMNT crossover figures were cool to me, they didn’t sell as much as I think they hoped they would. So let’s try crossovers with Street Fighter and Cobra Kai. While the SF stuff was kinda fun, the Cobra Kai figures were straight up MMPR Ninja Ranger repaints with a franchise that isn’t as popular with everyone despite the hype behind the show.

But let’s go to the Kids line…. And well as far as I could tell, no one was real buying much of Dino Fury. Which kinda explains why some of you didn’t see a push earlier since I think that was trending since Beast Morphers. And they didn’t even do much for Cosmic Fury despite the push the series got in doing its own thing. Seeing stores trying to push anything Rangers now seems odd.

 

[Tm_Silverclaw]

My walmart for years refused to carry ANY megazords. I'm talking back to Power Rangers: Samurai.

Would sell the individual auxiliary zords.. but never the megazords.

 

[Sabrblade]

ConorTheWaffle continues his Power Rangers retrospective series with a look at Lightspeed Rescue:

 

[Daith]

My walmart for years refused to carry ANY megazords. I'm talking back to Power Rangers: Samurai.

Would sell the individual auxiliary zords.. but never the megazords.

Considering how Dino Fury piecemealed the zords It was hard to even call any of the sets a true Megazord on their own. Was just looking at the Tyranno Zord at Walmart earlier and realized they sold the rest of the normal zords separate.

 

[Tm_Silverclaw]

Considering how Dino Fury piecemealed the zords It was hard to even call any of the sets a true Megazord on their own. Was just looking at the Tyranno Zord at Walmart earlier and realized they sold the rest of the normal zords separate.

It actually wasn't until Beast Morphers they started selling the Zords.

 

[Confuzor]

Im still miffed me never got Lightning Collection of the Mutant Rangers from the second tmnt crossover.

 

[Sabrblade]

Im still miffed me never got Lightning Collection of the Mutant Rangers from the second tmnt crossover.

I only ever saw those on shelves in a geek store at Universal CityWalk in Hollywood.

 

[Confuzor]

I dont think those were actually made.

Imnot talking about the Turtles as Rangers. Im talking about the Rangers mutated into their prehistoric creature.