Power Rangers is not a Successful Franchise but an Emerging Franchise in the eyes of HASBRO
- Darrell Peace
- Oct 27, 2018
- 3 min read
Power Rangers as a whole has been a steady American children’s live-action show, but to many outside of its core fan base.... The show has been anything but annoying and boring. To those like myself, I have been a close fan of the franchise from its start, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers to its current season Super Ninja Steel. And I even have to admit that the show has been getting a lil stale.
With the way the show is structured, (kids in school, a monster shows up, they beat the monster, the monster comes back big, the rangers use ZORDS to beat monster again) it becomes repetitive. Now I will say in its defense, some of the older seasons had episodes solely dedicated to character moments/world building and it was a beautiful change of pace from its normal structure. Newer seasons (Disney era and after) seemed to have done away with any character building or world building for the most part. Now to back up a bit lol. I did mention DISNEY, you are not crazy. Power Rangers were sold from Saban Brands (original owner) to Disney for a short while. That gave use some great seasons but to most of the hard core fans…. They wasn't the best. But back to the topic at hand, Pre Disney era the show had a balance of character moments and world building to keep you interested and invested in the show you were watching.
Later in the series the focus changed form from creating a compelling story, to a commercial for TOY sales. With toys being the main form of revenue in keeping the show on air, it became obvious to fans that the show was failing to keep its world building and character development for story and becoming an informercial with heavy action for the Toy lines. At this point Disney already had major success with its own brand of Toy lines, and with the declining viewership in the power rangers show and power rangers toys not being up to their standards of profit, sold off the rights to power rangers and they landed back in the hands of its former owner, Saban Brands. Back at home with its previous owner, fans like myself thought ok… now we can get story and development back. NOPE Saban stuck with the current state of “story telling” and done away with characters to focus on Toy sales.
Viewership at a steady decline for lack of substance and toy sales now at a stagnant market (not improving or failing), Saban brands started to lose confidence in profitability with the Power Rangers license and made the choice to sale off after their last attempt for profit, a major Blockbuster film, Saban’s Power Rangers based on the Mighty Morphin season in March of 2017, failed to hit big with audiences and toy sales not up to standards. Hasbro picked up the rights in its current state (a failed nonprofit-able franchise), plan to improve not only the quality of its toy lines and Live-Action show but its brand name. Hasbro is a major heavy hitter at turning children's properties into highly recommended and successful licenses. Hasbro Transformers is a highly successful (profitable) animated show, animated movie(s), toy line(s), and the most amazing of all…. Film franchise with multiple films launching them into the BILLION’S at the Box Office club.
With the current state of power rangers, Hasbro has to treat the franchise as an Emerging Franchise and not a successful Franchise because it's not up to their standard of success. While that may sound like a negative ….… I see it has a silver-lining. Hasbro now can take the Power Ranger and turn them into a respectable, successful franchise that I know it can be. The CEO and President of Hasbro Brands stated that he sees the potential for the property and plans to use it to its fullest extent. These words are of hope to fans of this franchise and I know one day Power Rangers will be as big as Marvel’s Avengers, DC’s ever changing worlds or Hasbro’s own Transformers. In February 2019 the 1st Project coming from Power Rangers under the Hasbro umbrella will be Power Rangers Beast Morphers. Hope for a better season and overall quality show is right around the corner.
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