#saban brands

[rickchung]

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Once & Always (dir. Charlie Haskell).

Netflix’s hour-long reunion special of the well-aged children’s superhero show celebrates its own cheesy sense of schlock thirty years after its inception. It’s not much more than a fun but silly extended episode with better special effects and production value than the original.

#mmpr #power rangers #reviews #tv review #netflix #mighty morphin power rangers #saban #saban entertainment #once and always #once & always #tv #saban brands #hasbro #streaming #tv series #tv show #show #series #tv special #tv reunion #television #david yost #catherine sutherland #johnny yong bosch #steve cardenas #karan ashley #charlie haskell #haim saban #walter jones #charlie kersh

[infinitysgrace]

Ranger enemies in a nutshell:

MMPR: alien magic

Zeo: alien robots

Turbo: Alien magic but annoying

In Space: Aliens

Lost Galaxy: colonization aliens

Lightspeed Rescue: demons

Timeforce: systemically oppressed people from the future...

wild force: pollution demons

ninja storm: nepotism fail

dino thunder: a rich man who had too much free time

SPD: SPD

mystic force: the dark side of the force

operation overdrive: heat miser and snow miser

jungle fury: spirit demons

RPM: the fucking terminator

Samurai: demons

Megaforce: Saban Brands.

Dino Charge: alien slaves

Ninja Steel: professional wrestling in space

Beast Morphers: the fucking terminator again

dino fury: some dude made plans and god said no

#power rangers #ranger villains #cleaning out drafts

[biomic]

this episode must've been produced while saban was waiting on toei to film additional zyuranger scenes for them because they used this exact same daizyujin mech fight in green with evil. you may have been able to fool small children in 1994 into thinking this was brand new but i am an adult in 2024 and i figured out your little trick. do better.

#kendrix morgan died for our sins #power rangers for ts #mmpr rewatch

[tvmigraine]

Disney (Almost) Made an Anniversary Kamen Rider

You remember during the 2000s where Disney owned Power Rangers? It wasn't a bad era in terms of what was put out, but maybe I'm bias because I grew up with it. Running from Ninja Storm to RPM, Disney had a troubling run with the show - the quality was good for a kid's show, but Disney did not like making it. It's not a secret that they were trying to bury Power Rangers, the show only continuing after RPM because it was bought back by Saban. It doesn't feel like a coincidence they sold back Power Rangers less than a year after buying Marvel Entertainment.

And ever since, Disney has had no interest in Tokusatsu as a genre. You could argue the closest they ever came was Mech-X4, a Disney XD show about a kid controlling a giant robot to save his town.

Then rolls around the 100th anniversary. Tokusatsu is still as popular as ever in Japan and, while Super Sentai isn't as popular as it used to be, Kamen Rider has been going strong ever since it's revival in the Heisei Era.

If Disney wanna make money in Tokusatsu, it makes sense to put it in Kamen Rider.

This is the Imagination Belt. It was released last month and, honestly, I'm glad I got back into Kamen Rider in time to see the strangest anniversary celebration yet. It was produced by Bandai and I won't pretend this is officially a Kamen Rider product - it's made by the same company, but that's not enough to call it that.

But it sure takes a lot of the beats!

As a person who has previously rambled about a non-existent canon surrounding a Sonic Screwdriver toy, I really appreciate that this gives me more to talk about inherently. Kamen Rider historically has been getting more and more Riders with every era of the show and this toy is no different - ten different Disney icons made into marketable... keys... how did they not do Sora-

Nevermind, I'm glad they didn't.

The designs aren't great, I won't pretend they are, if you're a fan of Kamen Rider. It's clear the character designs were leaning closer to Kingdom Hearts (or even Spectrobes, if you remember that), so it's hard to judge them in terms of your typical Tokusatsu outfit. That being said, the consistency of the goggles does imply something about this uniform - if it's as important as the belt to be included on everyone, that's notable.

There's also a notable detail with the Imagination Belt itself - the Keys. Half of them are Gold, half of them are Silver, inherently splitting the team of Riders (Imaginators? Imagineers? Disney Adults?) in half. It implies simply that the goals of all the Riders don't align, that perhaps they're in a battle.

The Character Selection is also brought to mind. I imagine it's based on multiple factors, like popularity in that area and inclusion of specific brands... but that doesn't stop them being weird. Including specific representatives for Marvel, Lucasfilms and Pixar absolutely make sense - the choice of Woody is textbook. Iron Man equally makes sense, but the design has him look (personally) more like Lightning McQueen, which may just be a flaw of similar colour schemes.

But Grogu? Ya coulda picked anyone from Star Wars and... I get that The Mandalorian is probably the best received in pop culture... but the implications that he's getting his powers from a space baby is quite funny.

NOTE: The specific split of teams is Gold Keys belong to Mickey, Minnie, Simba, Woody and Iron Man - Silver Keys belong to Snow White, Moana, Tiana, Elsa and Grogu.

They also have built in power-up modes, specifically "Full Max" which seems to grant a power boost based on related characters - Mickey's Full Max gets help from Donald, Goofy and Pluto, meanwhile Simba has Timon and Pumbaa for example. But in your typical Tokusatsu, if your power-up involves other iconography, that tends to involve beating monsters. Are the monsters for "Imagination Belt" other Disney characters? Were Donald and Goofy evil beasts that had to be defeated? Did Woody have to beat Buzz Lightyear and the other Toys-Turned-Monsters? Minnie's Full Max is her with a cat, did Minnie Mouse have to fight a CAT?!

But onto the Lore Implications...

There's easily enough here to build an insane fanfiction, as you're about to see, but this does continue a point that I really appreciate about toys - kids, collectibles, whatever you want. You can tell your own story and it's not even difficult. Everyone has inherent creativity and, given a small amount of time, you can make any story out of any objects.

Case in point...

"Imagination Belt", to me, feels like Ryuki or Geats - it is a Rider War (Disney Adult War) where these two factions of "heroes" are fighting. It's probably against each other, Gold vs Silver, but you can imagine there are other monsters in between as your usual plot hooks.

The "Riders" of this world likely have their powers from raw imagination - passion for something that manifests in the Keys, giving them power in return. If the imagination becomes twisted.

Based on appearances, the Iron Man and Grogu Riders probably are leading both teams, the conflict started by the both of them and spiraling from there. Mickey is the obvious protagonist, Grogu looks like he'd make a good rival to keep the protagonist moving forward.

And there may be only ten official keys but Disney is an all-consuming black hole of creativity. There could be a lot more and you know it.

#tokusatsu #disney #disney 100 #imagination belt #kamen rider #power rangers #Youtube

[kanohimineka]

The Murder of the Power Rangers: A Conspiracy

This post requires brief context of this one: https://www.tumblr.com/kanohimineka/729314732989874176/i-would-like-to-add-i-also-posted-this-to-my?source=share

I didn't want to reblog it, since this is more of its own thing, but whatever, read it anyways.

So, Cosmic Fury is now out, and it seems that our friend Simon has completely let loose. In a brief Twitter Space thingy, he took in questions from fans, where he would eventually answer them. Most of it was pretty innocuous, basic production stuff. However, there were a few moments of Hasbro heavily limiting what could be done with Cosmic Fury. The two biggest examples of this are the first two posts, with Hasbro being the ones to limit Cosmic Fury to a measly 10 episodes, despite Netflix being interested in more, the seeming circular production hell of Once and Always, and the fact that, for some reason, they only had 2 weeks to film the action footage. Of course, there is still some issues on the production's end, but they seem to have interest in continuing Power Rangers, that's just being stopped by Hasbro's Reboot plans, plans that have been in talks since 2019, Both Cosmic Fury and Dino Fury 2 being stopgaps. This fills into a continual issue that I briefly touched upon before. So, let's talk about the economics of the Power Rangers.

Power Rangers started as a massive success, a series designed on the cheap, basically only filming half a show's worth of generic sit com footage, licensing out some weird Japanese show, and ADRing your new actors over it is an extremely inexpensive production for the kind of action show it is, all things considered. Then, the series got massively popular, selling reprints of pre existing Japanese toys with some new branding, ensuring extreme profits for everyone involved, Toei, Bandai, and Saban. However, after some time, the series starts to slump in popularity, it happens to the best of us. However, Power Rangers, being, again, relatively inexpensive, and still having some cultural relevance, allowed it to stay in some form of existence for the past 30 years. It is a series that has been able to coast, staying financially viable, while still not being a gangbuster success. It persisted, giving a decent living to those around it, and allowing artists to create something fun.

It has been hot potatoed between multiple rights holders, who all eventually saw value in the way it was made. However, we jump to today. Now, Hasbro is cancelling that, as mentioned, moderate success to form a reboot of it, helmed by Jonathan Entwistle, a creator who seems like a decent fit, his two big breaks being focused on teens in small towns doing stuff, a decent fit for at least half of the Power Rangers Pipeline. It is yet to be seen how he will do in the more action heavy elements of Rangers, as again, most of his projects are smaller, but he at least seems interested, also working on some sort of Karate Kid reboot. However, it seems they want it to be bigger in scale. They want it to fit that Netflix Limited Series High Budget, Short Length structure, targeting a slightly more mature audience. However, a lot of this seems to come from one main desire. They want the Power Rangers that was there in the 90's

I don't just mean, "They Want MMPR!" though that is a symptom of this issue. What they really want is the size and growth that MMPR had back in the day. Therefore, they're going to pump their whole ass into this project, shifting it to be whatever would be seen as following the popular Hollywood trends. This, to me, is a secret side reason to hire Johnny E. He fits into that MCU Formula of hiring a relative unknown known for a few smaller, personal projects and getting them to make some big action blockbuster. And part of this is to reboot to MMPR. It is the recognizable iconography. It's the version of the Rangers my Grandma would know.

Now, it seems neat that Hasbro would want to invest into Rangers. However, they aren't really investing into what Rangers is. That has been going already, and it is only a moderate success. That's not enough. It needs to be a massive success. It needs to be the next big billion dollar hit. Which means, while they are risking the money, since they are a business, they will be trying to mitigate risk. Which, again, means they will be trying to make the safest choices possible. This means taking the old iconography, taking out the weird unique ideas and grafting on more conventional ideas. You know, making it like the MCU 5 years too late. This is an infinitely deep hole caused by the visualization of art as capital

Now, of course, most art, when made in capitalism, needs to be somewhat financially viable. This is more extreme in things like Power Rangers as they are toy vehicles, ways to sell other products, a practice heavily strengthened by the deregulation of children's television under the Reagan administration. A lot of what is going on with Rangers right now reads as the hyper extreme of this concept. At least before, Rangers was able to fit in that weird little corner of the toy shelf that had its own campy vibe, flowing with new ideas every year, staying viable through the Power Rangers brand. It is this perfect creative balance where new ideas can be forged while also staying to a single IP. Yes, Sentai footage limits this, but sticking to whatever weird ideas Toei makes forced the writers to push Power Rangers further. However, now, Hasbro is bucking away from the Sentai footage, not to be able to be more creative with the brand, but to be less creative. Bringing it to be the old Power Rangers, rather than anything new. That's why I am sceptical. And a lot of what has been discussed has only cemented that in my mind.

If anything, thanks to Simon Bennet for keeping with Rangers for so long, for making one last ride, even through Hasbro can suck. And thank you for liking my silly, pessimistic tweets. And godspeed to Johnny E, I hope you can make something good.

#power rangers #hasbro #Why did this become a takedown of late stage capitalism. #cosmic fury

[tiny012]

I’m glad Saban Moon pilot was found since it is a big piece of Sailor Moon Lore.

Major Major Props to Ray Mona aka Raven Simone who should be getting a Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting because she put in the work to find this which the fandom been looking for like 30 plus years ( Lets start campaigning that ok lol).  Please show her some love by watching both parts of  her doc along with the official Pilot. 

Saban Moon Pilot 

Part 1 

Part 2

Archive.Org

What that being said

What the world was that?? 

Lord That felt so early 90′s that you put She-Ra/ Facts of Life/ Power Rangers together and that’s what you got which I think was the aim. Which is funny since Saban did Power Rangers which is from Super Sentai and Naoko was influenced by Super Sentai.. 

Like did the girls have civilian names?  They only go by Jupiter, Venus, Mercury, and Mars.

Like Sailor Moon is the only girl with a civilian name which is Victoria? I think it’s been said years ago the girls did but I can’t remember.  

The diversity is a plus if you want to call it since it was still just one black girl in the group even if you also have a girl with an disability.

I do like the fact  they did keep the fact they would princesses tho. Even tho that wasn’t mentioned no where near the anime and was only mentioned in the manga...... mmm

So no destruction of the Moon Kingdom and SliMli.  Way to take out one of the major plot points as the reason why we have Sailor Moon.. 

Beryl looks like a Disney Villain which was probably the aim with really no clear m.o.

Oh yeah they use two of the OG Youma Designs from the Anime from the seven great Youma Arc ( aka Rainbow Crystal Arc) 

well well 

Darien .....

Yall

When I though the 90′s anime and even DiC couldn’t gut his damn character anymore. 

Then it’s Saban Moon 

HE’S JUST FUCKING THERE!!

THERE!

USELESS AS FUCK!

HE JUST GETS BLOWN UP BY BERYL ON THE SHIP HE’S IN THAT HE BARELY KNEW WHAT THE FUCK TO DO!

LIKE THE PART THAT HE’S MASK HE JUST THROW THE ROSE AND SAYS SHIT!

NOTHING

SHE JUST USE  ALL OF SUDDEN USE  ATTACK. 

LIKE THE PREP TALK WAS THE BEST THING TO SEE WHAT HE WAS GOING TO SAY!

And what really trips be out that it’s no signs that they lost their memory and they totally know who they are so how the hell she couldn’t put two and two together and maybe think” well Darien gave me rose before he died so maybe he’s not dead and that’ him’ and instead of being like “ I don’t know who that  is” . It’s not like the OG version where they was reincarnated and lost all their memories so it makes sense way they don’t know anything. 

 I know it’s ten min music video I mean pilot  but some shit aint adding up. 

You are taking shit from the OG but you are not thinking it through and it not making any sense. 

It’s a clusterfuck mess. 

So I’m kind of thankful they scrapped that and just when the dub route even if the dub is it own brand of mess. 

I can’t believe I’m saying this but 

Thank God for the DiC Dub

We could have it worst... 

But we always have to say this tho. 

Thank God for PGSM. 

Because with PGSM we do get a Live Action Version of Sailor Moon. 

#tanya rants about SM #saban moon #sailor moon

[daijindraws]

Dino Charged Owl girls

Who says The Owl House girls can't be Dino Charged Have some pictures of Camila Noceda and Willow Park in Kyoryuger/Dino Charge/Dino Force Brave drip.

Camila Noceda, Willow Park, The Owl House ©️ Disney and Dana Terrace

Power Rangers ©️ Haim Saban and Hasbro

Power Rangers Dino Charge ©️ Saban Brands

Zyuden Sentai Kyoryuger, Zyuden Sentai Kyoryuger Brave, Ohsama Sentai King-Ohger ©️ Toei and Bandai

Power Rangers Dino Force Brave ©️ Daewon Media

#black art #black artist #black artists on tumblr #power rangers #tokusatsu #the owl house #camila noceda #willow park

[thesparkwhowalks]

OK, I wrote a whole-ass blog post about this for work last year (to celebrate Power Rangers' 30th anniversary) but that's tied to my real name and employer so here's the anonymyized, me-centric version: I am very much the person that I am today thanks to this woman:

That is Margaret Loesch. Buckle up, this one's a long-ass history lesson.

To start, we have to go all the way back to 1978. Japanese film studio Toei partnered with Marvel to create Spiderman, an adaptation of Marvel's de-facto mascot. To say it departed from the source material is an understatement: hip young motorcyclist Takuya Yamashiro gains spider powers and a giant, kaiju fighting robot from a dying alien and protects Japan from the invading Professor Monster and his Iron Cross Army.

It came out the same year as an American live action Spider-Man TV show. The Japanese one was a hit, the American one flopped. Moreover, Stan fucking Lee, co-creator of Spider-Man, preferred the Japanese one. So the Marvel/Toei partnership continued. They co-produced three seasons of Toei's Sentai series, renamed Super Sentai thanks to the addition of giant robots. And Stan Lee liked that too, and pitched an American adaptation to TV networks. Well, he and his second in command at Marvel Productions: Margaret Loesch.

There were no takers. It just wasn't what the Saturday Morning TV market was looking for. So Stan and Margaret started working on their next big pitch: an X-Men cartoon! The team had gone from an also-ran to Marvel Comics' top seller in the previous decade, so it made sense to them to bring it to TV screens alongside the likes of Spider-Man and The Hulk.

A few abortive attempts, including a couple of backdoor pilots on Spider-Man & His Amazing Friends, were made. The most famous was the "Pryde of the X-Men" TV special (executive producer: Margaret Loesch) that the company self-produced and aired sometimes with their syndicated Marvel Action Universe block.

Still, no takers. It would prove to be Loesch's last big project with Marvel, as she was offered a new job as the head of the brand-new Fox Kids network.

One of her first acts in office was commissioning the creation of an X-Men animated series. Not only did she genuinely see the potential in what she'd spent so many years developing, Marvel's nascent partnership with Toy Biz meant the X-Men were already a hit on toy store shelves.

The show was a hit (hence the revival starting next week) and the network's programming kept expanding. Haim Saban, whose company had been hired to produce XTAS, pitched her an idea he'd been working on since the mid-80s: an American adaptation of Toei's Super Sentai TV series.

Needless to say, Loesch saw the value in that too and took a chance on the idea. The result was Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers, which was in nearly constant production for thirty full years.

Batman: Animated Series, Spider-Man: The Animated Series, and The Tick all debuted during her tenure at Fox Kids. I don't know that I've ever seen it articulated this way, but the woman clearly believed that superheroes could be profitable again (the Smurfs/Snorks style kinda ruled the roost in children's programming at the end of the 80s) if they were done properly. And she was right.

My love of Batman, The X-Men, and the Power Rangers are the result of this woman's choices in shaping my childhood. Though she's not going to get any official credit, it's pretty appropriate that X-Men '97 is set to debut in Women's History Month because the original show was the leading edge of a wave of boy's action television that defined the childhoods of millions of millennials and it was put on the air by a woman.

#power rangers #super sentai #spider-man #x-men #fox kids #margaret loesch #90s #90s cartoons #mighty morphin power rangers #pop culture #pop culture history #90s trash checking in

[keyofjetwolf]

How do I even begin to capture Saban Darien’s delivery of this line? It has all the compelling leadership of a soggy fish and chips newspaper, with the timber and passion of a three year old on Ritalin. “We must stop them!” he exclaims, embodying the fervor of one adding a tin of store brand mixed vegetables to their grocery list.

#jet wolf watches saban moon #barrel + darion = otp

[xskyll]

I finally watched the Saban Moon pilot and can I just say, despite being only ten minutes long and probably a third of that length being the theme song, the fact that they still managed to squeeze in a fat joke is so on-brand for Sailor Moon.

#it was directed at a monster though instead of sailor moon #so i guess that's an improvement? #idk #it made me laugh #anyone remember that song? #I Wanna Be a Star #belting out #I just gotta work on my weeiiight!!! #gotta love that good ole 90s hate your body campaign #i'm still feeling the impact #sailor moon #saban moon

[keychainsblog]

Welcome back to what’s up world, exciting news: It's morphin' time: Original Power Rangers stars reunite for 30th anniversary Netflix special. Original Blue Ranger David Yost and original Black Ranger Walter E. Jones are joined by other Mighty Morphin cast. Plus insights into the upcoming, history-making Cosmic Fury season. Once a Ranger, always a Ranger. Three decades after becoming an afternoon phenomenon, members of the original Mighty Morphin Power Rangers cast are reuniting for a scripted Netflix special celebrating the enduring legacy of Haim Saban's creation. Power Rangers is an entertainment and merchandising franchise built around a live-action superhero television series, based on the Japanese tokusatsu franchise Super Sentai. Produced first by Saban Entertainment, second by BVS Entertainment, later by Saban Brands, and today by SCG Power Rangers LLC and its parent company, Hasbro, the Power Rangers television series takes much of its footage from the Super Sentai television series, produced by Toei Company. The first Power Rangers entry, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, debuted on August 28, 1993

#keepit100 #superstars #superhero #power rangers #power rangers 30th anniversary #yes sir #hasbro #tv shows

[moonlightreal]

Saban Moon

Saban Moon needed a princess dress, and I made up some lore for my Minimoon, so might as well share it!  People make their own Winx continuities; I can make my own Saban Moon continuity if I want!

I liked the moon phase theme Mama Serenity had so kept that for Sailor Moon and Minimoon’s dresses.  Lore below:

In this story we travel in space instead of in time, so Minimoon is Sailor Moon’s sister instead of her daughter and she missed all the Saban Moon season one action since she was off with their dad, Solarion, who explores the far reaches of the universe searching for the planetary convergences that predict the future or mean a new Gem of Power is about to form.  He and Queen Serenity have a tragic long distance marriage; they each have important jobs in protecting the inhabited planets so they can’t live together until the evil Queen Beryl is defeated once and for all.

I went back and forth on Minimoon’s name-- of course we’re sticking with “Minimoon” because it sounds silly so that’s perfect, but should we choose a personal name that can be shortened to Rini, or continue the Famous British Monarchs theme that Vickie started?  Finally picked Famous Monarchs so my Minimoon is named Beth.  It fits with the other saban senshi having the most generic boring names XD  I think I’ll just rename some of them honestly, Dana works for Mars but Carrie and Sara are just too dull.  Let’s just make ‘em Makayla and Wilhelmina.

Beth shows up at the boarding school at the beginning of Saban Moon season 2, having passed the school entrance exams even though she’s only 12 years old because she is a genius!  And big sister Vickie is not a genius and did not know her sister was even back from exploring the depths of the universe much less coming to Earth with her brand new Gem of Power that she doesn’t know how to use and that is still growing to its full power.  And they will need all the ower they can get to defeat... uh, whatever version of the Black Moon is in the imaginary season of the imaginary cartoon.

#saban moon

[switch]

the one good news is it looks like several archivists are pissed off about this move and since we know now that it's located at the library of congress there's a pretty decent chance someone is going to eat the couple hundred dollars + paperwork it would take to order another copy and upload a clean copy themselves out of sheer spite. of course they won't get any internet points for doing that or make back the money off of youtube ad revenue which sucks.

anyway, obviously, i know i reblogged the video but i do not endorse giving the saban moon pilot any further attention unless this is rectified, i’m... sure they're a perfectly nice individual but it's only gonna encourage more media being handled like this. as i'd said in the post i originally deleted, if it had even just been a timed release where the version sans watermark would eventually be published to take advantage of the initial hype, that would be fine, but it's now become clear there are no intentions to release it without branding.

#nothing personal but this is a huge mistake with concerning ramifications for other media #switch speaks

[rickyvalero]

The Aviary stars Melin Akerman and Lorenza Izzo Interview

The Aviary stars Melin Akerman and Lorenza Izzo Interview

A brand new cult-thriller from Saban Films, The Aviary, will hit select theaters and Digital/VOD on April 29th. I had the opportunity to sit down and chat with Malin Akerman and Lorenza Izzo about their roles in the film. The Aviary follows Jillian (Akerman) and Blair (Izzo), who escapes an isolated desert camp run by cult leader Seth (Chris Messina). The two are on the run not just from Seth…

View On WordPress

#Actress Interview #Billions #Chris Cullari #chris messina #Interviews #Jennifer Raite #Lorenza Izzo #Malin Akerman #Movie #Music City drive in #Music City Film Critic #Saban Films #The Aviary #The Aviary Movie #The Valero Verdict

[thek0ifish]

Ever since Paramount acquired Power Rangers. There is some indication they reused costumes for the Hirogen armor from Star Trek Voyager to help Saban Brands Entertainment make the original generation Dino Charge Power Rangers costume for its villain Sledge.

https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/memoryalpha/images/3/39/Idrin.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20161022184255&path-prefix=en

https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/memoryalpha/images/6/6f/Beta_Hirogen%2C_2377.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20080822225904&path-prefix=en

https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/powerrangers/images/2/23/PRDC-Sledge.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20200825124614

THAT'S SO FUCKING RADDD

#{ yeah reel that in! }

[kanohimineka]

The Death of the Power Rangers: A Eulogy

I know it seems it may be early, or late, but I feel I need to eulogize Power Rangers for a second. Yes, I know it's not done yet. Cosmic Fury comes out in about a week, and Hasbro is planning a reboot... eventually. However, this feels like the end of an era.

I don't just mean this pre-reboot Hasbro era. As far as I'm aware, we are leading up to a 2024 where there will be essentially no Power Rangers efforts, toy or filmic, for the first time since the series started. Of course, we've come close. After RPM, Disney planned to kill the brand outright, but they still output a bizarre reissue of the original series with comic panels in 2010 before Saban rebought the brand and quickly produced Samurai for a 2011 release. Power Rangers has always seemed to find a way out of cancellation. From In Space to Wild Force to RPM, Power Rangers has, somehow, always found a way. But now, in the year's 30th anniversary, the main series's luck has finally run out. Even still, it is trying to push it's luck. Cosmic Fury seemingly only exists because of delays within the reboot.

That's probably why the Cosmic Fury suits look a bit bad. They were on a production crunch only rivaled (and probably beat) by Samurai season 1. But still, this essentially marks the death of what we've known as the Power Rangers. When it does continue, it will probably end up with a completely different feel. Yes, there will be no Sentai footage, but it will also seemingly be missing the overly earnest yet endlessly charming Tokusatsu charm in exchange for Marvel inspired cynical quipiness. This sucks even more in a year where One Piece proved that Tokusatsu stylings can work in a high budget prestige series and both work for audiences and critics alike. I would hope for better, but comments about the corporate reactions for the franchise gives me my doubts. As always, the people at the top of these companies are often the dumbest and least qualified people to make art. Support the Strikes. (Not to be overly antagonistic to Simon Bennet, we attack him to much. It's mostly the corpos up top.)

Anyways, this corporate idiocy has led to the death of a franchise that ultimately helped me through some of the darkest moments in my life. I won't get too much into it, but finding Power Rangers in my childhood was one of the few lights in my youth, alongside Bionicle and Pokemon, and it was still there through most of it. I watched SPD first, and it hooked me. I learned about the universe through reruns of Dino Thunder. After missing RPM through bad marketing, I refound it in Samurai and, while that show isn't greatest, it led me to be introduced to some of my favorite Sentai suits, the Samurai suits, and later, the Gokaiger suits. I found Sentai, and the grander world of Tokusatsu productions, around Dino Charge, finding Youtube videos on the subject. It helped that the universe was still connected. Each show is individualized, which allows me to appreciate each one on their own, but the few connections did help me to feel connected to my childhood. But now, it'll be gone soon. I haven't been the closest to it in a bit, mostly looking at Ultraman, Kamen Rider, and the original Sentai for my fix, but I did still appreciate it.

A bunch of this in my adult life came through the Lightning Collection. It gave me figures of some of my favorite series, especially since it started when I first started seriously collecting action figures. However, alongside the main series hiatus, this series seems like it will go on hiatus alongside it. This is mostly through rumors, though credible ones at that. As of right now, we have only heard about a few unannounced products, and Hasbro isn't particularly good at hiding listing leaks. The Lightning Collection feels like the perfect line to have going during a hiatus like this. It is a collector focused line not trying to tie into any current content, looking back on the past of the series in a fun, relatively inexpensive way. And Hasbro keeps lines like this up without fitting content, they make GI Joe stuff after Snake Eyes flopped, and those figures have been strongly received. However, I guess a part of this has come from fan displeasure with the line. Yes, there were some general Hasbro issues before, but the move to Vietnamese factories have hit PR hard. Yes, other lines have had complaints, but none have been on the level of Power Rangers in terms of QC issues. It is absurd, I've had to mostly drop out of the line because of it. But it is still sad to see.

This leads to yesterday. Hasbro has this super paltry segment in their Pulsecon show, on the level of series that don't have current Action Figure lines, only 20 minutes, as opposed to Transformer's 45. In which, they only talk on the show coming out in a week and 2 toys that went up for order that day. I decided to pick up the Omegas, with which I'll be mostly checking out, symbolically. I do still need to finish SPD and Dino Thunder, but for me, this feels like a nice symbolic ending. It fits for what Hasbro wants to do further in the show. A set of weird, Western exclusive suits that play on weird MMPR nostalgia. I prefer these over any of Hasbro's live action efforts so far, in terms of original suit designs, but still. It symbolically shows, to me at least, the end of the Power Rangers. The end of something important to me. It's bitter, it's a bit stupid, but it's happening anyways. Maybe the new stuff will be good, who knows. But given Hasbro's attitude towards the brand, it won't be the same. Therefore, I need to bow out in this 30th anniversary. Symbolically at least.

#power rangers #cosmic fury #lightning collection #I am really tired #Isn't it funny how everything I grew up with dies... except for Pokemon I guess