It's really no secret that Ninja Steel is hitting a new level of low. Some used to enjoy both Super Sentai and Power Rangers but may end up changing their minds soon enough. So what's going on with Power Rangers and why is it dying? It has something to do with really bad decisions behind the show which help back up why I don't like Power Rangers, why the franchise may die anytime soon, and there may the possibility that Ninja Steel may be worst for last. It's no secret that Judd Lynn is now officially burnt out. There are times that he actually did something right like Lost Galaxy is a fan favorite during its time, Power Rangers in Space saved the franchise from cancellation, I don't even see the need to compare Lightspeed Rescue and GoGoFive due to them being "too different" and Time Force is a fan favorite. But the problem hits that most of the series is plagued with bad writing or unmet potential.
I thought about how Power Rangers is dubbed in Japan. Power Rangers SPD was dubbed by the Dekaranger cast. But is it just because of culture exchange? No, don't even buy the lie that SPD is more popular in Japan or worse Samurai is more popular than Shinkenger. That's just a result of the Power Rangers snob rumor mill. Back on topic... the question is did the dubs even become such a sensation or were they show for cultural exchange? I can't really say why it happens but one thing is certain the rumor mill is just a rumor mill.
There's also some unmet potential with Power Rangers. The episode format of 32-40 episodes is TOO SHORT. It's trying to condense a year long series into less than a year. I even thought about how Lightspeed Rescue, Time Force and Power Rangers RPM needed more space to develop the characters. A good example is how Power Rangers RPM's development was so rushed compared to how Tokumei Sentai Go-Busters carried itself out. Go-Busters really knew how to spread development while RPM ended up in a bad rush. Talk about a lot of potential that got killed.
If there are two writers that could be blamed also - it would be Jonathan Tzachor (for Saban's two eras) and Bruce Kalish. Kalish was responsible for the disaster that's Operation Overdrive and Tzachor was responsible for the disaster that's Megaforce. Both of them really ruined the anniversaries one way or another.
Lesser quality merchandise from Bandai America that's almost comparable to unlicensed toys
If there's any reason why Power Rangers rightfully gets bashed these days it's all about the toys. Bandai America is really not doing its job compared to Bandai Japan. Here's something interesting from TokuNation:
As the Legacy line of Megazords and roleplay items continued to sell well, Bandai America decided to adventure in to the realm of 6.5″ figures with a “build a figure” gimmick to compete with heavy hitter Marvel Legends. Premium paint applications and articulation were promised in exchange for a $19.99 price tag (or, as fans have discovered, now $21.99 in most places). Sadly, the figure line has been riddled with quality control issues since its second wave and shows no sign of improvement.
Yup, that's why it ends up getting called "bootleg" in terms of quality. Please note that the term bootleg is no longer limited to illegal products but also to inferior products that are licensed. Worse, the same article also writes this truth:
At San Diego Comic Con, and even New York Comic Con, merchandise was second to the INTERACTIVE EXPERIENCE! Morph in to your favorite Mighty Morphin Power Ranger! And it was popular and it was pretty awesome. But that should have been at a Saban Brands booth and not the Bandai America booth. We were incredibly late at New York Comic Con getting photos of the booth up because the line for the interactive experience blocked the display cases.
You also felt a sense of abandonment. A majority of the booth workers were local hires just to man the booth while the actual representatives of Bandai America hid away. I understand at New York Comic Con it was slightly better at interaction but still a far cry from the days of Bandai America reps standing in front of their booth proud and ready to talk to fans.
But from what I’m hearing – Bandai America is in an increased sense of cost cutting and an expectation that older fans will buy whatever they put out. Why else at New York Comic Con 2017 would fans be told that they had to buy the older female figures peg-warming if they wanted to get the new figures that come out next?
For a year the Legacy 6.5″ Zeo Gold Ranger looked gorgeous at every show. Fans saw it and literally salivated at finally getting a highly articulated figure of someone not named Tommy. It simply looked gorgeous. And then, yesterday, we saw the final result in package.
Bandai America chose NOT to paint the Zeo Gold Ranger gold. They didn’t even bother to cast it in a “gold” plastic, opting for the “cheese orange” color that is cheaper to produce (and sadly shows stress marks like a mother f’er). And because that color is seen throughout the wave (especially on the Zeo Rangers Build a Figure Megazord) it means it’s not a “factory error” but an intentional switch which comes across as nothing but “cost cutting”, or saving money (or coming in at budget goal, blah blah blah whatever).
The issue I have with this is that we have been told, constantly, hammered through our heads, that we have to SUPPORT THE LINE OR IT WILL END. Whether it’s Bandai themselves or their bonafide spokesperson MMPRToys, we are constantly told that we have to SUPPORT THE LINE OR IT WILL END, and BUYING AT MARKDOWNS IS NOT SUPPORTING THE LINE, and so forth. But here’s my response to that:
It’s not my job to buy your product at full price. It’s your job to make me want to pay full price for it. It’s your job to make me want to buy it IN THE FIRST PLACE. And when you whisper in our ears every opportunity that you get that this is a line “for collectors” and then choose to cost-cut the COLOR of arguably the third or fourth most popular Power Ranger in the entire franchise? Inexcusable.
It's good to cut costs as much as possible but not to the point of running with the Krusty Krab mindset. Sometimes, you need to spend more for Research and Development so you could innovate your business. Innovation won't work unless you have proper R & D which could be the problem of Bandai America. You want more money? You need to improve quality then or face the possibility customers will no longer buy your product. Sometimes by seeking to cut costs unrealistically is when a businessman can lose a lot of opportunities.
Really bad casting decisions for most of the time
The problem is that good acting is really rare in Power Rangers. If anything, bad acting could be blamed at why the Power Rangers seasons are mocked so severely. I even think the reason why Boukenger gets so much credit is because Operation Overdrive has both bad acting and bad writing. Maybe Shinkenger gets too much praise now because of how horrible Samurai is. You could even think of Gaoranger is more well-received than Wild Force in their individual cultural demographics. Wild Force nearly caused the whole franchise to end due to a lot of issues.
Some Power Rangers actors really did a good job with their part. No, I'm not talking about overpowered Tommy Oliver but I'm talking about those who deserve their praise. We had Amy Jo Johnson who had experience in theater before TV, Mike Chaturantabut who is a Muay Thai expert, Sean CW Johnson plays a badass red ranger, Jason Faunt isn't the best but he gets the job done, Erin Cahill who I think has done a better job than Mika Katsumura in the acting department and Daniel Southworth who played Eric Myers in Time Force. These are but rare instances.
Some Power Rangers actors really did a good job with their part. No, I'm not talking about overpowered Tommy Oliver but I'm talking about those who deserve their praise. We had Amy Jo Johnson who had experience in theater before TV, Mike Chaturantabut who is a Muay Thai expert, Sean CW Johnson plays a badass red ranger, Jason Faunt isn't the best but he gets the job done, Erin Cahill who I think has done a better job than Mika Katsumura in the acting department and Daniel Southworth who played Eric Myers in Time Force. These are but rare instances.
Worse, the chance to improve is usually denied. One of the worst examples would be Megaforce. The show ended up stagnating everyone instead of giving them the chance to improve. It should be a very bad thing to do to your cast members. Some performers even feel like it's holding them behind. Amy Jo who's a good actress did well in her decision to leave the set. I guess it'd be better for anybody not to get part with Power Rangers considering how messy the people behind it are.
Relying too much on past successes than trying to succeed in the present
This would be the worst thing that could be dragging Power Rangers down since then. No one should rely on past successes. Just because Power Rangers became a monster hit last 1993 doesn't mean it would be a hit this 2017. Mighty Morphin' became a hit only because it was something new and unusual. It didn't have much of a budget but it worked itself out. Toei Ltd. made it to the American market thanks to Haim Saban and Fox Kids' Margaret Loesch. But now all of that is but a crumbling monument because of too much reliance on past successes.
The business scenario is now different and it changes a lot. I thought about the article on Loesch and how she helped Toei gain a foothold in the American market. Saban tried to market Super Sentai as it is and the networks didn't like it. They had to think of ways to localize Super Sentai for the American audience. It worked and it became a huge hit. But now Saban might as well kiss his success goodbye due to his incompetence. People at Toei end up collecting the royalties whether Saban gains a profit or not.
It made me think of the huge difference between Super Sentai and Power Rangers in terms of innovative thinking from 2011 to 2017. Super Sentai doesn't get better all the time but it tries to do something to achieve that goal. After Gokaiger the whole franchise still has the question, "How will be remain afloat after Gokaiger?" They tried a lot of new stuff and while there were some problems they were trying. They weren't relying too much on past successes.
The business scenario is now different and it changes a lot. I thought about the article on Loesch and how she helped Toei gain a foothold in the American market. Saban tried to market Super Sentai as it is and the networks didn't like it. They had to think of ways to localize Super Sentai for the American audience. It worked and it became a huge hit. But now Saban might as well kiss his success goodbye due to his incompetence. People at Toei end up collecting the royalties whether Saban gains a profit or not.
It made me think of the huge difference between Super Sentai and Power Rangers in terms of innovative thinking from 2011 to 2017. Super Sentai doesn't get better all the time but it tries to do something to achieve that goal. After Gokaiger the whole franchise still has the question, "How will be remain afloat after Gokaiger?" They tried a lot of new stuff and while there were some problems they were trying. They weren't relying too much on past successes.
On the other hand, Power Rangers is still trying to ride on the Mighty Morphin' formula as if it's still the 90s. People are already getting bored of hearing the Mighty Morphin' theme rehashed and rehashed. Couldn't they think of better song formats already? It's already 2017 and there should be new songs. But instead, they just want to play too much on nostalgia. It's like still relying on the obsolete fax machine when there's email, it's like trying to do bottle mail when there's airmail or demanding your students to make a report on a typewriter when that machine is already super obsolete.
Also, I even think the Power Rangers movie was even a big mistake. Not even the presence of legends like Takumi Kizu, Yuuta Mochizuki, and the wrestler Antonio Inoki helped it. It was a flop in Japan. The American release didn't get its target profit. In fact, it's better to even abandon the project altogether than to lose more money. That film wasn't even worth my time and why I even borrowed it from someone made me lose more of my sanity.
Truth is what succeeded in the past doesn't mean it'll always succeed. You can think of how DVDs replaced VCDs and Betamax. The DVD technology has faster loading speed, clearer quality and higher storage for the medium so why would VCDs and Betamax still be sold? You can think of how typewriters once were the hit until personal computers made reports faster with fewer errors. The problem is... are the people behind Power Rangers still riding on their past success?
Spoken like the typical sentai fanboy.
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