Is it a clearance sale of sorts? I feel it's really come to that. At first, I was excited to see what Hasbro could do with Power Rangers. However, it seems that neither Power Rangers Beast Morphers or Power Rangers Dino Fury could budge a thing. All they've been doing was, "Well, it's bring back Mighty Morphin'!" like Saban did in his second re-run. It's a shame really when companies that I grew up with become douche-y. One may have grown up with Adobe software but found out, "Oh! I have to pay this much to use Adobe software per month?" I have the feeling with Disney, Marvel (now owned by Disney), I even feel the same may be happening to Warner Bros., Capcom, and maybe even Bandai-Namco. Hasbro too? This might be a controversial move one way or another.
Cast members do have the right to feel bad. This was what could be found last month:
But the auction’s also reminded fans how Power Rangers hasn’t always been treated the best by its various owners over the years. Eventually, there’s a point where they just didn’t seem to fully get (or want) what they initially acquired, so they pass it off to someone else to make a quick buck. In this day and age, anything and its history can just go away so abruptly and unfairly, the idea of a “right way” to go out almost doesn’t exist anymore. Even so, short of just burning everything in a day-long livestream, this is a callous way to close the book on that original Rangers era.
All of this is further exacerbated by several old Power Rangers actors sharing their thoughts on the auction and revealing they never got the chance to take their old suits or props home before all this. (Or in the case of the Power Rangers RPM cast, they were explicitly told to return items once their show wrapped production.) Hunter Deno, who played Amelia in Cosmic Fury and its predecessor Dino Fury, lamented how her shows’ suits are being sold “so they can make a pretty penny” instead of giving it to the actors or stunt workers. (And if not them, auction them off for charity, at the very least.)
“[Hasbro’s] so hard up for cash that they’d rather sell off their props and costumes rather than gift them to their respective actors who would cherish the fuck out of them,” wrote Yoshi Sudarso, who played Dino Charge’s Kota. In a recent video, he recalled how he and co-star Brennan Mejia were “devastated” to learn they wouldn’t be able to keep the suits, and echoed Deno’s sentiment that Hasbro could’ve gifted individual suits to their respective actors.
That reminds me of relying so much on PAST SUCCESSES. Power Rangers became a hit because it was still SHINY AND NEW. It was something that was so brand new to the American market. Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger didn't enjoy the same hype as Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers. One's a 16th entry and the other was shiny and new. Mighty Morphin' had so much new stuff to offer for the American market. However, a lot of stuff does rust away. It may be cool to own a Super NES back in the 1990s but would you still want one now? Super Mario World was so cool back then but years later -- not so many may care about that one anymore! It's not the 1990s anymore!
What's the whole rationale of Hasbro anyway? I can't be certain but am I disliking Power Rangers because it simply existed or because of what went on in its history? I've also had disliked some Super Sentai entries. It's known that I've ripped off Shuriken Sentai Ninninger without mercy. I dare say it's only SLIGHTLY BETTER than the even worse Power Rangers Ninja Steel. Doubotsu Sentai Zyuohger was almost beautifully pointless but not in the levels of Power Rangers Megaforce. Kikou Kantai Zenkaiger got boring after some time. I feel like that it's almost a GARAGE SALE. But if it's just to make up for losses --I wonder is USD 3.3 million enough to cover it it up or what?
You don’t have to be a diehard Mighty Morphin Power Rangers fan to feel a pang of sadness about a recent auction that saw Hasbro sell off a trove of costumes, props, and other memorabilia from the franchise’s three decades of history. As io9 covered when the auction was announced, it was seen as controversial by fans and past cast members alike, who viewed it as just the latest sign that the franchise and its legacy aren’t being properly respected.
iAs detractors pointed out, instead of preserving Power Rangers history, gifting certain cherished items to people who were involved in making the series, or even making the sale a charitable endeavor, this was a regular old for-profit auction. Billed by Heritage Auctions and Hasbro as “the largest and most comprehensive collection of Power Rangers memorabilia ever offered for sale,” with items culled from “classic Power Rangers Mighty Morphin to the most recent season, Power Rangers Cosmic Fury, which premiered last year,” the event garnered over $3 million. According to a press release that mentioned multiple bidding wars, deep-pocketed participants went to the mat to claim the rarest items.
I feel it's disrespectful in this way. The US-based costumes were made by Saban Entertainment and Disney. Hasbro only had Power Rangers in 2018 (rights) before it created Beast Morphers. The latest it had was the mini-series Power Rangers Cosmic Fury. Even more, this can really be said:
The future of Power Rangers is, at this moment, uncertain; it’s unclear if the franchise will continue in its current form, or if Hasbro will pursue a reboot or revival separate from the Japanese Super Sentai franchise that first facilitated its existence. Whatever happens next, it will require creating an entirely new array of costumes and props to replace what’s now been sold off.
One must think of what Hasbro did. They could've focused on getting out of the Mighty Morphin' hype given the time and date. 2019 is not 1993! Nickelodeon's summer break scheduling is THAT STUPID. What's the point with the summer break when Power Rangers was supposed to be a yearly thing? Power Rangers Samurai started the bad trend and it still went back to Mighty Morphin' hype. Hasbro could've decided to simply start things fresh. The bad scheduling by Nickelodeon can be blamed too. I don't see a point if I had to WAIT AN ENTIRE SUMMER for the second half of Power Rangers. I never had to do that in the past. That change was JUST PLAIN DUMB.
That's why I already wrote if Power Rangers will die anytime soon. That was in 2017 when that movie came. I watched it on Netflix and it was really not worth my time. The 2017 movie was still based on the VERY FIRST SERIES. Now, the latest video game is still based on Mighty Morphin' again. It's been back to Mighty Morphin' all the time. When a business or franchise refuses to focus on the present -- it's definitely not a good thing!
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