Hasbro Reportedly “Never Wanted ‘Power Rangers'”, Brand’s Purchase “Done Without Consulting R&D”
In an offering an apparent reason for the Super Sentai adaptation’s continued decline under their current ownership, a new report has revealed that Hasbro apparently “never wanted” anything to do with the Power Rangers brand.
This insight was first brought to public attention on June 11th courtesy of Josh Perry, the host of tokusatsu-centric YouTube news channel Toku Topics (who fans may recognize as the individual who previously leaked Hasbro’s decision to quietly shutter the Power Rangers Lightning Collection toy line ahead of their recent licensing of the brand’s toy production duties to Playmates).
Prompted by the reveal earlier that same day that Hasbro had ceased production on their and Netflix’s young adult-oriented Power Rangers television series in order to give the entire project a creative makeover, Perry informed his followers, “With today’s news I feel comfortable sharing that in July of last year right after I leaked the ending of LC I got more DM’s from more sources than ever.”
“Learned [former Hasbro CEO] Brian Goldner’s purchase of the brand & eOne apparently was done without consulting R&D,” he added. “The company never wanted PR”.
Pressed by a fan, “If all you say is true, then why did they even bother with continuing the [television] series and the [Lightning Collection]?”, Perry explained that Hasbro did so because they “had to try and justify the purchase and dig themselves out of the hole.”
As referenced by Perry, in 2018, Goldner authorized the purchase of not just Power Rangers, but also a number of other toy brands held by the Super Sentai adaptation’s original production house Saban Entertainment, for “a combination of cash and stock valued at $522 million.”
A year later, the former CEO would then pay a further $4 Billion to acquire the Entertainment One (eOne), – $500 million of which was eventually recouped by selling off a number of the company’s assets to Lionsgate – in the hopes of using their media production resources to further strengthen their “storytelling capabilities and franchise economics in TV, film and other mediums”.
(In 2021, Goldner would suddenly pass away from surprise complications related to prostate cancer, thus leaving his seat at the head of Hasbro open for current CEO Chris Cocks to eventually fill.)
Since then, Power Rangers has had a rough go of things at virtually every turn, having suffered a series of abysmal television outings across Beast Morphers, Dino Fury, the Once & Always special, and Cosmic Fury, a lack of support for toy collectors of even their most expensive offerings, and a refusal by Hasbro to focus on any other team but the original Mighty Morphin crew.
Arguably, the only bright spot in the Rangers’ recent history have been BOOM! Studios’ ongoing comic book adaptation and nWay’s one-on-one fighting game Battle for the Grid – and even then, the former is about to come to an end and the the latter is about to have its standing in the cultural zeitgeist usurped by Digital Eclipse’s uninspired Rita’s Rewind.
As of writing, in light the indefinite development halt on their YA reboot, the farming out of the franchise’s toy offerings to Playmates, and the comic book series’ upcoming ending, Hasbro does not appear to be doing much of anything with the Power Rangers outside of overseeing its various licensing agreements.
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