As if things couldn’t get any more rocky for the embattled company, amidst their continued struggles to turn a profit from their toy division, Hasbro has agreed to a new licensing deal with fellow toy manufacturer Playmates to allow the latter to produce a new “reimagination” of the Power Rangers toy line.
First revealed to the public by Hasbro in an April 22nd press release, this new agreement grants the Hong Kong-based Playmates the rights “to develop additional cross-category POWER RANGERS products, including action figures, blasters, plush, role play, vehicles and accessories” as well as “global distribution across all regions excluding Asia.”
Playmates’ first release, a “kid-targeted” collection of items based on (unsurprisingly) the Mighty Morphin‘ incarnation of the titular team, is currently on track to release in 2025.
“We are honored to work with Hasbro on the reimagination of this iconic franchise’s toy line for long time fans and a new generation of children,” proclaimed Playmates SVP of Marketing Karl Aaronian in response to the news. “Playmates and Hasbro speak the same toy language and share a passion for POWER RANGERS, a multi-generational phenomenon that has stood the test of time.”
Meanwhile, Hasbro themselves will “retain all entertainment rights and will continue to drive global strategy and growth for the POWER RANGERS franchise by strategically working with licensees across multiple categories, including publishing, fashion and footwear, promotions and more.”
“Playmates’ ability to interpret character-based story telling in highly detailed, innovative, and affordable products has revitalized several iconic brands, they are the perfect fit to fully expand the POWER RANGERS franchise,” praised Hasbro President of Licensed Consumer Products Casey Collins. “While we’ll continue to provide oversight and direction on future POWER RANGERS product ranges, Playmates will leverage its action figure and accessory design, development and marketing expertise to create an entirely new play and collecting experience for fans of all ages. With two powerhouse companies coming together to support a powerhouse brand, the potential is limitless!”
Unfortunately for collectors of the specific line, Hasbro has not yet offered any word as to whether or not this new deal will affect the continued production the Power Rangers Lightning Collection figures.
However, in light of the series having reportedly been put on ‘hiatus’ by Hasbro, the odds of its survival are, sadly, not looking great.
Notably, this disappointing decision for fans – the quality of Playmates’ output is objectively and on the whole lower than that of Hasbro’s – comes amidst a time of ongoing operational struggles for the current overseer of the Power Rangers brand.
In 2023, the company undertook two rounds of lay-offs – cutting 800 jobs in January and a further 1,100 in December – due to slumping sales across all of their core brands save Magic: The Gathering.
“Total Hasbro revenue of $1.5 billion was down 10% versus last year,” explained Hasbro CFO Gina Goetter during the company’s Q3 2023 earnings call. “The impact of the broader toy category declines has had a change in our consumer products and total Hasbro outlook.”
“Based on this,” she concluded, “we now expect total Hasbro, Inc. revenue to be down 13% to 15%.”
In their most recent stumble, less than a week prior to this article’s authoring, the company saw the now-former President of their Wizards of the Coast and Hasbro digital gaming offer her sudden resignation following a controversy-filled tenure of just two years.
