Upcoming ‘Power Rangers’ X ‘Godzilla’ Kaiju Ranger Figures Prove Playmates Toys Serious About Hasbro Licensing Deal
In proving themselves perhaps the last of the American Super Sentai adaptation’s true believers, current Power Rangers toy licensee Playmates Toys will apparently be breaking from licensor Hasbro’s strategy of ‘retread Mighty Morphin‘ forever and ever until the end of time’ and delve into the more niche aspects of the team’s history starting with a set of Godzilla Kaiju Ranger figures.
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Acquiring the brand from Saban in 2018, the deal made solely on the whims of late CEO Brian Goldner and without any input from company leadership, Hasbro would spend the next seven years completely mismanaging Power Rangers in practically every regard, with notable failures including the 2017 live-action movie, the Cosmic Fury-led push to completely divorce the series from its Super Sentai that only led to its going off-air, and the poor handling of their now-cancelled-yet-still-uncompleted Lightning Collection toy line.
Admitting that their misunderstanding of the tokusatsu team was only serving to bleed their profits, Hasbro would announce in 2025 that they had granted Playmates Toys the license to “develop additional cross-category Power Rangers products, including action figures, blasters, plush, role play, vehicles and accessories” and distribute them in “all regions excluding Asia”.
The most major of Playmates Toys’ efforts is the Re-Ignition collection, as released in partnership with Netflix’s ongoing AI-upscaling of the entire series, which plans to tackle not just the Mighty Morphin‘ team, but each and every one of their various successors, from Mighty Morphin’ Alien Rangers to (ostensibly) Cosmic Fury.
And though their intention to even look past Zordon’s first recruits already shows them to be more serious about Power Rangers‘ toy offerings than Hasbro ever was, Playmates Toys is looking to further distinguish themselves by handling some of the team’s more off-beat outings.
Per leaked production images provided by Twitter user @Ned_Chang, among the company’s upcoming releases is a set of Kaiju Ranger figures as based on the Toho monster-fused forms donned by the team at the conclusion of BOOM! Studios and IDW’s Godzilla vs. The Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers II comic book miniseries.
As seen in issue four, following a brutal defeat at the hands of Rita Repulsa’s Kaiju energy-charged Psycho Rangers – their new powers evolving them into Psycho Red Destroyah, Psycho Black Megalon, Psycho Yellow Ghidorah, and Psycho Green Gigan, respectively – Zordon teleports the Power Rangers back to the Command Center in order to speed-up both their and their Zords’ recoveries.
Unfortunately, rather than safety, the Rangers’ return is met with the near-simultaneous arrival of Rita’s monster army, all of whom charge upon the Command Center with the single, solitary goal of razing it to the ground.
Rather than go down without a fight, Zordon instead works with Mothra’s twin priestesses, the Elias, and Jet Jaguar creator Goro Ibuki to create a new set of Power Coins infused with the powers of various Godzilla-level kaiju, with the resulting fusions consisting of Red Rodan Ranger, Black King Caesar Ranger, Blue Anguirus Ranger, Yellow Baragon Ranger, Pink Mothra Ranger, and Green Godzilla Ranger.
To this end, it’s currently unknown whether the toy line will feature the entire Kaiju Ranger team, as while the leak above only confirms figures for the Red Rodan, Blue Anguirus, and Green Godzilla Rangers, its packaging prominently displays the entire team – including Big G himself, as clad in his Green Ranger-provided Dragonzord Armor.
While the Kaiju Ranger figures are rather basic in their production, featuring just the simplest of paint jobs and barest level of color detailing, such a level of quality is to be expected from Playmates Toys, whose entire business model is more focused on manufacturing items for specifically child-aged audiences rather than older, even adult collectors.
However, as Lao Tzu once said, “Every journey begins with a single step”, and so rather than lamenting the upcoming crossover line for being ‘less than collector level’, Power Rangers fans of all stripes are encouraged to celebrate the fact that there exists at least one company out there treating the franchise with even a modicum of respect, and hope that it leads to some level of revival for the beloved spin on Super Sentai.
At current, Playmate Toys’ Kaiju Ranger figures have yet to be officially announced, and as such do not currently have a confirmed release date.
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