Hasbro Has Managed to Kill the Power Rangers…Not Once, Not Twice, But Three Times?!

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Harbro has accomplished something Rita Repulsa and Lord Zedd couldn’t – defeating the Power Rangers.

Intellectual property – things like ideas, stories, and character designs – is often a company’s most valuable possession. That’s why you don’t see familiar characters like Mickey Mouse appearing in unexpected crossovers, such as with Rick and Morty.

It’s common for valuable intellectual property (IP) to go unused, and when it is used, the outcome can often be a failure – just think of the Tron reboot. Companies letting IP go to waste isn’t surprising. However, completely ruining a property so badly that it harms two separate companies and destroys a franchise that’s been around for half a century? That’s a truly remarkable feat of mismanagement.

I’m talking about the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. You might not recognize the name – they’re not as popular now as they used to be. But back in the day, before many of today’s fans were even born, they were incredibly popular!

Let’s quickly review: Back in 1975, Japan created a unique type of superhero show called Super Sentai. It featured teams of colorful heroes in spandex suits fighting silly, rubbery monsters. Each episode showcased new gadgets, and giant robots from the show would quickly become available as toys in stores. This idea was incredibly popular, and Bandai, the company that made it, has been updating the hero teams – and the accompanying toys – every year for the past fifty years.

In 1993, Haim Saban, an American executive, brought the concept to the United States. He took fight scenes from the Japanese show Kyōryū Sentai Zyuranger, replacing the original actors with new footage of “five American teens with attitude.” This created Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, which quickly became popular around the world. For many years, Bandai produced a new Sentai series in Japan, and Saban followed up with an American version, combining the Japanese fight footage with scenes filmed in the U.S.

This pattern repeated until Disney bought the franchise in 2003, but their handling of it led to its decline. Eventually, Saban was able to repurchase it for a very low price.

Hasbro bought the Power Rangers brand in 2018 for $522 million, using a combination of cash and stock. They had previously partnered to license Power Rangers toys, which were previously handled entirely by Bandai’s U.S. division. Hasbro, a major toy maker, decided to bring Power Rangers toy production in-house and also start creating its own Power Rangers TV shows.

It was wrong.

Hasbro made a series of significant errors with a new toy line in 2023, ultimately forcing them to cancel it. To make matters worse, they then handed the project over to Playmates Toys, a company known for lower-quality products – a particularly strange decision considering Hasbro’s usual standards.

The problems continued. After recent Power Rangers content on Netflix didn’t perform well, Playmates partnered with the popular YouTube channel Ninja Kidz TV – a family with over 24 million followers who create videos showcasing their athletic skills – to help promote the toys. Ninja Kidz TV had been making Power Rangers fan videos for years and were excited to create a new web series, including custom costumes, vehicles, and special effects. Playmates funded the entire project, with Hasbro providing no support.

Fans were eagerly anticipating new content and quickly rallied around the project, creating a lot of positive energy. Unfortunately, Hasbro unexpectedly cancelled it. While the official explanation hinted at concerns about AI being used for visual effects – though Hasbro never fully admitted this – the result was a major setback. This single decision upset fans, stopped the project in its tracks, and strained Hasbro’s relationships with both Playmates and Ninja Kidz.

But Hasbro wasn’t done…..

After running for 50 years, Bandai has unexpectedly announced that it’s ending the Super Sentai series after the current season, “Number 1 Sentai Gozyuger.” Fans in Japan and around the world were shocked by the news. Super Sentai is a major part of Japanese culture, and cancelling it felt as unbelievable as ending Doctor Who.

Bandai explained the show’s cancellation by saying toy sales were down and it was no longer profitable. Fans were surprised, as sales seemed consistent. However, Bandai later clarified that a condition of Hasbro’s 2018 acquisition prevented them from selling merchandise related to the show in North America and other important markets.

That limitation severely hurt Bandai’s toy sales—so much so that it led to the project being canceled, and probably cost the legal team who drafted the contract their jobs.

The outcome was devastating: Hasbro not only canceled its 30-year-old toy line, but it also played a part in the end of the original 50-year-old Japanese franchise that inspired it. To make matters worse, it ruined a fan-made project that had a lot of potential.

Despite reports that Power Rangers might return with a reboot on Disney+, fans should be cautious, considering Disney’s history of ending established franchises. For now, though, the show has surprisingly stopped airing worldwide for the first time in many years.

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2025-12-16 00:57