Despite the trending success that Power Rangers Beast Morphers has had within the more vocal spectrums of the Power Rangers adult fanbase, there’s an elephant in the room that needs to be addressed – one that many fans have either been vocally submissive of or blazingly uneducated on the details of. And that, dear readers, is the future of the Power Rangers brand post Beast Morphers running its course.
“Well, duh, they’ll simply adapt the next Super Sentai season, probably Ryusoulger because dinosaurs, right?”
If Power Rangers was still in ownership of Saban Brands then yes, the answer above would be the correct one. A chance to exploit the popularity of dinosaurs, homage the original Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, and spend as little money as possible to convince a previous actor to fly out for a quick cameo is something Saban Brands would have jumped all over. But this isn’t Saban Brands – this is Hasbro Inc., practically a Fortune 500 company (EDITOR’S NOTE: Hasbro is currently ranked 509) with shareholders, investors, and a responsibility to answer to poor performances and to increase the profit over expenditures in the next fiscal year.
A flurry of deals were made by Saban Brands before announcing the licensing agreement that would open the door for the purchase of the brand by Hasbro Inc. in February of 2018. One of those deals was to extend the current television programming contract with Nickelodeon (previously ending in 2018) to run through the 2021 calendar year. Not a big deal, right? Except many fans noted at the time that Power Rangers series are broken in to two seasons of 22 episodes each – both to exploit the toys longer (retailers find it easier to sell the same “series” of toys over a 2 year period rather than try to push them out in a single year) but to also try and attach viewership for 2 years at a time as opposed to risk losing the hook on kids year after year.
Still not getting it?
Power Rangers Beast Morphers, and the inevitable Power Rangers Super Beast Morphers, will air starting in 2019 and end at the end of 2020. That will leave one single year of the Nickelodeon deal (2021) left. What could Hasbro possibly air on Nickelodeon for a single year? Some obvious answers – syndication! What better way to exploit 26+ years of television than airing random episodes from a catalogue quickly approaching 1000 total episodes than to throw it on one of the most watched kids’ programming networks? Or how about just extending that contract another single year or an additional three years to make a nice round even number? Both plausible.
But we have another thought, and some evidence we believe, to back it up.
An animated Power Rangers series, focused on the Playskool Heroes brand. “TOEI WON’T LET IT BE ANIMATED!”. We don’t know the exact details of why the fabled “Power Rangers Origins” animated series was canned but whispers in recent years have stated it wasn’t that Toei wasn’t interested but more that Saban Brands was living up to their reputation of being an incredibly cheap (in terms of what they were willing to pay) and thus an agreement on financials could not be reached. After all, Saban Brands was simply the owner of the IP (intellectual property) of Power Rangers and not actually seeing a return on toy sales, comic book sales, or otherwise (only if it proved successful and they could thus increase the asking price on a specific license when renewals were due).
Have you heard of Boulder Media? If you’re a Transformers fan you have – they are responsible for the Transformers Cyberverse cartoon, recently renewed for a second season. Not long after Hasbro purchased the Power Rangers property we had individuals from Boulder Media tweeting selfies of themselves with the Lost Galaxy Red Ranger statue that famously stood at the headquarters of Saban Brands (with a caption of “new employee!”). Social media sleuths also found many members of the Power Rangers team, both at Hasbro and at AllSpark Pictures/Studios/Whatever, following the Boulder Media employees.
Traditional #TransformersCyberverse writer's greeting for a new #Hasbro employee! #powerrangers #cyberverse @gavinhignight @GloryLollyTree @MaeCatt @salgatron pic.twitter.com/mL9ahkwuV2
— randolph heard (@RandolphHeard) August 22, 2018
Obviously this means nothing at the end of the day (the days of Power Rangers actors following random individuals who just happen to become a Power Ranger later in their show have long since passed) it still answers the question of “What will they do in 2021?” quite nicely. Boulder Media’s notable Hasbro properties’ works include Transformers Rescue Bots, Transformers Cyberverse, and some shorts for My Little Ponly Equestria Girls. Hasbro does not have a license to produce any shows based on Disney properties (like Marvel Superheroes or Star Wars, for those curious).
There’s also the speculation that a Power Rangers movie will arrive in 2022 (with production to begin in mid to late 2020) which turns 2021 in to a nice “experiment” year for the brand. But at the end of the day if Power Rangers Beast Morphers falls flat on its face and fails to record any real profitability, Power Rangers could be scrapped entirely and shelved like other longtime Hasbro properties like G.I. Joe until a new formula can be signed off on for it.
Until we get some answers to these questions everything is, and will be, speculation. But we’ll keep our eyes and ears tuned in for anything we can find and share it with you when appropriate. Until then, may the power protect us all! Go Go Power Rangers!