GUEST EDITORIAL – Power Rangers on YouTube might not be working for you, but it is for Hasbro

Power Rangers on YouTube might not be working for you, but it is for Hasbro.

Guest Editorial by Josh Moore (@KentuckyJAM on Twitter)

A year ago, I used a random episode generator to watch episodes from 10 different seasons of Power Rangers on National Power Rangers Day, the official-ish Aug. 28 holiday celebrating the show’s anniversary. Of course, despite owning the entirety of what’s available to purchase on DVD, I fired up those episodes on Netflix, the show’s definitive streaming home for the better part of the last decade. It was easier, after all.

I did a similar exercise earlier this year on Jan. 31, the final day that the majority of Power Rangers was available to stream on Netflix in most countries. As of Aug. 28 of this year, only seven full seasons — all three seasons of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, Ninja Steel, Super Ninja Steel and both seasons of Beast Morphers — and the first 11 episodes of Dino Fury, are available on the most widely-used streaming platform. Most of the Power Rangers canon was wiped out in a blink, and with little head’s up.

Why that change happened is subject to speculation. I’m in the camp that believes Hasbro, the brand’s steward, wants to more narrowly define what Power Rangers is by controlling what stories from its 28-year canon are readily accessible to the most people. Some think Netflix just didn’t want to bother with the less-recognizable parts of the brand anymore. Hasbro might have valued those parts of the brand more favorably than Netflix, and didn’t bend to the streamer’s will when it came time to renew a licensing deal. The conspiracies, then and now, are irrelevant; where is the only thing that ultimately matters.

Hasbro a couple weeks after the Netflix exodus unveiled its plan to upload the remaining 600-plus Power Rangers episodes in their inventory to YouTube. On paper, that’s about as good as it could get: YouTube’s free to use, and while it lacks some of the bells and whistles of a Netflix presentation, it’s a platform with as much or more visibility, particularly when it comes to SEO potential. It will be, for the foreseeable future, the only streaming home for most Power Rangers content produced before 2019.

“While some of our most popular and recent seasons of Power Rangers remained on Netflix for fans to enjoy, including Mighty Morphin, Beast Morphers, and now Power Rangers Dino Fury, we plan to continue to roll out new seasons with our (subscription video on demand) and/or broadcast partners while making available legacy seasons of the series to fans and new audiences around the globe via our Official YouTube channel,” – Hasbro said when reached for comment about the brand’s streaming decisions. 

Power Rangers on YouTube

Six months in, Power Rangers on YouTube (PROY) appears more hazardous than the rubble left behind following a Megazord fight. Episodes are regularly uploaded to the primary account — “Power Rangers Official” — with no readily apparent order in mind, and sans closing credits. Sometimes a season’s episode number is present, sometimes it’s not. Playlists exist for some seasons, but the ones that do are unreliable. Take Jungle Fury’s premiere, “Welcome to the Jungle,” a two-parter. The first part, uploaded May 6, is in the playlist encompassing full episodes of the season. The second part, uploaded May 31, is not. (The episodes that “premiered” between the split season-opener? Two from Dino Thunder and one from Wild Force. As of Aug. 25, the final 20 episodes of Jungle Fury had not yet been uploaded.)

As of this article’s publication only one season, Dino Super Charge, has been fully uploaded to YouTube. It is not available on the main account, though; they live on the “Power Rangers Kids” channel, which has 8 million fewer subscribers and about 8 million more emojis in the episode titles. The subscriber discrepancy, it’s worth noting, doesn’t seem to impact viewership; episodes on that channel have performed as well, and frequently, better than uploads to the main one, in terms of total viewership numbers.

According to Hasbro, the “Kids” channel, launched this year in coordination with eOne, currently aims to “focus kids towards our current series, Power Rangers Dino Fury,” hence the presence of those dino-centric seasons. The primary channel, on the other hand, “exists to deliver full episodes of fan-favorite seasons that connect audiences to current themes and content happenings in the Power Rangers universe” in support of what it recognizes is “a robust fan audience.”

At a glance, Hasbro has morphed its Power Rangers backlog into a series of commentary-free “Let’s Play” videos, released daily and with a variety of games (seasons) represented in order to placate the YouTube algorithm. Daily uploads are complemented by concurrent live streams for viewers desperate enough to catch a glimpse of their favorite episode from whatever seasons are in the spotlight in a given week. The episode uploads are interspersed with all the YouTube fixings — think top 10s and “best of” highlight reels — you’d expect to see from any entertainment-focused YouTuber on the platform. 

For fans wanting to re-watch all of their favorite episodes on demand, it’s an indisputable disappointment. But for a corporation looking to bolster and maintain its most followed social-media account (2.8 million users “like” the Power Rangers Facebook page; the Kids YouTube channel already has about 40,000 more subscribers than the official Twitter account, which has been around since 2010), PROY has been, more or less, morphinominal. The numbers tell the story best: “Revenge of Zen Aku,” the 13th episode of Wild Force, an often less-regarded season among fans that aired in 2002, had nearly 130,000 total views a week after it made its channel debut on Aug. 18. It’s probably not unfair to wonder if that same episode reached 100,000 plays on Netflix in the entirety of 2020.

Both channels are succeeding in their intended missions.

“We believe the content choices on both channels allow both fan and kid audiences to view current and relevant Power Rangers content and provide an additional connection between the entertainment and toy worlds,” Hasbro said through a spokesperson. “The YouTube channel allows more audiences [free] access to Power Rangers content for old fans looking for nostalgia and new fans discovering Power Rangers for the first time. In addition, legacy seasons and episodes will continue to be featured weekly on our Power Rangers Official Channel.”

The future

Hasbro (and eOne) say they want PROY to be a discovery platform for new fans and a way for existing fans to re-discover old favorites, but their terms of engagement are clearly directed at the former group. You will be allowed to see only what they offer, and on their schedule, which for Gen Z on-boarders is gonna be just fine. For a longtime fan, the thought of possibly having to wait until November to see the final episode of Jungle Fury uploaded might be excruciating; for people experiencing the season for the first time, Hasbro likely has reason to think they’ll meet each upload with anticipation — that every “new” episode will to be an event unto itself.

PROY offers a possible window into what it might look like if a child were asked to program a 24/7 Power Rangers network. The result is a rainbow-coated sugar rush that, really, is not that much different from the experience I sought to achieve last National Power Rangers Day. If you’re a newcomer to the brand — or a returning fan who hasn’t engaged since Mighty Morphin, even — I can see the appeal of a scattershot, “What am I gonna get next?” approach, even with the occasional 15-second ad sprinkled into the equation. 

However, as a 30-year-old who’s never strayed from the show, it can be difficult to cope with the decisions of an entity as it tries to re-tool and refocus the brand. What Hasbro wants Power Rangers to be, and how it wants it consumed, is going to be different from what I’d like to see. It spent $500 million for the right to make those calls; I’ve only spent what feels like that much on toys they’ve churned out.

Longtime fans don’t have to be happy with PROY — in its current state, I’d argue they shouldn’t — but it’s part of our streaming reality. Don’t like it? Track down the Shout! Factory collections and a DVD player. But make haste; as we’ve seen in the last year, change can occur at Lightspeed.

Josh Moore is a journalist based out of Kentucky. You can follow him on Twitter @KentuckyJAM.
Edited by Eric Berry (@trekkieb47)

GUEST EDITORIAL – Consistently Inconsistent – Power Rangers Lightning Collection

Consistently Inconsistent: The Power Rangers Lightning Collection

Guest Editorial by Mike (@BigMike8109 on Twitter)

The time was August 2018 at Power Morphicon. There I was, along with a room full of fans, waiting for the announcement of what Hasbro was going to do first with their newly acquired toy line for Power Rangers. We all sat there as they introduced us to the Lightning Collection; new 6-inch highly articulated and painted action figures. They even showed off a video of their first figure – Mighty Morphin White Ranger Tommy Oliver himself! The crowd went wild, mainly because it wasn’t the Green Ranger version of Tommy, but the second leader of the team version. What really got people hyped up was the announcement of head sculpts and tons of accessories that were all included with an amazing price of $19.99 USD!

It was truly great to see Hasbro show off what they could do with the brand with just the first of many figures to come. Here we are in December 2020 and we’re well over 60 figures deep into the line. We’ve got a mix of teams, helmets, villains, a possible Megazord, and role play items like the Dragon Dagger. There is one thing that stands out in the vast Morphin Grid of things to collect; it’s apparent not every team is represented yet and some odd things stand out. I’m here to talk about one thing that’s consistent with each figure that has more than two team members represented and that is: it’s really inconsistent.

I won’t be talking about missing paint, odd choices for accessories, or why some figures didn’t get a head sculpt. Yes, I’m looking at you Ranger Slayer and Magna Defender! What I will be talking about is why some people might have a hard time displaying full teams when they’re completed because of one main reason: the figures aren’t painted the same way on each Ranger from that team. Below, I’m going to go by the seasons that have multiple rangers in the line and where the paint is, or isn’t, or is just different. Some of it is nitpicking on my part, but it’s still something I want to point out. Lets get wild!

Dino Charge

First up: Dino Charge Red and Dino Charge Black. Let’s take a look at the Dino Com Buckle on Red: it’s painted yellow on the trim, black on the inside and the Dino logo is silver. Which, as far as I know, is show accurate. Looking at Dino Charge Black, it’s the same, but not by much. The Dino Com Buckle on Black has yellow trim – and that’s where the similarities stop. The colors are swapped with silver being the inside and black being the Dino logo.

Power Rangers Lighting Collection – Dino Charge Belt Comparison

Another inconsistency is that while the silver on Dino Charge Red’s gloves are painted the screen accurate silver, Black and Gold are missing this detail.

Power Rangers Lighting Collection – Dino Charge Gloves Comparison

The accessories are also not the same paint-wise. Red’s Dino Saber is painted show accurate for the most part, but Black’s isn’t. The yellow part of the same piece stops at what they assumed was the hilt. Finally, there’s the Dino Charge Morphers: they are both different shades of yellow all together.

Power Rangers Lightning Collection – Dino Charge Accessories Comparison

In Space

Let’s Rocket to In Space Red and In Space Yellow. Looking at the neck of the Red Ranger, you can see it’s a basic yellow paint application. But when compared to the Yellow Ranger, she clearly has a more shiny gold – which wasn’t the way it was presented on the show. Again, if you’re paying attention to the detail it’s noticeable but for some displaying on a shelf far away they might not notice. Looking at the accessories they both seem to be well painted.

Power Rangers Lightning Collection – In Space Neck Colors Comparison

S.P.D.

Now for an S.P.D. Emergency! At first glance you might not notice any inconsistencies unless you are really looking. The “SPD” on S.P.D. Red is a basic grey with the “SPD” letters in white, but on S.P.D. Blue it’s a thicker rectangle and a lighter shade of grey with the “SPD” letters placed higher. Going off the promo pics of S.P.D. Pink, the badge is black and thinner than Red or Blue and the “SPD” letters are not centered.

Power Rangers Lightning Collection – SPD Badge Comparison

Jumping to the Delta Morphers, Red and Blue are nearly identical, but the inconsistency is with Pink’s Morpher. It has a silver outline and “SPD” down the middle, but is missing the other words on the Morpher and not painted white like Red and Blue.

Power Rangers Lightning Collection – SPD Delta Morphers Comparison

Dino Thunder

Dino Thunder, Power Up! So far, we got the Red Ranger and White Ranger with the Blue Ranger coming in March 2021. I wont be comparing the White Ranger’s suits to the rest, but I will point out that only the Red Ranger got the paint on the back of gloves while Blue and White did not.

Power Rangers Lightning Collection – Dino Thunder Gloves Comparison

Looking at Red and Blue side by side you’d be hard press to notice any inconsistences, but there are a few. Red doesn’t have the gold trim around the neck that Blue has. Their Dino Morphers are not painted the same either. Red has a solid red paint job to match his ranger color, while Blue is white to match the diamond pattern of his. Just to nitpick, both have silver outlines on their helmets when it’s suppose to be white. Heck, it’s even white on the box art!

Finally, much like the Dino Charge figures, the backs of the gloves are missing paint – white on the Blue Ranger and black on the White Ranger. The Red Ranger is consistent with screen accuracy.

Power Rangers Lightning Collection – Dino Thunder Body Details

Zeo

Stronger then before, Go Zeo! Looking at Zeo Ranger V Red, Zeo Ranger III Blue and the upcoming Zeo Ranger IV Green, there are some small differences between them. Each seem to be painted with matching gold trim and the correct shade of their color.

The inconsistency however, lies with the helmets. Zeo Green and Zeo Blue have a silver trim around their visors, while Zeo Red is painted white. The white trim is the correct show accurate color, but why they don’t at least have matching silver or white is beyond me.

Power Rangers Lightning Collection – Zeo helmets comparison

Another inconsistency is that on Zeo Blue, the butterfly joint is painted with a strip of white to match the area on the shoulders. Green and Red are missing this detail.

Power Rangers Lightning Collection – Zeo butterfly joint comparison. Credit – TokuChris

We won’t get into why Zeo Blue doesn’t have his weapon, yet Zeo Red and Zeo Green do.

Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers

Now let’s GO GO take a look at the team that started it all, Mighty Morphin’! There’s actually only a few things here that don’t match and it’s really only on two of the figures. With the Power Morphers on the belts, only the Black Ranger is missing the red outline around the Power Coin. Everyone else has it and even the Green Ranger‘s morpher is correctly painted gold. The weird thing here is that this is the second Black Ranger released. The first one was the Walgreens’ exclusive Armored (Dragon Shield) version. Taken from the only episode to air with this power up, “Oyster Stew”, this version of the figure has the Power Morpher painted correctly! Why didn’t Hasbro take that mold and just remove the Dragon Shield? I don’t know.

Power Rangers Lightning Collection – MMPR belts comparison

My second nitpick of this team has been wildly documented on my personal twitter and within the fandom/collecting space. The second release of the Green Ranger is missing the diamonds under his shield. The first release was part of the “Fighting Spirit” two-pack, which had everything from that episode of Dino Thunder accurately painted. This includes the silver stripe on his helmet and the silver Power Morpher! Why Hasbro didn’t look at both figures and merge them to make a completely show accurate Green Ranger is beyond me. When asked during Hasbro PulseCon, they passed it off as Green not having the diamonds sometimes, which isn’t true at all, but I digress.

Power Rangers Lightning Collection – MMPR Green diamond comparison. Note: Press photo on left does not reflect final color of the shield.

So not a lot to talk about with America’s first Power Rangers team, but it’s not the first completed team in the Lighting Collection line…

The Psycho Rangers are the first completed team in the Lightning Collection line. They’re also the only team to get a complete set packed together, all five Psycho Rangers are included. Originally, when I first looked at the Psycho Rangers plus Psycho Green, I didn’t notice anything wrong with their paint consistency. BUT there is something inconsistent! The back of the box shows their belt buckles are outlined with their respected colors, but only Psycho Pink has that paint in the pack. You could say Psycho Black has it too, but who really knows? So 4 out of the 6 Psycho Rangers are painted inconsistently.

Power Rangers Lightning Collection – Psycho Rangers – Belt Outlines


A lot of these details are not deal breakers for most people, in fact, quite a lot of people. This includes myself, since I’ll buy each figure as they come out. However, the worry of consistent inconsistencies remains each time a new member of a team is introduced. We don’t know yet if anything from Time Force or the Metallic Armor figures will be different since those only have one ranger represented. We may never know the reasons why the paint is different across a team. And I don’t think that if we ask that will get a straight answer, or an answer at all. Some say, “It only costs $19.99, calm down!”, but I say if you’re gonna mess up, then at least mess up consistently.

Bonus!

Activate Beast Powers! Beast Morphers Red and Blue are consistent with their paint applications. So fingers crossed Yellow gets released and matches them perfectly!

Credit:

Written/Pictures by Mike (@BigMike8109 on Twitter)
Edited by Eric Berry (@trekkieb47)
Press Photos from Hasbro

Last Edit – 12/26/2020 – Zeo butterfly joints, Dino Charge gloves, Psycho Rangers

SITE NEWS – Ranger Command Turns 5!

Five years ago today, Ranger Command Power Hour launched the first episode of the podcast.

When A.P., Zach and myself released the first episode, we couldn’t imagine what type of response we would get or how the podcast would be received. Since 2014 we’ve recorded, edited and produced over 224 hours of audio content. That’s over 9 days.

Yes, it’s a lot of hard work… sleepless Fridays, technical difficulties and sometimes a bit of frustration. Hearing comments from our friends, listeners and supporters makes it all worth it. To hear that you listen to us on the go; through commutes, jogs, work days and cleaning your house – it’s why we keep going.

I want to thank my co-hosts, my patient and supporting wife, my friends who have been guest co-hosts, actors and those involved on the Power Rangers brand that took the time our of their schedules to be on our podcast. And for the reasons I stated above, to anyone who has listened to the show. From long time listeners to people just discovering our show – you are amazing.

As Power Rangers enters a new era with Hasbro, we will continue to give you the show you want to listen to. Your feedback is important to us – we have a listener survey, contact form and we always respond on social media. Topic ideas, Questions from Ranger Nation, Answers from Ranger Nation – they help us in making the show what it is.

If you like the show, please consider giving us a review on iTunes or PodChaser. These really help us in letting other people decide if they want to listen. We also have a Patreon, but I think we plugged that enough in Episode 132 to last the next decade…

On Saturday, we release the edited version of our 5th Anniversary Livestream (Episode 133). I plan to include a couple of bonus audio clips and edit it like I do with every episode. On Sunday we are going to release another Extra Episode.

So… once again, thank you. Here’s to the future!

Eric Berry (@trekkieb47)
Host, Producer, Editor

Ranger Command Turns 5

Happy 25th Anniversary Power Rangers

Super Ninja Steel

Hosts Eric, Zach and A.P. want to wish all of our listeners in Ranger Nation a very Happy 25th Anniversary to Power Rangers on National Power Rangers Day.

In just a few hours the 25th Anniversary episode, “Dimensions In Danger”, will premiere on Nickelodeon in prime-time at 8PM EST/7PM CST. We hope that everyone can tune in and celebrate!

This weekend we will be releasing two episodes of RCPH!

Episode 123 is out now and is an interview with Renegade Game Studios for their upcoming Heroes of the Grid game.

Episode 124 is out now and is our post Power Morphicon episode with guest co-hosts and audio clips from Ranger Nation.

Thanks for your continued support of the podcast and from all of the hosts, may the Power protect you!

National Power Rangers Day

SITE NEWS – July 2018 Hiatus

RCPH Announcement – July 2018 Hiatus

 

July will be a month long hiatus for Ranger Command. After almost 5 years of consistent content, host Eric (@trekkieb47) needs a small break to refocus and refresh the podcast. We will still be active on social media and have some cool contests and announcements in July.

Ranger Command is definitely not going away. There are great and exciting things happening for Power Rangers and Hasbro to carry it past the 25th Anniversary and into the 30th (hopefully). And RCPH will be there for it all.

To our Patrons: We will be pausing our Patreon Page so supporters will not be billed on August 1st for July’s hiatus. Thank you for your continued support as we catch up on raffle prizes and side content.

Enjoy the Fourth of July!

RCPH July Hiatus

Site News – Podcast Awards 2017

This year Ranger Command Power Hour is up for nomination at the official Podcast Awards in the “TV & Film” category!

If you enjoy the podcast and the work we put into it, please consider nominating us for a Podcast Award! Nominations will be accepted until July 31st, 2017. Winners will be announced on September 30th.

To nominate, sign up at: https://www.podcastawards.com/app/signup and place your votes for podcasts in multiple categories!

Thanks again for listening to and supporting Ranger Command Power Hour!

Podcast Awards

Ranger Command Anniversary Contest 3 – CLOSED

Contest is now closed. Congrats to Miguel (@Toy_Empire) for winning the contest!

Ranger Command Power Hour is hosting a NEW contest for our three year Anniversary on January 25th, 2017!

For our third year we are giving away a set of 15 Boom! Studios Power Rangers comics to one lucky listener.

Boom Comics Prize Pack includes: MMPR #1 Classic Cover variant, MMPR #1 Evil Tommy variant, MMPR #1 Tyrannosaurus Zord variant, Power Rangers 2016 Annual, Justice League / Power Rangers #1, MMPR Pink Issues #1-5, MMPR Issues #6-10. (Estimated Retail Value – $63.85)

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Site News – Ranger Command DX

As we approach our 3rd anniversary on January 25th, it’s time to go DeluXe with Ranger Command DX!

What is Ranger Command DX? Right now, it’s our new twitter account. Frustrated not being able to see our replies, retweets and likes? So are we! We even called Twitter to fix our issues, but to no avail. While we will still maintain our original twitter account, we are not going to wait around for Twitter to get their act together.

In less than 3 years we’ve gained an incredible following of listeners, friends and relationships that we want to continue to build. Thank YOU for listening, participating in our Ranger Nation Answers questions and supporting us! Let’s Ranger Up in 2017!

Ranger Command DX logo

RCPH Announces Toku Toy Store Mascot Contest Winner

Toku Toy Store Mascot winner banner

We have partnered with our friends at the Toku Toy Store to announce the winner of the their Mascot Competition. The winner is Andrew F. aka @fourzzze on Twitter.

He wins £50 in Toku Toy Store bucks to spend on the store. As a thank you to everyone who entered the contest, all participants will receive £10 to spend on the store.

Andrew and all other entrants should contact Toku Toy Store via Facebook, Twitter and the website, tokutoystore.com. The winning entry will be visible in all of their graphics over the next few weeks.

For all of your Toku Toy needs, be sure to visit tokutoystore.com!

Thanks to Jeremy (@MightyJez) for letting us host the announcement to the contest!