The following article is an opinion article written by TokuNation.com webmaster and editor-in-chief TokuChris. The opinions expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect the feeling of other staff members of TokuNation.com or the website as a whole. TokuChris has been collecting various toy lines and working as a freelance journalist on said toy lines since 2001.
Bandai America has a reputation amongst toy collectors of being cheap, “knock off” quality of their superior sister company, Bandai Japan. When the Legacy items for Power Rangers first started coming out, fans began to think that Bandai America was actually changing their reputation by making high-end American exclusive product catered to the older fans of the franchise.
As the Legacy line of Megazords and roleplay items continued to sell well, Bandai America decided to adventure in to the realm of 6.5″ figures with a “build a figure” gimmick to compete with heavy hitter Marvel Legends. Premium paint applications and articulation were promised in exchange for a $19.99 price tag (or, as fans have discovered, now $21.99 in most places). Sadly, the figure line has been riddled with quality control issues since its second wave and shows no sign of improvement.
And now, with the release and revelation of the Legacy 6.5″ Power Rangers Zeo Gold Ranger having nothing gold about him, fan backlash has reached critical levels. Please click “Read More” to hear one opinion on the matter. Spoilers – it’s not going to be pretty.
A few years ago Bandai America was at the top of their game. Headed by Brehan Maul and second-in-command Gregory Mitchell, there was a new sense of fan interaction that had never been seen before within the company. At conventions they would make sure to stand in front of the booth and interact with every single fan and answer whatever questions they could answer. The booths were all about merchandise – showing what they had already done and what they were going to do. Going to San Diego Comic Con, New York Comic Con, and Power Morphicon was an amazing experience because you knew that you were in for a treat and that your concerns and ideas would be heard and responded to on the show floor.
And then Brehan left. Shortly thereafter, a number of Bandai America employees directly on the Power Rangers team also left to join Brehan, privately sharing with me frustrations regarding the direction that the new head of the brand wanted to take Power Rangers.
At San Diego Comic Con, and even New York Comic Con, merchandise was second to the INTERACTIVE EXPERIENCE! Morph in to your favorite Mighty Morphin Power Ranger! And it was popular and it was pretty awesome. But that should have been at a Saban Brands booth and not the Bandai America booth. We were incredibly late at New York Comic Con getting photos of the booth up because the line for the interactive experience blocked the display cases.
You also felt a sense of abandonment. A majority of the booth workers were local hires just to man the booth while the actual representatives of Bandai America hid away. I understand at New York Comic Con it was slightly better at interaction but still a far cry from the days of Bandai America reps standing in front of their booth proud and ready to talk to fans.
But from what I’m hearing – Bandai America is in an increased sense of cost cutting and an expectation that older fans will buy whatever they put out. Why else at New York Comic Con 2017 would fans be told that they had to buy the older female figures peg-warming if they wanted to get the new figures that come out next?
For a year the Legacy 6.5″ Zeo Gold Ranger looked gorgeous at every show. Fans saw it and literally salivated at finally getting a highly articulated figure of someone not named Tommy. It simply looked gorgeous. And then, yesterday, we saw the final result in package.
Bandai America chose NOT to paint the Zeo Gold Ranger gold. They didn’t even bother to cast it in a “gold” plastic, opting for the “cheese orange” color that is cheaper to produce (and sadly shows stress marks like a mother f’er). And because that color is seen throughout the wave (especially on the Zeo Rangers Build a Figure Megazord) it means it’s not a “factory error” but an intentional switch which comes across as nothing but “cost cutting”, or saving money (or coming in at budget goal, blah blah blah whatever).
The issue I have with this is that we have been told, constantly, hammered through our heads, that we have to SUPPORT THE LINE OR IT WILL END. Whether it’s Bandai themselves or their bonafide spokesperson MMPRToys, we are constantly told that we have to SUPPORT THE LINE OR IT WILL END, and BUYING AT MARKDOWNS IS NOT SUPPORTING THE LINE, and so forth. But here’s my response to that:
It’s not my job to buy your product at full price. It’s your job to make me want to pay full price for it. It’s your job to make me want to buy it IN THE FIRST PLACE. And when you whisper in our ears every opportunity that you get that this is a line “for collectors” and then choose to cost-cut the COLOR of arguably the third or fourth most popular Power Ranger in the entire franchise? Inexcusable.
At New York Comic Con, Bandai America dangled the Psycho Rangers waves of figures as the carrot on the stick. “If you don’t support the line, you won’t get these figures”. Well, if you’re going to release the quality you just did – cheese orange unpainted plastic so you could look good at shareholders for saving money or coming in under budget – then you can keep your Psycho Rangers. You can go ahead and keep your 1:4 scale helmets, your non-transforming Legacy Zords, your reissue Legacy flipheads … you can keep them all. I don’t want them. If you’re going to tell me you’re making this for me and then hand me something subpar with a smile on your face, then I’m not the consumer you’re aiming for.
Bandai America took strides in the past years to change the perception of their company with the toy collector community by delivering high quality products release after release. The excitement for what was next had everyone on the edge of their seat. Fans riddled them with questions on what the next release was going to be, when it was going to be, and so forth. The excitement began to dwindle in recent months with unexciting releases revealed (like Legacy non-transforming Dino Zords). And with this highly anticipated wave of figures hitting shelves with subpar and inexcusable paint decos (or lack thereof), many fans are stating that they’re going to vote with their wallet from this moment on.
As a Power Rangers fan for 25 years and a collector since the Neo Saban Era began, it’s disheartening to see Bandai America seemingly not care about the collectors they claim to cater to. It’s disheartening to have no open line of communication with them regarding their releases or the quality control issues that continue to plague the line (or for all we know it’s actual design choice).
We did a news story regarding their choice to decrease female figures in the toy line. They issued a statement, through another site, that they will continue to release female figures. Aside from a Legacy fliphead Pink Ranger, we have seen no indication of a future female toy for the next couple of waves of toys. In this release of the new Legacy figures assortment, the Zeo Yellow Ranger was shockingly (or not shockingly) missing from the wave on the shelf (in fairness, someone could have purchased her). We expect a statement from Bandai stating they will address quality concerns in future releases. Or hell, they’ll release an accurate version of the Gold Ranger as a convention exclusive and make fans pay three times as much and smile as they claim they planned this all along. In which case, there’s not enough middle fingers to throw in their direction in response to the one they’re giving collectors.
But how many more times do we have to have this conversation? How many more times is Bandai going to promise us change and deliver us the same thing time and time again, and then blame us when things go wrong or something doesn’t come out? How many more times do fans have to settle for “good enough” instead of “good”? Why does it continue to feel like no one involved with Power Rangers at Bandai actually cares about Power Rangers as much as the people buying the product?
The title of the story is accurate here. Bandai reached for gold, settled for a participation trophy, and don’t seem to care that they fell so short of the mark. Collectors and fans are upset. You shouldn’t have to customize your figure to make it accurate – and definitely not in the line that is claimed to be collector oriented. Speaking to a former Bandai employee, it was stated we SHOULD be upset.
In a market where Hasbro is in talks to buy out Mattel and decrease the amount of competition, Bandai is just happy to be part of the game. And while Hasbro continues to set the bar in quality and expectation, Bandai continues to lower the bar of what a company can get away with. And shame on us, the fans, for continuing to support it.
When I started collecting Power Rangers merchandise, my collector friends asked me why I wanted “knock off cheap toys”. I argued with them about quality and execution and how Bandai is actually brilliant in their marketing strategy. A few years later I realize now, more than ever, that my collector friends were right.
Shame on me.
Bandai Reaches for Gold and Settles for Participation Trophy
Discuss.
I've got nothing to add. I've not bought a PR toy since... Time Force so I've been watching this all from afar. Still, I completely understand your frustration, and I'm in total agreement. There is just no excuse for this, not after all the hype and promise that went into building it up, Gold Ranger in particular, and I get the feeling the response will inevitably be something along the lines of "Well, you guys should just be glad we made it at all!".
If budget was such an issue, then I have to ask, why flood pegs with metallic versions of figures people already have, which no one asked for? If they're going to make a proper colored Gold Ranger a convention exclusive, why not just do *those* instead?
It's heartbreaking and it's sickening, how PR fans have been treated in the last few years. I think Joe fans get more respect from Hasbro, and that line has effectively been dead since 2013.
So a very nice opinion piece, while I'm not entirely invested in the Power Rangers toyline like others are I can see why a lot of people are angered by this. But since this seems like a good thread, I should mention that, BoA has to be doing something wrong when I'm more of a fan of Power Rangers than say Star Wars or Marvel, yet their stuff tempts me to buy it more than Bandai's.
So let's have a bit of history with me and my strings towards the series, it starts in December 2013, got the Goesei Morpher or whatever they called it, for cheap because it was an after Christmas sale. For a Morpher it is surprisingly solid and the Power Ranger cards I had collected previously out of novelty had an actual purpose with this Morpher, that was cool. Skip forward for a bit, Super Megaforce as a line never interested me aside from the Standard Action Figures, and more so just the Silver Grunts and Prince Vekar, and I could never find them to army build with. And when they started to do the Red Rangers and Sixth Rangers, never had the money due to being in a rough spot at the time.
In fact, I never started caring about the main figures completely, until they announced with Dino Charge, they'd be releasing more than just the main General and Grunt, this is when I became more active. Got Fury, Wrench, Snide, and snagged a Lord Zedd when he was around because I love the villains, and they make nice set piece enemies for SH Figuarts and other figures of similar size. Same goes with Ninja Steel too, don't care about the Rangers, just the monsters, got the chainsaw weasel, cat, and bulldozer dude (Cannot remember their names), and then two grunts, I've been seeing them pop up at my Walmart more so I may just do some Army Building of those, at least four.
What I'm trying to say is, for a passing by consumer and collector like me, that is rarely into the line, when your standard sized figures are more appealing to me than your Legacy Line, and when the standard figures I get aren't even the rangers but monsters, your doing something wrong with the legacy line.
Like to be honest, what puts me off is just the size of the Legacy Figures, never was a fan of that size anyway even if I do have a Doctor Doom figure of that size but hey, I love Doctor Doom so that's why. Which is why I would totally get the Psycho Rangers if the line continued. It's just you know, I hope their done well....
... Because damn, ToysRus, let me tell you. I had a 20% off Coupon for about a month that expires tomorrow. I could get a Legacy Figure for cheap, and they even had a Ninja Storm Blue which I was interested in... but despite that prospect, and the fact that there were tons of other options (Mostly MMPR Movie and other shelf warmers), I didn't get any. Not even 20% compels me to just dip slightly into the line until I want to get serious.
I even forgot Gold Ranger was coming out and when I heard he did I was like, "Oh, maybe if they have him..." but the color issue is just a bit annoying to me to where I wouldn't purchase it even with the 20%. Seriously though if the line dies, it dies, I hadn't collected yet and had no interest to start seriously collecting until the Psychos got announced. If they don't make it to shelves? It'll be a sad day but I'll move on, and probably spend my money somewhere else.
Man that was a long ramble on toys, surprised I could type that much to be honest.
it's absolutely heartbreaking. I've been very accommodating with the legacy line of figures. I've not been upset at the poor paint or incorrect paint apps. The should thing didn't bother me, nor the helmet issue. I was more than happy to buy and took these as minor issues, but this Zeo Gold is the line for me. It's just cheap looking. It's not worth $20, it's not even worth $10.
I'd be happy to pay $25 or even $30 for a gold painted or plastic shield that looked liked we expected but I won't even pay for this turd at reduced prices.
Shame on BOA. Shame.
the major problem with bandai is they are wasting all of the budget on useless stuff that was never used in the sentai footage like the bikes, cockpit modes, ninja stars, repaints because of that,
everything that gets used that's important in the sentai footage like the morphers, weapons, figures, megazords gets shafted and messed up.
they have to go back to focusing on quality and not quantity.
They dropped it years ago. I quit supporting them.
Impressive piece.
I don't agree with the "orange" part, but it certainly isn't gold. Nor is it worthy of a purchase.
I feel like BOA is just making wrong decisions left and right.
While I'm speaking for only myself here, Legacy Zords that have minimal diecast to the point it doesn't affect the figure would be awesome and I'm pretty sure not many want a Legacy Zord that doesn't combine at all.
I'm not asking for SoC quality here.
The common argument usually tossed around for something like this is usually "it's just for kids so they don't have to try."
But the thing about that is, kids are NEVER as dumb as executives think they are. And the kids deserve fun stuff too.
First off I just want to commend you Chris for writing an article like this and the prior one about the females, rather than being a shill for Bandai like certain others. Bandai needs to be called out on their BS or else things are never gonna change for the better.
On to the topic at hand, this shoddy assortment of Legacy figures doesn't surprise me in the slightest. The 6.5 inch Legacy figures have been riddled with problems from the get-go. From the terrible MMPR Red helmet sculpt, to the inaccurate shoulders on the MMPRs, to the grey belt fiasco. The build-a-figures no one asked for and ensuing lack of weapons. The questionable scale and body sculpts. The terrible distribution (MMPR Pink double packed, MMPR Red only single packed, 2nd wave Space Rangers impossible to find). To say this line has been a clusterfuck would be an understatement.
Ultimately I think the entire 6.5 inch line was a mistake. Bandai was doing really well with the 5 inch figures and I don't know why they didn't just stick with what was working instead of trying to emulate Marvel Legends. In one year we got the complete MMPR and Super Megaforce teams, 3 villains, a Red Ranger from every team, and 8 sixths. The following years we got 7 Dino Charge Rangers, the 6 MMPR Movie Rangers, and 13 villains. To scrap all of that progress and ask those who want older complete teams to start over at a new scale for double the price is where they lost me.
The only way that wouldn't have lost me is if they had been spiritual successors to figuarts, but near 7 inch figures with roided men and anorexic/silicone breasted women is not what I wanted from a PR line, and the fact that they didn't even come with personal weapons was the icing on the cake. I think the line is beyond salvageable at this point and Bandai should put it out of it's misery and go back to making cheap but respectable 5 inch figures which actually scale with their main line, as well as over a decade of older villains/vehicles/accessories/playsets.
I think the shill comments are uncalled for. I'm sorry some people can't be as angry as you. That is unprofessional of you.
I personally didn't care for those shorter rangers. I don't like small toys like that.
That being said, Bandai's behavior with this line is unprofessional.
I agree, you want people to buy your products at full price, then make me want to buy it.
I can take a guess. They thought they could get away with reusing the same molds for every team.
For some silly reason they though people buying these figures were doing it for the megazord. Like WTF, we are doing it for the rangers.
Bandai let's make it simple.
We want full sized Legacy Megazords without basic product issues like loose parts or bending. We want them to have some mobility. We want the SoC type stuff. Not everything needs to be damn metal. There are bits you can cheap out on because the quality is good enough. Hell I think you should encourage people to mod their figures like the gundam models.
We want the Legacy figures to look screen accurate. That means no roids, not barbie boobs. Men are not masturbating to these figures(I hope). We can get porn on the internet now. Take the figuarts and make those. They are damn near perfect.
Give us the damn weapons pack. If you want, put them with the female characters. That way you can sell those and also say you did the whole team.
Why you thought retailers needed so many of the female figures is beyond me.
I would love to chat with the people in charge. I think they are some archaic ideas on how business works.
Keep reading: OPINION - Bandai America drops the ball - Page 2
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