Those of you who have followed TokuNation.com over the years are aware of our love not only for toys and collectibles but the desire to get to know more about what goes in to making them happen. That love allowed us the opportunity to get to know, on personal levels, some of the individuals at Bandai America who were working on the Power Rangers brand. One such individual was Gregory Mitchell, who first joined the Power Rangers team in 2013 and started making his mark on the property with Power Rangers Super Megaforce. He would finish his tenure with Bandai America as the Senior Director of Marketing for Power Rangers and oversee Power Rangers Dino Charge, Power Rangers Dino Supercharge, the Power Rangers Movie, and Power Rangers Ninja Steel.
Gregory Mitchell left Bandai America and Power Rangers in October of 2016 to join Alpha Group, a Chinese based company that was in the infant stages of growing their presence in the US markets and territories. Since joining the team, he has played a pivotal part in the acquisition of master toy licenses for various properties, including the multi-billion dollar global property that is Spongebob Squarepants. Fans of tokusatsu will recognize the name Alpha Group as the same company in China that produced the Armor Hero tokusatsu series.
He was kind enough to sit down with us for two hours and discuss a number of topics relating to the Power Rangers brand, both from his time there and from his position now looking at things as an outsider. In our exclusive interview, Gregory discusses how the process of a Super Sentai season becoming a Power Rangers season happens; the inside scoop on Legacy toys quality control issues; Legacy Shogun Megazord; an abandoned Super Sentai series that was planned before Lupinranger vs Patranger; and a handful of stories and favorite memories that you may have missed over the years.
The full interview is available in podcast form from Talkin Toku. You can listen to it in the player below or download it by clicking here.
The entire interview is also uploaded in to 9 total videos on our YouTube Channel. The first piece, a preview we released a couple of weeks ago, is shown here on the front page. All 8 follow up segments are included with this story and can be found by clicking “Read More”.
Again, please click “Read More” to see the other 8 YouTube videos!
Part 01
Part 02
Part 03
Part 04
Part 05
Part 06
Part 07
Part 08 (Final Part)
TokuChris says
Full interview will be available at the Talkin Toku website
http://www.talkintoku.com/e/035-inte...gory-mitchell/
The interview, broken in to parts, is available on YouTube via the TokuNationOfficial channel. They are linked below.
TokuChris says
Preview
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xxJwohRLDXI
Part 01
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=huzeszMKlOM
Part 02
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Wg3ovgKK24
Part 03
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4NhfvvLn4Y0
TokuChris says
Part 04
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TmtpkWM2HNA
Part 05
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8X-KQqZS1iU
Part 06
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vlu3J3Iual8
TokuChris says
Part 07
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1jGtL9c3MLE
Part 08
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWyxWqOHOFU
TokuChris says
Update - Preview, Parts 1-6 online.
Talkin Toku full mp3 version soon
Part 7 and 8 on YouTube soon after.
TokuChris says
Full interview up at Talkin Toku
http://www.talkintoku.com/e/035-inte...gory-mitchell/
Talyn says
Yeah that Then & Now Rita has press pics that look like a production figure (considering the basic paint apps), so I think that may come out.
Spearichu says
I like to call bullshit on that Rita figure for her breast plate is not big and pointy enough to poke an eye out.
Otherwise Gregory sounds like a cool dude.
GaoMuscle Longhorn says
This is pretty fun to listen to.
Man I'd love just having a long discussion with a Transformers designer over characters and alternate modes like this one
Tommy says
Given the short timeline that the movie merch was originally slated to roll out, it seems sensible that she would have already been tooled, so I'm really crossing my fingers and hoping she gets put out SOMEHOW. It was pretty stupid of Bandai to not put her in the current crop of Good vs Evil packs (which were smart enough to include the previously unreleased Odius and Spinferno), so hopefully they have other plans for her.
Keep reading: Interview with Gregory Mitchell (formerly of Bandai America) - Page 2
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