Rounding out our coverage of San Diego Comic Con 2015 we have a couple gems to share with you. Our own Kickback just sat down with Bandai of America for an interview on current & upcoming products and a few other goodies fans have been clamoring for with Power Rangers Legacy & Dino Charge.
Starting things off we discussed Power Rangers Legacy items. These releases were apparently never meant to be chronological like collectors had assumed, it happened to just turn out that way. Bandai knows that the Ninja & Shogun Megazords as well as the Falconzord are all very obvious choices for the future. Power Rangers Zeo is also internally very popular. They also think a Legacy Gold Zeo Ranger Staff is a interesting idea ;) Legacy Tor was mentioned as well but as a whole they don’t want to destroy collectors’ wallets.
The Thunder Megazord shown at SDCC should be able to assumed the Assault Team sled mode, but they’ll get with their designers and give us an answer post-con. The Legacy Blade Blaster displayed was entirely a mock-up as the retail version wasn’t ready yet. They would like to do a role play item and a mech/figure item together if possible kinda like Saba and Tigerzord. Again they don’t want to break the bank. Fans have also asked recently about a Black & Gold Dragonzord, so we posed that question to Bandai. There response is “would fans buy it?”
For Dino Charge Bandai still asserts that if a Ranger appears in show, of which there’s likely to be 11 between DC & Supercharge, then there’s a very good chance to see it in toy form. When asked about any possible gender swaps or sash swaps in the show, they referred back to the first answer. Bandai is also taking this position with Megazords, if it appears in the show footage it’s very likely to receive a toy. Villain figures are a key point of interest to Bandai as well since this is the first time since MMPR that waves are predominantly villains. Poisandra however is still cloudy. While Bandai is looking into it, it depends entirely on the characters trajectory in the show. They simply don’t know currently. The same can be said for why no Supercharge items were displayed – if it hasn’t been revealed in the show then they can’t necessarily show it in toy form without approval from Saban Brands.
Fans of Ranger Keys from Super Megaforce will also be sobered a bit. Currently no plans for more Ranger Keys as the play pattern is no longer current. Speaking of exclusives Bandai confirmed that they are upping their game for New York Comic Con to match the cons size. They will have an exclusive of some kind for this years show.
Bandai of America takes the fan opinion very seriously. They also want to cater to collectors and use the Legacy line as well as conventions to try and do that. They encourage fans to let them know what they think at conventions and such.
We’d like to thank Bandai of America for their time over the weekend for answering our questions and being awesome in general. The team is super excited for the future and can’t wait to show you what’s in store next. They hope you’ll come see them at this year’s NYCC.
