What went wrong with the Power Rangers 2017 Movie Toyline? 

PR2017 was simultaneously overdesigned, and embarrassed by the source material.

The movie, and it's toyline, is a good example of "designed by committee"

Those movie morphers were difficult to give away by the end. I ended up with 4 movie morphers after literally never intending to buy a single one somehow? They were 3 dollars at the dollar store in Canada, and I just kept getting them in PR lots I purchased. The kids I gave them to gave them away too!

This toyline has the same problem every modern movie toy line has. They're working only with preproduction material and incredibly complex CGI that isn't finalized until the movie premieres.

What went wrong? easy. This movie is the epitome of being ashamed of your roots. This movie went out of its way in every possible regard to not even come close to the original Power Rangers season as much as humanly possible because they feared people would just think its just "for kids" again. And this resulted in this movie being barely recognizable as a Power Rangers movie, which included the looks of both the suits and the Zords. Add in that they made a reboot of a fast paced action-packed series and decided to change it into a very bland and boring Breakfast club rip-off, and there you go. Whoever was in charge took literally every wrong decision possible with this, and it shows. I know next to no Power rangers fan who likes this movie, but I know people that have never watched Pr that either like it or at least think its decent, which just prooves the insane disconnect this entire movie had/caused.

Still heartbreaking seeing Toys r Us footage.. Anyway PR movie toyline.. eh. Definetly felt like a case of bandai being overly cautious and using the least amount of resources possible to just fill out a summer blockbuster shelf. But it also seemed like that same mantra went into everything they produced before the Hasbro takeover... On a personal level, nothing of the toyline really looked good, and the prices they expected for them made the decision to skip very simple. I can only hope hasbro puts a bit more oomph into their toyline offering come that movie. **nervous look**

I think the biggest problem with it was that they were not based on a thing made to sell toys

I still stand by the fact that Saban was ready to sell, and needed to get key thins in place for the sell off. I think this movie was all apart of the plan. Same for the toy line. Bandai knew it was coming.

One of the best parts of the old show and super sentai was the zords all coming together. And as the series progressed, the new zords and formations that came along.

I got the giant box set, and I’m glad I did. The individual releases probably would’ve sold out by the time I got all five anyways.

I think the cast was spot on! The Red Ranger was great! But sadly everything else was bad

I was actually eager for the Putties, I felt they could still work as Finster creations that were imperfect or didn't bake right. Rita was an interesting idea & the toy was a nice place holder until I got the Lightning Collection. But everything else (costume design, character, zords, Megazord, Goldar) were just a total failure and redesigned just to change in total disregard for why they existed in the first place.

To me, the film felt like the beginning of the end of the bandai collectibles era. I remember from about Christmas 2013, up to 2016, there was something new and exciting coming from the legacy line. And it was great being an adult collector and power rangers fan for those few years. I've not got on board for any of the lightning collection stuff, so for me I've not got that vibe back, but I'm hoping the super7 power rangers stuff is worth buying again

I can't describe how upset and discouraged I was with this movie in everyway. The zords were by far the most saddening, they were weird and some look literally nothing like the animal they're supposed to represented. The megazord was simply ugly lol

It's an odd hit and miss for me with the 2017. I loved the helmet designs but hated the rest of the suits. The zord's I enjoyed, they looked alien, but Always felt the point was for them to blend in. Though when it comes to overall design both Goldar and the Megazord screamed as just awful to me.

Totally agree with you, the 2017 line was a huge disappointment. The combining zords are very poor. They were overpriced, oversized and cheaply made. Plus they were completely different from the original series. Just like you I only bought them because I felt I had to not because I liked them.

The title should be “What IS wrong with the 2017 line”. I swear I still see this stuff stocked all over the place in stores.

The movie was weird. The TV show somehow has grander ideas that more often than not it manages to pull off. Meanwhile the movie that was supposed to bring it to a new generation and get people to take the IP more seriously was just a lot of talking and Krispy Kreme product placement. Whatever Hasbro does can’t be any blander than all of that.

Boy are those ugly toys. What went wrong with the toyline's probably the same thing that went wrong with the movie itself. The background stories for Zordon and Rita were an interesting twist with a lot of potential but the Rangers were too diverged from lore. Its like the movie was made solely for people who never even watched the original show.

Sadly this Power Rangers movie feel to much like Michael Bay movie and the toy line was not as fun as the 90’s stuff !!! I was able to find the morpher a the dollars stores for 3$ 😂

16:11 The movie incorporates mostly norse mythology...this is why the zords had multiple legs...the megazord was a norse giant of myth.

I found it weird the morphers weren't used in the movie.

Amazing video!

That power coin case is sick I got it on clearance at toys are us way back in the day and still love it

The combining zords needed to B 33% smaller, have more detail, & have better transforming abilities.

The only Legacy line figures we ever got in Portugal were the movie line ones (and I still imported them from the US because I was an idiot and decided not to wait).

I enjoy the movie. It isn't great, but I feel like a sequel could really have improved upon it. As for the toys, I had the Legacy Collection figures and Red Ranger helmet. I also got the combining Megazord. The Megazord it self was not great. It felt very cheap (but was not inexpensive). But I really loved the sheer size of it. I'd love a higher quality Megazord line that stands 18 inches tall.

@powerrangertube Do you own a complete Power Dome? If yes, is your desert cut-out still complete? If it is, can you get a high res image of it so that I could have it printed? Mine was destroyed due to me leaving the batteries in and sadly they leaked.

I just dont understand why they didn't just slightly update the original zords from 93. They went way overboard with what we ended up with.

If you ask someone "Have you seen the Power Ranger movie?" The answer would probably be about the two '90s movies and not the 2017 movie.

I'm still pointing fingers. The designers of the megazord, how does the Dragonzord combines with the Megazord? Tell me!!!! (To this day, still yelling and asking them to finish it, reveal the Dragonzord design and reveal)

Just imagine what the Dragon Zord would have looked like! 🤦🏾‍♂️

Does anybody know if the 2017 designs will be in Lighting Collection?

Great video

I generally liked everything about the movie besides the designs. The ranger suits, the zords, rita, goldar. They were all very muddled and indistinctive. I really felt that this held the movie back.

A major fly I had with the movie was that part of the movie toy line they made movie morpher toys, but they didn't use the Morphers at all in the actual movie

I wish we got an R rated Power Rangers movie.

Regarding the american zord design, I also dislike the comic zords for example. Those Omega Zords are really uninspired imho.

I love it when they make a film based on a toy property and change everything about it.

They *still* have toys from this line at the Ollie's near me. Kinda crazy to think that they came out seven years ago...

I got the TRU exclusive legacy ‘collectors’ figures based on a sudden burst and appreciation of the franchise as the film released (hadn’t bought a single PR item since the original movie). With this I dunno if it was typical to the line or if I just had better lines to base it on (I collect SW Black Series & Marvel Legends), but I felt the lack of accesories and some weak articulation in ‘large’ ‘collector’ figures to be massively dissappointing. No alternate hands for combat poses like fists etc, no weaponry, no bad guys to fight in the scale… I boxed them into storage pretty quickly, something rare for me on a new purchase.

IF You're A Fan Of 1995 Film; You COULD Substitute 2017 Megazord As IvanOoze Megazord. As It Looks VERY SIMILAR! (That is IF You Have 2005 Megazord; Which Itself Looked Super Derpy in The Film?) Even The Black Zord Kinda Looked Like One Of Ivans? Eventhough The Other Was CLEARLY An Ant. He Had GREAT Zords Vs Crappy Ninja Ones... Which Looked Far Better As McDonalds Toys!

The designs of... EVERYTHING in that movie was fugly!

I'm going to try and keep it short and simple because I could actually make a mile long comment. And behind the screens feature on the DVD they try to actually make the Power Rangers reality base which failed because of the alien check that they try to put into the zords which supposed to disassemble and reassemble like alpha can. Hated the helmets when I first saw them going to tell which animals they were bonded to. Liked the story, didn't really care for much of the designs at most part. One comment I want to make is that the Morphers look like the henshin belts for a big movie version of Kamen Rider.

15:16 I'm not going to say that the movie zords are an ultimate masterpiece and those don't agree with that just miss some kind of point. I can't say the zord toys are great, they can use a lot more paint and they combine into not very elegant megazord. But I absolutely love the movie zords themselves, their so sleek alien flowing-metal-like design and well-detailed animation. These are also the first zords that actually seem combat-efficient on their own as opposed to every show zord that is generally useful only as a part of a megazord.

I was interested in the idea of a movie in 2017 until I saw the toys of the zords and laughed at how bad they looked. But I still decided to go watch the film and couldn't believe how wrong the whole thing felt and looked. I fully believe the people they picked to make the movie never watched the original power rangers. The only part that made me go oh wow was seeing Amy Jo Johnson and Jason David Frank for a few seconds in the movie. The rest was a waste of time. And I had no interest in any of the products associated with the film.

I actually came across a 2017 film Goldar figure at the window of a mult-service store in my neighborhood today. At least one place is still selling from this line.

*PR2017:* sells toys meant for really young kids *Also PR2017:* has a joke about bovine genitals in the first 2 minutes

The problem is they were only morphed for 10 minutes lmaooo I’ve never been so bewildered lol it’s not a 30 minute episode. You have to catch people at that moment, and they decided that the power rangers shouldn’t be power rangers lol

This was a great video. I really felt like they fumbled the bag on the movie merch, I honestly did not feel compelled to buy any of it

I only got the 2 girls to get the MMPR Versions. I had no idea then that we would get Lightning Collection later on. I now use the 2 Movie versions as part of Lord Drakkons Team.

I actually enjoyed the movie. What's funny is I liked the parts where they WERENT rangers more then the actual fighting at the end. Felt like a sequel to The Breakfast Club

5:29 This Goldar is in scale with "Legacy collection" movie megazord. P. s.: Goldar used the sword only in his last scene so its lack is not that crucial.

I'm a special case because I'm a 2000s baby and my first power rangers series was mighty morphing power rangers and I have fond memories of that original movie on DVD

Everyone who worked on and approved these designs and story should never come near a power rangers movie ever again.

So, did the Rita Repulsa figure from the 2017 movie actually come with the venom now green ranger 2 pack? If so, I need to try and track one down. Also, I need to try and track down every other 2017 movie 5 inch figure.

How did you get the Rita Repulsa figure? Was it from that green ranger 2 pack?

This is such a good video. Although I enjoy the 2017 film. Many of the problems you mentioned did stuck out to me. What was up with them Zords.

I think one of the biggest mistakes was changing the scale of the Megazord, and eschewing Zord Builder compatibility. If only they had managed to make a worthwhile, decent looking $35 combining Zord Builder Megazord… the giant megazord with each Zord sold separately was a huge mistake.

I can sum up what went wrong in six words, they didn't respect the source material.

13:13 I bought this set because I'm a huge fan of the movie's overall esthetic, so the screen-accurate power coins were must have, I didn't even care about the light-up display base.

I actually felt embaressed leaving the cinema after watching the film,i even told other mmpr fans i knew to boycott it

I only picked up the Zords because they were dirt cheap. And after I got them home I had to give them a good paint job. I wasn't planning on getting them. I don't like how they combine, you take them apart the put them together in another figuration. They didn't transform. Or should I say morph?

1:40, that makes a loooot of sense now. Dang, the action figure line is just...a mess. Now that after much consideration, this PR movie toyline...is confusing on what it wants to be. Another case of trying to fit in with movie trends...just doesn't work out very well.

from the 2017 movie toyline i got the basic yellow ranger figure the yellow ranger pocket pop and the yellow ranger regular sized pop and the morpher

I don't understand why cartoons stop showing on regular TV and then toy stores started closing down as well, it's like adults didn't want kids to be kids anymore.

Goldar from that movie should be added as Sin Number 8

I found everything about the costumes to the zords, Megazord, the weapons and aesthetic in general to be extremely unappealing and uninspired.

It wasn't nostalgic enough for the older, original, fans. Most importantly though, it didn't grab my kid's attention.

Honestly, I wasn't expecting much from the 2017 movie, but MAN I was pissed at the poor execution. Making the rangers delinquents instead of role models. Making Zordon a complete jerk. Not showing us a Megazord trans formation. A stupid Bayformers reference, AND shoehorning a Krispy Cream advertisment every 5 seconds! Even the toyline was terrible(as mentioned in the video). Which is why I never bought any of them. Cause I refuse to support laziness.

I got the red and blue swords off Mercari and the Blue had that actors voice. My nephew liked the blue one more hahaha.

The biggest problem I had was the combining zords. They were cheaply and poorly made, oversized, and overpriced. Compare them to the Legendery Voltron Lions which cost the same at the time and the quality was vastly superior. I didn't care for Legendary Defender but that's a discussion for another time and place.

Only thing I'm sad I missed was the Combiner Zord. But I did get the Funko Pop of Rita and Zordon as rangers together which I think is cool. However everything else I didn't want, which should tell you how bad the toys were. Again on the megazord; Did not think them separate was cool, but together I actually like it.

I wouldnt mind a remake of the megazord

Looking back I think the problem with the 2017 toyline is that at least to me it looked kind of unappealing. It's as if the toy designers didn't had an idea who they wanted to please. The actual Ranger suits while not horrible were not great either. I think it suffered the same issues as Oscar Isaac's Apocalypse costume/makeup from X-men Apocalypse. In that they overly designed and way too complicated that it becomes a bit difficult to use. It makes me appreciate the simplicity of the OG suits. The 2017 movie is alright but it's easy to see why it kind of failed to connect with audiences. I honestly hope the upcoming Entwhistle movie is better and take actual inspiration from the zyuranger source material. I remember buying the 2017 morpher on Toysrus(Still miss em) when it was on clearance. It was honestly the 1st morpher I ever bought. In isolation it's not bad. But at the same time I do feel a bit of buyers remorse. In a weird way I bought the Lightning Collection dino morpher for 50 dollars on the Wallmart website and I felt very satisfied.

The zords were designed that way because they were trying to be like the Transformers movies without having enough CGI experience and probably resources to achieve something of the same level. Even if the director denied that they took inspirations from Michael Bay's movies, the designs pretty much speaks otherwise, it doesn't help that they took the designs too literally and reasoned they these were "inspired" by these animals but really are just alien machines. And their reasoning as to why some would have extra legs is so they "would just move better in a CG environment", which made zero sense. When it comes to the toy design, because they didn't really think it through, it leaves the product designers a really big hurdle as to how to create a functioning megazord that can combine while still making it screen accurate. So instead of having 1 megazord set that satisfy all those criteria, they'd have to make multiple figures set at different price points. The last factor as to why the toys are so poorly made has to do with the retailers. Often time toy makers get their budget limit from the stores (Toys R Us, Walmart, Target). So if a store can only buy certain figures at a specified wholesale price, the toy maker would have to cut a lot of corners to turn a profit. This includes skimming out on paint apps, cheaper materials, decal applications, molding things together instead of separate pieces, cheaper packaging, dumbed down transformations, etc. Given TRU was on its last leg at the time, they probably use toys from this movie as a last hail mary in the hopes of making some money back. As for the size, they were probably competing with Hasbro's titan class transformers, if Fortress Maximus was $199 on retail at the time, but a Megazord is only $99, and the boxes are the same size, which one would you get for your child for that Xmas? Toy companies often make decisions that weren't passion or fanbase driven, they were made by number crunchers from the retailer side and the sales side of the company, who doesn't always care to understand what the fans want. Ultimately the toyline suffers and people are disappointed.

I bought all 6 Legacy Power Rangers figures for $60 at my local Toys R’ Us and a Legacy Titanus for $40. I find both purchases great.

The 2017 movie was all forced to a degree, and bad timing led to the entire movie series canned on the spot, particularly for one reason in two words: Hasbro buyout. It dominoed to killing the franchise in extension, because while Brian Goldner liked the franchise which led to buying PR without asking the rest of the higher-ups, those same higher-ups do not share the sentiment, and ran it down the ground the instant Goldner died. If there is one group left who could buy this franchise, it's Toei themselves.

Listen, I just want the Cenozoic Era Rangers (what the power set is officially known as according to Battle for the Grid) in the lightning collection. I'm sure Hasbro can do them justice.

Nothing beats the original

I lkied the movie and I agree that the toyline could've been better.I think people would be more forgiving for the combining Megazord if it was smaller.

Still haven't seen the movie not out of protest, lack of interest I can accept the suits but when I saw the megazord that killed any interest I had.

i’ll never understand why they always take the most absurd creative liberties and bastardize every aspect we love and are shocked when we hate it

You know I didn't even complain about the 2017 Power Rangers movie toy line back then and they were pretty okay and I kind of like them because they were pretty cool and it's sad the movie didn't even do so well at the box office when I first came out back in 2017 and in the following year of 2018 of July and there was a report about Saban Brands was going out of business and Hasbro bought the rights to Power Rangers because I believe Power Rangers Ninja Super Steel was the last Power Rangers season made by Saban Brands Because Saban Brands went out of business and Hasbro really bought the rights to Power Rangers back in 2018

nothing. we just move on from everything very quickly and nostalgia stuff is in style

I never saw the movie, nor do i have a desire to see it or clips from it. Everything I've heard about it just makes it sound like trash. And that sucks, I still like power rangers, mainly the ones I grew up with as the newer ones don't appeal to me. The suits ye look way to much like an Ironman suit. The zords look like someone melted the Michael Bay transformers then melted it more to try and make a megazord. For Goldar isn't he just made of gold in the movie? Well if I made the movie I'd have Rita find a monkey/chimp, turn it into a monster, then use the gold to give it armour and weapons. And while it's powerful, her control over it is weaker the further away it is, so she merges with it so it can powerup. The zords I'd just want the old school ones, even if the cgi for them looked wonky as long as they looked like they should, or if we can't have them in colour, I'd settle for gray scaled versions of them, but have them gain colour when merging together for the megazord.

That's what happened when you hire a director who don't like the source material

I think the biggest offender/disappointment this movie brought to the table was the megazord itself. The suits and morphers are forgivable at the end of the day, but Daizyujin (the MMPR megazord) is a super iconic and classic robot design that anyone will recognize from miles away and the producers behind this movie just threw it away and replaced it with something super generic and lifeless. Which honestly sums up the whole film really, strip away everything that makes power rangers recognizable as power rangers and replace it with nothing.

The movie figures compared to the lighting collection figures look like they came from the dollar store.🤣🤣🤦

The one piece torso makes them look to alien like

I suppose the pterodactyl movie Zord would look cool as its own thing if it was like some kind of fighter in Star Wars are some kind of anti Godzilla weapon but not as a Power Ranger Zord at the very least it's the only one that's not painful to look at

You know, I feel bad for the Power Rangers fanbase. The Godzilla, Transformers, and even Sonic fans have had great to amazing films in the past few years. But the one the PR fans got was (IMO) okay, but clearly it wasn't made for the fans of the original property.

I've mentioned this before, and I'll do so again: after being burnt by Godzilla's pathetic screentime in 2014, I was pleasantly surprised by the Rangers' in this film. Compared to _Godzilla_ '14, their morphed screentime seemed _Lord of the Rings_ Extended Edition long.

They didnt event show the zords combining, also the megazord is fugly.

I agree that toy line was very poor. Especially the combining megazord, the zords are so crude and cheap looking. I bought them but maybe I shouldn't have. They are also some of the least sought after on the secondary market. Such a shame.

My opinions on Zords and Megazords has varied in the last 29 years but seeing these on the shelves at the bow defunct K-Mart here in NY was the 1st and only time I audibly said "F--- THISE THINGS!" Lol. But really, even in thr movie they were tiny compared what we were used to. Poor Goldar. Look hiw they massacred my boy! ...And who's smooth brain idea was it to not show a transformation sequence in the final battle?! Wtf?! Woops. There I go again. 😅

I got a morpher ashamed it wasnt in the movie. Thats what killed my love for pr. I do still love it dont get me wrong. But ill stick to sentai. They actually do crossovers with the kamen rider!!!

I'd rather see more of the Super Sentai movies and shows released here than another PR movie.

I don't get why power rangers would stop using designs and ideas from toei. Toei has been doing succesfull sentai shows for half a century, they know their stuff. The moment power rangers stopped following their designs and ideas, they created the power ranger equivalent of season 8 of game of thrones

The old Power Rangers and Voltron toy lines were way better than this!!!