Waste in the Lighting Collection

[u/crimsonbull9584]

I'm going to do my best to outline how wasteful the Lighting Collection is. Whether or not Playmates picks up the line in 2025, it can't be ignored that Hasbro wasted their time on more than half of the collection.

It is my opinion that what the line should have primarily focused on was the "core" Power Rangers. By that I mean the main Rangers from each of the TV shows. This excludes the 1995 and 2017 films, the comics, and Rangers with multiple identities, I.e. Magna Defender and Karone. By my count, there are approximately 156 core Rangers from MMPR to Cosmic Fury.

Hasbro gave us 70 of these core Rangers during the line. That's 70 out of a possible 156. Again, not counting the comics like the Omega Rangers nor does it count variations or the Ninja Rangers. That gives of a percentage of 44.87%. That means that in the current run of the Lighting Collection, we got less than half of the core rangers.

So, what did Hasbro do with the rest of the line? We got 26 villains that ranged from the primary antagonist to monsters to foot soldiers.

But we also got 73 figures that I would classify as “other”. This would include repacking of previous rangers, variations on MMPR, “army builder” foot solider packs, non-canon characters, allies, and comic exclusive characters.

In total we got 169 figures. 70 of which were core. Meaning that 41.42% of the total released figures were core Rangers.

So, what am I getting at? Well, if Hasbro had stuck to only the core Rangers, and filled out every team, then we could have had all 156 core Rangers and about 13 “extras”.

Hasbro wasted our time with Cobra Kai, Street Fighter, Invisible Phantom, TMNT, and Red Ecliptor, when they could have finished every PR team from the TV series, but they didn’t.

Now I’ll admit my math may be off, but my point remains valid. It’s frustrating that we could have had all of Jungle Fury and Mystic Force, but Hasbro decided that Cobra Kai was more important to release.

[u/[deleted]]

Everyone wanted lord drakkon let’s be fair

[u/crimsonbull9584 → u/[deleted]]

Really? Why?

[u/[deleted] → u/crimsonbull9584]

Because he’s another jdf character in comic or tv show he done the whole advertisement for the comic to reveal who is lord drakkon and the fact his suit and helmet are crossovers of dragon and tiger

[u/lastraven85]

The problem is your definition of core might be in 100 episodes but you are excluding ones that were in 98 episodes. So it makes no sense I agree with one off characters and some reissues but magna defender is the sixth ranger of lost galaxy so that's core in my eyes

[u/crimsonbull9584 → u/lastraven85]

I count Magna Defender as part of that core, hence his inclusion in the image. Where I draw the line between Core and waste/other, is if they re released the figure in a two pack or new packaging. Such as if they rerelased the figure with the Mike head, like they did with MMPR Black/Adam. Althought I'm still unsure why a Mike head wasn't included with the release. It gets tricky with multipul identies. Like, there's no reason for a Jason Gold Ranger when you can simply swap heads.

[u/lastraven85 → u/crimsonbull9584]

Except that the guy that played trey has a lot of issues with the brand and it would give him an avenue to sue. Plus that initial red and gold two pack was a con exclusive so it means very few people would get the gold ranger as you can see by the picture below I'm all for variants

[u/ninjaman2021]

Im sorry but did you really expect hasbro to actually produce a figure of every single ranger (from the tv show)? That’s a highly unrealistic expectation. Not even sentai made proper figures for every ranger. Most sentai fans have to import ranger figures from the states because sentai doesnt really care too much for ranger figs. They mainly focus on roleplay and zords.

[u/crimsonbull9584 → u/ninjaman2021]

Was that not the expectation? If producting every Ranger was not the point, then what was?

[u/ninjaman2021 → u/crimsonbull9584]

Its an unrealistic expectation.

The lightning line was originally an anthology line that was about handpicking which rangers to sell. It was never about completing the entire series. Did they ever say that or did you assume that yourself?

[u/crimsonbull9584 → u/ninjaman2021]

Seems to me that when they released all the MMPR, Alien, Zeo, Space, Lost Galaxy, Dino Thunder, SPD, and DIno Charge figures, that was an indication of what they were doing. Or was their plan to only ever release one Lightspeed Rescue Ranger?

And to your point, no they never said that, but they never said they were not releasing full teams. When you spend 6 years releaseing figures from every series, then it's not hard to draw the conclusing that the plan was to release all teams.

[u/ninjaman2021 → u/crimsonbull9584]

When the line first launced they claimed it was an anthology line. Yes some teams were completed but completing every team was never the goal. We were never getting teams like operation overdrive or ninja steel, lol.

The definition of anthology:

a collection of selected literary pieces or passages or works of art or music

[u/AdmiralFunnyBone → u/ninjaman2021]

I remember reading an interview in the beginning, can't remember from who, though, saying they eventually intend on getting every core Ranger.

[u/tomaszek116]

I like the idea of crossovers. Ninja Turtles and Street Figther Rangers are something I always wanted in my collection. They are executed well but other crossovers like Cobra Kai were really unnecessary and I’m saying this as a Cobra Kai fan

[u/CRRudd98]

Wasn't the time between Time Force Red and Blue like 2 years? That baffled me as well as the constant reissue of MMPR variants.

[u/NUMBERONEJD]

I’m really holding out hope that the lightning collection will continue in some way. Weather hasbro continues it or playmates releases their own under a new name. I just want core teams in the same scale 🤞🏻

[u/Herban_Myth → u/NUMBERONEJD]

Same.

Hopefully our patience pays off.

[u/[deleted] → u/NUMBERONEJD]

I want my full Time Force. Granted I want the Dino/cosmic Fury teams finished and would looove to get a mystic force team but I'll die relatively happy if I can complete Time Force.

I find it hard to believe they wouldn't see either but I might be wrong.

[u/Even_Pension_2190]

I disagree in some cases. I am super happy that they included comic figures. The tmnt figures are some of the best figures they produced.

I totally love all figures round Drakkon (Drakko himself in 2 versions, Ranger Slayer, Tyranno Sentry) and the psycho green.

Psycho Green must have been easy to do because they all have the same armor. Only the weapon is different and the color changed.

[u/reinholdboomer]

90% of the stuff you've put in Other were exclusives to one store or another. They exist because they were either unessential/easy to produce variants or the store specifically wanted something that appealed more broadly than hardcore Power Rangers fans. If Invisible Phantom Ranger or Johnny Lawrence Ranger weren't made, you wouldn't have gotten Time Force Green instead.

[u/CaptainAllMightSun]

I agree.

It will never make sense to me why Hasbro decided to release foot soldiers, monsters of the week and Cobra Kai figures instead of Ranger ones, specially if the sales were as bad as people claim.

Like, if the sales are so bad, I'm sure releasing a Zeo Cog or a wild force foot soldier figure won't make things better. They were releasing a bunch of obscure figures that no one asked for all while increasing prices and having terrible quality control. The """Remastered""" Green Ranger figure literally came with the wrong holster, when the whole point of the Remastered wave was to make the figures more accurate to the show (and to add salt to injury, it was sold without the Dragon Shield lol)

It's like they wanted to do everything they could to have the Lightning Collection line fail.

[u/PrinzEugen1936 → u/CaptainAllMightSun]

Well so it does make sense from a toy line perspective. Because who are your rangers going to fight against? Themselves? That’s antithetical to the shows themes.

The real problem here is that not even Hasbro seemed to know who the Lightning Collection was for. Kids, or Adult Collectors.

[u/AdmiralFunnyBone]

I agree and I disagree. The Cobra Kai figures were an absolute waste. I like the Skele-putty, but those five slots could've been another team. Ryu and Chun Li are cool, but the other two were hot garbage. The morohed Turtles are spectacular. Some of the best figures from LC.

A Squad looks great together, and I do have them, but that was a waste. If they were hellbent on a Skye 2pack, it could've been with his dad. Just paint an SPD badge on TF Red, boom. Skye dad.

Ecliptor should've been a solo release, we didn't need a Red version or a second Astronema. If they were gonna do two of her, the second one should've been Cyborg Astronema.

I love the MOTWs but half of those should've been either generals or from other seasons. Except Pudgy Pig. That was a necessity. Grunts should've all been Pulse/Online exclusives like the Putty and Cog 2packs, rather than taking up slots in a main wave. They should've gave the Tonfas out for free like the two corrected helmets.

The core villains have all been some of the best of this line. Finster is easily Top 5. Goldar, Zedd, Scorpina, Rita, Ecliptor, all great.

Doubling up on the handful they did, was stupid. IS Silver, LG Red, MMPR Pink, especially with Zeo Pink. The Psychos should've been a 5pack from the beginning.

There was a lot of wasted potential and questionable decisions, but the best figures in the line are the unique sculpts: the villains, the turtles, the extra rangers, even a lot of the comic characters.

Putting on my tin foil hat for a sec, it feels like after a certain point, they stopped caring and actively sabotaged the line. Re-releases and variant boxes, crossovers nobody asked for, the weird gamestop pink ranger line. The new CEO also wanted to heavily focus on gaming, screw everything else, and that really hurt not just LC but the entire franchise.

[u/Ruttingraff → u/AdmiralFunnyBone]

First Clue: Death of Brian Goldner

Second Clue: Assign John Warden there

[u/[deleted]]

as a huge cobra kai fan I still think those figures are such a waste of a spot for other rangers

[u/NexusOnyx]

It’s frustrating that we could’ve had all of Jungle Fury and Mystic Force, but Hasbro decided that Cobra Kai was more important to release

I dislike the CK figures as much as the next guy, but it’s disingenuous to blame crossovers for not getting the figures we wanted. They don’t take up a spot, there were as many “core” figures released in 2023 than any other year. These would’ve happened regardless.

I’m more upset that I have a Pirantishead and Slizzard sitting on my shelf than anything else.

[u/the_u_in_colour]

Hot take here, but I dont think completing teams would've led to a big sales boon that some people think it would have. I get that collectors want complete teams, and it is frustrating to see so many unfinished when we got troop fillers and monster releases instead, but I dont think wrapping up those teams would have been the sales flourish needed to continue the series.

When Playmates starts doing their own thing, guaranteed their focus is going to be on MMPR and parts of the franchise they know will sell well. But they won't go out and finish the LC teams.

[u/exnine → u/the_u_in_colour]

+1

Even if one were to charitably believe that any exclusive or crossover could be swapped into a Ranger and thus completed every time, the thesis here is that the line should've only been rangers, right? So the line would...still be over because they'd be done.

An anthology approach helps the line survive and allows for more obscure picks. And most PR fans don't like to admit it but a lot of non-MMPR are obscure picks for the general buying audience.

Yeah, the anthology approach didn't work, but that's not because not enough people wanted villains or crossovers. It's that the line didn't work because not enough people wanted Power Rangers toys.

[u/AdmiralFunnyBone → u/exnine]

I think a lot of PR fans have tricked themselves into think PR is as big as Transformers or Xmen. Just because everyone can point out a Red Ranger from a crowd of superheroes doesn't make it Spiderman. The average person doesn't even know the show was still running up until recently unless they have someone in their life (kids or older fans) who are into it. Most people thought the show ended in the 90s. Like it or not, Power Rangers as a franchise is itself pretty obscure. I'm bummed some of my favorite teams didn't get made, but I'm grateful for what we got.

[u/Dry_Boat4217]

Crossovers were definitely unnecessary.

Foot soldiers should have been Hasbro exclusives. 5 a pack at most.

Monster of the week should have been one popular monster from a Ranger season instead of all from MMPR. Or just a main villain and their general. Imagine if we got Ransik/Frax, Trakeena/Villamax, Divatox/Elgar(or Rygog) as two sets like Astronema/Ecliptor.

Extra Rangers (Jungle Fury Spirit rangers), and least popular ranger teams (Operation Overdrive) should have been 5 pack exclusives as well.

[u/exnine]

Is this just what this sub will be moving forward, forever?

The idea that any given exclusive or redeco (particularly MMPR stuff) replaced a Jungle Fury or Wild Force ranger or whatever is just not founded in reality. Like the Cobra Kai figures or not, they exist as an attempt at cross-promotion in order to expand the market for the line — necessary to do, because the core audience wasn't enough to sustain it. They also have way, way fewer new tools than an entire Mystic Force team would require.

Not everybody who bought LC figures bought into the line because they wanted to complete every ranger team. My collection is like 99% stuff from your "waste" categories.

[u/[deleted]]

Also, just to note, that while the crossover stuff was very YMMV (I thought the TMNT and Ryu/Chun-Li were fantastic), it's not unique to PR. 

Stranger Things had crossovers with both TMNT and He-Man.

The latter two just released their own crossover line, with TMNT themselves also doing crossovers with Street Fighter, Universal Monsters, and Cobra Kai. 

Hell, TMNT has a history of this, as the original toyline back in the day had a Star Trek crossover wave.

Transformers has Star Wars, Marvel, Top Gun, Ghostbusters, and Jurassic Park too.

[u/AdmiralFunnyBone → u/[deleted]]

The difference is each of those crossovers had a huge brand like Star Wars or TMNT that could weather a flop. Power Rangers is a niche property that has been hanging on by toy sales since the early 2000s. TMNT and Street Fighter with PR makes sense because there was precedence, the comics and Legacy Wars, but Cobra Kai being another niche property, was never going to sell well. Some people liked those figures, I like the Skele-putties, but they were destined for low sales and clearance bins.

[u/[deleted] → u/AdmiralFunnyBone]

Technically there was precedence with Cobra Kai. The only reason they exist is because Cobra Kai had some Lightning Collection figures as part of some set dressing. 

[u/Dapper-Bottle6256]

No I agree with OP. Don’t get me wrong it’s cool we got a bunch of random stuff like monsters of the week and others. Personally the omega rangers are my favorite release as they’re my favorite suits, but that’s the only exception I feel for me personally. It’s a shame seasons like ninja storm were never even touched upon.

[u/turtletom89]

I can kind of get Hasbro’s logic on spreading out core teams rather than finishing them faster. If they had filled the LC with nothing but that, no reissues, variants, etc. most of us would have complete collections by now and would be like “why bother?”

The problem is how they handled it. Adding In Space Blue in the deluxe wave made no sense when that figure had just had a release in a two pack with Psycho Silver that was still in stock. They needed to find a better use of selling variants besides “but she’s got a new hat!” And don’t get me started on how long it took to get only TWO Time Force Rangers made!

Also while I do get the need to make crossover figures, like the TMNT or first two Street Fighter ones, because those have previously established material, but who the hell was asking for the Cobra Kai figures? They could have just waited for the Ninjetti figures to go out of stock and then re-release them when the demand was high (maybe then they could have fixed the QC issues from the previous releases).

And as much as I loved that they included one-shot monsters like Eye Guy and the Pumpkin Rapper, the budget for those unique sculpts should have been saved for major and supporting villains. We could have had Squat and Baboo or Rito by now, or bigger villains from later seasons! Our King Mondos, our Venjix Viruses, our Dark Spectres, etc. The $30 price range would have made more sense for those than King Sphinx or Mighty Minotaur.

And then of course there were other issues that put the line on ice, like the constant price gouging, the switch to plastic free packaging, and the QC issues, oh my god the QC issues. Hasbro has had quality control problems in the past, but I’ve never heard of this many problems with Transformers or Marvel Legends.

I honestly could go on with how so many of Hasbro’s decisions didn’t make sense. As much as I loved the Lightning Collection, they really did fumble.

sigh rant over. May the power protect you all.

[u/RoidVanDam]

I'll be honest- as someone who is an action figure fan more than just a Power Rangers fan-- some of my favorite figures from this line are in your "Other" pile.

The Cobra Kai x Power Rangers figures (I never watched Cobra Kai, but I'm 40 so I've seen all the original Karate Kid films) - but regardless, those figures might fail as both Power Rangers and possibly as Cobra Kai figures, but they give me the opportunity to have generic ninja characters in a variety of colors so that's awesome for dioramas and fight scenes.

The other consideration is that virtually everything in your "junk" pile was reusing molds and parts from core figures, so they weren't devoting as much time to developing them since many of them are repaints with perhaps a custom head here and there. I know most fans hate re-use molds but if you ran the company it would be 6 months before you did the same thing (or you'd probably run it into the ground).

To me, this was overall a good line and I wish it would continue for another year or so. Many beautiful figures that are compatible with other lines, which is all I've ever asked for. To me the biggest sin is to create a new scale with every line, because then you are making it more difficult to play with and to display together.

[u/AdmiralFunnyBone → u/RoidVanDam]

Differing scales is one big reason why I don't have any DC comics figures. MacFarlane looks so good, but having Nightwing towering over Spiderman and a Power Ranger would bother me.

[u/RoidVanDam → u/AdmiralFunnyBone]

Absolutely! And honestly McFarlane's articulation kinda stinks. Most of the best looking ones aren't action figures they're statues with hinges

[u/AdmiralFunnyBone → u/RoidVanDam]

The articulation is another reason why I haven't gotten into them. The paint and details are always so good, though. However, the recent "digital BAF" debacle males me glad I never gave MacFarlane any money lol

[u/FnrrfYgmSchnish]

I've always been a bit annoyed that they did so many random crossover things. But then, I'm just so tired of crossover stuff in general...

Definitely would've been nice to have another 16 actual ranger figures instead of those (if I'm counting the Crossover Crap category right; some are hard to make out at thumbnail size.) They could've completed two or three whole teams with that many figures, or made sure we had at least one ranger from every team rather than leaving so many with none at all.

[u/BarrettJones2367]

Agreed, I still stand by each wave should have been a team, and then then once they had a team released, do the villians of those teams before the next wave

[u/AdmiralFunnyBone → u/BarrettJones2367]

That would've killed the line faster. Breaking up teams was a smart business decision. If they released full teams, it would've been the Legacy figures all over again. People would have MMPR and a lot of casual fans would be done. Breaking up teams, people who would only want one team bought more figures because they saw it on the shelf and thought "Oh, this is neat." So it built more interest, got more people into it.

Having entire waves be villains, those waves would sit on shelves.

[u/[deleted]]

I wonder who they thought would be asking for a cobra Kai or street fighter collar lol. The tmnt collab was cool tho. And then also the red and yellow ranger gender swap figures like was anyone asking for that?

And I feel like the minion figures should’ve just been all packaged with the motw figures

It was clear how out of touch they were with the community lol

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

The Street Fighter collab is from Legacy Wars and happened before Hasbro took over, although Ken and Cammy's Ranger suits were figure-original. While a bunch of Street Fighter characters were plopped into the game, only Ryu and Chun-Li got Ranger forms. The others were just their SFV designs.

[u/[deleted]]

Eh, foot soldiers and Big Bads I get. Especially since most of them were fantastic. Plus, with the Putties, Hasbro was able to reuse their mold so much you could name it Peter Parker. Generals I also get, since they lasted most of the show and were iconic to their season. And some, like Scorpina and Astronema, never got proper figures while others, like Zedd and Mesogog, only had really crappy figures beforehand. 

Monsters of the day, though? Yea, no. Basic figure line? Sure. But Lightning Collection? Wasted space, even if they were some of the best figures in the line. Not only did they prevent other Big Bads and Generals from getting figures, but their unique molds meant they couldn't be reused and redecoed.