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Saturday, February 17, 2018

26th Power Ranger Season revealed: Beast Morphers

The first season under the new partnership between Saban and Hasbro will be called Power Rangers Beast Machines, to premiere in 2019 on Nickelodeon. According to Jason Bischoff and the description in the press release, the series will be based on the 2012 Super Sentai Go-Busters. Many fans love the series and some were upset when it was not adapted in 2015 but Kyouruger (2013) was adapted instead as Power Rangers Dino Charge. With a name like 'Beast Morphers' one would think it would be Zyuohger (2016) which was about animals as well. "Set in the future, a secret agency combines a newly discovered substance called “Morph-X” with animal DNA to create the Power Rangers Beast Morphers team. The Rangers must fight off an evil sentient computer virus bent on taking over the source of all Ranger power, the Morphin Grid itself. Featuring never-before-seen leather suits and an all-new beast-themed arsenal (including dynamic new Zords), fans should get ready for a season full of secret ops and morphinominal fun." 

I like the logo design and the bottom logo (Beast Morphers) but not much the above logo (Power Rangers design doesn't match). I am still in shock. I was not expecting this. I was expecting Kyuranger (2017). Also that if they split this season in two, there is not much toys to release, I am guessing Hasbro will release a bunch more. I guess they can make toy-only zords and some more battlizer upgrades.

Sentai that has not YET been adapted after 2012:
2012 - Go-Busters
2014 - Toqger
2016 - Zyuohger
2017 - Kyuranger
2018 - Lupinranger vs Patranger

Source:

Power Rangers Super Ninja Steel - Making Waves - Episode Review

Episode Summary:
It is the Summer Cove Big Catch competition. The Rangers are there. Victor wants to get his 50th trophy. Hayley's dad has a diving drone and the teens put it in the water. Her dad is a marine biologist. Something malfunctions. Sarah's mom arrives and offers to fix it. She flirts with him. Hayley and Sarah doesn't like this. Doomwave has a tsunami machine in the water. Odius asks for it to activate but it doesn't because of the drone. Sarah's mom Jackie and Aaron have time to go on a date. In the auto shop, Hayley and Sarah say it is too weird for them to go on a date.  Sarah and Hayley sabotages it by telling them wrong ideas like rides that her dad hates and weird food Jackie doesn't like. Later on the date, he feeds her a grasshopper which she spit out.

They then go on a spinning ride which Aaron does not like. Hayley and Sarah go check on their parents. The boys work on the scrap metal the drone found and find out it is Odius' machine. They run off. The Rangers see Doomwave and the chick alien with the machine. The Rangers morph and fight. Monty made a bait for Victor which he does not like. Victor is pulled in. Mick throws away the drone. Hayley asks why. Jackie and Aaron will not work together anymore. Hayley and Sarah confess the truth. Mick says they should split up and figure it out. Hayley and Sarah say teamwork makes them strong. They realize their fault.

Aaron and Jackie arrive at the class and find the Power Rangers. They ask them to fix a drone. Sarah pleads with Jackie. Aaron says if it is important, they will work together. They start working again. Jackie asks Aaron if he is okay. They apologize. They think their daughters gave them bad advice. Jackie figures if her mom was dating her best friend's mom it would be weird too. They fix the drone. The Rangers thanks them and leave with the drone. Doomwave attacks them and Blue and Yellow try running away with it.  Gold and Red kick him away. Blue and Yellow send it off and Hayley switches it on. The drone lands as the remote is knocked out of Hayley's hands. Sarah gets the remote again. The tsunami machine begins to work. The drone fires a cannon. 

Mick made the Sub Surfer star an d sends it and it attaches to the drone. It makes it into a zord. Doomwave is big and in the ocean, it tries knocking out the zord. The zord becomes a robot with surfboard. Gold goes on it. It becomes a zord again and blasts it. The Megazord is called and the teens dons Super Steel mode. Sub Surfer ninja Megazord is made.Red calls the blaster. They blast Doomwave away in a blast. Later, the teens talk to Jackie and Aaron. Hayley and Sarah apologize. Victor claims he caught the fish but it was Monty in a costume. They are disqualified. 

Episode Review: 
I like the parents got highlighted in this episode. I like Mick makes it simple for the Rangers. Hayley and Sarah were acting selfish and didn't get called out for it by their parents. 

Saban and his Three Moves

In the past week, Saban Brands has made three moves. Like Goldilocks and the three bears. One was small--- a logo change of the iconic Power Rangers logo established since 1997 (The Turbo logo). The one before it was medium, Nickelodeon renewed their contract which was expected but now for three years instead of two, up until 2021. The third was the biggest of all.. Saban dropped Bandai as a toy partner and now has made a deal with Hasbro.

New Logo
 It is arguable if the logo started with Zeo or Turbo but Saban started using the generic Power Rangers logo around that time. Disney changed the coloring and then Saban Brands changed it again. But now the new logo has the MMPR bolt and font similar to the movie font. Months ago there was rumors Saban would not renew the copyright of the movie logo but they did.


Nickelodeon
February 12 it was announced Nickelodeon would continue to air new episodes of Power Rangers. Since 2011, Power Rangers seasons have been for two years. With the second being a season with 'Super' in front of the title. Both seasons are based on the same Sentai series. Every season consisting of 20 or 22 episodes. Usually a renewal has been for four or two years. Three years have fans scratching their heads.



Hasbro
February 15, the day after Valentine's day, it was announced that Saban and Bandai would part ways. Saban and Bandai America have been together for 25 years. Bandai has produced the toys of Super Sentai in Japan and small Asian markets for more than that. I am not sure about the number. Anyway, this deal will not effect Super Sentai as Bandai Japan will continue to produce toys for Sentai. Hasbro was announced yesterday February 16 and they will be in charge of the brand except for in Japan and small Asian markets. Bandai Japan usually groups sales of Super Sentai as Power Rangers globally.  Bandai will continue until April 2019. As for Hasbro and Saban: "Our friendship started, as a matter of fact, when Brian left the advertising agency he worked at and moved to Bandai, which had the license at the time. Since then, we’ve been in touch on and off, on different subject matters. From time to time, Brian would say to me, ‘So when are you coming to Hasbro?’ This is just the culmination of events that have been happening for some time. We’re just beyond thrilled.” – Power Rangers Founder Haim Saban to Hollywood Reporter

Lavender Ranger Editorial
I didn't know how to feel about anything about this. I'll grow to like the logo but I do not like it that much. The Nickelodeon deal is puzzling. Some speculated they might pull a 3-season deal like MMPR. The Bandai deal was shocking at first because the two go hand and hand. But like many know, I've been complaining about the quality of toys for ages. Hasbro is a respectable company. My friend says Halo went from Macfarlane to Hasbro and the figures aren't as great. For me, I would have chose Playmates because they have done great work with Ninja Turtles and Superhuman Samurai Syber Squad. Bandai still has other properties. What is next is to find out which Super Sentai will be adapted next and what this 3-year deal means. And as Goldilocks, Saban gets off scotfree.

Sources:
https://www.powerrangersnow.com/hasbro-wins-power-rangers-toy-license/

Sunday, February 11, 2018

Power Rangers Super Ninja Steel - Tough Love - Episode Review

Episode Summary:
Madame Odius makes a musical spell to make a Ranger evil and gives it to Spyclox. A girl sings a song with a guitar by the boats. Victor and Monty give her change. Victor flirts. She tells him e is not her type. He changes and dresses in disco and then a bullfighter. He then changes into a tennis player. He says he will figure out what her type is. The Rangers come and the girl sings one of Levi's songs. Levi starts to sing along with her. Everyone applause. She introduces herself as Jess, she is starstruck. Victor has an idea about cowboys and leaves. Monsters arrive and Levi takes Jess somewhere safe. The others morph and fights the grunts. Yellow clones himself. Pink uses her arrow to take a bunch down. Jess takes down one of the grunts. Levi asks to catch up later. 

Jess turns into Spyclox. Meanwhile, Monty is making a cowboy cologne for Victor. Jess and Levi hang out. She gets a baseball cap and puts it on him which he is not sure about. She convinces him and he changes his look. She shows him a new song she wrote. The others train. Levi comes late with his new outfit. Preston says he swore he heard those lyrics before. Levi starts singing the new song and people don't like it and start leaving. Redbot gives Preston his magic book. He found the song and it is a symmetric spell, Levi will turn evil if he finishes the song. He finishes the song and his eyes turn red. He keeps plying the song. Victor and Monty arrive, Victor as a cowboy and Monty sprays the cologne and nobody like sit. Jess becomes Spyclox. 

The others arrive. Levi asks for their Power Stars. Hayley wants Preston to reverse the spell but Preston needs the sheet music which Levi shreds. He becomes the Gold Ranger. The others morph. The Rangers fight. Calvin picks up the sheet pieces. Pink fights Spyclox while the others fight Gold. Levi is about to blast them when Pink blasts him. Calvin puts the lyrics together. He sings it backwards and the spell breaks. Gold hopes he hasn't hurt anyone. He can't believe Jess is a monster. She runs away. In a quarry the seven face off. She flies and attacks. They do attacks and jump in a tornado to strike her. They make her giant. The Megazords are called. They don Ninja Super Steel mode. Brody calls the Astro Zord which knocks her down. They make the Ninja Fusion Zord. Red gets the blaster. They destroy her. Red makes fun of Gold's new look. KLEvi comes all shy like a cowboy again and says he should've listen to them. They say they love him. Victor comes na dhe stinks, everyone puts plugs on their noses. 

Episode Review:
This episode is so cliche and routine, it is boring and borders on mean parody. Chase and his girlfriend's storyline almost deconstructed it last time with Dino Charge. What I don't like is they gloss over the fact they shouldn't trust anyone because they might be a monster.