Hasbro and Playmates to Collaborate on Power Rangers Products From 2025

Big news this week as Hasbro announce a new partnership with Playmates that will impact not only the future of Power Rangers toy but Power Rangers as an entire brand.

The announcement, made by Hasbro, current owners of Power Rangers, declared that they would be teaming up with Playmates Toys (maker of toys for the Godzilla Monsterverse, TMNT, Voltron and Ben 10, amongst others) to make Power Rangers products starting in 2025. The deal will see Playmates making different products, ranging from action figures, roleplay items, to playsets and plush toys.

The full press release read as follows:

PAWTUCKET, R.I.—April 22, 2024— Hasbro, a leading toy and game company, today announced a global licensing agreement with Playmates Toys, a global toy design, development, marketing and distribution company, to produce and distribute POWER RANGERS product. Playmates is debuting its first POWER RANGERS collection with a kid targeted MIGHTY MORPHIN POWER RANGERS toy line in 2025.

As part of the agreement, Playmates holds licensing rights to develop additional cross-category POWER RANGERS products, including action figures, blasters, plush, role play, vehicles and accessories. The deal encompasses global distribution across all regions excluding Asia.

“We are honored to work with Hasbro on the reimagination of this iconic franchise’s toy line for long time fans and a new generation of children. Playmates and Hasbro speak the same toy language and share a passion for POWER RANGERS, a multi-generational phenomenon that has stood the test of time,” said Karl Aaronian, Playmates’ SVP of Marketing.

Hasbro will retain all entertainment rights and will continue to drive global strategy and growth for the POWER RANGERS franchise by strategically working with licensees across multiple categories, including publishing, fashion and footwear, promotions and more. Hasbro will also further activate the brand across their direct-to-consumer channel Hasbro Pulse and as part of its presence at major industry events like San Diego Comic Con.

“Playmates’ ability to interpret character-based story telling in highly detailed, innovative, and affordable products has revitalized several iconic brands, they are the perfect fit to fully expand the POWER RANGERS franchise,” said Casey Collins, President of Licensed Consumer Products at Hasbro. “While we’ll continue to provide oversight and direction on future POWER RANGERS product ranges, Playmates will leverage its action figure and accessory design, development and marketing expertise to create an entirely new play and collecting experience for fans of all ages. With two powerhouse companies coming together to support a powerhouse brand, the potential is limitless!”

Celebrating 30 continuous years on the air, POWER RANGERS has become one of the longest-running kids’ live-action series in television history, with more than 900 episodes aired to date. Created by Haim Saban and launched in 1993 with MIGHTY MORPHIN POWER RANGERS, the series celebrated its 30th year in 2023 with MIGHTY MORPHIN POWER RANGERS: ONCE & ALWAYS, an anniversary special streaming exclusively on Netflix. The most recent season of POWER RANGERS, POWER RANGERS: COSMIC FURY, is currently available exclusively on Netflix.

Playmates run with Power Rangers toys will begin with a child oriented Mighty Morphin Power Rangers toyline. What other lines they will be making are yet to be seen.

Now, what this means for the Power Rangers Lightning Collection, a toyline produced by Hasbro, and something many fans (me included) loved is yet to be seen but, with this announcement, we can assume the line has been permanently shelved. If Playmates decides to pick up the Lightning Collection where Hasbro left off, that would certainly be a surprise.

Hasbro and Playmates’ deal will mean the Playmates manufactured Power Rangers products will be distributed worldwide, excluding Asia where Bandai hold the license via Super Sentai.

But what do you think? Is the future of Power Rangers toys looking bright, or does it look like the franchise is slowly crawling to a halt? Let us know your thoughts. As always, I’m Sean, signing off.

Source: Hasbro