I'm aware of all of this. I'm a part of the fandom. This isn't my first time discovering Power Rangers. I think the game and the Legacy Wars phone version are both doing well to incorporate other characters outside of MMPR - hell, the Boom specific characters are NEW or at least interesting revamps of existing ones like Ranger Slayer and that's cool as hell (even if Drakkon is over saturated imo at this point.)
My original point was that coming into a post and going "WHO?" when a franchise has been going on for nearly 30 years is stupid. The franchise has been evolving since the Mighty Morphin series ended in 1996.
But other posters have pointed out that I'm wrong for thinking this and I'm done. Sorry for derailing or whatever.
Eh, no worries. I grew up with it.
My roommate never watched a single episode and only knew about the original show and movies. I got him turned on to Time Force. He doesn't like the others, but he LOVES Time Force.
MMPR is in a resurgence due to how hard it gets wanked. Yes, the comic is excellent, but you repeatedly mine the same material for long enough, of course you'd eventually strike gold.
It's the same phenomenon as Pokemon, and it's infuriating as someone who'd like the rest of the franchise to get its due.
"Property is a break out hit, and hits fad status. Everyone and their mother is talking about MMPR/Pokemon. Fad dies down, bulk of fans move on to the Next Big Thing. Years pass, and these same fans that only took part when it was a Big Deal only care when their nostalgia is hit, claiming that the original is all that matters anyway."
It's tiring. The same material is mined over and over again, trying to call back those original people that only cared when it was a fad, and then it's pointed to as evidence for why it needs to be focused on some more.
Is that really fair? The comic series uses the original MMPR as a jumping OFF point. I mean, yeah, sorry that MMPR was a cultural phenomenon and that momentum didn't continue for the likes of... eh, Lightspeed Rescue? Wild Force? Operation Overdrive?
That's how cultural zeitgeists work. 40 years later and Star Wars will be defined by Luke, Darth Vader, Chewie, and the rest of the cast, even if Star Wars fans have embraced Darth Revan as their Sith savior or preach the merits of Poe Dameron to their peers. You will always - no matter WHAT - have more immediate recognition with Pokemon when you use Pikachu or Charizard on something rather than Minior or Morelull.
It's not about "giving the others a chance". They had their chance. They came out. They either became a success or they didn't. Sometimes a superior version fails because it doesn't resonate like the original did at the right time with the right crowd.
So MMPR was a massive, cultural-defining show for its time and NONE of its many, many, MANY imitators matched it (even if VR Troopers was more grown up, even if Big Bad Beetleborgs was more fun, even if Masked Rider had better source material, even if Superhuman Samurai/Gridman continues to get adaptations, even if Ultraman came first in both America and Japan and is still going strong with its fans, etc. etc.).
Its cultural footprint is so big that it doesn't matter that most fans know Time Force and RPM are superior. It doesn't matter that SPD does some crazy world-building or that Ninja Storm is the funniest season they ever did. It doesn't matter that most fans bailed before In Space salvaged the whole brand from cancellation. But those series came out, did their thing, and it either became successful or didn't.
Which is why Battle for the Grid itself draws from some of the more popular series in the franchise (and the more popular characters). Who's constantly mentioned as one of the best Pink Rangers? Time Force Pink, and there she is. Who is the standout from SPD? Shadow Ranger, and he's in the roster. Who's the coolest part of Lost Galaxy? Magna Defender, and wouldn't you know it, he's there.
Because they are the characters that left the biggest impacts - even if they couldn't match MMPR. You're probably not going to see Dax from Operation Overdrive, or Damon from Lost Galaxy, or Kelsey from Lightspeed Rescue, etc. (I would be happy to be proven wrong).
So, yeah, people remember the MMPR cast, and they've had the longest time to become entrenched in culture as THE face of the series. It's like complaining that Batman is in too many Justice League stories when you're a fan of Aztek or Mister Miracle. I mean, yeah, those are both great characters, but what do you expect? Would you really hold Warner Bros to task for failing to make Atom Smasher or Orion as successful as Superman and Batman, or for making more Batman merch than merch for Doctor Fate? It's the same reason Batman's universe makes up nearly HALF of the Injustice fighting game series.
It's not personal. Nobody is sitting there going "well, let's purposefully exclude a Ninja Storm rep because we HAVE to put in Billy somewhere". It's business and they know what sells and what doesn't. They know which images, phrases, and characters are most iconic - not because they forced it to happen but because, well, it already IS iconic and they can leverage that. If anyone at Hasbro thought that you could sell the most copies by putting Justin from Turbo on the front box, they would've (for the record, I like Justin from Turbo).
They're going to be telling new stories of Darth Vader in the comics and spin-offs for years to come. They're going to dip back into the well of 80's Turtlemania again and again. You'll get G1 Transformers every few years until the heat death of the universe. We were getting Adam West Batman movies and spin-offs until the very year Adam West died.
And it's going to be "Morphin' Time" for generations to come, so long as there are those who fondly remember the original MMPR show.
