Power Rangers action figures, Megazords get a new maker
Hasbro will be making toys starting in 2019, and down the line may become the owner of the entire property.
The original Power Rangers.
Power Rangers toys will have a new Megazord maker next year.
Hasbro will be the new "global master toy licensee" for Saban's Power Rangers, the companies announced Friday.
The news comes one day after Saban Brands, which owns the Power Rangers television series, and toymaker Bandai announced the end of their 25-year relationship building Ranger action figures and Megazord toys. The end of that long-running business relationship is significant, as it stretched all the way back to the original "Mighty Morphin" series that debuted in 1993 (or in other words, if you ever begged for a Green Ranger figure as a child, it was likely made by Bandai).
When the Bandai agreement ends in April 2019, Hasbro's first line of Power Rangers toys will debut in spring 2019, it announced. The company will have the rights to release figures based on the long-running television series globally except for the Japan and Asian markets, where the toys will still be made by Bandai based on the Japanese "Super Sentai" series that the American "Power Rangers" show is based on.
Hasbro might also become the next owner of the entire Power Rangers property. The agreement gives the toy maker the opportunity to purchase it outright at a future date that isn't disclosed. CNET has asked both Hasbro and Saban if that includes both the toys and the TV show.
This could put Power Rangers in the same line as the Transformers, another brand of toys, TV shows and movies which is partly owned by Hasbro and the Japanese Takara Tomy company.
The announcement comes just as Toy Fair 2018 kicks off in New York. Check back with CNET for more coverage from the show.
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