Power Rangers Action Figures Identification Tool with Pictures

While Saban Entertainment officially brought Super Sentai to America, the series almost arrived in the West years earlier. In the early 80s, Marvel took note of Toei’s Super Sentai series and approached the company to create a partnership. While Marvel’s Stan Le could not find a buyer to help them air the series, Japanese audiences were treated to a live-action Super-Sentai-styled Spider-Man series. Thus, the franchise remained in Japan for many more years.

Later, an upcoming entertainment businessman, Haim Saban, encountered the Super Sentai while on a trip to Japan. Falling in love with the show, he made it a life goal to bring the series to America. After he acquired the rights, he got to work creating a pilot episode. While his version of Choudenshi Bioman floundered, he received a second chance at Fox Kids. With the backing of its president, Margaret Loesch, his company, Saban Entertainment, introduced America to Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers in 1992.

As Margaret Loesch was familiar with the Super Sentai, she understood that it was something special. So, she happily supported his efforts. Rather than dub the Japanese show, the American version cast American actors to create new scenes for the untransformed rangers. By blending the new American footage with the Japanese footage of the action scenes, a new product was born.

Fox Kids began airing Saban Entertainment’s Mighty Morphin Power Rangers in August 1993. The series pitted five teenagers with attitude against Rita Repulsa and her goons. Zordon, a former ranger, tasked his cyborg companion, Alpha-5, with finding the teenagers who would be worthy of the morphing technology. Thus, Jason Lee Scott, Zack Taylor, Trini Kwan, Kimberly Hart, and Bily Cranston became the first set of Power Rangers on US television. Their team eventually expanded to include a sixth member, the Green Ranger, Tommy Oliver.

Each of these rangers received a special robot, called a Zord, that they could bring into battle. These Zords then combined to form the Megazord and other powerful machines. While the rangers began with dinosaur-themed Zords, thanks to the show originally using footage from Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger, the machines changed as the seasons progressed. This occurred because the Japanese Super Sentai franchise moved on to a new series with new themes.

As the series continued, a new villain entered the picture, Lord Zed. Meanwhile, the show often introduced new heroes and side characters, with many replacing previous members of the team. Some of these cast changes occurred because the Japanese series introduced new villains and creatures. Otherwise, various actors left the show as others joined as new Rangers.

To help bridge the story between seasons, Saban Entertainment released Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers the movie in 1995. 20^th Century Fox helped produce the theatrical exploits of the Rangers. This film also notably introduced the Ninja-themed outfits and Zords to the series. The franchise returned to theaters in 1997 with Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie, another film that helped bridge the gap between seasons.

The success of the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers established a franchise that remains present up to this day. As the Japanese Super Sentai franchise changed their themes, the Power Rangers equally changed their teams and Zords. For instance, Power Rangers: Mystic Force aired in 2006, adapting footage from Maho Sentai MagiRanger. The latest series, Power Rangers: Dino Fury, began airing in 2021, taking elements from the Japanese production of Kishiryu Sentai Ryuoulger.

Even before the Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers hit American television screens, Bandai was the home of the toys. The company had a strong relationship with Toei, who developed the show in Japan. As the sponsor of the series, many of their toys were used as props on the show. In a sense, those who bought the Bandai toys like the Green Ranger’s dagger, owned a copy of the official prop.

Thus, the company became the home of the American releases of Power Rangers toys. While the accessories and the robots were direct imports from Japan, Bandai made changes to the action figures of the Rangers. As the Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers used power coins to transform, each figure came with one of these coins.

The first series of Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers action figures featured 8” scale toys. This series included a Jason, the Red Ranger, Kimberly, the Pink Ranger, Zach, the Black Ranger, Trini, the Yellow Ranger, and Billy, the Blue Ranger. Moreover, there were 8” action figures of the villainous space aliens. These figures included Goldar, Finster, Squatt, Baboo, King Sphinx, Bones, and a Putty Patrol member. The toy line also featured 4.5” scale action figures of each of the Power Rangers.

Beyond the action figures, Bandai released several vehicles and robots for the Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers toy line. There were 3 Power Bikes that came with 4” action figures: the Tyrannosaurus Battle Bike with the Red Power Ranger, the Mammoth Battle Bike with the Black Power Ranger, and the Triceratops Battle Bike with the Blue Power Ranger. The line-up of Zords included the Deluxe Set Megazord, the Dragon Zord, Titanosaurus, and the Special Edition Megazord. Bandai further expanded the toy line by including plastic model kits of the Zords.

Similar to the television series, as Bandai continued to release Power Rangers toys to the Western market, they changed the name to reflect the new series. This relationship remained strong for 25 years. As Saban and Bandai allowed the partnership to end in 2019, the license became available for another company to nab. This led to Hasbro becoming the new home of America’s Power Rangers toy line.