Since the moment we heard from a Bandai America Rep that a Poisandra figure may not be released in either of the Dino Charge lines I got to thinking about not only Female Villain representation in the Bandai America lines, but also the representation of the Female Rangers and Allies.
Over the years since MMPR we’ve lost a lot of the focus on the Female viewers of the show as you will see in this look-back at the standard Female Figures and the Figures we never saw.
You will notice that after MMPR’s focus on girl-related items began to dwindle, but suddenly saw a resurgence during Samurai – Super Samurai.
Let’s go back and look at the Female Figure representation in each season and you can judge for yourself how neglected Women are in this toy line series.
*for the purposes of this article, only Action Figures of the standard size (and their slight variations) will be discussed. As such, only figures released during their specific seasons are only discussed, unless otherwise stated.*
MMPR
Mighty Morphin’ saw a massive release of Female Ranger figures as well as an unprecedented representation of Girls toys and playsets.
Besides MMPR Season 1, the Female Rangers got Thunder and Shark Cycles! Auto-Morphin Figures for not only Kimberly and Trini but Aisha as well. They received Auto Morphin and Standard Metallix Figures AND even Delphine and her Battle Borg got figures released!
Shockingly, as I said before, MMPR leads every season in Female representation even having their own line for girls that came with Trini/Kimberly/Aisha sets (and more playsets) that not only had their Ranger Suits but fun and fashionable accessories. We will most likely never see such products again.
Missed Opportunities: Although Rita saw a release in 2010 each of these figures were planned and had prototypes. Scorpina and Witchblade however would never see releases.
Zeo
During the early days Variables in figures were scarce and only the standard suited Rangers seemed to be released. In this like Kat and Tanya both saw Auto-Morphin and Standard Action Figures as well as they both received Cycle releases.
Missed Opportunities: Queen Machina would’ve been a great set with King Mondo, or a set of Archerina and Gasket would’ve been great!
Turbo
Turbo was fairly faithful in their releases with Kat/Cassie & Tanya/Ashley’s Figures. Here you can see a few variations including the standard, Auto-Morphin and Turbo Carts! Plus it was the first Female Villain released at the time, Divatox with her cape action made her debut in this series!
Not a lot of missed opportunities here!
In Space
Cassie and Ashley saw individual releases for this respective season as the Pink and Yellow Rangers make up the core team.
In this series of Toy releases they also packaged Female Ranger figures from other seasons (such as Metallic Female MMPR Figures) as well as packaging the Pink and Yellow Rangers with “Lunar” Figures. The Male figures were also packaged with famous Astronauts while the Female Rangers were left out of this historic toy event.
Missed Opportunities: The greatest travesty here is that the main villain and even the character who the plot revolves around, Astronema, was passed over entirely in this toy series. She could’ve came along with interchangeable wigs and a wrath staff!
Lost Galaxy
Kendrix and Maya were given the standard (in this case Talking 4″) action figure to go with their team, the 4″ Explorer Figures, Blasting Power Ranger Figures and their Jet Jammers, but were left out of some of the other sets where only males were introduced. These sets include Astro Cycles, “Conquering Rangers”, Auto Morphin & Capsular Cycles.
Missed Opportunities: Trakeena, the main villain has two forms that are beyond able to be action figures. Let’s not forget Hexuba which would’ve also made an excellent figure, but I believe not only the do the Psycho Rangers need a figure but Psycho Pink was a huge influence on this season.
Lightspeed Rescue
In the Lightspeed Rescue release we saw some older Rangers packaged alongside this line. First, the Pink and Yellow Rangers got their standard figure, Rescue Ranger Figures, a Pink Cycle & Yellow Speeder. In the Chromalight Series; Kendrix/Karone and Maya were released in new packaging with some new armor under the Lightspeed Rescue banner.
The Female figures were not left out of much of this series besides the Mega Battles (which the girls did not attain in the show) and armored figures, Infralight, Trans Armor Cycles & Deluxe Vehicles.
Missed Opportunities: Vypra would’ve made an excellent figure addition, although I suppose that with her skimpy outfit it may not have sold well in the “boys” aisle. Bansheera was cool but I highly doubt she would’ve seen any kind of release, even in a perfect world.
Time Force
Jen and Katie were given several different variations in this series. First their standard figures, followed by Time Force Fighter Figures & Vector Cycles!
But, they were left out of the Strata-Cycles, Battle Warrior & Mega Battle Figures the guys received.
Missed Opportunities: Nadira seemed like she could’ve been a playset exclusive along with her Father, but it looks like this pink haired Diva was never meant to be seen as a figure.
Wild Force
Taylor and Alyssa got several items in this series as well including a standard figure, a Spin Morphin Figure and their own Savage Cycle!
Princess Shayla was even released as an extra figure included in a playset.
The Girls sadly did not see the Primal Warrior, Zord-Morphin’, Talking or Battlized Figures.
Missed Opportunities: Toxica in both her forms are more than usable; plus the Duke Org Mandilok had a Female voice, voiced by Barbara Goodson, alongside the Male. I don’t know about you but I would’ve loved a Wedding Dress Org Figure! LOL!
Ninja Storm
In a season like Ninja Storm, having only 1 Female on the team it would seem as if Tori would get at least a decent amount of attention. Tori saw a released of her standard Flash Power figure, a Battle Power Ranger, a 12″ Figure & a Tsunami Cycle.
However, she was left out of a lot including the Tri-Battlized Figures, Turbo Tri-Battlized, Triple Zord Morphin, Ninja Gliders and many more sets.
Missed Opportunities: Marah and Kapri could’ve sold as a duo or even as a classic redo of the Ranger Dolls we had seen with MMPR. Who wouldn’t want to style their hair?! Beevil could’ve been a fun Monster of the Day to released as well!
Dino Thunder
Again, in this season we only have one Female Ranger and once again you would think she would get more attention than normal. Well in Dino Thunder, moreso than in Ninja Storm, Kira is a bit neglected. However, we do see her standard Talking Figure release, Dino Action Ranger, Yellow Raptor Cycle and Raptor Rider!
Sadly, she was left out of such series’ as Quadro Battlized, Super Battlized, Morphin and Morphin Thunder Rangers, Hovercraft Cycles, 12″ Talking Warriors and More.
Missed Opportunities: Elsa was the only Female Villain during Dino Thunder and was not that high up on the totem pole, however a figure of her in a playset much like Princess Shayla could’ve gone well with Mesogog.
SPD
SPD saw another shortage in Female figures although the Male Rangers were in plentiful supply in many different forms.
Syd and Z both received a Sound Patrol and Light Patrol figure, Z even was given a Delta Armor Figure (though Syd was left out)
Missed Opportunities: Obvious choices to de-saturate the market with Male Ranger figures would have been Kat Ranger and Nova Ranger. Even though they were one note Rangers it would’ve been epic to get figures made. Not to mention, the evil Ranger team “A-Squad” would’ve made easy reproductions from the SWAT Armor and In Space Ranger Figures. Morgana? Doubt it but it would’ve been cool!
Mystic Force
The trend continues neglecting the Female Rangers. Again, the Red/Yellow/Green Rangers got plenty of variations during this season including multiple armor modes. Madison and Vida only saw these two releases in their normal forms and their Legend Mode form.
Missed Opportunities: The obvious miss here is the White Mystic Ranger figure, obviously there was only a Japanese vinyl release but I still feel this figure could’ve sold. Oh, how I would love a Figuart of her!
Some other toy misses could’ve been Clare or Mystic Mother! Highly doubtful but maybe!
Operation Overdrive
It has been said that the Operation Overdrive toy line was one of, if not the, worst toyline Bandai America has released for Power Rangers. However, one thing can be said about this representation of Female Rangers. Above you can see two images of Rose and Ronnie wearing the Defender Vest which wasn’t even in the show. So kudos to the toyline for that, however we are still seeing the misrepresentation the Disney era has so far has been famous for.
Again, the male Rangers are over-saturated with variations, yet the Female Rangers only get one variation and two-for-one packs. While, again we saw re-releases of other season’s Rangers, there were no Females.
Missed Opportunities: Obvious choices here would’ve been something involving Miratrix but what is really baffling to me is that there were sets released to celebrate the 15th Anniversary YET the two Female Rangers that appeared in the show did not see any kind of release.
Jungle Fury
As we saw with Dino Thunder and Ninja Storm; Teams with only one Female Ranger are even harder to see Female figures released. While Lily received a regular figure as well as her Master Mode, she was basically left out completely of any of the variations the Male Rangers received.
Shockingly though, Camille (the first Female Villain figure since Divatox in 1997) was released with her fly sidekick Flit.
Missed Opportunities: Not many things could’ve been improved here when adding figures, but Jellica or perhaps Master Guin would’ve made impressive additions?
RPM
Summer and Gemma are largely ignored during the RPM toyline save for these two figures of their standard forms. Given, the RPM Rangers had no upgrades so that leaves little room for more Female figures. However, again, the Male Rangers received many many variations.
Missed Opportunities: Obvious, but not realistic, choices here. I would’ve loved to see a Tenaya Figure or even an epic Dr. K figure!
Samurai – Super Samurai
Upon doing this article I’ve noticed that it appears Samurai – Super Samurai is the King of Female Representation after MMPR. Perhaps the two-year long deal causes more room for figures to be released. In this series we got 3 variations of Mia and Emily, the FIRST release of a Rita Repulsa figure AND a Female Red Ranger Figure (a UK exclusive Mystery Figure). Although Lauren was hard to obtain and Rita slowly became a shelf-warmer, it was still awesome to see them get releases!
Missed Opportunities: With the two years I was surprised we didn’t see a Dayu figure in this line. Super Samurai Mode of Pink and Yellow were also left out along with any of the Female Shogun Modes (pink being the only one in the show.)
I would’ve liked to see more Lauren love, perhaps her Mega Mode, Super Mode or Super Mega Mode?
Megaforce
Megaforce was rather simple, Gia and Emma both got original suit releases, Ultra Mode and even a Metallic Force figure. I felt it was appropriate to bring up the Pink Ranger Hot Wheel as well in this article because many were surprised it was even released and has since made it a very sought after toy from the Megaforce line, even today.
Missed Opportunities: The only missed opportunity I can think of in this season was definitely Metal Alice! The suit design is amazing but I wonder if it was because of her seductive body armor that may have caused her to get the nix.
Super Megaforce
To go along with a generally disappointing season, it was also equally disappointing about the treatment of Female Rangers during one of our most important and iconic anniversaries. These are the only 2 Female figures released during this line, even though dozens of Red Rangers and 6th Ranger Male Figures were released (except Lauren) but no Legendary Female Rangers. Not even the Rangers who appeared in the Legendary Battle.
Missed Opportunities: Levira would’ve been an easy figure to make. But what gets me the most is that the Female Rangers who joined the Legendary Battle did not see any kind of re-release even amongst EVERY SINGLE RED MALE RANGER was released. Similarly disappointing is the Ranger Keys not released (shown in the image below) that were glossed over for random translucent keys of, you guessed it, Male Rangers. Again, Legendary Female Rangers weren’t even given keys. Karone, Cassie, Dana & Emily were all passed over. Wouldn’t this have been the perfect time to release them? OR release a Legacy Astronema figure?!
Dino Charge
So far so good with the Dino Charge lines. Shelby has so far gotten her regular mode as well as Dino Drive Mode!
Hopefully Upcoming: Although a Bandai rep has said that a Poisandra figure is most likely not in the cards I am still holding onto hope she will see a release. To me it is absolutely insane to release every single villain and even Monsters, but no Poisandra. EVEN Curio has a figure, I mean COME ON!
Female Purple and Aqua are also contenders depending on how the show goes!
Do you collect Female Rangers, Villain or Ally Figures?