2015 has been a crazy year for amazing announcements from DVD Collections, Legacy Toys, Movie Casts and More! Some inspiring, some disappointing and some very exciting!
2016 itself is setting up to be an interesting one as well what with New Legacy Line Toys being introduced, the Movie Will Begin Filming Soon AND eventually we will find out whether Trains or Ninjas will be victorious as our Next Power Rangers season!
Before the beginning of a new year for Power Rangers Fans, which is setting up to be amazing, let’s take a look back at some of the moments from 2015 that pushed our fandom forward. The following are in order of the impact made on the fandom AND the views the corresponding articles received on our site! Enjoy the look back!
#10 Dairanger Comes To DVD
Announced at San Diego Comic-Con 2015 and then subsequently released in November, Gosei Sentai Dairanger made its first US Appearance with this DVD release. However initially the release met with some obstacles as fans negatively reacted to box art graphics, as they had with the previous release of Zyuranger.
However, Shout! Factory after the success of their Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger DVD release, pushed forward with bringing Super Sentai to the English-speaking masses and hopefully with the right sales we will soon see Kakuranger and Ohranger!
Get Your Copy Here
#9 The Voting Failures
Megazord Madness
As we all know many fans were disappointed, maybe a little annoyed, with the results of the original Morphin’ Madness contest the previous year. Somehow, Bandai America decided it would be a good idea to bring it all back up again only this time with Megazords. Voting seemed a little fierce in the first round as our beloved Deer Zord got a chance to face off against another Zord.
What we got in the aftermath was basically the same as Morphin’ Madness, there was vote tampering, hackers and a mostly annoyed fan-base. Many fans gave up after the first round which lead to the winners being a cluster of MMPR Zords and a Command Base.
#8 Lionsgate Moves MMPR Premiere Date 3 Times
In May of 2014, Saban and Lionsgate announced that a Reboot of the Mighty Morphin’ Story was to be retold in a new upcoming movie!
As time went on we got news of Producers, Writers, Filming Locations and other such additions to the upcoming movie!
But it was the premiere date in 2015 that seemed to change the most;
First it was July 22, 2016. Later, in April of 2015 it was Changed to January 22nd, 2017. Finally earlier in this month it was changed once again to March 22nd, 2017!
Let’s hope we have a solid release date now!
#7 Power Rangers Support Marriage Equality
In the USA in June of 2015 the Supreme Court Granted Same-Sex Marriage Benefits to all of its citizens and it was a proud day to be an American!
What was an amazing moment, however, was the reaction from within our fandom and from the former Ranger Actors via their social media! I made the attempt to capture most of the responses and statuses, some are missing, but the video above is a great example of Rangers coming together for Equality!
#6 Power Pin Ups
For months, several of the Former Female Yellow & Pink Rangers kept a deep secret that fans were just dying to know. After teasing on each of their social media accounts for months it was finally announced on December 1st that a fabulous calendar featuring these Powerful Ladies would adorn your wall for 12 Months! The Ladies dressed fabulously in their Ranger-Related settings and even posed together for the final months of the calendar. If you haven’t seen the images just yet make sure to check them out and pick up a copy today!
Get Your “Power Pin Ups” Calendar Here!
#5 Legacy Thunder Megazord Finally Revealed
More and More Months of Anticipation clamored for the release of the Legacy Thunder Megazord and as such has been true so far, we get what we demand. At SDCC in June we got our first look and reveal of the Legacy Thunder Megazord, then later in October we finally got HQ images of the masterpiece coming our way!
Rumors of the pricing still range between $150-$200 depending on the collector or website you talk to, but no REAL retail price tag has been added just yet.
See More Images of the Legacy Thunder Megazord Here
However, I know that MANY of us will be going nuts over this toy when it finally releases in 2016!
#4 Dino Charge reintroduces Monster of the Day Figures
One simply cannot deny the amazing power that is the Dino Charge Action Figure Toy Line! Not only are the Ranger figures fabulously colored and sculpted; for the first time since Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescue, Bandai America began releasing Monsters of the Day alongside their normal action figure releases! in 2015 we saw 13 Monster/Villain related figures released during Dino Charge with at least 2 more coming soon in 2016 (that we know of!)
I don’t know about you but I honestly hope that monsters continue to be widely released as we move forward with newer seasons because they are just so fun to collect!
#3 BOOM! Studios Unveils Art For New MMPR Comics / Cover Variants
Concept Art – Civilian & Morphed
While, obviously, I cannot comment just yet on the writing of the upcoming BOOM! Studios Mighty Morphin’ Comics. But, I can comment on how beautifully they are not only handling the art of the comic but the art of the covers as well.
Earlier this year it was announced the comics would re-tell the story of the Mighty Morphin’ Rangers from Tommy’s point of view after his defeat as the Evil Green Ranger.
We were treated to the images above of the Civilian Rangers and Morphed Rangers! Below check out the images of the 7 Ranger Helmet Variations and below that more examples of the Cover Variants we can expect next year!
Ranger Helmet Variants
Cover Variants
#2 Legacy Falconzord / Communicator / Movie Morphers Coming Soon
Even more shocking than the revelation that we would be finally be getting the Thunder Megazord, it was pretty awesome to see at New York Comic-Con that more Legacy Items were coming to us! Morphin’ Legacy got the scoop in September that a Legacy Falconzord & Legacy Communicator were on their way to toy shelves. Then in October at NYCC these were the first image we’ve had of either .
With the release of the Legacy Falconzord fans began to clamor once more that the idea that a Ninja Megazord may be coming down the pipeline at some point! Of course, it happened this way with the Thunder Megazord; first the Tiger Zord was released!
Later in November, images of the upcoming Movie Morpher Variants were revealed as well creating morphers for Kimberly, Billy & Rocky! No news yet on if these morphers will include their Ninja coins, but let’s hope BOA is smart enough to include them.
2016 is shaping up to be a stress on your wallets and collection as not only the Thunder Megazord, Falconzord, Communicator and 3 New Movie Morphers are to be released! Happy Hunting!
#1 Cast of the MMPR Reboot Announced
While the Reboot Movie’s announcement was huge back in 2014, it was even more gigantic as the 5 Main Mighty Morphin’ Ranger actors were announced.
Dacre Montgomenry cast as Jason, Naomi Scott cast as Kimberly, RJ Cyler cast a s Billy, Becky Gomez cast as Trini & Ludi Lin was cast as Zack!
While the actual story of the movie still remains widely speculated or unknown; most of 2016 will be spent focusing on Filming and how the movie begins to shape up for it’s March 2017 release date! Filming is already set to begin in January in Vancouver and you can be sure we will be covering every bit of it!
2015 shaped up to be a crazy year in terms of announcements and products released! It only gives me faith that 2016 will be an even more amazing year for the Power Rangers Fan!
What Are You Looking Forward to the Most in 2016?