What Power Morphers Can Hasbro Still Make?

When it comes to Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, one of the most iconic items from those original three seasons is the Power Morpher, the device that transforms the “teenagers with attitude” into the Power Rangers. Being such an iconic piece of the franchise it’s no wonder it was one of the first items to be released as part of the role play items in Hasbro’s Lightning Collection.

THE ORIGINAL RELEASE

In 2020, the original version of the Power Morpher was released as a Walmart Exclusive. With it being 7 years at the time since the release of the popular Bandai America Legacy version of the Power Morpher there were new features included to make it stand out. A stand was included, show accurate colors, die-cast Power Coins, and individual voice phrases/colored LEDs corresponding to each Ranger with use of their coins.

Now that this release was out there Hasbro had the mold ready to go, and luckily for them the Power Morpher checks off a number of boxes that make it a good collector’s item. Not only was the Power Morpher iconic, but it had a number of variations over the years that could allow Hasbro to make slight alterations to the now existing mold for the toy and release it again.

THE POWER OF PINK

Only a year later Hasbro got the mold out once again for the upcoming GameStop Exclusive Pink Ranger Morpher. This version is inspired by the one seen in 1995’s Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie and features an all Pink belt buckle, Pink Lightning bolt accents, and a subdued Power Rangers logo on the center ring. Despite having a clear connection to the movie version in both appearance and passing mention in the product description, this release is not being promoted directly as a piece of movie merchandise for reasons unknown. Which leads to speculation on Hasbro’s status of the rights to toys from the three movies released thus far.

Even though the Pink Morpher release is not promoted as a 1995 movie version, it does open the door to what Hasbro can make going forward .

THE REST OF THE MOVIE MORPHERS

Since not directly mentioning the 1995 movie by name appears to allow Hasbro to make the other versions of the Power Morphers seen in the film there are a still plenty more they can make. Bandai America had the same idea back during their Legacy line but didn’t end up finishing the set. Red, Black, Yellow, Blue, and of course White, would give Hasbro plenty of opportunities to release a Power Morpher every once and a while and really spread out the potential the mold gives them.

While Pink’s did not include this feature, a good selling point could be to pack these releases with the Ninja Coins seen both in the movie and in Season 3 of the series. The original Power Morpher only had phrases for the original five Rangers as well, so Movie releases could give the chance for Rocky, Adam, and Aisha to be added to the toy.

BROKEN VERSION

A few years after Mighty Morphin Power Rangers the Power Rangers In Space episode “Always a Chance” featured the return of Adam Park as the Black Ranger. With the original Mighty Morphin Powers being destroyed during the Alien Rangers mini-series his Power Morpher was left in a damaged state. Adam takes the risk and temporarely morphs with this dangerous item to help out Carlos.

Hasbro making a release like this would be an interesting spin on the 2020 version of the Power Morpher already released. Voice phrases could be included from Adam and Carlos, as well as the warning from Alpha 6 about using the powers. Alpha 5 was previously included as a secret sound in the original release, so it would a good use.

This type of release could be perfect for a convention exclusive item, and with In Space being a huge fan favorite as well, it’s something that could be in the pipeline already.

VIDEO GAME POWER COINS

The original Power Morpher is not just limited to in show Rangers either. Recently the Power Rangers: Battle For The Grid video game from nWay has added Street Fighter’s Ryu and Chun-Li to the game as additional DLC. Each of them use a regular Power Morpher with new Power Coins, the Crimson Hawk and Blue Phoenix.

Hasbro is no stranger to releasing items seen in video games, their Star Wars: The Black Series line has it’s own series known as “Gaming Greats” released exclusively at GameStop. With them already being the retailer to get the Pink Ranger Morpher, it’s not out of the question they could get a release like this.

Having a version like this could also allow for the release to appeal beyond Power Rangers fans and bring in the Street Fighter fanbase as well. Additionally, it would be great promotion for the video game. Though this release would either have to include both silver and gold plates to have it be accurate to both of them, or the more likely route, one could be released for each character.

TOMMY OLIVER & LORD DRAKKON

Of course no list of additional Power Morpher releases could be complete without Tommy Oliver himself. It’s shocking at this point that his version of the Morpher hasn’t already been released numerous times, so Hasbro must be planning something big with the most popular Ranger of all time.

Tommy’s Morpher is different from the others, having gold plates instead of the original silver. There are a number of routes they could take with releasing his Morpher. If they wanted to include five coins in a Tommy release one way to do it could see the Dragonzord and Tigerzord, of course, being paired with his Falcon coin and the two coins used by Lord Drakkon in the Boom Studios comics.

Lord Drakkon uses the same gold plated Morpher as the main universe Tommy OIiver but with a fusion Green/White Ranger coin of his own. In the Shattered Grid storyline Drakkon unlocks his most powerful Evolution III form which turns his coin all red. By including these two coins in with TV Tommy’s three, a gold plated release would not feel lesser than the original five Ranger version.

That’s not it for Tommy Oliver Morphers possibilities though. In 2018 for the franchise’s 25th Anniversary the character returned in the “Dimensions in Danger” episode of Power Rangers Super Ninja Steel brining with him a brand new Master Morpher. The Master Morpher was Tommy’s ultimate Morpher, giving him access to all five of his Ranger forms seen throughout the show: Mighty Morphin Green, Mighty Morphin White, Zeo Red, Turbo Red, and Dino Thunder Black. The base of this Morpher was the original Power Morpher with reflective gold plates, a Zeo like tech pattern on the red ring, and five Power Coins based on each of the powers.

In the episode Tommy uses 4/5 of the coins with the Red Turbo one left unused until Boom Studios’ “Soul of the Dragon” graphic novel, in which the Master Morpher makes it only other appearance. Perhaps with the series’ 30th Anniversary right around the corner both this special Morpher and/or Tommy will appear again and make a release from Hasbro a reality.

To stay up to date with all the news for the line Power Rangers fans can check out The Illuminerdi’s Josh Perry on his weekly Lightning Storm YouTube series every Saturday at 9:00 am Pacific or on Twitter at @LightningFigPR. What version of the Power Morpher do you want to see released the most? Leave your thoughts in the comments below or on our social media.

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