2018 was a crazy year for the Power Rangers franchise, it was the 25th anniversary of the brand, there was a drastic new logo for the first time since the change from MMPR to Zeo, and toy giant Hasbro bought everything, ending the multiple-decade agreement with toy company Bandai America to make merchandise for the show. At the time of this change up Bandai was 5 years into the Legacy Collection.
The Legacy Collection was the precursor to the present day Power Rangers Lightning Collection in the Hasbro era and as such it included very similar products such as figures, Zords, and prop replicas. MMPR was the primary focus of the Legacy Collection and was in fact the only focus of this collector line from 2013-2017. By this point Bandai was warming up to the idea of doing something items from other seasons, starting with 1996’s Power Rangers Zeo.
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Zeo was the natural progression from MMPR for the Legacy Collection just as it was in the show but Bandai was only able to get 4 Zeo items out before the line was cancelled. Fans were overjoyed to see another season get the chance to shine.
These items included the Zeonizers, the Morpher for all 5 members of the team, the Gold Zeonizer, an item never used in the show, but instead a reference to the original toyline and KingRanger changer from Ohranger, the Golden Power Staff, the actual show used morpher of Zeo Gold and a very popular weapon item, and finally the Gold Ranger Communicator, the version of the MMPR communicator released already but based on the one Jason had in Zeo.
That’s all that made it to shelves before the buyout. Though to Bandai’s credit unlike with MMPR there weren’t as many iconic items that would be good candidates for Legacy items. The ones they did make hit all the major points fans would expect from Legacy Zeo items besides the Zords.
Bandai was even struggling on the MMPR end of things. After releasing items such as the Dragon Dagger, Power Sword, Saba, and Blade Blaster there weren’t more iconic enough weapons for them to bring to life other than the other Power Weapons, something Hasbro would eventually make a reality but it’s unknown if these were ever in the plans with Bandai. Now under Hasbro the majority of the cancelled Legacy items consisted of figures in their 6inch line however there is one item that a listing was discovered for that never saw the light of day: the Super Zeo Gems.
Over the end years of Bandai’s Legacy Collection they had begun to release a couple of Power Coin Sets. Taking the coins already released with the Legacy Power Morpher a set was made that included non weathered, somewhat more show accurate versions of these coins for the original Dino Powers of the Rangers priced at $24.99. This was released in the fall of 2017 and follow up set was released with the Ninjetti Power Coins based on both MMPR Season 3 and the 1995 Movie.
The 2017 Power Rangers Movie saw a similar set released in one of 2 Legacy items released for the film. But it appears a similar set for Power Rangers Zeo was in the works for 2018. In early January of that year a listing on Amazon was discovered for a “Legacy Super Zeo Gems Collectable Set”. Today this listing no longer exists but thanks to screenshots from the time we could see the description.
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What are the Super Zeo Gems?
They can be found in the Power Rangers Zeo Episode “A Golden Homecoming” which features the return of Jason as the new holder of the Gold Ranger Powers and the departure of Trey of Triforia. As a parting gift the triplets leave the Rangers with the Super Zeo Gems, used by the Golden Power Staff to give the Rangers the new Super Zeo Zords and the combined Super Zeo Megazord. They are only on screen for mere seconds.
The Gems are seen incredibly briefly as Power Coin like objects in a special box with reflective interior cushioning before they are no longer the focus of the shot. From what can be seen they feature the shapes of the Zeo Rangers Helmets on them and possibly have a semi-translucent of metallic design to them. Due to their obscurity it’s odd to think why Bandai would be interested in releasing these items.
The answer could lie in a piece of the description that shows their intention to be used with the Legacy Power Morpher. This type of functionality makes it sound like they could’ve been a sort of similar concept to the Zeo Ranger V Power Coin eventually seen later on in 2018 in the 25th Anniversary Episode “Dimensions in Danger” by Tommy in his Master Morpher. In the years since that episode numerous fan recreations of that coin and other Zeo Ranger custom Power Coins feature a similar appearance to what the Super Zeo Gems seen in the episode.
It’s possible this was the intention behind this release, especially as a release date was also not included with this listing so it’s unknown exactly if it would’ve been out by the time the episode aired, or how far along it was before being canceled but it does offer a lot of interesting potential.
One thing that the description never stated, either way, was how these would’ve been packed. In the show they are seen in the previously mentioned special case for the brief moment so it could’ve been cool to see Bandai recreate this prop seen on screen or they would’ve been packaged in a similar manner to the previous coin sets. Unfortunately we’ll never know.
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So was this a missed opportunity? Hard to say. Could there have been a better choice for a Zeo item in this line? Perhaps a Zeo Crystal or subcrystal set that was more similar to Power Coin sets in terms of releasing the source of the Rangers Powers would’ve been a better choice but something like this was more up Bandai’s alley. If it had done well it’s possible Bandai would’ve been more open to the idea of doing items like this in their Legacy Collection… but now it’s up to Hasbro to decide if that’s an avenue they would ever want to explore.
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And that’s the brief story and what we know of the planned Legacy Collection Super Zeo Gem set. What Power Rangers Zeo items would you have wanted to see released in Bandai’s Legacy Collection had it gotten the chance to continue? Leave your thoughts in the comments below or on our social media. Make sure to follow us so you don’t miss a thing, we’re always watching.
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Source: Tokunation
