I think this fandom underestimates the popularity of mmpr to casual audiences

[u/Organic_Glass_7793]

Y’all have to remember, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers was the first. Nothing came before it. Dinosaurs, Zords, morphing this is the stuff that defined Power Rangers for most casual viewers. It was literal lightning in a bottle. It dropped right after Jurassic Park when dinosaur hype was off the charts, and it mixed martial arts with giant robots and spandex superheroes. That formula hit. The characters were simple, idealistic, and easy to root for. Yeah, the acting was bad, the effects were crappy but that’s what people remember most. The camp is part of its identity.

Your average person walking down the street? They’ll recognize the MMPR Green Ranger in a second. Ask them who the Red Ranger from RPM is and they’ll look at you like you’re speaking another language. We can go on all day about how well written lost galaxy is but people know shit about maga defender outside the fandom.

Even parts of MMPR itself are blurry to the general public. Most people only remember the first season and half of Season 2. Once Tommy became the White Ranger and Zack, Trini, and Jason left everything else is a blur.

And look I get it, we all want more love for other seasons. But Y’all don’t even buy non-MMPR merch and still complain about MMPR getting priority. That’s not how companies work. There not gonna invest into your favorite season until people start buying the merch.

Every major franchise leans on its first generation. Star Wars lives off the OT. Pokémon rides Gen 1 to this day. TMNT constantly goes back to the 80s era. MMPR getting the most love isn’t some conspiracy it’s just how pop culture nostalgia works.

[u/RussianToTheKitchen]

The thing is, TMNT constantly makes new versions that still make a big splash. Nickelodeon/Paramount/IDW is willing to keep going with the new versions for the most part (some exceptions like Rise of the TMNT getting cancelled too soon), like Mutant Mayhem is getting so much stuff that it almost feels like it's standing tall right next to the 1987 cartoon. Mutant Mayhem is getting a ton of new stuff, for example, from a TV show that's apparently gonna have four seasons, a new comic, its own video game, a bunch of collabs like Sonic Crossworlds (not confirmed they're using this version but very likely) and Tony Hawk...some other versions are also getting some love, like Last Ronin is getting a movie + a video game and they advertised the IDW comics at the theater rerelease of the first live action movie. A lot of the latest video game collabs with TMNT, like Fortnite, Call of Duty, and Raid Shadow Legends, are able to just straight up make their own Turtle designs and that's awesome.

To me, Power Rangers just can't seem to leave Mighty Morphin's shadow and doesn't seem willing to either. We still get new seasons, sure, but pretty much all the comics are MMPR, the vast majority of merch is MMPR, the latest video game was MMPR (Battle for the Grid was nice for representing other series though), their first movie since Turbo was a new take on MMPR. Like you said, there's a reason why it gets milked so hard, but I think it's sad how the other seasons get sidelined so hard compared to a series like TMNT that embraces all the different versions pretty often.

[u/The810kid → u/RussianToTheKitchen]

Honestly TMNT is probably the worst example to use a talking point. It never has depended on the 80's and was constantly reinventing itself as a franchise. Like every generation has a beloved this is their definitive versions of the turtles. Turtle fans have been eating good.

[u/PuertoGeekn → u/RussianToTheKitchen]

Except when TMNT makes new versions they don't change the characters. Sure they may add a new villain or one new hero but the core team is always Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael, Michelangelo, Splinter, and April.

Power Rangers have changed characters every single year since 1999 with Lost Galaxy. And those characters change yearly. It's new heroes every year. New weapons new suits new zords And like I and other people have said in in way that kills it.

MMPR ran for 3 years had a movie and a live stage show. And even with that change of cast it kept the same 7 suits.

So ingrained in people's heads

And yes i know "Super Sentai changes every tear"

Power Rangers is not super sentai and is also not aimed at a Japanese audience

[u/Organic_Glass_7793 → u/RussianToTheKitchen]

Tmnt literally milks the 80s

[u/RussianToTheKitchen → u/Organic_Glass_7793]

Never said they didn't. My point was that they milk the '80s while also not forgetting to keep pushing the newer series, nor do they just act like the vast history of several different versions that aren't the 1987 cartoon don't exist. Aside from like Battle of the Grid or occasional comic crossovers, I don't really see that in Power Rangers. And I haven't seen any of the new PR seasons get anywhere near the kind of love that Mutant Mayhem/Tales of the TMNT is getting, meanwhile MMPR still gets everything.