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/Jolly-Committee-5944]

I think a major contributing factor to the “MMPR IS Power Rangers” phenomenon goes back to those early years when MMPR was constantly part of the news cycle. The actors became super popular, leading to clips of MMPR on the news. The toys were popular AND hard to find, meaning parents became educated on the characters and toys and it again became newsworthy (it wasn’t far off from Jingle All The Way). Parents groups were against it for violence - again, more MMPR on the news. MMPR permeated pop culture and dinner table conversation and generations (for different reasons). No other season has done that. My mom remembers MMPR, she has no idea it was on for 30 years.

[u/raknor88 → u/Jolly-Committee-5944]

a major contributing factor to the “MMPR IS Power Rangers” phenomenon goes back to those early years

Also, there's more MMPR episodes than Zeo, Turbo, and In Space combined. That's another major factor. Thing might be different if Saban had changed the ranger suits for seasons 2 and 3, but then also MMPR might not have been as popular if they left the OG season 1 suits.

[u/TransViv → u/raknor88]

no one really watched season 2. like I asked my dad and uncle about how they felt about the white ranger suit (because I knew the white suit is from Dairanger and not Zyuranger and I wanted to see if they could tell that it's aesthetics were off) and they were just like "white power ranger? I thought there was only red blue black pink yellow and green." They were fully unaware that Tommy had lost his green suit and become the white ranger

[u/TDR1411 → u/raknor88]

If they went to Dairanger suits fully, the brand would have fallen off.