'Power Rangers' Original Continuity Heads For Final Death With Heritage Auctions
Hundreds of props across all 30 years of the series are being auctioned in November
The legacy of power is about to be permanently scattered. It’s barely been a year since the Power Rangers series we’ve known since 1993 ended with Cosmic Fury after 30 seasons and 974 episodes, and a movie. It is over over. Hasbro is officially relinquishing 689 props and costumes from 30 years of the Power Rangers franchise, including all 30 seasons and the 1995 movie, as well as other Saban Entertainment productions that followed in the show’s initial footsteps like Masked Rider, Big Bad Beetleborgs, and Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation. They’re being auctioned off at Heritage Auctions in Dallas, Texas over Monday, November 18 and Tuesday, November 19, with bidding starting next week.
Every Ranger suit is seeemingly here in some form, including super modes, battlized modes, A-Squad armors from SPD, evil Dino Fury Blue they’re all here. Rita’s staff, Zedd’s staff, Scorpina, Ransik, Nadira, Lothor, Marah, and Kapri’s outfits are here. Trakeena’s full insectoid form too. Lots of foot soldiers, monsters, Megazords, miniatures, and even full suits of characters like Master Zedd, Robo Rita, Doggie Cruger, Keeper, Solon, Frax, Gluto, Flurious, Sheriff Skyfire, Redbot, and even Zika, Magna Defender’s dead son from Lost Galaxy. Monty’s outfit and the Nexus Prism from Ninja Steel (for both) and Dino Fury (for the latter). Goldar and Elgar’s heads have definitely had their best days behind them. It is so much about to be scattered.
Two notable members of the Dino and Cosmic Fury team, showrunner Simon Bennett and actress Hunter Deno, who played Amelia Jones, the Dino Fury Pink Ranger turned Cosmic Fury Red Ranger, the first regular female Red Ranger in the show’s history, lamented on their socials. Bennett, whose work began during Ninja Steel several seasons before becoming showrunner, wrote on Instagram “Even Solon is for sale 😢. Sad to see 30 years of Power Rangers props and costumes being auctioned off. I was disappointed when we packed up the NZ warehouses and shipped everything to the US last year, knowing that this was where it would all end up. I guess they’re too expensive to keep storing, when there’s no likelihood of continuing with the show as we know it. End of an era.” This got the attention of several Rangers he worked with. That included Jacqueline Joe, who played Fern, Dino and Cosmic Fury Green Ranger Izzy Garcia’s athletic rival-turned-girlfriend, before she herself became the Cosmic Fury Orange Ranger (the franchise’s first Ranger of that color). She commented “Noooo” with bawling emojis. Peter Sudarso, who played Blue Ranger Preston Tien in Ninja Steel and Red Ranger Marvin Shih in the livestreamed tabletop RPG Power Rangers Hyperforce, wrote “end of this era”, and Jordon Fite, the Gold Dino and Cosmic Fury Ranger, started getting to the heart of the issue, asking “Actors couldn’t get the suits, lol?”
In fact, it was Deno who was seemingly hit the hardest, first commenting “I’m crying over here” before shifting things over to Twitter. She elaborated, essentially seconding the sentiment of her co-star “So sad they’re auctioning our suits so they can make a pretty penny instead of giving it to… idk someone who wants and deserves it. If not the actors maybe the stunt performers? It’s just sad”. She replied to one replier that it “Feels like they’re just trying to wipe it all away”, and soon shared her other alternatives on a separate tweet “I would’ve much rather seen it donated somewhere or [auction] for a charity or do something other than this with it” then sharing a further frustration “Why do I gotta bid on my own suit if I want it?”. Then, there was one point she retweeted from Blaze of the Blaze Binges Twitter account formerly known as PowerRangersDay. All these Cosmic Fury props being auctioned off, yet no toys were made for the season. Halloween costumes aren’t toys. So someone out there that isn't likely cast or crew is going to own the real things from a toyetic franchise while the toys for them don’t exist for anyone to enjoy. Make it make sense.
There are still more Rangers who got word. Cameron Jebo, who played Orion, the Silver Super Megaforce Ranger for about 14 episodes posted to his Instagram story “Welp, it’s OVER over” giving the rundown before saying “I hope my suit goes to a true fan.”. Kevin Duhaney, who played Blue Ranger Ethan James in Power Rangers Dino Thunder was alerted by a fan, and he said it “lowkey kinda hurts” his heart. Peter’s older brother Yoshi Sudarso, who played Koda, the caveman Dino Charge Blue Ranger on television and Joe Shih, the Time Force Silver Ranger and Hyperforce Green Ranger on Hyperforce, was much more pointed, harsh, and even a little angry, rightfully so, directly referencing Hasbro’s ongoing financial struggles, saying “They’re so hard up for cash that they’d rather sell off their props and costumes rather than gift them to their respective actors who would cherish the F*** out of them. But hey, whatevs man, it is what it is” he finished off with a shrug emoji. On Friday morning, he posted a TikTok expressing much of that, recounting in his posting to Twitter that “I still remember the devastation in our hearts when Brennan [Mejia, who played Tyler Navarro, the Dino Charge Red Ranger] and I ran to the costume dept after we wrapped to ask about our suits. And most of the extras were cut up in the garbage…” Fite quoted both Deno and Sudarso with “SMH”.
Joshua Moore, author of the upcoming Morphenomenal: How the Power Rangers Conquered the World, and whose Substack called Ranger Reader brought me to this platform in the first place, remarked that “Brand owners seldom are good stewards of their own history”, that preservation isn’t really in their wheelhouse, calling it “a minor miracle” that props dating so far back are available to be sold instead of having already been destroyed. Jess Matthews, creator of the Fox Kids Club retrospective about the franchise’s original network, remarked how some of these props lasted four corporate owners, with Hasbro being preceded by Saban Brands and Disney with that Saban Entertainment starting point.
Sources: Heritage Auctions (1, 2), Hunter Deno (1, 2, 3, 4), Kevin Duhaney, Yoshi Sudarso (1, 2)
They're suffering the same fate that the prop and costume departments at MGM did when the Smiling Cobra, James Aubrey, was running the joint...