Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie opened on this day 30 years ago. Many critics at the time seemed to view it as a rite of passage to trash it as much as possible (“It’s so violent!” “It’s only made to sell toys!” “I don’t know what ‘Ooze’ is!”), but the film has become a nostalgia classic for many (“I like the violence! I had the toys! You ooze, you lose!”).
1995 really was the year McDonald’s went all out with huge summer blockbuster tie-ins, because not only did they have a massive campaign for Batman Forever, they had an equally big one for Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie. In fact, some claim the fast food promotion was more financially successful than the film itself. For starters, there was of course a Happy Meal set. These toys consisted of “gadgets” which kids could use to pretend they were a Power Ranger.
Unfortunately…I can’t for the life of me find the commercial for this! One of the most frustrating things about YouTube is knowing you’ve watched a video there in the past, only for it to later be taken down for copyright bullshit reasons or whatever. So, I dunno, here’s a poster of them so you can try to figure out why the “Powermorpher Buckle” appears to…shoot coins? Was that a thing the Power Rangers did? Was it subliminal messaging for the tykes to buy as much Power Rangers shit as possible?
The Happy Meal campaign, however, wasn’t the main reason this tie-in was such a mighty deal. No, McDonald’s had a promotion for “big kids” too…and by “big kids,” I mean actual kids, because McDonald’s wasn’t going to have Power Rangers collectibles targeted at adults in 1995. In this case, it was a series of toys that were “too powerful” for your mere Happy Meal, and had to be bought separately (at a discounted price with food purchase!). That’s right, we’re talking about the Rangers and Zords, motherfuckers! (Sorry, that language was unnecessary; the Rangers would not approve)
As you can see from the commercial (and yes, I did share the AI upscaled restoration, because the original YouTube upload of this ad is crap), these bad boys were pretty impressive. They look to almost be about the same quality of the full priced ones you could find at Toys R Us (unless of course you were little Scrat, who wasn’t allowed to watch Power Rangers, because it was so violent, and it was made to sell toys, and his parents didn’t know what ‘ooze’ was). These are really fondly remembered by fans and collectors alike, and one day–you guessed it–I intend to make them mine on eBay. Also, I’m sure I’m the first person on earth to make this joke, but “zord” kind of sounds like a euphemism for “penis.”
Have a MORPHINOMINAL day, y’all!