The Power Rangers are now 25 years old, and in addition to making everyone who watched them realize how old they've gotten, that means some changes are needed in order for the franchise to keep chugging along for another 25 years.
While we're sure to see that in the comics thanks to the upcoming regime change in Mighty Morphin Power Rangers and the upcoming Beast Morphers live-action series on Nickelodeon, there's certainly more to be done. Things are a lot different these days than they were in 1993, and that means that the multicolored teenagers with attitude can and should come to a new avenue of television: The realm of animation.
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When you step back and think about it, it's weird that there's never been a Power Rangers cartoon before. Now that Hasbro has the brand, it's certainly a possibility. The company has a storied history of turning their properties into animated series, and even if all of them aren't crazy successful, the shows themselves come out with enough frequency that it almost doesn't matter. Animation certainly proves to be a better outlet for Hasbro than their live-action attempts -- just ask Transformers fans -- and there will be an eventual point where Power Rangers can no longer crib from various Super Sentai series for half its footage.
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Beyond that, we're at a point now where it's more than feasible to be completely original with the Power Rangers. Both reboots of Voltron and Thundercats merely took inspiration from their respective series to tell wholly new tales, and She-Ra's reboot looks to be doing the same thing. Everyone knows the pattern each Power Rangers series go through, but it doesn't necessarily have to be that way. It's even possible for the Rangers to take inspiration from something like My Hero Academia or Steven Universe for a potential animated venture. For whatever reason, animation seems to be the avenue where superheroes get extensive deep dives into who they are as people, but this didn't happen for the Rangers -- or rather, not evenly, since the Red Ranger typically gets the most development -- until the Go Go Power Rangers comic.
Even though the network's current animation lineup is primarily comedy-focused, give or take a Ninja Turtles, it wasn't that long ago Nickelodeon was airing action series as frequently as comedies and slice of life tales. The heyday of Nickelodeon for many was when its lineup featured Danny Phantom and Avatar: The Last Airbender, two very beloved action animated series that still resonate with a lot of young adults to this day. Power Rangers as a cartoon has the potential to reach a new audience of Nick fans who only watch their cartoon programming, and that's something Hasbro can tap into.
Of all the things the various generations of Rangers have been through, going animated wouldn't be too much of a stretch. Anyone older than 12 and still into the Rangers will no doubt admit that the whole idea of grown adults in monster costumes and superhero renditions of samurai suits is incredibly cheesy. And while that's a big part of the Rangers' charm, it may be time to see what happens when the brand is played straight instead of swimming in the river of cheese that's defined them for the last two and a half decades.
Do the Rangers still work without the silly costumes and hairstyles in live-action? It's worth finding out, if only just the one time. It would also allow for us to see what classic Ranger moments are like in an animated form -- who hasn't wanted to see the colorful Rangers morphing sequence as a cartoon instead of live-action? Even the Teen Titans got to it, eventually.
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Risky as it may be, the Power Rangers are up to the task, and it's worth trying even just the one time. If it fails or doesn't get the results that Hasbro so desires, it's easy for them to go back to live-action and just pretend the whole cartoon thing never happened.
Sometimes animated ventures flat out don't work; Thundercats died off after a single season, and fellow Hasbro mainstay GI Joe hasn't been as lucky as Transformers or My Little Pony. But it'd be more interesting to see what would happen if it does succeed. The Power Rangers are the only big name superhero franchise to not try their hand at animation, and if they can succeed at that, they'll have a new way to ensure their future in the public eye.