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I said this when Bandai first unveiled the 6.5" figures, and I think the same thing applies here. Power Rangers simply doesn't have the fanbase to support a $20 retail line beyond MMPR. Even the current season is peg warming like no tomorrow. The 6.5" line did a lot wrong, but ulimately it's biggest sin was drawing a line between kids and collectors. Looking back to 2014, the Super Megaforce line was thriving. All those reds and sixths, even the unpopular seasons, were selling. That's because the price was right to be able to appeal to both markets. I may have hated Overdrive, but for $10 I'll buy it to complete the set. A kid might know nothing about Mystic Force, but thinks it's a cool looking Ranger to spend his allowance on.
Fast forward to today and reds and 6ths in the LC are ending up clearance fodder. Why? Because while Hasbro was smart enough to keep both their lines in the same relative scale, that line between kid and collector was still drawn. LC is too expensive for kids, and collectors generally don't care for the basic line save for villains who aren't likely to get LC figures. The market for PR figures is fractured, and as a result neither line is thriving. Power Rangers isn't Marvel or Transformers who have fanbases large enough to support dedicated lines. Bandai found that out the hard way, and Hasbro didn't learn from Bandai's mistakes.
I could see LC sustaining itself via a Mattycollector type online service, but if it's already struggling at retail now it's hard to imagine how it's going to continue on once all the MMPRs have been released. Ultimately I do think Bandai had the right formula in 2014. If there had been no LC and Hasbro just released old Rangers and villains for $10 in the basic Beast Morphers line, or off-shoot of that line, I think they'd be doing much better with PR across the board right now and getting much less criticism. That's essentially what the Super Legends were, and people loved those figures.
