Demoted To Extra / Power Rangers

Power Rangers itself

• Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers: This started happening to Kimberly in season three. Notably, she was the only one who didn't go to Edenoi during the season premiere (AKA the Poorly Disguised Pilot for Saban's Masked Rider) due to a cold (though she made use of reduced screentime awesomely, being the only Ranger left on Earth when Rita and Zedd sent a new Monster of the Week), and had her powers drained halfway through after being captured by Kat Hillard. Since Amy Jo Johnson had actually told Saban she was going to quit beforehand, instead of clumsy camera tricks and an abrupt Fake Shemp, half the season was spent slowly easing her character out of the Pink Ranger position and setting up her successor.
• Bulk and Skull start getting less screen time as time went on. First, in Turbo they were turned into chimps for a good portion of the series (behind the scenes, this was prompted by the actors being away to shoot a pilot for a spin-off series). It wasn't until In Space that their screen time was cut significantly due to the focus being on space travel and the rangers having little time on Earth. Aside from one small cameo, the duo are mostly absent through the series' middle episodes with the bulk (no pun intended) being at the beginning and end of the series. After Skull was Put on a Bus in Power Rangers Lost Galaxy, the writers apparently had trouble coming up with material for Bulk on his own and/or Professor Phenomenous (or, more likely, the show's Troubled Production played a role). He only appears in a few episodes (he does get the last billing in the title sequence in those episodes though). He would not have a recurring role again until Power Rangers Samurai 12 years later.
• This happens with Ernie starting with the second season of Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers and eventually ending with his blink-and-you'll-miss-it cameo in the 1997 Power Rangers Turbo film. Despite allegedly filming scenes for the 1995 film Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers: The Movie, the scenes were eventually deleted, and to date, no publicly available copy of said film has those deleted scenes on them to confirm one way or another. This is despite essentially being an extra in Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers season 1, but appearing in almost every episode. Oddly enough, even though he's promoted to opening credits, he appears in fewer and fewer episodes every season despite the Power Rangers hanging out at the Youth Center through Power Rangers Zeo while he's still there. The reason why is never specified, but given that, by the time they started filming 1997's Turbo film, his actor was starting to suffer from health issues relating to both his weight and his smoking. That would partially explain why he never returned for Power Rangers in Space and Power Rangers Lost Galaxy as well as the 'Forever Red' episode of Power Rangers Wild Force. By the time both Power Rangers Operation Overdrive and Power Rangers Megaforce came around, his actor, Richard Genelle, died due to complications from a heart attack. Power Rangers Megaforce's Ernie is alleged to have been named after him and, had he survived his heart attack, it has also been alleged that Megaforce's Ernie would have been the OG instead of a namesake character.

From a Super Sentai standpoint, there are multiple cases where a character that plays a major role gets reduced to merely being a side character. This is most notable with the villains as sometimes the Big Bad himself is reduced to being a simple Monster of the Week, a giant form controlled by the American-made Big Bad in the finale, or just plain reduced to a sidekick. These include:

Kyuryu Sentai Zyuranger to Mighty Morphin Power Rangers

• Dai Satan, the Man Behind the Man to Bandora in Kyōryū Sentai Zyuranger is turned into Lokar, who is merely an associate of Rita's, though he does serve as an integral part of Rita's schemes in two separate two-part episodes.
• Daizyujin, the Humongous Mecha itself falls into this trope. In Zyuranger the mecha was a sentient being implied to be God. In Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, it is merely a machine.
• Dora Sphinx is a downplayed example as he lasted for two episodes as opposed to King Sphinx' one. However, Dora Sphinx is an instrumental monster in forming the Humongous Mecha for the first time, whereas King Sphinx is merely involved in a standard plotline.

Gosei Sentai Dairanger to Mighty Morphin Power Rangers Season 2

• Shadam, the Big Bad of Gosei Sentai Dairanger, or at least his masked form, is used for Mondo the Magician, a Monster of the Week appearing in the two-parter Storybook Rangers. He fares better than his totally Adapted Out subordinates Gara and Zydos, though.
• In addition, Dairanger has several Arc Villain and rivals who are reduced to Monsters of the Week.
  • Garouki is the skeletal monster form of Demon-Fist Master Jin Matoba, the main rival to the Red Ranger. It was demoted to the Monster of the Week known as Skelerena.
  • Monster of the Week Four Head was also originally the combined form of a set of Arc Villain characters known as the Gorma Four Heavenly Kings. These lasted for four episode, as opposed to Four Head's one.
  • Jaws of Destruction is adapted from Archbishop Saw, who, like Dora Sphinx, was instrumental in introducing the combined Humongous Mecha. In Power Rangers, he is a Monster Of The Week without any gravitas.
  • Doomstone's Sentai counterpart was originally part of a Quirky Miniboss Squad that even got a Heel–Face Turn, and the other two members were given the axe completely.
  • Subverted with Serpentera, Lord Zedd's personal Zord. His Dirainger counterpart, Daijinryuu, was a major player in Dairanger. This was actually a sentient god tasked with preserving peace throughout the universe. It felt that the conflict between the rangers and their enemies would endanger said peace and set out to stop the fighting...by threatening to blow up the earth. This being influence much of the decisions of the characters in Dairanger. Serpentera, while powerful, does not evoke such fear. However, Serpentera dues appear in more seasons than his counterpart, meaning its appears more, but its role isn't as important.

Bakuryuu Sentai Abaranger to Power Rangers Dino Thunder

• Big Bad Wicked Life God Dezumozorlya from Bakuryuu Sentai Abaranger has multiple forms throughout the season. As the Big Bad role is given to Mesogog in Dino Thunder, his multiple forms are reduced to being Monsters Of The Week;
  • DezumoRijewel was originally a Grand Theft Me of the daughter of Asuka and his wife. In Power Rangers she is a monster from the comic book world named Fridgia.
  • His DezumoVoorla form was him fusing his two generals into a new body of his. This is turned into the Ugly Monster in Power Rangers, who is a slightly stronger monster.
  • His gigantic One-Winged Angel Form DezumoGevirus is used for the Zelzord, a giant mecha piloted by Zeltrax.
• Mikela and Voffa, the monster makers of Abaranger who appeared throughout said series, are reduced to merely being the bodyguards of Lothor from Power Rangers Ninja Storm appearing in the crossover episode.
• The Bakuryuu were sentient Dinosaur mecha that would communicate with the Abarangers through their Morphers and act as partners. In Power Rangers, the Dino Zords lack this ability and are used as normal Zords.

• Gekisou Sentai Carranger to Power Rangers Turbo:
  • Emperor Exhaus' role as Big Bad is given to Divatox (and arguably Dark Specter, who fulfills the "someone worse than the usual villains appears near the end" role); his Super-Strong Form was used for Goldgoyle a Monster of the Week, albeit an insanely strong one whose destruction of the Turbo and Rescue Megazords heavily contribute to Power Rangers Turbo's Sudden Downer Ending.
  • The Combat Wompers were replaced as the main mooks by the American exclusive Piranhatrons, though they would appear in a few episodes as the Chromites.
• Denji Sentai Megaranger to Power Rangers in Space:
  • Dr. Hinelar's Big Bad role is given to Astronema (who doesn't have a direct counterpart; she's more a Composite Character of Dr. Hinelar and Shibolena). His monster form is used for Furio, a general in the following season.
  • The Kunekune Mooks are reduced mostly to training dummies used by the heroes called the Craterites, and are replaced by the Quantrons.
• Seijuu Sentai Gingaman to Power Rangers Lost Galaxy: Captain Zabah, the Big Bad of the show, along with his last two generals, Iliess and Battobas, and Daitanix, the monster the Balban try to review through the show, became the arc villains of the Lost Galaxy story arc in Lost Galaxy.
• Mirai Sentai Timeranger to Power Rangers Time Force: Don Dolnero's role is given to Ransik; his suit is used for Gluto, who is pretty much just comic relief among the villains.
• "Hyakujuu Sentai Gaoranger" to "Power Rangers Wild Force": Ogre Tribe Org's first two Highness Duke Orgs, Shuten and Ura, are replaced by Master Org as the leader of the Orgs, with their counterparts, Retinax and Nayzor, becoming his bodyguard and a general, respectively. Averted with the third Highness Duke Org, Rasetsu, whose counterpart Mandilok replaces Master Org as the leader of the Orgs until the master's return, and the three Highness Duke Orgs' combined form, Ultimate Org Senki, which becomes Master Org's final form.
• Ninpuu Sentai Hurricaneger to Power Rangers Ninja Storm:
  • Tau Zant's role as Big Bad is given to Lothor; his gigantic Tau Zant Ultimate Form is used for the Lothorzord.
  • Also, Manmaruba is around from day one, with future-reading abilities that make him very crucial to the villains' mission, while Motodrone is a later addition who's not as important to the story. His Berserk Form would be turned into a Monster of the Week called Eyezak.
• Tokusou Sentai Dekaranger to Power Rangers S.P.D.: The Omega Ranger was demoted compared to his Sentai counterpart DekaBreak. Disney executives wanted to save on production costs and would have eliminated the character entirely, but he was so prominent in Dekaranger that cutting him out of all the Stock Footage would have been impossible. They decided that the next best thing would be to come up with a Hand Wave to justify hiring a voice actor rather than a regular actor to play the role^note he's a Time Traveler, so when not morphed he manifests as a ball of light to enforce Never the Selves Shall Meet. In the end, the executives were the only ones happy with this decision: the writers resented being saddled with such a bothersome plot element and thus used the character as little as possible, and viewers hated him because he was little more than a living weapon with no personality or development.
• Zyuden Sentai Kyoryuger to Power Rangers Dino Charge:
  • The Big Bad is Deboth, who appears in his original dinosaur-slaying giant monster form (first in episodes 22-23, and later via a series of clones in episodes 41-42 and a final time in episode 44) and evolves into a form better suited to wiping out humanity near the end of the series. In Power Rangers Dino Charge, his original form is reduced to a mindless Monster of the Week and its similarly mindless offspring; his final form is Adapted Out.
  • Also, Chaos is the Dragon-in-Chief for most of Kyoryuger as Deboth is dormant for much of the series; in Dino Charge, his counterpart Arcanon is the last and shortest-lived of the Big Bad revolving door, though he is a very important villain and responsible for most of the backstory.
  • Deathryuger, Icerondo, and Killbolero were given a similar treatment, with Icerondo being split into two monsters.
• Shuriken Sentai Ninninger to Power Rangers Ninja Steel:
  • While his counterpart Tynamon appears in only four episodes (though a definite case of Small Role, Big Impact), Tsugomori debuts immediately after the fall of Ripcon’s counterpart and as such is one of the longest-running generals in the series.
  • Meanwhile, Ariake no Kata outranked both Tsugomori and Odius’s counterpart Kyuemon (who, by extension, is also her son), to the point of being Dragon-in-Chief for an arc (at least until Mangetsu's introduction), and using the fear energy the villains were collecting for herself instead of storing it to revive the Big Bad, thus creating friction. Her counterpart Badonna, while in nearly as many episodes, just doesn’t make as much of an impact, being Dragon Ascendant Madame Odius’ loyal right hand and never rocking the boat.