Monthly Archives: October 2015

#0710: White Ranger

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , ,

WHITE RANGER

MIGHTY MORPHIN’ POWER RANGERS: THE MOVIE

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In the mid-1990s, Power Rangers was pretty big, big enough to warrant getting a full-length movie, anyway. Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers: The Movie presented a slightly different continuity from the show, and offered some slight redesigns of the Rangers costume, one assumes to make them more visually interesting on the big screen. The designs were wholly original to the American-ized version of the Rangers. There were no pre-existing toys of them in Japan, meaning that no toys of those designs were released at the time of the movie. However, with the 20th Anniversary of the Mighty Morphin’ Rangers, Bandai has decided to finally offer film-accurate versions of the characters. Today we’ll be looking at the White Ranger.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

WhiteRanger2The White Ranger was released as part of Bandai’s Mighty Morpin’ Power Rangers: The Movie line, which was released exclusively at Toys R Us, at least initially. He is, as noted, based on the design of the White Ranger from the movie, which, in contrast to the other Rangers in the movie, was actually more streamlined than the TV version. The figure stands a little over 5 inches tall (which is just a smidge shorter than the SH Figuarts Rangers) and has 19 points of articulation. While he certainly has a fair amount of articulation, the lack of lateral movement at the biceps and hips, as well as the complete lack of any sort of torso articulation does make anything much more exciting than a slightly askew “ready for action” sort of pose pretty much impossible. Power Rangers figures have typically had a tendency to be a lot more bulked up than their real life counterparts. While he’s certainly not as proportionally balanced as the Figuarts stuff, the White Ranger actually manages to have fairly modest proportions. The more armored look also helps to mask any sort of extra bulkiness, so it’s really not noticeable. The details of the sculpt are pretty decent, but some areas are a little softer than others, especially the torso. Also, most of the articulation is worked it pretty smoothly, but the hip joints stick out like sore thumbs. The paintwork on this figure is pretty decently handled; there’s not really any slop or bleed over. However, the colors are kind of flat, and he feels much too shiny overall. The White Ranger is packed with his talking sword, Saba, which can be held (loosely) in his hand or plugged into the side of his belt.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I ended up passing on the SH Figuarts White Ranger when he was released, since I’m more of a Green Ranger fan. When I did finally look into getting one, the prices had jumped beyond what I was willing to pay. So, when I saw this guy at a local TRU while accompanying Tim on a quest for Nerf guns, I figured he was worth the investment. Unfortunately, I didn’t actually have the money on me to buy him, but Super Awesome Girlfriend was there, and, as we’ve established, she won’t let me put a figure back. He’s not a bad figure, but I will admit to being a tad disappointed by the movement once I got him out of the box. Still, you could do a lot worse.

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#0709: Starman

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , ,

STARMAN

JUSTICE LEAGUE UNLIMITED

StarmanJLU1

Growing up, I was much more a DC fan than a Marvel fan*. This was due in no small part to my primary exposure to the DC Universe being at the hands of the various animated series, courtesy of Bruce Timm and company. For many (though not necessarily for me), the high point of the DCAU was Justice League Unlimited, which offered tales staring characters from every corner of the DC Universe, barring the more mature Vertigo stuff. Tons of characters appeared on the show in its two seasons, with some taking on actual roles in the story, but most ending up as little more than scenery. Today’s focus, Starman, was part of that second group. Also, he has absolutely nothing to do with the Jeff Bridges film, just to be clear.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

StarmanJLU2Starman was actually one of the earliest figures in Mattel’s JLU line, being part of the first assortment of figures. He was available two ways: on his own with a cosmic staff accessory or packed with Superman and Amazo, in a set based around the episode “The Return.” My figure comes from the set with Amazo and Superman. Starman doesn’t figure into the plot of “The Return” in any prominent way, but he is one of the many characters who gets a brief focus during the initial fight with Amazo. There have been many versions of Starman over the years, and this one’s based on the Prince Gavin version of the character, who starred in Adventure Comics during the 70s. The figure stands roughly 4 ½ inches tall and has 5 points of articulation. Starting with the first series of JLU, Mattel implemented one of their signature buck systems, in order to make producing the multitudes of characters appearing on screen just a little bit easier. Starman is built on the medium-sized body, which was a retooled version of the Justice League line’s Green Lantern body. It’s a good translation of the body style from the show, and it’s a good fit for Starman. One small drawback of this particular body is that one of the legs is shorter than the other, meaning he stands with a slight tilt. It’s a minor issue, but it’s one that affected every figure that used this body. Starman gets his own unique head sculpt, which is probably one of my favorites from the line. It replicates his wacky hair pretty well and features a lot of really sharp line work on the facial features. It’s a great translation of the animation model for the character. The paint takes up the bulk of the work in conveying his costume, which it does pretty nicely. The colors are nice and bold, and the line work is all pretty clean. The multi-pack version of Starman didn’t have accessories, unless you want to count Superman and Amazo.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

The three-pack that contained Starman was my second item from the JLU line. The line was still pretty hard to find, so I ended up trading the Doombot from Marvel Legends of all things to get it. Perhaps not the greatest trade in the long run, but I already had a Doombot, so I didn’t mind. Starman remains one of my favorite figures from the line. I’ve always liked Gavin’s design, and it’s not like he’s got an excess of figures. This one captures the design quite nicely, which is awesome!

*Okay, that’s not entirely true. I was a pretty big Marvel fan during the back half of the 90s. It was the early 00s that turned me away from the company, before the Marvel Studios movies brought me back.