GOLDAR

POWER RANGERS: THE LIGHTING COLLECTION (HASBRO)

Though not as unfortunate as the completely American creation Lord Zedd, as a villain, Goldar, originally named Grifforzer in Japan, wasn’t exactly rolling in action figures.  In particular, he was absent from all of the higher end offerings, which mostly meant there was no Goldar to go alongside Bandai Japan’s Figuarts version of the Mighty Morphin’ team.  Fortunately, he was pretty high on Hasbro’s radar when they took over the property.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Goldar is his own solo offering in the Lightning Collection line-up, offered up as GameStop-exclusive figure.  Though he ended up being the second proper exclusive to hit, he was the first to be announced and offered up for pre-order.  He was initially supposed to ship in October, but ended up arriving a bit ahead of schedule.  The figure stands 6 1/2 inches tall and he has 42 points of articulation, which includes a fully articulated set of wings.  Goldar’s sculpt is a unique affair, and follows pretty closely with what Hasbro’s done so far stylistically.  He’s got a combination of solid construction on the body with some overlay pieces to properly get his full armored appearance, which allows for some pretty solid mobility.  Compared to Zedd, the overlays work out a bit better, holding to the figure more solidly than Zedd’s, resulting in a figure that feels less flimsy for the most part, especially when posing.  The sculpted work is pretty nicely detailed, with the best work being on his face and his wings, but even his armor exhibits some decent texture work.  If there’s one slight downfall to this figure, it’s the paintwork, or rather the general lack thereof.  In the figure’s defense, the end product is much better than I’d anticipated.  The big thing is that a good portion of his gold armor is molded plastic.  The thing about molded plastic is that colors like gold and silver don’t tend to look quite as good as painted plastic.  That said, a number of sections are actually painted, which helps maintain the illusion of proper gold.  Additionally, the gold plastic used isn’t quite as disappointing as I’d expected, especially when compared to the Legacy Collection Gold Ranger.  Goldar is packed with two different sets of hands, a sword, and a lightning effect to go over it.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

While Goldar isn’t my favorite Power Rangers foe, but I still think he’s a cool enough dude that I wanted him as a toy, so I was on board for this figure as soon as he was announced.  Fortunately, Super Awesome Fiancee was kind enough to order one for me, originally as a birthday present, although it did end up being ever so slighlty delayed.  I wasn’t sure how I’d like him at first, but having gotten him in hand and played around with him for a bit, I have so say, I’m quite pleased with the final product.  Here’s to more releases like this!