MIGHTY MORPHIN BLUE RANGER

POWER RANGERS: LIGHTNING COLLECTION REMASTERED (HASBRO)

My last Lightning Collection review opened with a remark that I was pretty sure I was supposed to be done with this line. But, I gave myself the exemption of Blue Rangers, and that one may have been another Billy, but he was at least in a different outfit. This one? Not even in a different outfit. I know. I’m disappointed in myself too. Okay, not really. I’ve got a few compelling reasons for having another one. Let’s check the figure and those compelling reasons out!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Mighty Morphin Blue Ranger is one of the two figures that make up the first assortment of Power Rangers: Lightning Collection Remastered, a sub-line of figures dedicated to redoing the original Rangers, but with a deluxe sort of treatment. The first assortment was Billy and Trini, who will be joined by Red, Pink, and Green later this year, and the Black Ranger…sometime? I don’t know. I really only care about this figure. Said figure stands about 6 1/4 inches tall and has 34 points of articulation. While you might think there would be a lot of re-used pieces between this and the standard Blue Ranger, there are actually very few parts shared. The upper torso, arms, and legs have all been redone to tweak the articulation schemes, adding more range on the neck, and removing the visible pins on the arms and legs. The arms have also been modified so that they can now sit more flush with the torso, making him less hover-arm-y. The head has also been replaced with a helmet that’s more accurate to the actual on-screen piece, with a far better selection of proportions than the last one. Additionally, the plastic quality on this one seems to be just a touch better, and he just feels a lot less gummy than the last figure did.  While the paint on the standard Billy certainly wasn’t bad, this one still improves upon it, with sharper application across the board, and additional details not present on the last one. It looks a lot nicer. Billy is packed with three pairs of hands (in fists, gripping, and a set for holding his morpher), both configurations of his power lance, all three configurations of the Blade Blaster, his morpher, two effects pieces, and an unmasked head with a pair of removable glasses. It’s quite a lot, and definitely fits with that deluxe set-up that they were going for on these releases.  I appreciate that no trade-offs occurred, so he’s still got everything from the last time around, but just with extra stuff.  It’s great to finally see the Blade Blaster in all its modes, and the Morpher is also a pretty fun little piece.  The new head also improves on the old one, and even manages to do removable glasses that are not only secure in place, but also look better than the permanently affixed ones.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I already had the standard version of this guy, and I also already have the whole MMPR team in Figuarts, so the remasters weren’t something I immediately felt the need to jump on.  That said, I do love Billy, and Blue Rangers in general, so I was mighty tempted.  Thankfully, I didn’t have to have too much debate about it, as I wound up getting this guy from my son Matty for my birthday, which was pretty awesome.  I expected him to be an improvement over the original release, but I didn’t expect him to be this *much* of an improvement.  He’s honestly really, really good.  Way better than I was expecting.  I mean, I’m not gonna go crazy and jump in on the whole team in this style or anything, but I do really appreciate this one.