Tag Archives: Power Rangers

Matty’s Corner #0004: In Space Blue Ranger with Galaxy Glider

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Matty's Corner and tagged with , , , , ,

IN SPACE BLUE RANGER & GALAXY GLIDER

POWER RANGERS: THE LIGHTNING COLLECTION (HASBRO)

Hi, Ethan here!  Welcome to Matthew’s Corner, where I’m collecting the mad ramblings of my 6 year old Matthew, who also likes to talk about action figures.  What can I say, I’m sympathetic to his need to ramble about action figures.  So, I’m just gonna let him take it away…though, for what it’s worth, I’m still transcribing for him.

Presenting the Blue Space Power Ranger!  *Screeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeech*  [Yes, he actually screeched–E]  Okay, I don’t mean that screeching anymore.  If you saw, that step at the end of the screech was actually my father writing a note.  Don’t write another note.  I am going to review the Space Blue Power Ranger.  If you heard that, in the starting, with the screech.  Is that the end of the preview?

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The Blue Power Ranger is in the Lightning Collection toyline.  This Blue Power Ranger is a deluxe figure.  Apparently, my dad cannot remember when this figure was out.  *Farting noise*  The figure has 34 joints.  This figure’s height is 6 inches and 1/4.  The sculpt is, well, I feel like the knee pads are a little too straight.  Other than that, it’s probably good.  I really like head of the figure.  Both heads.  He can move well, a little bit on the arms is a little hard and a little bit on the right knee is hard to get, but otherwise it’s okay.  Okay, reviewing all of the colors in one.  Starting off with the head, which has blue on the chin and over the mouth of the hat.  The eye strip has a little bit of black and white on the outside, but not all white.  There is a little tiny gold strip, if you look in.  A bit on the top of his head is black.  The mouth strip is grey.  And the rest is all blue.  Okay, the rest of the figure. That does not include the head.  The neck is white, with a little gold strip around.  The top of his body is blue with white strips on the arm and a little in the middle.  Now, what’s in the middle that does not include some white is on the color strip in the middle of the body.  There is black, yellow, red, pink, and blue.  Then below all that is just a lot of blue and a belt that includes white and gold, legs with a blue strip and the boots, white.  The arms start blue and then there are some white gloves.  Back to review of the normal figure.  No more color scale.  My favorite accessory is the gun and the blast.  The sculpting of the blast looks really hard to make.  He also comes with hands and an axe, and he comes with another head.  And!  He comes with a galaxy glider.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I got this figure because I really, really, really like Space Power Rangers and Blue is my favorite color.  My dad came home with a Blue Space Power Ranger because every Monday we watch Space Power Rangers.  I love, love, love, love, love, love, loooooooooooooooooooove the figure.  I will see you next time with Venom!  Good night, folks!

Matty’s Corner #0002: Red Ecliptor

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Matty's Corner and tagged with , , , , ,

RED ECLIPTOR

POWER RANGERS: LIGHTNING COLLECTION (HASBRO)

Hi, Ethan here!  Welcome to Matthew’s Corner, where I’m collecting the mad ramblings of my 6 year old Matthew, who also likes to talk about action figures.  What can I say, I’m sympathetic to his need to ramble about action figures.  So, I’m just gonna let him take it away…though, for what it’s worth, I’m still transcribing for him.

Hello, this is Matthew again.  It has been a while since I have written.  If you were not happy, you can just say so in the comments section.  I understand.  But I have been catching up with all my stuff on my weeks. So, today, I’m talking about Red Ecliptor!  He’s from Power Rangers.  Space Power Rangers [that’s the best Power Rangers –E].  I’m gonna get to the figure now!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The toyline of Red Ecliptor is Lightning Collection.  The Lightning Collection is a whole toyline of Power Rangers.  Red Ecliptor is a Power Ranger enemy.  He was released by himself.  Red Ecliptor has 33 joints.  He is 6 3/4 inches tall.  He is re-using parts from the normal Ecliptor [who I reviewed here–E].  I like everything about the sculpt.  All of the parts stand out.  I love them all.  He has lines that are kind of criss-cross and swirly.  I like that because it makes him stand out, like that’s the main part of his body.  He looks strong.  And just so that you know, Ecliptor’s sword and stuff are all part of him, because that’s how it is in Space Power Rangers.  The main figure is mostly red and grey.  The eyes are green.  It looks really good with all of those colors.  I like how all the grey looks.  It looks like it’s kind of burned.  He comes with a sword and four hands.  One hand had lightning.  Another is out like he’s touching something.  The other ones look like he’s punching.  I really like the sword. The sword’s colors are red and grey and blue and yellow and brown.  One of the hands is red with blue lightning.  The other hands are just red with gold rings on them.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I got Red Ecliptor because I was thinking of getting a collection of Space Power Rangers.  Ethan, the one that owns this website, had an Ecliptor and that made me want to get one.  So, Ethan got the figure for me and now I have a Red Ecliptor.  I really like Red Ecliptor.  He’s a really special thing to me because Ethan got it for me.  I am all done writing.  I will see you back here for my next review of Shadow!

#3122: Mighty Morhin Ninja Blue Ranger

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

MIGHTY MORPHIN NINJA BLUE RANGER

POWER RANGERS: LIGHTNING COLLECTION (HASBRO)

Wait, another Power Rangers thing?  Wasn’t I supposed to be done with these?  I mean, I finished my two times, right?  Okay, but hear me out: Blue Ranger.  Yeah.  See how that instantly changes the dynamic?  Makes so much more sense now.  Which Blue Ranger, you ask?  Well, it’s, uh, Billy again, but, you know, in a different outfit.  What’s the deal with that?  Well, depending on which continuity you’re going by, the Ranger’s source of power was destroyed by either Rito Revolto or Ivan Ooze, and they had to go train to gain new powers, which meant getting new “ninja” suits.  Boom.  Perfect excuse for new toys.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Mighty Morphin Ninja Blue Ranger was, alongside Mighty Morphin Ninja Black, the debut of the Target-exclusive Ninja Rangers sub-set of Lightning Collection.  That said, they seem to have more or less hit at the same time as the White and Pink Ninja Rangers.  They’re all hitting in solid cases, though, so it’s probably just a regional thing.  The figure stands just over 6 inches tall and he has 31 points of articulation.  This version of Billy uses the newly developed parts used for all of the male Ninja Rangers.  The articulation scheme for this one is similar to the standard Rangers for the line, albeit with some slight adjustments to match up with more recent Hasbro figures from their other 6 inch lines.  The butterfly shoulders have a tendency to pop out of place, but otherwise, the range of motion is pretty solid.  He’s also got the pinless construction for the elbows and knees, which works better from an aesthetic standpoint.  The sculpt proper is pretty solid; it takes the design from the show, which is admittedly kind of sloppy and hokey, and does its best to make the design notably less sloppy and hokey, while still looking the part.  The figure gets three different head sculpts.  There’s the fully masked look, which is the same across all of the male Rangers, plus the movie-inspired hood and half-mask combo, and the unmasked with headband look, as well as two different styles of collar piece to match up with them.  Of the heads, the hooded appearance is definitely my favorite, as I think it looks the sleekest.  It and the fully unmasked head both sport pretty solid likenesses of David Yost, on par with the one included with the standard MMPR Blue.  Ninja Blue’s color work consists of a bunch of molded blue plastic, plus painted accenting for the other colors.  The white is a little fuzzy on the edges, but the rest of the details are pretty sharp.  The two heads with the face visible use the printing for the details, which works pretty well. The unmasked head has a stray smudge of brown on his chin, which is kind of frustrating. The eyes on the fully masked head are also printed, but it’s not quite as effective for that piece.  Ninja Blue is packed with two pairs of hands (fists, and a flat and striking gesture pair), as well as an effects piece for the hand.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

While I’m largely done with Lightning Collection at this point, and I’m also done with store exclusives (or at least hunting them down), this guy piqued my interest when he was shown off.  I do like my Blue Rangers after all, especially when they’re Billy.  That said, I didn’t put much effort into it.  I just wound up finding him during a quick stop at my local Target for some other things.  He was a rather nice surprise.  He’s a solid figure, and honestly a noted improvement on prior offerings from the line.

#3099: In Space Pink Ranger

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

IN SPACE PINK RANGER

POWER RANGERS: LIGHTNING COLLECTION (HASBRO)

Okay, let’s wrap up this Power Rangers focus in the best possible fashion, by circling back around to Power Rangers In Space, aka my favorite Power Rangers incarnation.  Following up on yesterday’s discussion of Turbo, as well as Tuesday’s discussion of change-overs for the Rangers, I guess I could talk about how exactly the In Space came to be.  After the replacement of half of the Rangers in MMPR‘s later run, and the later replacement of Kimberly and Aisha in their roles of Pink and Yellow respectively, the remaining cast transferred over to Zeo, and then again to Turbo, minus Rocky, whose actor left due to a pay dispute.  The rest of the MMPR/Zeo cast left at Turbo‘s mid-point, and were replaced with four newcomers.  They would continue on to In Space, keeping the roles until that show wrapped, and brought to an end the “Zordon Era” of the show.  Of particular note was Patrica Ja Lee’s Cassie Chan, the Pink Ranger of Turbo and In Space, and almost the replacement Pink Ranger for Lost Galaxy, until contract negotiations fell through.  Alas, I suppose it just means she went out on a high note, and we’re looking at that particular high note today.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The In Space Pink Ranger is another part of Series 10 of Hasbro’s Lightning Collection line.  Cassie marks the sixth and final member of the In Space line-up to be added to the line, making her the second figure in this assortment to round out her respective team, as well as the second of two In Space-branded figures in this line-up, since Phantom was moved over to In Space.  The figure stands 6 inches tall and she has 30 points of articulation.  Unsurprisingly, In Space Pink shares her construction with In Space Yellow.  As with their male counterparts, its a total parts share, without even a new helmet sculpt.  It’s true to the show designs, of course, and the sculpt for Yellow was pretty strong on its own, and it’s still strong here.  The color work on this release changes up, of course.  The base layout remains the same, but with pink in place of yellow, as well as the adjustment to the shaping on the edge of her visor.  As with the recent Pink Ranger two-pack, there’s a mismatch between the shades of pink of the torso and the limbs.  It’s not ideal, but it’s also not the end of the world, I suppose.  The figure has two sets of hands, her Astro Blaster, her Satellite Stunner, an effects piece for the Stunner, and an unmasked head for Cassie.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I’ve been chipping away at the In Space Rangers, and it’s been getting more exciting the closer I’ve gotten.  Getting Cassie is rather similar to getting Tanya in her Zeo gear, in that she herself isn’t the most thrilling of the characters or designs, but she’s a solid by the numbers figure, and she finishes out her team on a high-note.  Since I was a kid, I’ve wanted all of the In Space Rangers in one cohesive style, but I’ve never gotten the chance until now.  I’m really happy about this one.  I really love this particular set.  A lot.

Thanks to my sponsors at All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure for review.  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website.

#3098: In Space Phantom Ranger

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

IN SPACE PHANTOM RANGER

POWER RANGERS: LIGHTNING COLLECTION

I’ve discussed my two favorite Power Rangers shows, Zeo and In Space, here on the site before.  What I haven’t really discussed is the season that fell between them, Power Rangers Turbo.  Turbo is…well, it’s an interesting product.  It’s generally not looked at very fondly by…well, much of anyone.  There are a multitude of reasons for this, notably the clashing tone between the psuedo-parody stylings of Gekisou Sentai Carranger and Turbo‘s own darker and edgier approach, to say nothing of the addition of a less than well received kid-Ranger, and the fact that most of the cast left halfway through the season.  The season saw a rather heft drop in ratings, and the entire franchise was almost wrapped up, until In Space came along and picked things back up.  Turbo was not without its positive elements, of course.  While Turbo didn’t *technically* have a sixth ranger, at least in the sense that surrounding seasons did, there were two contenders for the role.  The one with “ranger” in his title always felt like the more logical choice for me, of course, but what do I know.  Whatever the case, Turbo‘s Phantom Ranger is generally seen as one of its most redeeming parts, so him being the first Turbo thing in Lightning Collection is far from a surprise.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The Phantom Ranger is part of Series 10 of the Lightning Collection.  Curiously, he’s not billed under the Turbo banner, and is instead an In Space release.  Phantom Ranger does have a few appearances in Space, so it’s not the craziest thing.  It’s just slightly weird that they’re avoiding Turbo entirely on this one.  It also results in two In Space figures in one assortment, though I’m hardly going to complain about such a thing.  The figure stands 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 36 points of articulation.  Phantom Ranger is sporting an all-new sculpt, appropriate given his rather non-standard design.  The articulation scheme is pretty impressive, especially given the bulkiness of some of the armored parts.  Additionally, since this release isn’t built on older parts, he’s got the pinless construction on the elbow and knee joints.  Beyond just the posability, the quality of the sculpt here is pretty top-notch.  He sticks closely to the Phantom Ranger’s on-screen appearance, and has a nice contrast of clean and sleek armored sections, and well-textured undersuit detailing.  It’s a very strong mix.  The paint work on this guy is generally pretty basic.  Largely, he’s a lot of black, but he’s at least got a variance of finishes to the blacks, so it’s not too drab.  The other accenting colors are quite sharply applied, which gives the whole thing a very polished appearance.  Phantom Ranger is packed with two pairs of hands, a Turbo Navigator, a blasting effect, and the impact effect piece we previously saw on the Z Putty.  The blast effect is compatible both with his Turbo Navigator’s barrel, as well as the Phantom Ruby on his chest.  It’s cool that they made both of those work.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Despite my investment in the two seasons on either side of Turbo‘s run, Turbo itself was one that largely never clicked with me.  I remember seeing the movie in theaters, largely on the basis of it being Power Rangers, and me being 5.  I mostly remember Phantom here for his appearances on In Space, where I very much enjoyed him.  I had his toy as a kid, again based on those later appearances, and he was one of those designs I’d really wanted to see updated for this line.  He’s truly a fantastic offering, and takes the spotlight in an assortment that finishes my two favorite teams, so that really speaks to his quality.

Thanks to my sponsors at All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure for review.  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website.

#3097: Zeo Yellow Ranger

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

ZEO YELLOW RANGER

POWER RANGERS: LIGHTNING COLLECTION (HASBRO)

Hey, how about some more Power Rangers stuff?  It’s been a little while, and I got important stuff to talk about.  I’ve been doing a fair bit of alternating as of late between my two favorite Rangers shows, Zeo and In Space.  When last I discussed Zeo, I talked about the cast change-over mid-Mighty Morphin.  Most of that cast carried over to Zeo, but Karan Ashley’s Aisha Campbell, who had replaced Trini as the Yellow Ranger, did not.  Since Ashley wanted to leave the show, Aisha was written out at the end of MMPR, and replaced with Nakia Burrise as Tanya Sloan, who would stay in the role of Yellow Ranger for all of Zeo, and the first half of Turbo.  Today, I’m focusing on her Zeo incarnation.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Zeo Yellow Ranger is part of Series 10 of Hasbro’s Power Rangers: Lightning Collection line.  Tanya is a rather notable release, as she’s the final member of the Zeo team to join the line.  Hey, it’s a finished time that’s not MMPR!  Nifty!  The figure stands 6 inches tall and she has 30 points of articulation.  Tanya’s construction is largely identical to that of Zeo Pink, which was expected, and is also a pretty sensible choice.  Their designs and builds are fairly close (they don’t even require a new waist piece, since Ohranger was a rare Super Sentai that actually had a female Yellow in the original footage) and it follows the model employed with the male Rangers in the set.  The elbows are still rather restricted in their movement, but the articulation is otherwise still pretty solid, and the detailing on the sculpt remains a pretty solid recreation of the suit design from the show.  She’s got an all-new helmet sculpt, depicting her unique visor shape.  The two slits aren’t as practical as Adam’s rectangle or Kat’s oval, but I guess it’s okay.  It’s a pretty straight forward sculpt, which is in line with the rest of Rangers from the set, and the new visor differentiates her pretty well from the others.  Tanya’s paint work is pretty straight forward.  The application is all pretty clean and sharp, and the plastic yellows match more closely than the colors on Pink.  In general, it looks quite sharp.  Zeo Yellow is packed with her Zeonizer, capsule sword, Power Clubs, two sets of hands, an effect piece, and an unmasked Tanya head.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

At this point, it’s a matter of momentum on a lot of these figures.  I can’t very well quit the Zeo team five members into a six person team, right?  So, you know, I was pretty happy about her getting a spot in this particular set, so that I could finally finish up the team.  I started building this team in 2020, and two years later, I’ve wrapped it up.  I’m pretty happy about that.  Tanya’s not the star of the show or anything, but she’s a strong finish to a strong set.  Pretty dope.

Thanks to my sponsors at All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure for review.  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website.

#3048: Ecliptor & Astronema

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

ECLIPTOR & ASTRONEMA

POWER RANGERS: LIGHTNING COLLECTION (HASBRO)

“Ecliptor adopted Astronema and raised her as his own, eventually becoming her second-in-command as she serves Dark Specter”

Hey, remember yesterday when I was talking about Power Rangers, and more specifically how most of my Power Rangers reviews as of late have been centered on Power Rangers In Space?  Well, surprise surprise, we’re back on In Space.  No actual Rangers today, though.  Instead, I’m looking at two of the show’s antagonists, at least for most of its run, main baddie Astronema and her surrogate father turned henchman Ecliptor!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Ecliptor and Astronema are an Amazon-exclusive Lightning Collection two-pack, which, like other recent exclusives, also had limited quantities available through Hasbro Pulse.  Unlike the Pink Ranger pack, they weren’t part of any particular subset focus, just a general Lightning Collection push.

ECLIPTOR

The new piece of this set, and certainly its main selling point, Ecliptor makes a rare toy appearance here, doubly interesting because he’s a non-MMPR antagonist who wasn’t an any point a Ranger or Ranger equivalent.  And he’s even slated for another figure down the line, if you can believe it.  Ecliptor is seen here in his most standard set-up, before his power-up or cyborg reprograming.  The figure stands 6 3/4 inches tall and has 33 points of articulation.  Despite how bulky and squared off his design is, Ecliptor actually has a pretty solid range of motion, and can get into quite a number of impressive poses.  And, thanks to the really huge feet sported by the original Yugande design, he’s also quite stable, which is a definite plus.  His sculpt is an all-new piece, set to be shared with the upcoming Red Ecliptor figure, but unique for now at least.  It does a rather nice job of capturing the show design for the character, in all of its wire-frame-y, limited polygon count glory.  It’s very clean and sharply detailed, and just looks really slick.  The paint work on Ecliptor isn’t *quite* as in-depth as it should be for true show-accuracy.  There should be a great deal more green linework than is currently present.  That being said, they’ve done a respectable job of at the very least giving it a bit of visual shorthand, so that the overall appearance is preserved.  Ecliptor is packed with a fairly nice selection of extras, including his sword, two sets of hands (fists, and a gripping/open with effects combo), an effect for the sword, and a larger effect that’s meant to encircle the whole figure.  The right fist on my figure is rather oddly missing all of the green detailing, but it’s otherwise a solid selection.

ASTRONEMA

Wow, remember when it was a big deal to have the *one* Astronema?  And now there’s *two*?  Who could have foreseen getting an Astronema as a hum-drum affair.  I mean, I guess it’s really not that hum-drum.  Astronema does have a slightly evolving appearance throughout the show, meaning there are a few options for looks, beyond just what we got on the first figure.  This one specifically draws influence from the show’s first three episodes.  The figure stands 6 inches tall and she has 30 points of articulation.  Though at first glance, the figure seems like she’s a pretty straight repaint of the last figure, she’s actually not.  The head is all-new, sporting a slightly different hairstyle, but she also gets an all-new torso piece, which replaces many of the simple painted details from the last with proper sculpted details.  It takes a figure I already quite liked, and makes her even better, which is quite nice in my book.  The paint work isn’t terribly different from the last one, though the face paint is a lot more subtle with the coloring than the last release.  It’s again an improvement on an already pretty solid release.  Astronema is packed with two sets of hands, her spear, and an effects piece, much like the last time.  The effect is at least a different color, so there’s that going for it.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Obviously, given how much of an In Space fan I am, I wasn’t going to miss out on Ecliptor.  While I wasn’t initially thrilled about getting another Astronema, it annoyed me less than the pack-out on yesterday’s set.  While I missed the Pulse window on this set, I was able to get in through Amazon, and they also didn’t get cancelled, so that was a win.  I really like this set in hand.  Ecliptor is a fantastic figure, and I look forward to seeing more variants of him.  Astronema is a figure I definitely warmed up on, especially after seeing how any improvements they’d made.  All in all, not a bad set.

#3047: Mighty Morphin & Zeo Pink Rangers

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

MIGHTY MORPHIN & ZEO PINK RANGERS

POWER RANGERS: LIGHTNING COLLECTION (HASBRO)

“Originally under an evil spell that allowed her to transform into a white cat to spy on the Power Rangers, Kat Hillard becomes the second Mighty Morphin Pink Ranger and, later, Zeo Ranger Pink”

Okay, we did a week of Marvel, and two weeks of Star Wars before that, how about doing more of a mixed week this time around?  I’m still sticking to the Hasbro side of things, because, honestly, it’s a bit hard not to these days.  I’m setting my sites on one of their less frequent ones around here, Power Rangers: Lightning Collection.  My last several Lightning Collection reviews have been centered on my favorite Rangers incarnation, Power Rangers In Space, but today I’m looking at my second favorite incarnation, Power Rangers Zeo…well, partly, anyway.  For the backstory on this one, it’s important to bring up the mid-show replacements for half of the MMPR Rangers, Rocky, Adam, and Aisha, who replaced Jason, Zach, and Trini.  Initially, Amy Jo Johnson’s Kimberly remained with the team through the change over, but she was still replaced a bit later by Kar Hillard, who would serve as the Pink Ranger for the last batch of MMPR, carrying over into Zeo.  Today’s focus covers *both* of those incarnations, in one convenient set…well, for Hasbro, anyway, since it means we have to buy the MMPR Pink Ranger again.  Alas.  Such is the way for us.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

This pair of Pink Rangers is a GameStop-exclusive Lightning Collection two-pack, with limited quantities available through Hasbro Pulse as well.  They were part of a larger celebration of the Pink Ranger specifically, all of which were made available for order last summer.

MIGHTY MORPHIN

With the base versions of all of the Mighty Morphin Rangers released, Hasbro’s doubling back for some variants, just to get some extra mileage out of them.  All of the replacement Rangers got the metallic/translucent variants, but now they’re following up with some more straight forward releases for them as well.  This figure follows up on Aisha’s standard release getting packed in with Scorpina, giving us a standard MMPR Pink, but with Kat under the helmet instead of Kimberly.  The figure stands 6 inches tall and has 30 points of articulation.  Her sculpt is the same as the prior release of Mighty Morphin Pink (and, by extension, the Mighty Morphin Yellow figures).  Since it was the same suit (and a good chunk of the same footage), the shared sculpt makes sense.  It’s a pretty okay offering, with a decent articulation set-up, which is pretty well worked into the sculpt.  The color work is alright, though there’s some notable clashing in the molded colors of the pink plastic, which seems to be worse on this release than the prior one.  The application is at least pretty cleanly applied.  The figure is packed with her power bow, an arrow, the blade blaster, and two sets of hands.  The bow and blaster are notably sporting slightly inferior paint work, compared to the single release, which is a bit of a bummer.  Also included with this release are an unmasked Kat head, as well as Kat in her cat form from before her time as a Ranger.

ZEO

The real selling point of this set, of course, isn’t a re-pack of MMPR Pink, but is actually Zeo Pink, our fifth of the six Zeo Rangers.  She brings us just one figure away from completing the team (Tanya will be rounding things up in the next assortment of the main line), and gives our first female Zeo Ranger.  The figure stands 6 inches tall and she has 30 points of articulation.  Her articulation scheme is essentially the same as the Morphin body, with the one notable exception being a slightly more restricted range of motion on the elbow joints.  Given all the advancements we’ve been seeing with the elbow joints on Hasbro’s other lines, it’s a bit of a shame that we’re still seeing things this restricted over on the Power Rangers side.  The sculpt is largely new, though she shares the upper arms and most of the legs with the standard Morphin body.  The new parts match up with the male Zeo bodies, and she gets a unique helmet sculpt sporting her character-specific helmet, with the oval visor, the second most sensible visor shape, after Adam, of course.  The color work on this figure is a little bit better than her Mighty Morphin counterpart.  There’s still a slight mismatch on the pinks, but it’s not quite as bad here.  The paint application is pretty sharp and all of the major elements are properly detailed.  Zeo Pink is packed with her Zeonier, capsule sword, disc shield, two sets of hands, and another unmasked Kat head, this time sporting a truly ’90s-tastic pink scrunchy.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Zeo is one of the two line-ups I’m looking to complete in this line, so I’ve been eagerly awaiting each successive release for the team.  I was less than thrilled by Zeo Pink being stuck in a two-pack with another MMPR Pink.  I was even less thrilled by this two-pack being a GameStop-exclusive, as I’d really prefer to pretty much never give that company any money ever again.  Thankfully, I was able to get in on the Pulse quantities when they went up for order.  I’m still not thrilled by the set-up here, but Zeo Pink is at least a pretty nice figure, and I look forward to getting to complete the set shortly.

#3022: In Space Blue Ranger Vs Silver Psycho Ranger

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

IN SPACE BLUE RANGER VS SILVER PSYCHO RANGER

POWER RANGERS: LIGHTNING COLLECTION (HASBRO)

Hey, the Power Rangers In Space-themed reviews are getting closer together!  This is something that I can definitely get behind, my guys.  Have I mentioned that I really like that show?  I definitely have, but is it really possible for me to say it too much?  Probably, but it’s my site and I set the rules around here.  So, you know, there it is.  Slowly but surely, we’ve been assembling the main team from the show, as well as a few of the foes they faced.  Thus far, we’ve gotten four of the six team members, as well as all five of the evil Psycho Rangers.  The remaining two main rangers are both slotted for release, quite soon.  So soon, that I’ve in fact already got one.  And also, there’s a sixth Psycho Ranger.  Bet you didn’t see that coming!  Especially because it’s actually the seventh!  I’m bad at counting, you guys.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

In Space Blue Ranger and Silver Psycho Ranger are one half of the third assortment of Power Rangers: Lightning Collection two-packs, with the other half being MMPR Yellow and Scorpina.  This pack specifically calls out being based on the episode “Five of a Kind,” the fourth episode in In Space‘s Psycho Ranger arc. That’s mostly in regards to the presence of Psycho Silver, but the Blue Ranger is also really central to that particular episode as well, making for a pretty natural choice pairing him off with Silver for the set.

IN SPACE BLUE RANGER

TJ Johnson, aka the Blue Space Ranger, is another entry in my list of “Red Rangers being way cooler when they’re not Red Rangers.”  As Turbo Red, I didn’t care, but as Space Blue, I’m quite a fan.  Of course, I guess I’m just a little bit biased towards Blue Rangers.  The figure stands about 6 inches tall and he has 34 points of articulation.  As expected, TJ shares his construction with Andros, Carlos, and Zhane.  All of the male Rangers have the same approximate build, and have classically shared their parts when it comes to toy form, so this is all fairly sensible.  It helps that it continues to be a rather serviceable sculpt on its own, so there’s not really anything that warrants changing.  The paint work is the same as the others, but, of course, with blue in place of the other main colors.  The application is nice and clean, with no notable slop or bleed over, and they’ve made the appropriate adjustments to the shaping on the edge of the visor, so as to give him that extra bit of uniqueness.  TJ is packed with two sets of hands (gripping and a fist/flat combo), his Astro Axe, Astro Blaster, an effects piece for the axe, and an unmasked head.  The unmasked head has an okay likeness of actor Selwyn Ward, but he does seem a little bit serious and dour for how TJ tended to be portrayed.

PSYCHO SILVER RANGER

Rather amusingly, the Psycho Rangers are one of the two most thoroughly-explored Rangers teams in the line thus far, down to even getting both of their add-on members.  The first was Psycho Green, a later addition from the comics, while the second is today’s other focus, Psycho Silver.  In “Five of a Kind,” as part of a ploy to defeat the Psycho Rangers, the whole team disguises themselves as Space Blue, while Zhane pretends to be an all-new Psycho Ranger, his own evil counterpart of Psycho Silver.  Originally, it seemed that Psycho Silver was going to follow the trend of all of the Psychos barring Yellow, in being released prior to his main team counterpart.  However, regular Space Silver snuck in under the wire, and they wound up showing up at about the same time.  That’s pretty cool, I guess.  The figure is 6 inches tall and he has 34 points of articulation.  Structurally, he’s identical to all of the male Psycho Rangers, again as expected.  It’s a good sculpt, probably even a bit better than the main Space sculpt, and all of the costumes on the show were the same, so it makes sense.  The paint is the main change-up, as he gets silver in place of the accent color seen on the others.  Psycho Silver gets the same alternate effects hand as the other Psychos, as well as a new Psycho Silverizer piece, and an unmasked Zhane head.  The unmasked head is unique from the one included with the standard Silver.  The hair is sculpted to the head this time, rather than being a separate piece, and the expression is just generally a more stern one.  While the hair seems a little better on this one, the face’s likeness seems a little too angular for Justin Nimmo.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I’m slowly chipping away at the In Space team here, so there was never any doubt that I was picking up this pairing.  Both figures here are, admittedly, rather by-the-numbers in terms of construction and such, but that’s also exactly what they’re supposed to be, so I can certainly dig it.  They do what they need to, and they do it well, so I’m very happy to have them.  And, hey, I’m only one Ranger away from the whole team!

Thanks to my sponsors over at All Time Toys for setting me up with this set to review.  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website.

#3010: Blue Ranger

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

BLUE RANGER

MIGHTY MORPHIN POWER RANGERS (THREEZERO)

Oh man, I haven’t reviewed any Power Rangers since last year!  …get it?  Because we’re only two weeks into the–okay, yeah, it’s not that funny, I guess.  Also, it’s a joke I’ve already pulled once.  So, you know, there it is, I guess.  Look, I’m not proud of it either, okay?  Let’s just get to the actual review, I guess.  As far as Rangers reviews go, the original incarnation, Mighty Morphin, has become a bit rarer around here, what with me having already gotten the whole core team in my preferred scale some time ago.  I do have a soft spot for the Blue Ranger, of course, so that does leave me more avenues to review the occasional release here and there.  While we’re here and there, ThreeZero has recently picked up the license for the purposes of some 1/6 scale figures, which includes my boy Blue, so I’m taking a look at their take on him today!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The Blue Ranger was released at the same time as the other five Rangers in ThreeZero’s Mighty Morphin Power Rangers line, hitting late last fall.  He and the others were available both as single releases and in one boxed set for the whole team.  Obviously, mine’s the single release, but the actual figures are the same between the two styles of box.  The figure stands just shy of 12 inches tall and he has over 30 points of articulation.

In true 1/6 form, the most prominent piece of sculpting here is the head, or in this case more specifically the helmet.   Blue’s triceratops-inspired helmet is nicely recreated here.  It’s not quite a perfect match for the on-screen helmet, but it gets all of the elements, and it’s pretty close.  It’s quite sleek in its implementation, and the sculpting is all properly clean and sharp in its detailing.  The paint work is likewise clean and sharp.  The extra panel lining on the edges isn’t strictly show accurate, but at this scale it helps to make the sculpted elements pop a bit more, which is a plus.  The overall finish of the helmet is glossy, in proper fashion for how it looked in the show…most of the time, anyway.  There’s no alternate unmasked head included with these releases, which is on one hand a slight letdown compared to other 1/6 stuff, but on the other hand totally understandable given how much lower the price point is on these figures compared to others on the market.

In contrast to my last two ThreeZero reviews, where the figures were fully sculpted, and a mix of plastic and diecast parts, the Rangers are more classic 1/6 scale figures, making use of cloth costumes with plastic accents and underlying body.  It’s appropriate, what with all the spandex involved with the actual costumes and all.  The main suit is a spandex-like material, which scales well to the body and is generally well-tailored to match.  Obviously, some of the stitching is a little larger than it should be, but not by much.  The metallic finish on the material matches the original Sentai costume, and is just overall very sleek looking, which I’m all about.  The white elements are applied via a rubberized paint, which is clean, sharp at the edges, and offers consistent coverage.  The belt piece is a mix of cloth and plastic, with the main belt being a pleather like material, and the buckle being plastic.  The back of the belt is a little bit rudimentary in its design, but otherwise the piece works well.  The cuffs for the boots and gloves are sculpted plastic parts.  They’re nicely fitted to the body, and help to further keep the costume in place, as well as maximizing the posability on the wrists and ankles.

The body under the suit is clearly designed for function over form, as you would hope for this style of figure.  It shapes well under the suit, but is largely built for being well articulated.  There’s a rubbery sort of a padding on the mid section for more proper shaping, which does its job nicely.  The articulation is a little stiffer than I’m used to at this scale, but that makes it more practical for holding poses.  It just takes some getting used to hearing the joints make a rather noticeable squeak every time you pose them.  All things considered, this body certainly competes well with the top end of 1/6 scale bodies, which is a definite plus.

The Blue Ranger is pretty decently accessorized.  He includes 4 pairs of hands, his Power Lance, and the Blade Blaster.  The hands are great for all manner of poses, giving you a lot of options.  The Lance and Blaster are notable for actually being fully transformable.  The Lance can be used in the separate dagger forms, as well as combined, and full extended.  Likewise, the Blade Blaster is capable of all three of its forms, in one piece, rather than three separate versions like we tend to see.  The weapons getting their full compliment of set-ups was actually a pleasant surprise for me, as I’d fully expected them to just be in their collapsed forms, since that was how the Figuarts release handled things for all the non-Reds.  Ultimately, the combined form on the Lance is a little wobbly, but it’s still cool that the functionality is actually there.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

ThreeZero has been a rather pleasant discovery for me in the last year.  I really liked both of the prior offerings I’d grabbed, and when I saw this guy go up for order, I was definitely down to at least give him a try.  I was expecting him to be a passable figure at least, but at the price point, I wasn’t expecting him to be nearly as impressive as he wound up being.  For less than half of the price of your average Hot Toy, you get a figure that’s maybe not *quite* the same quality and is a little lighter on the accessories, but it’s not as much of a gap as you might think.  This is another win for ThreeZero as far as I’m concerned, and they certainly have my attention for future releases.

Thanks to my sponsors at All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure for review.  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website.