Tag Archives: Red Ranger

#2998: Andros

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

ANDROS

POWER RANGERS: LIGHTNING COLLECTION (HASBRO)

The continuing narrative of the first six years of Power Rangers, and its conclusion in Power Rangers In Space allowed for a slightly different structure to the show’s first episode.  Since most of the team had already been introduced in the preceding season, the show places its main focus on the one new member of the team, Andros, the season’s Red Ranger.  We first encounter him on a recon mission spying on a gathering of villains from prior seasons, which requires him to have a more incognito appearance, at least at first.  It’s a design that has as of yet not gotten any toy coverage, but Hasbro’s addressing that here, with the figure I’m taking a look at today.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Andros in Disguise is a Target-exclusive one-off release for Power Rangers: The Lightning Collection.  Or he’s at the very least an exclusive to Target for now.  It’s a slightly confusing situation, as has been the case with a handful of releases from Hasbro recently.  Photos of him showed up with no official announcement, and then Hasbro themselves showed him off, but with no actual mention of release plan, and no mention of any exclusive status.  And then he just showed up on Target’s website, and was very quickly in-stock, making the whole thing a rather surprisingly quick turn around.  The figure stands about 6 inches tall and he has 34 points of articulation.  Structurally, his actual sculpt is identical to Andros in his Red Ranger gear (and all of the other male Space Rangers, for that matter).  It’s a sculpt that gets the job done, and it matches up with the other Andros, so it makes sense.  The main structural change up is the addition of a cloth robe piece for him.  It kind of looks like a bath robe, which I don’t really think is the intended appearance.  It’s a little goofy looking, especially in the photos, but I’ll admit it looks a fair bit better in person than I’d expected it to, and actually holds shape pretty well.  Even the velcro on the front stays secure, which isn’t always a guarantee.  The color work on this guy is another notable change up. Technically, in the show, he’s just wearing his usual Red Ranger gear under the cloak, but it’s shot in a way that hides it in the shadows.  To simulate this, Andros is wearing all black this time.  It’s an interesting look, and the presence of extra gold accenting, especially the insignia on the front, makes it feel like this is an established design from elsewhere.  That being said, I don’t know specifically where, and my brief searching on the internet hasn’t turned anything up.  So, I guess it’ll just remain a mystery.  It certainly looks cool, though.  Andros is packed with two heads, one helmeted (and in all-black to match the main figure), and one unhelmeted (re-used from the prior release), as well as two sets of hands, his Spiral Saber, Astro Blaster, and effects pieces for both weapons.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

This is an odd release, and certainly not one I really thought I would need.  That said, In Space is my favorite incarnation, and there’s very little I wouldn’t buy from it.  So, this guy was certainly on my radar, not that I was in a rush or anything.  Max actually wound up ordering one online, before managing to find one in store.  Since he didn’t need two, he was kind enough to set me up with the spare.  He’s not essential, and it’s not like he really does anything new, but he’s a rather fun one-off variant.

#2688: In Space Red Ranger vs Astronema

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

IN SPACE RED RANGER VS ASTRONEMA

POWER RANGERS: LIGHTNING COLLECTION (HASBRO)

Hitting the airwaves in 1998, Power Rangers In Space was, as noted previously on this site, kind of my jam.  I was six at the time, and that made me very much in the right target audience at the right time.  With the show being my jam and all, I had some of the toys as a kid, but I’ve been waiting to get some proper updates for a good while now.  I’m still kind of waiting, but at leas there’s been *some* progress made, because Hasbro is slowly feeding the show’s cast into their Lightning Collection line.  We’ve already gotten the whole Psycho Rangers line-up, as well as our first member of the main cast, the Yellow Ranger, Ashley Hammond, but now we’re getting both the team leader and Red Ranger Andros and the show’s main villain (who is also secretly Andros’ long-lost sister…spoilers) Astronema, in one convenient two-pack!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

The In Space Red Ranger and Astronema make up one half of the second assortment of two-packs for The Lightning Collection, the other being the SPD A and B Squad Blues.  It follows the thus far established versus trend of the two-packs (well, the main release ones, anyway).

IN SPACE RED RANGER

Andros is clearly following in the footsteps of Galaxy Red, placing the team’s leader in a two-pack shortly after getting another team member in the main line.  It’s admittedly mildly surprising for him to show up in a two-pack first, but given Galaxy Red’s also getting a single release later this year, I’d imagine we’ll see a single release Andros sooner than later.  Hopefully they’ll at least give us a few other members of the team first.  The figure stands about 6 inches tall and he has 34 points of articulation.  Structurally, there’s not a ton of new stuff here, which I suppose isn’t a huge shock.  He’s using the basic core Ranger body, with his own helmet and belt pieces added in.  Andros is definitely one of those times that I feel the standard body is just a touch too bulky for the character, but it’s not terribly far off, I suppose.  The new helmet piece matches up nicely with Ashley’s in terms of design, and is likewise a pretty good match for the helmets as seen on the show.  The belt is likewise a pretty decent piece, and one I’m certain will be seeing re-use for the rest of the male Space Rangers.  The paint work on this guy is pretty basic, but also pretty straight forward.  The application’s pretty cleanly rendered, following the overall improved trend of the last two main line assortments.  Andros is packed with two sets of hands (pointing/fist combo, and gipping), his Spiral Saber, Astro Blaster, and an alternate unmasked head.  The unmasked head’s definitely one of the better ones we’ve gotten, with a more than passable likeness of Christopher Khayman Lee.  Notably, Andros includes no effects pieces for himself, a first for one of the Rangers in this line.  I can’t say I miss it *that much* but still notable.

ASTRONEMA

Oh wow!  Is that a non-Ranger antagonist from one of the non-MMPR shows?  That’s certainly a first!  …Okay, yes, I do know that she eventually served as a Ranger later down the line, but she’s not one here.  Don’t take this from me.  Everybody be cool.  Astronema is a character that kind of does a little bit of everything available for the Power Rangers mythos.  She’s the main villain for In Space, but ultimately follows the path of redemption, and even becomes a Ranger proper in the following incarnation of the the show, albeit for a brief time.  She’s also got that whole “sister of the Red Ranger” angle going on, and even gets to be brainwashed and crazy for a bit.  Astronema really just liked checking off all of the possible boxes, huh?  The figure stands just shy of 6 inches tall and she has 30 points of articulation.  She’s using some of the parts from Ranger Slayer, with the upper torso, abdomen, upper arms, and lower legs overlapping between the two figures.  I had some issues with the ankle joints on Ranger Slayer, but on this release, they seem a lot more solid, and Astronema has far less issue staying standing.  She gets a new head, forearms, and add-ons for her torso armor and the strap on her leg.  The new head is definitely the star piece; it’s got a great likeness of Melody Perkins in the role, and specifically is based on her blue-haired appearance from episodes 26-29 of the show.  I sums up her general look from the show quite nicely.  The new forearm pieces have a lot of really great detail work going into them as well, and the torso armor is designed so that it can be removed, adding some variety to her potential appearances.  Astronema’s paint work is generally pretty decent, but has a few drawbacks.  The biggest issue is on the face; they’ve attempted to emulate some blush on her cheeks, but they’ve gone just a touch too intense with the coverage, making her look a little too clown-esque for my taste.  It’s not the worst thing ever, and it’s better than it looked on some of the prototype shots, but it could definitely look a bit better.  Otherwise, things aren’t too bad.  The edge of the silver on her waist is a little fuzzy, and there are a few spots on the armor that would certainly benefit from some extra accenting, but for the most part it looks pretty decent.  In terms of accessories, Astronema is packed with two sets of hands (fists and gripping), her Wrath Staff, the boomerang looking thing she has on her leg, and an effects piece for her staff.  It’s a shame there aren’t any alternate heads with her differing hair.  We even saw a cyborg Astronema head when this figure was originally shown off, so clearly they planned for it.  Ultimately, I guess it just didn’t cost out.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Given how much of an In Space fan I am, it’s surely no surprise that I’ve been waiting to get more of them since this line launched.  Obviously, I was all in for an Andros, since I definitely want the main team, but I was also holding out at least a little bit of hope for an Astronema, given that she’s always been left out previously.  Getting both of them together?  That was bliss, honestly.  Sure, Andros is rather by the numbers, and Astronema could stand to have a couple of improvements, but ultimately I really like this set, and I look forward to a deeper In Space component for the line.

Thanks to my sponsors over at All Time Toys for setting me up with these figures to review.  If you’re looking for Lightning Collection, or other toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#2587: Psycho Rangers

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

IN SPACE PSYCHO RED, BLUE, BLACK, YELLOW, & PINK RANGERS

POWER RANGERS: LIGHTNING COLLECTION (HASBRO)

Remember yesterday, when I was talking about Power Rangers In Space, and how it’s my jam, man?  Well, that continues to be the case.  While the main team of Rangers from the show is just now starting to make their way into Hasbro’s Lightning Collection, we do already have one complete team of Rangers from the show, specifically the Psycho Rangers.  These evil counterparts of the main team were notably absent from the show’s tie-in toys at the time.  They eventually surfaced in Bandai’s Legacy Collection, but the line was cancelled before the whole team could be completed.  The Lightning Collection initially started out with seeming plans to release each Psycho Ranger individually, but then rather quickly threw in that towel and just dropped the whole darn team all at once.  So, uh, here we are.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

The Psycho Rangers were released as an Amazon-exclusive boxed set, as part of the Lightning Collection line-up, hitting towards the end of the summer of this past year.  Black, Yellow, and Pink are exclusive to this set.  The Red and Blue Psycho included in this set are indistinguishable from the prior releases, reviewed here and here, though there is also an effects piece included for Red’s sword, albeit one re-used from elsewhere in the line.

PSYCHO BLACK RANGER

Psycho Black was fortunate enough to be one of the ones Bandai got to, by virtue of being largely a parts re-use of the other male Psychos.  Hasbro’s version sticks with that, rather unsurprisingly.  He’s still 6 inches tall and he still has 34 points of articulation.  The articulation on this body, specifically the arms, is a bit on the limited side, but otherwise, I do really like this sculpt, and I certainly don’t have any issues with its re-use here.  Obviously, he swaps out the paint scheme, with the primary color accents of the least two being changed to black here.  I do appreciate that they kept the shinier finish to the accented parts, thereby keeping those parts from getting too lost in with the rest of the black on the costume.  Psycho Black is packed with his Psycho Rod, and two sets of hands in gripping and a fist/electrical effect combo pairing.  I’m bummed that he didn’t get an effects piece for his weapon, but it’s worth noting that his effect hand is actually a unique sculpt from the other two male Psychos.

PSYCHO YELLOW RANGER

Absent from Bandai’s attempt at the Psychos were both female members of the team, Psycho Yellow included.  The figure stands 6 inches tall and she has 34 points of articulation.  The articulation here is pretty similar to the male body, with the slight limitations on the shoulders and all.  The double elbows are swapped out for the universal joints, as is usually the case for female bodies, but no major posability is lost.  On my copy of this figure, there are a lot more loose joints, notably in the arms and the neck.  This means she struggles a bit with holding a pose and staying standing, but fortunately not as bad as some figures, but it’s still annoying.  While Black was a total re-use, Yellow, being female and all, is mostly new, apart from the helmet, which is identical for all of the Psychos.  The sculpt matches up well with the other version, and it means she slots in beside the other three team members just fine.  The paint on Yellow pretty much matches up with everyone else, with the accents changing to Yellow, of course.  Yellow is packed with the two sets of hands to match the male body’s and her Psycho Sling.  Again, no effects piece, which is a shame.

PSYCHO PINK RANGER

See what I wrote above, about Psycho Yellow?  Great, you can pretty much just swap the word “Pink” in there and you’re good to go.  Okay, maybe not quite, I guess.  The joints on my copy of Pink are a little tighter than on Yellow, so that makes her a slightly more easily used figure.  At the very least less frustrating.  Paint’s more or less the same, color change aside.  She gets the same hand selection as Yellow, plus her Psycho Bow.  Also, somewhat astoundingly, she gets an effects piece, the firing arrow that MMPR Pink and Ranger Slayer got.  I guess that’s not too bad.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

As cool as the Psychos are, and as much of a fan of In Space as I am, I will admit that I was kind of cold on this set.  I was all prepped for picking them up one by one, and that’s why I’d gone and gotten Red and Blue.  I was waiting for the other three, so when they decided to drop the whole set of them all at once, it sort of felt anti-climactic.  Not helping things was the fact that Red and Blue are included again and are also completely unchanged for this round, meaning I was only actually getting three new figures in a set of five.  And, of course, one of those three new ones is a straight repaint, and the other two are the same mold as well.  It’s just a lot of sameness all in one go, I guess.  So, I opted not to jump right in on this set.  Max, on the other hand, did, but upon receiving them, was iffy on keeping them.  Since I’m a big In Space fan, and I did want to get them eventually, I was happy to take them off his hands.  Ultimately, the set’s fine.  Nothing amazing, and I still think spacing them out would have been better, but I’m glad I have them.  Now, I need to figure out what to do with the extra Red and Blue, I guess…

#2585: Zeo Red Ranger

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

ZEO RED RANGER

POWER RANGERS: LIGHTNING COLLECTION (HASBRO)

Perhaps the most definitive Power Ranger in the entirety of the franchise, Jason David Frank’s Tommy Oliver began as the franchise’s first sixth ranger.  Initially just an antagonist for the main team, he eventually became an ally and a member of the core team proper.  When MMPR ran out of Zyuranger footage to use for the Green Ranger, Tommy was retired for a while, until footage of Gosei Sentai Dairanger’s Kiba Ranger was adapted into MMPR‘s White Ranger, granting Tommy a new identity.  In this new identity, Tommy slowly shifted into more of a leader role, a transition fully cemented when the original Red Ranger and team leader Jason Lee Scott departed the show in the third season.  When MMPR  became Zeo, things were streamlined a bit, making Tommy the Red Ranger proper, and thereby the team’s default leader.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Zeo Red headline’s Series 6 of Hasbro’s Power Rangers: Lightning Collection.  He’s our third member of the Zeo team, following Series 4’s Zeo Blue and Series 5’s Zeo Gold.  He’s also the resident Red Ranger for this assortment, and the fourth version of Tommy in the line.  The figure stands 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 34 points of articulation.  For the most part, he’s a heavy parts re-use of Zeo Blue.  It’s expected, really, since the costumes are virtually identical, and the builds aren’t too far off either.  It’s a solid sculpt, so certainly a good starting point.  He gets a new helmet, of course, sporting his star-shaped visor.  It’s as goofy here as it was in the show, but that doesn’t make me like it any less.  The paint work on this guy is pretty straight forward and basic.  I did find that it was a little more consistent across the board from figure to figure this time around, which is certainly a plus for the line.  I’m glad it looks like things are generally improving for the paint work on the line, especially given the other paint issues Hasbro’s been facing this year.  Like Zeo Blue, Red gets two sets of hands in fists and gripping poses, the pod sword, and laser pistol.  He adds in the Zeo Power Sword, an effect piece, and an unmasked Tommy head.  I still would have liked to get a collapsed version of the pod sword for more proper holstering, but I’m glad to see them actually including the individual Ranger-specific weapons.  Hopefully they keep it up for more than just the Red Rangers.  I was pleasantly surprised to see that the unmasked head is actually a new sculpt, and not just another re-use of the one from the White Ranger.  This one’s a slightly better take on Frank’s likeness, so I’m glad Hasbro gave it another go.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

After getting Blue and Gold, I’ve been eager to fill out the rest of the Zeo roster, and Tommy was kind of an inevitable part of that.  I don’t know that I was expecting him quite this quickly, but I’m certainly not complaining.  He had the potential to be a far more by the numbers figure than he actually is, and I definitely appreciate Hasbro not just phoning it in here.  Now we’re officially at the half way point on Zeo, and I’m honestly pretty excited about that.

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

#2479: Time Force Red Ranger

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

TIME FORCE RED RANGER

POWER RANGERS: LIGHTNING COLLECTION (HASBRO)

My relationship with Power Rangers is a little bit turbulent.  While I recall the tail-end of the original run of MMPR, it wasn’t until Zeo that I jumped into the merchandising aspect of things.  Then Turbo came along and kind of killed any real interest I had, before I got thoroughly hooked by In Space.  Its follow-up Lost Galaxy was fine, but not my favorite, and Lightspeed Rescue has really always left me a little bit bored.  My last true hurrah with the franchise was Time Force, after which I pretty much tapped out (but then again, so did Saban…at least for a bit).  Time Force is finally making its entrance into The Lightning Collection, with its Red Ranger, Wes Collins, who I’ll be taking a look at today!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Time Force Red is part of Series 5 of Hasbro’s Lightning Collection, and is both this assortment’s requisite Red Ranger and our first Time Force Ranger.  The figure stands 6 1/4 inches tall and has 34 points of articulation.  Surprisingly, Time Force Red is an all-new sculpt.  Given how Galaxy Red was handled, I was definitely expecting this guy to be fairly re-use heavy.  Obviously, I’m sure most of these parts will end up used again for the the other three male Time Force Rangers, but it’s nice to see them actually go to the trouble of mixing things up a bit with some new parts.  I actually like how these parts turned out a little bit more well put together than some of the earlier parts.  It’s definitely a slightly sleeker sculpt than the MMPR parts, which definitely suits the design aesthetic of Time Force in general.  If I have one complaint about the sculpt, it’s that the helmet seems a touch wide, but it’s possible my memories of the old figures are playing tricks on my eyes with that one.  It’s certainly not a *bad* sculpt, so I’m hard-pressed to really complain.  His paint work is pretty clean, and is probably the best in this particular assortment, at least as far as my copies are concerned.  It definitely works well with the more crisp and clean nature of the design, as I think paint errors would have been more of an issue here.  Time Force Red is packed with his Chrono Blaster, a pair of Chrono Sabers, an effects piece, two pairs of hands (gripping and a fist/thumbs-up combo), and an unmasked Wes Collins head.  The sabers can combine as in the show, resulting in a slight compromise to the handles when they’re separate.  Still, it’s a cool gimmick.  The thumbs-up hand is one the better alternate hands, and the unmasked Wes head is another strong likeness.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Time Force still ranks pretty highly for me in terms of Power Rangers shows, and while Wes isn’t necessarily my favorite member of the team, I’m still glad to be getting our first taste of the team.  He’s a pretty solid figure, and I really dig all of the new parts they’ve given him.  I look forward to getting the rest of the team to go with him!

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

#2317: Lost Galaxy Red Ranger & In Space Psycho Red Ranger

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

LOST GALAXY RED RANGER & IN SPACE PSYCHO RED RANGER

POWER RANGERS: THE LIGHTNING COLLECTION (HASBRO)

Following Power Rangers move from one overall narrative from Mighty Morphin’ into In Space, to the more one and done, self-contained approach starting with Lost Galaxy, the show still had the Super Sentai counterparts’ yearly team-ups with their predecessors for the prior year.  That meant that, in the midst of establishing a new universe for Lost Galaxy, they also were bringing back the last of the wider universe they’d wrapped up the prior year.  Alongside the returning heroic Space Rangers, we also saw the return of In Space‘s resident evil Rangers, the Psycho Rangers, who found new adversaries in the Galaxy Rangers.  Hasbro is paying homage to that in their latest two-pack, pairing Psycho Red off against Lost Galaxy‘s own Red Ranger.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

The Red Galaxy Ranger and Psycho Ranger are the second two-pack in the Lightning Collection line-up, hitting shelves about a month or two after the Green and Putty set I looked at yesterday.  They also starting hitting right around the same time as GameStop’s exclusive Psycho Blur figure, giving the Psychos a bit of jump start.

RED GALAXY RANGER

We got Lost Galaxy‘s sixth ranger in the second assortment of the main line, so getting the Red Ranger in rather quick succession isn’t much of a surprise.  It also introduces the Galaxy Ranger-specific tooling, clearly opening the door for the rest of the team.  The figure stands 6 inches tall and he has 34 points of articulation.  For the most part, he’s using the core Ranger parts, with his only truly unique parts being his helmet and belt, something we should all get comfortable with as Hasbro fills in more of the more basic-looking Ranger teams.  Both new pieces make for a decent match for the design from the show, and match pretty well with the already sculpted base body parts.  There’s not much to write about beyond that; he’s a pretty straight-forward, no frills design.  The paint work is respectable, but again follows that same basic model of the sculpt, being pretty straight-forward.  There’s a little but of fuzz on the edges of the changes from white to red, but other than that, things look pretty solid.  The Red Ranger includes an alternate unmasked Leo head (with a pretty solid likeness), two pairs of hands (in gripping and a fist/flat combo), the Quasar Saber in full-sized and compact modes, and a flame effect for the full-scale Saber.

RED PSYCHO RANGER

Evil Power Rangers aren’t an uncommon element for the franchise, but the Psycho Rangers are probably the most prolific, with ten television appearances under their belt, making them the natural choice for first Evil Rangers to get toy coverage.  Bandai was supposed to do a full set in their Legacy line, but ended up not completing them, so Hasbro’s giving it a shot.   Their starting with Psycho Red, who’s a fairly sensible starting point.    The figure stands 6 inches tall and he has 34 points of articulation.  Psycho Red is an all-new sculpt, though I would imagine that a number of these parts are shared with Blue.  I can’t say for sure, because I’m not paying GameStop’s mark-up on that one, so it’s totally conjecture.  How dare I?  It’s a pretty nice sculpt, all things considered, and there’s a lot more going on with this sculpt than with Galaxy Red.  The poseability isn’t quite as free range as I’d like, especially on those shoulders, but for the most part it turned out very well.  Psycho Red’s paintwork is pretty solid.  Again, there’s a little more going on than with Galaxy Red, making him the slightly more visually interesting appearance.  Application is pretty clean for the most part.  There are some slightly sloppy points, but it’s nice looking overall.  Psycho Red is packed with his Psycho sword, and two sets of hands (one pair gripping, one pair fist/lightning effect).

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Lost Galaxy is right as I started to fall out of Power Rangers.  I had a few of the original toys, and I love me some Magna Defender, but I don’t have any major connection to Leo.  He’s fine, but ultimately nothing much to write home about.  Psycho Red, being from In Space, my personal favorite incarnation, is right up my alley.  He’s got a few small issues, but is otherwise really cool, and the definite star of this set.  I look forward to getting the rest of this team, as well as some proper Space Rangers to fight them.

I picked these two up from my friends All Time Toys, and they’re still available here.  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay Store.

#1227: Red Space Ranger

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

RED SPACE RANGER

POWER RANGERS: LEGACY (BANDAI)

redspacerangerlegacy1

When most people think “Power Rangers,” they think of the Mighty Morphin’ incarnation, which launched the show.  That’s pretty fair, as it’s by far the most distinctive, and represents the franchise at its highest point in terms of popularity.  I was born in ’92, so, while I still remember a little of Mighty Morphin’s original run, it’s not what I consider *my* Power Rangers.  That would be the show’s fourth incarnation, Power Rangers In Space, which is actually pretty well-regarded in the community, and is widely considered the season that saved the show, following the less than stellar performance of Turbo.  Unfortunately, nowadays, there’s very little product for any Power Rangers that aren’t either the current incarnation or the Mighty Morphin’ Rangers, meaning I’m mostly reliant on my old figures from the show’s original run.  I’d love some Figuarts, but those are little more than a dream.  Lucky for me, Bandai America is offering the next best thing, courtesy of their Legacy line.  I picked up Andros, the Red Space Ranger, which I’ll be looking at today.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

redspacerangerlegacy2The Red Ranger is part of the second series of Power Rangers: Legacy.  He’s one of the two In Space Rangers included in this set, with the other three figures hailing from Mighty Morphin’ (the  rest of the main In Space Rangers are in Series 3, and the Silver Ranger is as of yet unannounced).  Though the line has been touted as being about 6-inch scale and the figures are clearly designed to mimic Hasbro’s Marvel Legends, the Red Ranger stands 7 inches tall, placing these figures more in scale with the Masters of the Universe Classics or something from NECA.  There’s no commingling with the Figuarts Rangers, that’s for sure.  The figure sports 36 points of articulation, which is certainly an impressive count.  The movement on the joints isn’t terrible, but there are some slight oddities on a few of the joints, which means it can take a fair bit of careful posing to make sure he doesn’t look a little mangled.  Still, it’s a pretty major step-up from the last Banda America Ranger I looked at.  In terms of sculpt, the US Rangers figures have always skewed the proportions a bit more to the side of super-heroic.  This guy does some of that, but reigns it in a bit, resulting in a final product that is somewhere between the old figures and the actors in the suits.  I don’t mind the look, and it’s consistent with all the others from the line so far.  The sculpt is of varying quality.  The helmet is by far the best work on the figure, and it’s a pretty much pitch-perfect recreation of the helmet from the show.  The redspacerangerlegacy4body is decent, but the articulation sticks out more than a little bit, especially on the hips and shoulders.  The shoulders in particular feel like they’re set too far out from the torso, as if they got the length of the pegs off or something.  Also, it would appear that the forearms have been reversed, which makes them look rather strange.  By and large, he’s pretty solid, but there’s still some of that Bandai America flavor of “why would you do this?”  In terms of paint, the Red Ranger is pretty straight forward.  Everything is pretty basic color work; all the lines are nice and crisp and the colors are pretty much on point.  For extras, Andros includes his trusty Galaxy Blaster, as well as the torso and head of the In Space Megazord.  Bandai’s doing something slightly different with these figures and only packing corresponding Zord pieces with each Ranger (i.e. the Mighty Morphin’ Zord is only packed with those Rangers and so forth), meaning each Zord is spread over a minimum of two series. Time will tell how this works out for them, but the fandom seems rather split.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I caught the first series of this line several times, but I don’t really have any attachment to Ninja Storm and I’ve already invested in the Figuarts versions of the original team, so I passed.  As soon as I learned the In Space figures would be part of the Series 2 line-up, I started looking out for this guy.  He seems to have been the hottest figure in the set, at least initially.  I finally tracked him down at my closest Toys R Us, back in January.  Ultimately, the figure’s okay.  I can’t say he’s fantastic, but he’s better than the usual Bandai America product.  I’m holding out to hear if there’s going to be a Silver Ranger before committing to the rest of the In Space team, but I can see myself picking up the occasional figure from this line (especially the Series 4 Gold Ranger).  If you don’t have the Figuarts stuff, I’d definitely recommend checking this line out.  I think lack of comparison may do these guys some favors.

redspacerangerlegacy3

#0280: Red Ranger

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

RED RANGER

BANDAI SH FIGUARTS

RedRanger1

So, it was my birthday yesterday. And you all missed it. Way to go. Just kidding! Anyway, birthday means opportunity for people to give me gifts, which, unsurprisingly, means that I get a nice assortment of toys. Which means I have new stuff to review! Commence Birthday Reviews Part 1!

Today’s figure hails from the Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers, a show that most children of the 90s will probably have a bit of familiarity with. Bandai, (Japan, not America, because Bandai America SUCKS!) has recently begun offering an assortment of figures based on Super Sentai, which is what Power Rangers was in Japan, and for the most recent round of Mighty Morphin’ inspired figures, North American distributers Bluefin have stepped in to offer some officially Power Rangers branded versions for those of us in the US. Let’s get things kicked off with the line’s Red Ranger!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

RedRangerWilsonThe Red Ranger was the first release in Bandai’s Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers off-shoot of their main S.H. Figuarts line. Similarly to Bandai’s Ultra-Act line, Figuarts doesn’t have a typical series lay out, instead opting for individual figure releases. The Red Ranger saw release in 2013. The figure stands about 5 ½ inches tall (a little bit smaller than an Ultra-Act figure) and features 36 points of articulation. He’s based on the basic Red Ranger design from Mighty Morphin’, which is also the same design as the Red Zyuranger in Japan. The Red Ranger got a new sculpt, which seems to be a pretty good approximation of the look on the show. The body is a little bit slimmer than the actual actor, but that’s probably more a stylistic choice than anything. The elbow and knee joints also interrupt the sculpt quite a bit, even cutting off the gloves a bit early in the front. It’s not too bad, but it is slightly annoying, especially since it isn’t an issue that the Ultra-Act figures suffer from. The helmet is by far the figure’s most distinctive part, and Jason’s T-Rex themed helmet looks really great here! The Red Ranger’s paint is fairly straight forward. Nothing too complex, but pretty good. There’s a few very minor issues of some bleed over, especially around the edges of the boots and gloves, but other than that everything looks ship-shape. The Red Ranger is impressively accessorized, with his Power Sword, his Blade Blaster and Thunder Slinger in varying configurations, and five pairs of hands: fists, two figure gesture, and three varieties of gripping.

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THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

The Red Ranger was one of several gifts from my always awesome parents, given to me for my birthday this year. Back in the 90s, I was a pretty big Power Rangers fan, though I never really had any of the toys. Having these figures offers a nice bit of nostalgia, as well as a pretty cool set of action figures in their own right!