Toy Review: It’s morphin’ time for the S.H.Figuarts Mighty Morphin Blue Ranger

 

 

Nostalgia is a powerful tool. It can make you yearn for a long-lost love, sit down and reminisce about simpler and more innocent times, or make spur-of-the-moment decisions that cause your wallet to scream in anguish.

 

For many ‘90s kids, one of the most powerful nostalgia trigger phrases consists of three simple words: “It’s morphin’ time!” Back then, there was an almost city-wide quiet every Friday night, as kids of all ages sat down in front of their television sets and tuned in to Saban’s Mighty Morphin Power Rangers like zealous devotees at a religious gathering, ignoring their mothers’ desperate pleas for them to go to bed early.

 

 

Based on the Japanese tokusatsu (live-action show with special effects) series Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers tells the story of six teenagers who were granted the ability to change into colorful suits, pilot large robots that unite and form an even larger robot, and pretend that pterosaurs, saber-toothed cats, mastodons, and dragons actually count as “dinosaurs.”

 

These teenagers fight off evil alien invaders who, for some strange reason, insist on attacking the one city in the world where they routinely get their butts kicked by a sextet of amateur martial artists who are barely even old enough to drink, instead of picking some other place to unleash their hundred-eyed horrors or bipedal sphinxes upon. 

 

Anyway, Bandai’s premier 1/12-scale action figure line, S.H.Figuarts, recently released the full MMPR roster in glorious, super-articulated toy form. Naturally, I went ahead and snagged my favorite Ranger: Billy, the lance-wielding, hyper-intelligent combination of my favorite dinosaur (Triceratops) and my favorite color (blue).

 

Packaging

While the S.H.Figuarts packaging has typically remained the same for almost the entirety of the line’s run so far, the Zyuranger/MMPR series of figures come in two special flavors: the more traditional “cardboard + transparent plastic front window” boxes for the American release, and the opaque, “forget about checking for missing parts before buying” boxes that prominently feature promotional shots of the figures for the Japanese release.

 

Because I like being able to see what I’m planning to spend a good chunk of my salary for before actually buying it, I opted for the American edition; after all, the contents of the American and Japanese releases are exactly the same, from the figure to the accessories to even the tray itself.
 

Sculpt and paint

All the male Rangers share the same body – a slender type with realistic (or at least, as close to realistic as possible) proportions. What really seals the deal on this figure, though, is the excellently sculpted helmet. Since, apart from their colors, the Rangers’ primary distinguishing trait is their helmet designs, Bandai really put a tremendous amount of effort in making sure that the toys reflect the actual suit designs accurately. While the Blue Ranger’s helmet is just a smidge too rounded for my liking, it’s definitely close to perfect.

 

In terms of paint apps, there is little to no bleed on the figure I got. The blues and the whites are perfectly separated, and the colors are about as show-accurate as any fan would want them to be.
 

Articulation and fun factor

Blue Ranger moves at the neck, chest, shoulders, elbows, wrists, waist, hips, thighs, knees, ankles, and toes. He can achieve a decent range of motion, and can mimic classic Ranger fighting poses to an almost frighteningly realistic degree. Seriously, Google any screencap from either MMPR or Zyuranger, and there’s a good chance that Billy (or Dan, if you prefer the Japanese version of the character) can pull it off with minimal effort.

Accessories

Our blue boy here comes with his trusty Ranger Stick. Well, two, actually: one in Ranger Slinger mode and one in sword/dagger mode. Billy also comes with two versions of his trademark Power Lance: polearm mode (which many fans, myself included, believe turned out to be ridiculously shorter than it should have been) and dual spears/eskrima sticks/gigantic forks mode.

 

The figure also comes with 6 pairs of replacement hands (open palms, fists, posing hands, gripping hands, and the like), as well as special versions of the Pink Ranger’s Power Bow and the Yellow Ranger’s Power Daggers with nubs and indentions that allow them to connect with other weapons to form the Rangers’ enormous laser gun, the Power Blaster. (The special versions of the Blue Ranger’s lances come with, rather irritatingly, the Black Ranger. Thanks a lot, Bandai!)

 

Overall

If you were a fan of the show – and if you’re somewhere in your mid-twenties, there’s a really good chance that you belong in this category – these figures are worth plunking down 2,400-2,500 Php for. You don’t have to get all of them, anyway; just pick your favorite Ranger and relive those wonderful childhood memories of badly choreographed fights, silly-looking suit actors, and color-coded post-transformation exploding farts.

 

 

— TJD, GMA News