Wednesday 20 July 2011

Toybox REVIEW: Power Rangers Samurai Mega Red Ranger


Power Rangers Samurai toys have finally hit the UK, and in what I consider a rather odd move, Bandai have decided to market the Mega mode figures before the standard ranger costumes (which will be coming later). For anyone not familiar with Power Rangers Samurai, the mega modes are the suits the rangers wear when the pilot the Megazord, and don't actually use them for any sort of combat despite the fact they could make a very nifty super mode for the team. Anyway, today's review will be on the red ranger, which originally was the only mega mode figure I planned to buy.

For such a small figure, the level of detail is pretty impressive. All of the costume's grooves and padding remain intact, as is the costume's good mix of red, black, gold and silver. The articulation is excellent too, with full 360 degree rotation in both the shoulders and the hips. The elbows and knees are on hinge joints, and then the head, hands and feet can rotate 360. Quite possibly the most articulated mainline Power Rangers figure Bandai have given us thus far.

The figure's accessories are the mega mode sword (which again, is merely used to pilot the zords in the show and not for any actual combat) and the red ranger's signature weapon - the Fire Smasher (Power Rangers can call it what it wants, but it will always be the Rekka Daizantou to me). The standard sword is able to clip to Red's belt, and is pretty accurate to the on-screen version despite it only being moulded in one colour. The Fire Smasher is more interesting - while it has retained its ridiculous size, its much thinner and stylized to look a lot more like a sword (rather than an oversized toy). While I like the original Fire Smasher design, I like how this version is a lot more sword-like and not so huge that it jacks up the overall price of the figure. All the details are moulded on the Fire Smasher, but are unpainted.

The only real problem with this figure is the scale. While I know 3 3/4" figures are highly popular at the moment (G.I. Joes, Marvel Fury Files etc) but Power Rangers figures for the most part have always been much bigger (my old Zeo figures are able to stand with my newer RPM figures without TOO much of a size difference). What makes it worse is, it seems that the Samurai figures seem to have a variety of scales for different figures (the standard figures look to be a lot bigger than these) so really these are really only displayable on their own. This isn't a huge deal to me, as I'd much rather the sizes be this way around than vice versa, but its the only real fault I can find in what otherwise is a pretty damn good figure for something that appears and does very little in the actual show.


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