Thursday 2 January 2014

Toybox REVIEW: Power Rangers Megaforce Vrak

A close up for the 4" Vrak figure

I'd like to first begin this review with a happy new year to all of my readers. Thank you for taking a look at the blog last year, and I hope that you'll continue to do so throughout 2014 as I continue to badly write my way through reviews of the toys and shows that interest me. With that out of the way, we begin a new year of reviews with a figure that's been out for a good while now across the globe, but also one that I hadn't seen in person until a lucky trip to Asda over the weekend. With both Vrak and his Japanese counterpart Buredoran being my favourite character in Power Rangers Megaforce and Tensou Sentai Goseiger, there was no way I could go without picking up this 4" figure from Megaforce's main figure line.

Some rather bland packaging

Collect them all!Contents and stuff

Based on the standard "Warstar" version of Vrak (or Buredoran of the Comet for all you Goseiger fans out there), the figure is packaged in a typical card + plastic bubble combo. The backing card features the Megaforce/Goseiger tribe/element logo, but is almost completely masked by the figure so all you can really is a bland yellow/orange background with the series name logo in the corner. The back features pictures of all the other figures in the wave - the five core rangers, Robo Knight and a Loogie.

Vrak poses the best he can

Vrak from the frontCheck out those wings

In terms of sculpt detailing Bandai of America have done a damn good job in scaling down Vrak's intricate design to a 4 inch figure, with all the nice detailing seemingly intact. The colours aren't too bad either, as Bandai thankfully ditched the disgusting baby blue plastic seen in official stock photos and opted for metallic blue paint. It's just a shame the same could have been done for the weird lavender highlights. But what interested me the most was that the figure includes clip-on insect wings, which means that they can be rotated and placed into mid-flight poses. Which is more than the in-show version ever did with them, as I don't recall ever seeing them not drooped down like a cape (or so obscured that you'd even acknowledge they were wings in the first place). The downside is that they're moulded in a sickly yellow plastic, that looks just as obnoxious on the figure as the baby blue sections.

Trying to pose againWings spread!

Another notable flaw is that Vrak can't take full advantage of his full range of articulation either. There's full hip articulation there, but the "cloth" around the waist is moulded in solid plastic and prevents any real movement in that area whatsoever. And without hip range, the knee hinge isn't all that great either. Upper arms are better, which nothing getting in the way of the shoulders and hinged elbows, but would a bicep swivel/rotatable hands really gone amiss?

Bendy weapon!

Vrak only has a single proper accessory to his name, his staff-like weapon that he barely uses in Megaforce and only really appears a handful more times in Goseiger. The staff is made of soft plastic with no paint apps whatsoever, so to be honest having the figure hold it makes it look even worse against the nicely painted figure. However for the Action Card Game collectors Vrak also comes with his own ACG card like most other Megaforce toys.

Card games on megazords

Vrak was never going to be an amazing figure at this scale and price point, but having bought some pretty good Power Rangers Samurai figures I was at least expecting something fun to fiddle around with. In terms of sculpt Bandai of America have done a great job with this figure, but a subpar job in all the other crucial areas. It's a shame that Vrak's Earth and cyborg forms won't be joining him, and an even bigger shame that unless S.H. Figuarts have a sudden desire to revisit Goseiger in a bit way this may be the only proper Vrak/Buredoran/Brajira figure we ever get.

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