Toybox REVIEW: Power Rangers Lightning Collection Lost Galaxy Red Ranger & Psycho Red Ranger

Release Date: September 2019

RRP: $39.99/£39.99

Thanks to the internet and clever fans able to quickly decipher coded toy listings, the Power Rangers Lightning Collection admittedly hasn't thrown out that many surprises collectors haven't seen rumoured or leaked beforehand. When Hasbro do manage to catch those fans unaware though, they definitely do it in style. The Lightning Collection Lost Galaxy Red Ranger and In Space Psycho Red Ranger set didn't just feel like it came out of nowhere, in typical Lightning Collection style it hit store shelves barely any time after its official reveal. The set takes its inspiration from the Power Rangers Lost Galaxy episode "To the Tenth Power", where the sinister Psycho Rangers are revived by Deviot to help destroy the rangers once and for all. Overwhelmed, it's only when the Lost Galaxy rangers team up with Andros and the Space Rangers that they're able to defeat the Psychos once more.

The box art for the set is of course another piece from Lightning Collection maestro Tom Whalen, however if you've been paying attention you'll have noticed there's something a little different about the two-packs compared to the single releases. Whereas the single figures have always had the artwork of the characters from a side angle, the two-packs feature the characters from head on. There's a lot of red going on with this release, but the juxtaposition between Lost Galaxy Red's red/white colouring and Psycho Red's red/black colouring makes it particularly effective. The artwork of each character also extends onto the spines of the box, giving you a full headshot when looked at from the corner. Each of the character's respective spine also sports the series-specific logo from where they hail from. By comparison the back of the box is extremely basic, featuring a single rendered image of the two figures doing battle. It's a great image, but surrounded by a lot of empty space. Inside both figures and accessories are laid across a single plastic tray, each one neatly taking up about half the space each.

I have to confess that I've never been the biggest fan of the Power Rangers Lost Galaxy/Seijuu Sentai Gingaman suits. The overuse of white on the torso with the thick black zigzag completely dominates the costume, and in the case of Red the helmet detailing is rather simple as well. However a simplicity makes it much easier to translate a suit to a toy, and that's exactly what Hasbro have done here - and they've done it brilliantly. Previous Lightning Collection figures have had their accuracy issues here and there (whether they be minor or otherwise), but the Lost Galaxy Red Ranger is a pretty spot on translation. I'd even go as far as saying it's given me a new appreciation for the suit in general! Every colour and detail has been perfectly applied to the figure, and as usual the moulding features plenty of folds and creases to create the illusion of an actual suit. Naturally the red, white and black are what the eye is immediately drawn too, but there are some other nice paint touches here too such as the gold on the belt buckle and yellow lining on the helmet. Also attached to the belt is a holster for the collapsed Quasar Saber, which is made of a flexible plastic to ensure it doesn't get in the way of posing.

Articulation-wise it's a fairly basic Lightning Collection figure - highly poseable but nothing especially unique to talk about here. Altogether the figure has a ball jointed head, hinged neck, swivel hinge butterfly shoulders, bicep swivels, double hinged elbows, swivel hinge wrists, ball jointed torso, ab crunch, ball jointed hips, thigh swivels, double hinged knees, boot cut and swivel hinge ankle rockers. Lots of joints to play around with, and nothing on the costume to hinder any of it. It was a great move on Hasbro's part to paint the black stripe on both pieces of the torso too, since the joint can be properly extended without breaking up the look. Again nothing especially notable to talk about, but that doesn't matter since that standard functionality is key here.

On Lost Galaxy Red's side of the accessories are four swappable hands (a closed right fist, open left knife hand and a pair of weapon holding hands), a shortened dagger Quasar Saber, fully extended sword Quasar Saber and a translucent red flaming effect part. A mismatching pair of hands has become pretty typical for Lightning Collection releases by this point, but thanks to the figure having white hands it's compatible with most other ones released as well. The more important thing is he can hold the weapons in both hands, both of which grip tightly and without any visible paint rub. The two Quasar Sabers look great for their size - naturally they lose a bit of the finer detail being so small but the colours are all there and that's more than enough to make them recognisable. What really makes the package though is the effect part - a sweeping flame that sheathes over the top of the Saber and really makes it pop. It's a heavy piece, but the arm and wrist joints should be enough to hold it. While all of the effect parts included with these figures have been fun (and most definitely appreciated), a lot of them have been a bit unwieldy and awkward to fix onto the weapons. Not this one though - sure the trade off is that it only works with the Quasar Saber but it's a small price to pay for such an effective piece.

And of course rounding off Lost Galaxy Red's accessories is an alternate Leo Corbett head, based on the likeness of actor Danny Slavin. It's a pretty solid likeness overall - not the best the Lightning Collection has put out but far from the worst either. While the helmet head pops off the ball joint easily, the alternate head might need a little working to fix down onto it securely. But once it's been fitted on once taking it on and off repeatedly should be a lot easier. The important thing though is that the head looks fantastic on the body - Hasbro have really been going the extra mile with these heads and they add so much to the figures. There's been plenty of Power Rangers figures in the past, but display options like these really make the line stand out.

The second figure in this set is Psycho Red, the leader of the fan favourite evil rangers that first appeared in Power Rangers in Space but returned in Lost Galaxy for the crossover episode. Psycho Red (as well as Psycho Blue)’s release timed rather nicely with the release of Boom! Studios The Psycho Path graphic novel, so Hasbro have done a nice bit of cross promotion here as well as providing fans with another popular character. Unlike most Power Rangers who at the very least have differing helmets, the Psycho Rangers are completely uniform so this figure is a straight repaint of the Walgreen’s exclusive Psycho Blue figure. All that blue has been changed to a deep blood red, which both looks suitably evil and stands out against the brighter tones of the heroic red rangers. As before the sculpting of this mould is perhaps the most impressive element of all, with all of that black body sporting various folds and texturing to give it a leathery look and feel. Some fans have commented that the “horns” on the Hasbro Psychos aren’t as pronounced as Bandai’s Legacy version, however it’s simply a case of the angle they sit at. While the Bandai one might have the extra height, the proportions and texture of the Hasbro version have a far more suit-like quality to them.

The Psycho Rangers all sharing the same body means articulation is also the same across the board, so this part of the review is going to be largely the same as what I wrote in my Psycho Blue review. Overall the body features a ball and socket head with swivel hinge neck, swivel hinge/butterfly joint combo shoulders, bicep swivels, double hinge elbows, swivel hinge wrists, a ball jointed upper torso, ab crunch, ball jointed hips, thigh swivels, double jointed knees, boot swivels and swivel hinge ankles. It's a fairly expressive figure able to pull off plenty of sinister looking poses, with surprisingly minimal resistance from all that raised, spiky armour. One thing I did notice on my Psycho Red that wasn't present on Blue was that the white arm gauntlets are much looser and have a tendency to spin around the wrist, which you might need to look out for when posing. The Psycho mould might not be considerably more articulated than the average Lightning Collection figure, but it does an exceptionally good job of hiding all those joint cuts with all that raised armour and textured leathery finish. While the Bandai of America figures still may be on everyone's minds, but Hasbro have done more than enough to here to make their version still stand out.

Psycho Red's accessories include a pair of weapon holding hands, closed right fist, outstretched left hand with green lightning blast effect and his personal Psycho Sword weapon. Other than the sword these accessories are identical to what was previously included with Psycho Blue, which is a little bit of a shame but makes sense given just how many unique parts were given to Lost Galaxy Red in this set. They're all just as suitable for Psycho Red as they were Blue too - though it would have been nice to get a right lightning hand just to get some symmetry going. Maybe with one of the remaining four Psycho Rangers? Either way the real draw here is the sword, which is completely unique to this set. A simple but rather effective design, the silver blade moves down into a charred black colour scheme with a spiral hand guard around the grip. The blood red core of the blade completes the look by making it the perfect match to Psycho Red's own colours. The spiral around the grip is made of soft plastic so can bend out of the way allow more room to apply to the hand, though if you're having trouble it always helps to just heat up the hand first. It's a shame there isn't any additional effect part to go along with all this too, though with the way they're quickly getting recoloured and recycled across the line means it isn't a huge loss. Since a lot of the parts are universal anyway, you can always spruce Red up with a piece from another figure should you feel so inclined.

The Lighting Collection Lost Galaxy Red Ranger & In Space Psycho Red Ranger set might not be the immediate pairing you think of when it comes to a themed set, but you absolutely can't argue the story significance Hasbro have opted for here. To the Tenth Power is still one of the best crossover episodes there's been, and the set itself brings together two fan favourite figures. The Lost Galaxy Red Ranger is a simple design that somehow transcends its onscreen version simply by getting everything right, while Psycho Red repeats that high bar for quality set by his blue teammate. For many collectors who can't afford to buy everything just picking up the red rangers is the easiest route to take, so you really can't go wrong with a set that gives you two at once. With Hasbro setting such a high standard for this line so early into its inception, it's going to be really exciting to see where it goes in the many years to come.