Sunday 13 March 2022

Toybox REVIEW: Power Rangers Lightning Collection Mighty Morphin 'Metallic' Black Ranger

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Release Date: December 2021
RRP: $27.99/£24.99

The release of the Metallic Armour Mighty Morphin Pink Ranger at the end of 2020 came as quite the surprise to Lightning Collection fans, but there was definitely some frustration at how and when the rest of the team would see similar treatment. Fast forward a few months however and Hasbro simply decided to offload them on collectors all at once, with the rest of the team (sans the currently announced White Ranger) all dropping at the same time. The Lightning Collection Mighty Morphin 'Metallic' Black Ranger is a particularly notable release among them, marking the first time second Black Ranger Adam Park has been made available in his Mighty Morphin Power Rangers form. Like the Pink Ranger before them, this wave of metallic releases are exclusive to Hasbro Pulse.

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With more metallic figures back on the market it's time for another glitter explosion! The Lightning Collection Mighty Morphin 'Metallic' Black Ranger comes in a specially done version of the standard packaging, throwing a mass of sparkly black glitter across both the character artwork and name card on the front. Like Pink's box it looks really good in-hand, and sets the release apart from the standard release nicely. The back of the box features a single render of the figure inside, showing off all those accessories and that glittery metallic finish. Interesting, unlike the metallic Pink Ranger this (along with the other three metallic rangers released at the same time) don't package the figure with the civilian head attached to the body as opposed to the helmet and stick with the helmet as normal.

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Sculpt-wise the figure is identical to the previously released Mighty Morphin Black Ranger, but redone in a semi-translucent black plastic with injected glitter to give off that metallic armour effect. The white areas of the suit also now have a pearlescent (almost silver in some light) finish much like they did on the show itself. While perhaps not a perfect representation of how these often-forgotten suits appeared on the show, its a good attempt that most importantly doesn't forget the glittery aspect of them. It's easy to release metallic paint versions of the rangers, but without that glitter it just isn't the metallic armour. Overall the detailing on the figure is very good but not completely perfect, with little things like the diamonds not completely lining up on the back of the figure being one little issue it has. Though the helmet doesn't have the white panel-lining running across it to bring out all the detail like the standard version does, the design is all still quite pronounced on the sculpt. 

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As arguably the foundation characters in the entire line, the Mighty Morphin base mould is presumably what every other ranger has been built off of and so represents the main things the Lightning Collection has to offer. When it comes to articulation the figure features; 
- Ball jointed head, upper torso and hips
- Single hinge neck and ab crunch
- Swivel hinge shoulders, wrists and ankles
- Butterfly joint shoulders/pecs
- Double hinged elbows and knees
- Bicep, thigh and boot swivels
Though the main issue with the joints is a fairly minor one in the grand scheme of things, it is one that's fairly obvious straight away. Those arms just can't rest parallel with the body. It's a problem that seems to plague most Hasbro figures, and although it doesn't really make much of a difference in action poses it can look a little unnatural if you're displaying the figure in a more neutral pose. Other than that though the figure has all the highs of the Lightning Collection articulation with little of the lows, and importantly no notable restricts to any of the joints is capable of plenty of fantastic action poses. The semi-translucent plastic may result in the joints being a little stiff at first, but with a bit of working that will soon pass.

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Rather surprisingly, the accessories included with this figure aren't quite as identical to the standard release as you may think. Among the pieces here are a pair of alternate hands perfect for the Black Ranger's roll call pose, Blade Blaster in gun mode, Power Axe, alternate Adam Park head and a blast effect part for use with the Power Axe. The alternate hands here are completely different to the ones included with the standard release (which were basic closed fists) and the Blade Blaster in sword mode has been omitted entirely. While storing the sidearm in gun mode might not technically be screen accurate, it is at least uniform with the rest of the Mighty Morphin figures released in the line. Though it hasn't been given the same glittery treatment as the figure itself the Power Axe is definitely moulded in a paler black plastic than the standard version, but still able to switch between axe and blaster modes by simply sliding the forearm along the shaft. The Power Axe is also able to combine with the other Rangers' weapons to form the Power Blaster. Finally the effect part is the same as the one previously included with both the standard Mighty Morphin Black Ranger and armoured variant, though this time cast in light blue plastic with a rather fitting glittery effect.

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The alternate Adam Park head is a whole new sculpt, based on his Mighty Morphin season 3 look. The Zeo-era head sculpt included with the Zeo Green Ranger was already pretty great but this one might be even better, capturing Johnny Yong Bosch's likeness during this era of Power Rangers perfectly. Hasbro also made the wise decision to give the head a close-mouthed generic expression too, which we've all learned by now tends to result in the far better product. Even though a non-metallic version of Adam as the Black Ranger will probably get released somewhere down the line, based on the current Aisha releases that'll include its own unique head as well so expect this particular sculpt to remain exclusive to the metallic version.

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Like Kat, Adam also comes with a segment of the Zeo Crystal to give this release a little more exclusivity. Judging by the rectangle shape the crystal shapes into at the top, this is definitely Adam's piece of the crystal that later gives him his Zeo Ranger IV powers. The crystal is made of a cloudy white plastic, and can be comfortably held in either of the figure's accessory holding hands. While it doesn't have a whole lot of function compared to the other accessories included with the figure, their inclusion with these Metallic Armour figures came as a very pleasant surprise and it's really cool to see figures coming with them after all these years. Since all five segments have been spread across the currently released Rangers, fingers crossed that the combined Zeo Crystal comes with the inevitable Metallic Armour White Ranger.

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Like the rest of the team the Lightning Collection Mighty Morphin 'Metallic' Black Ranger is only really going to appeal to a certain section of Power Rangers collectors, but those collectors are the ones that will appreciate the metallic armour finally getting the recognition it deserves. The standard male Mighty Morphin body is already a great release and all of that quality carries over the metallic variant despite the quality issues that could have potentially appeared from using semi-translucent plastic. The alternate Adam head and Zeo Crystal segment accessories sweeten the deal even further, giving this release even more of an exclusive quality. Thankfully now that Hasbro Pulse has launched in the UK these new metallic armour releases should be far more plentiful/attainable, though it's a shame Hasbro couldn't have had the foresight to re-release Pink along with them. 

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