Friday 26 May 2023

Toybox REVIEW: Power Rangers Lightning Collection Mighty Morphin Ninja Red Ranger

Power Rangers Lightning Collection Mighty Morphin Ninja Red Ranger 01

Release Date: June 2022
RRP: $26.99/£32.99

And just like that, another Power Rangers Lightning Collection team is completed! Although admittedly this isn't one fans had to wait all that long for, given that all six Mighty Morphin Ninja Rangers were released in 2022. That said, the Lightning Collection Mighty Morphin Ninja Red Ranger did come a little later than most of his teammates, joining the Yellow Ranger as a June release whilst all the others hit in January. Though by this point the Red Ranger wasn't the leader of the team it does feel somewhat fitting for Rocky to be the one to round off the team, gaining new Ninja powers from the Ape Power Coin.

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Matching the rest of the Ninja Ranger releases, the Mighty Morphin Ninja Red Ranger comes in the standard white box which accentuates the bold red of the Tom Whalen's character artwork. Said artwork is continued across one side of the box and repeated on the other, and then on the back is the usual CGI render of the figure in an action pose (again the effect part has been given a slight shade of blue here when in-package it's the same translucent white as the rest of the team's). Inside the figure and accessories should be neatly laid out on their moulded plastic tray.

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The Ninja Red Ranger shares the same body as the other three male Rangers, featuring a thick hard plastic moulded outfit with a soft plastic "vest" piece added over the torso. Despite the NUMEROUS quality issues this team have had it's hard to deny that the sculpting on them is superb, and the bold red of Rocky's in particular really brings out all those moulded folds to simulate the moulded fabric. Of course it wouldn't be a Ninja Ranger review without one comment on the quality control somewhere, and though Rocky's is fairly minor in the grand scheme of things it's still an aspect that bugs me. Once again the elbow joints of the figure are really unsightly, sporting little bits of mould flesh as well as being slightly discoloured where they were (presumably) cut from the factory sprues. It doesn't stop the elbows from functioning in any way, it's just a little bit ugly. The paint work is also a little rough around the edges too, with some rather rough borders on the white belt section as well as uneven gold striping on the back. At this point these are the kind of things one has come to expect from the Lightning Collection, it's just a shame that this team in particular were hit as hard as they were.

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Alternate head options are the one area the Ninja Rangers have never let me down though, and after the frankly abysmal head sculpt Rocky first got with the Zeo Blue Ranger it seems Hasbro are still on a Steve Cardenas apology tour. The figure includes two alternate heads - one completely unmasked Rocky head (rocking the red Ninja Ranger head band) and one "mid-morph" partially masked/hooded head which is also how the Ninjetti Rangers appeared in Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie. As I said before Hasbro have clearly learned from their mistakes because the likeness on this one is fantastic - easily one of the best amongst the whole team. Not sure Rocky has been completely vindicated yet since I'm still salty about his Zeo weapons being packaged with a whole other figure, but it's a start.

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I've talked about the male Ninja Ranger body's poseability three times already, but here we go for one last round! Altogether the Ninja Red Ranger features;
- Ball jointed head, neck and waist 
- Double hinge elbows and knees
- Single hinge ab crunch
- Swivel hinge shoulders, wrists and ankles
- Butterfly joint shoulders
- "Pull down" ball jointed hips
- Bicep and thigh swivels 
As I've discussed before it's a touch above what was usually seen and/or expected from the Lightning Collection, particularly the pull-down style of ball jointed hips which are straight out of the G.I. Joe Classified Series playbook. Butterfly shoulders and double hinged elbow/knees on the other hand were to be expected, but it doesn't prevent them from being any less appreciated. As per the other figures, the only major drawback from a design point of view is the soft plastic vest piece, which really prevents the a crunch from being functional. Quality control-wise mine doesn't appear to be too bad in the articulation/poseability department - there is a bit of stiffness in the hips but then maybe I'm just used to that by now.

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Accessories are also the same fare we've seen with the other Ninja Rangers - in addition to the alternate head options there's also a pair of alternate (posed martial arts) hands and a translucent white punch effect part. The effect part is identical to the one that was previously included with the Ninja Blue Ranger, which isn't really an issue but it would have been nice if Hasbro had mixed the colours up a bit if they were going to repeat effect parts across the team. Then again, there's a logic to keep consistency with the milky white colouring as well. While logically it might seem that the effect part clips onto one of the two closed fists, the socket is a little too small to comfortably house those so the posed right hand might be a better option. The alternate hands however are a really nice addition, as I'm particularly fond of the ones that are in specific martial arts poses. They give the Ninja Rangers particularly a lot more personality, and pair really well with the default closed fists as well.

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The Lightning Collection Mighty Morphin Red Ninja Ranger is certainly on the better end of the "which of these figures have been affected the worst by QC issues" scale when it comes to the team as a whole, but it's still missing those bits of polish here and there that prevent it from being the perfect figure. Issues like the mould flesh and discolouring on the elbow joints might seem minor in the long run, but for the price these figures are (particularly with the unusually higher price point they had in the UK) it's just another one of those issues that shouldn't be there. That said, the good joint tolerances and great likeness on the head sculpt still make it a pretty solid figure everywhere else. While the Ninja Rangers haven't quite been everything I had hoped for, the fact they exist in the first place combined the the head options makes me an extremely happy Might Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie fan. Fingers crossed that Hasbro can release the proper suits from the film one day, because I'd love to see how they tackle them.

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