Toybox REVIEW: Power Rangers Lightning Collection Z Putty

Release Date: November 2020

RRP: $19.99/£19.99

The original Mighty Morphin Power Rangers is always going to be the big seller when it comes to the Lightning Collection and Hasbro’s control of the franchise in general, but with the whole of original team now available in the flagship collector line they’re going to come up with a few new ideas to continue hitting that MMPR sweet spot. Naturally re-releases are obviously on the cards (such as the forthcoming “Metallic Armour” versions), but it’s also a chance to get some other interesting figures out as well. One such example is wave seven’s Lightning Collection Mighty Morphin Z-Putty, based on Lord Zedd’s legion of clay soldiers from season two. Although faster, stronger and more resilient than the old Putty Patrollers, Zedd’s versions had one fatal weakness - one punch to the Z emblem on their chest would instantly cause them to explode.

Since we’re back with the main range of Lightning Collection figures the Z Putty comes in the usual white packaging - a colour scheme that goes rather well with the figure’s own light grey body. Tom Whalen provides the usual brilliant character artwork adorning the front and spines of the box, which is accompanied by both the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers and standard Power Rangers Lightning Collection logos. On the back of the box is the standard Hasbro render, showing off the Z Putty in a fairly basic pose with its two included effect parts/accessories. Interestingly the render actually shows the figure with LESS paint than the toy itself has for once - the render has the Putty’s face the same colour as its body, whilst the toy has it painted a darker grey. Open it up and you’ll find both the figure and accessories neatly stored on a moulded plastic tray.

The Z Putty is naturally a remould of the original Putty Patroller figure, adding the light grey jump hooded jumpsuit that Lord Zedd’s legion wears emblazoned with a number of Z logos. The figure is cast in various shades of grey plastic so is pretty light when it comes to painted detailing, however this particular Putty has been given the dark grey face paint that was absent from the original versions. It’s lost the black mouth paint in the process, but it’s still a much better look overall. But what this figure lacks in paint detail it makes up for in moulding, because there are some really nice elements to this relatively simplistic figure. The Z logos on the chest and knee pads look fantastic, but even better than that are those sculpted boots - complete with laces running up from the bottom of the foot and then neatly tied at the top. It might seem a little ridiculous for clay golems to be wearing laced boots, but that’s just how they looked on the show and that’s exactly the kind of screen accuracy the Lightning Collection should be striving for. The hands/gloves are also identical to that of the original Putty, darker grey and covered in cracked rocky detailing. Despite how basic the Z Putty is it’s a really cool looking figure - perfect for army building if you can get a hold of a few or alternatively just leading the charge with a bunch of normal ones.

That smooth body also allows for excellent articulation too. If you’ve handled the original Putty figure then you’ll know full well just how good this mould is, and absolutely nothing has changed for the Z Putty. Altogether it includes; 

- Ball jointed head, upper torso and hips

- Swivel hinge neck, shoulders and ankles

- Butterfly joint shoulders/pecs

- Hinged ab crunch

- Double hinged elbows and knees 

- Bicep, forearm thigh and boot swivels 

Granted some of the joints might be a little more exposed on the Z Putty (other than the knee joints that is, which are nicely hidden away by the sizeable Z emblems), but you really can’t argue with the brilliant range of movement these figures have on offer. From that wonderful butterfly shoulder articulation to those superb rocker joint ankles, the Z Putty can do everything from looking uncharacteristically menacing to getting the snot beaten out of it like they usually do.

The Z Putty comes packaged with two additional hands (giving him a pair of item-holding hands, a closed right fist and an open left hand in total) and two effect parts - a translucent red punch piece that fits over the right fist and a blue explosion piece that fits around the torso. The latter piece is a re-release of the effect part previously included in the Putty Patroller 2-pack, where is was coloured yellow instead of blue. Back when that set was released eagle-eyed collectors accurately predicted that this part would also come with the Z-Putty, due to the circular indent on the inside where the Z emblem slots in. It’s one of the best effect parts the Lightning Collection has done so far so it’s great to see it getting a second outing in the main range, and the Z Putty is the perfect place for. Together with the fact that the forearms pop off so easily, you can get a pretty cool looking exploding effect out of the figure with minimal effort. The red punching part is a little more unusual since it doesn’t link to anything the Z Putty did onscreen in the same way, but it’s a nice little effect part nonetheless and would work great with some of the other figures in the line as well. It’s a shame that the Z Putties didn’t have weapon arms like the standard variants do, but the joy of matching bodies mean you can attach the parts to create a super Z Putty anyway!

Surprisingly the Putty Patroller turned out to be one of my favourite releases in the line so far, and the Lightning Collection Z Putty is another great outing for the mould. While the design might be a little light on the detailing and not quite as iconic as the standard version, it’s another brilliant bit of Power Rangers-exclusivity and brings back fond memories of the (what at the time felt like a huge) shakeup in Mighty Morphin season two. It’s also the kind of figure you’d easily find yourself tempted to pick up more than one of, though just how attainable that is given the figure’s scarcity is another question entirely. Sometimes it really is the simplest figures that come out the best.