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

Release Date: January 2022

RRP: $26.99/£32.99

No matter what anyone says, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers is always going to be Hasbro's priority when it comes to the Lightning Collection – especially with the show's 30th anniversary right around the corner. However when it involves also getting throwbacks to season three and Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie, the repeated release of the original Power Rangers team(s) might not be such a bad thing. Continuing on with Hasbro's journey through the Rangers' ninja powers is the Lightning Collection Mighty Morphin Ninja Blue Ranger, where original Blue Ranger Billy Cranston took on the powers of the wolf – cunning and swift.

Immediately upon release the Ninja Rangers gained notoriety for their woefully bad QC, with many collectors receiving figures even completely missing parts in their boxes. With the Blue Ninja Ranger being among the worst affected, be sure to check your copy to ensure it has everything before opening. Mine was complete, but one of the hands had fallen out of the tray and was rattling around loose in the box. The figure comes in the usual white packaging adorned with character artwork across the front and sides, with a CGI render of the figure in an action posed printed on the back. Here we see Hasbro getting back into old habits, as the effect part in the render is a completely different colour to the one that's actually included in the box. Inside, the figure and accessories SHOULD be neatly laid out on their moulded plastic tray.

The Ninja Blue Ranger shares the same body as the other three male Ninja Rangers, featuring a thick hard plastic moulded outfit with a soft plastic "vest" piece added over the torso. Overall the sculpting on the figure is very good, making up for the lack of detailing on the bulk of the outfit with plenty of moulded billows to give the impression of baggy fabric. Unfortunately quality control on this release is to Hasbro's usually spotty standard. While the shade of blue plastic used on some of the parts doesn't quite match up, this is an extremely minor complaint compared to the quality of the joints on my copy of the figure. Both the elbow and knee joints on this release don't look like they've been cut properly – not only jagged in their appearance but also covered in all manner of lighter coloured marks and mould flesh. While they still work perfectly as intended, it gives the figure a really rough look to it that shouldn't have really made the cut. On the other hand, what few paint apps the figure has are also nicely done – the wolf coin looking especially good even if it's a flat gold/black tampo rather than a raised shiny gold piece look it should be.

But amongst the questionable QC what sets the Ninja Rangers apart are the multiple head options, giving collectors the ability to display them how they appeared in either season three of the series or Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie. In addition to the completely masked head are both an uncovered civilian head (complete with blue bandana) and a partially masked/hooded head which is how they appeared in the movie (and as a mid-transformation step in the series). Previously David Yost hasn't had the best luck when it comes to Billy's likeness on these figures and it's debatable how much that's changed here, though it's certainly a step up from some of Hasbro's previous efforts. The sculpt is good enough that the heads are instantly recognisable as Billy, but there's something about how chiselled the details are that it makes him look far older than he actually is. Using either of the masked heads will hide that for the most part though of course.

On paper the Ninja Ranger body is possibly one of the best the Lightning Collection has to offer, particularly as there's little to no difference in articulation between the male and female figures. Altogether the Ninja Blue 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 

The addition of the GI Joe-style pull down hips is a pretty big addition to the Lightning Collection and while it's definitely something I'd like to see continue, judging by the Ninja Rangers it also needs a bit of work first. The hip joints (much like they are on the Pink Ranger) aren't all that good – insanely tight to move (to the point where it can sometimes feel like you're stressing the plastic) but also the legs have the tendency to split further when the figure is placed in wide-legged poses. The double-jointed elbows and knees are much better in comparison and provide a good range of motion, but the aforementioned mould flesh covering them on my copy made them really stiff to start off and need a good deal of working. The ab crunch is a bit of a curiosity on this team – being covered by the soft plastic vest piece makes it both invisible and restricted, and using it results in a rather deafening crack that almost sounds like you're breaking the figure. As you can see from the pictures you can get A LOT of good poses out of these Rangers, it's just those little QC issues that seem to mount up.

There's one little change compared to the White and Pink Ninja Rangers here but when it comes to accessories it seems to be largely the same across the board for all six Ninja Rangers. In addition to the two alternate heads Billy also comes with two alternate hands (a knife-strike left hand and a posed right hand) as well as a punch effect part. As previously mentioned, this effect piece is the same milky white translucent plastic as Tommy and Kim's kicking parts rather than the translucent blue seen on the box. The punch part has a similar design in that it's a sort of energy blast/swoosh shape, clipping onto the hand to create a display of force. 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. As far as effect parts go it isn't especially dramatic, but it makes a nice change (and has a little more variety in terms of posing) to the kick parts previously reviewed.

In what's increasingly likely to be the case for all of the Ninja Rangers, the Lightning Collection Mighty Morphin Ninja Blue Ranger is another potentially fantastic figure that's let down but the line's questionable QC. Whilst you can't deny the effort Hasbro have made into making these figures as all-encompassing as possible, the various issues that are affecting the joints (both the tolerances and the horrible mould flesh) should not be affecting figures that are both a few years into the line's lifespan AND in the midst of constantly raising prices. Much like with the White and Pink Rangers, I really like this figure but Hasbro's practices are preventing it from being the truly stellar example of the Lightning Collection it should be.