Series REVIEW: Power Rangers Super Megaforce

In a move that hadn't been attempted since the original Mighty Morphin Power Rangers moved into its second season way back in 1994, Saban Brands surprised fans by announcing that the latest series celebrating the 20th anniversary of the franchise would be adapted from two different Super Sentai series. While the first half, Power Rangers Megaforce, would be based off of Tensou Sentai Goseiger, the second would adapt the following series Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger. Titled Power Rangers Super Megaforce, this is arguably the "true" part of the anniversary celebration as the source was the 35th anniversary Sentai series and thus also suitably jazzed up for the occasion.

First Impressions: Power Rangers Super Megaforce

Power Rangers Megaforce has returned for its second half (although despite being only 20 episodes, its being treated as a separate season), truly celebrating the 20th anniversary of the franchise with Power Rangers Super Megaforce (brilliant naming strikes again)! This is a very special season adapted from the 35th anniversary Super Sentai season Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger, and sees the rangers gain the ability to transform into the rangers of all the previous Power Rangers seasons.

Toybox REVIEW: S.H. Figuarts Warz Gil

Villains are a bit of a rarity in the S.H. Figuarts line, particularly when it comes to Super Sentai. We've had plenty of heroes, but so far the only villains have been Juuzo from Samurai Sentai Shinkenger and Basco/Sally from Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger. Due to Gokaiger's seemingly relentless popularity, we've just got another villain from the show - and the main one at that. Zangyack Prince Warz Gil was released as a Tamashii Web Exclusive back at the end of June, commanding a slightly higher price than the usual exclusive - 3990 yen rather than the usual 3675.

Like Basco, Warz Gil comes oddly packaged in a non-window box. With Basco it felt a little more understandable since it was a bigger box since he also came with Sally, but here it seems more like just to keep a trend going with the Gokaiger villains. Still, the box itself does look rather nice with the cosmic/royal blue colouring and Zangyack logos. The back features the figure in a (very limited) range of poses, and inside is a single tray for Warz and his (even more limited) accessories.

Well if Bandai have done something right with Warz Gil, it's that they've absolutely NAILED the sculpt and finish of the figure. I imagine that the slightly higher pricetag is due to the level of detail on Warz' flamboyant get up, and no cost has been spared on his shoulder pads, headgear, cape and tail pieces. The colours are a beautiful combination of white, gold silver and metallic blue.

With the positives out of the way, sadly the review must now move on to what's going to be a string of negatives. Thanks to Warz Gil's fabulous getup, the articulation is severely limited (even though there are joints in all the usual places for a Figuart). The shoulder pads get in the way so much that you can't really get any more than an "arms face forward" pose out of him. Same goes for the hips, even though they feature the trademark Figuart swing-down joint system. Getting any form of dynamic posing out of Warz without the aid of a stand is near impossible, thanks to a combination of the weight of his own flamboyance and some rather loose toe joints.

This is the part where I'd usually talk about all the wonderful accessories the figure comes with, only with Warz Gil it's not going to be a particularly long paragraph. The Zangyack Prince comes with a grand total of...5 hands. Yep, closed fists, open hands and a pointing right hand - that's it, nothing else. While there isn't really a great deal of other things Warz Gil could have come with outside of things he might have picked up for 10 seconds in certain episodes the accessory count is still INCREDIBLY poor. Given the pretty severe balancing issues the figure has, a personalised Tamashii stage would have not only been ideal but it might have made his slightly higher price tag a little easier to swallow.

It's also worth mentioning that the tassles are easily removable (as can be seen in the pictures), and are worth taking off if you actually want to SEE the figure's hands. Why Bandai included rigid tassles and not ones that look like they've been affected by gravity is beyond me.

To put it short, Warz Gil is a Figuart for Gokaiger completists only. The sculpt is undoubtedly beautiful, but all that means nothing when the whole appeal of buying a Figuart is for the poseability. There's a perfectly good Warz Gil statue out there that's roughly in scale with the Gokaiger Figuarts, and that is in more dynamic pose than this thing can manage.

My love for all things Gokaiger means I'm giving this a 3, but for anyone else I'd say this is a 2 out of 5 figure quite easily.

Toybox REVIEW: S.H. Figuarts Gokai Pink

Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger, the 35th anniversary Super Sentai, draws to a close this Sunday, and thus the merchandising for the series will slowly draw to close (well, ranger keys are probably going to be around for a while yet!). Gokai Pink (or Ahim de Famille if you'd prefer) is one of the final two S.H. Figuarts to be released, however much like Gokai Yellow she was a Tamashii Web exclusive, thus was only available to those outside Japan via eBay and middlemen services.

The first thing to say about Gokai Pink is that she's pink...REALLY pink. I wasn't quite expecting the colour to be quite so vibrant on the figure, but it certainly suits the figure and looks fantastic combined with the black, gold and silver details. The sculpt really gives a defined female form to the suit, and like Yellow is shorted than her male crew mates. To compensate for the limitations of the skirt, the three-piece skirt seen with the rest of the female Sentai figuarts is also included. To change the skirt remove the torso and then unhook the one piece skirt. The main piece then attaches in the same place, while the hip pieces attach via tiny plugs on the legs.

Gokai Pink comes packaged with a total of 11 extra hands, Gokai saber and gun (with alternate 'key inserted' barrels), ranger keys (both folded and unfolded), mobirates, double gun piece and a wired Gokai saber. Despite this quite hefty amount of accessories, I can't help feel a little disappointed. While the inclusion of a second wired sword is nice, Ahim has never once used this weapon in the show and its inclusion is really only to make the Gokai Yellow figure better. The double pistol piece is Pink's only real 'exclusive' piece in the set, and while it would add a little variety to a display its fairly small accessory for an expensive figure. It would have been nice to see a treasure chest, greatest treasure in the universe or Gokai Galleon Buster packaged with someone, but that's probably never going to happen now.

Finally comes the Gokai Darin, in just a vibrant pink finish as the figure itself. Like Yellow it is included within the actual figure box rather than separately, and has exactly the same features as those included with the Blue, Green and Yellow figures. For those looking to pose your Gokaiger's in a GokaiOh cockpit display, that dream is now a reality.

Truth be told, Pink is definitely the weakest of the Gokaiger figuarts - unlike Silver her price doesn't justify the lack of interesting accessories. However this shouldn't be considered a knock against her - anyone looking to buy Gokai Pink is really only going to be buying her for two reasons;

1. She's your favourite Gokaiger
2. You're looking to complete the team

And in both instances, I can't see you being disappointed with the figure. The sculpt and physique are perfect, and there's still plenty going on with Gokai Pink to put her a cut above most other action figures from other toylines. These six figures look absolutely fantastic together and are without a doubt the best Power Rangers/Sentai toys to have been released.

All I have to say is "Come on Bandai, bring on the Dekarangers!"

Super Hero Time: September 2011 - February 2012

Toybox REVIEW: S.H. Figuarts Gokai Silver

As the Gokaiger series draws to a close in Japan the sixth member of the pirate crew, Gokai Silver, sees his turn to be immortalised in Bandai's S.H. Figuarts line! While one of the last to be released (alongside Pink), Silver is in the fourth of six to be a mass release - the two girls being relegated to Tamashii web exclusive status.

As is the usual standard with Super Sentai's "extra" heroes, Gokai Silver sports a slightly different aesthetic to the other five...and a shinier paint job to boot. The visor area is a bit dark, but other than that the helmet is excellent. The shiny silver and gold paint on the jacket and cuffs compliment the matte black finish of the jumpsuit part nicely, and certainly make Silver stand out in a display with his crew mates. As usual the level of posability is superb, which suits the ever excitable Gai Ikari perfectly.

Gokai Silver is packaged with a total of 11 additional hands (including ones to replicate his roll call pose), the Gokai Cellular, an unfolded Gokai Silver ranger key and his weapon of choice, the Gokai spear, in both spear and rifle forms. While these are nice additions to the figure, I can't help feel that there is one of two things missing. Firstly, there is no unfolded ranger key, meaning that no key can be inserted into the weapon or cellular (however given the size of the cellular this is somewhat understandable) like in show. However to make up for the cellular situation a tiny gold mode anchor key could have been included to plug into the bottom, much like the folded ranger keys plug into the standard Gokaigers' mobirates. No gold mode key was included, but a hidden feature on the Gokai spear suggests that perhaps we may see more of gold mode in the future. The trident blades are removable, and can be reversed to make up the spear's Anchor mode, which of course was used exclusively by Gokai Silver Gold mode. A hint toward a (probably Tamashii web exclusive) gold mode parts set in the future? Who knows, but it's always fun to speculate. Unfortunately Gokai Silver does not include his Gojyujin darin, possibly because it is larger piece than the others. Still,unless it sees a future release it's disappointing that the Kanzen GokaiOh cockpit can't be recreated.

While his accessory count may be a little lower than his predecessors, but the figure itself has just as much (if not more so) charm than the rest. With an excellent selection of hands, a great paintjob and potential hinting of an upgrade set in the future, Gai Ikari really does have his moment in the silver spotlight in the form of Figuarts Gokai Silver. If you were only to buy two of the Gokaiger figuarts, I would recommend Silver as one of those not only because, as a mass release, he would  be far easier to obtain, but also because of the difference in design and paint to the others.

Toybox REVIEW: S.H. Figuarts Gokai Yellow

With all of the mass release Gokaiger figuarts out of the way until Gokai Silver's release at the end of the month, it's time to move onto the two black sheep of the Gokaiger figuarts line - Gokai Yellow and Gokai Pink. Unlike their male team mates, the two girls have been relegated to Bandai Tamashii Web exclusives, meaning not only are they around double the price of the other figures but anyone living outside of Japan would need to buy them via eBay or a middleman service. Unless these two happen to be your favourite characters, I can imagine they'll only really catch the eye of those planning to collect all of the Gokaigers.

Being a girl, Gokai Yellow obviously sports a different sculpt to Red, Blue and Green. Aside from the obvious feminine proportions and the addition of a skirt, the figure is noticeably shorter than those that have come before her. The gold trimming is much less striking on top of yellow than any other colour, but as a whole she is on par with the rest of the team released so far.

Due to the posing limitations of the skirt, Bandai have offered an alternative (like they did with the three female Shinkenger figures) in the form of a three piece skirt (a main piece, and then two separate hip pieces). While still made of soft plastic, the detached hip pieces mean the legs can move freely about for some of the more dynamic posing (and if you plan to use some of Yellow's accessories, you're gonna need it). Changing the skirt involves separating the torso from the legs and then unhooking the one piece skirt. The main piece then attaches in the same place, while the hip pieces attach at tiny plugs on the legs. While the plugs are small, the pieces fit nice and tightly.

I'm not sure whether being an exclusive has anything to do with it, but Gokai Yellow sports a particularly impressive set of accessories alongside her alternate skirt. Along with ten extra hands and the usual Gokaiger fare of Gokai Saber, gun, alternate 'Final Wave' weapon barrels, mobirates and 'sneeze and you'll lose them' ranger keys, Yellow also comes with both of her signature weapons from the show. The first of which is the double bladed Gokai Saber, made up of two swords stuck together (although on this figure its one solid piece). Like the single sword the key barrel is movable, however two 'final wave' barrels are not included (I'd put this down to the fact she's never had a final wave using the weapon).

The second weapon is much more interesting - her wired Gokai saber. The weapon itself is just the standard blade, however it is attached to a bendable wire with a handle at the end. The wire itself is particularly strong, and so retains any outstretched sword poses excellently (although balancing the figure during these may be a different issue entirely). The only downside is that only ONE of the blades is included with Yellow, while most of the time on the show she is shown using two. Since you're paying extra for Yellow its a little disappointing that she doesn't come with two, but its hard not to argue that the wire trick is still a ridiculously fun addition. Solicitations for Gokai Pink have suggested she may also come packaged with a wire saber (although this is yet to be confirmed), so all might not be lost if you are planning to pick up the whole set.

And of course, Yellow also comes with her Gokai Darin, only this time its packaging is a little different. Since Yellow is an exclusive and therefore unlikely to ever see reissue, the wheel is packaged within the actual figure box rather than separately. There's little to say about the wheel I haven't already said in my Gokai Blue and Green reviews, other than the fact its yellow...but it is nice to be one step closer to completing a GokaiOh cockpit display.

It's a shame Bandai decided to make the girls exclusives but if you're prepared to pay the mark up for Gokai Yellow you won't be disappointed. Sporting good proportions for a feminine figure, an interesting posing mechanic for the skirt and (in my opinion) possibly the best range of accessories for any Gokaiger bar Green's Navi, Yellow is yet another excellent figure from the line. If the rumours of the second wired Gokai Saber coming with Gokai Pink turn out to be true, then she'll be even better.

Two more to go!