As I said in my review of the Power Rangers film that was released back in March, upon exiting the film I felt like I HAD to get my mitts on some of the toys. Now, you wouldn’t be able to tell this from the reviews on the site…but I LOVE huge toys. I think I can blame that on Fort Max back in ’87. So, naturally I grabbed the Zord gift pack that was exclusive to Toys R Us…and while I wasn’t disappointed exactly, between the parts-former nature of the toys, the incredibly minimalist approach to paint on the thing and the lack of any sort of meaningful articulation, I wasn’t impressed either. Hence, no review here. [Well, that and the fact that taking pictures of that damn Mattel 24” Voltron was a massive pain in the ass. – Ed.] Even worse, my toy hunger was not satiated. On a return trip, I saw the Legacy figures that Ban Dai was putting out and I was able to find most of the set…except for the Red Ranger. Given that these came with Build-A-Figure components for the Movie Megazord, well, what can I say, in these situations I’m an all-or-nothing sort of guy. I’d eventually break down and just buy the whole damn set off of their website. So, was it worth it?

Mostly.

But how about more prelude first? [Gah…you SUCK. – Ed.] The thing is that for me, Ban Dai is really inconsistent with the figures they’ve produced…or at least my experience with them. This starts with their original attempt to tackle Thundercats…both the original designs and those from the rebooted show. Fairly well articulated and with a fair amount of accessories, on the surface, these should be pretty decent toys, right? Well, as it is often said, the devil is in the details: the scales really didn’t blend in well with the more prevalent 6” action figure scale (the classic Thundercats figures were way too tall…then way too short…and the reboot figures were just slightly too short). Additional drawbacks were their choice in plastic felt weird and really looked out of place and then there were the visible, uncovered screw holes. But, if you went with their Japanese collector label, SH Figuarts, as I did with their Injustice figures, you get some fantastic figures…albeit a bit pricey and more than just a little hurt-y.

Thankfully, these Power Rangers Legacy figures end up being right down the middle of the two extremes. The figures have most of the points of articulation that are expected with nearly any 6” line these days. The exception being that the male Rangers (Red, Black and Blue) don’t have bicep swivels, which I thought was weird because the girls (Pink and Yellow) do. The figures might be scaled a little bigger than they should be, as you can see in the pictures below, but won’t overly stick out on a shelf of characters from mixed universes. [Because not everyone is as OCD as you are about DC never mixing with Marvel never mixing with Masters of the Universe never mixing with Star Wars…it’s no wonder why you’re running out of shelf space dude…just sayin’. – Ed.] The sculpts and plastic choices work mostly well as the toys look good. There’s only a minor quibble: the joints on the figures, especially at the shoulders and hips, end up sticking out a bit more than they should. And once you see this…there’s no unseeing it. It doesn’t ruin the figures per se…but you may just find yourself just drunk enough one night with a screwdriver and a Dremel… [Okay, seriously, that’s just you…and it’s SCARY. Never share that again. – Ed.]

I did want to separate Alpha-5 out and give him his own paragraph. I can see the need to include this supporting character into the line and given how they chose to break apart the Zord pieces a sixth figure was needed for the line (although it makes you wonder why they didn’t opt for a Rita figure…I mean, who are these guys gonna fight, huh?). But I’m not sure how well Alpha turns out as a figure. Okay, I do know…it’s not great. Most of his articulation is useless. That seems a little harsh but the only joints that really seem to have any real freedom are his shoulders…the others have some sort of strange limitation that really prevent you from doing just about anything in the posing department. But, you need him for the Megazord’s torso…so there’s really no skipping him.

Now let’s look at that Build-A-Zord. On paper, this is a brilliant bonus, right? The Rangers pilot their Zords and merge into the Megazord right? (I’m asking…I really don’t keep up with this particular brand.) So why not include a piece of the Megazord with each figure? Genius! Hell, it’s really made me consider jumping on to this line full-out. However, the execution is…well…only just okay. If the articulation was just like that of the individual figures, then these would prove to be yet another siphon on my resources. But the articulation here is far more limited. Yes, there are ball-jointed shoulders…but the socket really limits any real articulation. Hips are ball-jointed too…but with exactly the same limitations. Elbows and knees are single-jointed instead of double…which didn’t impact my feelings as Mattel still does this with their DC Multiverse figures…but for some collectors this might be a negative. Nothing in the way of wrist or ankle articulation, nor is there a waist swivel or an ab crunch. While the figure looks good, it proves to be just a touch too basic. This might be a cost thing…but I also found it to be just a touch too short. Now, of course I didn’t expect it to be in scale, but he only stands…ugh, forgive the pun on this one…head and shoulders above the rest. This likely puts him more in the 7 inch scale…and I think it might work better if he were closer to 9 or 10 inches.

It seems like I’ve been nitpicking, but to be honest, I ended up really liking these figures. If you’re a fan of the franchise, you likely have these already as well as the preceding and following waves. I wasn’t kidding in saying that I’m pretty close to jumping on board with this line and I’d certainly recommend them to any Power Rangers fans out there or to anyone looking to start to follow this franchise. They’re good figures and fun toys that come with that added bonus that is a Build-A-Figure. My only reasons for holding back is everything else pulling at my wallet right now…and the fact I’m running out of space for things…and the lack of villains isn’t helping either…to say nothing of the [Oh will you just shut it! – Ed.]

[ NOTE: We do apologize if these images are sideways. It's an error with the gallery software and we're looking into it. Until then, please tilt your head to the right. - Ed.]

#actionfigures #toys