Friday, January 21, 2011

Toy Week: Good and Bad of each Power Ranger Toy Line

UPDATED 6/26/14
WARNING: The following is all my opinion! You might not agree.

Good
Bad
MMPR Season 1 (1993)

As a kid, I thought it was awesome that there were 8 inch figures, I still think they are pretty cool. Sure, Pink had no skirt and the Rangers had symbols on their chest, but they are still cool.

Overall Grade: A
MMPR Season 1 (1993)

The only bad I can see in the toyline is that the Green Ranger's cuffs were not show-accurate and that his symbol looked more like Titanus. Also that the Battle Bikes didn't come with the females. That would have been cool. Oh and also no Rita Repulsa and no Dragon Coin.

The Season 2 line was pretty cool, it had the Auto-Morphins, more monster toys, the cool Thunderzords (Tor might not have fans, but his toy was awesome), Thunderbikes, Saba, Power Cannon & more.
As I have mentioned before, I do not enjoy that there was a 'fat' Lord Zedd.
Overall Grade: A+

Season 3 toy line was pretty basic, mostly re-packaging. The Auto-Morphins and 8 inchers got a 'metallic' look. Also, Talking figures. Lord Zedd got reissued. Ninja Zords were cool and so was Serpentera. Fans also liked the inclusion of the Alien Rangers and Battle Borgs (even though wished for bigger figures). But nothing really pops out in this. The figures were pretty basic and nothing really polished.
Overall Grade: B-

I find the Shogun Megazord unique, but some fans complained that White became Pink.

I didn't like the design of the Ninja Rangers, they should have made them with felt clothing.

For Zeo, the 8 inchers and Auto-Morphins were continued but these figures that went from Rangers to zords were the first and pretty cool.

Nothing really wrong with this line. But other than that, a kind of boring line. One complaint fans had was that there was no Mondo or the rest of the Machine Empire family.
Overall Grade: B+

Turbo was the first one to come with a female villain toy, Divatox. There definitely was more toys in this line than past seasons.
Overall Grade: B

Some fans complained that this playset came with Lerigot. Pretty basic line.


Even though fans have some complaints about the Battlizers, I find it interesting that each one was unique and different, in later years, they would all look like the Red one.

I like that there were 8 inch battlized figures, especially Pink and Yellow.

Fans complained that there was no Spiral Saber, that was no allowed because of US toy regulations.

The Battlizers can also be seen as a negative. This line came with re-paints and extra toys than in past seasons.

Overall Grade: A

Lost Galaxy was the last to have female battlized figures. Also there was the return to the Auto-Morphin figures and bigger might I add!

Overall Grade: B

Lost Galaxy had 3 lines of armored figures, it was a bit much for me. There was the Conquering (above), Armored, and Explorer Rangers. At least they were all detailed.

The only toy I own of PRLR is the Rescue Bird, it's cool but doesn't come with handles of each Ranger, which would have been cool. I like the choices given for the bikes to, to mix & match.

I don't like how there was more toys for the boys and less for the girls. This started the trend even bigger. Even though Pink got her own bike, that was it. Yellow had one on the show but not in the toy line.
Overall Grade: B

The Time Force line brought the first 12 inch figures with 'clothing' and these were talking. Also had their faces.
Even though the Pink Ranger was the leader, there was very little seen of her, which is understandable for a boy's line. But the line was great and could had been worse. All the designs were top notch.
Overall Grade: A -

There were some good stuff but this began the tradition of Megazords made of lesser quality and more figures (armors, megazords, etc.).
Overall Grade: C

Ugh, where to start?
  1. No Elephant Zord
  2. Ultimus Zord with no Elephant
  3. Not Poseable Master Org
  4. Shayla figure, playset

  1. Big size Kelzak
  2. Cool Battlizers
  3. Jumbo Megazords
  4. 12 inch figures (including Tori!)
  5. 'Damaged' figures
  6. Vexacus Figure

More repaints, but at least this Ninjakon one (repaint of Ninjor) was made to sell the Power Spheres, but not all of them were made.
Overall Grade: A-

One good was including auxiliary Zords by fan request. The inclusion of the Triasaurus Megazord (how the Thundersaurus looked in the first episode) was interesting.
Overall Grade: B-


Why repaint the Blizzard Force Megazord? It didn't make sense calling it that if it didn't look 'arctic' and it wasn't referred to such on the show. Other bads include no Celapha Zord, inaccurate figures, repaints and strange vehicles.

They included the Blast Buggy from the Dekaranger movie even though it didn't show up on the show. Shadow and Omega got Swat modes, which was cool.

Repaints galore. The female Rangers got no bikes, only 2 figures each, that's it. :(

Overall Grade: A-

Two good things I can think of the Mystic Force line is the inclusion of the Titan Saber and Wolf King Mystic Saber (even though foam and easy to break). I also liked the Solaris ATV in shape of a magic carpet. Awesome! Even though the Legend figures had the actors' faces, they were removable (ick) and had repeat details on chests that were not accurate.

Overall Grade: C

Excluded were the Wolf Knight Sword and Shield; Pink, Blue and Yellow Mystic Racers; Mystic Fighters; Dark Morpher; Lamp Laser; White Morpher; Wolf Centaurus Megazord. Other bad things included the Mystic Saber Max and Jenji figure (with detachable head).

Cool things included the Mission Control Helmet and figures of some of the villains.
Overall Grade: D

As I mentioned before, the oddly colored rangers, the unnecessary over-abundance of repaints and non-show Megazords, also some ugly toys and vehicles. Also the exclusion of the Flash Point Megazord.

They redeemed themselves by having EVERY zord (and good quality!) accounted for and having a Camille figure.
Overall Grade: A

As I mentioned before, I didn't care for the bad Claw Cannon or the Solar Morpher glasses but they did a decent effort. I also didn't like that the shade of purple on the Wolf Ranger looked more like a dark blue or indigo and not the vibrant Violet it was in the Japanese line.

The inclusion of the 'pre-historic' Rangers was not bad, even though they didn't appear on the show. The female Rangers are hard to stand. But overall a pretty okay lineup.
Overall Grade: B-

The morphers had been crappy ever since PRMF (I think), but here the lack of quality showed. The 'engine cells' were flatter and harder to find, they didn't make them all. The Paleomax Rangers were not much to them. Megazord also was crappy quality.
MMPR 2010

We finally got the Ninja Coins, but they were flat and you had to buy crappy toys to get them.
Overall Grade: F

Bad idea to start with! Oh, let's re-do the first season and make crappy toys with little paint and sell them again. And no decent Morpher. And no Rita Repulsa... again.
We finally got Rita Repulsa. Before finding out about Mega Mode, fans hated the figures and doubted they would be on the show.
Overall Grade: B
Pretty basic line. Bandai said they worked with Saban to stay 'show accurate.' So it is obvious now that with Disney, Disney was the one to make repaints and repackaging and overabundance to toys.
Pink got a mask. It wasn't a bad line, the only thing is that we still see them in toy stores along with current toylines.
Overall Grade: B
Girls didn't get super mode, boys did. Blue, Red and Gold got Shogun mode even though Gold didn't have it on the show and Pink did. Yellow and Green didn't get highlighted on the show but we saw a glimpse of them. Also Lauren was only available in the U.K.

Vrak figure looked great. They did great with the cards. The metallic figures were a bit tiring but they were more available then the regular figures. The Mini figures were also great.
Overall Grade: A-
 
 
Complaints that it was hard to find Vrak and Loogie. Also, that the Leon Cellular sucked. It was also hard to find the 2nd and 3rd series of Battle Ready Mini Figures. The 2nd series was found in Disney World Epcot Center of all places.
 

Great toys include the zords, 5 inch figures and the hand gear. We don't have a lot of female keys but at least there is a deluxe morpher package that includes MMPR, Megaforce and Samurai girls.
Overall Grade: B-

Biggest complaint has to be the lack of female and sixth rangers in the ranger keys. When Bandai unveiled the Ranger Keys for SDCC 2013, we were amazed at the variety. But then to our shock we will mostly get 3 members per team.

 

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

well what about the micro zords oh and you mean the transforming zords from jungle fury no deluex version or the wolf shark bat or eliphant were made

oh and in the uk engine cells were released

what about the basic figures of each line

please lavender ranger i need your help

Anonymous said...

i love this post please do one for the changers oh this is the last week of toys and theirs so much more to do with them

Unknown said...

WTF! Mystic Force and MMPR 2010 had amazing toy lines! You can't say what is good or bad depending on what you like and consider is right, That's very subjective. I really think you can't say that a toy is better than another just because of how it looks, how accurate it is or what details from the series were not on it. Most auxiliary zords and most girls did not get much attention becuase... It doesn't sell! This is no longer MMPR, girls almost don't care at all about Power Rangers.

Plus, kids (and most general collectors) like when figures have armors, are huge and have new characteristics. You may not like it, but if it sells and the target audience likes it, then it's good, and that has always happened with Power Rangers.

Lavender Ranger said...

wow, diego, you did not read my warning. Of course it is subjective, it's all my opinion. Do you spend time with children every day like I do (as a elementary school teacher)? Girls still love Power Rangers. They watch it, they have DVDs. They might not actively go play it or have many toys of it, but they like it.

Unknown said...

Yes, I do, I have a little sister and othre two brothers that don't live with me. They have friends... I do gymnastics and there are little kids... and may other ways I could tell you. But well, that's your opinion. What I meant is that Girls may like Power Rangers, but not as before (unlike girls like my sister that have PR fan brothers).

Ayway, why do people care so much about how screen acurate toys are?

Anonymous said...

this blogs only opinion about toys personally i love repaints but i like to hear others ideas