Red Rodan Kaiju Zord & Blue Kaiju Ranger Anguirus [Godzilla vs Mighty Morphin Power Rangers]

I've been a fan of Monogram's blind bag bag clip mini figures for some time now. Grabbing one or two during a Target visit is a pretty regular thing. They've had some pretty cool series. Godzilla, He-Man, they're neat little things. Recently I've been picking up their Godzilla vs Mighty Morphin Power Rangers series, because they're great! Rangers and Zords themed after classic Toho Kaiju. That's awesome! While I've never talked about these here before aside from occasionally mentioning them in the Monday weekend reports, I really want to now. You see I somehow got both chase figures on the same day.

Monogram wraps the figures in a card stock inside the blind bags, so feeling the bags is tricky. I thought the two I was grabbing was the Red Rodan Ranger and Green Godzilla Ranger. That Sunday evening when my Mom had come over for Sunday dinner, I opened them and ... OMG! That was really exciting. Let's talk about this series, I haven't read the comics it's based on, but love both properties as you all are aware. The Rangers and Zords being themed after Godzilla's crew is just an awesome idea and these little figures just look outstanding. They're well sculpted and very colorful. I've got plans to pick up more (got to get that Godzilla!), but man... let me just bask in this victory for a moment.

Guardian Beast Formation

This is the Tyrannosaurus Rex Zord from the new Hasbro Dino Megazord set. Today's post was going to be all about him as a companion to my prior Zord post. Somewhere in between then and now I went to Target and got the missing set of Zords to complete the Megazord. 

This is now a post about the set. Which is probably going to be more interesting than just a few words about a toy robot dinosaur. Now it's a few words about five toy robot dinosaurs. Much better.

I already talked about the Mastodon and Pterodactyl, so I'm going to focus on the other three and the finished Megazord. I've linked to the prior post twice and it's like maybe three posts down anyway. It should be easy to find.

Of the five Zords, the T-Rex is definitely the nicest. He comes packaged by himself with the the power sword. Forming the bulk of the Megazord, he has the most articulation and is the biggest boi in the crew. His mouth opens to take a bite. Duh.

The legs feature a range of motion with points of articulation at the hips, knees, and ankles. This comes from the combination, but also makes for a reasonably nice toy.  His tiny arms have a small range of movement as well. If you noticed the pegs on his knees, you've probably figured out those are connector ports for the other two Zords.

Saber Tooth Tiger and Triceratops come together. The two are of similar size as they form lower legs for the Megazord. I said in the prior post that these figures are building blocks for the combined mode and it's very clear with these two. The tiger is the more elaborate in the pack. The toy has pretty limited articulation, the tail moves as does it's legs. Though they are only jointed at the hips with the actual legs being static. It's still pretty serviceable.

The Triceratops is practically a solid block. His tail/cannon can raise. That's pretty accurate for the Zord honestly. 

When converting the two into their leg modes, heads can move into place as do other extremities. The Saber Tooth Tigers sabers also adjust to move out of the way. I don't know if this counts as articulation, unless you intend to pose them looking to the stars. Full of wonder.

The t-rex moves into combined formation pretty easily. Just straighten him a out, fold in a few parts. His chest opens for dino head storage.

Mirroring the transformation on the show, I went for the Dino Tank first. It forms pretty naturally as it's basically the Megazord 80% transformed. I had a little trouble getting the Pterodactyl to stay in it's proper place. There's a place it tabs into on the Mastodons legs which didn't fit together well. Your mileage may vary. It's a pretty good representation of the tank.

The Megazord itself is pretty cool. A decent representation of the classic design, he almost feels a little lost in time. Like they found some toy design from 1993 and put it into production. As you can see, he can hold the power sword and Mastodon head as a shield. It's an overall good looking toy based on a good looking robot. 

I want to point out that in Zyuranger, the power sword is called 'God Horn'. That's the best name ever.

I've been looking forward to this all year after it was shown off at NYCC. Of course with the pandemic, this year has felt like an eternity. I guess that's why having it now feels like such an accomplishment. I swear I've aged 6 years since March. 

I don't know what the goal is with this toy. It's this random classic toy made anew and sold alongside the other kid aimed Power Rangers toys. Is there more planned? I hope so, but there's no word yet. Except this one.

I'm happy with my new Megazord toy. It's nice and relatively inexpensive. I had fun getting all the sets, even if it only took two trips to Target on different days. I dig it.

Imaginext MMPR Mastodon Zord

I had the good fortune of picking up the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers Mastodon Zord by Imaginext at my local Ollie's this past Saturday for the low price of $9 (it's normally $15). I had been wanting to grab this guy for a while now, but had been putting it off for one reason or another. Fortunately I stumbled across him while buying household supplies (I tell you that Ollie's is a great place to buy soap). I've been singing praise of Imaginext as well as Imaginext's treatment of Power Rangers for awhile now and this is no different. The Mastodon looks incredible, like other Zords done by Imaginext it makes me think of Starrior animal based companion mounts. That big blockyness just lends itself to the Imaginext toy model. It's a simple toy that works well, it just looks great.

The Zord itself is really simple. Firing missiles (even comes with extras in case you lose some), a play action feature when you turn the figure in the cock pit (he raises his head to gore you with those tusks or let out a bellow), and wheels on his feet to roll the big guy around. No articulation, but none really needed. It's a simple toy intended for young children to push around on the carpet, but in the hands of a 40 year old enthusiast, it's an elegant example in the joys of simplicity.

I don't have any complaints about this charming guy, though I do wish he featured some sort of storage for those extra missile. That though, is a common complaint I have with these Imaginext Zords as I'm often sticking them in the hands of the Ranger driving the thing. I'm sure I could just store them elsewhere, but with that big blocky body, a little compartment isn't too much too expect. Speaking of the Ranger driver:

Hi

Included is the standard Black Ranger figure without any of the variations used on other Rangers who have duplicate releases. This is pretty normal for the initial batch of Ranger figures though as the variations came later. It's a good figure, standard Imaginext with those sharp looking Ranger sculpts. He doesn't have his power axe though. I've gotten several instances of this guy already, so that's no big deal. Though I suppose he's wielding those extra missiles in case he needs to hop out of the Zord and lay the smack down.

That's probably where all those extra explosions come from.

You Mighty Morphin Hassenfeld Brothers!

Ever since last years Power Rangers movie, talks of a sequel have been on many Ranger fan's mouths, minds and keyboards. Despite initial impressions (those first looks wern't the best), the movie was a very satisfying movie and worthy update of the classic Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. Unfortunately all reports seemed to point to it's failure to launch a film series. Fortunately, though, those reports seem to be wrong.

Earlier this year when Hasbro bought Power Rangers, I cheered as Hasbro has a habit of singing the songs I like to hear. 

I've made myself be patient for the fruits of the Hasbro era as the old era winds down with the last of Ninja Steel debuting later this month. Beast Morphers is sure to be awesome. There's no shortage of enthusiasm I have for Beast Morphers. Now with this excellent news, I anticipate a new movie that builds on the foundation that the first laid. I hope for more in suit Ranger action. More Zords, more monsters, can I cross my fingers for Lord Zedd? There was a tease of what the sequel could be about in the credits, which I hope comes to pass as it's a story thread I've always liked.

This isn't good news, no, this is great news. 

Morphinominal News.

Dino Tanker

White Ranger Tiger Power theme

Now imagine Tommy saying 'Aiya..si...aiya..si' while fighting some Putties.

Power Rangers Russian movie poster

Instead of one of the magical posters I normally find for foreign releases of movies, for Power Rangers all I could find was pretty straight forward poster. Though, I can't argue that it's a good picture, the Rangers and Zords look really good here and man... a logo somehow looks a little more neat in a foreign language.

MMPR pilot intro

It's easy enough to forget the pilot for Mighty Morphin Power Rangers and it's slight differences from the finished product, most notably is a different actress playing Trini, though the intro does have a different vibe despite not being that different.

Pirantishead has fishy breath

Honestly, I'm sitting at my desk taking a second to enjoy the mayhem to get away from the mayhem.

Rangers must pose

There's a moment when you realize Zordon's not really doing anything. The Rangers save Tommy and recruit him tot heir side, and Zordon's all 'uh... hey guys... good job...uh yeah Tommy now you can... Megazord'.

Dragon Megazord's pretty bad ass though.

More of that Power Rangers rpg

You know, it does look fun. I'm going to give it a try when it comes out, really hope it can keep my interests for more than a few minutes. I'm looking forward to building a team comprised of multiple teams, though not looking forward to the random character lottery that you get in these games.

Upcoming Power Rangers RPG

Thie characters in thus upcoming mobile Power Rangers RPG game look great. I'm somewhat looking forward to it's release, though hopefully it can keep my interest longer than most mobile games. I'm not the biggest fan of turned based games, and most mobile games are just that with the option of buying credits to make the turns go faster (which doesn't make me want want to do). I'd like something akin to a shooter or platformer that I'd only get so many free lives or something. Or just a shooter or platformer I have to outright pay for.

Hey, can I just get an action game for my Switch?

Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie Japanese promo

Now this is different. I knew some Power Rangers was dubbed in Japanese and broadcast in Japan, which I always thought was funny. I mean, generally a Power Rangers series takes footage from a series of Super Sentai and inserts American scenes. Usually Power Rangers is not very far behind Super Sentai, so whenever the Japanese version of a Power Rangers show would air, a good chunk of the episode had already been seen by viewers a year or so prior. Well, Power Ranger movies are usually completely original productions, so I got to wonder how well they're received over there by fans.

I mean, think about it. Saban commissioned new Zyuranger footage for use in Power Rangers. The 1995 movie had Zords based on Kakuranger. Turbo, using Carranger costumes and Zords. Then 2017 movie? All new suits and designs based on Zyuranger.

I'm sure there's some big toku fan who'd tell me how it was revived over there, but I'm more curious about the average person in Japan who may not get to invested in shows past average viewing.

Power Rangers VR

Figured it would be a good time for another VR post. This one's a 360 vdeo, so make sure you're phone can do 360 before you pop it into that headset! If not, you can watch it here on your computer screen and use the mouse to look around.

Robot Dinosaurs are always cool

I was just thinking how it's a shame that a sequel to the Power Rangers movie most likely won't happen. Not just because I genuinely liked the movie. I'd love a bigger budget to give me more of those Zord scenes.

Power Rangers 2017

I could go for some Krispy Kreme.

I wasn't planning on going into spoilers, but considering I'm talking about a movie that just came out I don't think I can go into it without spoiling. So...uh... spoiler warning. Turns out a movie named Power Rangers is about Power Rangers.

I was initially pretty luke warm during the initial lead up to the released of the Power Rangers movie, until about November when I started warming up to the new updated designs. The various trailers and commercials made the movie look more like a Freeform tv show than what I wanted, so I was planning to wait until video. As release neared, I found that changing too as I started getting really excited for the release. Thanks to my wife making plans to go to the movies with some friends, I ended up watching it after all opening weekend.

And I'm glad, because that was a super fun movie.

Now, despite what those early commercials advertised, the ones that were on tv closer to release actually were what the movie offered. A new restart of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers as a big budget Hollywood movie series. Unfortunately that segways into my biggest complaint with the movie. It's the first part of a new super hero movie series, meaning the bulk of the movie is set up. Now, that's not a bad thing as the movie gets right to the point. After a short bit of bringing the kids together and putting them into the situation where they become Power Rangers, we basically have to watch them grow into the part over the bulk of the movie. It's not terrible, in fact its done pretty well. Just as someone who's there for the costume action and robots fighting monsters, it feels like an eternity.

The new updated version of the classic team is given a bit more depth as characters, though some of the angsty teen bits feel a bit over used. Of course, I'm no longer a teenager, so that particular style of drama probably doesn't appeal to me any longer. The new in movie universe history for the Rangers, Zordon, and Rita is pretty well worked out. It makes for a decent set up and even gives Zordon some much needed depth. In fact Rita was a lot of fun. Not just some cackling witch who sends monsters to earth, she's a hands on villain who's probably a little too scary for children. By the end of the movie, the only thing I was still unhappy with was Goldar.

Goldar was not used in a way I liked. Now, the way he was used would be perfect for any generic monster, just going in with the name Goldar still rubs me the wrong way. Classic Goldar is a great cheesy villain with a classic look. This is literally just a monster made of gold with no personality. However the way he's used is pretty cool, I'll just have to get over the name when I watch the movie again later. The big Ranger action scenes are satisfying in a way I didn't expect.

The Rangers fight Putties with slick martial arts while exchanging corny banter before taking the Zords out in a giant fight scene which is pure adrenaline for fans of this kind of stuff. During the action, the Tyrannosaurus Zord steps on a familiar yellow Camaro and throws it at a group of Putties. This scene erupted in laughs from the audience as Jason delivers the line of the movie, "sorry Bumblebee". I really liked this part a lot. Usually Zords only get a brief bit of screen time before they form the Megazord, while here we see them fighting all over the place. The intro bit of them running to battle with the classic Power Rangers theme playing was pure joy.

In the end we get some classic Ranger cameos and a fun hint of the subject matter of the next movie. In all it was a much better movie than I anticipated (though I really could have used more Rangers in costume scenes) and I left happy. Also craving donuts as the Krispy Kreme product placements were rampant, though pretty well done. The scene where amidst the chaos, Rita enjoying a plate of fresh Krispy Kreme donuts was pretty funny.

I thoroughly enjoyed the movie and am happy I saw it. Considering it's a movie more aimed at teenagers in a theater full of children and middle aged nerds, it still fared pretty well with all us watching. I'm looking forward to future installments and hoping for a neat special edition of the blue-ray.