Once & Always

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Once & Always premiers today on Netflix and I was happy to watch it while doing my morning exercises. The special is meant to serve as a 30th anniversary of the series reunion... and it's exactly that. Without going into spoilers, the special reunites much of the MMPR cast in a new adventure to stop Robo Rita Repulsa's newest plan. What's that? Rita is a robot? Go watch the show... you'll love it. I did.

I'd say it's hard to believe it's been 30 years since Power Rangers debuted... but no, it's totally been a long time. For me, I was a kid who liked Godzilla and Transformers when discovering Dynaman late one Friday night on the USA Network. A few years later, MMPR started airing on Fox Kids... and I kinda wondered why they weren't playing Cheap Trick during the fights. Regardless, I loved the cheesy jokes and super hero action. All these years later and I still love classic MMPR better than the series that followed (not knocking those either, mind you).

It's a little bittersweet with the recent passing of Jason David Frank that the series got such a perfect love letter. However even with his and Thuy Trang's unfortunately leaving us much too early, the special honors their memory and treats the cast lovingly. I'm admittedly in post show glow still, but that was great. While playing to nostalgia, it still feels like a brand new episode of MMPR and I guess that's what it really is. I also appreciate how it's very much a modern tokusatsu production. I'd almost have expected this to have been airing on Tokushoutsu during a special event. I'm gushing, it was really that great.

Mobile Doozy Gobot

I recently got the Mobile Change Haro toys that I've talked about earlier. This lead me down a weird rabbit hole that I thought would make a good post here. I might be wrong about that, it might be a terrible post. Either way, it's a post and it's here. I've talked about Doozy Bots before, but just in case you're not in the know- Doozy Bots was an early 90's attempt to bring Gundam to the US. It would have used SD Gundam designs and had a new cartoon that was pretty similar to cartoons like Captain N that were popular at the time. Let's watch the pitch reel again.

I've said it before and I'll say it again. I would have loved this. I know me, and I remember the me I was then. Doozy Bots would have and likely still be my jam. I like Gundam, but I'm not super invested in the fiction. It's mostly thinking the robots are cool. I'll buy a toy or Gunpla and play the occasional game because I like the robots. I don't follow the cartoons super heavy though. I did really like SD Gundam and can tell I would have loved Doozy Bots. I would still love Doozy Bots. So, what if Doozy Bots would have actually happened? Like... say there was a timeline or there's an alternate timeline going on right now... and these way cool Mobile Change Haro figures are newer Doozy Bots toys... whoa...

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.

Of Cobra Commander And Positive Dental Habits

The commercial above has nothing to do with this story, but I thought it would be a good way to showcase some of the cool GIJOE toys in India. I'm taking a little time to lament a pretty cool toy score I passed on a while back. For the longest time in summer, there was a monthly antique sale that would be held near Atlanta. I usually went, it was a pretty good time. A small admission price to enter a city of vendor booths and food trucks. The sale was a mix of actual antiques, folksy hand crafted things (furniture, food, art), and a surprising amount of toys. This is a longer post, so I'm gonna use a break here. Walls of text are just the worst.

Hassenfeld Rangers, Power Up!

As Toy Fair nears, more and more news of future toys are coming out including some looks at the Hasbro Beast Morphers toys. They look pretty great. I pretty much called it here a few months ago that the regular Rangers figures would be similar to the basic/standard Marvel action figures Hasbro makes. I'm good with that, because they are pretty neat toys. I probably won't buy many of those admittedly, because I usually focus on Megazords and that's looking pretty promising too.

One thing I'm really digging on the Megazords toys is the proportions. They've got an old school robot toy look to them and we all know I like that quite a bit (not that I don't buy modern robot toys, but by now you've got the gist of it). One thing I was pleased to see was some early looks at the new Playskool Wild force Megazord. That looks really neat. I'm hoping that the variety of Rangers figures produced for that line will have some Zeo and movie (1995) stuff. Hopefully Mystic Force, please Mystic Force.

I've been very excited for Beast Morphers and while the year seemingly flew by for me, waiting for Hasbro's Power Rangers news felt like an eternity. I knew they'd do a great job, I just wanted to see for myself. The new toys are slated to hit stores around spring, which is perfect as my local stores generally amp up their stocking by spring after spending winter obviously taking a break. Man, it's only February and 2019 seems like a record toy year.

Lupinkaiser and Patokaiser are swell

I really like Lupinranger vs Patoranger. Really hope Hasbro makes it a Power Rangers series one day so I can get the toys for a good price (man I'd love to get my hands on these). I particularly love Lupinkaiser's combination lock themed transformation. It's just so dang clever and imaginative.

Power Rangers 25th Anniversary Special trailer

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

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.

Power Rangers All Stars is live!

After waiting for what seemed like an eternity, the Power Rangers mobile RPG game (now called All Stars) is up on the Google Play Store (iOS coming later) though not in all countries yet. So, I'm very patiently waiting for it to become available in my region so I can finally try this bad boy out!

Any day now game, any day...

I got a big Zord

Earlier today I went out with money from birthday cards and had some fun. One thing I did was swing by my local Toys R Us to see it one last time before it's gone for good and bought the Lion Fire Megazord on liquidation for quite a steal. Kinda stoked about this as I've wanted it for a while and it was around the price of a regular Megazord rather than the 100$ it had been going for. I'm going to have to wait until this weekend to check it out though as I ate some lunch and took a nap when I got home, upon opening it I discovered it requires assembly. That's a 20inch play set and probably an hour or so of time.

Fox Megazords *spoilers*

Now that it's been a few days since the Power Rangers mid season finale, I feel comfortable talking about the cliffhanger. If this is still spoilers for you, feel free to scroll down fast.

I wasn't expecting a cliffhanger for the mid season finale of Ninja Steel, but I'm not complaining as it was a really cool fight and  introduced a new threat with what's most likely going to lead into the Blaze Megazord being introduced. I know at best the Fox Megazord will only get an action figure, but I'd love a full size Megazord toy complete with fox drones.

Two reasons you should buy a Blaze Megazord

1. His left arm is a fish. He's going to punch you with a fish.

2. His chest shoots ninjas.

Ya'll folks like BBQ?

I've been very busy today, so here is a picture of the Bullrider Megazord for no reason.

I don't need no stinking reason to post it.

It's a cowboy.

Centaurus Phoenix Megazord

I'm sorely tempted to rock out a bunch of Mystic Force swag the next time I go to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter.

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?