Retro Zords

 

Hasbro has started releasing these super cool figures of the Megazords from Power Rangers and I'm loving it. They're exclusive to Walmart here in the states (not sure about elsewhere) and I was interested when they were first announced. Now that I have a few, I'm ecstatic with this line. They may seem simple. That's because they are simple and THAT'S the best part. You guys know me, not everything has to be super articulated for my enjoyment. However, the simplicity of these leads to what makes them great. They match up perfectly with my Godzilla toys.

While the Megazords are made from a harder material. They're also very similar in build, sculpt, and style to Godzilla and other kaiju vinyl figures. Which is a lot of kaiju fans preferred way to have giant monsters in toy form. At around the same scale as your general kaiju vinyl toy, and with similar articulation, this is a great way to pit the Thunder Megazord against Hedorah.

Considering the Playmates Godzilla toys are just a few feet away from these at my local Walmart (at one point they were right next to each other), and that many people like one series because they like the other (I was a kid who liked Godzilla movies when I discovered Dynaman one night on USA). It's all to perfect. The line consists of various Megazords throughout the history of Power Rangers packaged in VHS style boxes. The boxes are a fun little touch that allows for neat storage when they're not on a shelf themselves. Or even on a shelf in those neat boxes in a way that's easy to organize and look cool at the same time.

Cuts like a Laser Blade

T-Rex wins the Belt

Last weekend I found the T-Rex Champion Zord after what felt like looking forever. I hope to get the accompanying Zord sets soon to build the various Dino Fury Megazord formations. In the meantime I'm appreciating the big red guy who's the main component needed for all of the forms. He's a pretty cool toy on his own. A big Tyrannosaurus Rex with laser guns and drills that transforms into a robot. You can add other Zords onto the robot to form the various Megazord formations. It's pretty cool.

Not only that, but there's different heads for each formation. This is a holdover from Kishiryu Sentai Ryusoulger, the series Dino Fury was made from. I didn't watch that show, but enjoying Dino Fury is making it more tempting. These heads are an enlarged Ryusoul form in the Sentai series. That's not elaborated into on Dino Fury. There's just this random Ranger that turns into the Megazord's head during the sequence. I understand that they're working with reused footage, but you'd think they'd have an explanation. Regardless, the heads transform into the random Rangers. The back of the head even pops off to reveal a Ranger piloting the Megaord. That's a neat little detail. I wish they explained it more fictionally. I'm still enjoying the weird little mini figure regardless. You guys know I love partner figures.

If you don't like part-formers, you'll probably not care for this toy. Due to the various Zord formations (I am using that word so much today), transformation by parts swapping is how everything is done. Speaking of, that green crotch piece in the pic is for one of those formations, I just forgot to take it off when I took the picture. I just noticed it, and the dinosaurs big tail isn't visible either. I never claimed to be an expert photographer. Or a good photographer even... damn cropped off robot toes. It's a fun toy and you can give him a sword via parts from other Zords. I plan to get those eventually. 

E Ticket EVA

If there's one thing that makes me jealous of others, it's when they visit themed attractions. Specifically those lucky folks in Japan that seemingly has a non-stop supply of them. Not just at theme parks either. Oddball parks and shopping centers, arcades, or even pop up shops. Here in America, they're at bigger theme parks or special appearances for a new movie. Maybe Spirit Halloween fits the bill a little. From an outside perspective, there's quite a bit in Japan and if I lived there, I'd visit them up often. I love that sort of thing. Above is the Neon Genesis Evangelion attraction at Toei Kyoto Studio Park. A park I'd like to go to already (they have a great Kamen Rider and Super Sentai exhibit). This cool attraction offers a life size EVA Unit 00-1 with several activities a fan could enjoy. I'm not the most well versed Evangelion fan, but like the show and this looks like a lot of fun. I'd sure visit it if I could.

Dino Fury, The Idea Was To Bring Together a Group Of Teenagers With Attitude

Dino Fury has pretty much taken me by surprise. It didn't seem to have the buildup Beast Morphers got, so it was a little off my radar. I knew it was coming, but that was it. I went in with no expectations and ended up really liking it. Maybe more than Beast Morphers. I was aware of Kishiryu Sentai Ryusoulger (the Super Sentai series Dino Fury was adapted from), but didn't get a chance to watch any of it. Kinda glad about that as that allows me to go into Dino Fury fresh and just enjoy it on the surface level. 

As far as the toys go, so far I've gotten the Red and Blue Rangers as well as Boomtower (one of the monsters). Like Beast Morphers before it, the standard Power Ranger figures by Hasbro have a surprising amount of articulation. When Hasbro first took over, I initially thought the basic toys would be similar to the basic Marvel figures they produce and was glad to be wrong. These are some pretty dang nice toys. Boomtower doesn't have the wide range of movement that the Rangers have, but he's much bulkier. I mainly got him because I love his weird design.

Each figure comes with a Dino Fury Key. These little keys look like basic mini figures of the character it comes with that inserts into the Dino Fury Morpher role play toy. Doing so unlocks extra sounds exclusive to each key. Fictionally these allow the Rangers to morph into their Power Ranger forms. There's also Boost Keys that give the Rangers power ups. While I don't plan to get the Morpher, I do like the little mini figures. I'm mainly bidding my time until the Megazord comes out, it looks pretty awesome.

Trick Or Treating With The Beetleborgs

Beetleborgs and Halloween seem like a pretty natural fit right? I mean, half of the cast is a haunted house full of monsters led by some cocaine fueled Jay Leno ghost. It's only natural Fox Kids would run a contest to go trick or treating with the Beetleborgs right? Unfortunately they instead ran a contest where you'd win a chance to go trick or treating with the Beetleborgs and said cocaine Jay Leno ghost. 

 

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.

Pink and Black Zords

I was pretty happy to luck up on a few of the Zords for the new Hasbro Dino Megazord toy. From what I understand, the set is available this way through Target with a gift set through Amazon coming soon. 

I picked up the T-Rex and Mastodon/Pterodactyl two pack. I'll still need the Triceratops/Saber Tooth Tiger two pack to complete the Megazord. Hopefully they'll have that restocked soon. 

I'm talking about that Mastodon/Pterodactyl set today. I got the two Zords together for $14.99. The Mastodon is pretty big and it'd be pretty easy to overlook the Pink Ranger's Zord on a first glance. Make no mistake about these new toys, they're not high end collectors pieces. These are comparable to the Beast Morphers standard toy line and in similar packaging.

It's weird to see a nearly 30 year old Megazord next to this years model, but I'm not complaining. I can appreciate having older characters available at a lower price. I hope other older Megazords follow in this format. I'd love a Dragonzord to combine with this set. A Titanus or Thunder Megazord would be great.

By themselves, these are pretty basic toys. The pterodactyl has always felt a little shoehorned to me. It's the Megazord's chest piece with wings and a head and there's no hiding that here. It's a serviceable toy of that without any bells or whistles. 

The mastodon is a bulky robot with plug in cannons. These two may seem pretty limited and by themselves they are. They're building blocks for a combined form and don't make any apologies about it. Being pretty faithful recreations of the original design, there's a lot to love about holding such an old school robot toy. If that's your thing.

The mastodon forms the arms of the Megazord and and turrets for the combiners tank mode. Unfolding him for this is easy enough, but be careful. I found myself nervous that I was about to tear the toy apart due to parts not opening up. A pesky connector just didn't want to let go, so don't go yanking on yours carelessly. You could end up breaking your robot elephant.

In all they're pretty faithful new toy of an old robot. I've seen complaints about how basic the toy is, which I guess is fair. Most would assume a vintage design would get a more premium toy. It's not a very elaborate set. Like I said, I'm all for a lower cost version. Toys are overpriced enough as is, and I like the simplicity of older robot toys. So picking up some new old toys is fun for me. 

 

Beast Morphers, Unleash The Wacky Wall Beast

Hey, know how I was at the Dollar Tree the other day? Well, I also got some more Wall Walkers. I had been getting the Transformers variety and if I liked current WWE performers (I don't) I'd probably grab some of those. They're a silly fun blind bag toy for a buck each. I didn't expect to see Beast Morphers in the selection and the surprise of it made me shit my pants. Not literally, I'm joking. You gave to spell things out for people sometimes.

I grabbed four packs. These aren't the kind of blind bag I go crazy over and try to complete the set. These are the kind I'll grab a couple of and hope I don't get too many doubles. Speaking off, I'm like 4 ghosts away from completing the Scooby-Doo Playmobil series and each new shelf box has new codes... it's pretty frustrating. Dammit. Just like the others in the Wall Walker toys at Dollar Tree, the Beast Morpher versions are colored plastic with decals to distinguish each character. The body shape of the walker doesn't look too silly on the Power Rangers as they're people in spandex normally. In fact they make for pretty good representations.

I got two Blaze's, one Roxy, and one Blue Ranger. Not bad. If I were to get two of a Beast Morpher, I'd rather it be Blaze. I like him the most out of the characters. His bat armor looks cool. Just like the Transformers versions, I'll be grabbing a few of these on trips in the Dollar Tree. I've really liked Beast Morphers, it's in it's mid-season break of it's last season. I'm sure I'll enjoy Dino Fury next year, but currently I'm just not as excited for it as I've been for Beast Morphers. Guess I'll just have to throw it to the wall and see if it sticks.

Turboranger Sausage

I don't understand my fascination with licensed character meat snack commercials, but fortunately there's an abundance of them to be fascinated by. I've also learned that without spell check, I cannot spell fortunately. This commercial for said meat snack features the heroes of Kousoku Sentai Turboranger selling snack sausages. It's pretty standard fair as far as these things go. Action footage with voice over with a shot of the Red Ranger holding a box.  

It's the very end of the commercial that really grabs my attention. Inside each box is a randomly packed Turboranger keshi toy! I don't know if they were the same from capsule machines or brand new figures for this promotion, but that's the kind of thing I go nuts for. I do wonder just how tasty the sausages are? I like meat snacks as is, but the ones here look more like Vienna sausages compared to the Jack Links jerky sticks I normally buy.

Toei Says Hold My Beer with TOEI TOKUSATSU WORLD OFFICIAL

Adding to TokuShoutSu launching earlier this week, Toei sprung news of their new YouTube channel featuring classic series with subtitles launching April 6th! Of the shows listed to be included, I'm most interested in various Space Sheriff and Super Sentai shows, but will be glad to take the opportunity to explore Kamen Rider and other series I haven't watched as much. I see this and TokuShoutSu working well together. YouTube would be on demand, while Pluto TV is streaming. Sometimes I just have the tv on in the background or sometimes want to watch something more specific. It's just more great news for someone who likes these silly old shows. Which I do... and I'm sure you probably do also.

Ryusoulger To Kiramager Red Ranger Handoff

Part of me wishes they did this with Power Rangers. The other part notices the McDonald's logo and wishes his McDonald's was awesome. For the record, it's not.

The Golden Bat/Ôgon Batto

When aliens attack, the only solution is to travel to Atlantis to awaken the Golden Bat!

Mashin Sentai Kiramager trailer!

Pretty neat!

Harmony Gold's Frankenstein

Harmony Gold, yes THAT Harmony Gold, whom you probably know better from making Robotech from various anime (Macross, Mospeada, Southern Cross, the occasional KFC commercial) and all the assorted stories that's gone with it since. Yes, that Harmony Gold at some point dubbed 'Kyōfu Densetsu Kaiki! Frankenstein' a production by Toei into what's commonly referred to as 'The Monster of Frankenstein' or 'Frankenstein Legend of Terror'. It's called two different names because they didn't actually name it anything, but it was advertised as one or the other. Yep.

Frankenstein and all the other cool kids come out to play on Halloween. Though I'm going to go ahead and give full disclosure. This is a pretty depressing movie intended for more mature viewers. It contains themes of suicide and religion, so be advised if those are things you might be sensitive about.

Dora Circe

In anticipation of Rangerstop next month, I've been watching Zyuranger episodes lately to curb the excitement. Admittedly I watch enough Rangers as is, but that's my alibi and I'm sticking with it. Earlier today I watched the episode "Terror! Eaten in an Instant" which starred Dora Circe as the monster of the week. The MMPR Pudgy Pig is based on Dora Circe (in case you thought he looked familiar) and the characters are pretty similar (maybe not as much in the case of the second Pudgy Pig). The episode is one of the more silly adventures of Zyuranger featuring a grocery store owning family of who loves to eat together. Bandora was bitter as she was trying to loose weight and saw the family leading her to sick the monster on them.

Dora Circe, despite outward appearances, moves so fast that's he's practically invisible. This leads to some funny bits where the family thinks their food is being stolen by one another and starts fighting. The monster then goes on to eat all the food in their store before moving onto the rest of the town. Before long the entire town is fighting among each other (you get grumpy when you're hungry) and the Zyurangers discover the pig monster causing all the problems.

Initially they confront Dora Circe, whom during the fight eat's their weapons and gains the upper hand before Gnome intervenes and takes the Rangers with him to his home. It's there that the Rangers have to pass a test so that Gnome will give them a herb that will help them defeat the monster. Of course it's a food themed test and the Rangers have to eat an insane amount of food. After Boi is able to eat a carrot (apparently he hates carrots) they are given the herb.

The Zyurangers trick Dora Circe into eating the herb causing him to vomit everything he's eaten (including their weapons) out. The weakened monster is promptly destroyed with the Howling Cannon and the town gets back to normal. Like I said, it's a silly episode. Despite the comedic nature, it goes into the more fantasy elements of Zyuranger that I like so much. The MMPR episode that uses the footage from this episode isn't too different, but enough to be distinct and have a separate plot. I do like MMPR better as I've been watching it for 25 years and have an attachment, but I do think Zyuranger is a better show. Episodes like this are part of the reason why.

Zyuranger is every heavy metal album cover

Rangerstop Atlanta isn't too far away, I just might be excited.

Shockwave (Cyber Battalion)

Another great Christmas gift from my wife was this Cyber Battalion Shockwave toy. She knew I had been looking for one and secretly held onto the one she saw for a nice surprise. As a toy, Shockwave is great. Just a wonderful chunky old school style robot toy. He's just sharp looking and man I love playing with him.

Shockwave turns into a neat spaceship that resembles his G1 incarnations laser gun. It's such a good looking ship that it's hard not to love. Once again I'm reminded of older toys while holding this ship. A fun cruiser that looks straight out of a Toei super robot cartoon. Totally love this toy.

Kamen Rider Amazons intro (first version)

The candle has been burning at both ends lately, but I still found a little time to finally watch Kamen Rider Amazons or Amazon Riders (I'd do a tomato/tomato analogy for however you want to say it, but it's lost when not spoken). Man I wish I had done so sooner. What a wonderful show. Just wonderful. Hoping to find time to watch more of it sooner than later. It's a busy time of the year for me, so maybe before the end of the year. Fingers crossed.

Space Wolf Juspion intro

Soon getting a US release!