MMPR Lightning Series (Beast Morphers Red & Gold) // Review
With the acquisition of the Power Rangers license by Hasbro, older fans of the franchise (and its Japanese counterpart, Super Sentai) were eager to see if Hasbro could come up with any high-end figures for the collector’s market. Within the year of that purchase, Hasbro announced the Lightning Collection, a line aimed at nostalgia and new shows alike, with high end detailing and a $20 approximate price tag.
This review pulls from the second wave of figures, featuring the Red and Gold Rangers from the recent Power Rangers: Beast Morphers series. These correspond to Red Buster and Beet Buster from the Japanese Sentai series Tokumei Sentai GoBusters.
The packaging of these figures is impressive. Smooth and sturdy cardboard is used to great effect, with a printing style that reflects the Ranger inside. There is also a stylized version of their character’s bust on the box as well that carries over to one side of the box. The back of the box contains zero details, instead showing off the figure on full display with some really detailed promotional shots. The packaging is also easy to remove, with only BM Red having a loop of elastic keeping him in place vs. nothing for BM Gold. Full marks for effort here.
The sculpt on these figures is nothing short of fantastic. Coming from an oddball season that avoids using traditional spandex, the GoBusters instead had a leather-like fabric used for their outfits. It made a drastic difference in appearance, benefiting their spy-like themes in their show. This was carried over to Beast Morphers, and the figures are perfect in replicating this style. There is a ton of texture detailing on these figures, reflecting folds in the fabric, and in the right light, they can look like they stepped right off the screen. The sample of BM Gold obtained did have some minor issues standing up, but all of the figures in this line have peg holes in their feet and are compatible with most professional stands.
Painting is also reasonably close to their on-screen counterparts. Quality control may need some work, however. Red has a few points where the silver highlights of his costume blend into the red poorly, and this specimen of Gold had more than a few spots where the gold paint fell onto the silver highlights. These are minor issues and can be fixed easily by anyone neurotic enough to need it fixed, such as this reviewer. This sample of BM Gold also did not have the central costume stripe painted, but is again something that can be fixed post-purchase.
The only real negative comes from the arm and ankle joints, where Hasbro chose to use a bright unpainted yellow for the arm joint plastic rather than Gold or black on BM Gold, and red for BM Red. This removes from the realistic aesthetic, but these aren’t unlimited budget toys, so it is understandable.
The accessories aren’t quite as nice but still feel like a great value for the price point. While painted and detailed in sculpt, the weapons that come with these figures feel under-painted. GoBusters’ weaponry and transformation trinkets did have a lot of detail on them, so this is also understandable. Each figure also comes with an extra set of hands. Closed fists in the case of BM Red and a closed right fist with a transformation pose left hand for BM Gold. Both also come with an effect piece that covers their weapon for a final attack… or in the case of BM Red, could be used to “transport” his weapon to him. The only negative here is that Red comes with the Beast Blaster from his mech, rather than the camera blaster from GoBusters, and the paint job is scant.
As a bonus, each figure comes with an “untransformed” Head when possible, so collectors can re-create the scenes where a character holds their helmet to the side or the final transformation of more recent seasons. Damaged helmets with the character’s face showing through would be a nice addition for key characters, should the line choose to do so later.
The closest comparison that comes from Japan, for those interested, is the S.H. Figuart line. Running closer to $30-60 per figure, these are detailed characters that come with multiple sets of hands and any weapons the figures regularly use in their shows. While they look fantastic on their own, the Shocker Rider figure we were able to obtain from Kamen Rider The Next does pale in comparison to these figures.
Both characters used similar fabrics in their own shows, and the Figuart looks decidedly more plastic than the Lightning Collection figure with slightly elastic proportions. There may be a better application of paint and a nice eye effect on the helmet, but it just doesn’t look as solidly built. The Figuarts do have die-cast feet for extra stability, which does give it a leg-up over Hasbro’s offering, though.
With the Lightning Collection currently focusing on the classic MMPR and Beast Morphers, the odds are good that your favorite season may not show up for quite some time. However, the random characters seem to be aiming for fan favorites each time, and there are also double character sets that do show up at GameStop’s exclusively (hello, MMPR Green Ranger). For example, Doggie Kruger from Power Rangers SPD (aka Dekamaster from Tokusou Sentai Dekaranger) was in wave 1 from fan demand alone. Suffice it to say, Hasbro seems to be trying to cover everyone, with popular villains like Lord Zed and Goldar also showing up in waves and as exclusives.
In short, these are some awesome figures that show a lot of effort and love went into crafting them. Hasbro has hit it out of the park with these figures, and this collector is likely going to try and finish off the GoBusters/Beast Morphers Collection when they come out.
