Thanks to an Amazon Prime Instant Video free trial, over the past few weeks we've been watching a lot of Power Rangers. Some are pretty darn terrible, with annoying characters, poor acting, bad storylines and new zords introduced for apparently no reason other than they were in the original Japanese series and Bandai want to sell toys of them. Other series, however, are the complete opposite. My personal favourite, so far, is Jungle Fury which not once has been really annoying and all the new characters/zords seemed to have a reason for being introduced.
Of course, I think any long-term fan would have to declare the original, Mighty Morphin, as the best. Even though, in many ways, it was terrible. I mean, I was too old, really, to join in when MMPR arrived, but I still thought the Dragonzord was cool.
...even though, in many ways, it was terrible.
For the 20th Anniversary, Bandai have been releasing 'Legacy' versions of past zords and accessories. These have been aimed at collectors, with die cast parts. We've had the morpher, dragon dagger, Dragonzord and Titanus on the way, and the subject of this review: the Megazord.
What we should get out of the way immediately is the completely stupid '15+' age label plastered on the box. I have absolutely no idea why this is here. There is no reason at all why actual children can't play with this thing. It's in no way delicate or any more likely to break or bits be swallowed than any of the other Power Rangers toys currently on sale. In fact the Legacy Megazord is less likely to break due to all the die cast bits. I can only imagine that Bandai think that by putting this age on the box it will somehow make it more appealing to collectors. In reality, this toy is exactly the same as the Megazord that was released in 2010 (I think only Tesco had it in this country) but with added metallic paint and some metal bits.
While we're talking about the die cast metal bits, I'll go into a little more detail about them. There is, for a 'modern' toy a LOAD of die cast. For a toy in the 80s, however, it'd be barely noticeable. Each zord essentially has 1 bit of die cast - either a tail, or legs. As a result the Megazord has a definite heft to it. In Megazord mode, the metal look great. Each bit of shiny metal has been placed to maximise the awesomeness factor.
As individual zords, however, it all looks a bit crappy. The die cast stands out a mile against the standard grey plastic areas, which are extensive. You pick up a zord, turn it over in your hand and can only be disappointed that Bandai chose so small an area to do as metal. As a Megazord, as I mentioned, you don't notice this at all. As a Megazord, the metal placement is perfect. But as individual zords...
Size-wise, the Legacy Megazord is tiny compared to the original. You can blame rising plastic costs for that. What's great though is that all the arms & legs are interchangeable with the Samurai and Megaforce zords. This adds so much to the playability and general messingaboutwiththemness of all the toys. You can mix and match to your hearts content.
Overall, besides the die cast, there's little improvement with this than the original. It still comes together in essentially the same way and looks near-identical. The metallic paint is nice, but nothing amazing. I'm a bit annoyed you don't get two sets of round stickers for the Mastodon (as you did with the original). You face the choice of either having them visible in zord mode or in Megazord. Since there's plenty of room on the sticker sheet for extras, I don't know why they weren't included.
Essentially, the only reason I got this is because the Dragonzord is coming out soon. As everyone knows, the Dragonzord is the coolest Power Ranger zord ever and thus a Must Buy. I figured that when I did get it, I'd eventually be a bit annoyed I didn't get the Megazord to combine with it. For full price, I wouldn't have gone anywhere near the Megazord, but discounted it was a great buy and the kids love playing with it.
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