Review: Mega Dragon Zord

In one hand I have a Morphin Megazord. In another I have a Dragonzord. What do you say we have a go at combining these two bad boys*?

*Only one has ever actually been a 'bad boy' and then he was more 'misguided' than actually evil.

Things are never simple with Power Rangers, so there are a couple of ways these two can combine. First there's the 'hat' method, where Dragonzord splits open, loses his innards and plonks himself on Megazord's head and shoulders.

It's not a great look, I'll admit.

Then we have the mode where Dragonzord essentially replaces the Tyrannosaurus as the central zord. From what I recall this is used when the Tyrannosaurus is damaged, or somesuch plot device in the TV show.

Both these combinations work exactly as shown in the TV show (although with a little less in the way of sparks and flashy lights). That's one of the things I like about Power Rangers - there's no 'cheating' on screen. It's why, despite them being generally disliked, I have a fondness for Gobots. Whereas in the Transformers cartoon when things turned from robot to vehicle there would be a fudge factor (a well known phenomenon in scientific formulae) to make things fit a bit better, in GoBots everything would look (pretty much) like the toy. For example, if a car was upturned in the cartoon you'd be able to see his face underneath.

But that's getting off the point.

With the addition of the Megazord, Dragonzord is no longer a big disappointment and I take back everything bad I said about him a few days ago. Once again he's loved. I guess the thing to realise here is that the Dragonzord is nothing more than an accessory. A big, expensive, really cool accessory but ultimately something that's a bit useless on its own.

We finish today with a shot of the old and the new. The old Mighties with the new Samurais, all colour-matched. You'll notice that both pink zords have equally little pink on them. I guess they figure boys don't like pink robots. But they do like girls in pink lycra.

You'll also notice that the black one hasn't got a friend. Poor Mastodon.

The new series, Power Rangers Samurai, is currently on Nickelodeon from Saturdays to Wednesdays at 3pm, with repeats at 4pm.