Power Rangers Beast Morphers Beast Wheeler Zord review

The Racer Zord isn't the only unit in Beast Morphers to have more than one mode! The Wheeler Zord is both a trukk and a munky! It's funny how two forms that represent both Prime and Primal are used in one of the Zords that appears in Hasbro's first ever Power Rangers season. Despite the lack of a robot mode like Red and Gold's Racer and Wrecker Zords do, respectively, does the Wheeler Zord manage to do as much as those while being a Dual Changer?

Here is the Beast Wheeler Zord in its vehicle mode. It's a big blue and silver truck with a trailer attached. It has quite the beef too it, even if it's not as dense in terms of the plastic material. In terms of design, it's another single unit truck and trailer that was similarly seen in S.P.D. and RPM, but this one has more of an armored look that the others didn't have. I feel the gorilla feet do look off, though they could work as laser toes or extra lights, I suppose.

The proportions are pretty good overall, and while it's missing the black lines on the sides (where the rectangles are), the cheetah, gorilla, and jackrabbit paint apps look nice and crisp on the sides. That's the symbol used on the Beast-X Morpher (instead of the red button from The Morphin' Brace).

If there is a negative that really jives me, it's the grill not closing up all the way. There's a little gap that's left, and even if you try to press it up more, it won't stay flush. Why that's the case is beyond me.

You can store the gorilla head in the back of the vehicle mode since the cavity is big enough to house the head, though it does not peg into anything and slides out from play.

Before the head gets attached, let's compare it to the Japanese version. Bandai's GT-02 has thr black lines on the side, the added paint for the lights, and a darker blue plastic, though the Hasbro version does look as good even if it could really go for a silver grill to look even nicer than it is.

Here it is with the head attached. It's reminiscent of the Lion Bus Zord from RPM, but nowhere near as cartoony as the RPM/Go-Onger aesthetics.

GT-02 has its head contain a piece of the Buddyroid Gorasaki Banana, who we know as Smash the Beast Bot. It's a nice little feature for sure, but as with Cheeda Nick, since these will be displayed in Megazord mode anyways, the removal of this feature is fine enough with me.

Here is the Wheeler Zord next to the Racer Zord. I have to confess and say that it's funny to revisot Power Rangers Zords that have a truck and a car together after being so used to Transformers where Optimus Prime would be bigger than the Autobots. Here, this size is fine, moreso than, say, Delta Runner 1 compared to Delta Runner 3 in S.P.D.

Transforming the Wheeler Zord involves partsforming compared to the Racer Zord. It was something that the Japanese version did, but the method is a lot different betwern Bandai's and Hasbro's takes on the Gorilla mode. That especially applies with the new body piece that goes with the rest of the body to add more height. 

The gorilla mode is certainly interesting to look at. It's a taller Zord compared to what Japan made, but the execution's decent from the front. The side looks off with how the legs stick out a lot farther than the back, and I don't like how the grill sticks out from the back like a sore thumb. Compared to the Japanese version, the gorilla mode has articulations at the shoulders and ratcheting rotations at the forearms. There's even waist articulation, but the legs are not poseable. Would be nice if they were, but at least there's more to do than with the Japanese version.

Here it is with a comparison next to the Racer Zord in Cheetah mode. Not bad, right? I can almost see someone like Grimlockimus repaint these to be Cheetor and Optimus Primal.

Here it is with the Racer Zord in its warrior mode. One can see Hasbro's gorilla as somewhat of being in-between the Triple Changers by similar height and his fellow dual changers by functionality.

The tires on the shoulders can be left upside down if you don't want to have to constantly transform it. Does get annoying at times, but at least it stays on better than GT-02's.

For a comparison with the Japanese version, it's honestly night and day. One stands up straight while the other has the knuckle dragging posture. Personally, I'm happy that our Zord can function differently without looking super compromised (like the Dragon and Ape Zords from Samurai), but I do wish it had the option to be displayed like the Japanese version as an option.

This Zord is a decent one to own, but not so much at the price its going for. I feel the Triple Changers have a good price of $32 like the Cyberverse Ultimates or any Generations Voyager in Studio Series or WFC. This at least has more to do than the Chopper and Jet, but still falls short when it shares the same price as the Triple Changers. I'd suggest getting it when it's on a bit of a discount.

Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐ out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐