Power Rangers Beast-X Megazord review

The first three Zords were pretty good overall, even if they had their own issues, be it from some design choices I don't like or how they're priced. They were pretty solid versions of the Go-Busters mecha with their own additions, which make them stand out a bit more than the Bandai America versions of Japan's incarnations individually. Now that we've taken a look at the Racer Zord, Wheeler Zord, and Chopper Zord, it's time to see how good the Beast-X Megazord is!

Here are the three Zords before they merge into the Megazord of the season. Racer Zord's the only one that needs slight adjustments while the others require partsforming...

...and said partsforming is quite shocking! This combination is pretty involved in terms of part count and where the pieces go. In some ways, I can see kids won't be used to this method, but I for one like the approach that the Beast Morphers Zords have. They're more than just folding limbs or wheels away to make an arm or a leg, and this combination feels a lot more worthwhile as a 3-piece combiner compared to the other ones from the past. Storm Megazord and Thundersaurus Megazord were my childhood favorites, but in hindsight, it's obvious that the Zord sizes were so lopsided. Jungle Fury had two Zords as legs while one as the upper body, while RPM had two Zords be the torso and one be the legs. Dino Charge brought back the lopsided Zord scale again by having at least the main Megazord have the Triceratops and Stegosaurus as smaller units compared to Rexy. Beast-X Megazord reminds me of Zord combinations like Thunder Megazord, Mega Voyager, and Titan Megazord, where it's not immediately obvious where each piece goes. 

This does the approach the most in my opinion, with the parts spreading out somewhat to make the layout of the Megazord look less obvious with where each part goes, and as many pieces as there are to keep track of, I love this method and find it refreshing in comparison to many recent Megazords. Hell, I find this is more like a Transformers version of Thunder Megazord's combination, what with the similar sequences from the new boots, arms, chest piece, and helmet. That being said, I do feel some connection methods are a bit off in terms of how they connect. The new boots have to be precisely attached to the Racer Zord's legs without making them feel like they could slide off somewhat, the arms can feel like they wiggle slightly when moving the figure around, the clips for the rabbit and cheetah heads feel loose, the helmet horns feel a bit loose even out of the box, the helmet not quite moving simultaneously with the Racer Zord's head underneath it, and the back piece consisting of the gorilla and the rabbit's forelegs wobble way too much, even if they won't come off. Everything else, like the gorilla arms attaching to the gorilla legs before they go on Red's Zord, the chest piece, the helicopter blades, the weapons, and the helmet pieces, all work well.

Now, after all of the wait for the first combination of the line, here is the Beast-X Megazord in all its glory. I have to say that it's impressive to have a mainline Megazord that blows away what the Bandai America Megazords have to offer in terms of not just proportions, but also in height. While it's slightly lighter than I anticipated, its size makes it feel more accomplishing overall compared to the previous Megazords due to its buildup from having three Zords that had 7 modes before they even made the giant robot. It's pretty tall and impressive from the front, though the side and back have the rabbit piece stick out like a sore thumb. It was sort of like that in Japan, but it's more prominent here thanks to the gorilla torso already being there. Thankfully, you can remove it if you want, and it can sort of work as a stupidly funny ED-209 if you want. Also, the arms aren't sticking out from the back in a stupid way, though you have to lower the hand of the right arm so it won't clash with the rabbit head. The colors aren't the metallic shades that they had in Go-Buster Oh, but at least they are not awfully lacking any serious details. I can imagine Bandai America not entirely painting the helmet, the rabbit ears from the helicopter ears, the silver rims, and some of Red's parts if they made this design for the Zordbuilder line.

The helmet does look pretty good, and while it makes the face look pretty small, it's a lot more prominent as a while with the Megazord body. I also like how it combines the aesthetics of the three Zords, though the horns could really use a bit of yellow paint at the tips to complete them.

The articulation is still pretty decent, though a bit hindered unlike the Racer Zord. The head can swivel side to side unlike the Japanese version, shoulders can move front and back and in and out very, very slightly. The arms swivel at the biceps, and the elbows bend (last two features I'm sure the Japanese version can't do), and the waist swivels. You can attempt to pose the legs, but not so much in an effective way that the Racer Zord has. Some poses are more possible than others, such as the one I pulled off in the second pic. It's not perfect like Soul of Chogokin Megazord/Daizyujin, but it's better than what most Megazords can do. Also, the sword looks pretty decent in hand with the helicopter blades.

Here is the Beast-X Megazord next to Go-Buster Oh, the candy toy version from Bandai Japan, and the nontransforming Beast-X Megazord from Hasbro. Many Sentai purists, be it ones that did grow up with Super Sentai or the ones that act like they've been fans of the series way more than they did with Power Rangers since they have Ameritaku tendencies, would almost always praise the Japanese molds just because they have a lot more paint or have dense plastic and will trash the American Megazords just because they're not the Japanese molds. Japan's Sentai Robo may have somewhat metallic colors and nicer plastic quality, but its proportions SUCKED. Between the massive size of the forearms, the huge gap between the legs of Ace and then the extra space made even further with the boots, the tiny head, and how oversized the thighs are, this Robo ends up looking awful compared to Hasbro's version of the Megazord. The candy toy's slightly better, though it's very small and required stickers. It's somewhat poseable like the Hasbro version of the Megazord, but it's not quite perfect. The nontransforming version is pretty decent in terms of proportions, and its size fits in better with previous Megazords, though it's not able to split in three Zords, nor is it too poseable.

Here it is next to some of the more recent Bandai America Megazords. If you want to make a stop motion based on the Dino War, this Megazord will tower over the others quite a bit. No, I don't have Thundersaurus, but I'd love to someday!

For any Transformers fans curious about the scale, here it is next to MPM-4 Optimus Prime and Power of the Primes Optimus. Racer Zord was in a similar height with both Primes, but now he towers over them. I think he might be the size of a Combiner Wars Gestalt or MPM-8 Megatron.

Here are the basic figures for an idea of the scale. I also want to give a bit of attention to the original stock photos. They did not do much justice with the design of the Megazord. The arms didn't look like they would bend, the legs have a gap reminiscent of Generations Metroplex, the rabbit ears looks like they were bent incorrectly and would ruin the look of the gauntlet, and it made the Megazord look less convincing than it is in-person. I wish Hasbro put up more official images of the Beast-X Megazord to show how it'd look in person and with better angles because these initial stock images do a massive disservice to what it's actually like.

This first attempt at a Megazord is a lot better than I expected. I knew Hasbro was able to pull off pretty good basic figures and a Morpher among some of the other items shown at Toy Fair, but the Zords made me wonder how they'd be handled in the US due to how they work overall. Hasbro could have made these Zords as weak as the Overdrive ones, or they could have made them feel as compromised as the Zordbuilder ones from Samurai or Super Megaforce, but I'm happy that they were not only faithful to the Japanese functionality but also added some new things that the Japanese version didn't have, like the added articulation and the better proportions. Sure, I wish the paint was more metallic, and I do wish the plastics were a bit denser overall. I still wish the Dual Changers were priced at $19.99 and have the Triple Changers easy to spot in-person for those that want to get them individually, but in-hand, it's impressive on display and even plays pretty well, too. The 5-pack version includes Grid Battleforce logos for these Zords and the little figurines, but how I got my Zords involved me getting the Racer Zord from Mexico while the Wheeler and Chopper were both at Targets near me. If you want to get these Zords individually, happy hunting and be sure to find some discounts if you don't like paying full price for them. Until next time (in terms of Power Rangers reviews), pray that some silver and gold show up in this site sooner than later.

Overall ranking: ⭐⭐⭐ and a half ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐