Wednesday, January 20, 2021

Power Rangers Lightning Collection S.P.D. B Squad Blue vs A Squad Blue review

Space Patrol Delta is fucking awesome! It's got great characters, a unique setting, and a presence within the show that makes Power Rangers feel less like Teen Titans (which is not an insult to TT btw) and more like the main source of justice. Hell, it's crazy to go from seeing the Command Center with beep-boop control panels to a base that turns INTO a Megazord! The thing that stood out to me the most was the inclusion of another team of Rangers, the A-Squad! They're higher-up Power Rangers, their suits have the In Space helmets with tweaks here and there, and they have black spandex suits with color-coded armor as well as guns that feel a little less toyetic. The B-Squad took them down in the show since they turned out to be evil characters, and the team we saw throughout the show accepted that it's not the ranking that matters but being remarkable heroes. And now we've got yet another B-Squad Ranger as well as our first-ever A-Squad action figure!


Much like Wave 7 and Psycho Red (as well as the monsters I don't have), we have these guys in the Spectrum subline, which consist of unchanged toys with shiny packaging and package art facing each other.


Here is the Blue Ranger in-hand, who is mostly similar to the Red Ranger we covered but with a 2 on his chest, he's blue, he's got a helmet of his own, and his belt's different. Specifically, his holster's different from Jack's, which were originally regular ones made for his Delta Blasters like the holster of a normal gun; Blue's holsters are made for the Deltablast Knuckles and Strikers, which we'll get to in a bit. Beyond that, this guy's appearance is just as good as with Red.


Helmet sculpt looks good but I do find the white outlines jarring because they're a little thicker than they should be, but they also contrast the silver from Red. Why this is done is beyond me, but it's like choose one or the other, Hasbro! Oh and his articulation is the same as with the Red Ranger, though the arms don't go all the way down for some reason while the hands he has right now are made to hinge up and down instead of in and out.


Here are the accessories he comes with, which are his civilian head, two versions of the Deltamax Striker, a right hand for holding the Delta Morpher, the Deltamax Knuckle, an effect piece, and a left hand that's reused like with most Rangers.


The display options are pretty sweet, though the civilian likeness to Sky is kind of funny. He looks more like he's got his eyes open and has the kissy lips to him. It's not a bad head but it is kinda funny. Oh and you can easily swap heads with the Red Ranger and make him Red if you want to recreate one of his legendary moments in his show when he used Jack's Delta Morpher and became the Red Ranger (which he'd later be the new Red Ranger when the series ends while Bridge became the Blue Ranger.


Speaking of which, here we have the Blue Ranger next to the other current members made so-far! Part of me thinks that Sky's body frame is slightly different from Jack, though I know that Sky's 6 feet tall while Jack's 5'8". Thankfully, both are the same height with the Omega Ranger while the Shadow Ranger's taller than both, which is correct because of his character height in the series being an imposing figure. Now I can't wait for the rest of the team to be complete (even if we don't do all 10 Rangers shown in SPD I'd be happy with the core 5 as well as Shadow and Omega).


And here we have the new Hasbro Blue Ranger along with my old Bandai figure as well as the Figuart that I don't have. The old toy is part of my childhood without a doubt, and I love the plastic it has kinda more than the slightly rubbery materials used on modern figures. Still, as nostalgic as it was, he's pretty dated in terms of his physique being pretty muscley and has darker colors that don't look accurate. The Figuarts version may have the better paint apps and I do believe scales better with the rest of his team because Deka Blue was a taller Ranger like Sky was, but he did look too smooth and skinny, and as toyish as some of the joints look, Hasbro's figure balances both form and function quite well if you ask me.


And here we have the A-Squad Blue Ranger. Finally, a member of the American-exclusive Ranger team is made, especially when we never had ANY merchandise of them in terms of action figures like with the Psycho Rangers. While the Psychos received figures in the Bandai Legacy line (except for the girls), Hasbro is the first company to make a member of the A-Squad, and I feel they nailed the appearance! The armor is modified motocross gear to be color-coded as well as have the SPD-markings as well as the A's on the shoulders and even the kneepads. Definitely shows how big they are on their rankings, and I'm honestly fine with the motocross armor being a light gray with a faint shine to it is fine, but the back could probably go for more paint apps (at the same time I don't mind it since his back not being detailed isn't as concerning as a more prominent Power Ranger.


Head sculpt is an altered version of the Space Ranger helmet, though his molding for the helmet is slightly different from the two Space Rangers made so far, as his visor appears to have an out-line that neither Ranger has and his cranium has the badge of Space Patrol Delta. I kind of wish the outline of the visor was silver instead of white...actually would Hasbro do that for the Blue Space Ranger? And would Hasbro just remove the added head piece and paint the badge black? Oh and his articulation is the same as with every Rangers.


Here we have his accessories, which are a blast piece, a paintball gun with an SPD badge, and two fists.


While the display options are limited, there's not much that he needs because he's already complete to me...though maybe an alien head would be cool to have so we can have a distinct civilian head for this guy. 


And that leaves us with the 2-pack covered! I love how it turned out, even with the small imperfections. Everything about this set makes me happy to further complete my SPD team and own an A-Squad Ranger! We got a good cop and a bad cop, a B-Squad member and an A-Squad member, a future Red Ranger and a corrupt criminal in a containment card! But one thing I like about this set is that it reminded me of what SPD taught me: it's not the ranking that matters but the actions of a good person. Sky is a good person, and without the A-Squad rank to worry about, he was given better awards for his actions as being not just a Red Ranger but also become the Deka Ranger! B-Squad is awesome! Oh and I recommend you get this set, regardless of the packaging type!


Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ and a half out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

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