Looking back at the Ryusoul Changer, I didn't think it'd be that cool of a toy because of how basic it was. If it weren't for the knight visor, I'd think it was more of a generic dino toy. In fact, some of this stuff feels too much like generic dino stuff in terms of the aesthetics. Then again, that was what Sentai went for when it came to being desperate for toy sales rather than make good stories. Now we have Hasbro with their Dino Fury Morpher. I thought the Beast-X Morpher was perfect, and the King Morpher had the better sounds and made up for its slightly limited functionality by having a better price. The Dino Fury Morpher is the same in terms of design as with the Bandai one, but now it's time to see if it's worth the money.
Here is the Morpher in-hand. This design is another wrist-mounted offering, which is the second one under the Hasbro era, with the last time an entire team (or at least a large portion of the entire team) had wrist-mounter morphers being Dino Thunder. Design-wise, this feels pretty basic. While the button and the knight visor are nice ways to make the toy feel a little more interesting, the face being part of the toy and painted on one side makes it feel uninspiring. How would this really be the next step in Morpher design is beyond me, and while some would say it's inspired by Dino Thunder's versions, that series made it look more personalized and cooler. Comparing it to the Japanese version, that one had an opaque red button, a more vibrant red, and a more convincing sheen for the knight visor as well as a window for where the symbol of the key is at. One positive I will say is that the spinning mechanism on the Japanese version is better than on the Hasbro version, but does it really make the Japanese version feel like a God-tier toy? Not in my eyes. It still sucks because its design is still undercooked as well as not having much to offer. Many will say "BUT THE JAPANESE VERSION IS BETTER BECAUSE OF THIS AND THAT" and to that, I say "I don't care!"; neither the Hasbro nor Bandai versions of this thing are better than one another.
One thing that the Japanese version didn't have was the button light up. However, you mainly get swooshing noises and punch attacks like with the Beast Morphers stuff. The jingles you get are rock and roll tunes, which you get more of when you spin the visor around. That being said, there is no proper way to make it seem like it's the proper morph tune or not. It's just unusual because there are no other sounds to accompany it. The rock jingles are cool (the second one is my favorite), but there's gotta be more than just music and the added attack sounds.
Now let's talk about the key because it's where people lost their shit! The Power Keys are simpler pieces of plastic with reflective stickers on them! Now let's start with the positive first: the sticker detailing is at least nice and crisp compared to the massive use of simple coloring for the Ryusouls, and only the figures will come with the cheaper keys, but not only do they look cheap but they can't even do the flipping gimmick! As much as Bandai sucked during the Ninja Steel line, their Chargers and Ranger Keys looked far superior to stuff like this, and the Morph-X Keys were also pretty cool, too. So why couldn't they be as good as those offerings specifically? That being said, I don't give a fuck about the Ryusouls themselves. I have a bit of fatigue with collectible gimmicks since that's all that Bandai Japan gives a fuck about instead of making the actual toys they make more worthwhile. Sales figures are important, but when it comes to relying heavily on little knight keys that don't look all that different from one another, then you know that a toyline is pretty questionable in terms of value. Plus, the folded-up mode looks pretty stupid; these keys ain't no Gokaiger Ranger Keys.
The key can fit inside and make even more sounds, in this case, the tyrannosaurus growls and chomping sounds (though it doesn't sound much like a T-Rex), and a new morph jingle plays, but I won't lie when I say that the key sticks out more from the rest of the toy thanks to its two-dimensional aesthetics. Maybe the keys that go with the Megazord would look better since it'll be sculpted, but we'll see.
Here it is next to the Beast-X Morpher. Now, this is the kind of comparison I want people to make. I don't want people to act mention Ryusoul Changer and act like it'll totally be the superior toy (yeah no shit Bandai Japan has higher quality crap), but how about we compare it to an older Hasbro Morpher? This was the best Morpher for a long time because it knew how to be independent without the Morph-X Keys, and it also had a cool design as well as great features to justify its price. Now, this is me setting aside Go-Busters creating the aesthetics, and keep in mind this is me knowing that the Beast-X Morpher was originally priced at 29.99 instead of 19.99; sure, the Dino Fury Morpher looks bigger and has the knight feel, but I prefer the Beast-X Morpher overall. It just felt more like the right step in making Morphers feel more than just the hub for all the little accessories. The Dino Fury Morpher is just a glorified music box. And you add in the fact that the Morphin' Brace was an equally good toy alongside the Beast-X Morpher, with both of them having unique features from one another to make you want to keep both rather than sticking with one or the other. And finally, The Beast-X Morphin Brace makes the RyuFury jukebox feel like a cheap-rate toy that doesn't feel bad yet looks like a weak PR-wanna-be toy that'd look closer to that description had it not been for the keys or the knight visor.
So overall, the Dino Fury Morpher is a mixed bag in terms of what it offers. The sounds are cool and the fact that it will have different power sounds with each figure's key is cool, but it feels like an undercooked toy compared to the Beast-X Morpher. And as mentioned previously, I think neither this or the RyuSoul Changer are great, and I don't give a fuck about either version of the keys. Thankfully, the price is cheaper so it does justify getting it without paying more than you should. Also, here is why I got it: on the left is a much better toy, that being Siege Soundblaster! He was at the same price and with me wanting Soundblaster so badly (as much as I hate the WFC Netflix series), I had to get the Dino Fury Morpher to go along with it. So as it stands, I don't really regret my purchase but I'm not pleased with it, either.
Final ranking: ⭐⭐ and a half ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
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