The Dino Fury line finally gets a new wave of figures worth purchasing, aaaaaaaaand...it's just a character that was missing from Wave 1 and a Ranger that isn't even given representation in the rest of the merchandise. I'll get into my thoughts on why that is weird, but for now, let's comment on what we do have. Void Knight's a solid villain that thankfully doesn't rinse and repeat the character traits of Blaze and Roxy beyond being an evil Power Ranger; his motivations are also unique as he wants to get all the Sporix Beast eggs to revive his coma-induced wife. Pretty much a Mister Freeze type of story but it at least gives us a villain that isn't just some world-domination-obsessed freak. His goal is kind of on-par with how someone like Deker from Samurai (though his performance is more rough and aggressive compared to Deker's calmer and ominous personality). As for the Gold Ranger...well, I know that he's called Aiyon. Anyways, let's get into this half-sized wave of reveals.
Here is Gold's key in-hand, and it is what we've expected the basic figure keys to look like. A (nicely detailed yet obviously flat) sticker instead of a sculpted knight piece. The back of the keys have the accurate head for the Megazord mode, but expect that to be even better with the Zord Link version. The paint apps are a respectable see of blue, silver, and red for the three eyes. When inserted into the Dino Fury Morpher, you mostly get electricity sounds and whatnot. In general, it makes sense for his possible power-types but it does further reinforce the fact that he was pretty much a clone of Dino Charge Gold.
And here we have Void Knight's key, who I believe had a key of his own in Ryusoulger but not to this exact level. It's more of a Ranger coloring influence here for this guy with some touches of the Japanese Ryusoul/Gaisoul, only the back is a unique head instead of the same knight visor. It's a nice design but a shame that he doesn't have a Zord associated with him. Would probably be a repaint of the T-Rex Champion Zord. Anyways, his sounds are more on the corrupted side of things, which makes sense given how he is hacking into the morpher.
Here is the Gold Ranger in-hand, and for the most part, he looks good for a $10 figure. The gold is not in the same shiny paint of the Beast Morphers Gold Ranger, but it is a more pearly type of plastic you'd usually find with Lego C-3P0 minifigures. The blue arm matches up with the metallic paint, and the black on the chest and back are nicely aligned. If you think Hasbro forgot to paint the blue all the way at the back, that's because they did not add a white or silver outline to the suit's chest. It makes the figure feel a little less complete, and maybe the paint used on the forehead of Blue's helmet would work. Otherwise, it looks fairly solid and not as cheap as I expected. The silver is a nice touch on the forearms. Speaking of, he has the wrist-mounted Morpher on him. I don't think that's accurate to the show, but we'll see in the near future.
Helmet sculpt looks especially nice, with the blue of the base plastic going well with the nice gold paint as well as the red eyes on the top and the black for the visor. It's also a design that helps itself stand out from the other Rangers thanks to the coloring and dino design influence it's going for. As expected, every basic figure has the same range of articulation: ball jointed head, shoulders that swivel front to back and hinge up and down, elbow swivels and bends, hips that move front and back, in and out, swivels at the knees and bends at the knees. His two unpainted and unnamed weapons, can either be held in his hands or combined for a bit of a bayonet look. The sculpted details are nice, but when these are one solid color compared to the 2-color weapons of the other Rangers, you know something's wrong with him going back to Bandai America.
Here is Gold along with the other Rangers we have so-far. I think he stands out amongst his teammates for all the right reasons, what with the the replacement of silver with blue for the torso, the silver for the cuffs on the forearms and lower legs, the metallic blue boots, and the gold on the visor. Shame he's missing an outline for his lightning bolt and paint for his weapons. And yes, we are missing Green and Black...we'll get to that...
And next up, we have Void Knight! It's great to have the main villain get some representation in the line, and while he's not as shiny or metallic as he is in the show, he's still an enjoyable figure overall. I at least appreciate that the figure has a few paint apps to break up the gray on the front of the legs, and the use of purple and black helps make him feel a little more varied in his deco. I know he'd look so much better in metallic purple and silver, but the figure at least has a good color scheme that fits the budget. I also like that his armor is accurate, and while he mat seem a little too lanky for the suit, it's at least commendable that he's not too bulky. The sculptwork for the segmented pieces of the armor are nicely done, and new bits like the skirt and chest armor are great to further distinguish him from the rest.
Helmet is also accurate to the show, with the appropriate use of lines for the visor as well as the proper spikiness he has. The silver on the visor is good but the gem on the forehead could be a little better painted. His articulation is the same as with the Gold Ranger, and yes, that includes outward hip movement! We'll get to that as well but he has his own version of the Chromafury Saber and his decently painted shield. Yeah, it's weird how the shield has paint but his sword doesn't.
For a size comparison, here he is with Boomtower. I guess they weren't too distinct in terms of height since one would expect BT to be the taller, bulkier one of the two but that may just be the mass of his costume compared to the slimmer Void Knight.
If you really wanted to, you can give the Chromafury Saber to the Rangers since that is the more accurate weapon, but you'd have to not only paint them but also get multiple Void Knights just for the sake of giving them their more accurate weapons. On a more positive note, here's Blaze from Beast Morphers. He's a nice-looking figure and certainly better painted than Void Knight, right? Well, the one problem with him is that his hips didn't move out, which plagued all villains in the line, even the Ranger-like ones that can fight like them! For Evox, Drilltron, and Boomtower, that doesn't bug me. For Blaze, Roxy, the Tronics, and even Vargoyle, that bothered me badly. At least here, Void Knight has proper leg movement, though it may be due to his budget being different from villain figures in the line or Hasbro listening to fan complaints on the villains.
If you're wondering why Green and Black are MIA, that's because you can only obtain them in a 5-pack that has them along with the already-released main trio of Rangers, their keys, the Chromafury Sabers, and a belt buckle that lets you house one key inside. While it's nice that we're getting Black and Green, the fact that we're just now getting this set instead of having the other Rangers in Wave 2 when they've already debuted in the show is strange. I'd only recommend getting this set if you want to double-dip OR if you never got the other Rangers.
And here we have the only two new figures released everywhere else. As far as how they hold up, they're alright on their own but not 100% perfect. I think Void Knight's the cheaper-looking of the two, but as far as basic figures are concerned, they're on-par with what we received in the past. Basically, not as good as the first wave of Beast Morphers figures, but better-looking than the 2020 Beast-X Mode wave. Seriously, cheap as Void Knight looks, he's nicer looking than the underpainted Beast-X Modes of the main three. I do hope these would be more readily available because Dino Fury merch sucks at popping up in stores. Seriously, my Walmart still has only Blue, Pink, and Boomtower and maybe some of those attackers, but Red, the Morpher, and some of the other things are barely present...and it doesn't help that some fans have been going crazy for them online.
Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐.5 out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ for each
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