Hasbro brought back the Auto-Morphin toys 2 years after Bandai reissued them for the 25th anniversary, but rather than make straight copies of them and insert the card in a bland gray Legacy box (as well as not release MMPR Yellow), Hasbro made new molds that mimic the figures and have distinct looks to them in terms of proportions and plastic quality, yet they did add some improvements like hip articulation. I didn't buy any of them because I don't feel like buying the MMPR team for the third time (first being Legacy, second being Lightning Collection). That being said, outside of the MMPR 7, we did get two characters that were given attention by Hasbro (and moreso than Bandai did); I don't have Ranger Slayer yet but she'd make for a nice purchase because she's not prominent in terms of merchandise. Ninjor, on the other hand, has been given a toy in MMPR, a repaint in Ninja Storm as Ninjakon, and then Hasbro made a Playskool Heroes minifigure for the guy and now a Retro Morphin figure! Let's see what this guy has to offer!
Here is Ninjor in-hand, and I have to say that the looks of the guy are nicely done! The way the figure looks is very faithful to how Ninjor appears in the show, which is especially good considering how the design is pretty hard to mess up with such a simple appearance. You only need to make him blue and add black, gold, and silver paint to break up the blue plastic. The proportions are pretty accurate to the in-show suit, and while the toy would normally look pretty toyish with how the panel on the back exists along with the posture being more statue than human, it actually looks like it'd fit be someone wearing the in-show suit. This means that apart from the clown feet, the side profile doesn't look at slat and awkward. The back has the sword and sheath, with the latter pegging on okay. There are some screws on the back, but they're thankfully not as plentiful as on the older toy (from what I saw). Amusingly, the stock images on the card art has gold chrome instead of paint, but I think the latter looks more cohesive.
Head sculpt pretty simple and honestly hard to mess up. You just gotta make a sort of stylized visor, add black, silver, and gold paint, add the N-emblem on his forehead, and you're done. The paint apps are at least nicely applied, which is a form of quality control that has been pretty spotty for Hasbro's Power Rangers given how mass-produced they are compared to Bandai's. Sadly, there is no articulation for the neck, as the only points of articulation you can really get are shoulders that have nice ratchet joints, wrist swivels, and if you want, ankle rotation. That's pretty much it. The sword can go on his hand, though it does have to be at an angle because of the shape of the handle combined with the hole of the hands.
For those wondering about how the original figure looked, you can see that the old toy was definitely shinier, had chrome, and functioned differently thanks to the red buttons on the forearms and hips to allow him to autotransform into his warrior mode, but what is amusing is that the proportions on the Bandai toy were definitely less natural than the Hasbro figure. The posture is much stiffer, the arms aren't as curved, and the normal head is much smaller on the body. That being said, both the Bandai and Hasbro figures are nicely done if you ask me. One would go well with the Megazords while the other would go well with your Ranger figures. Oh, and it's worth mentioning that weeks after the figure came out, Hasbro announced a Retro Megazord line also made for Walmart. The other figures in the line were the MMPR Megazord, the Thunder Megazord, and the Galaxy Megazord, each with nice box sleeves that covered VHS tape boxes that are themed after the 90s (and the early 2000s). The first three figures are pretty mediocre-looking, especially the already over-saturated MMPR Megazord; while the Thunder and Galaxy guys look okay, the Ninjor repaint in question appealed to me more; apart from this being the first toy representation of Ninja Storm (before either Lightning Collection or Playskool Heroes), we have a pretty surprising lore cut named Ninjakon, based on the Bandai repaint and slight retool of Ninjor for the 2003 toyline. It also received a reuse in Jungle Fury as part of the Super Legends line of repacks that Bandai put out back then. The fact that Hasbro remade a Ninjakon impressed me, and I wanted to get a figure that represented the weird repaint.
Oh and before I forget, you can access the super mode by flipping the shoulders up, sliding the thigh panels down, and flipping the back panel to have the head switch from the Ranger-like head to the shogun warrior face that goes well with the shoulder pads and the red chest emblem. Once again, the super mode head looks nicely done and painted, which is especially appreciative given how intricate it is by comparison. Also for anyone wondering, this may not be the proper mode for the guy, but this guy scales nicely with the 6 inch Power Rangers from the basic line and Lightning Collection. I think this helps him look nice with the other figures even if he's in a more vanilla pose, and at least hte aesthetics are better done than the other Retro-Morphin guys. That's something I have to give credit to for this toy if you ask me, and it lets him make for a nice stand-in until we get a proper Lightning Collection Ninjor (and maybe Ninjakon). Even if we get one, I'd gladly accept him and possibly get Ranger Slayer.
Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐ and a half out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
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