I've been kind of far behind with the reviews for the Lightning Collection because shit just keeps coming to my doorstep! Anyways, I should prepare myself for the last time we will see regular releases with the appealing plastic window displays that are being phased out because Hasbro wants to be eco-friendly even on the toys that are meant for an older audience. I understand doing that for the main kiddy toys, but why would you do that to the Lightning Collection? And isn't it hypocritical that some releases still use plastic carding? Anyways, we are now able to complete the main trio of Dino Thunder, add another Wild Force Ranger right after the Lunar Wolf, revisit Lost Galaxy more than a year after the Blue Ranger, and get yet another regular Mighty Morphin Black Ranger before the Remastered line shows up. Another interesting fact is that this is yet another wave without a Red Ranger, I guess. Review time.
Let's get Dino Thunder Yellow out of the way, both because even number waves go in reverse order and because I love Dino Thunder the most. The last time we got ourselves an updated version of the character was back in Bandai's Legacy line, which, to its credit, has a more consistent shade of yellow used throughout the figure compared to the torso not matching up with the arms, legs, skirt, and helmet. However, I did find that figure to suffer from having the same, unrealistic proportions that all female Bandai Legacy Rangers had, on top of its more limited skirt flexibility and especially the holster coming off to easily. Luckily, this figure has a much more accurate body frame that matches the show much better while also maintaining the same details we'd expect for the Dino Thunder suits, from the diamonds to the gold and silver belt, and especially the chest symbol. The only issue that plagues the figure is the lack of a black outline for the white suit details on her. On one hand, it's inaccurate to the show and makes her feel complete. On the other hand, she at least has them applied on properly, and she also still matches the guys anyhow. The outline would probably be misaligned if it was done separately from the white diamonds so maybe that's why Hasbro didn't risk adding it on. And while I won't go over articulation due to the figure having the same amount of articulation found in the line as a whole, I will mention that she joins Shelby, both Ninjetti Aisha and Kimberly, and Red Ranger Trini as the fifth female Ranger to come with double-jointed elbows and bicep swivels like the male Rangers, which is a welcome addition that I wish they did from the start since Bandai's female Rangers had the same arm articulation as the guys. I know the Hasblow joint that was first seen in 2007 Marvel Legends and was stuck with female Legends for so long is easier to do, but I'm happy to see that slowly phase out.
Her helmet is as proportionately accurate as it looks on TV, with the right Ranger-specific details that match the Zord it's based on, including those tiny silver eyes that go over the visor. Said visor also has a white outline, which is much more accurate than the silver that her core-trio teammates have (though the right side appears to be a bit missing). Her accessories include her Ptera Grips, her civilian head as Kira Ford, an effect piece for the Thundermax Blaster, and a right karate chop hand and a left hand with her four fingers splayed open while her thumb is bent on her palm.
Her display options are great as always, though I feel the likeness to Kira Ford feels a little off. It's not terrible, but I know she doesn't look exactly like that though it may be the lighting of the camera. Either that or the hair looks a bit off at least on the photo I took. She lacks a Thundermax Saber but to Hasbro's credit, the figure has her blaster painted in the proper blue shade rather than the strange light blue that did not belong on the other teammates. Her Ptera Grips also have a few paint apps, but no red eyes likely because of how small the slits are to paint them on.
Here she is with her fellow Dino Thunder Rangers, giving us a complete core trio team in addition to the White Ranger, which makes this more like how they were presented in the Legendary Battle's quarry scene when they posed without their Black Ranger since he was elsewhere and wore an entirely different suit and color in a much earlier season. But yeah, it's great to have a nice-looking set of Dino Thunder Rangers, and I'm excited to finally get Doctor Oliver, though I have to admit the inconsistencies of the line can be annoying. Setting aside Trent because he is a unique suit and has a replacement helmet, Connor started things mostly right apart from the light blue Thundermax sidearms, while Ethan was weirdly missing his outline for his chest symbol and has a white morpher when he'd be better off having a solid blue one, and Kira gives us the proper symbol outline and visor outline that the boys lack while she and Ethan have the glove pads missing their white paint while Connor doesn't. I like the Lightning Collection, but at the same time, I know it's consistently inconsistent.
Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
And this is the Wild Force Blue Ranger. Our first main Ranger for the line since the team began with the Lunar Wolf Ranger, this guy doesn't fare too badly, and thankfully didn't have the same level of confusing quality control variants in terms of the wrong stripes and boots that his sixth ranger teammate dealt with. He has the appropriate three stripes, his Surging Shark emblem is crisply applied, the gold and white stand out nicely from the blue, and there is no oddity to be found with the figure as we would probably expect for later figures in the line. We'll see if the rumored Wild Force Red Ranger will have any incorrect details.
His helmet is accurate (though the visor might be a little more narrow than I remember...might be the shark teeth) yet I feel it is a little funny how it both looks like an older PR/Sentai design while also having the shark fins on the sides to give it a unique look. Hell, if you removed the mouthplate region, it'd almost look like a chibi shark. His accessories include his Blue Shark Fighting Fins, his civilian head, a Crystal Saber, an effect piece to go with it, and two alternate claw-like hands for his roll call pose.
Regarding the likeness to Max Cooper, I should mention that the eyes on my copy's head might be slightly misaligned, which is great. But the weird thing about the Crystal Saber is that the blue paint should have been applied onto the Animal Crystal region of the weapon rather than the handle! Whoops! At least the Fighting Fins look fine, though their handles may appear to be slightly bent.
Here he is next to the previously made Wild Force Ranger, the Lunar Wolf Merrick. Much like the other previous season that ended with the word Force, we have a case where it's a more marketable Ranger and a Blue Ranger as the currently available Rangers for the team so far, so we'll see if Cole will pop up anytime soon even though Wild Force had its 20th anniversary last year.
Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ and a half out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Up next, it's the Lost Galaxy Green Ranger. Our third member of the team, and even though this review is 3 months late-ish, it's good to know that we have the females on the way, with the Pink Ranger being part of Wave 14 and the Yellow Ranger joining along with SPD Yellow as the two complete their respective teams. As for Lost Galaxy Green, he's about the same as the other Rangers that I covered much earlier on the site, though in green of course. He has the same strengths and weaknesses they have, though there is a slight paint nick on the stomach region while the belt looks a little rough on the back, though it may vary from copy to copy.
His helmet is very accurate to the way it looks on the show, and the visor outline has the appropriate silver that Hasbro forgets to change on other helmets, though the red eyes are slightly misaligned. His accessories include a right hand fist, a left hand with the index and middle finger posed, an effect part for the Transdagger in bow mode, and his Quasar Saber in both retracted and deployed mode.
His civilian head looks like Damon Henderson, and he looks really good unhelmeted. Makes him feel like a badass even in spite of how the simple PR spandex can be. He lacks an effect part for his saber, but the Transdagger is a nice addition since in terms of regular releases, we either get the bazooka as with Red or the same amount of accessories that the 2-pack version got as we saw with the Blue Ranger. Even the effect piece is a nice addition.
And here he is along with the other boys of the Lost Galaxy team. I think he might be my favorite one on the team just because his suit design looks strong with the green and white, and his helmet also helps that. Definitely the best release of the set. If you get a copy of this guy in-person, make sure your figure's boots are the proper Lost Galaxy Zig-Zag detail and not the diamonds of MMPR Black because at least one LG Green had a right leg with an MMPR boot and another on the left leg. You can give one the proper boots and the other the odd MMPR boots.
Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Let's quickly go over Mighty Morphin Black for a moment. While we already had another regular Black Ranger and will get a Remastered version sometime soon, this figure does make for a good way to get an updated version of the suit that has the proper helmet originally part of the Metallic version, You can tell because the design looks a little rounder compared to the one we have here, while the tusks look a little more visible front the front and the proportions don't look too narrow or the visor too rectangular. The original helmet's upper region especially looked odd where it looked like a military helmet over a normal-sized head rather than the properly-integrated look he originally had. Also, his Power Morpher has the proper paint apps included, so his circle is nicely applied instead of being missing like on the 2020 version.
Now here are what the accessories have in store for us: another Adam Park helmet that doesn't really look like Johnny Yong Bosch that much, all 3 modes for the Blade Blaster (holstered, blade, and blaster), and a unique weapon in the form of a fire extinguisher that was used in Season 2. I wouldn't be surprised if we get another MMPR Blue Ranger would come with the updated helmet. a Billy head without glasses, and his foam gun.
Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐ and a half out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
And now I have FINALLY covered Wave 12. It's good to have this taken care of after god knows how long it's been since we had to wait for the reviews, and now I have to continue even further with the line as there is another wave of Lightning Collection figures that needs to be called out on top of the Street Fighter figures. Funny enough, we have the same colors utilized for yellow, blue, and green while the fourth slot is reserved for a foot-soldier. I've gotten a bit more confidence to tackle more reviews in this style, so we'll finally put the wave...not out of its misery, but ripping it a new asshole.
Overall ranking: ⭐⭐⭐⭐.25 out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
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