Power Rangers Lightning Collection Yellow Ranger 2-in-1 review

Lost Galaxy and SPD are two seasons with different themes and different character archetypes. Yet they have a few things in common, from having space play a factor into their settings as well as the main five Rangers all sharing the same color layout, and in the case of the Lightning Collection, two Yellow Rangers that help complete their respective teams. While we have nearly completed SPD in 2021 with the Green Ranger, we haven't really seen much progress for all of 2022 up until this point. Luckily, Lost Galaxy is killing two birds with one stone thanks to not just Yellow but also Pink showing up, as the most recent wave is including her into the mix. So let's complete these two teams with our Yellow Ranger double act! After all, there's no confirmation that too much yellow energy is dangerous, so perhaps we'll be safe!

Here we have the Lost Galaxy Yellow Ranger in-hand. It's about time we got one of the females of the team here, and hot off the heals of the previously made Green Ranger. The suit design of the Yellow Ranger is basically that of her teammates: we get the Charlie Brown chest pattern on a white torso while the rest of the outfit apart from the boots and gloves are yellow. And much like MMPR, the chest pattern is repeated on the aforementioned gloves and boots. And no, there isn't supposed to be any more paint on the back. The suits are like that. Don't you fucking dare press the panic button, PR Twitter! Though the minor paint mistake on the glove is a bit annoying.

Her helmet matches all of the details one would expect from the suit design proper, and I have no other complaints otherwise for it. As for the accessories she comes with, new for me is the Quasar Launcher (which the single-packed Red Ranger from the same team came with), a shortened Quasar Saber in its holstered dagger mode, the standard karate chop and gripping hands to replace her more signature hands, a blast effect piece that is colored like some neuro-mood-thingy, and an alternate head representing Maya, the tribesgirl from Mirinoi.

The likeness to the actress, Cerina Vincent, is not too bad, and it along with Damon so far look the best among the team IMO. her Quasar Launcher can be extended as some sort of melee weapon before it is used with the effect piece as a range weapon. Now this accessory is new to me, but I don't like how it uses stickers rather than paint apps. At least it doesn't look too out of place compared to the Titans Return/Power of the Primes stickers. 

For a comparison with her male teammates (Pink Ranger is on the way!), and should point out another the other issue I have with this release: there is no extended Quasar Saber, which was something fans had an issue with from the standalone LG Red release, but at least it could be done to make him unique from the 2-pack version. Honestly, with how the team apart from Magna Defender could be a bit samey, I guess it is expected that they have different effect pieces for the sword (Blue Ranger), come with a Transdagger weapon (Green), or include a Quasar Launcher (Red 2 and Yellow). We'll see how the Pink Ranger turns out.

And up next, here we have the SPD Yellow Ranger, and about time, too! Without any SPD Rangers in 2022, it's great to have her complete her teammates in the roster, and I can't help but admit it's a miracle she's finally here to go with the rest of the team before the hiatus. Honestly, I could do without the other Rangers in the season if we don't get figures of everyone past Omega, but Yellow is far too important to NOT make. That being said, she is about the same as what we got with the past Rangers in terms of details that we should be familiar with from past figures in the same team. Her 4 is crisp, as are the badges, but the belt could be a little less fuzzy in terms of sculptwork.

Her helmet has a complete visor outline, which is good for this release, but it will be a bit inconsistent with other Rangers given how other figures tend to look in terms of their outlines. Red's was silver and partial, Blue's was also completely like Yellow but thicker, Green is partial like Red but white like Blue and Yellow, and Pink's was nonexistent. Also thankful on my end: I don't have an accidental extra helmet, because my copy's accessories come with the alternate head for Z, a lightning effect piece, the Deltamax Striker in long and short length, a Deltamax Knuckle, two hands meant to hold the weapons and the Delta Morpher. Speaking of which...

...the final accessory is incorrectly applied in the wrong way! Literal 180 there compared to what we previously got with past Rangers, who despite having inconsistencies of their own, were at least able to be properly oriented with the paint apps. Here? It's a big fuck-up! Thankfully, the likeness to Monica May is pretty good, and her weapons do not look inaccurate and are detailed the way I'd expect them to. By the way, with how the Toku fandom is asking itself if it's Got Chard, praising King Ohger as the best Sentai season since the last Sentai season (a la SchmoesKnow and etc when reviewing Disney Star Wars movies), or rinse and repeating the same whiny comments towards Cosmic Fury, I'm amazed barely anybody pointed out that the actress began an OnlyFans account. Probably for the best given how family-friendly the fandom tries to pass off as.

For a comparison with her teammates, here is the Yellow Ranger in the center of the B-Squad! Finally happy to complete this team, as SPD was not only a childhood favorite of mine but also remains one of my favorite teams to this day. I know the fandom has been right to criticize the minor inconsistencies for the Lightning Collection with the visors and morphers, but setting that aside, I am happy to have figures that look good on a shelf, are poseable compared to the originals, and aren't as expensive as the Figuarts, especially since we got Shadow and Omega Rangers early on. And this makes the hiatus a little less painful for me as a big SPD fan. Now once we get back, let's have them do Ninja Storm to complete my trinity of favorite PR seasons, yeah?

Overall, these two Yellow Rangers are pretty equal in terms of quality. They're great for completing their respective teams, and they each have their own kinds of strengths and weaknesses. In the case of the Lost Galaxy Yellow Ranger, her Quasar Launcher's stickers in place of paint detailing for some parts of the accessory seems out of place for the Lightning Collection, and she is missing her Quasar Saber. As for the SPD Yellow Ranger's morpher has the logo upside down and the copies of some fans are known to have the extra helmet instead of an alternate head. But beyond that, these two are worth picking up beyond their minor issues. Though I wish LG Yellow had her sword and SPD Yellow had better QC. Also, is it me, or is it odd that the Lost Galaxy Yellow Ranger has double-jointed elbows along with bicep swivels while the SPD Yellow Ranger has the out-dated forearm movement that plagued past female Rangers and numerous female figures in Marvel Legends? Must be from being associated with certain tooling...

Final Ranking (for both): ⭐⭐⭐⭐ out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐