Hasbro Power Rangers Beast Morphers Beast Bots Cruise and Smash review

Robot allies have been common in Power Rangers, though they were made of late in order to recreate the nostalgia of Alpha 5. Tensou and Redbot come to mind, though neither of them stood out as successfully as Alpha 5 did. Tensou was there because Gosei was the next Zordon, but Redbot, despite looking like he could be a great ally, did not do anything significant (and he didn't even become the Robo Red Zord). Hasbro adapting Go-Busters into Beast Morphers meant we would get new robot allies in the form of the Buddyroids now renamed as the Beast Bots, and while I was initially worried that they'd be as useless as Redbot was, they turned out to be more involved in the show. Outside of being parts that link to the Zords, they had an episode showcasing how much they wanted to thank the Rangers even when they were mad at them, and they also got to be in the promotional artwork regularly, especially when they're posed with their Ranger allies. Let's see how the slightly more expensive Beast Bot figures of Cruise and Smash do well in today's review!

UPDATE 08/08/2020: New Intro Pic and Ranger/Beast Bot 2-pack segment

Here we have both figures together. The size between the two isn't so bad, and while not yet covered in a review, Jax will obviously be the smallest of the three. Now, what's the best way to start the review than beginning with the Morph-X Keys?

Cruise's key is shaped like a weirdly stylized version of his face, and the sounds he makes are the following:

"Moto-mode, activated!"

"Let's take a spin in the Racer Zord!"

The voice does sound like Cruise in the show, although without the Kelson Henderson charm that the show has. Both this and Smash do the hero morph jingles/unleash the beast sounds.

Smash's key also has his face on it, and he makes the following sounds:

"Let's smash this!"

"Blue Ranger, you're so brave!"

Of all the keys that sound nothing like their characters do in the show, Smash's sounds the least like his voice actor. It sounds less brute and more "Gay for Ravi". Maybe the voice would benefit what would be a different character that idolized the Blue Ranger more, like if the blue ranger was female but had Jax as their partner. There is a sound in the morpher that is for a villain, but it goes "I'm ready to fight" and goes well with Smash than Smash's voice does. Also, Smash's key is the only one I have that's translucent, which does look cooler than the opaque ones IMO.

Here we have Cruise on his own, and funny enough, while I cover Transformers from vehicle mode to robot mode, this will be the reverse. He looks good for the most part, but I feel that there are problems with the kibble on him. He has one normal looking hand on the right, but on the left hand he has his wheel permanently attached on. I get that it makes for less partsforming, but this hurts the sleeker appearance of the robot mode than it would on a normal Transformer. Also, as a result of the simpler engineering, the cheetah head sticks out on the back more than it should. The legs being hollow does hurt the appearance, making the toy feel cheap. Maybe not as cheap as an Authentics toy, but close enough.

The toy's face sculpt looks accurate, but it's the paint that makes it the best part of the figure. It's nicely applied, the green details are crisp, and they capture the look of Cruise in the show. I can almost hear his voice whenever I see the quality paint apps on him. They even did the linework well on the mouthplate.

The articulation is limited despite his design being humanoid like the Rangers. The head is on a swivel and it can also look down but not up. At the shoulders, they move up and down. Then at the forearm, they just rotate. There's no outward shoulder movement, no elbows, but you can somewhat move the arms back with a faux-butterfly joint by the transformation. The hips are limited in their movement, yet they feel really loose. I can't seem to repair them because of how getting access to the joints is harder than it should be. Then below the hips, they have knees that bend over 90°. Sadly, Cruise won't pull off the poses he should make in the show.

For his weapons, Cruise comes with a big cannon that looks like an air tank. It even has a missile that looks like air coming out of it. Seriously it does look a bit weird, almost looking more like candy than a repulsor blast. He can use the key as an arm blade.

For a figure comparison, here he is next to the Red Ranger. They look solid for the most part, with the only issues being the kibble that ruins the look of the Beast Bot.

Here we have Cruise next to Cheeda Nick's S.H. Figuart version. While not a 100% fair comparison, I do feel that some of the articulation should be used for Cruise, like the outward arm movement, elbow bends, and less restricted hip movement. I don't need it to be super poseable, but I do wish that the Hasbro toy at least had more arm movement. Hopefully, there will be a Lightning Collection version of Cruise.

Here is another comparison, this time with the Bandai MBAF version of Cheeda Nick. The Bandai version handles the wheel thing better, and its articulation is slightly better than Hasbro's, but Hasbro has the better head proportions as well as the face paint and slightly better handling of compact vehicle kibble. Neither toy is perfect but I feel Hasbro's is the better option to get due to the price and it is easier to track down than this Cheeda Nick.

Cruise's transformation is simple, yet accurate to what it should be. The cheetah head/front of the vehicle mode does get a bit stuck on the bike handles, but it shouldn't be hard to move in its vehicle-mode position. The right-hand clipping on the rear wheel is hard to do without scraping on the plastic.

The bike mode is the better mode of the two. It's not as compromised in terms of aesthetics, and it looks pretty slick overall! There are some minor gaps in the bike mode, but it's nothing too severe. There's even a kickstand for it to stay upright.

Here, you can have the Red Ranger ride on Cruise. While the size may be off, it's still neat that the feature is there, though it looks pretty goofy like that.

Still, it's fun to have Devon ride on Cruise just so they can run Blaze over. Poor dude better survive or else his Dark Buster suit's gone for good!

Here is Cruise next to some bike formers, with the examples being PRID Arcee and POTP Wreck-Gar. Why? Because it's for chuckles! He's actually as big as Wreck-Gar is, and he's larger than Arcee, though Arcee's bike is cooler.

Here they are in robot mode. Cruise is the tallest of the three, making him an honorary Voyager! Still, both Arcee and Wreck-Gar are better engineered, and they'll also get to shine in their own reviews in some way!

Overall, Cruise isn't a bad figure, but he does feel like a letdown in terms of engineering and quality. There's just not enough effort put into the figure to make him as worthwhile as the Rangers.

Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐ and a half out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
The second Beast Bot figure to take a look at is Smash.

The back has some extensions from his fists along with the gorilla face. We'll get back to those.

The face sculpt is a steering wheel that looks like a gorilla's head. A bit weirder than Cruise's but it works.

Smash's articulation is slightly better than Cruises, with a head swivel and a face swivel! His shoulders move front and back, and there are bends at the elbow along with swivels above the elbow. Hips only move forwards, the knees bend, and they swivel slightly.

For his weapons, the Zord's gorilla face can be removed as a shield. It looks a bit weird, but it seems there'll be some need for paint to be added since some of it came off...

The key does feel a bit more normal for a weapon, especially with the clear blue that looks nice.

The fists are pressure-launched missiles that compensate for Smash's lack of gimmicks in his general design. I wish he had normal hands to swap since these do look more like they're part of the Jungle Pride Megazord.

Here is Smash next to the Blue Ranger who he thinks is so brave. The size works well, and they don't look too bad next to each other.

You can sort of recreate the Blue Ranger steering Smash with the face. Good luck with a cockpit, though.

Then we have Smash next to his Figuarts counterpart, who's called Gorisaki Banana. The latter is more articulated, has a better consistency with the silver paint, and it also has the proper fists. I do feel that it's safer to remove the tubes on the arms, and the head is more accurate in terms of proportions. The Figuarts' face looks more underwhelmed or annoyed than the angrier face of the Hasbro version.

Overall, Smash is decent for what he is. He's a nice, chunky figure that does what it needs to do at the 15 dollar price tag. I say he's the better of the two 15 dollar figure options from Hasbro for now. I do wish he has the proper fists and having silver paint on the chest, but it's still good.

Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

I should mention that these two are nothing like the Red and Blue Ranger/Beast Bot 2-packs. They are hollowed out to better accommodate the unchanged Ranger figures as armor. Cruise doesn't have the ability to transform and Steel doesn't have any launching hands. They're not required for a collection, but they're great for kids and for the completionists.

These two Beast Bot figures are decent but not the real highlights of the Beast Morphers toyline. They have some flaws that keep them from being the definitive versions of their characters in the Beast Morphers line. While Smash is alright, Cruise could use a lot of improvement to be better than he is right now. Get them if they're on a discount.

Overall ranking: ⭐⭐⭐.75 out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐