UPDATE 8/9/2020: Ranger/Beast Bot 2-pack included for clarification purposes
Here are the three Morph-X keys they come with, just to get them out of the way. Jax's looks sort of like his head, much like with Cruise and Smash, though it is odd to see its eye colors in reverse, given how the pupils are white and not black. Roxy's key sort of resembles a dragon, even though her Ranger form is supposed to be a twisted version of the Yellow Ranger suit. Steel's key does sort of look like the shield accessory he has.
You can rotate the keys, which gives you carrot orange for Jax, lime green for Roxy, and a butterscotch gold for Steel.
Let's go over the sounds they make:
Jax: "Hey, don't call me cute!" "Don't forget your carrots, Yellow Ranger!"
Jax sort of sounds like his show voice, although a lot less like a Danny Devito impression and more like Meowth.
Roxy: "I can't help that I'm bad; I'm programmed this way!" "Surrender, Rangers!"
This voice is somewhat close to Liana Ramirez's.
Steel: "We need to work together!" "We got the code to victory!"
This obviously sounds nothing like Steel, especially given the context of the series.
These figures also have a plethora of accessories that are different from what we got before. Jax, being the small toy of the trio, gets a few more accessories. Roxy has two guns, one silver and one black, much like her Sentai counterpart does. Steel, being the more expensive figure of the trio as a Beast Bot (like with Cruise and Smash), has a Striker Saber, a Striker Morpher, and a backpack.
Roxy can have her key mounted like this, yet attaching it onto her is pretty annoying since it feels like you're about to scrape the plastic off of her right forearm.
Jax can't even hold it to my knowledge since his arms aren't even effective enough to work as such!
Steel has no problems holding his key, given how smooth the forearms are without any extra sculpted details added.
Here we have Jax, who as you can tell is not in his shiny metallic yellow coat. While the figure does look accurate to the design from the show, and there are a few paint apps added, the fact that the toy doesn't have much shine to it makes it stand out more than with Cruise and Smash, who sort of looks like how their show counterparts do in terms of shine. It's also neat to have some paint added for the Zord head, along with some red for the buttons of the ears. There are also two wheels for the legs, which helps roll it around even if there are two fake wheels underneath the body.
Head sculpt looks decent, and I do love how the speedometer paint apps are applied, but there should be a few more paint apps for the head, especially ones like a nose, whiskers, and some black lines in the crevices of the head.
Articulation is pretty basic, what with it being an R2-D2 like design, so only the head swivels while the legs move up and down like arms. You can move the ears down to make room for the propellor blades, while you can plug in two carrots to simulate rockets. These accessories are not in the show, but they at least add a bit of play factor for the toy.
Here is the basic Hasbro figure next to the Go-Busters vinyl figurine and the S.H. Figuarts version, both of which represent Usada Lettuce. The basic Hasbro figure may be more functional than the vinyl figure, yet it lacks the same amount of paint apps that make the head pop, and part of the legs should have a bit of black. I also think that the little Beast Bot proportions should be a bit more stretched vertically. Obviously, the Figuart looks the nicest, and I like how its antennae look compared to the Hasbro version.
Here he is with his ally, the Yellow Ranger. Both of them look pretty decent next to each other, but while the Yellow Ranger looks alright with a bit of a brighter shade of yellow than she actually has in the show, Jax looks pretty inaccurate overall.
This little guy can be displayed feeling down with himself if he wants, as he could go for the same kind of yellow paint used for the visor.
This two-pack is different from the original version of the Beast Bot. Jax is a new mold with the ability to open up and combine with the Yellow Ranger as flight armor of some kind. Still, the accessories the same as the previous version, though the lack of paint and the hole in the head looks worse than the original version.
Here are the three Morph-X keys they come with, just to get them out of the way. Jax's looks sort of like his head, much like with Cruise and Smash, though it is odd to see its eye colors in reverse, given how the pupils are white and not black. Roxy's key sort of resembles a dragon, even though her Ranger form is supposed to be a twisted version of the Yellow Ranger suit. Steel's key does sort of look like the shield accessory he has.
You can rotate the keys, which gives you carrot orange for Jax, lime green for Roxy, and a butterscotch gold for Steel.
Let's go over the sounds they make:
Jax: "Hey, don't call me cute!" "Don't forget your carrots, Yellow Ranger!"
Jax sort of sounds like his show voice, although a lot less like a Danny Devito impression and more like Meowth.
Roxy: "I can't help that I'm bad; I'm programmed this way!" "Surrender, Rangers!"
This voice is somewhat close to Liana Ramirez's.
Steel: "We need to work together!" "We got the code to victory!"
This obviously sounds nothing like Steel, especially given the context of the series.
These figures also have a plethora of accessories that are different from what we got before. Jax, being the small toy of the trio, gets a few more accessories. Roxy has two guns, one silver and one black, much like her Sentai counterpart does. Steel, being the more expensive figure of the trio as a Beast Bot (like with Cruise and Smash), has a Striker Saber, a Striker Morpher, and a backpack.
Roxy can have her key mounted like this, yet attaching it onto her is pretty annoying since it feels like you're about to scrape the plastic off of her right forearm.
Jax can't even hold it to my knowledge since his arms aren't even effective enough to work as such!
Steel has no problems holding his key, given how smooth the forearms are without any extra sculpted details added.
Here we have Jax, who as you can tell is not in his shiny metallic yellow coat. While the figure does look accurate to the design from the show, and there are a few paint apps added, the fact that the toy doesn't have much shine to it makes it stand out more than with Cruise and Smash, who sort of looks like how their show counterparts do in terms of shine. It's also neat to have some paint added for the Zord head, along with some red for the buttons of the ears. There are also two wheels for the legs, which helps roll it around even if there are two fake wheels underneath the body.
Head sculpt looks decent, and I do love how the speedometer paint apps are applied, but there should be a few more paint apps for the head, especially ones like a nose, whiskers, and some black lines in the crevices of the head.
Articulation is pretty basic, what with it being an R2-D2 like design, so only the head swivels while the legs move up and down like arms. You can move the ears down to make room for the propellor blades, while you can plug in two carrots to simulate rockets. These accessories are not in the show, but they at least add a bit of play factor for the toy.
Here is the basic Hasbro figure next to the Go-Busters vinyl figurine and the S.H. Figuarts version, both of which represent Usada Lettuce. The basic Hasbro figure may be more functional than the vinyl figure, yet it lacks the same amount of paint apps that make the head pop, and part of the legs should have a bit of black. I also think that the little Beast Bot proportions should be a bit more stretched vertically. Obviously, the Figuart looks the nicest, and I like how its antennae look compared to the Hasbro version.
Here he is with his ally, the Yellow Ranger. Both of them look pretty decent next to each other, but while the Yellow Ranger looks alright with a bit of a brighter shade of yellow than she actually has in the show, Jax looks pretty inaccurate overall.
This little guy can be displayed feeling down with himself if he wants, as he could go for the same kind of yellow paint used for the visor.
This two-pack is different from the original version of the Beast Bot. Jax is a new mold with the ability to open up and combine with the Yellow Ranger as flight armor of some kind. Still, the accessories the same as the previous version, though the lack of paint and the hole in the head looks worse than the original version.
Here we have Jax with the other Beast Bots. While the other Beast Bots look alright without the metallic paint, Jax looks the worst without it. At least he scales decently.
You can now recreate the group shot from the intro, where the three Rangers and their Beast Bots come together, ready to be posed for battle. I do wonder how Lightning Collection versions of these characters will turn out. As for Jax on his own, I feel he's a decent version of the character, and the added features make him a little more interesting, but I wish his deco was more complete, even if it didn't have the metallic yellow paint.
Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐ out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Next up, we have Cybervillain Roxy. It was pretty neat that we got her suit repainted to look different from the Japanese Escape, who was purple compared to the olive-yellow of the Power Rangers equivalent. Roxy, unlike Blaze, doesn't really have the exact kind of evil Ranger treatment that Blaze got, given how it's not quite as traditional in terms of design or helmet shape. Still, I appreciate how this figure does attempt to mimic the suit nicely, even if it's not quite as yellow as it kind of is. Here, it's greener than it looks in the show. At least the paint does look metallic, and the added features of the suit, even if it's not Ranger-esque.
Her head sculpt is accurate, yet the paint apps kind of make me wish they were more committed in making the figure look more metallic, especially for the head. There is some for a bit of the face, but the rest of the head lacks it (and even mine has a few incomplete apps). At least there is a bit of black and silver to make it look less bland.
Her articulation is almost like a normal Ranger figure, but much like with Blaze and the Tronic, her legs can't move outward. So she only has a ball joint at the neck, shoulders that move front and back as well as in and out, elbow bends and swivels, hips that move front and back, knee bends, and swivels at the knees. I hate how the villain figures are compromised at the legs, especially ones that are as agile as the Rangers.
Here is Roxy between fellow Cybervillain Blaze and their footsoldier, Tronic. These three figures look pretty good, and I'm sure the two generals would look even better with some Tronics next to them.
You can see from this pic just how much I wish their legs would move out so they can be as good as the Rangers. They're so close yet that little compromise in the articulation pushes them back.
Here we have the Blue Ranger with Roxy, who might try to help her or apprehend her, while Roxy has her guns pointing at his hips. All in all, Roxy's nicely done and looks the part yet could go for just a bit more paint to make her a bit more complete than she currently is for the head. That and some outward leg movement. I also wish she can hold her weapons better. Maybe there might be some kind of improvement for the purple Robo-Roxy should we get one from Hasbro to go along with Robo-Blaze.
Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐ and a half out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Now we have Steel! This figure was priced at the Beast Bot price point, yet has the same mass as a regular 6-inch figure in the line. I should mention that this figure was extremely hard to find at retail, whether it was regular retail or at Ross, so I couldn't find it yet somehow found Cruise and Smashes that I already owned. Sadly, I had to go on Amazon and pay way more than I anticipated, even with my gift cards. Setting aside that painful story, this figure is actually pretty good! It's accurate to the show, the gold and silver look amazing, and the paint apps for the face look nicely applied. Nothing feels missing at most, aside from maybe a bit of black for the hook on the chest. Despite that, everything about this figure is spot on to how he looks in the show. I don't know just how a Lightning Collection Steel would improve on this guy, aside from better articulation and not having empty space on his back.
Head sculpt looks pretty good, what with the paint apps for the eyes as well as the gold and silver used for the beetle traits.
Articulation is the best of the three figures in the wave! It's the same as with Roxy, but the hips can move outward, much like the Rangers can! He can use the beetle-shaped contraption like a shield that can go on his back if you want it to be like a jetpack.
It can be swiveled to point towards anything it wants to be used against, and it can be pressed to open up like beetle wings.
Now we have the proper accessories Steel would use in the show, consisting of the Striker Morpher as well as the Striker Saber. Both of which look decently painted overall. This figure is one of the best that the Beast Morphers line has to offer, as it's got everything needed to make a basic figure worthwhile while also not coming with any compromises that Jax and Roxy have. If only he was easy to find...
Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
You can now recreate the group shot from the intro, where the three Rangers and their Beast Bots come together, ready to be posed for battle. I do wonder how Lightning Collection versions of these characters will turn out. As for Jax on his own, I feel he's a decent version of the character, and the added features make him a little more interesting, but I wish his deco was more complete, even if it didn't have the metallic yellow paint.
Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐ out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Next up, we have Cybervillain Roxy. It was pretty neat that we got her suit repainted to look different from the Japanese Escape, who was purple compared to the olive-yellow of the Power Rangers equivalent. Roxy, unlike Blaze, doesn't really have the exact kind of evil Ranger treatment that Blaze got, given how it's not quite as traditional in terms of design or helmet shape. Still, I appreciate how this figure does attempt to mimic the suit nicely, even if it's not quite as yellow as it kind of is. Here, it's greener than it looks in the show. At least the paint does look metallic, and the added features of the suit, even if it's not Ranger-esque.
Her head sculpt is accurate, yet the paint apps kind of make me wish they were more committed in making the figure look more metallic, especially for the head. There is some for a bit of the face, but the rest of the head lacks it (and even mine has a few incomplete apps). At least there is a bit of black and silver to make it look less bland.
Her articulation is almost like a normal Ranger figure, but much like with Blaze and the Tronic, her legs can't move outward. So she only has a ball joint at the neck, shoulders that move front and back as well as in and out, elbow bends and swivels, hips that move front and back, knee bends, and swivels at the knees. I hate how the villain figures are compromised at the legs, especially ones that are as agile as the Rangers.
Her accessories include the guns she's known to brandish, which her Japanese counterpart, Escape, actually gave names to. One is silver and the other is black, and they're supposed to look like that. The grip on them is kind of loose, though.
Here is Roxy between fellow Cybervillain Blaze and their footsoldier, Tronic. These three figures look pretty good, and I'm sure the two generals would look even better with some Tronics next to them.
You can see from this pic just how much I wish their legs would move out so they can be as good as the Rangers. They're so close yet that little compromise in the articulation pushes them back.
Here we have the Blue Ranger with Roxy, who might try to help her or apprehend her, while Roxy has her guns pointing at his hips. All in all, Roxy's nicely done and looks the part yet could go for just a bit more paint to make her a bit more complete than she currently is for the head. That and some outward leg movement. I also wish she can hold her weapons better. Maybe there might be some kind of improvement for the purple Robo-Roxy should we get one from Hasbro to go along with Robo-Blaze.
Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐ and a half out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Now we have Steel! This figure was priced at the Beast Bot price point, yet has the same mass as a regular 6-inch figure in the line. I should mention that this figure was extremely hard to find at retail, whether it was regular retail or at Ross, so I couldn't find it yet somehow found Cruise and Smashes that I already owned. Sadly, I had to go on Amazon and pay way more than I anticipated, even with my gift cards. Setting aside that painful story, this figure is actually pretty good! It's accurate to the show, the gold and silver look amazing, and the paint apps for the face look nicely applied. Nothing feels missing at most, aside from maybe a bit of black for the hook on the chest. Despite that, everything about this figure is spot on to how he looks in the show. I don't know just how a Lightning Collection Steel would improve on this guy, aside from better articulation and not having empty space on his back.
Head sculpt looks pretty good, what with the paint apps for the eyes as well as the gold and silver used for the beetle traits.
Articulation is the best of the three figures in the wave! It's the same as with Roxy, but the hips can move outward, much like the Rangers can! He can use the beetle-shaped contraption like a shield that can go on his back if you want it to be like a jetpack.
It can be swiveled to point towards anything it wants to be used against, and it can be pressed to open up like beetle wings.
Now we have the proper accessories Steel would use in the show, consisting of the Striker Morpher as well as the Striker Saber. Both of which look decently painted overall. This figure is one of the best that the Beast Morphers line has to offer, as it's got everything needed to make a basic figure worthwhile while also not coming with any compromises that Jax and Roxy have. If only he was easy to find...
Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
This small wave of Beast Morphers figures isn't too bad, though I have to admit that there are a few issues that need to be brought up. Jax could go for a few more paint apps, Roxy could really go for some extra leg articulation, and Steel...well, he should have either been easy to find or priced lower than he went for on Amazon. While these figures do complete the cast, I would suggest getting them at cheaper prices while you still can, knowing how people will jack up the prices, especially when sellers will go nuts on them.
Overall ranking: ⭐⭐⭐ .8 out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
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