Power Rangers Beast Morphers Beast-X King Morpher review

Last year's Beast-X Morpher was generally praised by fans of changer toys in the Toku community, whether it's PR fans wondering how Hasbro would tackle such a role-play toy or Sentai fans that didn't like what Bandai did but were pleasantly surprised with a new take on the Morphin Brace from Go-Busters. I reviewed it a few months back and loved it, too. It looked like the Japanese version and does about everything that the Japanese version did while also adding its own features (like the motion-sensing sounds, the voice-activation morph sequence, and the inclusion of the keys in the mix). And get this, it was the first Morpher I bought since the 2005 Delta Morpher (because I didn't really like how limited the old ones were at the time and dug what Bandai and now Hasbro are doing since 2013). What I like about Hasbro's new Morpher is that unlike Bandai's toys, where you felt pretty obliged to keep the key or charger with you at all times, Beast-X Morpher lets you play with it without the Morph-X key, so if you didn't like the new keys, you can still have fun with just the red button. Sadly, we didn't get the Striker Morpher as a proper Morpher because it was instead used for the Nerf line; while it's fine to do that, I'd rather we get one with electronics and all the details you'd need from it. Alas, history repeats itself, and the 6th Rangers are shafted as they have been since RPM. Still, we have a new wrist-mounted changer not seen in Go-Busters, that being the Beast-X King Morpher. It's 10 dollars less than the Beast-X King Morpher, but does it still have the same levels of quality from the first toy, or will it be a more simplistic offering?

Here is the Beast-X King Morpher in-hand. As you can see, it's clearly themed after the King Zord that debuted around the same time as this Morpher. Now I'm going to say this right off the bat: This isn't used to morph a Ranger into their Beast-X mode (as the Beast-X Visor is used in the show), nor is it used for an American-exclusive Ranger (the latter would have been cool). Instead, its main purpose is to summon the Beast-X King Zord. Setting that aside, the design of this Morpher is done very nicely. It's may not fit in with the aesthetics of Beast Morphers/Go-Busters given how tech-based it was, but it's still a design done very well. I think Hasbro's new weapons are the ones that take advantage of the animal theme more than what Toei and Bandai had in mind for their stuff, but it's not a bad thing because Hasbro still kept the tech theme intact (even if the spy stuff wasn't quite prominent), and hey, the new additions still keep the tech theme involved, as the new weapons themed after the Red Ranger and the King Zord still look futuristic and high tech rather than outright animalistic like with the weapons used in Wild Force or Jungle Fury. 

The side view continues the rest of the lion theme with a more prominent side profile of the lion head as well as the mane. In both views, the toy reminds me of the Lunar Caller from Wild Force and the Robo Morpher from Megaforce, except it's only arm-mounted (which the Lunar Caller can be at times). Some may find the yellow plastic on the mane and nose don't match up with the yellow paint added on the blue plastic, but it's nowhere near as bad as I thought. Still, it gives me the impression that an American-exclusive Ranger was supposed to use this. Maybe it'll happen, but we'll see (because Kristina Ho said Betty would be the Green Ranger of the team, and hopefully one with a new suit that doesn't rely on reused assets).

Weirdly, the jaw of the Morpher can open slightly, but it doesn't really have a purpose since it's not used in the morphing gimmick, and the mouth already looked open, to begin with. Maybe it was supposed to, but Hasbro scrapped it due to how hard it'd be for it to open while a user's wrist is in the way. Oh, and if you were wondering, you can still move it around and it'll make punching noises, though it's nowhere near as sensitive as the Beast-X Morpher. The first try gives you "Activate Beast-X Mode" along with a shorter tune from the first Morpher when you "unleash the beast", though doing it again gives you the same "Virus eliminated!"

If you press the nose, the mane would frail outwards and play a sound that goes "Rangers, power up!" from a voice that could be of Rorrie D. Travis or a soundalike, followed by "Power Rangers Beast Morphers" from the show's theme and a randomized sound effect of a lion's roar. Following that, more lion sounds can be heard as well as a sneezing sound from what could be the King Zord's voice if it was from the Morpher. Pressing the clear button on the head gives you sounds like "Go Go Power Rangers!" from the theme song, recycled sounds from the Beast-X Morpher (consisting of "Rangers, it's go time!", "Let's Go!", "It's Morphin Time!") and new sounds from Devon Daniels ("Rangers, power up!", "Activate Beast-X Mode!", "It's Morphin Time!"). 

Here is the Morph-X key it comes with, themed after the Morpher and Zord that said Morpher is designed after. The paint apps include the blue for parts of the face and the red eyes. Now there's a pretty clear discrepancy between the key blade and the face of the key, which is paler than the blade of the key.

The key blade flips out like always with these Morph-X keys, though the face of the key looks like a camel face.

When you insert the key into the Morpher, you'll get a confirmation sound, followed by the same Devon voice clip saying "It's Morphin' Time!", and a small instrumental of "Go Go Power Rangers" from the morphing theme. Then, it'll play voice clips meant for the Lion Zord by saying "Activate Beast-X Mode!" followed by a lion's roar. When you press the head's button, you get "It's Morphin Time", "Defenders of the Grid", and "Deploy Beast-X King Zord" as the new voice clips. You get a more standard PR Morpher sound when the key is removed than the generic sounds used on the Beast-X Morpher.

Ranger sounds are associated with the green eyes (the same applies to the head's button).

Villain sounds are associated with red eyes, which this Morpher still has the compatibility.

Lion sounds are associated with both LEDs, which in this image has the red surrounding the green.

Fans should know this Morpher is not accurate to the show. This is the in-show version, which is basically a retool of the Beast-X Morpher with a Tategami Li-Oh head replacing the original changer's dial and button/key slot. While the toy still looks good despite being inaccurate, it does miss out on the flip-up visor, which does make the design feel closer to the Beast Morphers aesthetic. Even with this inaccuracy on the toy, both that and the show prop look good.

Here it is next to the Beast-X Morpher from the last year. You can definitely tell that the King Morpher looks as though it belongs to another season with its more prominent animal theme, as it has more of a lion-head motif rather than the wrist-communicator/spy visor approach with the Beast-X Morpher. Also, the colors certainly fit more for a Sixth Ranger while the Beast-X Morpher better fits the standard uniformity seen in almost every Ranger Morpher on the main team (with the exceptions being Dino Thunder and Jungle Fury due to their cosmetic differences being a little more prominent).

The way each Morpher works is about the same since they both utilize the motion-activated sounds, though the morph gimmicks are different as the King Morpher has the lion mane flail outwards while the Beast-X has the visor flip out. I also like that the King Morpher can make its flail open without the use of a key, and I guess that bit from the theme song makes up for the lack of a proper Morph jingle. The only thing that King Morpher doesn't have is the voice-activated Morph feature, which was something neat for the Beast-X Morpher but was a little inaccurate.

The keys are where things get interesting, as the orange demo key that came with the First Morpher has the same bumps as the King Morpher's key.

If you switch the keys, you get "Defenders of the Grid" for the first Morpher while the King Morpher's voice still plays with the demo key. I should mention that almost every sound that was used for the first Morpher is repurposed in the Beast-X King Morpher with some exceptions. As for the toy itself, while it's not really accurate to the show and could be better suited for an actual Ranger than go with just the Zord, this is a Morpher that is better done than I originally expected. It could have been on-par with something like the Lion Armor Morpher or the changers Sixth Rangers get that are low quality, but this toy exceeded my expectations quite well. Still, I do wish its sound effects were used for the normal Morpher, and I kind of wish the Beast-X Morpher could deploy its visor if its keys are inserted. I still wish Hasbro made a proper Striker Morpher so it could make for the perfect trio of mainline Morphers so fans won't be stuck with a Nerf toy or be forced to use the Japanese version, but until that day, at least the King Morpher manages to be as good as the Beast-X Morpher, and at 10 dollars less!

Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐