The A-Squad Rangers are some of the best things about SPD, helping it stand out further from Dekaranger with its traitorous original team of Power Rangers. They stood out from the B-Squad because of their harsh attitude towards who they think is second best, in addition to them wanting to be on the winning team as they stuck with Grumm during their long absence. I dug how they also had the In Space helmets in spite of the Black Ranger being repainted as the Green Ranger. Their outfits were pretty much biker gear with the altered helmets, but they're the best evil Ranger suits meant for a specific team for the US compared to the MMPR Zedd Rangers. I know SPD loved reusing the Space helmets (also shown with the Orange Ranger for one episode), but it kind of works as a way to have SPD as being inspired by the Space Rangers. So with all that said, let's see how the first ever figures of them have to offer!
Here are the Skittles Rangers together, and yes, Blue is missing from the team due to him being already available in a 2-pack with the B-Squad Blue Ranger. Two of them are guys and two of them are girls. While Green, Yellow, and Pink are fitting for their body types, Red should probably be a little more in-between the frames of the male and female sculpts. Honestly, with how cost-effective the Lightning Collection is with usually reusing the core body with some differences here and there for the season-specific suit details, I do wish we'd get a broader female sculpt to go with the leaner Ranger sculpt that the Omega Ranger has. It'd be especially fitting for Time Force Yellow due to Katie being a genetically enhanced Ranger. They each have the same details and traits carried across from figure to figure, from the A-Squad markings for the knee pads and shoulder pads to the SPD logos on the chests in addition to the appropriate belts. Pink's vest has some of the paint scratched out of the package which is nothing good, Hasbro. Otherwise, they're basically the same except for the respective colors and helmets.
The helmets are pretty much accurate for 3/4 of them, with Red, Green, and Yellow having the same helmet-types that were brought over from the Space Rangers, though they have the additional helmet pieces that go on the back and the POLICE badges on the foreheads. The Black Ranger is obviously repainted to be green, and speaking of repainting, instead of actually using the proper Pink Ranger helmet like they did in the prototype and promo images, Hasbro instead went with the Red Ranger helmet and painted it pink despite them having an ALREADY AVAILABLE helmet. This ain't as bad as the betrayal of Bandai America where their Gold Zeo Ranger was butterscotch instead, but why have the helmet be a pink recolor of Red's helmet when the already existing helmet for the Pink Ranger was there around the same time? I'd understand that maybe that wouldn't be the case if the Pink Ranger wasn't out yet, but A-Squad Pink and In Space Pink were released around the same time, and with something like this, there is NO excuse.
Their articulation is the same as we've seen before, though of course, each guy the double-elbow joints and bicep swivels while every girl has the combined take of the two joints with the elbow swivels. They have the same alternate fists, the same blasters with the respective color highlights for each ranger, and the same design for the blasts but in their respective colors. I added the Blue Ranger from the 2-pack because he had to complete the team. So let's talk about how weird he is compared to the others: his visor outline is white instead of silver, the helmet appears to have a more noticeable etch between the visor and the outline, and his effect piece is a yellow-green in-between the shades of the other male A-Squad Rangers instead of being a proper blue like his colors are in general Even the PVC materials used for the belt and chest armor are a different shade of gray, being much flatter and not as metallic as with the other A-Squad members. With how prominent the differences are between the Blue Ranger and the rest of the A-Squad, one wonders how far in development the rest of the team was in before or after the 2-pack was made. As a team, they look awesome and are humorously a complete set compared to the B-Squad, who is currently missing its own Yellow Ranger. So while I do recommend this wave of figures since they're the first official A-Squad Power Rangers in plastic form, I will admit that they aren't 100% perfect, between their issues holding the weapons for the guys, Red requiring a body that better matches her physique in the show, and Pink both having the scratched paint apps and the wrong helmet.
Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐ and a half out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
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