Power Rangers toy distribution sucks these days! Why is it easier to obtain the Lightning Collection than the mainline stuff?! I had to wait for these toys to pop up on Amazon and be sold at various prices, most of which are not consistent with what they intended. If you ask me, it's not fun in the slightest to catch up with them. That said, we've gotten ourselves 3 power ups and a troopbuilder in the form of the Hengeman. I'm surprised that we haven't been given that much marketing to the power ups compared to the second half of Beast Morphers, and it appears that the same applies to the promo art only showing the Red Ranger's Dino Knight mode being represented in contrast. This may be in reference to Dino Fury originally being a one-season wonder before it expanded to having 2 seasons given how transitionary things are from Saban Brands to Hasbro. But setting all of that aside, let's take a look at the figures in-hand!
Here are the four keys we have. You may already have these if you own the standard modes of the characters with a few differences here and here. Only the Hengeman's new, and he has the same sound effects as Void Knight's key.
For those wondering if there are any differences between these and the previous version in terms of the Rangers, I can only say that the Red Ranger key has fewer paint apps. I am not too big of a fan of these keys, and while people would say that the Ryusouls are the better versions, I'd agree had it not been for me both not giving a rat's ass on these collectibles in general as well as the Megazords having the best keys due to the articulated necks.
Here is the Dino Knight Red Ranger in-hand. He may not have the gorgeous metallic red paint applied on every part of him that's red, but he still looks amazing nonetheless. Max Ryusoul's such an amazing upgrade to the Red Ranger design, and it's no secret that dino-themed Red Rangers get radical upgrades. We've seen subtle ones for MMPR Red with the Dragon Shield and Dino Thunder Red with the Triassic mode, and within a close timespan, both Dino teams Charge and Fury have a striking appearance for their upgrades, and I'd say that this guy takes the cake with how knightlike it is. And hey, the name makes for a good compensation for anyone still mad that the show's not called Dino Knights. The onky real complaint is that the back of the knees should have some black paint since that's where the spandex mostly lies underneath the armor plating. Beyond that, I'm loving this version of the figure. Even his morpher is gold, which might be inaccurate but is still better than unpainted gray.
The helmet sculpt is an appropriately more aggressive version of the standard helmet that the suit already has. It's got some slightly misaligned placement for most of the paint apps, but at least it's not too severe compared to what would upset fans more in the Lightning Collection. His articulation has the standard ball-jointed neck, swivels for the shoulders and hips, secondary swivels for where the elbows and knees connect, and hinges for the elbows and knees proper. He has the Dino Knight Morpher as his sole accessory, which amusingly makes the second time a Red Ranger has a claw weapon for a Battlizer (though in the case of Beast Morphers, the Cheetah Claw is an American-exclusive weapon). Next to the original Dino Fury Red Ranger, it's quite clear that these two are not the exact same in terms of tooling, as the armor is all newly made for the Dino Knight mode in contrast to just having the parts added on the base figure like with Beast Morphers (though to be fair, they did retool the legs and some of the weapons).
Next up, we have the Dino Fury Green Ranger with the Sprint Sleeve. The figure is the same as with the original Dino Fury Green Ranger that came in a 5-pack last year, with her right arm being replaced with said sleeve armor. Gone is the regular green arm with a newly sculpted arm with a shoulder pad with a sticker to signify the upgraded she is wearing. I also have to say how neat it is to have a female Ranger without the skirt since that is quite rare apart from MMPR Yellow and any of the male Sentai turned female for PR (though I'm surprised that a basic MMPR Yellow wasn't made back in 2020!). The figure's proportions are still feminine in contrast to the male body, and it's more noticeable withotu the skirt when you look at her hips, yet it's much more natural than the unrealistic appearances of the Bandai females. The arm being gold is mostly accurate, though there should be some black under the sleeve, and her hand being green, yet at least the gold paint on the outer part of the armor helps make it pop a little more, and the blue eyes are a bonus.
Head sculpt is the same as the case for the regular Green Ranger helmet, with all of the right paint apps applied and their alignment being as good as they possibly can (then again more surface on the visor for Green than Red). Her articulation is the same apart from the shoulder spike inhibiting the outward movement of the shoulder. Her sole accessory is the Chromafury Saber, which is now molded in black plastic and has a silver painted blade. Not the best, but certainly more preferable than the dull gray weapon that Void Knight came with. I did kind of hope we'd get some custom weapons for her and Black, but that appears to not be the case. Shame because I did kind of dig the original weapons each Ranger has.
From there, it's her brother, the Black Ranger with the Shield Sleeve. Much like the Green Ranger, his right arm has been replaced with a newly sculpted one to depict the power up he receives from using the shield key. And it's got a rather jewel-like appearance on his arm if I'm being honest. I mean, it's not shiny or translucent but you get what I mean, right? Like the Green Ranger, his arms is colored differently from the rest of his body, and once again I kind of wish there was some paint that can break up the mostly blue arm.
Head sculpt is once again the same as the regular version, though my copy has some misaligned paint apps for the dino eyes which is pretty stupid. Apart from that his articulation and accessory are the same as his sister.
And finally, we have the Hengeman. After a strange absence of troopbuilders last year, we finally have one! And I'm quite happy to have this guy! I mean, it's rare that I have excitement for troopbuilders, but the Hengemen look pretty awesome with how much they remind me of guards, chess pieces, and having an origin of being good before Void Knight corrupted them in the present. The paint apps are thankfully applied well and crisp in addition to that, though I do not know why there is a hole on the back (assuming this was a flight stand sort of thing).
Head sculpt is very accurate to the on screen prop, and I appreciate that the black lines don't look like they're misaligned or sloppy when applied onto the head, though it does look a little dirty; almost like an unintentional drybrush. Some may find the grey plastic a little cheaper in terms of visuals, but I think it's not the weakest aspect of this toy. The articulation is the same as with every other figure in the wave, including outward leg movement! Yes, Hengeman has outward leg movement, which is something that every Beast Morphers villain and Dino Fury's very own Boomtower lacked! It's great that Hasbro went back and rectified this mistake. The weapons aren't anything too special. One's a staff and one's a shield with a subtle checkerboard pattern that does better reference the villains' chess elements.
Overall, this wave is not too shabby. Certainly great to have a newly sculpted Red Ranger with the Battlizer while the other Rangers get a mass retail release and new power ups to boot. The foot soldier getting enhanced leg articulation makes things even better! This wave is one I would recommend you get if you can somehow tackle the stupid ass lack of stock because these are harder to obtain than Lightning Collection somehow. I wish I was making that up.
Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
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