The Power Rangers and Ninja Turtles have teamed up once, with the Space Rangers clashing worlds with the cast in The Next Mutation. Now, the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers meet the team in a collab with Boom Studios and IDW Publishing. In this splinter timeline (har har), Tommy runs away after he was defeated in a version of Green With Evil, finds his way to New York City, meets a childhood friend, and gets his Power Coin taken away by Shredder; being the power-hungry freak that he is, Shredhead corrupted it and wore a version of the suit that's detached from the familiar Mighty Morphin design beyond the color and vague dragon influence. Later, when the Rangers lose their connection to the Morphin Grid, the Turtles decide to take over and morph into Power Rangers themselves. And after waiting for these sets to be discounted because some of these nearly cost $60, I finally own them!
Let's get ourselves started with not the leader of the Turtles but the team member that is associated with leadership because of the suit color: The Red Ranger. Raphael takes on the power of the Tyrannosaurus as his body is now covered in the spandex suit while the shell has been tweaked to add that Power Rangers influence with the gold coat of paint, the belt's Morpher, and the chest emblem. It makes for a great combination of Turtle Power and Ranger Power that results in an imposing look. He even has armbands for added protection. The only issue I have is that the knees and elbows are not a consistent shade of red in some lighting, with them looking pink occasionally.
The helmet sculpt captures that imposing look perfectly, as not only does it have the proportions reworked to fit the head shape better, but the inclusion of a blank mouth plate instead of lips as well as the piercing red eyes gives this guy an extra layer of intimidation not seen with the regular Red Ranger helmet. And in addition to the budget prioritizing the new sculpt and paint, likely due to Hasbro using the TMNT license as they don't own it, we get even more paint for the Power Scythes, inspired by the Power Sword, as well as two extra pairs of hands instead of just one pair (we get fists and splayed open hands), an effect piece for either scythe and an unhelmeted Raphael head!
Talking about Lightning Collection display options and articulation can get tiresome since it's usually the same body mold for the males and females, but it's nice seeing an unhelmeted head that isn't human or humanlike apart from someone like Cruger. Ralph's got snarling rage on him, perfect for his hot-headed personality. And the scythes store on the belt like they normally would. As for his articulation, while the arms, elbows, wrists, thighs, knees, boots, and ankles work the same as before, the head now has two ball joints rather than a neck with a hinge and a ball on top for the head. The butterfly joints are modified to work as they normally would by moving front and back while still being able to move up and down like on the old shoulder hinges found on Toy Biz Legends like Hawkeye as an example from Glenn Webb's review. The hips pose the same as always, but they now have drop-down hips which I believe some Legends have, like the Retro Collection Spider-Man I own. It's this added articulation that makes them more special, though PowerRangerGram did say they might feel fragile.
Also included with Raphael is a Foot Soldier, who uses the standard body mold associated with nearly every Male Ranger in existence. The chest armor, gauntlets, loincloth, and combination of purple and dark gray make the identity for the otherwise featureless fodder for the Turtles to beat up. While not the exact shade, I can see the gray being used for a Graphite Ranger in Dino Charge.
Head sculpt is featureless as mentioned before, but I like how there are creases in the fabric stretched over the head to represent a living, breathing person (though some Foot Soldiers are known to be robots). The eyes are red again, though he looks like he's bleeding a tear...? Anyways, the display options give him fists, a katana, a punch effect piece, two alternate unmasked pieces, a lightning effect piece, and a new Tommy head.
The effect pieces are nice to have if you want him to attack with or without a katana, but the display options for the mask are nice, so he can wear it while the rest of his face is exposed, or it can be all the way down! I wouldn't recommend army building since it's going to include duplicates of Raphael.
Let's go over one and a half of the remaining 2-packs since they're mostly similar. The other Turtle Rangers have the same modifications applied, though I like how in addition to Donatello and Michaelangelo having the Black and Yellow Ranger colors to sort of correlate with their purple and orange bandanas, respectively, Donny and Leonardo both have the slung-over sheaths for their weapons while Mikey, like Ralph, doesn't.
While the Turtles are known to each come with a pair of weapons, Donny comes with a normal Power Axe for a certain reason as we'll get to. It's the same as the one that the regular and Dragon Shield Black Rangers came with, only with more gray and less black and silver. But we also get effect pieces, alternate heads, and the same alternate hands for all three while Mikey and Leo come with their own twin weapons.
I like how we have alternate heads that come with not just different shades of green, but unique expressions added into the mix. Donny's got that hectic panic with goggles on his forehead, Leo's stern as the leader, and Mikey's a party animal! And like Ralph, their weapons can be stored away like their normal weapons would.
The continued weapon display options rules as always, as it's nice to see the Power Axe on a stick bo staff, the Power Lance as twin katanas, and the Power Daggers, now doubled like Ralph's weapons only this time conjoined, as nunchucks.
Now let's go from being shell-shocked to just shocked because we get a regular MMPR Pink Ranger...at first glance. While it seems unusual that she didn't get Turtlefied (since Venus isn't always canon), someone else takes the mantle. That being said, we get no skirt a la Dino Fury Green, a Power Morpher without Silver, a somewhat more consistent shade of pink, on the torso, and a more accurate helmet. At first, I thought the original helmet was accurate but turns out I was wrong because the Legacy helmet looked awkward on a skinnier body while this helmet is more stylized. The updated helmet is always appreciated, as ks a less pink shade on her belt. Her arrow is pink and bow grey instead of vaguely metallic gray for the former and white on the latter like with the original release, but the main display I'd give her is definitely the April O'Neil head, camcorder, and mic! She may not have the iconic raincoat, but she's still willing to report on the news while being a Power Ranger, so that counts as multitasking! My copy's eyes are painted slightly above the sculpting, so she looks a little tired.
Since most of these weapons still work the same way the original ones did, you can make a Power Blaster! Only one of Ralph's Power Scythes can go on, but while you lose the added firepower of the daggers turned nunchucks, it still looks like the combined weapon we know and love, although the combination of the painted yellow, gray bow, lighter blue, and lack of silver on all of the weapons except the scythe makes it look worse than the original one.
Regardless, it's cool how the Turtles and April can still make the weapon even if they've been tweaked somewhat to fit the context of the franchise these characters are from. And Leo gets to take the blaster since he's the leader.
It's even greater to have the heroes in a half-shell vibe with alternate heads for the characters. Obviously great to have the alternate heads for the in-show Rangers to recreate the promo pics and stuff, but the Turtles are way more unique in comparison! And the camcorder+microphone for April makes the display options even more interesting. I did wish she came with an extra pair of hands for when she's not pretending to be Kimberly under the helmet.
And finally, we got Shredder! This guy also gets a new sculpt, making for a more impressive body frame fitting for the character, while also combining the established design with the Green Ranger elements, from the armbands to the added gold and green, and from the Dragon Shield and Power Morpher to the redesigned helmet. His cape is still purple, but it still works with his color scheme, complete with the deliberate wear and tears he'd experienced. The only issue I have is the bands for the claws don't have the straps painted, but the figure is otherwise badass.
His helmet combined his signature kabuto helmet with what little remains of the Green Ranger design with the Dragonzord elements. It also reminds me of the 2003 version and a bit of the 2014 version with the face shrouded in darkness the equally badass red eyes. Since he has no other accessories, we'll cut (ha) to the fisted hands and claw slice effect pieces. Next to the Ranger whose powers were stolen from him, he's not only taller but also muscular, which reminds me of the scale and build that the Armored Hero Rangers from (Super) Megaforce and Dino Charge had back when Bandai used to make the toys and roid them out. One of my friends said that he wished the shade of green was brighter, and while it was more or less the same shade for both suits in the comics, the darker shade works for Shredhead if I'm honest. That being said, where is the black outline for the diamond?
These sets are glorious to own, especially for those who both love Power Rangers and Ninja Turtles. It also finally made me want to get the normal Ninja Turtles figures since I always wanted to own the characters but felt kind of nervous since the line history is harder to catch up with than the Power Rangers franchise. Even if you're not a big TMNT fan, you can pretend these guys come from a universe where THEY are the Power Rangers. Get these sets while they're still available at discount.
Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ and a half out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ for all of the sets
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