Jason David Frank has been one of the most influential individuals of pop culture, especially when it comes to tokusatsu. He was like Kevin Conroy, another big face of 90s media, where they would continue being brought back for newer projects for current generations to experience with older fans who grew up with these people in the past. JDF's character, Tommy Oliver, has been in all 3 seasons of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers as well as the 1995 movie, took on the fully-refreshed Zeo season, Shifted into Turbo for the first half of the season before passing the mantle to TJ Johnson, returned briefly in the Forever Red special during Wild Force, became a Ranger Mentor and a doctor in Dino Thunder, and made appearances in a few team-ups set in SPD, Super Megaforce with the Legendary Battle, and Ninja Steel's glorious Dimensions in Danger episode (one of the very few good episodes, in fact)...and that's not to mention him owning 5 Ranger forms (MMPR Green & White, Zeo & Turbo Red, Dino Thunder Black) as well as a fully evil alt-reality version of himself named Lord Drakkon. The legacy JDF left behind in the Power Rangers franchise is far greater than any other actor, and it was extremely heart-breaking to hear he took his life last year...two weeks after Kevin Conroy's unexpected death. To honor the great work JDF made, I want to take a look at the Lightning Collection Master Morpher for today's review; it was only he who taught me that anyone who dared to impersonate him is nothing but a cheap copy if they lack a Master Morpher like his. After that, we'll be taking a look at the reissued Dragon Dagger to show more love for Dr. O!
Here we have the Master Morpher in-hand. You already know what the Power Morpher looks like by this point if you are even faintly familiar with MMPR, especially when it is silver for the core team and gold for Tommy. However, what makes this version of the Morpher unique is the new detailing on the border surrounding where the Power Coin would go. Originally, there was the POWER RANGERS text that replaced the ZYURANGER KYORYU SENTAI text for obvious reasons, and the new detailing that was introduced to the Master Morpher makes it feel a little more technological in contrast to either prior take on the PR/Sentai text that made this design feel classically toyish. The black etching is still retained, and the back is the signature Z that was obviously part of Zyuranger but can be repurposed as Zordon. Hey, if they did the lightning bolts, the Sentai purists would be slamming their heads until they're reduced as pulps.
Also included is the usual belt buckle for the Master Morpher, which is the same as usual for the MMPR team as a hole. You can display it with the back, though it doesn't go all the way in. It is a hunk of plastic meant to clip on your belt but it is at least durable. Now for the electronics, you can press the red button without a coin to get a short circuited activation sound with a variety of LEDs in random colors shining through the clear green plastic. A shorter version of the sound plays when the plates are already opened. You get a simple closing sound without any additional sound effects whenever the plates are locked back in. Whenever the Morpher's plates get held down while you press the button, you get the following voice clip by Tommy Oliver, voiced by none other than Jason David Frank:
-"Haha! Go on! Keep trying! See what happens."
This replaces the whirling noise that was followed by Alpha 5 going "AYE-YI-YI-YI-YI!" heard in the original Power Morpher, which makes sense since having new sound effects for a special release like this means getting rid of Alpha 5 altogether. Besides, he had nothing to do with the Master Morpher anyhow.
Let's go over the Power Coins that come with this set! The first one is the Dragon Power Coin, which is the first version of the actual coin we get from Hasbro since we never had a regular Tommy Morpher. Inserting this coin plays a sound similar to the MMPR teleportation sound in a way, and the morpher's insides glow green, of course. Pressing the button plays the morph sound, followed by any of these voice clips:
-It's morphin' time!
-Green Ranger Power, now!
-Dragonzord!
-1993? It's morphin' time!
-Sometimes, the original is the best.
-Dragonzord Power, now!
Every few morpher plate clicks plays a voice clip that says "Don't worry, this is a good kind of green." before the deactivation sound is heard. Weirdly, after the morph sound but before the phrase, a brief flash of blue lights plays, and I wonder if it's my copy or a widespread thing. Anyways, the morpher's insides glow green with a humming sound playing before it deactivates again. Removing a coin results in a power down sound.
Up next, here we have the White Tiger Power Coin, which is another instance of us getting this before we get the proper Tommy morpher. The lights are now white this time around, though there is still a greenish tint through them because of the clear green plastic, and the following sound effects are as follows:
-Tiger Power, issaahhh!!!
-White Ranger, Tiger Power! *tiger growl*
-Now, I just need Saba, and the gang's back together.
-Isi-ayah! Tiger style!
-Alright, Saba, let's do it! *tiger growl*
-Oooohhhh, tiger style!
Every once in a while, when you close the morpher, you get him to say "Vanilla, chocolate, smoothies! From Ernie's juice bar! You know what I'm talking about." before the deactivation sound is heard. Of note, the morph sounds here are lower pitched than on the Dragon coin. I feel that some of the Tiger style phrases are a little odd, since there really wasn't much of an animal motif to his combat style when he was the White Ranger in Season 2.
And rounding off the MMPR trilogy is the Falcon Power Coin. Same song and dance with the past two coins, and the white LEDs in the case of the Tiger coin covered earlier. Its following sound effects include:
-Power up!
-Let's do it, guys!
-Ninja Ranger Power!
-Falconzord, now!
-Ancient powers of the ninjas gonna take you down!
-White Ranger, Falconzord!
Every once in a while, closing the Morpher results in a power outage sound before the deactivation sound is heard, signifying that it's time to go Zeo?
And here is some of the more exciting stuff for this set: first up, it's the power coin made for Zeo Ranger V Red! The red star in the center is painted on in a more traditional finish instead of looking metallic, but at least it is crisp and not misaligned. I also like that there is a lot of sculpted details that homages the collar detailing of the Zeo suits. Inserting the coin plays a few laser sounds befitting of the season, and the following voice clips are the following:
-Crystal power morpher! Zeo V! Activate!
-Zeo Ranger V! Now!
-You're in for a surprise! Isah! Iyah!
-It's time for the original to show you how it's done!
-Zeo Ranger V! Red!
-Time to show you how it's done! It's morphin' time!
While not shown in Dimensions in Danger, it is still cool to represent Turbo with this Power Coin. Inserting it into the morpher plays a power surge sound effect that I think I heard on some other toy, but it is still a cool one regardless. The following sound effects that are played include:
-Ready? Let's do it! Shift into turbo! *engine rev sounds*
-Can't slow down the Turbo Red Ranger!
-Red Lightning! Turbo Power now!
-Alright, guys! Shift into turbo! *engine rev sounds*
-Hahaha, nothing's gonna slow me down!
Some of these sounds come off more like whoever wrote them had a vague understanding about what Turbo really was as a season; speed really wasn't an ability that the Rangers had in the season. But at least we get a shout-out for Red Lightning.
And my personal favorite is the Dino Thunder coin! I like how if you ignore the context of Super Sentai (which I like to do to spite the Toku nerds), this logo can be seen as an homage to the Dragon foot print. Anyways, inserting the coin plays a key sound, which is quite fitting given what was used for Tommy's Brachio Morpher. The lights this time around are purple, which is a common stand-in for the color black in some cases. The following sound effects that play are:
-Dr. O, coming in!
-Brachio power, now!
-Alright knuckleheads, power up!
-Brachio power, coming in. Asi-ayah!
-Tommy Oliver, PhD.
-Dino Thunder, Black Ranger!
-Dr. O, coming right at ya! Ayah!
-Brachio power, now! (second time)
-Alright, cheeseball! Dino Thunder Black Ranger!
-Brachio power, coming in. Asi-ayah!
-First of all, don't call me dude. It's Oliver. Tommy Oliver, PhD.
This and the other two post-MMPR coins are the only ones to not have a bonus sound, but I am.nore upset that he didn't say "Dino Thunder! Power up!" properly, and I hope he isn't calling his teammates "knuckleheads". The Dr. O and PhD callbacks are appreciative, though.
The base that the Master Morpher includes is pretty basic. It's a lump of gray plastic with lightly etched in details to make it look rocky. Would have been nice for it to be painted with a wash but eh. It does have storage for the coins, so you can have them either in the front of the stand or inside a compartment.
In terms of mold history, this is the 2020 regular Power Morpher, of course themed after the MMPR team. It has silver paint on the plates, the traditional POWER RANGERS text, and the Dino Coins that are still die cast but are gold chrome instead of being painted metal. The base is more traditional in aesthetics, but the sound effects have either the same actors who played the MMPR team via archival footage or new audio, though soundalikes are a possibility given Thuy Thang died long ago on top of not every actor being as invested in returning to PR at the time (Amy Jo Johnson being an example). This one might get reissued so I could pick it up since I never saw this Walmart exclusive.
This is where things get weird, because what you see here LOOKS like the 1995 movie Pink Ranger Power Morpher, but it has the same coins from the previous version. Not even any Ninjetti coins are included, though all of the voice clips are of Kimberly. and each other coin that belongs to another Ranger plays voice clips of her talking to her teammates. This was part of the Too Much Pink Power deal where we got an MMPR Pink & Zeo Pink 2-pack, a cel-shaded Pink Ranger, and the helmet.
And finally, we have another sorta-kinda-but-not-marketed-as-such 1995 movie Morpher that is Yellow, and the voice clips are now of Trini, voiced by a sound alike. If I were Hasbro, I would have done a "choose your Movie Morpher" listing with two coins correlating to a specific Ranger, include the sound effects for every Ranger coin, make the Dino coins and Ninjetti coins each play exclusive sounds, and sell them for a lower price than what these sets usually cost. It might sound complicated but it could probably work so long as people get what they ordered. And hey, make a special deal where people can pay half to more than half of 6 Power Morphers if they buy a whole set.
Overall, I love the Master Morpher. While it is a pain in the ass to get nowadays, and there are some oddities with the voice clips, the fact that we get an even cooler option for Tommy Oliver's morpher instead of the usual one, AND the fact that Zeo, Turbo, and Dino Thunder get some love is a huge win for me. I know people will try to say that Legacy is better, and in some ways, it is, but this one is superior overall. It's just a shame that Jason David Frank is no longer with us, especially since he is seen as the face of Power Rangers to many. Between his numerous Ranger forms, the various adventures he partook in, and the impact he has from Green With Evil all the way up to Dimensions in Danger (sorry Once & Always), there will never be a Power Ranger, let alone a tokusatsu protagonist, like Tommy Oliver.
Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Up next, we have the Dragon Dagger. While the Master Morpher felt like a quality product, especially with the gold chrome plates and die-cast coins in metallic gold paint, this doesn't quite have the same synergy I'd hope to get, especially since this reissue popped up after I got the Master Morpher. Looks wise, it is on-model to the show prop, and nothing appears to be missing in terms of sculpted details. I do like the weathering effect in the blade to make it feel worn out, and I appreciate that the green in the blade is able to look opaque in spite of having lights and sounds. But while some of the gold paint looks fine, other parts look a bit butterscotch. It's a little shinier than what the Bandai Legacy Collection Gold Zeo Ranger was left with, but it's pretty close!
The back side of it is fairly consistent with the front side, though I have to admit I wish the coin didn't have the soundbox slits. The plastic quality feels a bit cheaper than I'd like. It's lighter than it looks, and the sculptwork looks kind of soft. I also wish the battery cover didn't disrupt the sculpt of the handle. So look-wise, it works fairly well, but it is missing that certain something.
This knob served as a bit of a battery cover for the Legacy version, but here, it can be twisted either left or right to activate certain modes, with a lever sound playing whenever you turn it on either side. On one mode, you can play your own tunes with the buttons of the Dragon Dagger or try and replicate how it played in the show. Alternatively, you can play either the summoning theme automatically, a brief instrumental of the MMPR theme, or another Dragon Dagger tune heard in the show. Pressing the small button in flute mode lowers the pitch of the audio while it plays alternate renditions of the MMPR theme that were from a Play-Doh promotional video of all things when Beast Morphers was new (dance club, non-rock, and lighter-than-Ron-Wasserman rock).
Since the sound effects are not easy to just describe in a review, I will link to another video:
The display base comes disassembled out of the box, and is comparable in quality to the one that came with the Master Morpher. But it looks fitting for a dagger display.
Of note, the Green Ranger emblem on the base is removable, but it serves no other purpose. Not a bad design, though. Also, the dagger lights up if you push the gold bit on the handle forward, which is neat even if the blade's edges also have the lights bleed through, though it may be intentional. I will say, however, that there was a missed opportunity for either attack sounds or motion-activated play features to kick in. At least something to make me want to hear clanking sounds or maybe unlock the Go Green Ranger theme! It's cool that we have non-intrusive a light-up feature, but it feels a bit incomplete with what else it can do.
And for people want a refresher on what the Legacy Dragon Dagger was like, this picture shows it with a ton of gold chrome and probably denser plastic from a visual point of view. For play features, it doesn't have lights, but it can also play some of the flute sounds of the Dragon Dagger in music mode (accessed by pressing down on the mouthpiece, with the renditions being a different pitch while the MMPR theme is complete. Still no Go Green Ranger, though. The dagger has attack sounds though they are typical of Bandai America's role play toys. So while play features are a win on Hasbro's for the most part, Bandai's does look better. It cost a bit more than the Lightning one, priced at either $79.99 or $100 depending on where it was sold between 2014 and 2018 (excluding aftermarket sellers). At around $70, the Lightning one is still good, but I know there are plenty of things it could have had to make it more worthwhile. Either die-cast, better gold paint, or motion-activated combat sounds to sort of help justify its $69.99 or $73.99 price tag would make me recommend it as much as that Legacy one. Heck, making it $10 less wouldn't hurt Hasbro much if they weren't adding die-cast to begin with! Overall, I still like it, but not to the same extent as the Master Morpher. It should be easier to obtain than the Master Morpher, that's for sure.
Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
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