Space Patrol Delta has more than one Megazord for the core team, especially given the series being one of the first examples of a full-on suit upgrade that is beyond what the Metallic Armor and Super Dino Modes contained; rather than altering the cosmetics lightly, SWAT mode gave the Rangers black armor throughout their suits, mics on their helmets, and upgrades weapons that made them ready to tackle heavier foes. The SWAT Megazord also works perfectly with the Time Force-esque fliers, has a sleeker design than the blocky Delta Squad Megazord, and can transform into a gun! Suck it, G1 Megatron! Let's take a look at this childhood gap of mine, which is finally getting its due. Also, does anyone find it weird that it's called the Supreme Megazord? Was using the term "SWAT" not suitable for this toy despite it being a recurring power-up in the latter half of the season?
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Here we have the SWAT Flyers as a group, each of them looking generally fitting for high-speed aerial combat and perfectly uniform with the black, silver, and specific Ranger color accents. The prominent black contrasts the use of white on the Delta Squad Megazord, and it makes me wish we saw this more in the night. Design-wise, I like how distinct these feel compared to the Time Flyers from Time Force, and these feel more futuristic than the preceding team's Zord aesthetics...though that could be due to SPD learning about Time Force when they traveled to the year 2001. The only design that looks odd would have to be SWAT Flyer 3, mostly due to the cockpit placement and how blocky it is on top of the wheels making it look more like some tank. Also, all of these have retractable landing gear that roll.
Swat Flyer 1 continues the trend of making the Red Ranger's Zord the torso as well as housing the electronics. It's amusing to have the sirens on an aerial vehicle, but maybe it could work if the Rangers tried chasing both Anakin and Obi-Wan as well as Zam Wessel during the first bit of Attack of the Clones. The only issue with this vehicle mode would be the pegs sticking out, which look uglier here than on the car Jack uses in the show. Other than that, the chrome on the badge is gorgeous and a reminder of this being unchanged on the US version.
Speaking of Episode 2, SWAT Flyer 2 normally has a shape comparable to the Republic Attack Gunships shown in Geonosis, but the vehicle's wings can fold up when storing it in the command center. I hate how storing it in the plastic baggie warps the guns inwards, something that can be fixed if you don't use them.
SWAT Flyer 3's shape already looks weird for a flying vehicle, but the storage mode is even stranger when you have to split it in half and reattach the two parts at the ends. I bet you can make a wackier design if you attach two of these together.
SWAT Flyers 4 and 5 are the smallest, but they managed to add as much paint to keep them from being lost underneath the prominence of the other Zords. 4's rear landing gear doesn't fold away, so it ends up leaning forward somewhat. Still, it's yellow at least keeps its presence in the combination prominent unlike the lack of pink on the 5th Flyer. Not that it's a bad thing but it is an observation given how Pink Ranger Zords normally aren't entirely...well, pink.
Combining them into the gun mode is something they normally do after getting in Megazord mode, but I want to bring it up now because of how awesome it is. You twist the feet backwards, attach the guns in the back of the legs as a stand, sandwich the wings of Flyer 2 together, and flip what will be the Megazord thighs out so the legs can slide in place. Flyer 2 has a clever mechanism where it slides in place and locks underneath Flyer 1. This gun mode may seem like part of the trend where PLEX aims to do more with a toy than they need to, but you get a sense that given how the SWAT mode has big guns as part of their theme, this mode feels like it was deliberately made during development rather than when they got the final toy in-hand (MMPR Megazord tank mode). The boosters repurposed as gun barrels, Flyer 2 being a gun handle, not to mention a trigger was added for said Zord. While the light and sound action is always a treat, I wish we either got additional sound effects for the blaster. A charge up sound would be ideal. Still, a neat gimmick regardless.
One thing worth mentioning is that you can separate Flyer 2 from the rest of the gun to recreate the part where Sky and Jack split up after the latter goes inside his suicide mission in destroying the meteor from hitting the city. The larger component should face the other way but at least like this, they're going separate paths till they reunited.
As for the Megazord mode, it mostly works the same as the Delta Squad Megazord, but this time, the head rises from within the back of Flyer 1 by pushing on the nosecones. I love that the neck rotates in addition to the horn reveal. The resulting proportions are stumpier than they normally are in the show, but the pseudo wingspan made by Flyer 2 results in more unique design than what we normally see in PR/Sentai mech design. As mentioned before, the prominent black and silver accents add a more stealth-ops vibe to the overall color scheme, in contrast to the more daytime-friendly Delta Squad Megazord. It is amusing how thin the profile is compared to the front of the Megazord. It makes me wonder how an updated version would look if we get one from either Super Mini-Pla or Hasmates. Articulation is the same at the arms and legs, but the neck rotation adds a few more unique display options, especially for photography as he shows off his wicked lights and sounds.
For a comparison with B-Squad's standard Megazord, the two contrasting designs add to the versatility that both Mecha display, from the well-rounded versatility and weapon variety of Delta Squad to the the sleekness and aerial efficiency of SWAT. Regardless, neither one is more important than the other, since they'd occasionally revisit Delta Squad for the Deltamax combination with the Omegamax Megazord.
One thing that Bandai Japan marketed was the ability to swap limbs between both Megazords, something that wasn't featured in the show but still a great gimmick regardless. It does show the contrasting color combos between each torso wearing their unintended limbs. Overall, the SWAT Megazord is a badass design overall, and the play features combined with its appearance results in a Top 10 entry in my opinion. Don't skip out on it if you want to get this design in your collection. And hey, with the US version being the same as the Japanese version, maybe calling it the Supreme Megazord makes sense in retrospect given it's overall quality.
Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
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