Power Rangers Lightning Collection S.P.D. B Squad Blue vs A Squad Blue review

Space Patrol Delta is fucking awesome! It's got great characters, a unique setting, and a presence within the show that makes Power Rangers feel less like Teen Titans (which is not an insult to TT btw) and more like the main source of justice. Hell, it's crazy to go from seeing the Command Center with beep-boop control panels to a base that turns INTO a Megazord! The thing that stood out to me the most was the inclusion of another team of Rangers, the A-Squad! They're higher-up Power Rangers, their suits have the In Space helmets with tweaks here and there, and they have black spandex suits with color-coded armor as well as guns that feel a little less toyetic. The B-Squad took them down in the show since they turned out to be evil characters, and the team we saw throughout the show accepted that it's not the ranking that matters but being remarkable heroes. And now we've got yet another B-Squad Ranger as well as our first-ever A-Squad action figure!

Much like Wave 7 and Psycho Red (as well as the monsters I don't have), we have these guys in the Spectrum subline, which consist of unchanged toys with shiny packaging and package art facing each other.

Here is the Blue Ranger in-hand, who is mostly similar to the Red Ranger we covered but with a 2 on his chest, he's blue, he's got a helmet of his own, and his belt's different. Specifically, his holster's different from Jack's, which were originally regular ones made for his Delta Blasters like the holster of a normal gun; Blue's holsters are made for the Deltablast Knuckles and Strikers, which we'll get to in a bit. Beyond that, this guy's appearance is just as good as with Red.

Helmet sculpt looks good but I do find the white outlines jarring because they're a little thicker than they should be, but they also contrast the silver from Red. Why this is done is beyond me, but it's like choose one or the other, Hasbro! Oh and his articulation is the same as with the Red Ranger, though the arms don't go all the way down for some reason while the hands he has right now are made to hinge up and down instead of in and out.

Here are the accessories he comes with, which are his civilian head, two versions of the Deltamax Striker, a right hand for holding the Delta Morpher, the Deltamax Knuckle, an effect piece, and a left hand that's reused like with most Rangers.

The display options are pretty sweet, though the civilian likeness to Sky is kind of funny. He looks more like he's got his eyes open and has the kissy lips to him. It's not a bad head but it is kinda funny. Oh and you can easily swap heads with the Red Ranger and make him Red if you want to recreate one of his legendary moments in his show when he used Jack's Delta Morpher and became the Red Ranger (which he'd later be the new Red Ranger when the series ends while Bridge became the Blue Ranger.

Speaking of which, here we have the Blue Ranger next to the other current members made so-far! Part of me thinks that Sky's body frame is slightly different from Jack, though I know that Sky's 6 feet tall while Jack's 5'8". Thankfully, both are the same height with the Omega Ranger while the Shadow Ranger's taller than both, which is correct because of his character height in the series being an imposing figure. Now I can't wait for the rest of the team to be complete (even if we don't do all 10 Rangers shown in SPD I'd be happy with the core 5 as well as Shadow and Omega).

And here we have the new Hasbro Blue Ranger along with my old Bandai figure as well as the Figuart that I don't have. The old toy is part of my childhood without a doubt, and I love the plastic it has kinda more than the slightly rubbery materials used on modern figures. Still, as nostalgic as it was, he's pretty dated in terms of his physique being pretty muscley and has darker colors that don't look accurate. The Figuarts version may have the better paint apps and I do believe scales better with the rest of his team because Deka Blue was a taller Ranger like Sky was, but he did look too smooth and skinny, and as toyish as some of the joints look, Hasbro's figure balances both form and function quite well if you ask me.

And here we have the A-Squad Blue Ranger. Finally, a member of the American-exclusive Ranger team is made, especially when we never had ANY merchandise of them in terms of action figures like with the Psycho Rangers. While the Psychos received figures in the Bandai Legacy line (except for the girls), Hasbro is the first company to make a member of the A-Squad, and I feel they nailed the appearance! The armor is modified motocross gear to be color-coded as well as have the SPD-markings as well as the A's on the shoulders and even the kneepads. Definitely shows how big they are on their rankings, and I'm honestly fine with the motocross armor being a light gray with a faint shine to it is fine, but the back could probably go for more paint apps (at the same time I don't mind it since his back not being detailed isn't as concerning as a more prominent Power Ranger.

Head sculpt is an altered version of the Space Ranger helmet, though his molding for the helmet is slightly different from the two Space Rangers made so far, as his visor appears to have an out-line that neither Ranger has and his cranium has the badge of Space Patrol Delta. I kind of wish the outline of the visor was silver instead of white...actually would Hasbro do that for the Blue Space Ranger? And would Hasbro just remove the added head piece and paint the badge black? Oh and his articulation is the same as with every Rangers.

Here we have his accessories, which are a blast piece, a paintball gun with an SPD badge, and two fists.

While the display options are limited, there's not much that he needs because he's already complete to me...though maybe an alien head would be cool to have so we can have a distinct civilian head for this guy. 

And that leaves us with the 2-pack covered! I love how it turned out, even with the small imperfections. Everything about this set makes me happy to further complete my SPD team and own an A-Squad Ranger! We got a good cop and a bad cop, a B-Squad member and an A-Squad member, a future Red Ranger and a corrupt criminal in a containment card! But one thing I like about this set is that it reminded me of what SPD taught me: it's not the ranking that matters but the actions of a good person. Sky is a good person, and without the A-Squad rank to worry about, he was given better awards for his actions as being not just a Red Ranger but also become the Deka Ranger! B-Squad is awesome! Oh and I recommend you get this set, regardless of the packaging type!

Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ and a half out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Power Rangers Lightning Collection In Space Red Ranger vs Astronema review

There have been a pair of 2-packs already and I've got plenty of ideas for which characters can be paired up with one another. I came up with the likes of In Space Silver vs Psycho Silver, Time Force Pink vs Ransik, Wild Force Lunar Wolf Ranger vs Zen-Aku, a Thunder Ranger team-pack, Triassic Ranger vs Mesogog, Dino Thunder Black vs Zeltrax, Red Mystic Ranger vs Korragg, Samurai Red vs Deker, and a Megaforce Red/Robo Knight team-pack. These allow you to better boost your collection count without having to worry about individual releases and even give you villains that we'd never get in the line. It's something I've always love since the concept began, and I love the versus-packs even more with the 2020 releases because of what we got. Let's take a look at the siblings of Power Rangers in Space, which consist of Andros the Red Space Ranger and Astronema!

This set was given a Spectrum variant, which much like the Wave 7 figures, consists of unchanged toys that have new, shiny packaging in black with colorful foil details and altered package art that depicts the characters facing a different direction. While the regular releases depict the package art with 3-quarter profiles of the heads and the original 2-packs depicting the characters with forward-facing heads, the Spectrum line has the characters facing the entire left or right (which makes sense for the 2-packs as it's got Andros facing against his sibling). Almost reminds me of the Yes Chad memes that make me want to photoshop Dino Thunder Red saying "STFU I'm not reading all that).

Here is Andros the Red Space Ranger in-hand. This guy has one of the more basic suit designs of all of PR, as you have a basic helmet with a mostly color-coded spandex suit and a chest decal that has the five colors. It's really hard to screw up the Space Ranger suits, and we don't really get many issues with Hasbro's take on the Red Ranger. If anything, he has about everything I'd expect from him, including the holster in the right spot and so on and so forth.

Head sculpt looks a little off to me. Like when viewed from the sides, the helmet looks good; when viewed from the front, the visor shape looks slightly off, and almost liek a bootleg version of the toys that keep on reusing the Red Space Ranger design if they're not content with mimicking some of the Disney-Era stuff. Also, while there are some panel-lines, there are none that truly show he's got one for the visor so they made it hard to add it properly. Adding to that are the paint application methods used for the white outline being two different parts. The articulation is the same as with every male figure, so no need to go over it here.

Here are the accessories he comes with, which are the Spiral Saber, the Astro Blaster, a civilian head, and two alternate hands.

The display options are always neat, though I was first doubtful on how the Andros head would look because of the beige hair details on him not looking right. His Astro Blaster and Spiral Saber look fine as they are (though the Bandai Legacy one looks even better). Of course, the Toku fans would act like the inability to separate them into two guns or combine them with the weapon is a massive turn off from buying the set. Here's the truth: it's more important for SPD Red's Delta Blasters to combine than for this guy's basic pistol and drill on a stick.

Here is Hasbro's Red Space Ranger next to the other versions of the character. I've gotta be honest and say that the Bandai Legacy version was pretty good overall, what with the helmet details and the more pronounced chest pattern. They both have different approaches to the white shoulder details, though the more perfect appearance of said details lies somewhere in-between. The Action Hero one was a good toy overall, and one that was great to own for fans to at least have every Red Ranger (aside from Lauren) on the same scale and style to match up with the 20th-anniversary lineup. The old 1998 toy is dated as hell and also began the trend for Bandai's love for more pronounced muscles (which are more defined than the ones that were on the 8-inch figures).

Here is Andros next to Ashley. These two look great together, though I'm pretty sure Andros being 5'10" and Ashley being 5'8" might throw this scale somewhat off. Also, I just noticed that Andros's suit has a yellow...handkerchief?...while Yellow's is gold. Pretty cool!

And now onto Astronema, the sister of Andros once named Karone. One thing I love about these recent 2-packs is the fact that while we had versions of Andros and Sky in the past, these sets are the first time we've gotten Astronema, and as I'll showcase tomorrow, the A-Squad Blue Ranger. This Astronema figure uses the female Ranger body, which does make sense, but Hasbro did give her some new forearms and some chest armor to better reflect her appearance. The leg brace is a separate piece. While the chest armor could be a little shinier, it at least has a faint metallic look to it, and I like the included necklace.

Her head sculpt looks perfect to her appearance in the show, with a strong likeness, a headband, the gold on her hair, and the hair itself has some dry-brushing to make it look like the blue hair she had in the show instead of blue plastic. Her articulation is the same as the rest of the female figures, though much like with Ranger Slayer, her ankles swivel as well as hinge and pivot because she has no designated boot that can swivel. And weirdly she looks like she's running weirdly or something. Additionally, turning her head is hard to do because of how stiff the hair is.

Here are the accessories she comes with her Wrath Staff, two fists, a boomerang, and her lightning effect part which is pretty big to compensate for her height (don't even joke about it).

Maybe I'm an idiot, but I can't seem to get the lightning piece to look good on her staff. It's just too big and kinda hard to make it look convincing. If you thought the lightning effect piece was too big, then take a look at how Drakkon Evo 3's stuff looked.

And here we have Astronema next to not just the Ranger she attempted to hide as, but also a Marvel Legends gal in the form of Domino! Many complained about how Astronema looked a little too petite, and it especially shows when put next to Domino. The thing that many don't know is that the girls in general are shorter than the guys. It's like that sometimes, but I'd rather we don't have every female Ranger in the same height, especially if you consider how some are taller than others or are of different age. One Ranger that stands out to me is Katie Walker of Time Force fame; she is a bigger Ranger than most females are, and I'd really be disappointed if Hasbro reused Trini's body instead of making a new mold that's feminine but still accurate to her appearance in the show.

So what do I think about this 2-pack? It's a solid one, though one that kind of has a few imperfections for each figure. Mainly it involves Red's helmet looking slightly off, Astronema's height, and now that I'm thinking about it, maybe Andros could go for a different body frame. And as mentioned earlier, with certain rangers having certain body frames, I do hope we get a Time Force Yellow that feels correct to her proportions in the show and a Super Megaforce team that doesn't feel too much like a group of martial artists. I say that because while the Ranger body we have here fits Jason, Tommy, etc well, it doesn't feel too right for Andros. Maybe TJ would wear it better.

While there are imperfections to this set, it's still neat to own a version of Andros as well as having our first Astronema ever. And what better way to make a two-pack than with the siblings shown from In Space? This is a set you should get, but know of the flaws worth mentioning.

Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐ and a half out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Power Rangers Lightning Collection Wave 7/Dino Charge Black Ranger review

We've gotten so deep into the Lightning Collection that at this point, we've gotten 7 waves out as well as a handful of 2-packs and even a few exclusives! The thing I love most about the line is the selection of Rangers to get within a single wave; on top of that, there is no Build-A-Megazord needed to wait for other figures from a specific team to get, which is fine by me. All this and the balance between having at least one member of Mighty Morphin as well as a fan-favorite Ranger and even a villain on the occasion is something that puts a smile on my face. That being said, Wave 7 certainly went a little too heavy on the Mighty Morphin yearn. Like it was fine to have two MMPR-related characters with White Ranger and Zedd in Wave 1 and the Red Ranger with Lord Drakkon in Wave 3, but three characters, with one of them both being a repeat AND a version of Tommy, is pushing it. Still, I've got another Ranger to replace him and keep the balance between Mighty Morphin and two Dino seasons. Let's see what we've got for Wave 7!

Before we continue further with the review, Target randomly decided to make a special packaging variant wave called "Spectrum", which gives them different package art a la how they did with Star Wars events. Unless you're a completionist or don't mind the unique packaging contrasting the rest of the line, then you can stick with the regular versions if you already got them.

Let's get Mighty Morphin' Green out of the way. We last had a version of the character in the line back in 2019 where he was in a 2-pack with a regular Putty; that was the Fighting Spirit version of the character, depicting him with the Silver Stripe on his helmet as well as a white holster that was on the right hip and even a Power Morpher that was silver (or white on this version). I'll get to the comparisons in a moment, but this guy is basically a standard version of the Green Ranger, and I'm sure everyone will love him because he's the Oh-Gee Green Ranger and Taw-Me 4 Life and all that shit. I think he's still a nicely done figure, though there are some things that I'd need to mention. This guy doesn't have the white diamonds (which is more hurtful if you want to take the shield off somehow)...

...and the helmet, despite being the same sculpt and whatnot, trades the silver stripe in favor of a silver visor trim. This guy easily could have just ditched the silver stripe and be left with a white outline that still has the silver teeth, but the silver visor doesn't look as good as it does for MMPR Red. The articulation on the Green Ranger is the same as with every other male Power Ranger in the line, consisting of a ball-joint for the neck to turn and tilt as well as a hinge to look up and down; arms move around but are slightly hampered by the armor, while the biceps swivel, the elbows bend at two points, and the wrists both swivel and hinge. There is a diaphragm joint that moves around fluidly, butterfly joints, and an ab-crunch underneath the diaphragm joint; hips move front and back, in and out, swivel at the thighs, bend at the knees, swivel at boots, and the feet hinge down and up as well as pivot side to side.

Here are the accessories he comes with, which are a green lightning piece, the civilian head based on his look from Green With Evil, the Dragon Dagger, two alternate hands (one for playing the tune, and the other for a fist), and a Sword of Darkness. Most of these are the same accessories that came from the Fighting Spirit version, though Tommy's head is new.

The display options are nice as always, and it's so refreshing to have Tommy with a different head style that isn't the same head that came with the White Ranger. Otherwise, the Dragon Dagger pose and the Sword of Darkness pose feel like I took the same pics from the original toy and digitally altered the cosmetics.

For a comparison between this and the other Green Ranger we got in the line, you can see that the cosmetics are the sole differences between the two. The Fighting Spirit version has the silver stripe while the Legacy one doesn't yet the visor is more silver on the regular Green Ranger while it's more detailed on the Fighting Spirit version; the golds on the Dragon Shields might be slightly different, but more noticeable differences include the belts having different holster placements (on top of the holsters being of a different color), and the Power Morphers are colored differently. Some say that the shades of green are different between the two, but I really can't see it unless someone puts them under specific lighting.

And here is the Green Ranger with the rest of the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers! I remember back in 2010 when the MMPR revision toyline had the 4-inch figures and I wanted to complete the team, and then there were the expensive AF Figuarts, and then there were the Action Heroes in the Legacy line that were hard to find because I had no Toys R Us near me, then there was the Legacy Collection which had missed opportunities (I bought the Metallic line but got a regular White Ranger and no Green Ranger)...but with the Lightning Collection, I am quite happy with how the toyline turned out. And as you can tell, I've also given the Red Ranger a proper helmet from a spare Dino Team Pack version of himself.

With this being based on the Green with Evil Tommy, you can have him fight Jason like days of old or even have a Tommy vs Tommy fight by having him go up against the White Ranger like in Season 2!

And for more comparisons, here is the Green Ranger with the other versions of the character (the only other one I have is the Super Megaforce Action Hero). That version was pretty much fine for what it is. The Legacy Collection version was pretty good overall and was also one of the better Legacy figures in the line, what with the gold paint on his chest armor, the accessories he has, and the overall quality he has. The S.H. Figuarts Dragon Ranger is pretty good, too, and I'm sure it's got the more accurate shade of green to the suit. Super Legends is still good even with the lesser articulation. His chest armor even comes off! This Green Ranger figure is pretty much fine but I do question stuff like the silver visor trim and the removal of the chest diamonds. The new Tommy head is neat but I gotta take more points off for the hands being slightly fragile because the joints aren't glued properly. Sorry, Tommy.

Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐ and a half out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Next up, it's Dino Thunder Red! A sentimental favorite of mine, it's great o see this guy pop up in the line, especially considering how we're starting to get towards completing Dino Thunder. This guy thankfully had very little that got screwed over, as I love the gold he has as well as the white diamonds being applied as well as they could on a 6-inch action figure. I also appreciate the Morpher both being painted red (to help me complete the details myself) as well as the correct design. There's not much else to say about the back, though I wish the shoulder diamonds would be more prominent. There is a slight paint mistake on the chest emblem, but it's otherwise spot on. The only real eyesore are the red pins sticking out on the diamonds, which should be painted white.

Head sculpt is perfect, in terms of proportions, though the visor trim is silver instead of white. At first, I thought it'd look bad on him because it's inaccurate, but it kinda works when it's under a well-lit area. His articulation is the same as ever, but with no shield to get in his way.

Here are the display accessories he comes with, which are the Tyranno Staff, two versions of the Thundermax sidearm, a Connor McKnight head, two alternate hands, and a flaming effect piece.

I gotta be honest and say that the likeness to Connor isn't there, as he looked more like a babyface in the show while this head looks more like a young Michael Bay. Still better than the Rocky head, but it kinda hurts that one of my favorite Red Rangers ever has a face that looks nothing like James Napier to go with the voice of Tyler's dad that sounds nothing like Connor either. As for the display options, they're neat as always, but I wish the Thundermax side arms would have either a darker blue or silver paint for the middle portion of the gun. As for the Tyrannostaff, it's nice and long (that's what she said), but while I'm fine with it not having the diamonds around it, I do wish the Dino head would have more paint to have it stand out.

Here is Dino Thunder Red along with the other Tyranno Rangers of Red as well as Beast Morphers Red, recreating a famous promo shot used for their team-up (though it's actually from Kyoryuger vs Go-Busters). I'm happy to own all of the 4 Red Rangers that showed up in the team up, though it's funny how Dino Charge Red and Beast Morphers Red were the first to show up (which I'm sure annoyed the MMPR-only noobs), but I did expect Dino Thunder Red to be the fourth guy to show up because of the Disney Era not getting as much attention as the other eras (at least SPD got love early on).

Here is Dino Thunder Red next to his fellow teammates, which are the Blue Ranger from the Triple Dino 3-pack and the White Ranger from the Lightning Collection line. The two LC guys look great together (and yes I did paint the glove pads on the White Ranger), and the same could kinda be said for the Red and Blue Ranger despite the skinnier proportions on Blue and the smaller amount of articulation. One thing that the Blue Ranger does better is having a darker shade of blue for the Thundermax weapons than with the Red Ranger.

Here is our Hasbro figure next to the Bandai offerings. While his silver visor trim is wrong and lacks the gold neck trim, I like his proportions more than with everyone else. This helmet and the 5-inch are also accurate in terms of proportions and visor shape than the Legacy version. Both of the more recent Bandai figures have more prominent shoulder details than the Hasbro figure, and the old toy is pretty dated but still charming. But even with the issues of the Red Dino Ranger, he's a great figure to own and even without the bias I have with loving Dino Thunder, it's one that many should get (even if they're MMPR-nutjobs that only watch the one season).

Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

And the final character I'll be taking a look at from this wave is the Z-Putty! This guy is the first standalone version of the footsoldier in the Lightning Collection, but I do like that Hasbro spliced things up with the version of putty to release. Rather than giving us yet another basic Putty, we get one that's introduced by Zedd when he took over Rita's palace. As far as differences go, it has a new vest with the center Z that kills them upon getting hit (which is stupid), kneepads with Z's on them (will those break their knees?), and boots with fucking shoelaces. Maybe the budget used on Lord Zedd made Saban go cheap with the attire of the Putties. While the Putties in MMPR contrasted their looks in Zyuranger footage, at least the Z-Putties look consistent with the cheap ass designs in Season 2.

Headsculpt is the same, though I appreciate how the face is darker than the rest of the body, which is also something that makes it look like it's wearing a gray onesie with the face exposed...yeah these henchmen dudes look stupid. The articulation is the same but the gloves being the entire forearm means there is no wrist hinging.

Here are his accessories, which consist of two fists (with one being slightly more open), a chest attack piece, and a firey punch attach.

The display options are a little more limited, but it does allow you to make the most out of what there is on top of being easier to keep track of. The chest effect piece is recolored from the one that was included with the Putty 2-pack, and the firey effect piece is a different sculpt from the one that came with Beast Morphers Blue.

For a comparison with the Putties that assisted Rita, here he is with the predecessor. The new Z-Putty is slightly shorter, he has no deco, the color is slightly darker, the face is more pronounced, the knees are different, the belts are removed, and their boots are altered. I can't really say that the Z-Putty is better than the regular one, but the regular Putty isn't really a mindblowing addition.

Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐ out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

So now you might be wondering why I'm not taking a look at the White Ranger, he was already reviewed back in the end of 2019 along with the Shadow Ranger, Dino Charge Red, and Lord Zedd. He was a great figure in 2019, and he's still a great figure in 2020-1. If you somehow didn't get this guy back in 2019, you can get him either as he appeared in 2019 or in the shnazzy new Spectrum box.

Thankfully, we don't need him because we've got an actual new figure to review and it's Dino Charge Black! This guy has most of the same attributes shared with Tyler, so I'll mention that this guy is a Target-exclusive release, and some fans are upset about that as well as the details that he has. For consistency sake, I am kind of annoyed that he has a neck that's colored like Tyler but unlike Ivan, yet he is the second Ranger to not have painted glove pads, and the chest symbol isn't as defined. Now I'll admit that those are complaints that would be understandable, though I'll admit that they're not as upsetting of a complaint as, say, the missing visor outline of Dino Thunder White or the weird helmet of MMPR Red (then again, can't be a day without the Toku fanbase having a meltdown on the dreaded bird app).

Head sculpt looks spot-on to his suit design, and while the yellow visour outline is a little hit or miss, it at least adds to the coloring of the front along with the white outline, red eyes, and silver mouthplate. There's even a but if a point on the back from the Parasaurlophus. His articulation is the same as always.

Here are the accessories he comes with, which consist of a Dino Saber, his Morpher, two alternate hands, a civilian head, and trading in the lightning effect piece in favor of a new blast piece.

The display options are mostly the same as with Tyler the Red Dino Charge Ranger, and while it might be a little dull to have him come with almost every accessory that came with him, this guy takes notes from what Beast Morphers Blue did and trade one accessory for another. Unlike Beast Morphers Blue, he keeps his range weapon and trades the lightning piece on the sword for a blast piece on the gun! Also nice is that it fits with the color scheme and can be used for either representing him shooting enemies or even recreating the morph sequence.

For a comparison with the two other teammates available so far, here he is next to Dino Charge Gold and Red, both of which are regular releases in the line. While I like owning this guy, I can't deny that it'd be much better had he been a regular release rather than be a store-exclusive. I understand that Dino Thunder White was an exclusive because he's not part of the core team like Chase is, and I'd rather see either a more uncommon Dino Charge Ranger like Aqua or Graphite or a version of T-Rex Supercharge Red; it'd be a different character/power up yet won't be as required to your core team like it is with Chase. I don't like how he's an exclusive, but that doesn't make him a bad figure if you set aside him being an exclusive (he just doesn't really fit the role).

And here is Dino Charge Black next to the other versions of the character. The Bandai Action Hero was decent for what it was, like all of the Action Heroes were at that scale. Sure, it's blocky, but it did the job well IMO. As for the Figuart, it looks better in some aspects, like the more refined details on the belt, but I'm not a fan of how skinny its proportions are, especially considering how Tamashii Nations were more focused on the articulation than the sculpt. So yeah, Hasbro's version is a solid addition to the line, but not one that deserves to be a Target exclusive for the reasons I mentioned above.

Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

And here we have Wave 7 as well as the Target-exclusive Dino Charge Black Ranger together! This is an interesting line-up that was basically made to tie-in with Grid Connection. You've got two Rangers that showed up in the actual episode, a footsoldier who has a version of itself in the episode, and Tommy Oliver who wasn't in the episode but is there for the sake of completing MMPR. And I'm honestly lucky that Chase was added to the review so we wouldn't overshade Connor with more MMPR than needed. 

In terms of civilian likeness, Chase and Tommy look very close to their actors while Connor really doesn't look like Connor. The Z-Putty has no alternate heads so stop asking.

There are some things that I'm not too happy about, such as the use of paint apps on the Green Ranger (or lack thereof), the slight inaccuracies with Dino Thunder Red, the Z-Putty being a little undercooked, and Dino Charge Black, despite being a solid figure, having no right to be a Target-exclusive.

The thing that surprises me most about this wave is the fact that they were initially revealed on eBay and sold at scalper prices, especially before they were officially shown by Hasbro (while Dino Charge Black popped up in a Target before he was revealed). So is this a perfect wave? Not really. Is Dino Charge Black a good exclusive for Target despite being a core team member? He is not. But is it good to own these figures? Sure, even if some like Tommy and the Z-Putty have issues worth bringing up.

Now let's make up a small and late tribute to Grid Connection by having Connor, Chase, and Tommy beat the fuck out of the Z-Putty! With Wave 7 being the only wave out, you should have some form of luck getting the figures unless the Christmas purchases prevented you from doing so (which would even suck if you had no luck getting Green or the Z-Putty). With Dino Charge Black being a Target-exclusive, it'll be even harder to find him in a store unless you're lucky or bought him online like I did.

Overall ranking: ⭐⭐⭐.63 out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐