Transformers Studio Series Core Class Noah Diaz/Novakane/Frenzy review

We're going to reach the last of the Core Class releases for 2023, and as expected, it's a new mold mixed with two reused figures. While Novakane and Frenzy are basically existing molds in different colors (well the latter at least, the former has a slightly different head), Noah Diaz, aka Sonic, is the new guy we should put our attention towards. That man knows how to make for an impressive character in the movies, what with him being more like a mix between Sam's younger spirit with the more protective and technical side of Cade, and having been a former military soldier only to get back in with G.I.Joe makes him the most versatile human ally the Autobots have. Not to diss the others, but Noah is a pretty cool guy, and the fact that he wears the skin of Mirage, only human-sized, was a big surprise. I thought I was going to laugh at it in the same way I mock recent capeshit CGI, but I honestly thought the end result was kind of adorable, almost like he was cosplaying as Mirage. But let's cover these three for today's review!

Here we have Noah in his nonexistent jet mode. Of course, he never transformed into a little jet in the movie, but this was done solely for the sake of making him easier to sell as a Core Class figure. Said jet mode looks like it's of a made-up model, but it is decently painted. The gray and blue do match Mirage, so that much is consistent. From the bottom, it's an exosuit folded in.

See what I mean? All you do for transformation is folding the back and front of the jet while the arms and legs untab from the backpack. Noah's exosuit looks pretty good and is faithful to the on-screen design, but apart from that giant backpack of a jet, the colors are missing a lot of blue while the visor is a blue Y instead of having his human face visible. This was done either because Hasbro didn't have the likeness to Anthony Ramos, the scale was far too small, or it was based on concept art. If anything, it manages to give off a different look than usual, though I could see this being the kind of suit that the G.I.Joes would wear if they decided to reverse-engineer the exosuit while Noah's better resembled Mirage...wait why did I just bring back the stupid ass Rise of Cobra armors with that comment? Oh yeah, and while the blaster is removable, the blade is permanently attached to him. I will at least criticize the mismatch between the lighter gray shoulders, hips, and feet compared to the gunmetal gray head, torso, forearms, and lower legs.

With the plane kibble removed, the articulation consists of ball joints all throughout, as seen for the neck, shoulders, elbows, torso, hips, knees, and ankles. With his skinnier body frame, he has a lot more to offer with flexibility than the average Core Class Transformer. Also have to say the gun being painted orange from the inside gives a nice glow to the gun mode. Here we have a size comparison between himself and the man who gave him the exosuit. And for those wondering, you can flip down a 5mm peg to have Mirage hold the jet kibble like it was a Micromaster weapon. Overall, Noah Diaz is a great figure for the line, being able to make for a badass action figure that treats the jet mode like it was a bonus. This guy not only has better proportions than any of Mirage's toys, but his design reminds me so much of the Mega Construx Halo figures, and that is a win in my opinion compared to being left as a static minifig.

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

Now let's quickly cover the repaints for the other Core Class characters. We get a surprise addition of another Sweep known as Novakane. But who is who? Well, Freezer is on the left, with Novakane getting a lighter gray base body, more gunmetal gray biceps and legs, and paint apps that are a little more bronze than a orangey shade.

The robot modes are where the big difference between the two stands out more. Freezer's head is intact and symmetrical while Novakane is the one that has an asymmetrical head with battle damage. I do feel Freezer's colors blend in better than Novakane's, but otherwise the reuse shares the same strengths and weaknesses present in Freezer.

Now let's cover Frenzy, who is red in this line but otherwise, who cares. Paint operations are the same between them. Anything that is lavender is now black while everything that is baby blue is now red.

Robot modes practically function the same Same articulation, same play features, same use of justification on using the accessories and paint for the asking price. Both can fit in Soundwave's chest.

Power Rangers Lightning Collection Wave 14 review

After the blunder of Wave 13, fans were right to be worried on how bad the quality control of future waves would be. Loose joints, breakage issues, missing accessories, it wasn't the best time to be a Lightning Collection fan (and this time, the anger is justified). So with Wave 14 now taking up the spotlight, it's only reasonable to hope that the line would be a better selection of molds rather than a shitty wave all around. This wave isn't 100% perfect, but I will say that it is a massive step-up from the previous line-up of figures, and there's a reason why that's a case as we'll get to in a moment.

Let's first go over Dino Fury Blue. In contrast to Time Force and Dino Charge's Blue Rangers, AKA the two Blue Rangers cursed with those damn drop-down hips, this guy uses the same tooling present with the original Dino Fury Red Ranger instead. This means he does not have drop-down hips in addition to lacking pinless joints. Though while we are back to traditional attachments for the joints, his QC isn't too hot as his left elbow looks as if its pin should have attached to it better but hasn't during the assembly. His right leg appears to be more bowed than the left, which is also wrong. Despite that, Ollie shares the same attributes as his leader, Zayto, only he's blue while the previous guy is red.

Head sculpt is detailed nicely and is accurate to the show, but for some reason, what should be silver for the tricera face detailing on the visor is now left in bare gray plastic instead of being painted in silver. And I thought we were done with visor inconsistencies! Anyways, the accessories he comes with are the civilian head for Ollie Akana, lightning effect piece, two alternate hands (right blue fist and left silver weapon-holding hand), and the Chromafury Saber.

The likeness to Ollie is a good one, and the stern expression fits well since he was kind of a dick in the series. I wonder if we'll get a more evil version for when we get his corrupted Ranger form in Cosmic Fury. Also the Chromafury Saber is the same one as the one that came with the Green Ranger, meaning that both Ollie and Izzy's swords both struggle to properly implement their effect parts and end up being warped. I wish Hasbro would revert to the original sword tooling the same way they did with the buck for this character.

And here we have him next to his teammates. Generally fits in well with both characters, as he retains the same buck that Zayto has, but the lack of silver paint does make his helmet pop a little less.

And here we have the original Lightning Collection Blue Ranger with the Remastered helmet and the mainline version of the Blue Ranger, showcasing the difference in quality control between the two figures and the fact that the extra silver on the forehead of the mainline Blue Ranger should be sucked out and added onto the visor outline of this Lightning figure, which otherwise is mostly good but is the weakest one from the line.

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

Up next, here we have the Dino Thunder Black Ranger. Now we're talking! This guy finally completes the Dino Thunder cast, and it also manages to be an improvement from the Bandai Legacy Collection version in terms of paint detailing. For those that don't remember, that figure suffered from being stuck with gold plastic left unpainted for the shoulder pads, parts of the suit, and his Brachio Staff. This guy manages to be much nicer looking by comparison, on top of already being a top-tier suit design as with the rest of his team. The only annoyance would be the pins disrupting the gold diamonds but that is expected.

His helmet looks the best out of the Rangers for this wave, both for design and in terms of detailing. It's sleek, sharp, and badass overall. That gold visor outline makes kid me happy! His accessories include an open right hand, a left fist, a 2004-era Tommy Oliver head, an effect piece that I am starting to hate, and his Brachio staff.

His display options are generally good like the rest of the series, but the likeness to 2004 Jason David Frank is not too great. Maybe it's the lighting in my setting but his younger heads and Drakkon had better likenesses. The Brachio Staff is at its best compared to past versions in figure scale, but I DESPISE that effect piece when used on skinnier, more flexible weapons. It's hard to insert the blade with the tip being bigger than the hole (SHUT YO BICH A$$ UP), and the blade is too thin to be kept straight if the effect piece was kept on for too long. It worked fine for Beast Morphers Gold and to an extent for Dino Thunder Blue, but it didn't make sense for the Lunar Wolf Ranger, it didn't make sense for Zeo Blue, and it certainly didn't make sense for this guy.

With a Dino Thunder group shot, the team is finally complete. It began with the White Ranger and his initially absent visor outline before we had Red and Blue back-to-back. Yellow popped up over a year later, and now their mentor is here. When it comes to Power Rangers Dino Thunder, victory is ours forevermore.

And for a Tommy Oliver Fighting Spirit group shot, here he is with his past forms, with the Green Ranger using a custom helmet from RangerForge on Etsy. While TJ may be the more famous wearer of this not-pictured suit, all we need next is the Red Turbo Ranger to complete the quintet. 

Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Our third ranger is the Lost Galaxy Pink Ranger, which is more or less the same quality as what we expected from the Yellow Ranger. Like her fellow female teammate, she has double-jointed elbows, but unlike her, the knee joints are pinless. Why both joints are pinless while the legs are pinned for LG Pink and not Yellow is beyond me. On the brightside, the paint apps are applied on properly.

Her helmet is accurate to the show, though I kind of wish the eyes would be a little more saturated on the helmet. This design was always okay at best since it felt like Zeo Ranger I Pink's helmet mixed with an animal motif, a wildcat. It looks more like a pink bird. Her effect pieces include the standard lightning effect piece, her alternate head as Kendrix Morgan, the Quasar Saber in both deployed and holster modes, two weapon-holding hands, and a Transdagger in bow mode.

Her display options are just as good, and the likeness to the actress Valerie Vernon is good. The glasses can be removed if you want, a feature similar to the Remastered version of Billy Cranston/MMPR Blue. I like that she comes with the has both versions of the saber and her respective Transdagger weapon as does Green from two waves ago. And yes, you can have Astronema's head on the body if you want to recreate the brief moment when she wore the powers in the Legendary Battle. She loves being a Power Ranger.

For a comparison with her teammates, here she is with her teammates in Lost Galaxy. Another season completed, and one that began way back in 2019. With how much Saban Brands and Hasbro put so much focus on Lost Galaxy for a while, it surprised me how it took 4 years for them to complete the season. I mean we had Magna Defender and Red in 2019 (and again in 2021), and then we had Blue in 2021, before we then got Green in 2022. The girls were released this year. And about time, too.

Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

And finally, here we have Mesogog. Finally, a villain that isn't from the Zordon Era! Not that I'm complaining about the villain rep being bigger than normal with past seasons, but I was worried that we would not get a villain that isn't from MMPR, even though we got minions from Zeo and Wild Force as well as Ecliptor from In Space. And even better, Mesogog was an original villain from PR, who was much more sinister than his Sentai equivalent in terms of how ruthless this beast was. In addition,  he has a badass character design that holds up much better than a lot of other monster designs we get in later seasons, especially when he looks less like a rubbery alien with no expression thanks to his inhuman eyes and his more convincing jaw movement vs what most villains possess. The sculptwork on this is almost all new, and it does so much right with all of the accurate details that one would expect from Mesogog, with the twisted robe to the scaly skin underneath. And those claws are not something to laugh at. I also think he has a hood on the back, which makes me wonder how he'd look if he'd wear it over the monstrous head. Now that being said, his colors do look a little too oversaturated compared to the show's costume prop. Maybe it's just how the show was filmed, but I swear it was more black if anything. Maybe they took reference from that old toy of his. But regardless, this looks absolutely badass.

His head sculpt is my favorite aspect of the character. Resembling a rotting dinosaur as very little of its organs remain on a distorted skull with piercing yellow eyes and a jaw that was never seen biting anyone but might actually do just that. And the paint work is thankfully not skimped out on, either, with the subtle airbrushing to further make this guy look organic. This is honestly above the norm for the standard Lightning Collection designs. His articulation is mostly the same as the others apart from having a single diaphragm joint for the torso and single-jointed elbows with swivels on them. He has a double neck joint with two ball pegs, though the head needs to be a little more secure. And of course, his jaw articulates. He has a lightning effect for the claw hand as well as a pair of fists and a blast effect for said fists.

The one oddity I do have to mention is that the fisted hands could really benefit from having paint applied on them for consistency's sake with the claws. Sure, it could be argued that this was because it would be covered by the effect piece, but still...

And here we have Mesogog vs the Dino Thunder team. This is my favorite shot ever from the Lightning Collection that I made. It's no secret that Dino Thunder is my favorite season, so this is a no-brainer kind of pic for me to depict the big villain of the season confronting my favorite Ranger team of all time. Dino Rangers roar. Power Rangers score. Save us from these evil forces. Victory is ours forever more. And victory may not be something Mesogog got in the end of the series as the Dino Rangers killed him once and for all, but he also gets a high score for having a lot of tooling put into him, making him a worthy addition in the same vein as Zedd, Ecliptor, and Goldar among other examples. Now I can't wait for Ransik, Master Org, Lothor, Grumm, Venjix, and Sledge.

Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Overall, this wave was much stronger than the last one, what with the male Rangers using the older, less QC-compromised bucks that don't have the crappy drop-down hips. The only weak one is Ollie, due to the warped joints and the left elbow, and even if those weren't an issue, the visor not being painted is still weak. But otherwise, Dino Thunder Black is awesome, Lost Galaxy Pink is pretty cool, and Mesogog is a badass overall. Definitely get this wave if you haven't done so since May/June.

Overall ranking: ⭐⭐⭐⭐.4 out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Figuarts Mini Sailor Moon Star Fighter/Healer/Maker review

If you think about it, you're less likely going to find merchandise of the Starlights in the Sailor Moon series. Usually, we always have them focus on Season 1 with the original 5 Senshi, and while we have seen bits of Season 2 or three here and there, the focus on earlier stuff is much like how things work with MMPR Season 1: people likely never saw anything past the other seasons, so I wasn't surprised at seeing how merchandise made for US markets don't always depict the Outer Senshi or any characters from R and the other seasons beyond any marketing for the Viz dubs of their movies (with varying degrees of color-grading issues that are mostly fixed of late). With Cosmos finally adapting the Sailor Stars story arc in animated form, and more faithfully than the 90s anime, we now have articulated versions of the under-represented Starlight trio, consisting of Seiya the Fighter, Yaten the Healer, and Taiki the Maker.

Let's give the Sailor Star Fighter the in-hand attention. Unlike the Sailor Senshi, who possess the standard sailor outfits with skirts inspired by the fukus that are on Japanese school uniforms, the Starlights possess more revealing outfits that are in black (or in this case, navy blue) rather than white with larger color-coded traits found in the normal Senshi; apart from the hair, Seiya's eyes and the bands on the arms and stomach area are baby blue. The skirts are replaced with shorts, the midriffs are exposed, there is a prominent music theme with the earpieces, and the chest pieces depict wings rather than a bow. I know you can't really tell how the materials truly feel in an animated show, but I have a feeling that they are more like leather rather than normal fabric. The music theme is a nod to the fact that she and the others run the Three Lights band when disguised as males (with the manga just having them cross-dress while the anime made more convincing disguises when changing between genders). Seiya's face sometimes looks like a more feminine version of Mamoru's thinking about it, only with a ponytail.

As is the case, the necks, shoulders, and hips are articulated. A pair of alternate arms can be swapped to give Sailor Star Fighter an alternate pose, with one arm out and another with its hand on her hip. I should mention that the details represent the Crystalverse more than they do the 90s anime, due to the more detailed and desaturated irises on the eyes while the outfits are more of a navy blue rather than a full black. For a size comparison, they are half the size of a 6-inch scale figure, such as Marvel Legends Doctor Strange. One does not need the Eye of Agamotto to determine how slim we'll ever get a 6-inch version of poor Seiya.

Up next, here we have Yaten the Sailor Star Healer. Same figure as the last character we took a look at, but with a unique hairstyle and color for this character as well as green linework. In a way, this reminds me of the Big Time Spider-Man suit with how predominantly dark it is. Her ponytail is flatter than Seiya's. Her alternate hands are a mirrored hand on hip arm that is now relocated to the right side while the left arm is stretched out and now posed as if she wants you to hold her hand rather than look like she's shooing you away like Seiya.

And finally, we have Taiki, the Sailor Star Maker. This time, the bands on her are lavender, her ponytail is on the right side, and she retains her oversized forehead the same way she does in normal proportions. You can swap out the arms with having both of her hands on her hips. Not much else to do with the creative poses, huh?

Overall, this set is pretty good if you want to have versions of the characters that are in plastic form. As far as I can tell, there are no Figuarts planned for these characters, so these will have to stay with the rest of the Minis if you have them with you. It's a shame that there aren't any third-party versions of these characters, but then again, certain members of the fanbase are better known for making statues than actual action figures.

Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐