[Den-O]

Shift into Turbo!

It's time for another awesome vintage Power Rangers gallery thanks to great people at Ranger Stop! Check them out for your vintage Power Rangers needs!

Today's subject is the Turbo Shifter Phantom Ranger figure! And this one is actually pretty unique. The Phantom Ranger is of course the mysterious ally of the Turbo & later In Space Rangers. He provided each team with support and aid in battle, going so far as to provide new zords and the information necessary to obtain them. A huge part of his ranger activity involved him flying across the galaxy in search of Zordon as well. And ultimately he helped unite the allies of the Power Rangers in a final stand against the Alliance of Evil, personally fighting side by side with the Blue Senturion!

In contrast his Sentai counterpart VRV Master was more of a support character and has never been officially recognized by Toei as either a Ranger or Extra Hero. As such he's never received a BOJ toy release or ranger key. We'd like to change that today though! Please go take part in Saban's Moprhin Madness, there you can vote on past Power Rangers to see which the fans demand the most. The 5 winning rangers will be produced as a limited Ranger Key set! This is literally the only opportunity that Phantom Ranger and his other US buddy Titanium Ranger will EVER have at becoming ranger keys. Vote Tianium & Vote Phantom Ranger!

On to the figure
The Turbo Shifter Phantom Ranger is uniqe. As I said there are no BOJ figures of the VRV Master. This figure and the larger 8" Phantom Ranger as well as a reissue of the Turbo Shifter under the Power Rangers Heroes subline are the ONLY representations of this character. This figure should appeal to both Power Rangers & Sentai collectors for that reason.

This figure is of course a bit limited in articulation, after all it's from 1997. But it does have full range hips, swivel/hinge knees/shins, and swivel elbows/shoulders. The hands themselves can't move but are molded open with pegs to hold the included weapons the Auto Blaster & Turbo Navigator (Defender Mode). There's also the added Turbo Shifter feature. To use this pull back on the lever on Phantom's back and the two chest panels swing up to reveal a spinning turbine. It will spin as long as the lever continues to be pulled. When not in use the panels spring back into place on the chest.

There's also the odd extra gimmick of opening hip panels. They're open when the figure is in package but their use isn't cited on the packaging at all. They can be used as make shift gun holsters but even that doesn't work very well. Perhaps they only exist to help lend credibility to the character of Phantom Ranger being an android. Also included is an accessory quintessential of the 90's. A cardboard credit card sized Turbo License! Kids could fill these out with their name and address for fun.

Don't forget to check out conundrum's gallery of the classic 8" Phantom Ranger as well!

Check back in a few days for another vintage Power Rangers gallery, and please go show your support for the two greates US Exclusive rangers out there, Tintanium Ranger & Phantom Ranger, at Morphin Madness!