[BigGuido]

I went into a Target in the Southeast part of Kansas City over lunch today looking for Marvel Legends and just happened to come across the new Power Rangers Legacy figures. I picked up the MMPR Green and Red Rangers and left the others on the peg as I really only have an affinity for the original series.

My initial thoughts are fairly positive. I kind of wish the sculpt on these figures was more screen accurate so far as the body proportions and musculature. Don't get me wrong, the base male buck is definitely better than the one used for the armored figures Bandai marketed a few years back. The only other nits to pick sculpt-wise are the heads. They are a bit small, say by a quarter to a third. On the positive, everything is pretty cleanly sculpted and crisp despite the softer PVC used for casting the majority of the figure.

The articulation is pretty solid design-wise if a bit loose on execution. The only joints I would probably recommend for a redesign are the thigh cuts swivels. A simple cut mid-thigh as opposed to the hip boot type one they have employed would be more aesthetically accurate and also function better as it would not impede the range of motion of the leg moving forward into a full 90° bend as it does now.

The paint on these figures are fairly basic - especially on the Red Ranger. What is there though is very clean and sharp with little to no globs or smudges, I especially appreciate the multiple paint apps on the Morpher belt buckles and the exceptional attention to detailing them sculpt-wise - it is almost of a SH Figurearts level of quality!

The paint apps on the Green Ranger are especially nice so far as his sword and Dragon Dagger are concerned. A lot of effort was put into the multiple paint apps to give us a nice representation of the ornamentation of the two weapons - especially at this price point. The Green Ranger himself is nicely painted as well with clean, bright colors and sharp edges to the paint breaks. I noticed that there is a scribed line on his chest and torso for the white diamond that would appear on the armored Red Ranger. I can't help but believe we will eventually get a varient of this figure with the Red Ranger helmet and appropriate deco.

Accessory-wise, The Green Ranger really shines, coming with an extra set of flute playing hands, his Dragon Dagger with sheath and Sword of Darkness, sans tassel. These extras make up for the lack of a Build-A-Zord piece that is included with the other figures in this series. That being said, The Build-A-Zord piece included with the Red Ranger is nice, but it is at a cost. Red's only accessory is a folded closed version of the Blade Blaster and sheath. With the Blade blaster included only in a permanently closed casting, one wonders why they just didn't cast the blaster and the sheath as one piece. Also missing in action is Red's signature weapon, the Power Sword. Red comes with these great hands sculpted to hold weapons, yet he has nothing to put in them. I would have rather gotten the weapons sans paint apps and paid a dollar or two more for the figure than a Power Ranger who is basically weaponless. Even the old 8" original figures came packed with an open Blade Blaster. Hopefully, Bandai will address this in future releases and include the weapons with the characters or perhaps even issue a weapons pack in one of the waves. Sheesh, I look at this figure and all I can think of is the 8" Mystic Knights figures that came with all that armor and every weapon the character used on the show for around $15.00. Those days are long gone.

The Build-A-Figure concept has been all the rage for the last decade or so ever since it was popularized by Toy Biz with their Marvel legends line of action figures. Unlike Marvel Legends BAF and the Mattel Collect-N-Connect figures where all of the parts to build a figure are usually contained in one wave of figures, Bandai has changed things up a bit. Each wave of the Legacy figure line will contain Rangers from various series of the show and the Build-A-Zord part that comes with them will be for a Zord that was featured in their particular series. This is a bit worrisome as it could take as much as 5 series to collect all the parts for a particular Zord as it looks like there will only be one Ranger from a particular series represented in each wave. Series 1 appears to be an exception as both the Green and Red Rangers from MMPR made it into the mix. However, only Red came with a Build-A-Zord piece. Here's to hoping these sell well and that all of the Rangers to build your favorite Zord make it to the peg! Also, talk about delayed gratification. I don't know how many series Bandai plans to release per year in this line, but even if they release a new series every 3 months, we're looking at at least a year and a half or so before completing a single Zord! Yikes!