8.17.2013

Inside the box with Ichabod Presents:

S.H. Figuarts Mighty Morphin Red Ranger With SDCC EX stand from Tamashii Nations/Bluefin


 My childhood, now in fancy highly articulated form.
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers was a huge giant thing in 1993, and it has continued to exist to this day in some form or another ever since. Now celebrating the 20th anniversary of that show, Tamashii Nations has given us super articulated toys of them. Starting with the leader, Jason the Red ranger.

This guy looks phenomenal. Slight muscle definition on top of the slim build manages to catch the look of the suit perfectly. The chest diamonds are sculpted into the body, giving good clean paint lines between the right and red. Having the shoulders cut right the diamond patter is a tad annoying but it could have been far worse.

Like the chest, the diamond pattern is molded into the gloves and boots, so the paint ends up once again being tight and clean. The rear of the gloves ends up looking better than the front due to the necessity of the joint needing the space for movement, but overall they turned out fantastic. The boots have these awesome details, that make them almost appear like they are being worn rather than sculpted on.

 His legs have the standard movement we've come to expect from the Figuarts line. and the ankle design allows for a great range of motion.

 But due to the lack of a knee-pad, the knees end up looking a little too long, which is similar to the Play Arts Kai line. Its not something I'm going to let bother me, because I don't know how often I'll ever be seeing it. Still, long knees are long there, Jason.

Arms and elbows also have the same issue, and the same amazing range of motion. This bothers me even less, because it will be displayed at a angle I will rarely see. 

  The shoulders have a very interesting design. Instead of cutting deeply into the chest like the Samurai/Shinkenger mold, they go into the chest, but only barely. Initially I didn't like this design, but after messing with it, it works a lot better. It allows the shoulders to have a better range of natural movement.

 This is a great example. The design lets the arms move upward and into the chest, similar to how real shoulders work. It cuts up the diamond pattern a bit, but that is the sacrifice to make for articulation. I will say mine does have one potentially major issue. The left shoulder joints makes a awful ratcheting noise that makes me think it will snap. The right is smooth as silk, so watch out for that.

 The morpher, or Dino Buckler. The Tyranno coin is not that well sculpted. Its obvious what it is, but its a little mushy and not detailed. It kind of ends up looking like a gold blob. Sure a more detailed coin would be better, but its a minor thing to complain about. The silver and black look great and all the paint is crisp.

 The Blade blaster. It sits in the holster a little too tightly, as the holster is softer plastic. This is more preferable than the Jetman accessories, which fall out if you look at them wrong. I'm worried about paint rub, so I'll just not display it in there. The details and paint are amazingly done. This thing is TINY, but holy crap the eyes are gold and the blue is crisp. It's astounding how they worked so much detail into this tiny thing.

The blade blaster in blade mode is just as great. It does not fit in the hand as well as the other accessories, which is a bummer.  


  The Blade blaster in well... obviously enough Blaster mode is just as tiny, detailed, and well painted as the other two. It looks awesome and likely will be on display regularly. I love it.

 The Thunderslinger! This, to my recollection was never actually in the US show. It appeared around halfway through the Zyuranger show as a weapon upgrade. It's a unique design and I kind of wish it did show up over here. The paint and detail work is simpler than the Blade blaster, but what is there is done well.

 The Ranger slinger! So the weapon we never saw, could combine with the blade blaster. Obviously they did not work the mechanism into the toy, but it was cool of them to include it. It makes the gun look bigger and far more powerful. Once again makes me wish we got this in MMPR.

The Power sword. Now this thing looks amazing. All that detail in the hilt and on the blade. Oh man... Look at that Tyranno coin! Makes me wonder why we couldn't get it on the belt too, as its roughly the same size. Though this is a tampo, and the belt does have molded detail. The etchings into the blade are all super crisp. This sword just looks fantastic.

 And Red looks so damn great weilding it. Getting it into his hand is a bit of a chore. The more open gripping hand meant to hold the sword is still pretty tight. I don't think it will break going in, but I have gotten some paint rubbing going on. The hands have some red in them from sliding the sword in and out. The sword luckily has not had any paint loss. which would be a bummer because the red used on it is gorgeous. 

 First off, shooting white hands on a white background is really hard. This picture is crap, but there was no way to get a better one. He comes with fists, sword gripping hands, gun gripping hands, Blade mode gripping hands, and TYRANNOSAURUS roll call hands. All of them easily pop on and off.

Here are the different Blaster combinations all lined up. And really, they are all so tiny. Still amazes me the detail they got into them.

 You might have noticed this stand in the pictures. It doesn't actually come with Red, but instead was part fo a three pack sold at SDCC. It included this one, one for Green ranger and one for the upcoming Armored Red ranger. The tampo on it is done well. I just think it is kind of ugly. Doing a design that focused on the morpher, much like the Kamen Rider Belt standsTtamashii released would have been more appealing to me.
It ended up looking kind of ugly. Though there is something kind of cool at seeing the MMPR logo on a Tamashii product.

 Yes. Red can pose like a boss. Unf.

Red Ranger with the Red Samurai ranger. Samurai Red was the first sentai figuarts that was released. It shows, a bit. The shoulders cutting so deeply into  the chest, plus the knee designs. It's not a bad body but it is a few years older. They look great and having a a line up of Red Rangers is going to look amazing.

This is a awesome toy filled with nostalgia for me. He looks amazing, has great articulation and is just a fun toy. For the retail price of 45 dollars, He is a pretty solid buy.  I am really pumped about the rest of the team coming out, because having show accurate set of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers is going to be so cool. They've already shown off the rest of the team, most of them early prototypes. Plus the rumors of the power weapons combining to make the mega cannon has me pumped.

   He is available right now for sale over here. The SDCC exclusive stand set will be available directly though Tamashii Nations sometime soon. Check out the Tamashii Nations/Bluefin Facebook page for details on the SDCC exclusive items. This toy and stand Set was provided courtesy of Bluefin and Tamashii Nations.

8 comments:

  1. The Thunder Slinger was used ONCE in the first season (Episode 26: Gung Ho), in both gun and combined mode and then promptly forgotten about.

    Also, what's your camera setup?

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    1. I'm using a nikon coolpix s8100 with a lightbox set up.

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  2. OK, if that arm is tight/squeaking you'd best order some shock oil to apply to the inner ball joint of the arm. Just a little dab on it and it should be fixed, and you won't end up with a broken toy. Trust me, I've got the legless Wild Tiger to prove it.

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    1. Its actually happening inside the torso side of things.

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    2. I had the same problem, you'll either need a toothpick or something similar to slide the shock oil in, or just yank the arm out (I've done it with at least 2 Figuarts, it can be scary but it's doable).

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  3. Dammit Joe, I'm trying not to to buy these guys, stop making them look good! ;)

    great review mate. Do u have any complete Sentai teams, or just the Reds?

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    Replies
    1. I do have one compete team, review coming soon.

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  4. I see you did not go with the Akibaranger version. I currently have my guys in the "roll call" stances until I get more Rangers, then the Power Weapons will come out again. Great review, can't wait to see your Green Ranger review

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