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GUEST EDITORIAL – Dino Charged: The Greatest Toy Line of The Last 10 Years?

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Dino Charged: The Greatest Toy Line of The Last 10 Years?

Guest Editorial by Mike (@BigMike8109 on Twitter)

A few weekends ago, my son came up to me and told me he was ready to go through his boxes of toys – five huge bins to be exact. I did what any sane person would do, I told him “next weekend”. Ha!

Well that weekend finally happened and I took a few pics of the chaos and posted them on my Twitter feed. Some were quick to point out that I had a lot of figures, but in the vast sea that was five bins worth of toys I came to the realization that Power Rangers Dino Charge and Dino Super Charge had the greatest toy line over the last 10 years. I don’t know if anyone could change my mind on it, even if they tried to argue the point. Let’s talk about what came before and after the toy line for a moment that made me realize this.

2011 brought the return of Power Rangers fresh off of Saban’s re-purchase of the brand from Disney with Power Rangers Samurai. Samurai and Super Samurai were… well, they were a show and they had toys to sell. I can’t even think of anything that stands out toy wise except a Japanese import of the Bandai Japan Samurai Megazord. There was also a Rita Repulsa figure…

Then came Power Rangers Megaforce which brought us a whole wide range of Power Cards to collect. Power Rangers Super Megaforce is what a lot of people were wanting and waiting on, and it delivered with the Ranger Keys! They were the first of many gimmick items to collect. The Ranger Keys were based on the Power Rangers themselves. This meant that we couldn’t get random Ranger Keys unless you were a ranger. Super Megaforce had a big disadvantage over any of these toy lines in the last 10 years: it was technically only one season, so they had a lot of work to do to get the toys out for a show that only lasted a year. To the credit of Bandai America, when they realized (after a lot of fans speaking up) they didn’t produce every Ranger in the Ranger Key line, they went and completed them. These extra keys released concurrent with the Dino Charge toys.

After Dino Charge/Dino Super Charge we have Samurai... I mean Ninjas! We had Ninjas. Power Rangers Ninja Steel was odd to say the least. They tried to replicate the Ranger Key concept with Ninja Throwing Stars that could be shot out of a small launcher that came packaged with some of the Ninja Star packs. Those didn’t land too well, but I think what they did with the Zords was equally weird. During Ninja Steel the auxiliary Zords got full on Megazord modes for no real reason at all except to sell you different color Zords. While this worked well with the previous season, this approach fell flat for Ninja Steel.

With Power Rangers Beast Morphers, Hasbro took over the toy license from Bandai America. The toy line was decent, but it’s also the only toy line that didn’t complete the show’s Zords. We never got a toy of the final Megazord. They upped the height of the basic figures to 6 inches, but it made them look stretched a bit or maybe that’s just a me thing. Hasbro added keys with the Morpher, which after about five different phrases it would just repeat. This differed from the Super Megaforce Gosei Morpher which would call out the seasons or Ranger if it was a Super Megaforce Ranger Key.

With all that said, it’s about to get wild! Power Rangers Dino Charge/Super Dino Charge ran from 2015 – 2016 and those two years brought with them a MASSIVE amount of things to collect and buy.  And boy, it was really wild.

Let me start with the figures first because there is quite a bit of them! The first wave was all 5 core Rangers, Vivix, and Fury. Then, I thought, “Ok, they’ll add in Sledge and the remaining five Rangers next year!” I was very wrong! Dino Charge introduced something called Dino Drive Mode. They mode was activated in the Megazord cockpit and would grant them Dino Drive powers.  This wasn’t in the Sentai footage and was completely American made for the show. Those crazy people at Bandai America made figures of them, but that’s not all they made!

Super Charge had a mode on top of that mode, Dino Super Drive! And I didn’t even mention the Dino Steel mode, which granted the rangers an armor to one of their arms and different weapons to combine into the Dino Spike! So just off Rangers alone we’re at: 10 regular figures, 5 Dino Steel figures, 9 Dino Drive figures (Silver never got a Dino Drive figure), 10 Dino Super Drive figures and  a few extra figures. These included the T-Rex Super Charged Red Ranger figure, Black Dino Armor X figure (exclusive to a Toys”R”Us 6-pack), Male Purple Ranger, and 5 translucent Dino Ranger figures (the core 5). They even released figures of the Megazords; Dino, Plesio, and Ptera!

Just from the Ranger figures alone we got 42 Dino Charge figures! But here’s the kicker. This is where I think, figure-wise, the line shined: Villains. We got a lot of villain figures… ALL of Sledge’s crew and yes, that even means Poisandra! This included most of the Super Charge villain crew as well. In total, all figures included, we are well over 60 figures. That’s wild.

Then they got even wilder when it came to the Dino Chargers. If you know the season then you know what these were. Powered by the Power Ranger’s Energems to morph, they were also used to summon their Zords and auxiliary Zords into battle. Dino Changers upped what Super Megaforce did with the keys, and boy did they! Each Dino Charger pack came with 2 Chargers and 1 mini-dino figure. There were so many packs of them! In the middle of the line they released an Ultimate Charge Pack which came with all 22 Chargers in 1 pack. Talk about making people double dip if they wanted to! Bandai America didn’t actually have to release this set as no Dino Charger in that pack was ever exclusive.

There were exclusive Dino Chargers though, and those mainly came from San Diego Comic Con and Toys”R”Us. The exclusives included basic Dino Chargers, Chargers with fossil silhouettes, some with eggs, and some translucent ones with glowing dinos inside. Bandai America made Legendary Ranger Chargers, but sadly the line was never completed and four teams still remain missing. At this time there is no chance that they will ever be finished. Those Chargers came in a gold color matte/translucent finish, legendary season’s logo, red ranger, sixth ranger, and Megazord inside the Charger’s art. These Chargers were packed with a black mini dino figure.

Who wouldn’t want to roleplay as a Power Ranger? Power Rangers Dino Charge/Dino Super Charge’s toy line let you and then some. Released were the Deluxe Morpher, Dino Saber, T-Rex Super Charger Morpher, Dino Com, and Dino Spike. On top of all of that we got Zenowing’s Morpher and matching Dino Saber. It doesn’t end there, since we also got recolored versions of the Deluxe Morpher and T-Rex Super Charge Morpher in Green and White respectively.

Let’s make a Megazord or should I say, let’s make several!

This toy line had the greatest Zord line that I can remember. Here are the list of Zords listed individually: T-Rex, Tricera, Stego, Raptor, Para, Pachy, Ptera, Plesio, Titano, Ankylo, Spino. All of these could combine to form Megazords with lots of different combinations. Those Zords were just for the 10 Rangers, but Bandai also made auxiliary Zords just for Dino Charge that weren’t even in the show! These Zords were: Ammonite, Deinosuchus, Oviraptor and Archelon.

It doesn’t even end there. Repaints of 85% of these Zords were also released! This is the thing I think Ninja Steel’s toy line took too far, but Dino Charge got right.

  • Black versions of T-Rex, Tricera, and Stego
  • Green T-Rex
  • Yellow T-Rex
  • Red Ptera
  • Green Para
  • Red Raptor
  • Green/Yellow Ankylo
  • Purple Pachy
  • Black/Orange Deinosuchus
  • Blue Ammonite

There were so many different combinations and color variants to mix and match with. It truly was Zord heaven for collectors. Let’s not forget to mention the random Purple Tricera that was shown at a trade show which had people up in arms about (it was never released)!

That’s a lot of Dino Charge toy goodness. Going through all those toys again brought back so many memories of that toy line; a toy line that I’m saying now is the greatest in the last 10 years.

Just a few little Dino-eggs to toss at you before I wrap this up: The first wave of Dino Chargers came in a Dino Egg shaped plastic packaging versus the “teeth” style that most remember. Dino Charge Graphite when first released came with clear versions of the Dino Morpher and Dino Saber, which would later get fixed in his Super Charge re-release to include solid green color weapons.

Here’s hoping Dino Fury’s toy line can live up to Dino Charges and more! Dino Chargers ready?

Credit:

Written/Pictures by Mike (@BigMike8109 on Twitter)
Edited by Eric Berry (@trekkieb47)

GUEST EDITORIAL – Consistently Inconsistent – Power Rangers Lightning Collection

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Consistently Inconsistent: The Power Rangers Lightning Collection

Guest Editorial by Mike (@BigMike8109 on Twitter)

The time was August 2018 at Power Morphicon. There I was, along with a room full of fans, waiting for the announcement of what Hasbro was going to do first with their newly acquired toy line for Power Rangers. We all sat there as they introduced us to the Lightning Collection; new 6-inch highly articulated and painted action figures. They even showed off a video of their first figure – Mighty Morphin White Ranger Tommy Oliver himself! The crowd went wild, mainly because it wasn’t the Green Ranger version of Tommy, but the second leader of the team version. What really got people hyped up was the announcement of head sculpts and tons of accessories that were all included with an amazing price of $19.99 USD!

It was truly great to see Hasbro show off what they could do with the brand with just the first of many figures to come. Here we are in December 2020 and we’re well over 60 figures deep into the line. We’ve got a mix of teams, helmets, villains, a possible Megazord, and role play items like the Dragon Dagger. There is one thing that stands out in the vast Morphin Grid of things to collect; it’s apparent not every team is represented yet and some odd things stand out. I’m here to talk about one thing that’s consistent with each figure that has more than two team members represented and that is: it’s really inconsistent.

I won’t be talking about missing paint, odd choices for accessories, or why some figures didn’t get a head sculpt. Yes, I’m looking at you Ranger Slayer and Magna Defender! What I will be talking about is why some people might have a hard time displaying full teams when they’re completed because of one main reason: the figures aren’t painted the same way on each Ranger from that team. Below, I’m going to go by the seasons that have multiple rangers in the line and where the paint is, or isn’t, or is just different. Some of it is nitpicking on my part, but it’s still something I want to point out. Lets get wild!

Dino Charge

First up: Dino Charge Red and Dino Charge Black. Let’s take a look at the Dino Com Buckle on Red: it’s painted yellow on the trim, black on the inside and the Dino logo is silver. Which, as far as I know, is show accurate. Looking at Dino Charge Black, it’s the same, but not by much. The Dino Com Buckle on Black has yellow trim – and that’s where the similarities stop. The colors are swapped with silver being the inside and black being the Dino logo.

Power Rangers Lighting Collection – Dino Charge Belt Comparison

Another inconsistency is that while the silver on Dino Charge Red’s gloves are painted the screen accurate silver, Black and Gold are missing this detail.

Power Rangers Lighting Collection – Dino Charge Gloves Comparison

The accessories are also not the same paint-wise. Red’s Dino Saber is painted show accurate for the most part, but Black’s isn’t. The yellow part of the same piece stops at what they assumed was the hilt. Finally, there’s the Dino Charge Morphers: they are both different shades of yellow all together.

Power Rangers Lightning Collection – Dino Charge Accessories Comparison

In Space

Let’s Rocket to In Space Red and In Space Yellow. Looking at the neck of the Red Ranger, you can see it’s a basic yellow paint application. But when compared to the Yellow Ranger, she clearly has a more shiny gold – which wasn’t the way it was presented on the show. Again, if you’re paying attention to the detail it’s noticeable but for some displaying on a shelf far away they might not notice. Looking at the accessories they both seem to be well painted.

Power Rangers Lightning Collection – In Space Neck Colors Comparison

S.P.D.

Now for an S.P.D. Emergency! At first glance you might not notice any inconsistencies unless you are really looking. The “SPD” on S.P.D. Red is a basic grey with the “SPD” letters in white, but on S.P.D. Blue it’s a thicker rectangle and a lighter shade of grey with the “SPD” letters placed higher. Going off the promo pics of S.P.D. Pink, the badge is black and thinner than Red or Blue and the “SPD” letters are not centered.

Power Rangers Lightning Collection – SPD Badge Comparison

Jumping to the Delta Morphers, Red and Blue are nearly identical, but the inconsistency is with Pink’s Morpher. It has a silver outline and “SPD” down the middle, but is missing the other words on the Morpher and not painted white like Red and Blue.

Power Rangers Lightning Collection – SPD Delta Morphers Comparison

Dino Thunder

Dino Thunder, Power Up! So far, we got the Red Ranger and White Ranger with the Blue Ranger coming in March 2021. I wont be comparing the White Ranger’s suits to the rest, but I will point out that only the Red Ranger got the paint on the back of gloves while Blue and White did not.

Power Rangers Lightning Collection – Dino Thunder Gloves Comparison

Looking at Red and Blue side by side you’d be hard press to notice any inconsistences, but there are a few. Red doesn’t have the gold trim around the neck that Blue has. Their Dino Morphers are not painted the same either. Red has a solid red paint job to match his ranger color, while Blue is white to match the diamond pattern of his. Just to nitpick, both have silver outlines on their helmets when it’s suppose to be white. Heck, it’s even white on the box art!

Finally, much like the Dino Charge figures, the backs of the gloves are missing paint – white on the Blue Ranger and black on the White Ranger. The Red Ranger is consistent with screen accuracy.

Power Rangers Lightning Collection – Dino Thunder Body Details

Zeo

Stronger then before, Go Zeo! Looking at Zeo Ranger V Red, Zeo Ranger III Blue and the upcoming Zeo Ranger IV Green, there are some small differences between them. Each seem to be painted with matching gold trim and the correct shade of their color.

The inconsistency however, lies with the helmets. Zeo Green and Zeo Blue have a silver trim around their visors, while Zeo Red is painted white. The white trim is the correct show accurate color, but why they don’t at least have matching silver or white is beyond me.

Power Rangers Lightning Collection – Zeo helmets comparison

Another inconsistency is that on Zeo Blue, the butterfly joint is painted with a strip of white to match the area on the shoulders. Green and Red are missing this detail.

Power Rangers Lightning Collection – Zeo butterfly joint comparison. Credit – TokuChris

We won’t get into why Zeo Blue doesn’t have his weapon, yet Zeo Red and Zeo Green do.

Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers

Now let’s GO GO take a look at the team that started it all, Mighty Morphin’! There’s actually only a few things here that don’t match and it’s really only on two of the figures. With the Power Morphers on the belts, only the Black Ranger is missing the red outline around the Power Coin. Everyone else has it and even the Green Ranger‘s morpher is correctly painted gold. The weird thing here is that this is the second Black Ranger released. The first one was the Walgreens’ exclusive Armored (Dragon Shield) version. Taken from the only episode to air with this power up, “Oyster Stew”, this version of the figure has the Power Morpher painted correctly! Why didn’t Hasbro take that mold and just remove the Dragon Shield? I don’t know.

Power Rangers Lightning Collection – MMPR belts comparison

My second nitpick of this team has been wildly documented on my personal twitter and within the fandom/collecting space. The second release of the Green Ranger is missing the diamonds under his shield. The first release was part of the “Fighting Spirit” two-pack, which had everything from that episode of Dino Thunder accurately painted. This includes the silver stripe on his helmet and the silver Power Morpher! Why Hasbro didn’t look at both figures and merge them to make a completely show accurate Green Ranger is beyond me. When asked during Hasbro PulseCon, they passed it off as Green not having the diamonds sometimes, which isn’t true at all, but I digress.

Power Rangers Lightning Collection – MMPR Green diamond comparison. Note: Press photo on left does not reflect final color of the shield.

So not a lot to talk about with America’s first Power Rangers team, but it’s not the first completed team in the Lighting Collection line…

The Psycho Rangers are the first completed team in the Lightning Collection line. They’re also the only team to get a complete set packed together, all five Psycho Rangers are included. Originally, when I first looked at the Psycho Rangers plus Psycho Green, I didn’t notice anything wrong with their paint consistency. BUT there is something inconsistent! The back of the box shows their belt buckles are outlined with their respected colors, but only Psycho Pink has that paint in the pack. You could say Psycho Black has it too, but who really knows? So 4 out of the 6 Psycho Rangers are painted inconsistently.

Power Rangers Lightning Collection – Psycho Rangers – Belt Outlines

A lot of these details are not deal breakers for most people, in fact, quite a lot of people. This includes myself, since I’ll buy each figure as they come out. However, the worry of consistent inconsistencies remains each time a new member of a team is introduced. We don’t know yet if anything from Time Force or the Metallic Armor figures will be different since those only have one ranger represented. We may never know the reasons why the paint is different across a team. And I don’t think that if we ask that will get a straight answer, or an answer at all. Some say, “It only costs $19.99, calm down!”, but I say if you’re gonna mess up, then at least mess up consistently.

Bonus!

Activate Beast Powers! Beast Morphers Red and Blue are consistent with their paint applications. So fingers crossed Yellow gets released and matches them perfectly!

Credit:

Written/Pictures by Mike (@BigMike8109 on Twitter)
Edited by Eric Berry (@trekkieb47)
Press Photos from Hasbro

Last Edit – 12/26/2020 – Zeo butterfly joints, Dino Charge gloves, Psycho Rangers