Well, that title is a bit of a mouthful, huh? So many different shows are under the Power Rangers umbrella that the character names can be as tortured as the descriptive names on Star Wars figures. I picked this set up this week at my local Gamestop, so let’s take a look at the Green Ranger and Putty!
The packaging on this line continues to impress. I still really like the minimalist artwork that wraps around the front of the box. Not enough to keep the box itself once the figure is free, but it looks nice on the shelf.
The set is packed with good stuff and includes an alternate unmasked head for the Green Ranger, two power effects, the Dragon Dagger, The Sword of Darkness, and two alternate hands for each figure.
The Putty’s two alternate hands are shaped like rocky weapons. A sword for the left hand and a hammer for the right. I really like the rocky texture they accomplished here and Hasbro did a good job adding a wash to the paint so all that detail stands out. The way they are sculpted still shows remnants of the hands, so you get the impression that the hands transformed. The hands pop on and off at the forearm. They were a little scary tight at first, so I heated them up before swapping the first time and they swapped more easily with each subsequent swap.
The blue spark effect can fit on the tip of the sword arm. I think it’s meant to symbolize the sparks that fly when combatants make contact on these shows, but I’m not sure. It’s a nice translucent plastic and fits on via friction.
Tommy has the Dragon Dagger which fits nicely in the holster on his side. It’s got some good paint detail for this line and also fits well in the alternate hand that’s sculpted so it can look like he’s “playing” the dagger like a flute to summon his Zord.
I would suggest for future Green Ranger figures that they articulate the Dragon Dagger hand to hinge up/down rather than in out as it could make it easier to get into flutist poses. An open left hand would have helped out with this pose too.
The sword of Darkness is a weapon the Green Ranger used when evil and it’s got a great curved blade and swirling design details. The paint is decent on this part, though there’s a little slop on a couple of the details, the silver is fairly shiny.
The translucent green energy effect is pretty neat and slips onto the blade much like recent such effects in the Marvel Legends line or Lord Zedd’s in the Lightning collection. I find this effect stays on a little more stably than those however.
The Green Ranger also comes with a chopping hand. I’m all for alternate hands, but I think I would have preferred a tiger claw hand or perhaps an open hand to hold the second weapon to a chop.
The alternate head looks like the same one from the White Ranger, which makes sense, though I suppose they could have made his hair more like Tommy’s semi mullet look from season 1. The face print is nice though the plastic is a little glossy.
The sculpt on these figures are both really nice and captures the athletic, but not roided-out proportions of these characters. I
t looks to me like they share a lot of parts between the two in the legs and torsos. It works for me as a casual fan, but I’d be curious to hear from hardcore fans if it bothers them that the Putty shares a lot of the same build as the Ranger.
The articulation is nice with:
- Swivel/hinge neck, shoulders, hips, wrists ( wrists on Green Ranger only), and ankles.
- Ball and socket upper torso
- Swivel biceps, thighs, boots, and forearms (forearms on Putty only)
- Double hinged knees and elbows
- Butterfly hinged pecs
The only joint I took issue with the range of motion was the hips. They don’t need to do the splits, but it seems to me you would want your martial artist figures to be able to do higher kicks that these figures get. The butterfly hinge is a little hindered by the Green Ranger’s shoulder pad thing. You can move the arms, but the shoulder pads lift up and can look a little awkward.
Paint is good on these two and I really like how the flat green plastic on the uniforms contrasts with the gloss green and gloss black of the helmet. I did have a bit of a paint boo-boo on my figure’s forearm with a glop of gold paint.
I think it also would have been nice if the Putty’s face had a bit of a wash to bring out those facial details.
When this set was announced I was a little surprised they would put such a big character as the Green Ranger and such a crucial antagonist as the Putty in a two-pack. Seems to me these could anchor their own future waves of figures, but I didn’t realize that these are both variants of their respective characters.
Hasbro certainly may decide to release a different Putty variation on a single card or in a future army builder pack. They could also go back and do a far less episode specific variant of the Green Ranger.
As it stands I could definitely go for three to five more of these Putty figures. They are fun, disposable villains.
