DX Samurai Megazord: A Brief Review

Merry Christmas! Hohoho!



First Impressions

Surprisingly, Bandai America managed to surpass its own standards again. The Samurai Megazord was a marked improvement from the RPM DX Formula Megazords in terms of both plastic quality and joint structure. Despite the light weight, the whole Megazord was very solid and sturdy. In comparison, the RPM Megazords were kinda flimsy... (You may have noticed that at this point, I have yet to touch on the functionality aspect).

After all, the Samurai Megazord is manufactured in the same Thailand factory which is responsible for many quality Bandai Japan products. Again, the US$30 price point could have been a factor in the increased quality.

The paint applications were decent in the Megazord mode, but glaringly lacking in their individual Folding-Zord modes.

Design and Prototyping

A considerable amount of redesign was put into the Megazord torso and legs which resulted in a more streamlined outlook (highly consistent with Bandai America's methodology for Megazord aesthetics). This has its advantages in certain aspects; the Samurai Megazord was able to hold its own when displayed beside its Japanese counterpart, Shinken-Oh.

To fit the cheaper price point, 4 Folding-Zords lost their Emblem Modes (except for Turtle) and also had some drastic changes to the appearance and transformation mechanics.

The Lion Folding-Zord somewhat resembled the Shishi Origami despite the major retooling in the transformation mechanism. Unfortunately, the obvious missing paint applications hurt the overall presentation.

The Dragon Folding-Zord (or Puppy Folding-Zord) looked nothing like a dragon. It had the most drastic retooling in structure which gave it the crappy looking form, plus the missing paint applications didn't help at all. Like the Ryuu Origami, it can house the Megazord Helmet and as an added bonus, the Megazord Katana can be used as the tail?! How "impressive"!

The Turtle Folding-Zord is the only functional Zord which managed to make the 100% transition over: Emblem Mode and Full Paint Applications.

The Bear Folding-Zord was relatively decent but still had the same issues of missing paint applications.

The Ape Folding-Zord looked terrible with minimal paint applications. The stripping of the Emblem Mode would proved problematic for future combinations, notably DaikaiShinken-Oh and Samurai Ha-Oh.

Having said, the 5 individual Folding-Zords were rather unimpressive (or pathetic) but this shouldn't matter to kids who would mainly play with the Megazord mode. In terms of accessories, the Megazord Katana (Sword) was a little nice touch as the blade was sharper and both sides managed to retain the same calligraphy design. Noted that there was no Shield included with the Samurai Megazord which doesn't seem to make sense until... (the BeetleZord will act as the Shield)



Conclusion

The DX Samurai Megazord is a remarkable piece of toy for kids to connect with the popular Power Rangers Samurai series. It is unlikely that they would notice the lack of the Emblem Modes as well as some of the transformation functionalities. However, I don't foresee paying more than S$50.00 for it given its playability.

For collectors on a budget, the Samurai Megazord serves as a good display piece since it is more streamlined in the looks department. As long as they do not mind the lack of Emblem Modes, the Samurai Megazord can be considered as a decent representation of the in-show version. Another added bonus would be the ability to swap the arms and legs with the MMPR 2010 Dino Megazord (American-Exclusive).

At first, I was a little apprehensive towards getting the Samurai Megazord because of the uncertainty to combine into the Samurai "Ultrazord" (Samurai Ha-Oh). However, the good news is that Bandai America will release the Bull-Zord to enable that combination, so budget collectors who cannot afford the expensive Japanese Shinkenger Mecha can settle for the American version instead.

Compared to the RPM series, I would say that the Samurai Megazord isn't really an actual improvement (except for the plastic quality and joint designs) because I am very particular about core features which are the inaccurate transformations and Emblem Modes in this case. The 4 RPM Megazords still win in this regard. Therefore, the Samurai Megazord is really just for leisure playing.

For fans of Shinkenger, it is certainly more rewarding to get the Shinkenger Mecha especially when they offer more accurate functionalities and Bandai Asia is now re-issuing them at a cheaper price.

Hunt for the RPM Megazords (Part 6) + X'Mas Mega Haul

The hunt continues, and I'm back in Orchard Road again.

My first stop was Tangs, but I forgot it doesn't sell toys at all! Hahah. After that, I went to Kinokuniya to look at other stuff and stumbled upon the Super Sentai 35th Anniversary Official Visual Book which I ended up buying.



In the end, I also didn't get why I bought the book in the first place. Granted that it has some nice photos of the various teams but that's all. Quite useless if you compared it to the 30th Anniversary Encyclopedia. Probably not really worth S$30.20. Retail therapy perhaps after hunting for ValveMax Megazord for so long without any luck?

The price was not the worst thing because I only discovered that some pages inside were torn and damaged after I opened it at home. It was not visible on the outside because it was all wrapped up. ~!@#$%^&*

My next stop was the Takashimaya Christmas Toy Fair at B2 where Power Rangers Samurai toys were at 20% off. It's a good marketing move to promote sales rather than waiting for them to warm the shelves and only clear them when the show ends. Furthermore, kids get to play with the Megazords at the booth which in fact did helped the sales by quite a lot.



Then one kid was like screaming "OctoZord!" at my face. LoL~ You can imagine his excitement. Anyway, I bought the DX Samurai Megazord with a $20 voucher from my friend on top of the 20% discount. It was a good S$35.96; can't beat that price even with the clearance later on. Had to be a little smarter after the RPM disaster.

The third, fourth and fifth stops were Paragon Metro, Toys 'R' Us and Robinsons which yielded nothing. Not surprising at all. Really at this point, to find any RPM toys in Orchard Road seems like a bonus!

Since I'm already in the vicinity, it made sense to go over to OG to look at the DX GokaiGun. By then, all the GokaiSabers were gone and only 2 GokaiGuns left. This was quite an obvious sign that I should get it before it's sold out which I did. Again, the 20% store-wide discount came in very handy and I ended up paying S$57.55.



No doubt that the main purpose was for the DX GokaiBlue Ranger Key, the GokaiGun was a decent toy on its own. One shortcoming when compared to the GokaiSaber was the lack of the flashing LED lights for the "Final Wave" finisher attack. It's a pity that the design and build was unable to support this feature.

Having said, this marks the end of my hunting journey with an expenditure of S$123.71.

Received Candy Key Series 05

Consistent! Took 10 days to reach Singapore via SAL as well.



As mentioned previously, all 5 Ranger Keys are relevant for collection since none of them have DX versions/or only have Gashapon versions. Nice to have more Ranger Keys from my favorite Sentai team - BoukenBlue!

Hunt for the RPM Megazords (Part 5)

Just "so happened" that I was meeting a friend for dinner in Orchard, and had some time to do a little hunting after that.

I decided to try my luck at Isetan Shaw House because it was the first place where I managed to find the High Octane Megazord when it was sold out in most places. Unfortunately, as with all the rest of the departmental stores, there were no more RPM toys in sight.

Sigh... The chances of finding a ValveMax Megazord at this point is really close to zero.

Hunt for the RPM Megazords (Part 4)

As I was out-stationed in the West doing testing, it was very convenient to start the hunt in the areas nearby.

After the PaleoMax Megazord was sold out in Jurong Point, the last known information brought me to Lot 1 Shoppers' Mall in Choa Chu Kang. Almost as remote as Compass Point, I was caught by surprise when there was only 1 box of Mach Megazord left in the pile. At this point, it seems that the PaleoMax Megazord was following closely behind the ValveMax Megazord's footsteps.

Given the short evening, I only had time for one last stop at Causeway Point, Woodlands. Quite a reverse situation as Causeway Point has a considerable flow human traffic but the Kiddy Palace had a huge stack of RPM Megazords; probably the largest pile ever since the new mark-down pricing...

Apparently, my action of flipping through the stack attracted the attention of some parents and kids which also started thinking of getting them as Christmas presents. Luckily, I was able to pick out a decent PaleoMax Megazord out of the remaining 5-6 boxes.

With the new acquisition, it's now 3 down 1 to go!

DX PaleoMax Megazord: A Brief Review



Note: There are no individual names for the PaleoZord (collective term for the train mode), so I'm going to refer to them as PaleoMax Mammoth, PaleoMax T-Rex and PaleoMax Triceratops.

First Impressions

The PaleoMax Megazord was slightly heavier than the Mach Megazord first out of the box, but plastic quality and sturdiness were comparable. In other words, it was also suffering the same issues as the Mach Megazord.

Nothing much for the paint applications since there wasn't much in the first place. Color-wise, the PaleoMax Mammoth wasn't show accurate - the toy has a cherry tint instead of maroon.

Design and Prototyping

Other than the obvious down-scaling, the PaleoMax Megazord underwent a couple of retooling and proportion changes. Aesthetically, the PaleoMax Megazord looks sleeker and more streamlined than Kyouretsu-Oh.



Like the Mach Megazord, the PaleoMax Megazord went through approximately the same reduction required to fit the new price-point. In addition, some functions of the individual zords are stripped as well.

Again, the down-scaling came at a price. The PaleoMax Megazord was not a very well-engineered piece of toy because some parts did not lock very well in Megazord mode, especially the torso and body.

The PaleoMax Mammoth still looked significantly large after the down-scaling which was nice. However, the interior was actually quite hollow and the various parts were locked together only by the wheels/Megazord arms. The trunk do not work and is now molded-on instead.

Both the PaleoMax T-Rex and Triceratops lost their chubby-selves in the transition so as to give the PaleoMax Megazord more proportionate legs. I can understand if the Falcon Copter and Tiger Jet had no wheels because kids would simulate them as flying. However, these two are freaking trains with no real wheels! I can only rely on the PaleoMax Mammoth to pull and drag in the train mode. Also, the leg connectors were not well-designed because they were part of the Engine Cell compartments, when constantly pulled in the long run, will become very loose.

Despite not having the ValveMax Megazord on hand, I also tried out the RPM Ultrazord configuration and the very first thing that annoyed me was the "mouth-piece" for Lion Hauler. It kept dropping off because the connectors don't really fit. The other major complain would be the two extremely loose arms (T-Rex and Triceratops). Basically, they literally just "hanged" there by the connectors and pose-ability is practically zero.

Conclusion

In the end, I still have to give credit to Bandai America which attempted to make the RPM Ultrazord affordable and yet functional in spite of the several flaws which I pointed out. The end result was 4 functional Megazords relatively similar in size and more streamlined than their Japanese counterparts. Consider it as a compliment.

While this is the third year that Bandai America is producing its own version of Megazords, I feel that they should continue to work and improve on the combination aspect as evident in the poor connector-and-joint designs. Having said that, the sad truth is that the target market is still kids who don't give a shit about quality. As long as the toy remotely resembles the representation in the show, it's "good enough". Therefore, if Bandai America really improve over the years, it should be considered as a bonus given the above mentality.

If you ask me, the DX PaleoMax Megazord is at most worth S$30.00; nothing more.

And for now, it definitely looks like it's impossible to find the ValveMax Megazord now...

Hunt for the RPM Megazords (Part 3)

Although nothing was mentioned in the forums about Power Rangers RPM, I decided to try my luck anyway...



Getting there wasn't exactly direct because it's located at the very "ulu" Ubi area. Something very embarrassing and probably the worst thing that could happened to anyone was that I was completely drenched in the sudden heavy downpour while not knowing that the entrance of the warehouse was one big round behind the bus stop with no other sheltered area.

I think the last time I was ever caught up in a heavy rain was during the army days when we were not allowed to carry umbrellas! Behave like a soldier!

The whole warehouse district was super rundown and the toilets were post WWII-like. There were really nothing much at the sale except the trashy RPM motorbikes if you are talking about Power Rangers. In the Sentai department, there's only the Magi and Bouken leftover candy toys going at S$3.00 for 2 boxes.

I tried to ask one of the staff there (which I'm not sure if he's the boss as he looked like he is) about the RPM Megazords but he was super rude. So basically, I was completely drenched and to get this type of reply really made my day. Wow!

This ends the third round of disappointment. Doesn't seem very worth it to go through so much right?

Hunt for the RPM Megazords (Part 2)

Part 2 of the RPM Megazord Hunt saw me at Jurong Point where I was conveniently attending one of the University gatherings at a friend's house thereafter.

The first stop was, of course, Kiddy Palace. Being the weekend leading up to Christmas, the store was packed with people and I really underestimated Saturday because there were no more PaleoMax Megazords in sight. All that's left was 2 boxes of Mach Megazord which were also snatched up by kids in the short 20 minute interval.

Decided to check out NTUC Fairprice Extra and Popular since there's a slight chance of them carrying toys, but sadly no RPM Megazords at all.

Quite a disappointing trip considering that Kiddy Palace @ Jurong Point used to be the prime location for finding clearance toys that were sold out elsewhere. This is probably due to Kiddy Palace now being the main toy store left after Toys R Us closed down.

Hunt for the RPM Megazords (Part 1)

It certainly caught me by surprise when I saw the RPM DX Megazords marked down to S$20.00 from the stagnant S$49.95 last weekend. However, all I saw were Mach Megazords and that's not a good sign...

Was on half-day leave today, so I began my Operation RPM Megazord Hunt. The first stop was Compass Point @ Sengkang since it was considerably "remote and isolated". I checked out Metro first and no traces of any RPM toys left, which leaves just Kiddy Palace. Seems that the S$20.00 price-point was good enough to get parents to buy for their kids, as there were only 3 Mach Megazords and 2 PaleoMax Megazords remaining.

However, the box conditions left much to be desired. Therefore, I decided not to get the PaleoMax Megazord despite being seemingly rare at the moment. Not giving up any chances, I asked the sales assistant if there are any more stocks of the RPM Megazords and as expected, nothing more from the clearance.

Disappointed, I headed back to the Kiddy Palace @ Century Square, Tampines. Managed to dig up the Mach Megazord with the best box condition out of the pile and proceeded to the cashier. Since there was a long queue, I took the chance to approach one of the sales assistant to help me check if there were stocks of the ValveMax and PaleoMax Megazords at the other Kiddy Palace branches.

She was quite helpful because she really called out to the major branches to check for me. Unfortunately, the ValveMax Megazord seemed to have sold out at all the possible places. The PaleoMax Megazord, however, was still available at Jurong Point and Lot 1 so the sales assistant asked me if I wanted to reserve it. Being mindful of the box condition, I told her that I will check it out myself...

This concluded Part 1 of the RPM Megazord Hunt.

DX Mach Megazord: A Brief Review



First Impressions

Out of the box, the Mach Megazord was distinctively lacking in many aspects compared to the High Octane Megazord. For one, the whole Megazord felt so much lighter and hollow in the entire structure. While the plastic quality was roughly the same as the High Octane Megazord, it was less solid in both sturdiness and weight.

The paint applications were consistently neat, but sadly it was the only nice thing about the Mach Megazord.

Design and Prototyping

Aesthetically, the Mach Megazord is identical to its Japanese counterpart, Seikuu-Oh except that the size is down-scaled to fit the much lower price-point of the American market.



Looking at the various price-points should give you a good gauge of what to expect out of the Mach Megazord, while not forgetting you are exchanging the 3 Engine Souls for 1 piece of crappy plastic Engine Cell.

Individually, there's nothing much to complain about the Falcon Copter, Tiger Jet and Whale Zord except for one. There were no actual wheels; everything were molded-on details.

However, the designs didn't come off as well-engineered when it comes to megazord combinations. Both the Falcon Copter and Tiger Jet were particularly weak in the arm connectors as they were also part of the compartment covers for the Engine Cell. Also the tail fin of the Falcon Copter drops off easily because of poor design.

When it comes to Megazord combinations, the High Octane Megazord with the Falcon Copter was definitely not in the design consideration. Basically, the tail fin was obstructing the arm connector to the High Octane Megazord.

Since I do not have the ValveMax Megazord on hand, I tried out connecting the Whale Zord to the High Octane Megazord to simulate the SkyRev Megazord. Given that the G9 connectors were pretty weak, I didn't see any improvement in the Whale Zord's connectors as well. The plastic quality was horrible... At this point, I cannot gauge how the Croc Carrier is going to balance out the additional weight at the back but the whole design seems to be rather unstable. To make matter worse, the poor locking mechanism of the High Octane Megazord is back to haunt the SkyRev Megazord and subsequently, the RPM Ultrazord combinations.

Conclusion

On its own, the DX Mach Megazord is a rather decent piece of toy from Bandai America. The 3 Zords hold well together in this configuration, and even the Whale Zord got to retain its 10-sec attack burst configuration. For S$20.00, it is almost just worth as much for both parents and kids. I don't really foresee myself paying more than that for the overall quality that the Mach Megazord presented.

That being said, my main rationale for making the above sentence extends to the over-arching design as part of the RPM Ultrazord. That aspect of the Mach Megazord was quite disappointing, as opposed to the High Octane Megazord. The inability to hold all the pieces together certainly reminded me of the DriveMax Ultrazord where you couldn't even move it without pieces falling off.

Oh well, I shall still continue my hunt for the ValveMax and PaleoMax Megazords. Probably, I would be able to give a more objective review by then.

Another Weekend Mega Haul

Another round of Mega Haul with 4 items of a grand total of S$203.05!

[1] Gashapon Ranger Key Series 04



Despite the news of the DX Gaoranger Ranger Key Set releasing in 2012, I still have to buy this set for the 6 remaining Gashapon-exclusive Ranger Keys: TimeFire, MegaSilver, King Ranger, Kiba Ranger, Hime ShinkenRed and Miss America (Rare Key).

Since I'm already spending so much money on collecting the Ranger Keys, I'm definitely not taking any chances in case some keys are not covered in Bandai's consideration of 2012 releases.

Auntie gave me a S$10.00 discount (S$65.00 per set) since I'm getting two sets of Gashapon Keys from her.

[2] Gashapon Ranger Key Series 06



Currently, there are 10 Gashapon-exclusive Ranger Keys in this set with MagiMother being the Rare Key. At this moment, it is unknown if the Magiranger team is in the Ranger Key releases for 2012.

Based on the trend that both Sun Vulcan and Gaoranger are from RKS 01, my guess is that the next 3 set of Ranger Key Sets would be Magiranger, Dekaranger and Gekiranger since all of them are already covered in the Gashapon versions.

[3] S.H. Figuarts GokaiGreen with GokaiDarin



Collected it from La Tendo and really glad to see that my favorite character from Gokaiger has no paint QC issues. I decided to use up my membership points for cash rebates, so I only paid a total S$29.10 in the end.

[4] DX GokaiSaber



Luckily, there are still 2 boxes of DX GokaiSaber at OG Orchard. Otherwise, I would have to fork out a bomb to get it online for the GokaiYellow Ranger Key. Therefore, the 20% store-wide discount is very useful because it is only after the discount (S$63.95) that the amount I'm paying is closer to the 3800 retail yen price.

For now, I have managed to collect all the Gokaiger Ranger Keys with GokaiBlue in the Candy Toy version. Also realizing that I spent too much over the past 2 months, I will get the DX GokaiGun next time instead.

Sounds are pretty loud for the GokaiSaber because it is not a toy phone where kids would hold close to their ears, so it need not be soften like the Mobirates. Quite a cool toy overall, but not as close as the Mantan Gun somehow. Hahah.

Ranger Keys Continues Into 2012!

Bandai Japan will continue to release the Ranger Key series in 2012 due to the huge success of the popular collection gimmick for the 35th Super Sentai Anniversary - Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger.

Some 123 Ranger Keys have been released this year across the various DX, Candy Toy and Gashapon versions. With the release of new Ranger Key Sets, collectors can look forward to fulfilling the 199+ Ranger Keys featured in the show.



Two new sets of Ranger Keys are scheduled for release in January 2012 - Sun Vulcan and Gaoranger. The GoBuster Set will be released in March to coincide with the Legend Mobirates featuring the AkaRed Ranger Key and new sounds.

Based on the arrangement, the Sun Vulcan set will see a repeat of VulEagle in the DX version (RKS 01), VulShark in the Candy Toy (Series 05) and Gashapon versions (Series 05), and VulPanther in the Gashapon version (Series 05). [*] The Gaoranger set will also see a repeat of GaoRed in the DX version (RKS 01), and the rest of the team in Gashapon version (Series 04) with the exception of GaoSilver. [#]

[*] No. of Gashapon-exclusive Ranger Keys in Series 05 reduced from 8 to 7.
[#] No. of Gashapon-exclusive Ranger Keys in Series 04 reduced from 10 to 6.



The Legend Mobirates is scheduled for release in March 2012 with the AkaRed Ranger Key as well as 68 new sounds or a total of 148 sounds. The GoBuster Ranger Key Set releasing in the same month will be compatible with the new Legend Mobirates.

It is not surprising to see that the Legend Mobirates (Japan version) will once again be in high demand, as Bandai Asia will be softening the sounds again in order to pass the Toy Safety Regulations effectively rendering the toy useless in terms of value and playability.