JUNE TOYS: The Pre-Orders, AKA Mostly Power Rangers Stuff

 

June’s pre-orders included a lot of multipacks, so while it felt like a light month for purchases, it ended up being a lot of figures.

We start with the Marvel Legends Animated Dock Ock and Aunt May two-pack (pictured above, Spider-Man sold separately), which is a lot of fun. Mostly because of the Ock, who has proper bendy long tentacles. Not super strong, mind you. We won’t discuss how many figure stands of various types needed to be erased in the above figure. But very poseable and able to grab things. He can stand on the tentacles if you want, though.

Aunt May is Aunt May, so you’re not going to be getting a ton of action poses out of her, but that’s appropriate. They both look accurate to the show, which in May’s case is a little odd, because the animated portrayal of Aunt May doesn’t look like the traditional mental image of Aunt May from comics and earlier cartoons. She’s a little younger and a little less grey and has a snazzy suit jacket but my brain doesn’t scream “Aunt May” when I look at her.

But I’m enjoying the animated line they’ve got going because it provides a pretty good chance to get reasonably iconic versions of a bunch of characters. Got two more on pre-order.

In Power Rangers news, I dip very slightly outside my collecting rules here. The rule is everything before Turbo, and any Tommies. So why is there now a Mezogog in my collection? Because I do have a limited fondness for the Dino Thunder seasons, and because Mezogog is a great figure. And I was getting Dino Black regardless on account of him being a Tommy. Don’t worry, though. There’s no chance of me going farther into Dino Thunder because the White Dino Ranger was a Walgreens exclusive, and when anyone is selling one, if anyone is selling one, the cheapest they are is $100, and no, I don’t give that much of a shit.

The Tommy head here is a little weak, more “suggesting” the older, goateed Tommy from the series than looking like him, but Dino Thunder Black is also a great looking Ranger suit, so it works out. Mezogog has an articulated jaw, and nine times out of ten that seals a deal for me.

I’m not really a Street Fighter guy. Or, more accurately, I’m as much of a Street Fighter guy as you can be without playing or liking any Street Fighter games. I mean, I’ve tried over the years. But I’m bad at them and don’t have fun playing them. Give me Tatsunoko Vs. Capcom on the Wii any day.

But I like a lot of the characters and the character designs, plus all the Street Fighter Red Tape sketches from the old Pete Holmes show, so when Jada started dropping some amazingly-engineered Street Fighter 2 figures at a $25 price point, well, I’m on board for a few. Not Fei Long. I don’t know from Fei Long. But Ryu? Sure. Chun Li? On pre-order. Vega? PLEASE MAKE VEGA. With his clow.

Anyway, Ryu looks great and has some of the most functional articulation in the industry, as you can see by both photos above. His joints aren’t that much above and beyond say a Marvel Legends in terms of number or… doubleness? But everything about the figure is designed to make the joints almost infinitely useful to hit any pose you might like. I googled both of these from the game to recreate them and was able to. Plus there’s an extra head, extra hands, the shown effects piece, and a little stand to hold up the fireball. Just a great, great toy.

Finally, the big purchase for the month. The Hasbro Pulse (and Amazon) exclusive five pack of the Alien Rangers, the last TV Ranger team that fits in my collection parameters as stated above. If they wanna make movie suits, fine. Civilian outfits, fine. But with MMPR, Ninja, Alien, and Zeo teams in my collection, that’s basically it. Just monsters, villains, and MAKE A BULK AND SKULL TWO PACK YOU COWARDS in my future.

Anyway, it’s a very nice set. It’s a bit over-priced given that there’s no civilian heads, only two different bodies, and the accessories are essentially the same for every figure, but you do get a lot of the accessories - each figure has a gun, a sword, a dagger, a sheath, an effects piece for the gun or sword, and an extra hand or two. But come on, not even one Delphine head? Ah well. At least I have them.