THE TOYS OF SPRING: Rebuying Power Rangers Edition

One of the things I’m trying to avoid in my latest (2020-2023) round of action figure collecting is the impulse to buy Slightly Better Versions. Figures of characters I already have a serviceable version of, but that have come out from a new company, or from the same company with tweaks or updates or deluxe accessories. This post is about utter failure in that regard.

The Power Rangers Lightning Collection Remastered series celebrates the 30th anniversary of Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers by releasing a series of all new figures for the core six members of the team. They have new had sculpts, pinless joints, new accessories new hands to hold them, and improved paint jobs. They’re largely unnecessary, I’ve pre-ordered all the ones that can be, and two of them arrived toward the end of May: Yellow and Blue.

I kind of just described them already, but the best parts of these figures are the new civilian head sculpts, the teeny tiny Power Morphers, and the hands that allow them to hold said morphers, allowing me to do this:

Billy’s glasses are removable, which is a very nice touch. The Morphers are fussy, but got a lot less fussy once I realized how they were engineered, with a tiny loop that slides over two fingers on the hand. At that point, they become safve and secure and don’t fall on the carpet over and over and fucking over again. The morphers have a startling level of detail for their size, and are unique to each ranger:

Red, Pink, and Green have a pretend release date of Jan 2024, but this is Hasbro so that probably means September. Zack hasn’t gone up for preorder, but is supposed to be out sometime this summer. But if I’m rebuying shit for new accessories anyway…

This is Gamestop Goldar. Gamestop Goldar is an important milestone, because he is the FINAL old Lightning Collection figure I have any intention of buying. That’s it. Except for new releases, I’m done. 

What’s a Gamestop Goldar? He’s a regular Goldar, but with his wings. And a purple effect piece instead of a red one. He was exclusive to Gamestop, and I’ve been checking eBay regularly for the past six months trying to get one for less than my maximum and VERY reasonable price point, and in May, I succeeded.

They’re otherwise identical. I checked. Even took pics to be sure. But there’s a whole thing about Goldar and why sometimes he has wings and sometimes he doesn’t and I really wanted both looks if I could do it without spending forty frickin’ bucks, and so I was patient and eventually I didn’t spend forty bucks. 

So now it’s just new stuff. Of which they are somehow still releasing a ton. Five figures out for delivery AS I TYPE THIS.