Several New 'Power Rangers' Lightning Collection Figures Announced During Hasbro Pulse Fanstream
Eleven new figures were announced during the stream, let's talk about them.
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Once And Always, the 30th anniversary special for Power Rangers, premieres Wednesday on Netflix, and Hasbro, the franchise’s current owners, saw fit to kick off the week with a Pulse fanstream promising reveals, announcements and pre-orders. While there was nothing about the television series, the comics, or anything new outside of toys, boy did they present a lot of toys.
It started off with Hasbro putting out a statement regarding quality control. It reads:
Our goal is to create high quality products that accurately represent the Power Rangers characters you know and love. We recognize that some products arent always perfect and appreciate the fans’ concerns and feedback to help us work through these issues.
If you have ordered and received a Power Rangers Lightning Collection figure with an issue, please contact our Consumer Care department directly at https://hasbro-new.custhelp.com and share any photos and as many details about the issue as possible. Thanks again for your constant support around the Power Rangers brand and for helping us bring these iconic characters to life!
It was nice to see some accountability. The figure reveals began with non-Mighty Morphin Lightning Collection figures, the first full wa. First up was the Turbo Red Ranger, Theodore Jay Jarvis Johnson, TJ, the first black leader of the Power Rangers! Played by Selwyn Ward, he’s the first Turbo Ranger of the line. Next was Summer Landsdown, Ranger Operator Series Yellow from Power Rangers RPM, who was played by Rose McIver, now best known for iZombie and Ghosts. Finally, there’s Lightspeed Rescue Blue Ranger Chad Lee, played by Mike Chat. Lots of talk about meticulous detail accuracy, but Chad’s head sculpt could definitely use some work. Pre-orders for these figures are already up as of 1 PM Monday, and are expected for an October 1 release.
Next up, the final additions to the Cobra Kai collaboration, following the Skeleputty, the Samantha LaRusso Morphed Pink Mantis Ranger and the Daniel LaRusso Morphed White Crane Ranger. First off the star himself, Johnny Lawrence, played by William Zabka. He is the Black Boar Ranger, a reference to the fighting style displayed on the show. Then, as the Red Eagle Ranger and Eagle Fang’s premiere fighter, it’s Miguel Diaz. All Cobra Kai Rangers use the Ninjetti aesthetic from Mighty Morphin’s third season.
Following the playing of the Once and Always trailer, they transition to the 30th anniversary Remastered Lightning Collection figures for Mighty Morphin Red, Green, Pink, and Black. The extra hands and gripping fingers the new figures come with allow them to do their morph poses. All three Blade Blaster modes are available, ad the head sculpts are very improved. Tommy comes with the green candle from his power-draining episode “The Green Candle”, and the Dragon Shield is actually removable, so have fun with it on SPD Green figures for Tommy’s son JJ. Jason can wield the Dragon Daggers too. These and the Cobra Kai figures will be up for pre-order on Wednesday at 1 PM Eastern, however Black is apparently to be determined. In the meantime, MMPR Black is now an option for the Selfie series, where you get your own custom figure modeled after you.
Of course, the 30th anniversary special couldn’t bring back Rita Repulsa in any fashion without the Lightning Collection debuting her solo release which includes head sculpts that captured all of her best facial expressions. Her cape and skirt are soft-knit. Featured with her is the second monster of the day she ever used. From “Teamwork” it’s the Mighty Minotaur, who similarly has been brought back roboticized in Once and Always, but appears in its original form here, and it comes with Finster’s clay likeness that created him. These figures are going up tomorrow for pre-order at 1 PM.
Finally, free from the shackles of NFT, the Lightning Collection Zord Ascension Project Special Edition black and gold Dino Megazord is also up for preorder now, for a June release.
Before the show, IGN exclusively released a clip from Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Once and Always of Rocky and Zack rescuing Minh from putties at an otherwise empty juice bar. Zack even gets to break out his Hip Hop Kido for the first time in so long that what he’s doing confuses her. Once and Always premieres Wednesday on Netflix.