Super Zeo Megazord

Power Rangers 2.1
Power Rangers Zeo, Bandai, 1996

　

I wanted to follow-up last week’s review with one in a similar vein. I think the Power Ranger toys deserve some serious scrutiny because they were quietly some of the best toys on the market for quite a long time. The figures and other accessories were noticeably lacking (to be reviewed at a later date), but the mecha really were some of the best toys we had to play with in the late 90s.

Unfortunately, there were a lot of missed opportunities that it seems like a little forethought could have helped to realize. Last week, I reviewed the Shogun Ultrazord and talked pretty extensively about how it benefited from using figures from previous lines (specifically Titanus from the original Dino Zord line and the Falcon Zord from the Ninja Zord line). Today, we’re going to go in the opposite direction and look at one of the most disappointing of the toys, the Super Zeo Megazord.

Background

For the first three seasons of the Power Rangers, you had (mostly) the same cast and the same costumes. As zords came and went, you still had the same team of Rangers. But at the close of the third season, with the Shogun Zords in play, there was a protracted story arc about the destruction of the Rangers’ Dino Zord coins (the source of their powers) and a general disability to continue to protect the earth. What followed was an admirable quest to uncover a new source of power: the Zeo Crystals.

The Zeo Crystals gave birth to a new set of Ranger powers, costumes, etc, and marked the first real transition for the show. Power Rangers Zeo would eventually transition to Power Rangers Turbo (kicked off by a god-awful movie), which would likewise transition to Power Rangers in Space. PRiS would mark the end of the six-season Zordon Saga and from there on, each season would have new Rangers, new mecha, and generally be their own self-contained stories with little connection to the previous series.

Anyway, back to Power Rangers Zeo, the Zeo Rangers would end up getting a second set of mecha called the Super Zeo Zords. In the show, these kicked ass and took names, but the toys really fell short. While the individual Super Zeo Zords are all that bad, the combined form of the Super Zeo Megazord is really kind of lacking. This is especially true when you realize that the Super Zeo Megazord couldn’t utilize the other toys in the Zeo Rangers toy line. The Super Zeo Megazord couldn’t combine or meaningfully connect with the Zeo Megazord or the Red Zeo Megazord (a self-contained giant mech specifically piloted by the Red Ranger), and pretty weakly combined with Pyramidus, the Zeo Ranger’s version of Titanus. This would be the straw that broke the camel’s back for many Power Rangers fans who were fed up with having an increasing number of toys that couldn’t connect/combine to one another.

　

Appearance – 2 out of 5

I don’t want to say the Super Zeo Megazord is ‘phoning it in’, but I will say that it seemed to be the start of a disappointing in the Power Rangers toys of being a little cheaper and lower quality than previous iterations. The Super Zeo Megazord looks good and looks like the mech from the show, but it just doesn’t really stand out. The joints are painfully obvious, as are the bolts and seams that put the toy together. It’s not all that bad looking of toy; it’s just with the standard set by the previous Megazords, it really pales in comparison. However, it’s worth pointing out that while the Super Zeo Megazord looks like the mech from the show, the individual mecha (Super Zeo Zords I through V) do not. The figures only casually look like the figures from the show. Some are so grossly disproportionate and out of balance, it’s almost laughable (I’m looking at you Super Zeo Zord IV).

Construction – 3 out of 5

The toy itself is decent if unremarkable in its construction. The plastic is fairly hefty and the joints are quite solid, but there’s not a lot to write home about.

Movement – 2 out of 5

Sort of like last week’s Shogun Ultrazord, the Super Zeo Megazord is really lacking when it comes to movement. The arms, shoulders, and elbows have simple joints that add up to some pretty decent arm mobility. Sadly, the head and legs are stuck in one position. The individual mecha/zords who make up the Super Zeo Megazord are pretty equal in there subparness in that they have simple shoulder and knee joints, no hip joints to speak of, stubby little arms that can barely reach past their chest plates, and none can turn their heads (with the exception of Super Zeo Zord V and that’s directly related to its transformation).

Extras – 1 out of 5

It’s pretty disappointing that this figure only comes with two identical swords that are pretty flimsy (although not quite as flimsy as the Shogun Megazord’s sword) and made of one piece of plastic that’s all one color. It’s makes you wonder why they even bothered at all. The swords can only be held by the Super Zeo Megazord and not any of the individual zords. Moreover, none of the individual zords come with their own weapons or equipment or even the capacity to hold such equipment if they did come with it.

Packaging – 2 out of 5

By the time Power Rangers Zeo had started, the packaging was beginning to take the backseat. In this case, the packaging offered little information about the mecha itself, or really anything other than the absolute most basic and generic of plot descriptions. The packaging looked nice, but offered little information about the toy, the toyline, or the franchise to which it belonged.

　

Overall – 2 out of 5

This toy is pretty disappointing. The Power Rangers toys have been a staple of the action figure section for closing in on two decades now, and you’d think they’d have learned how to do them right. Sadly, with examples like the Super Zeo Megazord, it’s understandable while so few people take the line seriously. Most everything about the figure appears to have been half-assed, which is disappointing considering the lineage to which it belongs to. This toy could have, and should have, been a lot better and it’s a shame it wasn’t.