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.

Cy-Kill

The Black Sheep of the Mecha Family

Tonka Challenge of the Go-Bots Line, 1983

It’s a pretty simple equation that if one thing is popular, a lot of it should be even more popular. After all, look at all the games in the wake of Pokemon, vampire books in the wake of Anne Rice and now Stephanie Meyer. The list goes on and on and on. And such was the case in the 80s with Transformers and the cheap knock-off, Go-Bots.

Background

There’s not a lot that can be said about the Go-Bots, except that they were such a blatant rip-off of Transformers, its little wonder that they didn’t last. Moreover, they weren’t even that good of a rip-off. MASK was kind of a rip-off of GI Joe, but a good one. Inhumanoids was a rip-off of…well, I don’t know. HP Lovecraft and Centurians maybe? But Go-Bots was the gas station boxed wine to Transformers’ Crystal. There just wasn’t much a competition.

A few characteristics of the story do still standout, however, one of which was their bad guys’ leader Cy-kill. I’m pretty sure there were others, but like Leader-One (the leader of the good Go-Bots), he’s about all anybody remembers. So, seeing as how I reviewed Starscream last week and that was the third Transformers review, I figured it was time to give these guys a shout-out.

Appearance – 3 out of 5

Cy-kill looks very much like he did in the cartoon, with the exception of the menacing scowl (here replaced with a vacant generic robotic look). Otherwise, the proportions are very well preserved and the character looks like he did in the show.

Construction – 4 out of 5

Somewhat similar to other die-cast mecha toys, this one is part metal and part plastic. However, unlike some of the Transformers, the joints and limbs are plastic whereas the main body is metal. This makes the toy feel a little better balanced and sturdier. There’s a pretty admirable amount of texture included in both the plastic and metal parts and some details (such as the machinery-looking details inside the main headlight) that really stand out.

Movement – 2 out of 5

The die-cast trunk pretty much seals the fate of any joints on the body (there’s no waist or neck joints, so you can forget about turning Cy-kill’s head). There are simple joints for the shoulders, hips, and knees, but with the exception of the shoulders, these provide only enough mobility to allow for the transformation process. This translates into a bare-minimum amount of motion for an action figure.

Extras – 1 out of 5

Zip, zero, nilch, nada. This toy comes with no weapons, add-ons, side-cars riders, nothing.

Packaging – 2 out of 5

I can’t score the packaging effectively because, quite simply, I can’t remember what it looked like. Considering that I can vividly remember subtle details about just about every toy I’ve ever owned – including the packaging – that leads me to believe the packaging was less than remarkable. I recall the packaging for other Go-Bots figures and recall it being stark, hand-drawn imagery keeping with the cyberpunk-esque era of art that was popular in sci-fi in the early to mid-80s. Giving this toy the benefit of the doubt (and because I need to give it a score), I’m defaulting to below-average but not awful score of 2.

　

Overall – 2 out of 5

This is a very sturdy toy that does represent the character that inspired it, but unfortunately that’s all it has going for it. The lack of meaningful mobility and utter absence of any kind of extras really keeps this as sort of a sub-par figure. The toy has little personality (and certainly nothing that would indicate the character from the show) and it isn’t even clear (his name aside) if he’s a good guy or a bad guy. This review may seem kind of half-assed, but in my opinion that reflects the spirit of this toy line that will forever be remembered (and rightfully so) as the ugly and nerdy cousin of Transformers that nobody wants to talk about.

Ken Masters

Player 2 Goes Nowhere

Jazwares, 2004

It’s not clear to me why the action figures of fighting game tend to have such a terrible track record, but boy do they. Going back to the Street Fighter II line of GI Joe action figures, the entire genre of figures seems cursed to look terrible, handle terrible, or just generally be full of teh Suck. It doesn’t really make sense, because it seems like tangible incarnations of action video games – and especially fighting games – would be absolutely rife with opportunities to make some kick-ass toys. Sadly, the theory rarely pans out to reality.

Background

Ken Masters began as the palette-swapped second character in the original Street Fighter video game. Hailing from the US, he naturally was white and had blonde hair. Dressed in red, he was identical to the first player option from Japan, Ryu. With the arrival of the now-legendary Street Fighter II, Ken began his gradual evolution to becoming his own distinctive character, separating himself from Ryu in the annals of gaming history.

In the Street Fighter narrative, Ken is the wild ‘brother’ to Ryu, both having trained under the same karate master. Ken is generally seen as an exceptionally well-rounded character, with solid offense and defense options as well as a wide repertoire of maneuver options. He’s usually a little more flashy and high-risk/high-impact than his more conservative counterpart.

Appearance – 3 out of 5

This is a nicely colored toy with good texture and a solid representation of the character that inspired it. Ken’s almost comically stereotypical ‘American’ appearance is held strong with the blonde hair and dark eyebrows, the solid jaw, and rippling muscles. The detailed folds and creases of the red karate gi he wears are also quite well done.

Construction – 3 out of 5

This is a very sturdy toy, made out of solid plastic. Nothing about it feels haphazard or unable to stand the rigors of play. Even the black belt that Ken wears feels sturdy (at least for a comparatively thin strip of plastic). The obvious joints and seams, along with the blind-person-can-tell color discrepancy between the face’s coloring and the rest of the skin, is what keeps this toy from ranking higher in the construction department.

Movement – 2 out of 5

What the toy gains in construction, it loses sorely in mobility. The figure can barely move. The shoulder joints move on one, slightly angled axis, with only the rotation of the upper arms and the extension of the elbows giving any real mobility. The hands are both clinched into fists and do not rotate at all. The neck rotates, but with very little range. There is no waist and while there are clearly hip joints, the sturdy plastic so praised in the construction portion of the review hampers all but the smallest amount of movement. The knees bend slightly and the feet rotate (for some reason) but do not extend. The character is largely impossible to pose and is saved from a ranking of One in this category solely because of the arms’ rotation.

Extras – 1 out of 5

None. This toy comes with nothing. Not a stand (even though there are openings in the heels to place the figure on pegs), not a cap to go onto the fist to simulate Ken’s flaming dragon punch (for which he’s known so well), not a fireball attachment, nothing. This is nothing to say about other colors of karate gis (this is intentional as at least one repaint of the character exists as a ‘Player 2 figure’) or even other costumes.

Packaging – 2 out of 5

The packaging is nice, but completely uninspired. There’s very little to distinguish from one figure to another aside from the name on the front plate. The back is identical between all characters and offers no explanation as to the story, the character bio, or anything useful.

Overall – 2 out of 5

In a lot of ways, this isn’t a toy but a statue that can be posed ever so slightly (and ineffectively). Seriously, the legs might as well not even move and the arms’ movement is incredibly awkward. The figure looks good, yeah, but not impressively so. And when you take into account that this character is from a fighting game, the lack of any accessories hurts but it’s really the utter lack of any meaningful mobility that really is just unforgivable.

Devastator

The Granddaddy of Transformers Combiners

Hasbro Transformers Generation 2 Toy Line, 1993

Okay, let’s just go ahead and get it out of the way right now. With the exception of a certain five robot lions, Devastator is the most famous combiner in all of mecha fandom. Oh sure, you can talk about Power Rangers or any others of a seemingly infinite number of combining mecha shows. But at the end of the day, Devastator (and we’re talking classic Devastor here, not the live-action movie’s Humongastator) is at the top of a class with very, very few peers.

Point of note, I am basing this review off the Generation 2 Toy Line which was released approximately a decade after the original series. The Gen-2 toys were pretty much identical to the (much more famous) Gen-1 toys, which the exception of mostly cosmetic changes (color palettes got swapped, etc).

Background

Discussing the history of Devastator is sort of like discussing the history of ice cream (go ahead, look it up). Everybody’s got a theory about where Devastator came from and what his origins are. In the animated series alone, two different versions are offered, with additional versions cropping up in just about every single comic franchise that has come and gone. Whatever particular version you prefer, it is widely considered canon that Devastator was one of – if not THE – first combiners in the Transformers universe, and his origin is intrinsically tied with another classic Transformer, the Autobot Omega Supreme.

When I say Devastator is a combiner, I mean that he is a giant robot whose individual form is composed of a team of (six) smaller robots known as the Constructicons (whom themselves have alternative forms; those being construction vehicles like a dump truck, a crane, etc).

It wasn’t until the second season of the animated series that Devastator had any combiner-peers and by and large, even after others came and went, he was and is still widely considered king. He became the poster child of the combiners for the Transformers line and has generally been revered by anyone connected with the fandom ever since.

Appearance – 3 out of 5

Devastator the toy looks very much like Devastator the character out of the animated series (or a yellow version of the character, since these are the Gen-2 action figures). The overall proportions of the character, the way he is physically built, and even how he transforms, all of it is well represented here. Tactile details are bit lacking, however and there’s nothing overall about the character’s appearance to really make this representation stand out (especially considering that he’s smiling for some reason; we can only assume it’s related to the death and destruction of one or more Go-Bots).

Construction – 2 out of 5

Devastator has a lot of problems for such a large toy. A lot of people playing with this toy back in the day may not clearly remember now, but the toy tends to fall apart rather easily. The individual Constructicons, when combined into Devastator, generally do not snap into place (I’m looking at you, Hook and Bonecrusher; Devastator’s arms). This means that if you tilt the toy, the arms stand a good chance of falling off. Worse, the toy is constructed of inconsistent materials. Some parts of the Constructicons are plastic while some parts are die-cast metal. This makes the toys very awkward in their weight distribution. The result is that even if you don’t move the toy, the arms may still fall off or the whole thing may topple right over.

Where Devastator deserves some praise is in the non-Orthodox manner in which the character combines. Just about every combiner after Devastator would follow the same (admittedly reasonable and sound) pattern – a large, central character with four smaller characters who would attach almost like some kind of power armor. Devastator is distinct in all six characters are of similar size and the manner in which each connects is unique. Unfortunately, this necessitates having additional parts that are sometimes incorporated into the individual figures and sometimes are not (more on that below).

Movement – 2 out of 5

Devastator doesn’t move very much. His shoulder joints allow his arms to swing, but there’s a risk that any time the toy is moved at all, one or both of the arm’s may pop off. The elbow joints likewise bend, but the range of motion is pretty limited. The hands rotate, but only by virtue of being pegs that stick into the forearm attachments. There’s no waist, hip, or knee joints, nor can the head turn (though it can tilt down slightly).

Extras – 2 out of 5

Extras. Yeah, about that. This is a bit tricky because Devastator comes with a lot of additional pieces, but not much of it is really all that useful. He comes with the pieces needed to combine (distributed amongst the various Constructicons), but they add little to nothing to the toys (they’re like snap-on attachments that don’t make any sense – why would a bulldozer need a drill on its hood?)

Each Constructicon does come with a pistol, but there’s nowhere to put those weapons when Devastator combines. At their size, it becomes almost a foregone conclusion that they will get lost (as evidenced by the picture; I’ve always been border-line religious about taking care of my toys and even I lost most of the guns). The result is Devastator comes with a lot of additional stuff that doesn’t really increase the playability of the toy.

Packaging – 4 out of 5

As these are the Gen 2 toys, I’m going off of their packaging which was brightly colored and attention-grabbing. Each Constructicon came individually packaged with a distinctive picture of each character on the front. On the back were character bios, statistics, and an overall explanation of the Transformers story as well as how the individual Constructicons combined into Devastator. This kind of buy-and-play packaging, where kids not familiar with the animated series could still jump right in, was where Hasbro has always really excelled.

Overall – 2 out of 5

I feel like I’m being a little harsh here with this score. This toy has a lot of flaws, but it is also really ambitious. Having six robots instead of what would become the staple of five, having a unique combining method, all these characteristics lends some impressive credentials to this toy and helps explain why it and the character it represents have been so enduring. Unfortunately, the plethora of random parts and the lack of overall mobility of Devastator and the individual Constructicons really does just standout too much. While you can transform this toy from one robot into six, and those six into vehicles, you really can’t do much else. If the individual Constructicons had more mobility, if Devastator had more mobility, if the individual parts (such as the weapons) combined like the robots themselves, this toy would rank much, MUCH higher very quickly. As it is, though, this toy really stands solely on its ambition and memories idealized by the haze of childhood.

Green Lantern Jet

Because Every Superhero Needs a Jet

Mattel DC Superheroes Toy Line, 2009

The Mattel DC Superheroes toy line is geared at children under the age of 7. They’re simple toys with only a handful of features and overly-stylized, simplified characteristics. Yet, these toys are still well-made and worth paying attention to. After all, for many children, these toys are their introduction not only to action figures and the more serious toys (assuming that isn’t a huge oxymoron) they’ll be playing with later on, but also the characters and iconography of modern mythology; namely comic book superheroes.

Background

The Green Lantern actually is part of an intergalactic police force known as the Green Lantern Corps. As such, there have been several Green Lanterns (including Guy Gardner who was big in the 90s and WHATHISNAME from the Justice League animated series). Hal Jordan is the one most people usually think of. Like many DC superheroes, he’s incredibly brave, resourceful, intelligent, physically near-perfect, etc. Apparently DC Comics didn’t discover faults until sometime around the 80s. But my pro-Marvel bias aside, the Green Lantern evolved into a very unique and interesting character.

The Green Lantern Ring gives Hal Jordan the ability to manifest a wide variety of powers and abilities, as well as the ability to make tangible objects out of thin air. Sometimes, there’s some overlap (such as why would a man who can fly at super-sonic speeds need to manifest a jet?), but for a Seven-year-old, that simply doesn’t matter. Green Lantern is Batman’s friend and ally and he comes equipped with a pimp jet that shoots rockets. And if that isn’t the definition of awesome, I don’t know what is.

Appearance – 3 out of 5

Scoring the appearance of toys like this is difficult because since it’s a kid’s toy, realism takes a backseat. Many even basic features are left out in favor of having very simplified characteristics of both objects and characters. This means that the figures are very simple and very basic in their appearance. But it needs to be noted that this is intentional.

Green Lantern is lacking some details (since this is clearly Hal Jordan, where are the white stripes on his otherwise brown hair?) but is gifted with others (his mask and ring aren’t just painted on, they’re individually constructed). The ring itself even has the Green Lantern symbol built into it. That’s some serious attention to detail! The jet, on the other hand, is made up almost entirely of see-through green plastic that is cheap sunglasses’ level of transparent. For those of you who grew up with Legos, you remember the transparent pieces were usually the coolest and this jet will help to reinforce that truth.

Construction – 4 out of 5

The converse side of things is that while kids’ toys are usually very simple in their appearance, they’re very rugged in their design and construction. The Green Lantern action figure and his jet are no different. A very sturdy plastic is used in both of these and nothing short of an intentional and willful desire to destroy them would visit anything but passing wear-and-tear on these toys.

Movement – 2 out of 5

Again, like appearance, these toys are intentionally designed to lack any meaningful ambulatory abilities. Still, there are some notes to point out. The shoulder joints of the Green Lantern figure are ball-joints, allowing for a full range of arm motions, and not merely the liner joints like the hips. It is unfortunate that the legs are a single unit (meaning that lifting the left leg means the right leg follows). The neck joint allows rotation but nothing else.

The jet has only two moving parts (not including the firing mechanism for the missile launcher): the canopy and the trigger on the back of the jet that does…nothing. Well, it does something. There are two little plastic turbines in the back of the jet that move. For some reason. It’s not entirely clear what they’re supposed to be, except maybe to give the appearance of flight. You can see the mechanisms that turn the turbines, which a Seven-year-old might find fascinating. But this novelty serves no purpose to play.

Extras – 2 out of 5

The jet comes with three missiles, all of which attach (one loads into the firing mechanism and the other two attach to either wing). Unfortunately, that’s about it. The Green Lantern figure has hands that can hold accessories from other toys in the Superheroes line, but he doesn’t come with any himself. Again, this is probably a conscious decision to avoid choking hazards and similar concerns.

Packaging – 1 out of 5

The packaging is about as generic as they come. It’s an open-air package with the figure behind plastic and the vehicle strapped down to the cardboard box. The back has the generic picture all toys in the line carry, giving a pretty small composite shot of all the toys in the line. And offers no explanation to whom the Green Lantern is, why he has a jet, or why he and Batman are friends.

Overall – 2 out of 5

This is a hard toy to score because it’s quite obvious that the target audience for it is of a very young age. Details and accessories are eschewed for a remarkable – but not unheard of – durability, while an overall generic aesthetic is sought. Still, this is a fun toy to play with and for the younger audiences, it will likely stand out. And again, for those parents looking to introduce their young children to comic book heroes, these kinds of toys will do a fantastic job. Plus, the jet’s see-through green plastic. And that’s just cool.

Excalibur MK-VI

ExoSquad/Robotech

ExoSquad Robotech Line, 1995

　

The Excalibur, known as the Tomahawk (or the Archer for the Battletech fans out there), is a little-seen non-transformable mecha in the Robotech franchise. While it saw very little attention from the Robotech toyline in the mid-80s, it was resurrected when Playmates optioned the designs to expand their Exo-Squad line.

Background

Within Robotech, the Excalibur is part of a mecha series known as the Destroids. They’re giant mecha with tremendous firepower, but without the ability to transform like their more famous and more recognizable brethren, the Veritech fighters. Destroids play a pretty small role n the Robotech animated series, usually making only token appearances that last for a few seconds at best. Nevertheless, their fandom grew by leaps and bounds with the release of the Robotech RPG by Palladium books. Since then, many an anime and mecha fan have wanted to have more than just the flimsy imported Japanese models to play with.

It’s not entirely clear how or why Robotech and Exo-Squad crossed paths. As none of the Destroids (or anything involving Robotech) appear in the Exo-Squad show, there’s no narrative explanation for how they are related. Going off of the general premises, the two stories take place in different universes with different timelines and different technologies. The only real explanation of how the Robotech toys ended up being produced with the Exo-Squad logo is, quite simply, Playmates wanted to release more figures. The fans are generally pretty okay with this because the end result was that we got some cool Destroids to play with.

　

Appearance – 2 out of 5

The Excalibur, like the other Destroids in the collection, is pretty unremarkable. A total of four colors was used to paint the figure and in places were great detail was required, the paintjob falls a bit short upon inspection. There isn’t a whole lot of texture to the figure, but there’s enough to do the job. Where the figure does stand out is that this is a picture-perfect representation of the mecha shown in the show, the RPG, and in the occasional comic book.

Construction – 2 out of 5

The Excalibur is just this shy of being cheap. The plastic is relatively sturdy, but not too weighty. The joints are very simple, while rivets and seams in the plastic are quite obvious if you look. The joints do not have uniform strength, which is frustrating because that means one arm may stay in position while the other will fall unless held up.

Movement – 3 out of 5

It’s a little tricky to score this figure’s movement. On the one hand, the joints have pretty simple and limited ranges of motion. On the other hand, so did the mecha that the figure represents. With the exception of the missing knee joints, this toy is capable of no movement that the inspiration itself was not. And while the lack of knee joints would be a big deal, the inclusion of toe joints pretty much off-sets it.

Extras – 1 out of 5

There is nothing extra to this toy. No guns light up, no missiles fire, nothing. The closest thing to an extra is the missile pods that open to reveal tooth-like missiles that cannot fire or be removed (these opening missile pods are a feature shared with only one other Destroid figure in the line). This is incredibly disappointing because the Robotech universe is replete with little additions that could be thrown in. The usual things like missiles and light-up guns aside, there’s always miniature vehicles like planes or tanks. While it might be somewhat sacrilegious to some to suggest crossing over into the realm of Battletech (which "borrowed" many mecha designs from Robotech), an option might be to have interchangeable weaponry and armaments.

Packaging – 2 out of 5

The packaging for this toy was absolutely nothing remarkable. The figure was covered with plastic and that’s it. The backboard of the packaging was not unique to each figure and offered only the most basic of explanation of the story of Robotech, Exo-Squad, or how they were connected. The only thing that saved the packaging from being completely uninspired was the color scheme (unique to toy packaging at the time) and the fact that the figure was protected from damage.

　

Overall – 2 out of 5

It seems a shame to give this toy such a low grade because it is a lot of fun to play with. Part of that may be the Robotech fan in me talking, but part of it is the simple pleasure of having an honest-to-goodness mecha toy released to US audiences. This isn’t a vehicle for a figure to ride in, it isn’t a sentient robot character, it’s a mech. And part of me is overjoyed just to see that kind of presence on the toy shelves. But at the end of the day, the Excalibur property is simply too rich to deserve such a second-rate figure. There’s too much that could have been done with this figure that wasn’t. Which is a real shame.