It’s always nice completing a team and with the Black Ranger, Hasbro’s Power Rangers Lightning Collection has wrapped the complete original team. Despite having the coolest color combination, Zack wasn’t my favorite as he was a bit corny.
In non-TV show media, Zack’s been portrayed a lot better so I was really excited about tracking him down. Let’s see if this time I can always bet on Black (Ranger).
Packaging: It’s way too late to hope for a packaging change in terms of the character showcase and bio on the back. I do like the color specific setup and the big portrait on the front and side.
It’s really the rear that’s underwhelming with a dull photo of the figure that’s not nearly as cool as the Hasbro promotional pictures. There’s a lot of lines I collect now that the packaging is so well done I’m trying to find a place to store them. That won’t be the case with this line.
Likeness: Like the red and blue rangers there’s not a lot of difference with Zack’s sculpt besides the helmet. The sculpt work is solid as usual with the horns curling up to the visor. I never really appreciated them that much, but they really look cool. His belt is also well detailed with his mastodon logo.
Scale: Zack should be shorter than Jason and Tommy. With every subsequent MMPR it’s seemed like the scale has gotten a little wonkier. Zack is the tallest of the Power Rangers, which is weird.
Hasbro should probably size up Jason’s head so he can be in better scale with the others. This is the problem with being first out the gate with Tommy.
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Paint: I did see one Black Ranger on the shelves with some wonky paint work, but for the most part this line has been pretty consistent with strong paint work.
The figure I actually received was more along those lines with clean work on the diamonds on the gloves, boots and the torso. There was no runoff on the helmet and belt either.
Articulation: Black Ranger features the same fluid articulation as the rest of the line. At this point I wasn’t surprised at his poseability and it’s nice to see a line with such well engineered articulation and range.
Black Ranger has:
- neck
- shoulders
- elbow (double-jointed)
- wrist
- wrist hinge
- torso
- waist
- hip
- knee (double-jointed)
- ankle
Accessories: Zack has an unmasked head sculpt. I don’t love the twists hairstyle and would have preferred the fade from the Dragon Shield figure.
I’m not seeing the likeness to Walter Jones either. After some positive strides with the Trini, Billy and Jason figure, this is a step back.
He’s got the standard Ranger blaster with excellent work on the paint applications. He also has his battle ax/cannon.
The paint apps were also sharp with the black, yellow and silver. The cannon also has an energy blast that looks really good.
Finally, he has an alternate set of fists.
Worth it? The main MMPR characters are hard to find upon initial release, but I’ve found them all on shelves over time so I wouldn’t pay the above retail price just yet.
Rating: 9.5 out of 10
I’m not sure if Zack’s scale issue is more of an issue with Hasbro or trying to be “accurate” to the source material’s varying heights of the actors. I’d give him a 10 if he had the earlier hair sculpt, but otherwise this is a really strong figure.
Where to get it? Target and Wal-Mart have had this wave in stock, but I got him from Amazon. You can also get him from Entertainment Earth with an April pre-order.
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