Back in April at the Hasbro Pulse Fan Fest event it was announced that four more Metallic Armor Ranger figures would be coming to the Power Rangers Lightning Collection.
These figures, based off of the short lived suits seen at the end of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers Season 3, had already started to be released at the end of 2020 with the Pink Ranger but now the core team of five was set to be complete.
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Ever since they were announced to release they were listed as end of the year releases, and while the shipping delays that have plagued most of the fall releases in the US the Metallic figures were only pushed from November to December. While these are Hasbro Pulse Exclusives in the US, Canada, and the UK they have just recently started to be released internationally in Singapore.
LIGHTNING COLLECTION: THE FIRST IN HAND SHOTS
The store Robo Robo, no stranger to recent Lightning Collection debuts in Singapore, posted late last week their fresh stock of both Wave 10 for the main line as well as the four new Metallic Armor figures for Blue, Red, Yellow, and Black. These figures are the first versions of MMPR Red and Black released for the line that are specifically based off of Rocky and Adam rather than Jason and Zack.
Right off the bat these figures have a lot to offer, with Rocky receiving a new actor likeness for the first time since his original Zeo Blue release, which included one of the worst likenesses in the line to date to most people. Billy includes a new head without glasses this time to match his look in the later seasons. While the original Aisha head sculpt is making it to shelves right now in VS Packs Wave 2 this release for her includes a different hairstyle more in line with her Season 3 look.
THE POWER COIN PROBLEM
When it comes to the smaller details on the figures, fans will be quick to point out anything. Not long after the original pictures from Robo Robo came up close shots of them from Alexius Lim on Facebook. These new shots allowed for a clearer look at the Power Morphers, specifically what coins are present in them. Many were hoping these would include the Ninja Power Coins in the buckle instead of the classic Dino Coins, but they do not.
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When looking at photos of the Metallic Armor suits from the series, it’s really hard to tell which set of coins would be the accurate choice here, and likely it was decided to keep the same belts for a cost saving measure from Hasbro but it is still something being debated none the less.
BLACK RANGER’S HELMET
In one interesting change from the original figure to the new one is the paint applications on MMPR Black’s helmet. Typically there is a small white trim around his visor to make it stand out from the rest of the black on the helmet. On this figure it was pointed out that this detail was missing. Not only was this present on the original Wave 6 and Walgreens Armored versions released before but the 3D render of the new release first shown off by Hasbro also had this detail missing.
When looking at certain frames of the show this white trim does appear to actually being missing from the Metallic Armor suit, which in turn would make the figure more accurate after all, but it is a detail many fans never caught until the figure showed up in hand.
THE LEGACY OF THE METALLICS
Within the next few weeks these four new figures should be releasing from Hasbro Pulse in the US where they can join 2020’s Pink Ranger release to wait for the inevitable White Ranger version to release and complete the team. Until then with these five figures they will include all five shards of the Zeo Crystal, new and improved head portraits for your other figures, and the first solid attempt to recreate the Metallic Armor glittery effect in figure form.
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To stay up to date with all the news for the Power Rangers Lightning Collection fans can check out The Illuminerdi’s Josh Perry on his weekly Lightning Storm YouTube series every Saturday at 9:00 am Pacific or on Twitter at @LightningFigPR. Are you picking up this set of Metallic Rangers? Leave your thoughts in the comments below or on our social media.
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