Power Rangers, Power Rangers Super Megaforce, Reviews

Review: Wild Force Red Lion (Power Rangers Super Megaforce)

Wild Force Red Lion
$24.99 at Toys R Us

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Our first Deluxe Zord Vehicle is none other than the Wild Force Red Lion, originally from Power Rangers Wild Force! It is sold for the usual $24.99 price point seen previously by the Lion Mechazord and Gosei Jet toys. Included is a Wild Force Red Ranger Key. Now in Power Rangers Super Megaforce (and Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger), the Red Lion acts as a conduit for the powers of both Wild Force, and Samurai, as evident by the kanji plastered all over him. While these were hidden in the Gao Lion release, Bandai America (as usual) takes the cheaper approach to cater to their own gimmick, and leaves them in plain sight. While it is in accurate, I kind of like it. It changes up the design to embrace both Wild Force AND Samurai, as opposed to Samurai being tucked away until you combine it with the Megazord. It just works for me and I really like it. In Red Lion mode, it can fire a missle from its mouth when a Ranger Key is inserted into its back. There is also a Battle Mode, formed by putting the head crest on his, well, head, and taking the tip of Fire Smasher and placing that on top of his head too. You can also take the staff and place it in his mouth. It’s not in the show, but it looks pretty cool to me. The Wild Force Legendary Megazord is formed by placing a legless Legendary Megazord on the Red Lion, forming a Megazord that acts as a neat little throwback to the Pegasus Megazord seen in Wild Force. The Samurai Legendary Megazord is formed by taking the Red Lion apart, with his front legs becoming the Megazord’s legs, the head inserting into the chest, and the back legs onto the front Zord Builder ports of the Jet and Racer. He also gets a fancy new helmet. This formation received a lot of flak from fans because of how inaccurate it is to the show. The lion’s mane doesn’t flare out, he now has giant legs hanging off his arms, and he’s missing quite a few paint details. While the missing paint is always obnoxious, I really dig the new design. Shinken Gokaioh felt really boring to me, and the legs emulating bulky shoulder armor of shogun generals is just really cool looking to me. He also can hold the giant Fire Smasher, AS WELL as the Naginata weapon, something Shinken Gokaioh can’t do. As the Samurai Legendary Megazord, you can still fire a missile out of the lion’s mouth by inserting a Ranger Key into the Legendary Megazord’s back. Hurray playability! While neither mode is accurate, and the toy certainly has some flaws, I like what they were able to do at the $24.99 price point. It has all its modes, a Battle Mode, and looks pretty damn neat in all of its forms. Pretty great value for the price in my opinion.

[youtube http://youtu.be/hRKvydb3iAI]

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