Power Rangers Mystic Force Mystic Morpher vs. Magiphone

This is a comparison of the Power Rangers Mystic Force Mystic Morpher BANDAI
#25101 and it's Japanese counterpart, the Magiranger Magiphone made by BANDAI
Japan.

Both morphers use 2 AAA batteries, which are not
included. The Japanese morpher is slightly larger than the US version.

You
start out with the morpher folded up like a clamshell and you open it up to
Cell Phone Mode. The US version uses
a release button to open, while the Japanese version is opened manually.

From
Cell Phone Mode, it can be unfolded further to Wand Mode. (US version opens manually, while the Japanese version
uses a release button to open.) In Wand Mode, a spring-loaded clear plastic
tip extends to become the tip of the wand.

LIGHTS - The US version has a single red light under
a Phoenix emblem on the Cell Phone andwhen it lights up, it looks like
the heart of the Phoenix is glowing. It's a neat effect that is lacking
in the Japanese version, but because the red light is in the Cell Phone section
of the morpher, the tip of the wand doesn't glow.

The Japanese version has a
red light in the Wand section that contains the clear tip. It looks like
acamera phone
lens on the Cell Phone. The clear plastic tip conducts the light like
a fiber optic, so the tip glows too.

SOUNDS - Both morphers have keypads
with 13 keys (0-9; ENTER; icon for telephone with handset off the receiver;
icon for telephone with handset on the receiver.) and both morphersspeak
in their respective language. The
US version has actual white buttons, while the Japanese version uses soft-touch "bubbles".

Pressing
the numeric keys produces a sound that can be one of 4 different tones. The tones seem to be randomly generated,
so pressing the same key may give you the same tone or you might get a different
tone. The morpher stores in memory the last 4digitspressed. If
more than 4 digits are pressed, the oldest digit is replaced with the most
recent.

You select up to 4 digits and then press ENTER. Each
digit corresponds to a list of names. A sound is heard, followed by the
name that corresponds to the digits you entered, followed by a differentsound. For
example in the US version, if you pressed 5-6-8-0 + ENTER, you will hear a
sound followed by a voice saying, "Prifior, Unos, Tryn, Nermax", followed by
a different sound. Entering certain combinations of numbers will produce "special
sounds". For example, entering 1-2-4 will produce a Cycle Sound after
the names are spoken. The US instruction sheet has a list of 9 Special
Sounds, while the Japanese box seems to show 8 Special Sounds.

The Japanese
version comes with 5 small cardboard squares that have emblems representing
the Blue, Yellow, Pink and Green Rangers and the symbol for the Rangers as
a group. The morpher already comes
with the Phoenix emblem of Magi Red built into it, so the Red Ranger emblem
is not needed. You can slip the cardboard emblem under a piece of clear
plastic on the morpher, thus customizing the morpher to the ranger of your
choice. This feature is missing on the US version.

The US version comes
with a clear plastic belt clip. The Japanese version does not.

I was very
impressed with the US version. This
is one of the few US Morphers that I would actually recommend! While
there aren't any lights in the Wand section, it's not such a great loss and
the light under the Phoenix emblem looks very nice. The sound volume
is not as loud in the US version, but the clarity of the voice is excellent. Very,
very clear pronunciation. BANDAI did a great job in bringing the Magiphone
to the US audience.