Deluxe Super Zeo Megazord

Review by EVA_Unit_4A

In Episode 33, “A Golden Homecoming”, in addition to bestowing control over Pyramidas and the powers of the Gold Ranger upon former Red Ranger Jason Scott Lee, the alien Trey of Triforia leaves a parting gift to the other five Zeo Power Rangers as thanks for their trust and friendship: the Super Zeo Gems! Energized by the Gold Ranger Staff, the Gems transform into Super Zeo Zords, allowing each Zeo Ranger to pilot the humanoid Zords in battle against the enhanced armor of the Machine Empire’s robot monsters. Each Super Zeo Zord easily beats the robot monsters alone despite their neo-plutonium armor upgrade. All five Super Zeo Zords can fly and operate underwater, fire energy blasts from the colored shapes on their bodies, and utilize scaled-up versions of the Zeo Power Rangers’ own weapons.

Super Zeo Zord 1

Super Zeo Zord 2

Super Zeo Zord 3

Super Zeo Zord-3 is the only one out of the five with restricted poseability- the arms cannot point straight forward because the chest armor gets in the way.

Super Zeo Zord 4

Super Zeo Zord 5

Super Zeo Zord-5 is the only one that has an extra set of shoulder joints; though, oddly, these are not involved with the transformation. Despite what is seen in the series, the Deluxe-size versions of the Super Zeo Zords cannot grip any weapons, as their hands are not designed for them and none were provided.

In Episode 34, “Mondo’s Last Stand”, frustrated at unceasing defeats at the hands of the Power Rangers, King Mondo decides to take matters into his own hands. First, he recovers the Damocles Sword- a weapon so powerful that it overwhelmed King Mondo a thousand years earlier, which he buried so he’d never be tempted to use it again. He uses it to become giant-sized, and engages a lone Super Zeo Zord 3 (because Zeo Ranger 3 – Blue is out to prove his worth since the return of Jason). The single Super Zeo Zord is no match for King Mondo, and it retreats. With the help of a used power booster, the five Super Zeo Zords can now combine into the new Super Zeo Megazord! After a furious struggle in the city, the Super Zeo Megazord uses its twin Super Zeo Zord Sabers to slice King Mondo in half and destroy him. Meanwhile, Lord Zedd and Rita Repulsa return from the M51 Galaxy with their own plan to defeat the Machine Empire… What the Power Rangers don’t realize is that the last time King Mondo used the Damocles Sword, he was destroyed, but he was still able to be rebuilt. So now it is only a matter of time before the improved King of the Machine Empire returns… Like the Deluxe Zeo Megazord, this combination also retains the awesome articulation in the arms, though it loses out on the wrist joint. Both Super Zeo Zord Sabers are made of PVC, but lack the coloring they have in the series (silver blades and gold guards).

For those of you wondering what the differences are between the Deluxe Super Zeo Megazord from “Power Rangers Zeo” (1996), and its original Japanese counterpart, the DX Chouriki Gattai OhBlocker from “Chouriki Sentai OhRanger” (1995), the answer is simple: there are no differences between the two. Paint applications, decal designs, materials- everything is perfectly identical!

Sets required for this combination:

• Deluxe Red Battlezord
• Deluxe Pyramidas The Carrier Zord
• Deluxe Super Zeo Megazord

In Episode 39, “The Joke’s on Blue”, the-late King Mondo’s first-manufactured son, Prince Gasket, and his wife Archerina appear on the Moon to both clear out the interloper Louie KaBoom, and fill the void left by the former King of the Machine Empire. First, Archerina puts Louie KaBoom under a love program, and ‘asks’ him to destroy the Power Rangers for her, which he joyfully obliges. Then the Super Zeo Megazord is sent out to intercept the rampaging love-struck bomb. Louie resists their first attempts, and so Gold Ranger with Pyramidas, and the Warrior Wheel, enter the battle. While Louie is stunned from the powerful attacks, the Rangers used the Super Zeo Megazord to form the Zeo Ultrazord for the first time and finally destroy Lord Zedd & Rita Repulsa’s precious misguided smart bomb. There’s nothing particularly special about this combination other than it swaps the Zeo Megazord for the Super Zeo Megazord. The Red Battlezord still serves as back-cover and shoulder cannons. In some episodes, it was referred to as the “Super Zeo Ultrazord” just to differentiate it, even though there is no difference in performance from the other two Ultrazords.

And, really, the only way you know it's in there is to remove the Red Battlezord from the back.

Who would have thought that simple geometric shapes could work so well on a giant robot? Not just one, but five of ‘em! Unlike most Zords to date, they don’t try to be anything except giant robots. They don’t have an animal form, they don’t have special built-in weapons (why couldn’t PLEX have designed them to carry small versions of the Zeo Rangers weapons just like they do in the series?), and they have no particular style except blocky armor and geometric shapes for visors. No, they’re just simple gray and black humanoid robots with color-coded shapes on their chests. The other thing is that, unlike the Shogunzords from the Deluxe Shogun Megazord seen in Season 3 of “Mighty Morphin Power Rangers”, there is variety to their designs. They’re not repaints of each other, and they form different parts of the Megazord. It’s kind of weird that Super Zeo Zord 5 was the only one with additional articulation in the shoulders (why does it?), and I felt more articulation could easily have been incorporated into the others’ arms. I also wish that the head of the Megazord could have been stored inside Super Zeo Zord 2 rather than having it be the only backpack of the five. Thankfully, the head can be removed easily enough, although it does make the Super Zeo Zord kind of blank across the back without it, compared to the others. That’s also part of the appeal I find in the five: each has a different persona along with their coloring. (I look at Super Zeo Zord 4, and all I can think is “HULK SMASH!”…) Again, fantastic use of the five shapes as actual parts of the armor. They just fit together so well in this configuration that it’s difficult to image it any other way, and not just that they’re smallish symbols scattered across the design like on the Deluxe Zeo Megazord, but they are fully integrated into just the front of the whole body. Though the front of the body is smooth and polished, that clean look is completely reversed when you look at the back and it becomes a jigsaw puzzle of legs and arms. Simply folding back limbs is ordinarily the mark of a cheap and lazy design company for a humanoid transforming robot, but I find here that it actually has the opposite effect because it works in tandem so well with everything else. (The paralleled limbs vaguely reminds me of the giant transforming battleship SDF-1 Macross from the 1986 anime film “Super Dimensional Fortress Macross: Do You Remember Love?”.) The arms once again have fantastic articulation, though we lose the wrist joints that were on the Zeo Megazord. Regrettably though, the hips and ankles imply they could be splayed outwards just a little, but alas it was simply not meant to be. The Deluxe Super Zeo Megazord definitely lives up to its name, and merely reinforces the integrity of the “Power Rangers Zeo” transforming mecha line. Highly recommended!