Power Rangers Super Samurai Metallic Coating Deluxe Action Figure Set

Review by SentaiSeiya
The Powe Rangers Super Samurai appear thanks to our friends a Bluefin Distribution.
You can pick it this Super set of figure at BigBadToyStore.com
In 2009, Toei aired the Samurai Sentai Shinkenger which gained massive popularity in Japan. However, due to its heavy Japanese themes, the show as skipped over for adaptation into a Power Rangers series by Disney. Then after the Power Rangers franchise returned to its original owner, Saban, Shinkenger got the American adaptation treatment in not only one, but two season of the show. Power Rangers Super Samurai is the second season of Power Rangers, which adapts the later part of the Shinkenger saga.
Commemorating this super-popular entry in the Power Rangers franchise, Bluefin Distribution produced a special 5-pack of the main Samurai Rangers in their S.H. Figuarts form.
This set is housed in a special box, which is actually only about 3 times larger than a standard S.H. Figuarts box.
This is due to the fact that all five figures are packaged in a single plastic tray.
Their weapons, interchangeable hands and accessories are housed in a second tray that sits under the first one.
While I applaud them for their space-saving redesign of the packaging for theses figure, I am not a fan of how the hands and the Shodophone are packaged; each Ranger has their set of these items in a divided plastic bag, that sits in a square recess of the plastic tray. This means that once you pop an accessory out it is tiny square in the bag, the only storage option provided is the square recess. This means that once you open up all of these tiny bags, you have 5 squares filled with a multitude of little hands and 5 Shodophones. Imagine the chaos that could result if you didn’t open the tray carefully and ended up with an assortment of hands all over the place.
All of the figures look great on their own and very accurate to how the characters look in the show. The great thing about this set is that you can get every one of the original Rangers, all in one shot.
Besides being a complete set of the original 5 Samurai Rangers, this set is also unique due to the special paint coating that was given to each of the figures.
For comparison, let’s check out the Super Red from this set with the one from the original release.
Besides the red being metallic with this release, the white is a more pearly white and the yellow trim is actually golden yellow rather than a fake-gold yellow.
While these Rangers may be sporting a new paint job on these Rangers, they still come packed with everything that was included in the original S.H. Figuarts release for these characters.
First off, each of the rangers comes with his/her own Samurai Spin Sword ( Shinkenmaru), for posing each character in their signature role call pose or just kicking some butt.
The sword can be held on the holster of each figure’s belt.
Besides the Shinkenmaru, each of the Rangers comes with his or her signature weapons.
Emily, the Yellow Ranger (Kotoha Hanaori/Shinken Yellow), comes with her Earth Slicer (Land Slicer)
Kevin, the Blue Ranger (Ikenami Ryunosuke /Shinken Blue), has his Hydro Bow (Water Arrow)
Mike, the Green Ranger (Tani Chiaki Shinken Green), has his Forest Spear (Wood Spear)
Mia, the Pink Ranger (Mako Shiraishi/ Shinken Pink), has her Sky Fan (Heaven Fan)
Jayden Shiba, Super Red Ranger (Shiba Takeru/ Super Shinken Red), has his Bullzooka (Mogyu Bazooka).
The Hidden Discs can be fitted into the slot at the back of the bazooka.
The Mogyu Bazooka also has articulated horns, which rotate a complete 360 degrees.
Besides weapons, the Folding Zords for four of the five Rangers is included in this set.
Blue’s Dragon Folding Zord (Ryuu Origami)
The neck on this little dragon is articulated and cave move back quiet a bit.
Pink’s Turtle Folding Zord (Kame Origami). This origami does not appear to have any articulation, but does sport some nice soft flippers.
Green’s Bear Folding Zord (Kuma Origami)
This guy actually has an articulated head, which can move up and down.
Yellow Ape Folding Zord (Saru Origami)
This little guy also has some articulation; his arms can be moved up and down.
These four Rangers also come with their Folding Zord in emblem mode.
So you can set them up getting ready to summon their Zords.
Now Super Red does not come with his Folding Zord, because that is an item that was included with the regular Red release. Instead Red comes with the Black Box (Inromaru).
This item is used mainly by Red to transform in Super Red, although the other Rangers also use it to transform into their super form.
The discs can be fitted into a tab inside of the Black Box.
This set come with two discs: one for the super form, the other to activate the bazooka.
Combining the Inromaru makes super Shinkenmaru
Then if you attach the Shinkenmaru to the Mogyu Bazooka makes the Super Mogyu Bazooka.
Besides all of the weapons, Zords and slew of hands, each Ranger comes with a Shodophone.
This time around we cannot call this item what it was called in the US version, because it is indeed a Shodophone. The Samuraizer is just a flip phone, that doesn’t quite look like the calligraphy pen that is the Shodophone.
Being an S.H. Figuarts set, these toys are the best iterations of these characters released. The articulation on these is way above what you can pick up at Toys R’ Us. Taking a knee and getting all sorts of poses is an easy task for these figures.
For the female characters, an extra skirt was included, composed of three separate pieces. There is the main piece in the middle, which is attached by popping off the top of the figure and is secured by the ball joint at the waist and four pegs.The two smaller pieces attach to a ball joint at the side of the thighs.
As for Super Red, he has a bit of extra articulation in the shoulder pads, which move upward to fee up the arms a bit.
So all in all, this set is not just badass, it is super badass. It fulfilled my need to own every one of the Shinkenger S.H. Figuarts. Some may not care for the fact that these figure do not have their original paint job. For me, however, the metallic paint is cool nod to the height of my own obsession with Power Rangers. Around the time that the first Power Ranges movie was released, Bandai of America was producing a few Power Rangers figures with metallic paint jobs. Going to Toys R’ Us with my parents and getting a mettalic Red Ranger fliphead is one of my fondest memories as a kid and a Power Rangers fan.
Posted 5 September, 2013 - 16:11 by SentaiSeiya |
Comments
7 comments postedI'm not quite as enthusiastic about this set, although it was nevertheless a must-purchase item for me. Then again, it was the only cost-effective way to acquire any of these figures since only Shinken Red and Gold were released in the states. The set, while extremely expensive, was still more cost-effective than individually buying, say, just Pink and Yellow.
I love S.H. Figuarts, and I grade them on a different scale than any other action figure lines. Which is to say that while these are dramatically better than most action figures I own, I had some qualms about it.
I'm glad you observed the problems with the hands and Shodophones. Because the clamshells are notched, small parts in the package are going to bounce around when wrestling it open; I see it with every Figuart I own. I do NOT want to get the hands mixed up, so I'm nervous about it.
I didn't care for the metallic paint, I would've strongly preferred that they skipped it. I was actually angry when I first started seeing 'Con pictures of the figures, because I thought they'd substituted Shinken Pink with the second Shinken Red, since the pink is so dark. (It looks better in person, but it's still off.) Also, the figures don't blend well with the existing Shinken Red and Shinken Gold - Yellow is just as gold as Gold in this set! Finally, many joints are not metallic, which looks fine on some of the figures, but is pretty stark on others, like Yellow. I'm really not sure why Bandai did the metallic finish; maybe they didn't think there'd be as many buyers for the figures in their standard paint jobs?
It's also very distracting for me with Shinken Blue's helmet. On the TV show, there's a subtle point on the helmet, and the helmet sculpt here is, I think, one of my only problems with a Figuarts sculpt, where the point is really pronounced. Then, with the metallic paint added, it throws it into - forgive the pun - sharp relief. I had to look up pictures of the helmet online to make sure I wasn't imagining it.
Does this make more sense in the context of Power Rangers Super Samurai? I've never seen it (I'm a Sentai-only guy.)
I actually don't care for Super Shinken Red, and don't plan to display him. I gave up on trying to get him into a couple of classic poses: that stiff robe is just in the way. (By comparison, the robe engineering on Kamen Rider Wizard does a better job; I love that the Figuarts team continues improving!)
Since I don't own any other Sentai females, do the skirts get any better? I appreciate what they're trying to do with the dividing skirt pieces, but they don't quite work for me.
Anyway, enough quibbling! I'd still recommend this set to any fan, despite my qualms. A couple of things to note: most of the origami have at least one point of articulation. Blue's dragon is articulated at the neck, the joint may just be a little stuck on yours. I'm not sure about Pink's turtle; I'm a little too timid to try to move the neck, and (not in this set) I'm not sure there's any articulation on Gold's lantern or lobster... although I just this moment discovered that Ika Origami does.
Thanks for the review!
I totally get where you are coming from. I too was disappointed about the metallic paint job at first, but it has really grown on me.
Which point on Shinken Blue is the one that bothers you? Power Rangers Samurai uses most of the same battle footage as Shinkenger, so it would not actually make any more sense in that context.
I had very little issues posing Super Red, though I didn't go crazy with the poses on his legs. However, I do wish that all of these figure would have bicep swivels. They would help quite a bit for some of the poses.
The only other girl Sentai characters I own are the ones from Akibaranger. The design of Blue's skirt lends itself to having the legs free for movement. On the other hand, Yellow's skirt is a soft, two-piece skirt that overlaps. So you get a nice complete looking skirt, that can move around when you need it to. I wonder if Pteranger from Zyuranger will do something similar.
Thanks for the tip on Ryuu Origami. I totally thought that was just one piece. I will update the review.
The skirts on the Gokai girls are the same as the Shinkenger ones. Although, I'm totally fine with it.
I believe he's talking about the little teardrop point at the back of Blue's helmet. He's saying that to his eyes, the Figuarts sculpt made it too big and that the metallic paintjob emphasizes that all the more
I'm fairly certain that the reasons for the metallic paintjob were: "Let's bling this up because it's a convention exclusive" and "Give the figures something special to differentiate from the vanilla releases that adult collectors might have already imported"
That said, a metallic paintjob is a fairly solid idea for a Ranger figure, since the actual show suits are metallic (aside from the helmets)
This set is the best sdcc exclusive from this year. It is a must have, and having all the shinkengers at once is neat; specially if you consider the costs of shinken yellow and shinken pink
Agreed. While I have seen Pink show up quite a bit at reasonable prices, Yellow seems to be a bit harder to find figure.