After Spinferno's defeat, he didn't get much of a cheer from
Galaxy Warriors audience so he didn't "Gigantify!" Instead Cosmo released the first Skullgator! This isn't any kind of monster, this is a
GIANT monster. Already Megazord size and ready to kick ranger butt! In Ninninger this was a Kyodai Yokai Gashadokuro (巨大妖怪ガシャドクロ) or a Giant Yokai "Starving Skeleton."
Gashadokuro are really interesting to me, I love the artwork and they always look very creepy in the paintings. And since I have a thing for miniatures and things that tower over everything else, I like the giant Skeleton art. The design for this particular monster is very edgy, and I mean that in a good way, if I had seen this design without knowing the Sentai roots, I wouldn't have known it was in Ninninger because of the "dark" design. I also... got two of these... for reasons! I was very excited to get this and there are a couple things I want to talk about regarding the prototype.
The design all around is pretty accurate, littered with bones and skulls. It's molded mainly in a bone colored plastic except for the blue parts. The eyes are painted and so is the tongue for some reason. It has a feathery or fabric-y? parts are blue, which are darker than the prototype.
One of the main differences are the shoulder pieces, the skulls. The smaller skull on the side wasn't there originally and now it is, which is good since it's accurate. Although the shoulder skull was supposed to be more of a shoulder pad with the arm articulated under it. Kind of like the armor of most of the Green Ranger figures.
The other part is the skirt, which was supposed to be like the girl's skirt. It was one solid piece with the legs articulated underneath. It also had the claws which droop on the sides of the legs as a separate piece, now it's just molded on. The color on the prototype look nicer...
It does come with one accessory! It's a twin-bladed billhook! or just a pick axe. It has a skull and multiple crossbones throughout the blade. A ring at the end of the handle and some rope molded onto the grip. It's heavy so the dumb elbow joint doesn't hold in place.
Which takes me to articulation! There isn't much, only forward and back on the shoulder, bend at the elbow, which doesn't hold very well. Both of my Skullgators have a very loose right elbow! The leg goes forward and back, in and out... and no knee articulation. Posing is really hard with the limited and wonky articulation but thankfully they look nice enough on their own that it doesn't matter... as much. What is surprising is that the villain figures are very suit accurate, including parts that give away the fact that it's a man in a rubber suit, like the feet for example.
Since Skullgator is part of the 5" line, it'll fit right in with Robo Red Zord and Dragonzord. While it shouldn't matter, it'll fit in with the Rangers but I know in my heart that Skullgator is a giant Kaiju sized villain Yokai and I can't bring myself to display it with the Rangers. Bandai should have released a 5" version of the Megazord, which they kind of did but not really.
Still, it's fine, it doesn't matter. If you feel like it doesn't have much paint, there's always customizing. A nice blackwash would bring out the details. And the more Skullgators the better!
While it isn't the only representation of a Gashadokuro in toy form, it is nice. It's better than the Gashapon Yoshuriken that turns into a Gashadokuro... which I still kind of want to get... Skullgator is a nice addition to the collection, and it will display nicely with your Zords and other villains.
Skullgator isn't the only Giant-only villain, Vivizord from
Power Rangers Dino Charge was also released as a part of the 5" inch line along with the Dino Charge Megazord. I'm still surprised a 5" Ninja Steel Megazord wasn't released!
Thankfully, there are the zord figures from the Shuriken armor line. They're in scale and they're not too tiny. Unlike a certain group of figures...
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