After Mighty Morphin' Power Ranger's three seasons and a mini season called Mighty Morphin' Alien Rangers, Saban decided to try replacing all of the zords, villains, and suits for the first time. It does continue the story from the past three seasons and keeps the main cast but with upgraded powers. Power Rangers Zeo was a successful season, based on Choriki Sentai Ohranger, Super Sentai's seventeenth season. As you can see there is no black ranger, I honestly don't remember the explanation that they gave for that but I do remember a lot of it especially the villains. A lot of my memories of Power Rangers Zeo come from Jetix's Power Rangers Generations where they would show episodes from different seasons of Power Rangers. Zeo Ranger 5 (Red), Zeo Ranger 4 (Green) and Zeo Ranger 3 (Blue) had been released as part of the 5th Wave of Legacy Collection figures by Bandai of America. It was one of the first few waves that I had bought in store. I remember I got 4 figures when I checked my local Wal-Mart, the one I had been going to since I was a wee lad and spent $80 that night which I wasn't proud of but now it's not the worst thing in the world. The girls were harder to find since they were some of the last few figures to be released, I had pre-ordered them on GameStop.com back in February of 2018 and didn't get them until August I think, I found them in store first and forgot to cancel my pre-order so now I have two of each.
Much like the Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers that built the BAM Dino Megazord or the ones with their Power Weapons, there's a lot of sharing of parts that the team has to make which is only natural.
The only thing differentiating these figures is the helmet and the plastic they're casted on. Not even the belt buckle is unique here but I think it looks good. Zeo always had a weird aesthetic in my opinion, I didn't like the shapes of the visors because I thought they were a little silly even as a 6 year old. The mouth not having its own silver mouthpiece was a little off putting. Admittedly, I do like the design of the cuffs and the chest diamond, it's very intricate and it's sculpted on detail. The gold is pretty lame, it's more of a "cheese" color. When it has to be painted on it does have a decent gold color. I also like the two holsters on the sides.
Your first weapon is the Zeo Laser Pistol which has minimal paint but all the detail it needs. The trigger isn't big enough that it gets on the way so no need to worry. It fits the hands nicely.
The Zeo Power Pod Sword in it's sheathed form which is pretty cool. A full sized one would have been appreciated and not that expensive to make, I don't know I don't design these things.
They all come with these two accessories and it's a shame that the Zeo Power Pod Sword doesn't have an alt mode because now it's purpose it to either stay in the holster forever or awkwardly wielded because of how small it is.
The guys share the same mold which is only natural. The details on the body isn't individual unlike the Power Morpher Belt Buckler which had the coin of their respective beast.
The male body is almost identical to the other one with minor changes done. The shoulders aren't pointed at the edge which is a huge improvement! The chest and ab section are new because they have the Zeo detail up top and the bottom half doesn't have a trace of the diamond.
The forearms and boot cuffs are new, it's extra lame because they cuffs don't swivel but the boots do!
Zeo Ranger 5
I never noticed that the Rangers had a numerical motif, the star on the front of the helmet is supposed to represent the five corners that give Zeo Ranger 5 his name. Before I forget, yes, the White Ranger, Tommy Oliver, is now the Red Ranger in this season.
The helmet visor could have been a pentagon since the star has so many edges but I don't think the pentagon would have looked good.
You can see the difference in design compared to the Zyuranger suits, especially with the Tyrannosaurus helmet. I can't really decide which of the two designs I like more.
My Red Zeo Ranger unfortunately suffers from very loose ankles which is a trend in this line.
Zeo Ranger 4
Zeo Ranger 4 is Adam who previously donned the Black Ranger suit after Zack.
The helmet is pretty basic having 4 sides, it's rounded at the corners and the visor has the white outline around it.
He doesn't really have a lot of "out there" poses so the ankles can be forgiving. It was weird going from two teams that had Black Rangers to a very green hero for the next season.
Zeo Ranger 3
This one has a pretty cool design, I like the color and the shape of the visor.
He always did the crazy poses that require you to rely on those ankles, which means that he'll fall over a lot since they're not reliable!
Zeo Ranger 3 didn't get the Blue Ranger color passed down to him, this is Rocky who was the Red Ranger in the last two seasons.
It's funny to think that once the White Ranger became popular the Red Ranger took the backseat in being the member, then once the upgrates come, he gets bumped down to Blue!
The ladies share the same body because in O
hranger they're both girls and have skirts built into the uniforms unlike the Mighty Morphin' girls.
It's very similar to the Pink ranger body with the ball jointed diaphragm with a new pieces to make it different. The cuffs and boot cuffs are detailed throughout and they're on a swivel unlike the guys.
The skirt has a gold border around it and the upper torso is also new. The girls were always really skinny and I found the more "human" proportions from the show much more appealing.
Zeo Ranger 2
I always thought it was funny that she had the "=" as her visor, it seems very impractical but it's supposed to represent "2." Aisha was the one who became the Yellow Ranger after Trini. She eventually got the Zeo Ranger 2 upgrades.
Even with the smaller hands it isn't a problem to fit the weapons onto them. The trigger might be a little too big to attempt to fit.
The design did grow on me after a while but the figure doesn't really capture the charm of the actual suit. I think the helmet and the way the articulation was handled could have been a lot better.
Zeo Ranger 1
Zeo Ranger 1 has a big circle on her visor which represents "1," it was a weird season.
She's identical to the Yellow Ranger and both are very hard to stand because of the obnoxiously loose ankles that they have.
The pink is also a lot darker compared to MMPR Pink, it's strange.
As a group they look amazing, they do still share the shameful QC issues that plagued the line.
Of course, each one came with a piece to build the BAM Zeo Megazord.
Zeo Megazord
Before the ladies (who had the legs) came out I tried putting on one of the Dino Thunder Megazord's legs onto this body. It ended up with a broken ball joint that I super glued on and it worked but as a result it's always wonky and uneven. One leg is longer than the other and it's upsetting.
The details are incredible, the head and the implementation of the zords is very clear. It's a little stylized but that's okay.
Articulation is identical to the BAM Dino Megazord except for worse due to the broken hip.
It also doesn't come with any accessories which is a shame, especially since the hands are closed fists and cannot hold a generic weapon as her sword.
it's not much taller and as one of the most recent ones it's incredibly disappointing because it didn't fix a lot of the issues from the previous waves.
The cheesy "gold" paint is also the worst because it's such an eyesore, it has the minimal amount of paint which makes it look like a knock-off.
Since it's a BAM it's significantly taller than the 6.5" rangers.
Here they are next to the Metallic Red Ranger from the same line, the 5" Zeo Ranger 5 from the
Super Megaforce Action Hero line, and the S.H. Figuarts White Ranger.
Next to the two recent Hasbro figures the Overwatch Ultimates Tracer and the Lightning Collection White Ranger.
Next to older lines, the Vintage Series Marvel Legends Captain America and Star Wars the Black Series Doctor Aphra.
The Zeo Megazord is significantly larger than the Retrofire version which honestly is much superior to this one despite it being so much smaller.
Regardless of the lousy ankles, they're good to have as a team especially with how iconic these suits are. It's nice to have more full teams with Ranger figures than can kinda sorta pull off the poses from the show. I'm looking forward to the next wave of Lightning Collection figures and even that San Diego Comic Con exclusive two pack!
They're fairly new, especially with the girls, they'll still be around at GameStop for a while which is a shame especially since not doing so well is what got them into Hasbro's hands. They're about $22.99 which is pretty standard for collectible figures there. I'm sure on Target and Wal-Mart they'll be significantly cheaper, happy hunting!
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