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Alas…Legacy and Soul of Chogokin are NOT Fully Compatible

Posted on March 24, 2021 by Walt

About a week and a half ago, Bluefin/Bandai had a VERY well-placed/targeted ad on Facebook…one of very few, but where–when done like this–I’m entirely open/receptive to.

They were having a sale…and highlighted the Soul of Chogokin Titanus.

I read some reviews and came to find out that this thing was supposedly essentially the Legacy Titanus, and was oh-so-proud of myself for "discovering" that it was PROBABLY something where they had this line separate from actual Power Rangers or Super Sentai or whatever; some kinda technicality in branding/packaging…but that with this sale, I could get the physical item I’ve long sought.

legacy_mmpr_soul_of_chogokin_titanus_box

Well, at first I was gonna wait a few days, but then decided I’d absolutely kick myself if I "missed out" for the pricing, so with gritted teeth, I ordered the thing. It turned out that my initial plan to wait til my next paycheck WOULD have come one day AFTER the sale ended…so, reinforces the "better just buy it NOW" mentality (for better or worse).

When this arrived last Thursday, I was actually surprised (and momentarily a bit worried!) at how small the box seemed…but apparently this required a few easy pieces’ additional assembly than the Legacy version.

legacy_mmpr_soc_titanus

But it assembled quite well and looked pretty much as I expected…though taking some getting used to with it having the lighter-colored extremities!

A little less than 3 years ago when Toys R Us was closing down in the US, I came across (and purchased) some sort of Black Series alternate release of Titanus. It was what was available, it was a steal of a price…and I didn’t think I’d ever find a "regular version" then for under 6 times what I paid for the "Black" version.

legacy_mmpr_titanus_black

Of course, maybe if I’d paid more attention I’d have seen there wasn’t SO MUCH difference. And it’s still a darned cool piece to own!

legacy_mmpr_titani

But these monsters are, from the outside (and largely inside, too!) the same monstrous beasts of plastic and metal!

legacy_mmpr_titani2

The black is certainly black rather than dark gray on the black and gold one, but physically, these seemed to be the same sculpts, the same mechanics for assembly, etc.

And so over the weekend, I set about assembling the ultimate piece, some 11 years in the making for me since getting "into" the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers TOYS.

The Ultrazord, in proper colors, would be mine!

legacy_mmpr_dragonzord_chest_wont_fit2

Buuuuuuuuuuut…

The cavity within the chest piece that opens out from Titanus’ chest, where the Dragonzord chestpiece is supposed to rest/connect?

Nooooooot big enough. The OUTSIDE seems the same, the way it opens out seems the same, but it’s like this is specifically sized for a different version of the piece (the Soul of Chogokin Dragonzord I’m sure). But WHAT A HUGE DISAPPOINTMENT!

And it’s not EVEN like it’s the issue with the Dragonzord tail connecting…I don’t think I even realized it WOULD until watching a YouTube video. But this is almost a focal piece, very front, and center…and it’s NOT compatible.

legacy_mmpr_ultrazord_sorta

Additionally, the piece that clips onto the Megazord chest–over the Pterodactyl–is the same size/shape…but lacks a tiny little clip piece, so doesn’t actually connect.

Two small differences–not visible and certainly not even a factor UNTIL YOU TRY TO BUILD ULTRAZORD. In this pic above, I took the piece from the Black Edition Titanus to minimize the gaping…emptiness.

So, Tuesday I went about "disassembling" the would-be Ultrazord back into the very nice, presentable Zords. Titanus back to dinosaur mode as pictured at the beginning of this post.

legacy_mmpr_megazord

Legacy Megazord, probably the most iconic (and certainly MY favorite, period) Megazord.

legacy_mmpr_dragonzord

And Legacy Dragonzord, which is probably my favorite individual Zord…even if it’s incredibly unnerving how easily this one comes apart.

legacy_mmpr_shelf

Finally, to close off this post, here’s a photo of the Zords back in place on their shelf/display area. Yes, you do see the Tigerzord and the Thunder Megazord…neither got singled out for this post, as they’re a "generation" beyond the obvious focus of the original Mighty Morphin Ultrazord for this post.

As said…while incredibly disappointing to not be able to just have a great Ultrazord build to sit on the shelf…I suppose it’s probably just as cool (or cooler) having the much more commonly-used iterations of the Zords on display.

And perhaps SOMEday I’ll eventually complete the Legacy collection with a "regular" Legacy Titanus (I’m sure not likely to spend the $800+ it’d likely cost me now to get the Soul of Chogokin Megazord and Dragonzord!) I’m not even likely to spring for the Legacy Titanus, really…not with what I’ve paid now for two nearly identical versions as-is! (if I find an opportunity locally to Northeast Ohio for an in-person exchange someday, I might be willing to arrange a trade).

BUT I am still very glad to have a normal-looking version of Titanus on the shelf…that alone’s more or less "worth it" to me, given recent "retail therapy" going on anyway…

legacy_mmpr_blogtrailer

Filed under: 2021 Non-Review Posts, 2021 posts, NON-REVIEW CONTENT, showing off the shelves, The Toy Chronicles | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

A Couple Years of The Lightning Collection

Posted on February 3, 2021 by Walt

Despite it being pretty much my absolute favorite tv show for a time back in the ’90s–particularly 7th/8th grade–I never really had any of the TOYS from Mighty Morphin Power Rangers.

I had a fair bit of licensed stuff–folders, paper pads, stuff with imagery from the show–but other than a McDonald’s White Ranger/Falconzord from the movie, it wasn’t really until maybe 2009/20010 or so that I got a Megazord or my own, and it was awhile before I discovered and acquired any of the Legacy Collection line.

Then a couple years ago the MMPR property apparently was sold, and Hasbro got the license and rather than continue with that, they started their own line…the Lightning Collection. lightning_collection_mmpr_sides

Due to already having a (for me) huge collection of MMPR stuff that doesn’t even fit onto TWO shelves’ space combined…I’ve been acquiring Hasbro’s Lightning Collection figures when they’ve had the Mighty Morphin’ characters. I don’t care for the later iterations…MY sweet spot, my nostalgia-spot, is Mighty-Morphin’! I’m also loathe to pick up on anything based on the Boom Studios comics, as I still–FIVE YEARS LATER–refuse to buy stuff from them in my one-man-protest against their handling of the initial release of their MMPR comics.

lightning_collection_mmpr_full_nonlightning_collection

Anyway…for lack of shelf space, I’ve yet to OPEN my Lightning Collection figures. And since they’re pretty much display-ready as-is, they’ve remained in their packages, as I’m showing them off here.

lightning_collection_mmpr_basics

2 years in, having just received an apparently-out-of-print/out-of-production Mighty Morphin Yellow Ranger (bought as "not mint" and I expected a beat-up box but even the BOX is in as good or better condition than the others!) I now have all the Rangers I’m interested in.

Red, Blue, Black, Pink, White, Yellow, and Green.

Also have Goldar from (I believe) a Gamestop release (though I’ve seen the character elsewhere since, so I’m not sure now if it was exclusive or exclusive-for-a-time). And Lord Zedd was–along with the White Ranger–part of the initial wave a couple years ago, if I recall correctly.

While they might LOOK cool, I don’t need any variants like a Dragon-Shield Red Ranger or such. Just HAVING the single-figure packs of these characters mean pretty much the only other figures I might care for would be a single-pack Rita Repulsa, Finster, Squatt, and Baboo.

Yet those might be just as well in multi-packs or such.

Ditto for putties–army-building generic figures seem to me to be better to be part of a multi-pack than taking up limited slots in single-figure assortments. And simply AS generic things, better to get in bulk anyway!

lightning_collection_mmpr_twopacks

With the White Ranger being a single-pack figure from the start, when I saw a Green Ranger (albeit "Fighting Spirit Green Ranger") I leapt for it. Bonus…it came with a Putty! I wasn’t about to buy multiples just to get more Putty figures, but hey…I only ever had a single Foot Soldier with my classic TMNT figures, so hey…it is what it is.

Later there was a 2-pack release of Putty Patrollers that I got; though of all the figures, this is the only one not to have a window box display! Perhaps it was cheaper that way; and for bulk generics, it’d make sense. I only ordered the single pack, though as I type this I consider perhaps I should have ordered another.

Then there’s the Lord Zedd & Rita Repulsa pack. I’d actually more or less FORGOTTEN that I had a single-pack Lord Zedd when I ordered this; but not being aware of a single-pack for Rita, and being annoyed at lack of other similar-price-range figures being available to purchase from NECA, I ordered this from Gamestop partly out of spite toward NECA.

lightning_collection_mmpr_deluxe

I’d come across this deluxe pack/2-pack of Alpha and Zordon at some point and snagged it. I don’t recall if it was from Walmart or Target, but I suspect Walmart.

More recently I snagged the Pumpkin Rapper and King Sphinx deluxe packs. Given the general lack of villains ANYway in Power Rangers toys, I hadn’t really even NOTICED the lack of villains in the Lightning Collection.

Most of the "monster of the week" ("monster of the DAY?") monsters were largely forgettable and hardly as enduring as the Rangers themselves, or the "main" villains. Forgettable–so why do them at all? On the other hand–as an "of the day" or "of the week" there’s a HUUUUUUGE quantity of these things to have made!

On one hand, I could almost say that with some of the single-pack figures "out of print," they could be re-released with some villains a la NECA’s TMNT 2-packs. Buuut…already having all the Rangers, I would hate having to re-buy them just to get a villain.

If they re-released the Rangers as 2-packs (i.e. Red & Yellow, Black & Pink, Green & Blue) that wouldn’t really affect me. I could see them doing Ranger vs. Putty packs…which would not be ideal for ME but at least passing on Putty figures I wouldn’t be passing on unique monsters.

I’ve also snagged several of the Lightning Collection "prop" releases: White Ranger Helmet, Red Ranger Helmet, Power Morpher, and Dragon Dagger. I’d gladly buy a Lighting Collection counterpart to the long-outta-print Legacy Collection Power Sword. I don’t think I’d care for any of the other weapons outside of POSSIBLY the White Ranger Tiger Dagger (Saba?). And other than a Green Ranger helmet, I don’t know that I’d necessarily care for the other Rangers’ helmets. Particularly with my vastly-decreased display space for anything. (decreased due to sheer volume of acquisitions the last 2 1/2 to 3 years).

I’d also be VERY interested in Zord releases, especially toward an Ultrazord. But I suspect some of what made the originals and Legacy Collection Zords work was Bandai and Hasbro may simply not have the ability to duplicate that? Who knows.

Because I’d taken the photos anyway…here are closer-up images of the current-configuration of my Mighty Morphin Power Rangers shelves.

lightning_collection_mmpr_full_nonlightning_collection_left

The left part of the main shelving…

lightning_collection_mmpr_full_nonlightning_collection_right

…and the right part.

lightning_collection_mmpr_blogtrailer

Filed under: 2021 Non-Review Posts, 2021 posts, NON-REVIEW CONTENT, showing off the shelves, The Toy Chronicles | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

Alien(s) Day 2018

Posted on April 26, 2018 by Walt

April 26, 4/26–chosen for the planet designation LV-426 where the Alien was found and then the larger outbreak in Aliens–marks the day to observe the franchise.

For my part…sharing my latest shelf configurations!

aliens_shelf_04262018

I believe I have all of the Aliens paperback novels at this point. Including the Predator stuff, I’m still missing a Predator Omnibus from Titan; but I’m not in a huge rush to get that. There’s also a Predator counterpart to the Aliens: Bug Hunt volume; but again, not in a rush to get that.

Along with the books themselves on the shelves, I’ve got the various Pops and Mystery Minis and Minimates and whatnot. Seems the most appropriate place for the figures to be!

aliens_gn_shelf_04262018

Along with the various paperback novels, of course I have a number of comics volumes for Aliens, Predator, and Aliens vs. Predator. And rather than have them lost in with everything else, I opted to move my Blu-rays to this shelf (with the added benefit that they help keep everything standing up for the moment). I was counting on a matching volume to the Fire and Stone stuff with Life and Death, but never having seen anything about a hardcover and recently-ish seeing a paperback…I’m quite disappointed at the lack of proper "library edition" volume.

With my recent reconfiguring of the entire "comics space" I wasn’t able to find a good way to have the novels together with the graphic novels…so they are actually completely different bookcases in different parts of the overall space. I imagine I’ll get into more on that whenever I get to actually re-photographing the entire space and shelves and working up a huge post showing it all off!

aliens_day_2018

Filed under: 2018 Non-Review Posts, 2018 posts, NON-REVIEW CONTENT | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments »

Showing Off the Shelves: Batman (December 2016)

Posted on December 9, 2016 by Walt

I’ve been getting newer stuff worked in and generally re-situating my shelves, leading to showing off the current configuration.

Lagging a bit behind my Superman collection, which is well onto its third shelf, my Batman collection still has a little way to go to fill its second shelf and creep onto its third.

batman_shelves_late_november_2016a

While The Dark Knight Returns is more of an "ending" to the story (or should’ve been, but Strikes Again and III are another subject/post entirely) I ended up starting the shelf off with it–I have the story in numerous editions, much like other favorites The Death of Superman and Kingdom Come.

Then, following what I did with the Superman stuff, I lead with the "survey" collections spanning the years, then try to approximate rough chronological order from the Silver Age into modern times. The Batman run seems a lot more solidly event-oriented, with the bulk of the "inches" on the shelf being the event collections.

batman_shelves_late_november_2016b

Following the event stuff, I ease a bit into the New 52 era, and then back out into broad stuff. Even as I type this, it crosses my mind that the Batman Arkham volumes actually belong up in the earlier volumes as ‘survey’ books that are not collecting any singular story but a broad range of issues featuring a particular character.

The glaring gaps in my Batman collection are all the more glaring compared to Superman; but that’s not terribly surprising, as I’ve been a much more solid Superman fan than Batman over the years. No great dislike of the character; just a far deeper like of Superman.

The few hardcovers that I have are largely glaring stick-outs to me, such that I’d be somewhat interested in trying to replace them with paperbacks; particularly Heart of Hush and Batman: R.I.P. I’d ordered Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader at the same time as the Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow counterpart, so am somewhat hesitant to replace one, as they tie together in my mind; perhaps someday I’ll replace ’em both.

It’s simply astounding to consider the vast library of Bat-stuff out there…I have a relatively large collection here, but I swear I don’t have a fraction of what’s (been) available!

Filed under: 2016 Non-Review posts, 2016 posts, NON-REVIEW CONTENT | Tagged: , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

Showing Off the Shelves: TMNT (November 2016)

Posted on November 28, 2016 by Walt

I’m showing off the latest configurations of "sub collections" on my shelves.

Here, today, are my TMNT and Usagi stuff. While not officially tied together, I’ve long associated Usagi Yojimbo with the TMNT stuff; and so they fit together well on a shelf. Though I’m basically maxed-out on this shelf now, so the Usagi stuff might end up getting moved to fit elsewhere before too long.

tmnt_shelves_late_november_2016

I’d jumped on the TMNT Ultimate Edition line as soon as it started, and "kept up" with it, including the surprise/addition of the 6th volume. Then I have the 1First graphic novel series, collecting the early Mirage stuff in color the first time. These were my initial introduction to the original/Mirage version of the characters, having had my start with the classic cartoon and the Archie-published TMNT Adventures.

After those we have stuff from Mirage itself over the years–first some of the generic collected volumes; then a bunch of the mid-2000s collected volumes up to the cgi-TMNT film just before Laird sold the property.

From there, the Archie edition of the original TMNT Adventures mini, collected; along with 4 of the 6 TMNT Classics Digest that reprinted the earlier TMNT Adventures issues; and then the current run of IDW‘s volumes collecting the TMNT Adventures run. From there, some other versions of the TMNT Adventures collections, the IDW TMNT hardcover, the 30th Anniversary Special and the 2012 & 2014 Annuals.

Finally, the first 4 Usagi Yojimbo mega-collections from Dark Horse.

I’d had a number of the earlier IDW TPBs of their TMNT series; but stopped with those as soon as I found out about the oversized hardcovers–and though I’m a couple volumes behind, my aim is to use THOSE for my "double-dipping" on the series. They’re the far better value, with about 3 paperbacks’ contents for about/slightly over the cost of 2.

I had at one point figured I’d be getting some of the various other large hardcovers IDW has been putting out for the various TMNT stuff…but they’re all different dimensions, and just don’t look like they go together that well, and thus are quite unattractive to me as a group of books.

tmnt_80s_toys_novemer_2016

Then, of course, there are the TMNT toys. While this is not the entirety of my TMNT toys collection…it is a full shelf’s worth, laid out for display at present.

Filed under: 2016 Non-Review posts, 2016 posts, NON-REVIEW CONTENT | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

Latest Aliens and Predators Shelf Configuration – September 12, 2016

Posted on September 12, 2016 by Walt

aliens_shelf_sept12a

aliens_shelf_sept12bWe’re into September, which means a couple of new Aliens related books due out.

I believe this week will see the release of The Complete Aliens Omnibus volume two, collecting two of the Dark Horse novels after the initial trilogy.

And the end of the month will see the release of Alien vs. Predator: Armageddon (Book 3 of a "crossover trilogy" called The Rage War by Tim Lebbon.

We also have the current Dark Horse Comics series Aliens: Defiance in progress, as well as a new Judge Dredd/Aliens/Predator series with an upcoming Aliens: Life and Death (though after 2014’s Aliens/Predator/AvP/Prometheus event and subsequent one-volume collection, I’m just waiting for the one-volume collection this time around, most likely).

There was also a recent collection of general DC Comics/Dark Horse Aliens stuff put out, and more recently a volume of DC Comics/Dark Horse Superman stuff (of primary interest to me, the Superman/Aliens and Superman/Aliens 2 material) published.

Along with the various books and comics, there’s the new Aliens Queen 6" Funko Pop figure that just came out (at least according to a months-old Amazon pre-order that just arrived). While I’ve had the "regular" Alien, this Queen is one of the larger oversized figures… and I quite like it, all things considered.

A couple weeks ago, I found one of the mid-2000s Dark Horse Press Predator novels at a used book shop*. Rather crummy condition, but at half cover price and to have it, I won’t complain much for the moment.

(* not Half-Price Books. I figure it could be missing the cover and they’d mark it up to at least $50 just because it’s out of print and not necessarily due to any great demand beyond myself…)

I believe there are only 3 or so Predator novels I’m missing, now to have all of those; certainly still missing a bunch of comic/collected volumes, but I’ve found the novels a lot more satisfying for both Aliens and Predator, and certainly more "history" with the novels.

And as seen in the photos above, also some cool toys for them–primarily Funko product, with a couple Minimates creatures and a Neca figure thrown in for my kinda bookshelves…

aliens_shelf_sept12c

Filed under: 2016 Non-Review posts, 2016 posts, NON-REVIEW CONTENT, The Toy Chronicles | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

Showing off the New Wizard Shelf

Posted on August 26, 2014 by Walt

I added a new bookcase to my room this week as part of a new effort to re-organize and move away from the “piles” that have accumulated a bit since the last thorough cleaning.

wizard_shelf_august_2014

And I’ve decided once again to let the Wizard library have a shelf, where presently my entire Wizard run fits entirely onto a single shelf. While it’s not a COMPLETE run…it’s still a pretty lengthy run.

What’s pictured above spans issues 1-171 of the magazine’s history, and includes several “specials” published outside the regular numbering as well.

I may have mixed feelings on Wizard, but there’s no denying that it’s a bit of a time capsule and “slice of the moment” to flip back through old issues, see the various covers, and so on.

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