Today, I had the sheer joy of having to ask to see this, as it was in a display case, in a dedicated toy-seller's stall, at our local flea market. I haven't felt this good, in YEARS. I'm on Cloud fuggen 9, baby!!
It seems that I was right on the money in my reviews of the Japanese original and Bandai of America's 5'' action figure version: this legitimately is a VERY acceptable substitute. The legs swivel a mite more freely than I'd normally like and the elbows are stiff to click in, but the vector of movement in the former case doesn't impact its ability to stand, at all, and do you think I'm going to deduct for tight joints? Unless they feel like they'll endanger the toy, no, no I will/am not. The hand-feel of clutching the torso for posing and transforming is SUBLIME.
I miss BoA, and I always will. This thing is ACES!
Said transformation is slightly different than with BoJ's. The head is affixed to the back-panel and rotates horizontally in a circle, on a secondary plank, instead of flipping downward, straight inside the body. But, surprisingly, that's pretty much the extent of the variance. The head crest still flips down, the panels around the face still snap in to cover it, and the Dragon's side-fins still fold up.
The Miracle Headders...wait, let me look this up, in case it isn't just Ultra Headders...Ultra Zords! The Ultra Zords are NOT removable, unlike the Miracle Headders, but to be honest, those were mostly only removable for the sake of the very modular play-pattern, or to recreate the Ultimate Strike finisher. The mecha-sized incarnations of them never attached to anything else. Meaning, I'm not penalizing this toy for them being permanently affixed. The panels flip into 'attack' position to emulate the process and reveal the gun...ports(?). That's good enough, for me!
To no one's surprise, the true shame lies in the lack of paint. Though, it is very physically minimal. The cockpit of the ship itself isn't picked out, nor are the ones on the Dragon, Snake, and Tiger. The paint on the Phoenix and Shark's is flat, not metallic, as on the original. Of course, the most egregious omission is ALL of the pink on the Phoenix. I am disappointed, but it's hard for me to overly care when Eri and Emma were the only ones to ever pilot Gosei Ultimate by themselves. To look at the Titan Megazord, you'd never know there was a Pink Mystic Force Ranger, but when I look at Gosei Ultimate, I see Eri, within the WHOLE of it.
There's no chrome, whatsoever, on the Headders/Zords, but as I've said regarding other things, I consider that a positive. It can't flake off, if it isn't there! As with the 5'' figure, the gold is too mellow (and the swords are unpainted), but it's not the end of the world. Give and take. Those swords can combine into the bow, and the Gosei Great Megazord can balance MUCH better atop the ship than the original primary robo could on BoJ's Gosei Ultimate. That's two rounds handily decided in the West's favor.
FINALLY, there are two cards included, assuming you buy this complete. Oddly, the text on both says 'Gosei Ultimate Megazord.' One is the Summon card, the other for the finisher. The former elicits, 'Summon Megazord' from the Gosei Morpher, the latter, 'Victory Charge.' I REALLY wish that the 'Summon Ultimate Power' card had come with the original. It only came with 'Ultimate Charge.' Another feather in this one's cap!
Again, this is even better than I've always thought it'd be. I can't claim that it's outright better than its Eastern counterpart, but it is hella equivalent. I am so sincerely over the moon with it and the circumstances under which we came into each other's lives.
Update: I actually came across a bag of toys with a Gosei Phoenix in it! I'm not usually a fan of Zord Builder functionality, but the combination of these two looks pretty swish sitting on my desk. The only downside is that there isn't a peg on the back for the displaced arm, Dumpmaru-style. Alas~
4½ Pinks With Red Privileges out of 5
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