Zordon recruits five alien Power Rangers from the planet Aquitar

Tag : Stand By Power



In 2007, the Power Rangers celebrated its 15th Anniversary in theUnited States, Bandai decided to commemorate this celebration witha special series of figures. The Red Ranger from each of thevarious concepts from throughout the years was issued as part of aspecial commemorative set of almost 7" tall figures. The bodymolds for each were the same, although the helmets and painteddetails were superb, and the body design was excellent.
The line went all the way from Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, whichlasted for three years, through the subsequent annual overhauls ofZeo, to Turbo, all the way through SPD, Mystic Force, and OperationOverdrive, which was the 2007 Power Rangers concept. Every singleconcept's Red Rangers.
Personally, I'm hoping that it's a line that Bandai finds a way tocontinue. I wouldn't mind at all seeing the Jungle Fury Red Rangeradded to the mix, plus whichever concepts follow.
But -- there was one, rather glaring omission in the set. Infairness, it would've been a tough one to fit in. Technically, thisparticular group of Rangers, which of course included a Red Ranger,were a sort of series within a series, as Mighty Morphin gradually-- well -- morphed into Zeo.
It was called, officially, MIGHTY MORPHIN ALIEN RANGERS. Iremembered them, because at the time, I wondered for quite sometime if Bandai would make figures of them. They did havedistinctive uniform designs, that didn't look anything like theMighty Morphin or the Zeo Rangers (or anyone else since, for thatmatter). Ultimately, Bandai DID release figures of them -- justbarely. They were never a major influence in the toy line.
Obviously, since Bandai chose NOT to include the Alien Red Rangerin their 15th Anniversary line-up. I actually wrote a letter tothem to inquire about this oversight, and Bandai was very generousin responding (something they tend to be a little better at thansome other toy companies -- wasn't even a form letter).
They said that they were pleased to hear from such a longtime PowerRangers fan, that they would certainly consider adding the RedAlien Ranger to any future editions of this series of figures, butat the same time, they could hardly believe that anyone evenREMEMBERED the Alien Rangers.
And so, I decided to provide this Flashback review, in the hopes ofgiving these near-forgotten (even by Bandai, it seems) PowerRangers their due.
We can call the Mighty Morphin Alien Rangers concept as "aPower Rangers mini-series inside the third season of the TV seriesMighty Morphin Power Rangers." That's really not a baddescription. It lasted for ten episodes. Back then, Power Rangersaired daily, so this gave the Alien Rangers all of two weeks tomake their mark on the Power Rangers universe.
The storyline is, as one might expect, fairly straightforward, buta tad on the bizarre side -- not too out of place for a PowerRangers sequence. The Mighty Morphin Power Rangers are turned intochildren by Master Vile, and Zordon recruits five alien PowerRangers from the planet Aquitar, humanoids that feed on water andhave awkward, watery voices, to help protect the Earth from LordZedd and Rita Repulsa. Meanwhile, the kids seek to find the piecesof the Zeo Crystal to return them to their full adult form.
That "awkward, watery voice" description is something ofan understatement. I remember THAT from seeing the originalepisodes. Remember what Mer-Man from Masters of the Universesounded like? It was pretty much like that, except instead of ol'Fish-Face, it was five teenagers. Frankly, it got a littleannoying. Fortunately, the Alien Rangers figures weren't talkers.
Once the Zeo Crystal was recombined, the original Rangers returnedto their grown form, and the Aquitian Rangers returned to theirhome planet of Aquitar. However, this was not the last time theywould turn up. The Aquitian Rangers are later seen and referencedin further Power Rangers series, including the first past/presentRanger team up during Power Rangers: Zeo. In particular, BillyCranston, one of the original Rangers, goes and visits them ontheir home planet, therefore explaining his absence from the seriesfrom Power Rangers: Turbo onwards. Some of the Alien Rangers arealso seen in the climatic montage fight between the forces of goodand evil at the finale of Power Rangers In Space and the RedAquitian Ranger is seen in the Power Rangers Wild Force episodeForever Red, which saw every previous Red Ranger united to stop theremnants of the Machine Empire in its latest scheme.
And these are the Rangers that Bandai is surprised anybody evenremembers? Even I didn't know some of this. I certainly didn't knowthat the Red Alien Ranger had turned up as recently as Wild Force,which was the 2002 Power Rangers concept.
There were five Alien Rangers. Their names and describtion are asfollows:
Aurico, played by David Bacon, is the Red Aquitian Ranger and themost well known Alien Ranger. Though technically Delphine is theleader of the team, as Red Ranger, Aurico is often considered aninformal field leader. He pilots the Red Battle Borg and, duringhis stay on Earth, the Red Shogunzord, as well. He was voiced byChristopher Glenn for his later Wild Force appearance.
Delphine, played by Rajia Baroudi, is the White Aquitian Ranger.She was the leader of the team, and was the first female to be aPower Rangers team leader, though, as Red Ranger, Aurico issometimes considered an informal leader.Also, she is the firstPower Ranger to be the only female member of her team. Delphinepilots the White Battleborg and the White Shogunzord.
Tideus, played by Jim Gray, is the Yellow Aquitian Ranger. Tideusis a very serious person who takes his duties as a Ranger extremelyseriously. Tideus is physically the strongest of the Aquitians, andalso is one of the healthiest. Tideus was entrusted with the powerof the Yellow Battle Borg and the Yellow Shogunzord. Tideus was thefirst known male Yellow Ranger.
Cestro, played by Karim Prince, is the Blue Aquitian Ranger. He isentrusted with the power of the Blue Battleborg and BlueShogunzord. Like his Mighty Morphin counterpart, Billy Cranston,Cestro is a technological genius. When Billy successfully managedto restore his own age by means of the Power Coins before they weredestroyed, he and Cestro frequently worked together to find asimilar cure for the other Rangers - as well as finding a means tokeep the Aquitians hydrated with pure water. In this way, Cestrowas the Alien Ranger who received most attention in storylines(alongside Delphine, the team leader). Cestro had a guestappearance in Power Rangers: Zeo, in which he came to Earth again,seeking Billy's help to fight off a menace on Aquitar called thehydro-contaminators. Billy's trip to Aquitar saw the beginning ofthe story arc in which he was permanently written out of the show.
Corcus, played by Alan Palmer, is the Black Aquitian Ranger. He isthe quietest member of the team, often lurking in the background,but he fights with extreme ferocity against his enemies. Hecontrols the Black Battle Borg and the Black Shogunzord.
As I said, I wasn't entirely certain there would ever by AlienRangers figures. They simply weren't on the show all that long, andthere seemed to be no great evidence of them as, within the toyline, Mighty Morphin morphed into Zeo and seemed to glo along itsmerry way. But then, at one point, and if memory serves it was in aK*B Toy Store at the time, here came a set of Alien Rangersfigures!
These were the only Alien Rangers items ever produced, and both forthen and now, it was pretty minimal. At the time, the Power Rangerstoys were known for producing both 8" and 5" figures, anda host of assorted Zords and other equipment. To this day, PowerRangers remains one of the most highly successful action figurelines on the market, and one of the most voluminous in its vastarray of items -- figures, Zords, other vehicles, assortedrole-play equipment... there are not a lot of other toy lines thatmeasure up -- and can get away with it.
But the Alien Rangers got one basic set of individually carded5" action figures. Period. Even so, it was certainly betterthan nothing, which is what I thought we were going to get.
So, how are the figures? Well, compared to modern Power Rangers,they're a little on the primitive side. On the other hand, that boxthat I found them in also included 5" versions of theircontemporaries -- Zeo and Turbo Rangers, among others, and comparedto THEM, they're pretty much equal in quality, articulation, anddetail. I hardly think it's entirely fair to compare a Power Rangerfrom over a dozen years ago to those of today.
One has to remember something about the Power Rangers figures ofthe time -- they weren't all that detailed as far as musculatureand sculpted detail was concerned. They were pretty basic inappearance, so much so that the female Rangers used the same basicbody molds as the male Rangers. And could just about get away withit. Just about... The bodies still tended towards the male as faras overall size and general appearance was concerned, and it was alittle weird to see a Pink Ranger looking that -- masculine.Fortunately for the purposes of this review, the Alien Rangersdidn't HAVE a Pink Ranger.
The five Alien Rangers all use exactly the same body mold, withcertain attached parts being the only real difference other thanthe basic color. The figures each stand about 4-3/4" inheight. They are well made and nicely articulated, able to pose atthe head, arms (outward as well as forward and backward), an upperswivel arm, elbows, legs, and knees.
I find it interesting that the figures have an upper swivel armmovement. This is a range of motion that most Power Rangers inrecent years, including the 15th Anniversary Red Ranger series,have distinctly lacked. And sometimes, it's a bit of a problem.Granted, on the whole, they tend to be decidedly more articulatedthan their predecessors, with wrist movement, often waist movement,some sort of upper leg swivel, and occasionally even a lower legswivel or ankle movement, but when one considers that one of themain forms of combat of ANY Power Ranger tends to be martial artsfighting -- sometimes, an upper-arm swivel would be a real boon intrying to get the figures to simulate some of those poses.
The main differences between the five Alien Rangers, other thantheir respective individual colors, is the shape of their visors,which are painted onto an otherwise common head sculpt, and theembossed shape molded into a chrome gold headband that each of themwears. Clearly, these were molded as separate parts and attached toan indented section of the figure.
The shapes are geometric in design, and are clearly intended tofollow a numerical pattern -- not unusual for any number of PowerRangers groups. The Red Ranger's headband has a circle in it. TheWhite Ranger's has what looks like a Classic Star Trek shirt'semblem, sideways. The Yellow Ranger has a triangle, the Blue Rangerhas a square, and the Black Ranger has a pentagon.
If one looks at this numerically, the circle is arguably theone-sided shape. The triangle, square, and pentagon areself-explanatory. The odd shape on the White Ranger's headband is,I suspect, intended to represent two sides, but it's still rangerstrange. It would also seem to lend credence to the fact that whilethe White Ranger is this team's leader, the Red Ranger is prettywell up in the ranks, as well.
Beyond that, the uniforms are ALMOST identical, except for thecolor and a certain variance in the visor shapes. It's a fairlysimple uniform design. It was certainly a considerable differencefrom the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers uniforms, which were the onlyprevious Power Rangers known at the time, with their large whitediamond shapes on their uniforms, gloves, and boots, and theirornate helmets.
The only real detailing on the Alien Rangers' uniforms were blackbands, outlined in white, around the wrists and ankles, and a thickwhite "V" shape around the neck, with an interior blackarea, and a gold triangle (black on the White and Yellow Rangers)at the base of the "V", although a picture I called uponline of the characters in the show indicates that this"V" is gold at least on the White Ranger.
Everyone has a gold belt except the Yellow Ranger, who has a blackbelt with a gold buckly. Each figure has a holster to the left, andeach Alien Ranger came with a small pistol, which fit into thisholster, and a small sword, which clipped to a hole in their back,which was also used for an assembly screw (hardly an uncommonpractice in certain other toy lines).
Each Alien Ranger also had an insignia on the upper left of theiruniform, a sort of thick lightning bolt with a star and two smalltriangles in it. This lightning bolt was also the logo for the showat the time. For all but the Black Ranger, this insignia was black.His was white.
If memory serves, the White Ranger, to denote the fact that she wasfemale, had a small strip of white vinyl plastic wrapped around herwaist, and taped in the back. This piece has since gone missing,but if I recall, it looked pretty cheap anyway. And it's not asthough the figure doesn't look fully dressed without it. Honestly,given that all the way through to Jungle Fury, the female Rangershave all had skirts as part of their uniforms, one has to wonder towhat degree sexism is still alive and well in Japan.
So what's my final word here? Well, it's not as though I canrecommend that you go out and buy these figures. They haven't beenaround for over a decade. I did see a couple of auctions online,but not a lot even there. One thing you should be aware of if yougo "shopping" for them. The palm of each hand should havea small peg in it. This is how they hold their weapons, and basedon the eBay auctions I surveyed, it's fairly common for this tobreak off.
A current recommendation was not my intention of this review. Itwas intended as a Flashback, but also to give a little attentionand respect to a segment of the Power Rangers lengthy and ongoinghistory that, based on the reply I got from Bandai, and thedistinct lack of this group of Rangers' Red representative in the15th Anniversary line, needed a little attention and respect. Ihope this article has accomplished that, at least.