Well, I told you it’d be something completely different. Among other things, Photober is giving me an excuse to spend time on kinds of things I probably otherwise wouldn’t let myself put the effort in to. Like Imaginext figures. Imaginext Power Rangers was a weird occurrence, where Bandai licensed out their younger-kids demographic to Fisher-Price instead of making such toys themselves. The result was a reasonably extensive line of simple, sturdy, stylized Mighty Morphin Power Rangers products.
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This isn’t something I collected in any real sense. As the line aged, I grabbed a few things that hit clearance pricing. I also was given a Squatt and Baboo figure pack at one point, but I couldn’t remember where I put them in time to include them in this shoot. What’s funny is that clearance-priced or not, there was a good chance that these might have been the last Bandai-era Power Rangers toys you might have been able to find in the transitional period before Hasbro officially took over control of Power Rangers. After the announcement of the master toy license changing hands, Bandai’s regular Power Rangers products kind of stopped being restocked at all with any reliability. But the Imaginext toys persisted just fine. At least until Fisher-Price’s sub-license ran out. That’s one real pity with Hasbro taking over Power Rangers, because Power Rangers Imaginext was a pretty cool thing that didn’t seem like it needed to be brought to an end, except that it was the victim of new management.
For the most part the figures all work the same: Minimal articulation with only universal-joint shoulders standing out at all, but decent stylized sculpts that present a good likeness in a cartoony way, and generally some kind of accessory. The two packs here are Rita and Finster, and Lord Zedd and Goldar. There were also of course various Ranger packs and other Evil Space Alien offerings. I’m pretty sure it was possible to get Putty Patrollers, and I know there was a pack of King Sphinx and Scorpina too.
One of the more fun things they did was a Goldar in their Zord price point. It is for most practical purposes just a highly scaled-up version of the regular Goldar from the two pack. The articulation is just the same as any of those small figures, which for some reason really entertains me. It’s actually comparable in height with older Deluxe Megazords, so if you ever wished for a Goldar big enough to stand against one of those, here’s your option!
The big Goldar comes with another Rita, but this one has a different deco, which is specifically based on old style guide materials for MMPR which for some reason had Rita with a purple dress instead of the brown of the actual costume. It’s an interesting nod for anyone who remembers that stuff, but otherwise it just makes for a convenient alternate coloring. Rita, or I guess probably any Imaginext figure like this can ride on Goldar’s back on a platform that acts as a switch to either cause the wings to spread, or move the right arm in a weak sword-swinging action.
Apparently this Goldar was not an especially popular product; I got mine from a closeout retailer for about $3. They had literally dozens of them for that price.
Photober the 13th will keep things small – come back tomorrow to find out where we’re going next!
