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Rangers Review: Legacy Dragonzord (Power Rangers)

Intro:
            During the first season of Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers series, the Green Ranger was widely considered as the most popular Ranger. Not only he was arguably the strongest of the lineup of Rangers then, the actor – Jason David Frank would go on to have long affiliation with the franchise and appeared in numerous subsequent Power Ranger series.
            One of the other reasons that made this particular Ranger so darn popular was his Zord – the Dragonzord.
            When I first watched the series, Dragonzord was my favorite Zord. He looked bad@$$ and was way more powerful than the other Zords. And to have him being operated with the Dragon Dagger, which was used as a flute – that was even more unique.
            Unfortunately, I couldn’t afford to buy the figure back then, and so I just let desire store away deep down in my childhood memories – or so I thought.
            Then, Bandai announced the release of Legacy Megazord. Fans went nuts, and so did I. However, maybe it’s just me, I don’t know, but one of the reasons why I was so excited is the fact that whenever the original Megazord is released, the Dragonzord will always follows.
            As far as I was concerned, I bought Megazord with the hindsight that I am going to get the Dragonzord.
            Since the day I’ve gotten my Megazord, I have been patiently waiting for the Dragonzord, and now, finally, it’s here!
            Anyway, I like to thank the good people at TeenCom Melaka for reserving me this wonderful figure.
            So, without further ado, let’s get on with the review.

Box and Packaging:
            The box hugely resembles Legacy Megazord’s, but with several slight differences. The Legacy Megazord’s box clearly states that it was a Power Rangers 20 release. Legacy Dragonzord instead has the original series logo – Saban’s Mighty Morphin Power Rangers – instead.
            I don’t really know why the difference exists, but I still think it’s quite neat – giving it a sense of nostalgia to it.
            On the side, there is also an interesting Stats Card at the side of the box. It mentions that Dragonzord is actually 124 ft tall and weighs about 340,000 lbs, compared to Megazord’s 333 ft and 172,000 lbs respectively. When I watched the original series, I used to remember that they were both on equal footing, i.e. the same height. I never remembered ol’ Green Jaw being half the height of the Megazord. However, I was quite shock to leard than Dragonzord was almost twice the weight of Megazord, which makes sense considering the power this guy.
            The packaging also boasts the figure 11” articulated tail! More on that later. It also comes with several accessories such as the Power Staff’s stand and an extra set of relaxed hands, along with the weapons firing hands.
Extra Hands
Dragonzord:
            Well, I don’t really have the original Dragonzord to begin with, so I can’t really do a comprehensive comparison, but I can still do some of the comparisons that I do know.
            This version has all the detailing on the gold shoulders, underneath its feet and hips all engraved in. No more messy stickers – everything is built-in.

Another improvement is the articulations. The jaw opens and closes. There is a slight elbow, and the hands can rotate at the wrists. There are articulation points at the hips, knees and legs.

The most awesome improvement made is of course are the tails! The tail is so huge, and it has 6 different articulations – five of those are ball joints-esque. The main connector between the tail and the body are ratcheting joints in them.
            The Dragonzord itself is hefty, having loads of die cast part in them, namely the feet, shoulder etc.
            However, there is one aspect of this figure that is actually a backward move. In the old action figure, the chest piece used to have some electronics in them – being able to light up and having sound effects, albeit being very lame. At least, I think that they could’ve improved on that here.
Zords
Size Comparisons: Masterpiece Grimlock, Dragonzord, Tyrannosaurus Rex Zord, Megazord
Mega Dragonzord:
            When you have Megazord standing side-by-side the Dragonzord, you know that something marvelous could and should happen.
            The transformation seems rather simple, but can be quite deceptive in the sense that it doesn’t transform the way the original Megazord and Dragonzord do.
            The Dragonzord opens up, and the chest piece and tail are pulled out to form the weapon later.
            In this version, you have to somehow detach the Pterodactyl and pulled down the T-Rex’s arms and chest piece, before attaching the Dragonzord on his shoulders and head.

            The Dragonzord looks like an overcoat, or rather a Warrior’s shield for Megazord to wear. It’s kind of lame, and I don’t quite like this mode, as it is kind of an insult to Dragonzord, to be treated just as an ornament. But somehow, this mode was shown prominently in series, so I can’t really complain much, can I?  
            In this mode, the Megazord’s articulations are reduced – the fact that arms movements is further restricted is another bummer.
            The tail, oh wonderful tail, is then detached and then can be collapsed into the tip of a lance instead. Combining that with the chest piece and the stand provided, it looks huge and majestic – called the Power Staff. However, one weak point of the Power Staff is that it cannot stand on its own due to the design of the stand – 2 legs are longer than the other two, which is a bummer really. They should be able to stand on its own!
            However, there is something that they did right here. In the original Dragonzord, the Megazord cannot really wield its huge humongous weapon, but this time, he can! Not in a dynamic way, but at least he can hold them now! That is another huge improvement.
            With all the die cast parts in both mode, this combination is very hefty – weighing at about 1.2 kgs.
            But that’s not all folks, there’s one more gimmick left!

Dragonzord Battle Mode:
            Now, this is one of the other main reasons why I have to buy this figure. This is how an equal partner supposed to transform, and by doing so, he just eliminate both the Tyrannosaurus Rex and the Pterodactyl out of the equation, leaving only the Saber Tooth Tiger, the Mastodon and the Triceratops to form one of the most kick@$$ Zord of all time.

            The transformations are quite satisfying and the resulting Dragonzord Battle Mode looks amazing. He is huge and tall – weighing at almost 1.2 kgs and standing at almost 12-inches tall!

Posing with the leftovers
            In all honesty, I prefer this Dragonzord in Battle Mode to the Megazord anytime. He looks way cooler and way better than the latter.
Wielding the Power Staff
            Articulation-wise however, there is no improvement at all, but still, I like this mode nonetheless.


Summary:
Yes, Dragonzord is exactly a brick that it used to be. He is fun and has a lot of play value in it, although most of that will require that you have the Legacy Megazord prior.
Ol’ Green Jaw looks and feels awesome, and I really love it!  
Highly recommended.


Rating – 9.5/10

 TeenCom

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