“Go Go, Plastic Rangers!”
UPDATE: On May 14th in the Hasbro Pulse live stream event, it was revealed that SCORPINA is indeed coming. She was #6 on this list below and we will provide an updated image to show what the figure will look like. It is currently for pre-order on BigBadToyStore.com with an estimated August release.
Let's talk about Hasbro's Lightning Collection for a moment. It's not that they aren't doing a bang-up job with the line, it's the fact that they ARE!!
Wait...huh?
But why you may ask. The problem is that they are doing such a great job with these figures that we want to display them prominently on our shelves, but we currently have very few monsters to pair them with, and, much like Batman, the Power Rangers are awesome on their own, but are made even better by WHO they are fighting.
Yeah, yeah, we know they are steadily but surely trying to rectify this with a growing trickle of monsters, but a little fact like that isn't going to stop SpeekyGeeky from imagining up who our dream team of releases might be.
Which now brings us to part one of our "Top Hasbro Power Rangers LIGHTNING COLLECTION MONSTERS We Need ASAP" series. With as many years and corresponding baddies the MMPR's have faced over the years, in order to do this justice it's going to take a multi-part series.
*Before we jump in however, we have to point to one area of contention. Well...it's really more of a compliment disguised as contention, but quickly becomes clear that this may be just a sneaky way for us to potentially angle for more toys out of this toy line.
So here it is, as much as we are absolutely loving this line, an enormous hole we are seeing is the fact that these Monsters that have already made it into the line so far aren't also solicited with an oversized "evolved" version for which to do battle with Megazord, Dragonzord, and whatever additional zords make their way in down the line (nor are we getting the Finster putty versions...but we go into that a bit a little later on) .
Considering how each episode in the series is fairly formulaic and presents each villain as both a standard size and oversized threat, it feels like a...ahem...GIANT missed opportunity both on the additional sales perspective and for making hardcore collectors feel like Hasbro is going that extra mile toward property line appreciation.
If we had our druthers, as the line progresses, we'd love to see this option also available, even if it means a bit less articulation on those larger scale options to keep price points manageable.
Join us now, as we dive into SpeekyGeeky's top 12 monsters we'd like to see, specifically from Season 1:
1. FINSTER
What good is having a Rita figure if we don't have her right hand monster responsible for bringing her evil art to life. Finster is a "must-have" for a Season one monster as he is responsible for helping to propel the action from episode to episode.
Throw in some easter eggs of clay sculptures for future monsters we'll see in the line and the Monster-Matic for Finster to add the clay figure into for that extra mile and we are happy campers.
2 & 3. SQUATT & BABOO
Squatt & Baboo go together like Laurel & Hardy, or Pinky & the Brain if both mice were "Pinky." They may have been, as Rita would so eloquently put, it a couple of "nitwits," but they were OUR nitwits and we loved that they were predictably nitwittish through and through. These two are essential early era monsters that any long-time MMPR fan will admit are as necessary as comic relief for Rita as Alpha 5 is to Zordon.
4. BONES
Bones!! This monster is a must for a couple of fairly big reasons. First, he was the very first monster the Power Rangers tussled with (and defeated). He was the baddie that the group were able to cut their teeth against, and that's not nothing. Secondly, look at the guy, he's like Skeletor come to live action, and yes, we are fully aware of the Canon films Masters of the Universe movie, and have a great admiration for Frank Langella...but let's just say if this is how Skeletor looked in that film, we would have probably also been just fine with that.
5. EYE GUY
Eye Guy is the answer to that age old question, "what's cooler than having eyes in the back of your head?" There may be no "I" in team, but if that team is the Power Rangers, there certainly should be a monster with quite a few more "eyes" next to that team on our shelves.
6. SCORPINA
Technically more of a traditional villain then a monster (though she does possess a monster form too), but for the sake of this list and the importance of this character's need to be in the toy line, we'll make an exception. In the early Era MMPR, right next to Goldar, Scorpina is Rita's most capable and ruthless enforcer. Seeing as we already have Goldar, the addition of Scorpina would mean an epic battle to ensue in our playroom the likes of which would have put the production cost of the show through the roof.
7. GOATAN
Half Goat, half Lion, half...Snake? Dragon? Whatever he is, he's ALL parts awesome! Also known as his equally fun named monicker "THE STORM BRINGER" (yeah, how epic is that), Goatan is a Chimera who quite literally could have destroyed the entire earth with his power set and if not for his remarkably short attention span, weakness for spinning objects, and of course those pesky Power Rangers, he would have done just that.
8. MIGHTY MINOTAUR
When we think of classic MMPR monster it is this dude one hundred times over. Evil presence, awesome design straight out of an ancient Greek drama. IT'S. A. FREAKING. MINOTAUR!!! Need we say more? Let's get this guy made so you can take our money already.
9. SHELLSHOCK
Crossover alert, crossover alert. This was an unofficial appearance of a mutant turtle when another well known mutant turtle series was tied for ratings, which wasn't that much of a well kept secret. While potentially a coincidence as the Power Rangers series editing drew from episodes created many years beforehand, it certainly was fun to see this type of character represented on the show and pitted against the protagonists so fans of both series could imagine how that altercation might play out (though here it was clearly slanted in the home teams favor). We appreciated seeing the battle of the series giants back then and we'll appreciate that pairing in toy form as well.
10. POLLUTICORN
If you can only have room for ONE pollution based unicorn in your collection, it should probably be this Polluticorn, don't you think?
All kidding aside, this monster encompasses so much of what is fun about the MMPR franchise. The fact that episode to episode we absolutely had no idea what kind of monster we would be treated to was what made up a big part of the fun, and certainly nobody for all their guess work would have had pollution themed unicorn on their absurdist monster bingo card, which kind of makes a character like Polluticorn...ahem...a bit of a unicorn in more ways than one.
11. LIZZINATOR
Lizzinator is one of those monsters where he just looks cool. Part lizard, part rat, who knows, but good golly do we think he'd be fun to spar off against the MMPR or TMNT or heck, he'd even fit in fairly seamlessly next to Thundercats, so much potential, such a neat looking character where Hasbro could do a pretty bang up job with a modern sculpt with all sorts of articulation goodness.
12. MUTITUS
What do you get when you cross Frankenstein's Monster with the sinew and necrotic kaiju gore of Tetsuo's transformation in Akira?
Probably something pretty close to Mutitus. Things get a little more bat-guano-y when the primary villain of that episode Lokar uses his "Breath of Doom" to turn Mutitus from necro-hodge-podge into something a bit more...Dragon-infused meat-sack. Mutitus also reminds us a bit of the monster D'Compose from the Inhumanoids franchise, and that hint of crossover imaginative play frankly ramps up the "Fun"-factor, especially toward the thought of potentially getting a monster-sized version of this figure for Mutitus to "evolve" into.
12 HONORABLE MENTIONS:
BABE RUTHLESS:
DRAMOLE:
GENIE:
OCTOPLANT:
PUDGY PIG:
ROCKSTAR:
SAMURAI FAN MAN:
SNIZZARD:
SOCCADILLO:
SPIT FLOWER
TERROR TOAD:
TWIN MAN:
Even with the additional honorary mentions, we know there are still plenty of other monsters from season 1 that are fan favorites, and we know us MMPR fans are a passionate bunch, so we are excited to hear who would have made your list as well. Let us know in the comments below and make your voice heard.
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