By Rob Siebert
Out-of-the-Closet PR Fan

Power Rangers and toys. For the longest time, I hid my love of both. And yet as an adult I’ve learned to celebrate both. For my money that’s a beautiful thing.

Most of the figures you’ll see here are from Hasbro’s “Lightning Collection” line. Whether you’re talking about classic characters from the ’90s or the ones from the current Beast Morphers series, they’re the best PR figures ever produced.

See, these Hasbro people? They ain’t no dummies.

They know Tommy, the original Green Ranger, is going to be their big seller. Or at least in the very top tier. So they don’t necessarily want to give it to us right away. But of course, they like money. So what do they do? They split the difference with “Fighting Spirit” Green Ranger, i.e. a Green Ranger with that weird gold gimmick on his helmet. Because we know that’s not the true Green Ranger. And of course, they know we know.

Semantics aside, this is a great shot from Brazilian photographer Andre Gurian. It’s very reminiscent of something you’d see in promotion of Power Rangers Legacy Wars. Only here we have a setting with a much better texture to it, and lighting that’s a  little more moody. It’s got the more mature feel that adult fans think they want Power Rangers to have. But of course, will never get.

This, on the other hand, is much more in tune with what Mighty Morphin Power Rangers looked like. Gary Foster puts our two heroines front and center, bright colors in all their glory and surrounded by the vaguely undead looking Putties.

The poses are what make it, though. The Yellow Ranger’s in particular. It’s very ninja-esque. It feels like we’ve captured the moment right before that initial explosion of the fight.

Basketball photos are one of Noserein‘s trademarks. Go to his page and you’ll see basketball court shots of Golum, Baby Groot, Lord Voldemort, not to mention Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant.

Here of course, we have the Power Rangers and the Putties. It’s just now registering with me that the Putties are actually the stars of this one. The Rangers are all background players, and the two Putties are clearly in the foreground. And don’t tell me this could never have happened on the show. Frankly, I’m surprised it never did. The Rangers and the Putties in a game of three-on-three to decide the fate of the world.

Hey, I’d watch.

Of these images, this is the only one that doesn’t feature figures from Hasbro’s Lightning Collection. If I’m not mistaken, these guys are all from Figuarts.

Power Rangers Ninja Storm doesn’t get a lot of love these days. But I really love this shot from our old friend satoshi_k. Once again we’re playing with foreground and background, as our Red Ranger is being pursued by the Thunder Rangers. And yet he’s prepping for a fight, as evidenced by his hand being on his weapon.

Here we have Devon, our current Red Ranger, hitting a high octane kick to…to…what the heck are these things? They aren’t the foot soldiers from Beast Morphers. Originally I thought they were Skrulls. But apparently not.

Either way, I love the implied motion in the way both our primary figures are posed by ZurEnArrh1906. It’s very easy for your mind to fill in the gaps, see the green guy go flying, and even hear Devon’s boot make contact with his torso.

Email Rob at primaryignition@yahoo.com, or check us out on Twitter.