TV shows from the Power Rangers franchise are popular the world over. Certainly, they often seem to turn up on thrift stalls or markets here in Rome, Italy where I live. I don’t buy many figures issued this side of the millennium, although if I find a figure with a particularly interesting feature I’ll occasionally break my own rule. After all, today’s figures are tomorrow’s vintage! And this Mystic Force action figure grabbed my attention even before I’d set eyes on it. Rummaging in the bottom of a bargain bin I heard the special – and extremely LOUD – sound effects gimmick long before I managed to find it.
Bandai
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers Pink Ninja by Bandai!
Who can resist a ninja action figure?! Not me, evidently, as I knew I had to have this figure the second I saw it in a charity shop on a recent trip back to the UK to visit friends and family. I wasn’t entirely sure who this character might be, but knew it probably wouldn’t take much sleuthing to discover the identity of this dazzling pink net launching girl ninja!
She may look like something out of Disney’s Aladdin, but I soon discovered that this 5 ½ inch action figure is a Ninja Ranger released as part of Bandai’s Mighty Morphin Power Rangers toyline in 1995, in conjunction with the TV show Mighty Morphin Power Rangers Season 3 and the big screen version Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie.
Diecast Black Condor Jetman by Bandai
I don’t have many diecast action figures in my collection, but whenever I happen upon one on a market stall I almost always have to buy it right away – a small toy with metal parts is always surprisingly heavy in the hand and makes it feel nicely solid and instantly appealing.
Little did I realise, however, when I found this 1991 Bandai action figure of Gai Yuki aka Black Condor from the early 1990s Japanese television series Choujin Sentai Jettoman (Birdman Task Force Jetman) recently, that Gai Yuki’s name would suddenly be in the news again.
Mobile Suit Gundam RX-78-2
It’s always fun hunting down vintage action figures on market stalls or in thrift shops, but this snap-together Gundam model kit proved more of a challenge than most. I spotted the limbless and headless torso first, in a box of mostly broken toys and it took a lot of painstaking rummaging around before I managed to gather and assemble all his parts! With hands and feet and even shoulder pads detached, I was incredibly satisfied to have at least found all his body parts, if not all his accessories – he’s missing a shield, his bazooka and beam sabers, not to mention the beam saber handles on his backpack, which have snapped cleanly off.