Video Review – Comparing Ninja Steel Megazord to DX ShurikenJin

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KL2Dkgg5Ye0



honestly seems like kind of a disappointment...

Looks like a totally okay rendition of a terrible, terrible mecha design.

Also, funny how he calls them tiny when it's almost the exact same size as the Japanese version.

Definitely not as good as the Dino Charge Megazords.

Maaaaaan this is pathetic. Yet again proving you should just import the good toy the first time.

What good toy?

When a good toy of this mecha comes around, that'll be good advice.

Looks cheaply designed to be called the "Deluxe" Ninja Steel Megazord. I thought Deluxe sized Megazord toys were supposde to have expensive plastic, not cheap plastic.

Well, I liked Shurikenjin, anyway...

It took me forever to come around to it but it's a really unique design that instantly stands out in a crowd, and I like how the black on the limbs unifies the design when combined despite being made up of 5 seemingly completely random pieces. And the variety of those components is itself pretty interesting compared to the usual "here's 5 cars/animals" fare.

I mean, if you think it looks fugly that's one (admittedly quite understandable) thing, but it seems to me like it was just as well thought out as any other Sentai mecha.

I might just have the advice you need: A good toy of this mecha was released in 2015. :P

Believe it or not, I did like the original DX Shurikenjin.
It will never be one my favorite Super Sentai mecha, but I liked its unique design of having a smaller robot pilot a mech suit and the fact the thing could take on two combined forms.
Unfortunately, I felt a bit disappointed with the rest of the toyline, but that's for another topic.

On-topic: I felt like I was watching an episode of Phelous' Bootleg Zones, showing off a Shurikenjin bootleg. And then I realized this unfortunately is the official product and is what many kids in the western world will have to deal with the coming 2 years.

The part where the arm of the dragon fell off was especially worrisome.

That's exactly my problem with it. I mean seriously, the dump truck is terrible, the train is just legs laid flat, and the dog could practically be left out. The zords themselves are such an odd and mismatched array of just things I could easily see just being afterthoughts from lazy design. (especially the train and dumptruck) To me it's just another unsightly mess with an oversized helmet because what the hell is with modern Sentai with gigantic helmets and generic faces on the Megazords? The proportions are awful, too, since the torso is so juge and square, and the arms are stubby and the legs are really long and thin. Megazords used to have really heroic, giant robot-y proportions. Again, not saying everything has to be the Wild Force Megazord, but if more designs tried to do what it did we'd have much better robots.

BUT

That's just my opinion.

Well, you've got me on the train at least. The dump truck however I think is a pretty logical result of needing a torso with a gaping hole for a dude to sit in. And the dog clearly needs to be there for cuteness factor.

More on-topic, the toy looks fine? I mean, it seems like a downgrade from the Dino Charge stuff but I think that's more the fault of the design they're working with than the actual budget shrinking. There's a lot less paint you can afford to leave out with Shurikenjin and still have it look good. The biggest offender here is that plain blue sword. You could even just had it be two parts and done the blade in the dump truck's yellow plastic and it would've been better than nothing. Speaking of which, the lack of black on the actual torso of the Megazord makes it look less coherent than it did too.

I don't know, I get that sacrifices have gotta be made to fit a budget, but every year with the BoA versions of stuff I have this thought of "if it did just one more thing right I'd be fine with it". This year it's definitely that sword, more than anything.

Problem is it looks nothing like a dump truck. Dump trucks aren't just boxes on tiny little wheels. It's clearly just a gaping hole of a torso with wheels slapped on and a grill hanging off the back of the arm. :/ There's nothing creative or intuative, it's only a dump truck because it's what tehy called it.

I will say though, and I've said it before, this gives me new appreciation for Kyouryuger's mecha and BOA's translation of them. Hell, those were actually better in some case. (especially where the clips are concerned) This is definitely not to the same quality as those for sure, even ignoring the original design.