Did you notice what today is? It may not seem immediately significant but today is actually the 18th anniversary of the 1st appearance of the Blue Senturion in Power Rangers Turbo! Appearing in the episode “The Millennium Message” at first the Blue Senturion was adversarial to the rangers but went on to fill the role of an extra hero for the team. It’s an oddball anniversary but with the Turbo theatrical movie having celebrated it’s 18th earlier this year, we’ve decided to present a special gallery of the Quick Draw Action Blue Senturion figure to coincide!
The Quick Draw Action Blue Senturion is actually a pretty cool figure. Not only does it feature an interesting gimmick or two in the form of a Quick Draw hand and signal changing, and along with a decent number of accessories for it’s era, it’s one of a very very small number of figures even produced for the Blue Senturion or in fact his Japanese originator Signalman! Neither of these characters has ever really gotten their proper due in collectible figure form but the 6″ Quick Draw figure can fit the bill for either of them!
We’ve assembled a full 40 image gallery of this figure for your viewing after the jump. Trust me, Blue Senturion will be right at home with your 6″ figure collection. While he may have some bulk to him, there’s still a bit of charm there for both Power Rangers and Sentai collectors alike!
Did you notice that earlier this year in March marked the 18th anniversary of the theatrical premiere of Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie? While many remember the original Mighty Morphin Power Ranger Movie for it's quirky alternate universe take on the traditional story of the rangers, the Turbo Movie was something entirely different. Picking up after the events of Power Rangers Zeo, the film chronicled the birth of the Turbo Powers and was a direct transition into the Power Rangers Turbo TV series.
Well today, 5/17/15 is the 18th anniversary of the 1st appearance of the Blue Senturion in the Power RangersTurbo episode, The Millenium Message! In honor of that appearance we've decided to bring you a gallery of Quick Draw Action Blue Senturion figure!
Packaging
Quick Draw Action Blue Senturion comes on the same standard type of card back as the rest of the 5" Power Rangers Turbo toyline. Take a look waaaaay back at my Turbo Shifter Phantom Ranger gallery from last year for a look at similar packaging. It's got the usual show call outs and crossells for other figures. The funniest being the Chromite figure. The generic grunt villains of Carranger (Wumpers as they were knoww) went mostly unused for the Turbo adaptation save for a handful of episodes and that toy. Interestingly enough the color variety advertised is one that appeared in neither version of the show footage. Oddly enough the front of the package also mentions the "Key Double Action" feature of Blue Senturion, but the advertisement on the back doesn't actually list Senturion with the other ranger figures in this line. And he's specifically labeled on his own packaging as "Quick Draw Action". Little paradoxes like this however are very very common in 90's power rangers lines.
Main Figure
As a toy of the mid 90's Blue Senturion actually shows his age quite a bit. Looking at the basic figure there's a modest amount of detail here that you don't often see on figures of this nature though. A little upscaled from the standard 5" size this Blue Senturion has quite a number of paint apps, the helmet, shins, and even the small insignia on his upper chest go a long way to making an otherwise bland figure at least look decent. Where Senturion may have paint though, he lacks severely in proper articulation.
Blue Senturion's lower body is limited to movement at the hips and at the knees. The hips rotate forward/back and have some outward mobility, but sadly the entire lower leg from the knee down is one piece. Add to this the feet permanently molded in an outward facing position and you can't really get anything too dynamic out of him. The arms are pretty funky too though. The left is on a pretty strongly clicking ratchet joint that only allows for upward/downward movements. No outward motion at all, no elbow, no wrist. The right arm however is hindered more, by the figures previously noted Key Double Action gimmick. This arm is molded in a reaching position that would make it appear to be constantly hovering over the hip holster. When the dial on the figure's back is turned either manually or by the included Key, not only will the 3 signals in his chest change, but the arm will spring up. Not a terrible gimmick but one that's detrimental to the toys capabilities.
And that's that on the basic figure, the head and waist have no movement at all. Overall you just can't get much out of him. And you have to be careful as I discovered this figure is quite fragile. My Blue Senturion's left leg snapped right off at the knee. Apparently that lower part of the legs is cast in clear plastic and painted over making them incredibly fragile. I was able to make a quick fix to finish the gallery but be wary. Mine was brand new off the card and it still happened.
Accessories
Most of Blue Senturion's accessories consists of 3 versions of one item:
1 - Senturion Synergizer. This is the basic un-transformed version of the Synergizer as it would normally be held in his holster. Though for some reason it really doesn't seem to be designed to fit in the holster. It can be held though in either hand.
1 - Synergizer Blaster. As the name implies the Synergizer transformed in it's handheld blaster form. This one actually fits perfectly into the holster and is clearly what the figure's been designed for, though it's not as though the "quick draw" aspect of the toy can be applied. The hand can't reach that far down to grab it and initiate the gimmick.
1 - Synergizer Baton. As the name implies the Synergizer transformed in it's handheld baton form. This one works with the holster though it looks pretty silly when stored there.
1 - Double Action Key. This vaguely car themed item is meant to be sued with the slot on Senturion's back to activate the signal changing gimmick in his chest. Though its pretty unnecessary since you can turn the back dial manually as well. Otherwise it serves no other purpose.
All in all not a bad selection of accessories. Each of the 3 versions of the Syergizer shares the same generic peg hole as the rest of the weapons in the line. Allowing for any Turbo or similarly styled figure to hold them. And likewise Senturion can hold other compatible figures weapons. Sadly they aren't painted at all though, but that's to be expected of a figure that's nearly 20 years old.
Final Thoughts
While by no means perfect, the Quick Draw Action Blue Senturion figure is by far the one decent representation of this character in toy form. Though there is a larger 8" scale figure, most wide ranger toy lines & collection run in that 5-6" scale so this one really is unique. It's wholly unique in fact to the US Turbo toyline, a figure created just for it. Tie character that Blue Senturion is based on from Gekisou Sentai Carranger, the appropriately named Signalman, only received a figure in a vehicle 2-pack with his bike. And neither version of the character has ever had any sort of collector's style toy produced of them and likely won't for some time. At the very least this figure is a decent enough stand in for the time being. I was able to pick this one up for about $25 at a recent local toy convention and for that price it's more than worth it to have him hanging out with my Phantom Ranger/VRV Master.
It's a shame neither Phantom nor Blue Senturion got a new 5" figure from Super Megaforce. But then again, they weren't in the show.
AND THEN AGAIN, neither were half the figures they released.
Oh Super Megaforce.
wow its Awesome!
Full Thread: Turbo Quick Draw Action Blue Senturion Gallery
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