Power Rangers Lightning Collection SPD Omega Ranger Gallery

"Stand back rangers, I'll take it from here."

In the year 2025 Space Patrol Delta protects the galaxy and Earth, from threats both terrestrial and extra. And the SPD B-Squad has done a valiant job defending Earth since the mysterious disappearance of the A-Squad Rangers. But facing their toughest enemies yet, and even with the help of Shadow Ranger, they may not be enough. In their darkest hour, a mysterious being of light arrives to turn the tide in the fight against Emperor Grumm and his legions. A force from the future has returned to his past to save it! SPD Omega Ranger!

Packaging
As we are all pretty familiar with the line by now, I'm sure I probably don't need to go through my usual list of reasons why it's awesome. Hasbro was keen to make sure these appealed to collectors and fans of the franchise from throughout it's various eras. And they also really pop thanks in no small part to some wonderful box art, lovingly crafted by artist Tom Whalen aka @strongstufftom on twitter. His artwork is Magnificent, and makes these figure's feel like just a bit more of a passion project from the folks at Hasbro. This release is a bit more unique because of it's size, giving us a really fantastic full profile spread on the front of the box.

Main Figure
It goes without saying at this point, Hasbro has got me locked in with this toyline. I buy every release, every slight variation. They've got me. But when they pull out a character and design I really love, there's no question I'm in on that release. Cue SPD Omega Ranger. A fantastic design from one of my favorite Power Rangers seasons, and pack in his unique vehicle as well? This is one of those "chef's kiss" scenarios for me.

For starters, I know what you're thinking, this figure likely is a repaint of the SPD Red Ranger mold. This would be a solid, but partially incorrect assumption. This figure actually uses the Time Force Red Ranger mold as it's base, though it does appear to have SPD Red's legs at least. Which is an odd choice for sure, especially given that the SPD Red Ranger had molded SPD badges on the upper body and instead Omega Ranger has a paint application where those would have been. Omega Ranger has a fairly basic body style and no cumbersome armor components and like most of the line he some of the same basic articulation implementations. The essential changes here being cosmetic ones.

The entire body is white plastic, but has paint apps to greatly break it up. Starting with the legs here's a sculpted raised line on the boot cuff/shin swivel carried over from SPD Red, that's painted in gold and blue. The figure features full rotating rocker ankles as well as a clicking swivel joint for them to go back and forth. Above this is the shin swivel/boot cuff, allowing you to rotate that portion of the leg 360 degrees below the knee if you wish. Then we get a very playful double jointed knee which allows you to fully bend the leg back in on itself. This is already great but there's also a 360 thigh swivel as well as full hips with back/forth and outward motion. Going backward you will impact that standard sculpted butt plate, but it isn't a major hindrance. All of these cuts are executed in the now standard Lightning Collection styling, doing their best to not be obtrusive to the character's design. The left leg of course has some really nicely done blue and gold striping that goes all the way up from knee to hip and along the torso. The joints can break up this deco a bit but honestly they did a really good job with this.

Omega Ranger features the signature SPD buckle and belt around his waist (carried over from Red), though it has a subtle sculpt. It could definitely use a paint wash to bring those details out a bit more. Nothing else to note really on the belt, it's quite a bit simpler affair compared to Red who had blaster holsters and a dummy morpher. The rest of the torso is totally standard stuff, carried over from Time Force Red. The lower half has a satisfying ratchet ab joint, while the upper body sits on a ball joint. The combination of the two gives you quite a bit to work with when posing. The big thing of note here is the wonderful "VI" paint app and the SPD badge app on the upper right. While the spacing of the "VI" is too far apart, I have to say it's done quite well. Moving the body breaks up this design but that's be expected of any ranger with an elaborate paint app like this.

The arms hit the sweet spot with that classic butterfly style shoulder joint. As you angle the shoulder back, the body slides out to fill the gap and vice versa. There's a full 360 rotating bicep swivel, double jointed elbows, and the same peg style hands as the rest of the line (though hand options are limited with this one). But, in the same way that a handful of other LC releases have thus far, SPD Omega's arms are oddly positioned. They don't have the ability to rest against the figure's torso naturally and instead angle outward somewhat. The left arm of course features the signature Omega Morpher. The big drawback here is the total lack of paint apps on the Morpher, and I'm super bummed about it as well. But it doesn't kill my interest in the figure or appreciation for it necessarily. The Morpher has a moving throttle that the figure can manage to grab onto pretty well actually too. Lack of paint apps aside the sculpted details are very sharp on this part as well.

The head is another really solidly sculpted example from this line. While the paint apps are just a tiny tiny askew on mine, overall I'm quite pleased. Omega Ranger's helmet has always been such a unique design, looking like a futuristic bike helmet or an aerodynamic electric super car. And it works really really well on this figure. The neck features the standard balljoint on a hinge and it still gets the job the done, while I do feel it could use a bit more clearance around the edges of the helmet. Overall the execution of this figure is really brilliant even if there are some minor issues still. Paint deco issues are of course ever present in this line. I know Hasbro is getting better but it's fair to call out the total lack of paint apps on the Morpher, as well as the absence of the gold striping down Omega's back, not to mention the spacing issue with the gold stripes on the front of the figure. None of these issues are bothersome enough for me to have not purchased him, but they are certainly worth being vocal about. Hasbro needs to make a more concerted effort to get all the paint apps right on their releases.

Accessories
This pack's biggest draw is the one biggest accessory it comes with, but there's plenty more as well.

1 - Uni-Force Cycle. The big draw of this set is the inclusion of Omega Ranger's unique ride. Undoubetdly very very cool and perfectly in scale with the figure, it is apparent some details are missing from the paint job. It's not too bad though overall. I'm impressed this thing was even produced. But I did have to compare it to my vintage Bandai Japan Machine Boxer. It's apparent that the vintage vehicle, now 16 years old, is more accurate and quite a bit heftier toy. But it's also probably unfair to judge the two on an equal footing. As is, the Uni-fore cycle is big, works very well with the figure, has a moveable kickstand and rolling wheels. It gets the job done. And considering I got this set for $30, I really have no meaningful complaints about it.

2 - handlebars. These black chunks plug right into the forward section of the cycle. And while I've seen plenty of people complain that they don't plug in securely, it just takes a bit of really forceful pushing and getting one end in at a time, but they do plug in and stay in quite well.

2 - foot pegs. These parts are self explanatory as well, and are just there for Omega to have a natural riding stance on his cycle. I'm not sure why parts like this and the handlebars needed to be packed separately, but hey if it works it works.

1 - SPD Containment Card. Though lacking paint applications and with very tiny sculpted details, this is a nice inclusion with the figure. It would have been good for it to include a screenshot of a villain as a label on it at least, but I can't say I'd use this accessory all that much anyway.

2 - alternate left hands. This is the one real drawback of this release, we get two left hands (one of which is specialized) but no extra right hands at all? One splayed open palm is good, the Electro Mode effect part hand is fantastic, but the base pair of hands attached to the figure are only good for holding the Uni-Force Cycle's handlebars. At the very least 1 or two closed fists would have been good, but only getting these two alternate lefts is kind of bummer.

Complaints aside, that's still pretty awesome.

Final Thoughts
I want more releases like this Hasbro! More big sets with vehicles unique to certain rangers would be fantastic, just work on the hand ratio and paint apps and this one would be perfect. As is, I'm still quite happy with how the Lightning Collection SPD Omega Ranger & Uni-Force Cycle have turned out. And with recent reveals from Pulsecon it's clear that Hasbro is game to really reach into the franchise for releases. So I hope we can see more like this set down the road, as is for the price, you really can't go wrong with Omega.

Part 2

I got a slight giggle out of that final shot.

But yeah, it's clear that the bike was the main focus of the set. Kind of a shame, but that plus the pricepoint does make some of the decisions they made understandable.

Still, just some extra paint would've really made this set pop!

Ouch, no replacement Abarekiller head yet?

Either way this figure looks so good. Lots of paint apps to do the design justice.

This was an awesome surprise

Awwww no civilian head, shame Hasbro had to be so lazy

This is the one civilian head I’d care about too. Give me that ball of light!

The figures marketing was great, but the final product left a lot to be desired. On my copy the gold trimming was really sloppy. I wish that they had just reused the spd red base body, and molded the insignias on the helmet. The use of time force red was really confusing and lead to a less than stellar product. The bike was the bomb though, closest thing we have to the bandai japan machine boxer. Just missing a few paint apps, but anyone could fix that with some paint. Still confused why thwy molded the bike stand in black tho.

I can still vaguely remember watching SPD as it came out, and being shocked by the two-parter that introducd him. The kid from that 2-parter, time travelling back to save them in the present? It's a great little quirk for a sixth ranger, especially since the biker aesthetic makes him look a lot more sleek than the default 5 (doubly so once they gain SWAT mode) and the sword-wielder Shadow Ranger.