Power Rangers Dino Charge 5 Inch Graphite Ranger Gallery

It's time to unleash the power of the Graphite Ranger! One of the highly anticipated figures to be released in the Power Rangers Dino Charge 5" line of action figures, the Graphite Ranger is a rarity - not only is it currently short-packed (and not listed in the next wave of figures to be released with the villains), but the figure saw very limited release in Japan during Zyuden Sentai Kyoryuger, as only a soft vinyl figure was made. Thus, this figure is very high on many fans' want list.

So let's break down in to the review right away shall we?

The Figure
The figure uses the standard Bandai America figure base that we've seen since Power Rangers Megaforce - there's obviously some molding differences from previous figures but the overall concept is exactly the same as it has been for the last two years.

What really astonishes me in this figure is the detail on the head sculpt as well as the dinosaur patch on the chest. They look incredible! Painted very nicely and molded perfectly. I have no complaints when it comes to those - aside from the usual "the back of the figure isn't painted" complaint, but anymore that's standard fare for Bandai America.

The downside I have for this figure is the fact that it is harder than you might think to get him to stand. The knee joints on my figure came looser than I expected, and having him try to strike a certain pose or two can result in a dino-disaster as the figure falls flat on his face or flat on his back. The feet don't seem to be even either - I don't know if I was just having user-error on it or if the boots are literally uneven, but it just wouldn't stand.

Aside from that - the figure is perfect.

The Accessories
The Graphite Ranger comes with both the Dino Charge Morpher as well as the Dino Saber. It lists that he also comes with the Dino Comm, but let's be realistic - the thing is molded in to the body. I don't think that counts.

The accessories are a neon-yellow translucent plastic. While I'm not necessarily a fan of neon-yellow, I am a sucker for translucent plastic, and these look beautiful. They are soft-plastic so they will eventually bend thanks to the power of the elements, but they look nice and they don't distract from the figure too much.

It's kind of a pain to get him to hold the accessories - his hands are molded with barely-open fists, meaning you really have to pry those fingers apart to get the Dino Charge Morpher and the Dino Saber in there.

Overall, no real complaints on the accessories.

The Good

• Beautiful figure. Excellent job Bandai America!
• Love the head sculpt

The Bad

• Nit-picky but I wish they'd paint the back of the figures
• Graphite Ranger don't need no stinkin guns or swords ... so much so that it's hard to get him to even be able to hold them!
• 1 per case of 12? Good luck.

Overall
I absolutely love this figure. He's simple (doesn't have as much flare with him as his Gold Ranger case-partner) but still fun. The paint job (on the front) is fantastic, and it's fun to pose him in various "HEAD SMASH" ways. If you're a fan of Zyuden Sentai Kyoryuger I recommend grabbing this guy to stand behind your S.H. Figuarts collection of the main six ... he's a definite plus to any collection. Buyer beware - he's short-packed in his case, and I've seen him go as high as $80 on the after market. I bought a full case from Entertainment Earth (I needed all the figures in it anyways) so that's always an alternative if you're not having any luck.

Happy toy hunting!

I'm still not 100% behind the clear weapons thing. Even if they are making more of the extra rangers, they'll always stnad out in a group line-up because of those weapons.

Isn't that hard to avoid however. Just use whatever spare normal paint ones you have.

Spare ones? I don't know about you but how many people have bought extras jut to have spare weapons? Because that's the only way they'd get them. I don't personally buy BOA figures anyway. I just find the weapon choices odd is all.

Not spare as in buying another figure for them. Spare as in say you only use the Dino Saber for Green, just give the Morpher to the extra ranger if he comes with clear weapons. Same goes if you give one the Morpher, just give the Saber to the figure with clear weapons.

All of this talking makes me think. Doesn't Grey/Graphite primarily use his head and hands? So, for this character at least, just don't have him with anything. Same for Cyan/Aqua.

You're thinking of KyoryuGrey using his hands and head. We do not know how Graphite will fight yet.

They don't paint the back?!

What the heck do they think they're making. grumblegrumble sofubi?

I'd turn up my nose, but those figures of the Debo kaijin...!

Man, this looks good! Love the gray, and especially the clear weapons. Certainly gona have to pick this one up.

I love the bronze that they used for the sash. The one in the show is very dull, but this is a really cool bronze.