February 25, 2002 CURRENT RUMBLE Hunka Hunka Jumbo Love Keith 03.10.02 just picked up the Wildforce Jumbo Megazord, and boy is it nice. First thing, HUGE box. Excellent... no bigger joy than walking into a toy store and taking a box up to the register that is SO humiliatingly large (a Power Rangers box no less) that you are reduced to feeling exactly like a child. Your sense of scale is reduced... it's like sitting in a chair that's 6 inches too short. You just have to smile and say "I'm a kid". When you get the robot home, it's a quick snapping of the vinyl head to the body and it is ready to go. A quick word of warning, I don't think the handle comes off, so decide beforehand if you want it on there. I think it is pretty cool, but it adds another half-inch to the toys depth and that makes it a tighter squeeze onto shelves and into cabinets. There is articulation in the head and at the shoulders, where a very nice detent thing is going on. Really excellent. The thing that wows me is the paint. I know what you are all saying (since you are obviously all saying this) "Paint and Jumbos don't mix." There's nothing that says "Jumbo" like bare polyethelene and stickers BUT this is really something. I had been under the impression that PE just didn't "take" paint. I dunno, I haven't done a molecular analysis on this ' zord ' (yet) but the arms and legs feel like PE to me and the paint is something to be seen. It is detailed and PRECISE. Take a look at the paint on the tiger arm closely and you'll see what I mean. I believe the torso is a normal injection-molded plastic and is wonderfully detailed and painted. The aggressive stance is also most "un-jumbo" like, but is perfect for the toy and makes for a far more exciting range of 4-5 poses - It's a jumbo, what do you want? The thing is over 2 feet tall, give it a break! Oddly, the bulls horns stick out horizontally from the waist, which will no doubt elicit at least one joke from those of you that are inclined toward posting that kind of thing to bbs's. I haven't been able to find another picture of Gaoking/Wildforce Megazord that shows the horns like that so I have no idea why that is. I am fully satisfied with this freakishly large robot, its presence dwarfs the other jumbos that I own. I might have wished for some other gimmick... a cockpit for the P.R. action figures or a sword or firing missile because I think the kiddies would really go nuts for that, ensuring brisk sales and many more jumbos to come, but I am NOT complaining. This thing is here, now. Buy it. Buy it before we all say "Gee, remember when they made jumbos again? I wonder why they stopped?" I can't imagine what is going through the minds of Jumbo/Sentai freaks in Japan right now. But I am having fun trying...  RUMBLE INDEX  |  CURRENT RUMBLE