Tiger Zord
The Tiger Zord appears thanks to our friends at Big Bad Toy Store
Head over there for your Power Rangers Samurai needs.
The Samurai Rangers use their Zord companions to fight off the evil Nighlok army that aims to drown the world with the waters of the Sanzu River. Although the Samurai Rangers start out with the 5 Folding Zords, one per member of the team, they find themselves in need of other Zords in order to face the strengthening Nighlok army.
In the previous generation’s fight between the Samurai Rangers and the Nighloks, the Tiger Zord was left behind in battle. In the current time period, the Tiger Zord served the Nighloks until the Red Ranger, Jayden, freed the Tiger Zord from its servitude to the baddies.
The Tiger Zord was a design that I didn’t care for when I saw it in Shinkenger. In fact, it is actually my least favorite design in the show. The drill feet and the big wheel at the center make this mecha look a lot less like a tiger.
The American version of this toy is a smaller, retooled version of the Japanese counterpart. The American version is much flatter than the better-detailed Japanese version. Also missing from this redesign is the ability to remove the disc from the center of the tiger. Instead we get a wheel that rolls.
The Japanese version also had chrome drills, which are not present on the American version. That being said, this is not a bad rendition of the Tiger Zord/ Tora Origami when you factor in that this was produced for a lower price point.
Like the other releases of the Power Rangers Samurai auxiliary mecha, the Tiger Zord comes with its own 3 ¾ in Mega Ranger.
It is a decent little figure, with one point of articulation at the right arm, and a removable helmet.
This little guy is meant to ride atop of the Tiger Zord. However, the position of the pegs on Tiger Zord will cause either the Ranger or Tiger Zord to end up at a weird angle.
In this picture we have the Ranger riding upright. However, the Tiger Zord ends up face down. If you lift up the Tiger Zord to face forward, the Ranger will be leaning back. If you lift the rear legs to alleviate the issue with the Ranger’s riding stance, the Ranger ends up looking like he is leaning forward a bit much.
When the Tiger Zord combines with the Samurai Megazord, it becomes the Tiger Drill Megazord.
As we should all expect at this at this point, the Tiger Drill Megazord is not as beefy as its TV or Japanese counterparts. It is also less accurate than the Japanese version. The headpiece on the helmet, which is made of the Tiger Zord’s tail, lacks the ability to close and become a circular headpiece. Also, the drills should be facing slightly forward. The ones on this toy end up facing upwards.
Since we are now checking out the final auxiliary mecha of this line, we can discuss the special combinations of the auxiliary mechas.
The Samurai Battle Wing is formed using the Tiger Zord, Swordfish Zord and the Beetle Zord.
Once again, the headpiece on this is inaccurate due to the Tiger Zord’s Tail’s inability to form a circle. The Swordfish’s tail cannot split open like its Japanese counterpart.
However, there is a workaround for this thanks to the fact the Swordfish’s tail can be rotated to lay sideways. My only major beef with this combination is that the tail of the swordfish will sometimes fall off from its place on the Tiger Zord’s body.
Although it is not in the instructions, you can also attach the Battle Wing to the Samurai Megazord to form the Battlewing Megazord. In this show, Battle Wing allows the Samurai Megazord to fly and thus deal with airborne enemies and also deal death to ground enemies from the sky.
This combination is missing the drills that would be on the front of the Megazord.
If you have all four of the auxiliary Zords-the Tiger Zord, the Swordfish Zord, the Octo Zord and the Beetle Zord- you can form the Samurai Battle Cannon.
As it names states, it becomes cannon for the mighty Samurai Megazord. It is a decent representation of the Samurai Battle Cannon.
It combines like it should, but is brought down in terms of accuracy by components.
Like the other auxiliary Zords in this line, the Tiger Zord comes packed with a cardboard version of itself. This requires punching the pieces out of the cardboard sheet they come in and attaching the pieces to each other via some slots in the cardboard pieces. Since this little cardboard Zord does not come with instructions and since I lost interest with in after a few minutes, I ended up not putting it together. So there will be no picture of this throwaway addition to the toy. Sorry to all those who were reading this review only to check out the cardboard Tiger Zord.
In conclusion, this is an okay toy of a mecha that I never really cared for. While it didn’t sell me on the design of the Tiger Zord/ Tora Origami, it at least was able to do most of what it was supposed to. Once it combines with the other mecha to form the armament for the Samurai Megazord, I forgot my dislike to the Tiger Zord’s design and quickly found myself enjoying formation of the Battlewing and Samurai Battle Cannon.
The Tiger Zord appears thanks to our friends at Big Bad Toy Store
Head over there for your Power Rangers Samurai needs.