Melle with Flit

Height: 14cm to top of head

Articulation: 15 total points: Swivel neck; universal joint right shoulder; 4 points in left arm - universal shoulder, pre-elbow swivel, hinge elbow; 4 points each leg - universal hip, mid-thigh swivel, hinge knee.

Colors: Molded green, black; Painted pink, light green, black, green, silver, grey (Melle); Painted black, red, white, silver (Flit).

Accessories: Flyswatter, Flit The Fly

Release Data: Released in the Spring Assortment of Basic Figures, at a suggested retail price of US$6.99.

Gallery: 14 images.

Author: ExVee



So, what's less common than a female figure in Power Rangers? A female villain figure. As a matter of fact, the last time Bandai released a female villain toy was Divatox, during Power Rangers Turbo. In 1997. Actually, I think Divatox was the first, also. So, two female villains in sixteen years, and an eleven year gap between them.

Naturally, there is a point of balance in order to have a figure of Melle. First off, this figure is limited similarly to the Super Legends figures, although some Disney Store multipacks have started turning up that come with a Melle. Bandai has reduced their overall risk by producing a smaller than average run of this figure. Second, coming with Flit, the Megazord-battle-commentating, not-really-a-villain fly, they hope to increase some appeal for the set. That approach may well succeed, were it not for the fact this figure ships in only the same cases as Green Ranger and Zedd, and consequently is just as hard to find. Can't really get a good idea of how the sales are going if there's so much old stock around that nobody orders or stocks this assortment of figures.




Melee's head articulates on a simple swivel joint, and is free to rotate a full 360 degrees. The original design for the character has a mouth below the visor, but this is not represented especially well here. Instead of a clearly sculpted lip, it's more of a small green blob. Besides the major chameleon-themed elements in the torso, the head displays a bit of this, with a small horn in the middle of the forehead, and a tightly curled "tail" coming off the back of the head.

Melle's design appears based around the Jackson's Chameleon, which has been a common starting point for exotic looking small reptiles in media. The design of the Melle suit is rather different from the Gekiranger version.



As you can see, the original version went for greater realism, even portraying the chameleon eyes. It's little wonder, however, that certain details were omitted for the Jungle Fury villain. It's not the first time a female villain suit has had to be "censored" for US adaptation, either. The figure of course represents the US suit much more than Gekiranger's, even as far as the coloring - or lack thereof as the case may be. Basically all of the visible surface of the upper torso here is molded with a scale-like texture. I say "visible" because everything from the middle back to the upper two horns in front is a separate piece, which seems to have been pinned in place with the neck joint. While the arrangement results in what seems to be a permanent attachment, it doesn't stop the piece from being able to move a bit. Somehow a dab of glue someplace seems like it wouldn't have been the worst idea.

Speaking of worst ideas, Melle comes complete with an action gimmick. As a result, the right arm is fully static below the shoulder. The gimmick is the result of pushing down on the curled "tail" sticking out of the figure's lower back. Pushing that down makes the arm swing down a short distance, which is meant to be used with the fly swatter accessory. Because of this action feature, the shoulder swivel has to act as a ratchet, with its resting points every 45 degrees, give or take. The hinge joint is unaffected, but swinging the arm to the side much will make the gimmick action seem even more useless. The left arm is not nearly as crippled, and ends up equal to one of Cheetah Ranger's arms. By the way, you'll probably want to be a little careful with the left arm, since the swivel and elbow hinge on mine were pretty tightly paint-fused at first. They'll loosen up pretty quick, you just want to take it a little easy at first.

Though Melle comes off better than Cheetah Ranger, hip articulation is still a little bit restricted. This seems fully a result of the sculpt of the pelvis, rather than anything to do with the soft plastic panels affixed to the sides of the waist. The thighs are shaped to try to make up for this, but it only works so much. The mid-thigh swivels are way, way more paint locked than the arm joints, so much that I wasn't sure whether I was going to get one of them freed up without busting something. As you might expect, Melle lacks ankle joints, as pretty much all the unique sculpt figures turn out. In trade for this, below the knee joints is some very nice detail sculpting for the boots, even down to the woefully unpainted chain around each ankle. Though with how some of those Green Rangers turned out, maybe we're just as well off.



Paint and Deco

While some of the edges could be sharper, the only real glaring area of flaw is a blob of pink the bled off one of the chest horns into the surrounding green. Conveniently for me, it's on the bottom of the horn and so is not nearly as visible. The sad loss in this case is the usual lack of painting for much of the smaller molded detail. The costume design has a great number of small, gold rings, both alone and in chains which have all gone unpainted. The one place where they do fall under a paint operation, they end up mass-painted the wrong color.

Meanwhile, since the entire figure is molded in green plastic, most of the areas with major joints have had to be painted, resulting in the fused joint situation I've mentioned. Unfortunately, this also means there's a high probability of ending up with worn or chipped paint around the joints over time. I hate when high-friction areas end up painted.


Accessories


-Flit The Fly

Much like the prop in the show, Flit is a static piece. Although it initially appears like the head is supposed to turn, it ends up not moving under the most force I'm willing to apply. I don't really want to snap the head off, and certainly not before I get the photography done! There's not a lot of detail to eb found. The compound eyes are rendered fairly well, but the veins in the wings are softened quite a bit by the silver paint. Meanwhile, the silver bulb where Flit's mouth should be has no surface detailing at all. While it's meant to look like a microphone, which makes sense since he's the fight announcer, without the similar surface molding that the eyes have, this now looks like a big silver pacifier.

The right foot and one of the left arms have small pegs on them, which fit into peg holes on Melle's back. For best results, I'd try to fit the foot peg first since the holes are a little farther apart than the distance between the pegs. It's easier to stretch the arm over than it is the foot. Once attached, Flit remains quite securely.


-Fly swatter

Because you just can't have a fly without a comically oversized fly swatter. The fly swatter is a single piece, and while it can be securely held in either hand, it's clearly intended for the right hand with its swatting gimmick. Personally, I'd have gone for a can of bug spray, or maybe a rolled up newspaper myself.



Closing Remarks

Well, for the time being this is the last unique sculpt figure in the line, since most everything else coming in the next few assortments is variations and remolds of the already used body sculpts. If you can actually find this figure anywhere, it's worth getting, if only to have both lead villains. I'd have really enjoyed some better articulation (and maybe trade the arm gimmick for an opening mouth action), but the figure still comes out just as well. Honestly, just the fact of getting a female villain toy is a small miracle, so I think for once we can overlook some of the smaller annoyances.

Melle and Flit get a well-deserved Good.


-ExVee, 5/29/2008