What MMPR Black Ranger Figure is Next For the Lightning Collection

Leaks for the upcoming Wave 12 of Lightning Collection figures indicate that a new version of the Mighty Morphin Black Ranger will be added to the lineup.

When it comes to Hasbro’s Power Rangers Lightning Collection they are no stranger to releasing multiple versions of the same Ranger either in a straight up rerelease or in some new form or character.

Recent leaks for the upcoming Wave 12 of figures that will be coming sometime in 2022 appear to indicate that a new version of the Mighty Morphin Black Ranger will be joining Dino Thunder Yellow, Wild Force Blue, and Lost Galaxy Green in that lineup. Today let’s speculate on what version of the Ranger it could be.

WHAT’S ALREADY DONE

There have been three different versions of the MMPR Black Ranger released for the Lightning Collection, one each year for the line so far. Seeing another one in 2022 is not that big of a surprise. In 2019 the first ever Walgreens Exclusive was the Dragon Shield Black Ranger based on the one time appearance of this form in the MMPR Season 1 finale.

In 2020 with Wave 6 was the first time that the regular version of the Ranger released, which completed the core team of five Rangers. Most recently saw the first release specific to the character of Adam instead of Zack with the Hasbro Pulse Exclusive Metallic Black Ranger as seen at the end of Season 3.

These were all great picks for the Lightning Collection, as they allowed for easy mold reuse and each represented some season appearance of the suit. But what is left for them to do?

THE MOST INTERESTING OPTION

One of the most intriguing options Hasbro could go with in this Wave 12 release is the Defender Vest version of the character seen in the Operation Overdrive episode “Once A Ranger”. For this episode Adam returned to battle Thrax, the son of Rita and Zedd, and defeated him with a power boost from the special armor of the Overdrive Rangers.

This would be a very similar release to the Dragon Shield Black Ranger from 2019 as a one time armor mode, but all it would take is a new mold for the armor to slip over the chest, and possibly a new Adam head to reflect his appearance in 2007 rather than 1996.

THE LEAST LIKELY OPTION

One potential, though unlikely choice, could be the suit seen in Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie as this is a different version. This one would be odd though, as why would Hasbro randomly start doing the movie suits now in a Wave, plus due to the lack of movie based merch minus the slight reference to it with the Pink Ranger Morpher, it has been a longstanding question whether of not Hasbro is legally able to make merch for the film yet.

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WHO COULD COUNT AS A “MMPR BLACK” FOR THE LIGHTNING COLLECTION

Currently all we know from the Lightning Collection leak is that is labeled MMPR Black, but what if this isn’t the MMPR Black most fans would first think of? There are two other possibilities that could still fall under that title and not be the classic Black Ranger technically. First would be the Omega Black Ranger seen in the comics by Boom Studios.

This is a MMPR Black Ranger as this is a new form for the character of Zack and first appeared in the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers labeled comic series before being one of the main characters of the ongoing Power Rangers comic series. The Omega Rangers have long been requested since they first appeared in the books a few years ago, plus with the team leading one of the current stories it would make a lot of sense for Hasbro to use them to promote the series.

One other option also comes from the comics with the Mastodon Sentries, the evil Black Ranger based soldiers of Lord Drakkon. These were the first Sentries to appear in the comics and have also gone on to appear in the Battle for the Grid video game. Hasbro has also shown they are willing to make these troopers as the Tyrannosaurus Sentry is being released this year as a Target Exclusive. This could also be a good option as recently a lot of Waves have included a figured intended to be an army builder release for fans to buy multiples of such as the Zeo Cogs in Wave 11.

PREPARE FOR THE SIMPLE OPTION

While all of these options would be great to see it is also possible Hasbro will just use this slot as a straight up rerelease of the Wave 6 Lightning Collection figure with nothing changed, or maybe the same exact figure but this time it comes with an Adam head.

This is something they have been doing this year as both MMPR Pink and Yellow have been rereleased in two pack versions that include the same figures as before but the heads of the secondary cast of the show.

Besides these options there have been a number of different MMPR Black Rangers seen over the years and a ton seen in a special Black Ranger focused comic story back in 2017 that could be potential options, besides who wouldn’t want a Wild West Black Ranger figure. We’ll have to just wait and see whenever Hasbro confirms this next Wave lineup for the Power Rangers Lightning Collection.

To stay up to date with all the news for the Lightning Collection, Power Rangers fans can check out The Illuminerdi’s Josh Perry on his weekly Lightning Storm YouTube series every Saturday at 9:00 am Pacific or on Twitter at @LightningFigPR. What MMPR Black Ranger figure do you want to see get released? Leave your thoughts in the comments below or on our social media.