As more details are released, the excitement continues to build in anticipation for the forthcoming Power Rangers movie reboot. The story will focus on the characters from the Mighty Morphin' iteration of the television series, with Rita Repulsa (Elizabeth Banks) taking on prime villain duties and the original five rangers - as well as Zordon (Bryan Cranston) and Alpha 5 (Bill Hader) - all confirmed to appear. The movie's teaser trailer has suggested a darker, more serious tone has been adapted and the appearance of the Rangers' famous Zords was recently revealed, thanks to images of their respective action figures.

One mainstay of the original series who hasn't appeared much in the movie's promotion so far has been Rita's loyal henchman, Goldar. Reports recently surfaced confirming that the monster would indeed be appearing and were followed by further rumors suggesting that the character would actually be central to the film's plot - with Rita attempting to revive her faithful companion and the Rangers being forced to stop the resurrection, while Goldar acts as a sort of flying, angry McGuffin.

Now images of Goldar's action figure from the new movie's merchandise range have been released (via Comic Book) confirming both the character's presence in the movie and his visual design. Goldar's new style is vastly different from his original TV incarnation. Where the character was originally more beast-like in appearance and wore gold armor (hence the name), the new version appears to be entirely and organically made of gold from head to toe. Facially, the new movie has certainly toned down the anthropomorphic elements of the old Goldar, with the new design looking a little like a molten gold version of the Destroyer from Thor.

Power Rangers Movie - Goldar Action Figure

Power Rangers Movie - Goldar Action Figure

Power Rangers Movie - Goldar Action Figure

Whilst the design is sure to divide fans of the original Power Rangers series, it does add weight to the rumors that surfaced previously suggesting that in the movie's narrative, the character has been scattered across the Earth and that Rita is seeking to reassemble him by looting various banks and gold deposits. Although the new Goldar's design is certainly different from the original in most aspects, the monster still possess wings and uses a large sword-esque melee weapon - both traits taken from Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers.

Of course, the Power Rangers reboot did need to update its character design significantly. The 1990s series was undeniably and wonderfully cheesy in its B-Movie styling and that type of feature-length action movie simply wouldn't fly in today's market - and would certainly be judged as nothing more than a shallow nostalgia trip.

However, many of the new Power Rangers designs have attracted sizeable criticism from fans. Rita Repulsa's costume was accused of straying too far from the source material and being too sexualized and the female Rangers' outfits were ridiculed for including breast plates in their design. Goldar's new all-gold makeover may attract similar debate as not only is it virtually unrecognizable from the original character but, arguably, the new design visually makes for a bland villain lacking any flair or interesting features. Of course, Power Rangers' success won't depend solely on the designs of its characters - but given that the Goldar action figure looks like someone at the factory forgot to paint on his features, it may not help the cause.

Source: Comic Book