Rick Ranger (1999 Lanard CORPS!)

Rick Ranger is, well, a former Texas Ranger. Once a Ranger always a Ranger, I suppose. If you’re a CORPS! collector, it might be easy to confuse him with Jones, who wears a similar type of hat, and shares the same torso and arm molds. Rick looks like he’s also sharing a head with the existing Whipsaw figure, a sort of Sgt. Slaughter corollary, complete with a DI type hat.

One of the new characters created in 1999, this version was packaged with the Max Power branding. Many of the figures in the assortment were decorated with the same leaf-like tan camouflage. I picked up mine in a three pack along with Shooter Sam and Tracker Tom. Funny that his teammates have the descriptive part of their names first, since Rick would have ended up being called Ranger Rick. I don’t think the National Wildlife Federation would cotton to such infringement of their intellectual property.

Other releases would color Rick’s uniform with a more traditional brown coat, which along with the hat I thought gave him a highway patrolman look. In fact, he was packaged with Chopper, the CORPS! police officer. Overall, I still get sort of a law enforcement vibe from him, especially with his scoped rifle and radio unit. Maybe he’ll hang out with my Mego Ponch figure to catch 1/18th speeders at JAD HQ.