Dennou Keisatsu Cybercop (電脳警察サイバーコップ) and the US release Power Force
I first encountered Dennou Keisatsu Cybercop in 1989, when my best friend's father returned from a business trip and brought him several Dennou Keisatsu Cybercops figures, weapon packs and episodes recorded on VHS. I remember thinking how detailed and "cool" the toys were but, with no internet and no chance at international travel, I had no way of getting any for myself.
That changed in 1994 when I found a bin of "discounted" Power Force figures in Kay*Bee Toys which were immediately recognizable as Cybercops. Although I now had the figures, I also remembered that my friend had a grappling hook accessory as well as a large missile launcher.
Knowing there was more to the line than could be found in Power Force, I started researching. During my scrounging I re-discovered the original line and a large number of knockoffs.
To celebrate the 30th anniversary of this line I launched this site to share what I've found.
Found an eBay auction for the announcement flyer for Lucifer-Bit which demonstrates why the figure was not shown in the original pack-in catalog.
21 November 2021
While updating the site and checking links I found a completely bizzare knockoff that I'm referring to simply as Poorly Scaled. It's on sale on MercadoLivre.
16 November 2021
I've been able to confirm that there were at least three Power Rangers Hybrid lines after purchasing a carded, figure-only, example from a line called Space Robot, which will be super easy to resarch, I'm sure.
4 October 2021
I was able to acquire a set of three packaged and one loose figures from the Power Robot line and confirm that, although both of my loose figures are missing a wing, some came with both.
2 September 2021
Aditya Pratam from Indonesia has shared their copy of the black ranger from the Multi-Color Line line.
Nathan Souza has come through again pointing out this tweet from 2015 which shows another example from the Power Ranger Hybrid with "Car" line. The best part of this tweet is that it has a photo of the line's checklist with all six versions of the Blade Liner! The worst part of this tweet is that the figure is standing in front of the name of the line.
12 March 2021
Thanks to ToyZilla I've been able to pick up a few of the 1998 Dennou Keisatsu Cybercop Re-Release figures. Now that I have more than one sealed example I felt OK with opening my original boxed example of Lucifer-Bit (the box was partly crushed, unlike the case-fresh one from ToyZilla) so that I could confirm that they use the same molds as Power Force. They have the same raised area for the copyright on the buttocks! The painted copyright text is almost identical to the originals but now includes the year 1988.
While researching Nathan's tip I also came across four bizzare knockoff figures that I am referring to as the Multi-Color Line.
9 February 2021
Nathan Souza in Brazil has shared photos of the Power Ranger Hybrid with "Car" yellow ranger gift set that he received as a Christmas gift in the 1980's. It includes both a figure and matching Blade Liner!