More Things I Would’ve Done With Power Rangers Megaforce

So, because it’s been a year since the end of Megaforce, and Linkara just posted a History of Power Rangers retrospective of it, I thought I’d go ahead and share some more ideas I had for things that could’ve been done differently for Power Rangers Megaforce/Super Megaforce. Bear in mind, not all of these ideas could all work as a whole, and some of them aren’t even my ideas to begin with. However, because I’ve heard many good ideas of what could’ve been done differently with the 20th Anniversary season(s), I felt I’d share them because…well, I think they’re really good. So, let’s start off with one that occurred to me while watching Mr. Lovhaug’s newest episodes of HOPR…

#1 – Play Up The Noah vs Argus Rivalry More

This was mostly skipped over in the retrospective, and I honestly don’t even blame Lewis for this, but there was a small rivalry that was hinted at between Noah and Argus. This is because Argus’ Sentai equivalent in Gokaiger was actually an old friend of GokaiBlue, but was rebuilt into a robot and had his memories wiped, save for his skill as a swordsman, and the two were forced into a rivalry. Here, though, when Noah is the one to destroy Argus, there’s no real weight to it, since they only came to blows once or twice. So, what would I have done differently? Well, in Goseiger, there was actually a GoseiGreen in the back-story who died saving GoseiBlue’s life. So, what if, prior to the enlisting of the team in Megaforce, there was a Green Ranger who was chosen a long time ago and had been acting as a lone operative, but then seemingly sacrifices himself to save Noah. However, it would then turn out he was found by Vrak, who rebuilt him as a robot, and had him sent back to the Armada to finish reprogramming, which would result in him joining Vekar’s elite guard. Suddenly, you could have this tragic rivalry between Noah and Argus, the latter of whom seemingly gave his life to save the former’s but now needs to be taken out. Then the episodes that highlight Noah’s self-confidence issues would make total sense. Hell, you could even bring Jake into that plot, by saying his Super Mega Mode Key was meant for Argus, and having him see himself as a weaker replacement for the Green Ranger. Sure, it lifts ideas from the two Sentai shows being adapted, but in ways that make sense, forward the story, and grants character development for multiple characters. And speaking of, no one needed more story added to them to explain and give us more reason to be invested in them than the next guy on this list…

#2 – Have Troy Be A Robot

…Hear me out. Yes, I’m aware that this has been done before. However, looking at everything in hindsight, it’d be the best explanation for everything that was going on, and would create some interesting development for Troy. Essentially, he’d be akin to the Blue Senturion, where he was sent back into the past to warn of a major threat to the world. However, in the process of being sent back, his memory was damaged, and he thinks he’s an actual teenager. This way, his dreams are explained as events he’d previously seen, his connection to Robo Knight is a bit more obvious since they’re both robots, and it would make Andrew Gray’s…well, let’s be perfectly honest, robotic acting a bit more bearable. Plus, it would be interesting to see how this would affect someone like Troy. Think about it: In the first episode, he makes the speech about how humans can do anything working together. Being human and his pride in being human is the most important thing to him. Now imagine him realizing that everything that was most important to him, the center of his character, was a lie. Suddenly, he’d need to find something new to believe in. Maybe his friendship with his fellow Rangers and humanity could be a new motivation for him? But what about the threat? Well, therein lies what could’ve been a much better ending…

#3 – Vrak Is Back Redone

Basically, make it so that Vrak doesn’t make his move until after the death of his father, and move Orion’s decision to leave Earth to after the ACTUAL defeat of the Armada, during which Vrak kidnaps him, and uses his connection to the Ranger Keys to cut the team off from Legendary Mode. In addition, he could create copies of the Legendary Rangers from their Keys, which would lead to the Megaforce team telling them not to get involved for fear of what could happen to them. After all, it’s been established that the Morphing Grid can’t handle more than one individual drawing from the exact same powers before one of them has to go. Suddenly, you’d have this situation where the team is left without most of their Zords (just say that all but the Mecha Zords were destroyed in the battle with the Armada), they can’t go Legendary, they’re having to fight copies of said Legendary Rangers, one of their sixth Rangers has been kidnapped while the other is fighting against them, and there’s the realization that everything they’d just been through, the massive Armada fleet that had come to destroy them…was all just a diversion to keep their eye off the real threat: Vrak. It’d be far more chilling to see his plan unfold in such a manner, and to see that Vrak was willing to sacrifice his own family to see their plans come to fruition, as well as to gain revenge against the Rangers. Plus…let’s be honest, his last stand had a bit more grandeur to it than his dad’s. That said, there IS one other possible final threat that’s been suggested by fans…

#4 – Gosei Is The True Villain

Here’s how I’d pull it off: Basically, Gosei had secretly been a student of Dark Spectre, manipulating events to where all of the previous Rangers were in the same place at the same time. Once done, he could drain their powers into the Keys to create his own massive army of evil Rangers. It would be his ultimate revenge against Zordon, all Power Rangers throughout history, and their entire lineage. However, before he could take the power from the Megaforce team, Tensou could cut them off from the Ranger Keys, leaving them as the last hope to stop Gosei. As such, it would be one last valiant struggle against Gosei and his army of Ranger copies, with Tommy and a few others, even the side characters for this season, fighting without their powers to try and give the team as much of a chance as they possibly can. It would be one grand, final stand against evil’s most sinister plot to destroy Earth and conquer the universe. But hey, enough of the big changes, here’s some of the smaller stuff they could’ve done…

#5 – Proper Music During The Legendary Ranger Battles

Yeah, I’m with Linkara on this one: Having the proper music play over the battles where the team goes Legendary Mode would be an impressive improvement all on its own. Y’know how I know that? Because I’ve seen the fight scenes with the proper music playing, thanks to YouTubers like PRUnreleased and hunterkiller1440. I refuse to believe it’s a budget issue, because Go Go Power Rangers has been reused for the past five years, and there were TINY hints of previous themes in the background music produced for Super Megaforce. And honestly, given how little Disney seemed to care about Power Rangers, I have doubts that they’d wanna hold onto the rights to the music. So yeah, would’ve been nice to see…erm, hear more of the old music used where appropriate. And lastly, there’s one more thing I wanna talk about…again.

#6 – Megaforce and Samurai Team-Up

…No, really, I have no idea why the hell they didn’t do this. In a season that is clearly out to burn through as much Sentai footage as possible, there is no excuse for why they didn’t do this team-up. After all this time, there is no possible explanation I can think of for why they didn’t do this team-up. So, because Saban didn’t do it, here’s a look at what could’ve been. Big thanks to the aforementioned PRUnreleased and hunterkiller1440 for making these two videos.

Anyway, that’s all I got for now. Once again, lemme know in the comments section below if there are any you’d add that I didn’t think of. Ja né!

What I Would’ve Done With Megaforce/Super Megaforce

So, a few days ago, I ranted a lot about everything that was wrong with Power Rangers Super Megaforce. However, while I did touch base briefly on various things I would’ve done with the season, as well as Megaforce in general, I thought I’d save the majority of it for its own article. Now, some of these might not add up with one another correctly. They aren’t necessarily supposed to, though. They’re just various ideas I’ve had about how the past two seasons could’ve been done differently. So, let’s start off with an idea I had about what they could’ve done with the Rangers before I learned their back-stories and such…

#1 – The Megaforce Rangers Come From Eltar

For those not in the know, in Tensou Sentai Goseiger, the season of Super Sentai adapted into Megaforce’s first season, the Rangers were actually angels. Well, kinda angels, anyway. They’re called Gosei Angels, come from a place called Gosei World, and blend in with humanity to generally guide and protect them. And given Jonathan Tzachor’s love of directly translating the Sentai, I thought that it would actually be an interesting twist on that (and would also fit with Super Megaforce, which was adapted from a season where the Rangers weren’t from Earth) if the Megaforce Rangers were actually from Eltar, having to blend in with humanity while defending them from Warstar forces, and meet up with Zordon’s apprentice, who grants them their Megaforce powers. Granted, you’d wanna make sure they didn’t go full-blown on reusing the stories from Goseiger, and do NOT show them with wings at any time. Also, doing this would make Troy’s Super Saiyan “I AM A MAN!” punch to Robo Knight make a lot more sense, since he could’ve been channeling power from Eltar, which we’ve established was enough to fuel the Turbo Zords and powers.

#2 – Bulk and Skull

One thing that has made me scratch my head a LOT is the presence of Bulk and Spike in Power Rangers Samurai. It just seems completely out of left field for Bulk to want to be a samurai, and you REALLY need to make some serious assumptions with the timeline of Power Rangers to figure out how Skull has a teenage son (and I swear, if I hear one more person suggest that Kimberly is Spike’s mother…). What would’ve been much better use of Bulk, and hopefully Skull, would be for them to run the hangout for the Megaforce team. Why? Well, because having them run a juice bar or the like would be a great way to follow up on their development as characters. Plus, imagine some of the stories that can be told if Bulk and Skull found out about Troy and the others being Power Rangers, and being able to relay stories of the Zordon Era Rangers to them. And as a personal plus to me? We wouldn’t have the most literal retread of Ernie’s possible, even having a whole new character who has the same name…which is HIGHLY UNCOMFORTABLE TO ME. Look, maybe it was meant as a tribute or homage to the character and the actor who played him, but it still comes off as uncomfortable to me that we now have a character who more or less replaces him, especially considering that the actor passed away several years ago! Admit it, if the Yellow Ranger was named Trini, people would be more than a little uncomfortable. And speaking of stuff that should’ve been held back for Megaforce…

#3 – The Opening Theme and Morphing Call

Look, I have no problems with them reusing Go Go Power Rangers for Megaforce (although I would’ve gotten Ron Wasserman to produce and sing the remix), nor do I have a problem with their morphing call being “Go Go Megaforce!”…Or rather, I WOULDN’T mind them doing those two things if it was JUST for Megaforce. However, these are both carry-overs from Samurai, which had no business using either of those things. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, Samurai should’ve had its own unique theme with a Japanese tone to it, and the only reason it didn’t was so Saban could continue the theme of “Power Rangers is back!”. It would’ve been far more meaningful and make more sense if Go Go Power Rangers was saved for Megaforce. And if I may be allowed to go on a tangent (too late, lol), I know that there was originally going to be a different theme done for it, but this was vetoed by interference from Nick, and that the theme for Dino Charge is another remake of Go Go Power Rangers, all because Nickelodeon insists on using the old theme. Again, I don’t mind the song being used for Megaforce, since it’s the 20th Anniversary season. However, I DO mind it on the grounds for why it’s ACTUALLY being used. That said, at least Dino Charge is an ACTUAL remake, and very energetically…well, for a lack of a better term, CHARGED. And in terms of “It’s Morphin Time!” being used as a pre-morphing call order of sorts…Meh, I don’t really mind, honestly. As someone who’s used it myself in that same manner for my own Power Rangers story, I can tell you it works a hell of a lot better than the oftentimes used “READY?!”. I guess “Let’s Ranger Up!” is decent enough, but I just prefer “It’s Morphin Time!”. Just personal preference, really.

#4 – Don’t Use The Gokaiger Costumes

Now, I know a lot of people who love the Gokaiger suits and equipment are gonna hate this idea, and I’d be lying if I didn’t get why: They ARE really cool. However, here’s the reason why I wouldn’t use them: They kinda clash in more ways than one with the Megaforce Rangers. Why DOES Jake go from Black to Green? Now, the obvious explanation is because there was no Black Ranger in Gokaiger, but there were Red, Blue, Yellow, and Pink Rangers, so Jake was the odd one out. But beyond a production reason, another explanation is the fact that a lot of Ranger teams use similar colour-schemes, with several teams having a Black or Green Ranger, and few having both without one being the Sixth Ranger (notable exceptions including RPM, hence why Emma uses Dillon’s Ranger Key, to the point where now I’ve gotten way too used to seeing RPM Black’s costume have a skirt). But still, it’s odd to see a Super Mode change a Ranger’s colour, and the use of GokaiGreen footage is the reason why Jake had to be made a clumsy oaf, as to fit such footage. Instead, I would just have the Rangers go Legendary Ranger Mode using new Power Cards…which, honest to God, I thought they were gonna do at first, when the card game and Morpher sold in stores had cards for various Rangers both in and out of PR canon. Plus, I’m sorry, but it bugs the heck outta me that Super Mega Mode makes them look like pirates. Gokaiger makes the pirate motif work for them (especially since their enemies are a giant space fleet with a old-school navy feel to them, and pirates are the natural antagonists to naval fleets), but it doesn’t make any sense for these kids, especially since there’s no explanation for the motif, nor does anyone bring it up. And hell, why take focus off of the Goseiger suits? They work perfect for the 20th Anniversary. Seriously, look at the Megaforce Rangers and tell me they don’t heavily resemble the Mighty Morphin Rangers. And in terms of Orion, there WAS a Green Ranger costume made for Goseiger for a single scene. Really, the only thing I would do is add a golden shield to it, akin to Tommy’s shield when he was the Green Ranger. That said, there IS one other way they could use the Gokaiger suits…

#5 – Have The Gokaigers Used Initially As Villains

Basically, among the Armada would be a group of space pirates who got mind controlled into becoming evil Rangers and wind up stealing the Legendary Keys from the Command Center. The two teams get into a massive battle until a monster from the Armada takes the keys when it looks like the evil Rangers might lose. The pirates are freed from their mind control and team up with the Megaforce Rangers to take on clones of the Rangers created from the Legendary Ranger Keys, and reclaim said keys. The pirates would then either give their Legendary Morphers to the Megaforce Rangers, thus justifying them having pirate-themed weapons, equipment, and Zords, or become a secondary group to supplement the team, making use of their ability to morph into previous Rangers. Hell, if they went with the former, it would be a better way to give Orion his own Ranger Key and Morpher: The pirates made them and gave them to him to go assist the Megaforce team. And yeah, in case you’re wondering, this WOULD make use of footage from the Gokaiger/Goseiger team-up movie, though with some additionally filmed footage…which brings me to my next point.

#6 – Proper Use Of Stock Footage

I’m sorry, but one the bigger issues with Super Megaforce is the overuse of Gokaiger footage. Now, in some cases, it’s perfectly fine to use the Gokaiger footage, since it’s plenty action-packed with badass action scenes. However, some of these scenes definitely needed to be left out or edited better than they were. Specifically, stuff like Jake and Orion’s mannerisms not matching the footage used for them (and Noah to a lesser extent), and certain Legendary Ranger Modes that really shouldn’t have been included (seriously, that battle with Levira should’ve had them use different Legendary Rangers, though at least they had Troy go MMPR Red). Now, on the flip side, there’s some moments in Gokaiger that weren’t used in Super Megaforce that I wish they HAD used. Time Force and Lightspeed Rescue were barely used at all in Super Megaforce, with I think only Jen and Chad’s keys being used to go Legendary Mode, and Quantum Ranger’s key used to summon the Q-Rex (which I assume is either a brand new version of the Q-Rex built by Time Force, or an upgrade of the original. Personally, I hope it’s the former, since otherwise, it means Eric doesn’t have a Zord anymore). Plus, I would’ve loved to see certain Legendary Ranger Modes used, like Yellow Ranger Mode, Silver Ranger Mode, Sixth Ranger Mode, and so on. So, I suppose it’s really about having a better balance of old and new footage.

#7 – Megaforce and Samurai Team-Up

What I thought would’ve been a lot better than what we got for the Samurai homage episode would be a made-for-TV movie set in Megaforce, where Vrak takes control of the remaining Nylok forces for his own purposes. And yeah, I know that the last made-for-TV PR movie didn’t work out so well, but considering how they got most of the Samurai cast to make cameos in Super Megaforce, I’m sure they could get the whole cast back for this, and if it was more or less an adaptation of Goseiger vs Shinkenger, trust me, the story would’ve been a lot better than Clash of the Red Rangers. It’d have awesome stuff like…well…Well, just look!

Hell, they coulda then made use of the episode of Gokaiger where they go back in time to the final battle of that movie (hence the Gokaiger debut being in that movie, which was set before the Great Legend War, when the Ranger Keys were created), where the Super Megaforce team has to do the same. Woulda been kickass.

#8 – Legendary Rangers Minisodes

This is basically the best way I could think of to excuse the use of the Legendary Rangers who were Sentai teams that weren’t used for Power Rangers. In a nutshell, they would be short 5-15 minute episodes telling about the Rangers’ stories, their battles, who they were, and who some of their enemies were. They coulda been exclusives shown on Netflix, or the show’s website. Granted, this is supplemental material to explain something in the main series, which can be considered a failure in storytelling, but at least we’d have SOMETHING. They’d also be super-easy to make, too. And hey, after you’re done explaining the various Ranger teams used for Legendary Mode, they could then tell some more of the back-story for Megaforce, where the keys come from, and what the Legendary Rangers are doing in the middle of the battle with the Armada.

So yeah, other than stuff I’ve already discussed (Jake’s stalker nature, the need for stuff to be properly explained, additional cameos) and little details that they got wrong about previous seasons (the island of the Wild Zords is called the Animarium, while the kingdom it once belonged to is called Animaria, and it wasn’t pronounced like you had people do in Super Megaforce), that’s all I got for now. Lemme know in the comments section below if there are any you’d add. Next time I talk PR, I think I’d like to discuss the future, which is honestly looking a bit brighter than the past four years have. So, feel free to check back in then, as we unleash the power of Power Rangers Dino Charge. Ja né!

My Thoughts on Power Rangers Super Megaforce (WARNING – ANGRY RANT AND SPOILERS AHEAD)

WARNING: The following article contains a long-winded rant about the previous two seasons of Power Rangers, and of what is termed the ‘Neo Saban Era’ of Power Rangers in general. If you’ve enjoyed the past four years of Power Rangers, the writer of this article respects that viewpoint, and is sure to try to present his argument in as fair and unbiased a manner as is possible.

The Neo Saban Era has fucking sucked for four years! It is some of the worst produced garbage in PR history, beaten only by Power Rangers Operation Overdrive in my opinion. But whereas that season was the worst in terms of quality, this most recent season, Super Megaforce, may just be the single most disappointing season of all time. And yes, I AM referring to it as Super Megaforce and as its own season, because whereas Super Samurai was just a needless and pointless extension of the same story, Super Megaforce DOES actually have some distinction from Megaforce. Whether or not that distinction makes it better or worse…well, I’ll get into that later.

First off, lemme make something perfectly clear, just so we can get this outta the way: I have no issues with the actors this season. I have seen a few of them in other stuff, and while their characters may be bland (and in one case AWFUL), they all portray them as best they can with what little they’re given and with the sort of people running the show giving them direction. Also, as bland as these characters are, they still rank higher than Operation Overdrive. Why? Because when the Overdrive team lost their powers and were forced to face overwhelming odds, something that many Rangers have had to deal with in the past, they decided to up and quit, and only rejoined the fight because their lives were BORING. These Rangers, however, find themselves time and time again put in seemingly impossible scenarios, and press on. The Armada first arrives, and they run into the city to help as many people as they can. They find a missile with a drill attached that’s going to blow up the planet, and not only do they stop it, but they chuck it at the fleet in orbit, go to wipe out a few more in the Megazord, and then drop a big banner that says “Earth Fights Back” in the mall as a big flaming FU to the Armada. Their Zords are utterly destroyed by an Armada fleet that outnumbers them by millions, and they’re still resolved to fight, and wind up winning in the end. They may be dull, they may be bland, and one of them may be an unconfirmed attention-hungry stalker who steals Gia’s underwear, but Goddammit, they get fucking results. lol

You know what else is not the problem? The overall story concept. I will go ahead and put myself out here by saying that I actually really loved the cliffhanger ending for Megaforce, where if you didn’t know what to expect for next year, you weren’t sure how the hell the Rangers were gonna get through this. The ending of the first episode of the season, while perhaps making light of the fact that there’s a massive alien fleet that just did a major attack on Earth, actually did a good job of making that dumbass line of Troy’s in the first episode of Megaforce sound a lot better in the long run. I also thought the decision to save the resolution of Vrak’s storyline for late in Super Megaforce was actually a good idea, since we can assume that nearly a year went by to give him enough time to plan out and prepare for his revenge on the Rangers, and chose the perfect time to do so. And, of course, there’s the Legendary Rangers. While I wish we had gotten more of these throughout the season, it was great seeing Casey and Jayden come back to give the team encouragement when they needed it. And while I originally said that I’d wished Lauren was the one to appear, looking back on the video packages shown for Casey and Jayden made me realize something: They were specifically picked and shown to demonstrate how these characters grew to be who they are, and how the challenges and obstacles they helped overcome specifically allowed them to give the right guidance to the current Rangers in dealing with their own problems. If we’d gotten more of that for this season, would’ve made it all the better, and would’ve made it a far more fluid celebration of the show’s longevity, as we see the development of other Rangers as characters and giving them a chance to pass on their wisdom and experience to the current crop.

So, if I like all of these elements of the show, why am I so angry, and what makes Super Megaforce such a disappointment? Ultimately, it comes down to execution, and HOW the story developed. Like I said, IF we had gotten more moments with the Legendary Rangers, we’d have had a much better season. Guess what? We only had two of ’em make appearances, and then a bunch who appeared at the very end to save random people and fight in the final battle. And for the record, having Tommy show up for the final battle and then not actually see much, if any, of him in the fight is not good enough. I did not wait two years for this epic battle just to see random hits on baddies dubbed over with the Megaforce Rangers spouting clunky exposition, and then finish it all off with the team blasting a random bunch of X-Borgs. And while I am glad that the final bout with Emperor Mavro WAS kept in for the extended version of the finale (extended because God knows we can’t take up SpongeBob SquarePants’ TV time, so it had to be cut down to size to make room for a cartoon LONG past its expiration date), the fight really should’ve been saved for AFTER the mass of X-Borgs, and rather than being a battle between him and the Super Megaforce Rangers in Legendary Mode, they should’ve instead changed it up so that he’s fighting the real Rangers all bunched up to take him on at once, having to use all their powers together to finally take this conqueror of worlds and galaxies down as a team.

The biggest thing that drove me crazy all season long was the lack of explanations. Really, it started in Megaforce, but the worst of it was in Super Megaforce. Where DO the Legendary Ranger Keys come from? How were they created? Now, I assumed from the beginning that they were copies of the previous Rangers’ powers, hence why the Legendary Rangers never helped the team in a more active sense and why going Legendary Mode was so hard for the team. Remember, it’s been established in Ranger canon that two or more of the same Ranger cannot exist simultaneously, or else it could cause the power to fluctuate and even cause harm to the ones using it. However, we’re told near the end that the Legendary Rangers supposedly gave them their powers…except we never saw that, nor was there ever a single line suggesting as much beforehand. Does that mean that none of the previous Rangers have their powers as long as the Super Megaforce team have the keys? And if so, how were they able to morph in the end? Did Gosei give the keys back for the final battle? Because if that’s true, that means they were all standing by in that area for Mavro to go down before they could do anything, meaning they stood by while the Rangers engaged a monster that very nearly almost destroyed them. And just from a logical standpoint, wouldn’t it make more sense, if all of the previous Rangers had their powers, even those who had lost them before, to be out in battle with the current Rangers, like in the final battle? Wouldn’t that have ended things a lot easier and with a lot less damage and possible people dying? What about the other teams never before seen in Power Rangers canon up until now? Who were they, and what were their stories? We have team names for them, fine, but what about anything REAL about them, like where they came from and who they were? How did Robo Knight come back for the final battle when he died and gave his power to Orion? Why doesn’t Gosei ever explain a Goddamn thing to his team unless confronted about stuff he never told them?! Why was the Silver Ranger Key and its Morpher sealed away on some random planet for Orion to find?! Why aren’t Titanium Ranger’s powers used for Legendary Sixth Ranger Mode instead of White Dino Ranger, who was the FIFTH Ranger of his team?! Why does Corinth look NOTHING like it did before?! Why did Doctor K make a new Zord that was apparently sentient?! Why did they reuse footage of Mia and Antonio’s concert instead of just having them show up?! Did it honest to God never occur to anyone that Super Mega Mode makes them look like pirates?! Why did they hire someone to do a cover of Go Go Power Rangers instead of contacting Ron Wasserman?! GAAAAHHH!!!

…*inhales hard*… …ANYway…Like I said before, the actors do the best with what’s given to them, and the characters are all decent enough in their own right, aside from Jake being a frigging creeper. However, the problem is that, in the end, they don’t really have much, if any dimension to them. The only time we ever get anything different out of the characters, it usually comes right the frak outta left field with no rhyme or reason behind it. Like, Noah deciding to fight a monster alone. It makes no sense for him as a character to behave this way. Or Jake being made into a clumsy oaf, despite being physically fit, energetic, and good at sports. Really, it just comes down to their characters shifting to match source material footage from Gokaiger, making them more like their counterparts, without any logical development leading to these changes. And then there’s Gosei. Again, my biggest complaint is how he never explains anything to his team, but more disappointingly, we never learn of his time spent with Zordon. We know he’s his apprentice or the like, but really, we never get any reflection on that, or him wondering if he’s living up to his example. Ironically, the episode I felt Gosei was at his best was an episode I otherwise hate: In The Driver’s Seat, which was a terrible representation of RPM. In this episode, not only does he explain situations to the Rangers to the best of his ability, but we also see him questioning what the right course of action is. It shows a more vulnerable side to the character, in that he doesn’t always know what he’s doing, but sometimes has to just go with what he thinks is right and believe in his team.

But the biggest let-down of all is probably Troy, which ultimately is the biggest lack of an explanation I’ve ever seen, and basically makes him a walking plot device. The reason he didn’t make it to my list of least favourite Rangers is because Jake bothers me on a more personal level, and Troy comes off as more selflessly heroic. However, with Super Megaforce being over, and this team’s story given what little resolution we can hope for, at least for now, we have to discuss Troy. Again, in the spirit of not explaining a Goddamn thing this season, we never learn how or why Troy kept having visions of the Legendary Battle, especially since we can infer from his initial appearances that he’d never seen or heard of the Power Rangers beforehand (must’ve been super young and on the other side of the planet during Dark Spectre’s invasion, I guess). Also, there’s…this.

I just have this wonderful image of Jonathan Tzachor constantly telling Andrew Gray “No, it’s not good enough! You must ham it up more! MOOOOORRRRRREEEE!”, and then finally Andrew gives up and just decides to give the most over the top performance he possibly could, and Tzachor just sheds a tear and is like “My life’s work, complete”. And before anyone asks, yes, almost this exact scene played out in Goseiger. With that said, I find it funny that a guy who loves the Sentai as much as Tzachor claims to pays zero attention to the details of it and how story elements made sense there. In Goseiger, Gosei Knight had been overwhelmed with dark energy that had corrupted him, so Gosei Red summoned up all of his energy as an angel (yes, in Goseiger, the team were angels, and I’ll get more into that later) and punched Gosei Knight hard enough to transfer that energy to him, flushing out the dark energy and restoring him to normal. And even if you wanna say that’s what Troy did, little problem: He’s HUMAN! He has no powers beyond those granted to him as a Ranger, and he is not morphed in this scene! I kept expecting them to explain what the hell Troy’s deal was and how he apparently had precognitive abilities and whatever the fuck he just did to Robo Knight, and they NEVER ONCE EXPLAINED IT! It was his whole schtick, and it was never given any kind of resolution!

And yeah, speaking of which, that’s the other major problem I have: The ending. Or rather, the fact that there is no ending for these characters. They beat the bad guys, they lay in the sand for a while, they get up to go wander off, Jake gets a kiss from Gia (and presumably goes off into the woods to jack off, if I had to guess), and Troy sticks a Super Mega Saber in the sand as a marker for where the Legendary Battle took place…Oh, and I THINK that Orion and Emma hooked up, not sure. End credits. Now, I do admit to not actually seeing anything more than clips of the extended version of the episode posted online, since I don’t have Nick (nor do I wish to), I couldn’t watch it on their site without it crapping out on me, and last I checked, it wasn’t on Netflix (and if it is, please tell me so I can go watch it, since it’s at least a vast improvement on the original version). So, maybe there was more after that scene, but I’ve asked some people who saw it and they told me there wasn’t, so I’m going to assume that’s the case. And yes, I’m aware that PR has had anti-climactic non-endings to seasons before with no final resolution to said season’s cast…and I hated them too, so don’t think I’m just singling out Super Megaforce. Hell, Samurai had a better ending, with the team discussing their future plans and Jayden looking into new things to do with his life now that his mission was finally over. And I’ll get more into THAT later on too, trust me.

So, when all is said and done, no, Super Megaforce is NOT the worst season of Power Rangers ever. So congratulations, Jonathan Tzachor, for you couldn’t even succeed at that. I hope you NEVER come back to work on this show, and that Judd Lynn gets to keep your job forever, In Chip We Trust. Hell, just looking at the trailer for Dino Charge, I can already tell it’s gonna be a lot better than the past four years, and is actually gonna have the first original villain produced for Power Rangers in YEARS. However, I will give Tzachor this much: He’s not the only problem that plagued the Neo Saban Era. Nickelodeon’s interference with the show and failure to promote it in the right way has been hell for the people producing it, as well as for the fans. I can only hope that something changes in the future, because otherwise, even with Chip in charge, it’s gonna be an uphill battle to get PR back to the level it used to be at.

Anyway, that’s my rant. However, we’re not done talking about Super Megaforce. Check in again soon, when I talk about some of the things I would’ve done differently with this season, what my original idea for the Megaforce Rangers and their story was when I first heard Goseiger would be adapted, and some more of the things I legitimately liked about the last two seasons. Ja né!

Jyger’s Favourite 5 – 5 Least Favourite Power Rangers

So, as many people who have come on here are probably aware, I’m a huge Power Rangers fan. I’ve loved the series since season one, and I still watch it to this day. So, as you can imagine, I’ve borne witness to both the ups and the downs of this series. I’ve seen a LOT of Rangers come and go, and while I generally have fond thoughts of most of them, there are also some that have left little to no positive impact on me, or in some cases, NEGATIVE. So, seeing as how Super Megaforce just ended with all of the Rangers brought together, and I’ve already done a list on some of my favourite Rangers, I thought now would be a good time to reflect on those that didn’t leave such a great impression. Now, before I start, I should probably lay out some ground rules:

1. One per team. Once I’ve chosen a Ranger from a specific team, I cannot choose one from that team again. Otherwise, I’d likely be mostly picking on Rangers from the same two to three teams a lot.
2. It has to be a problem with the character and not the actor. As such, I don’t think I’ll put Kevin from Samurai on this list, since my biggest issues with him have more to do with his actor’s performance. Also, Will from Operation Overdrive won’t be on this list, since the character, how he’s written, and how he’s portrayed have nothing to do with Samuell Benta’s actions in the past…Plus, I just have far bigger fish to fry with Overdrive. lol
3. I won’t be using comparisons to their Super Sentai counterparts as reason to put them on this list. While it’s perfectly fine to prefer a season of Super Sentai to its counterpart or vice versa, that is not why I’m doing this. I’m analyzing the characters for their own merits, or lack thereof.

Oh, and because there’s a member of Megaforce/Super Megaforce on this list, there will more than likely be spoilers, so consider yourselves warned now. And of course, this is all opinion based, so don’t freak out if I dislike your favourite Ranger, and as usual, this list is in no real order. With that outta the way, let’s look at my 5 Least Favourite Power Rangers, starting with…

#1 – Sam, the SPD Omega Ranger

Yeah, going right for one of the more obvious choices. Although, I should make clear: While Sam being a ball of light throughout SPD is a huge problem, it’s not the only reason he’s on this list. Really, it comes to just how little he actually does. I mean, he’s commonly seen helping the team in action, but aside from that, what does he really do? Even as a ball of light, there’s a lot more they could do with Sam. Heck, do an episode where he feels detached from the rest of the team as a result of this. Or maybe have him showing constant concern over his continued presence in the past and how it could affect the future (I think he only reflects on it maybe once or twice in the whole time he’s there). But nope, he apparently does not give a crap. Also, I don’t know whose fault it is, be it the voice actor or the people directing him, but Brett Stewart’s delivery comes off as very odd, like he’s never taking anything that’s going on seriously. And I know I said I wouldn’t compare to the Sentai counterparts, but something that’s always bugged me is the choice to still have Sam be the one to save the team from Mirloc, when the plot of that two-parter is changed to focus on Sky instead of him (in Dekaranger, Mirloc’s counterpart had instead killed DekaBreak’s parents). Ultimately, though, the Omega Ranger makes it on this list as a classic case of wasted potential.

#2 – Lucas Kendall, the Blue Time Force Ranger

Okay, I should probably start off by saying that I don’t HATE Lucas. I simply find his character to be…well, very uninteresting, which is more than a little off-putting, considering how he’s supposed to be the cool guy of the Time Force Rangers. He’s basically the Power Rangers equivalent of doing THIS:

…Oh yeah, I went there. lol Now, here’s where he’s a bit more redeemable in my eyes than some of the others on this list: Because while I find that aspect of him uninteresting, you get the idea on multiple occasions that it’s a very blatant smokescreen. Plus, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t find IMMENSE entertainment in the episode where this came back to bite him in the worst way, when Nadira thought he was in love with him, and he had to scare her off by acting like a slob. His entrance in that scene alone might just be one of the funniest Goddamn things I’ve ever seen in Power Rangers. So yeah, he makes the list, but I can’t really hate him. This next one, however…

#3 – Dax Lo, the Blue Overdrive Ranger

…OH GOD, Dax. Like I said, I had to choose only one Ranger per team, meaning I couldn’t just spend this entire article complaining about the Overdrive team being a bunch of privileged jerks who up and quit in Once A Ranger. Also, while Will performs actions in one episode that make him a bit unlikable in hindsight, he does not earn my resentment quite like Dax does. He is by far, in my opinion, the worst Power Ranger EVER. His civilian power is stupid, basically making him Bouncing Boy from the Legion of Super Heroes. His weapon is kinda dumb, although I CAN see the occasional usefulness in a gyro powerful enough to create whirlwinds. But beyond that, Dax is the worst example of a comic relief Ranger I’ve ever known. He’s annoying, he’s not funny, he never undergoes any sort of character development, his whole schtick is saying that their adventures are ‘like a movie’, and he always, ALWAYS, ALWAYS says the worst thing to make a situation even WORSE. Now granted, a lot of people would probably say the same about people like Bridge or Ziggy. The thing is, both of those Rangers, while having negative character traits (Ziggy’s a bit too eager for attention, and I could seriously harm Bridge for transmitting his whole finger wiggling when he says “Buttery” to me), they’re nonetheless good, heroic individuals in their own ways, and are honestly WAY funnier than Dax could ever be. In short, to quote Linkara, “SHUT UP, DAX!”

#4 – Nick Russel/Bowen, the Red Mystic Ranger

Speaking of Rangers that are quitters, let’s talk about Nick. Now, I don’t wanna pick too much, because he does have his fair share of decent moments too, but he’s shown to be a little too willing to give up more than once, which is a HUGE problem for a Red Ranger to have. Plus, he comes off as more than a little dickish in terms of how he handles the obvious romantic feelings between himself and Madison. And just the fact that he’s the only member of the core team to have any kind of personal stake or reason to be involved in the events of the season and doesn’t really grow past these character defects by the end really makes the season all the more difficult to watch. Still, because he DOES have his moments where he comes around a little and can be decently heroic when the situation requires it, he’s not exactly the worst of the worst on this list.

#5 – Jake Holling, the Megaforce Black Ranger/Super Megaforce Green Ranger

… … …*sighs* Okay, let’s be real here, because I know a LOT of people, older fans in particular, are not happy with the past four seasons of Power Rangers, this last one in particular. However, I need to be clear about something: The Rangers, while being incredibly bland at times, still come off as decent people and competent heroes that I would feel safe around…minus one. Jake does not come off to me as either of these things. You might THINK he is, but he’s NOT. Every single time he is engaging in Ranger duties, he is out there to get attention, namely Gia’s. His ENTIRE CHARACTER, besides liking sports and being a doofus, is built around him chasing Gia like a sad, lost puppy. Or rather, it WAS built around that, until finally he became something far worse: A frigging STALKER. Don’t believe me? Listen to this one exchange of dialogue between him and Orion:

No, I COULD pick on this entire scene and ask when the hell any of them taught Orion ANYTHING, but again, I’m keeping this limited to one Ranger per team. As such, let’s instead focus on just how frigging CREEPY that sentence was! He’s not some poor yet likable guy with a crush on someone who can’t see how kind he is, he comes off as someone who would raid Gia’s panty drawer and then chloroform her! Now, I’m going to give Azim Rizk the benefit of the doubt and assume that he either didn’t detect the horrible implications of that last sentence, or just said it out of fear of losing his job. And for that matter, I’m gonna suggest the same of the rest of them, since otherwise, they wouldn’t be portraying this scene as a bunch of assholes who allow this sick behaviour to continue. And just from a production standpoint, the decision to make him more of a clumsy doofus as time went on so that he’d match up closer to the Sentai footage used for Super Megaforce is very at odds with his athleticism. The show wants to push him as a kid who is great at sports AND as someone who would trip over every curb on Earth, except that these two things do not match. So, if you wonder why I created a sick aunt with breast cancer for him in my fanfic, besides to tie the Rangers into a situation where they’d march in a breast cancer awareness parade, the answer is very simple: Because there’s nothing I could realistically DO with the character and still have him be likable. He may not be as blatantly annoying as Dax, but he’s still one of the worst Rangers of all time.

Anyway, those are my 5 Least Favourite Rangers. Got one that wasn’t on here? Leave a comment telling me your own least favourite Power Rangers, and be sure to check back in next week when I look at the past two seasons of PR, what I would’ve done differently, what I legitimately liked, and what I hope to see in Dino Charge. Ja né!

Jyger’s Favourite 5 – 5 Favourite Morphers From Power Rangers/Super Sentai

So a while back, I listed my 5 Favourite Henshin Devices From Kamen Rider. But what about my favourite Morphers from Power Rangers/Super Sentai? Well, let’s count ’em off now. And as always, since I know some people aren’t familiar with the Sentai footage, I’ll primarily use names, terms, and historical events on the PR side of things, while also giving Super Sentai names and history afterwards. Also, keep in mind that I’m going to try to keep this list limited to one Morpher per team (so not the Dino Morpher AND the Brachio Morpher at the same time). Speaking of which, let’s start with…

#1 – The Brachio Morpher from Power Rangers Dino Thunder (Dino Commander from Bakuryuu Sentai Abaranger)

Tommy‘s Morpher in Dino Thunder (Asuka’s in Abaranger). People have brought up the similarity of this Morpher to Tommy’s previous Morpher, the Turbo Morpher, in that it’s a wrist-mounted device that uses a key. This is actually a coincidence, as the construction of the Morpher for Abaranger didn’t have Tommy in mind (since for obvious reasons, they hadn’t planned on bringing him back for Dino Thunder yet), but it does lead to a few fan theories. Anyway, the Morpher also lets him call the Brachio Zord, as well as some of the auxiliary Zords for that season, and since it houses the Black Dino Gem inside, it also allows Tommy to become invisible.

#2 – Legendary Morpher from Power Rangers Super Megaforce (Transformation Cellphone Mobilates from Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger)

This Morpher has yet to officially appear in Power Rangers yet, but it is the Morpher for the Gokaigers, and when it débuts in PR, it will allow the Megaforce Rangers to become the Super Megaforce. In addition, by using the various Ranger Keys with it, the Super Megaforce Rangers can become a copy of whichever Ranger the key was modelled after, with all their powers and weapons at their disposal. Naturally, being cell phones, they can be used as communication devices, and are used to summon their Zords.

#3 – The Omega Morpher from Power Rangers SPD (BraceThrottle from Tokusou Sentai Dekaranger)

Sam’s Morpher in SPD (Tetsu’s in Dekaranger). As cool as the standard Morphers are from that season, the Omega Morpher takes everything it can do (communicator, Judgement Mode, Containment Mode, etc.) and adds more. Revving the throttle on the Morpher allows Omega Ranger to use various modes, including Electro, Muscle, Lightbeam, Blast, and Hyper Modes, granting him different advantages against different opponents.

#4 – The Power Morpher from Mighty Morphin Power Rangers (Dino Buckler from Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger)

The Morphers of the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers (Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger). It was a toss-up between this and the Zeonizers, and frankly, it was a matter of “which one would fewer people kill me for”. lol Anyway, the Power Morpher is a metallic belt buckle that houses a Power Coin. The coins can also be transformed into Power Crystals, which were used to take full control of the Dino Zords during piloting, or fire beams of light from the Megazord.

#5 – The Transformation Gun Gaburivolver from Zyuden Sentai Kyoryuger

Like the Legendary Morpher, it has yet to appear in Power Rangers. By inserting different Beast Batteries into the Gaburivolver, the Kyoryugers can Morph, call upon their weapons, summon their Zords, and a few other things. Also, not only do they work as the team’s blaster side-arm, but they combine with the Gabricalibur (a sword side-arm) to become the Gaburu Cannon, a powered-up gun, which has been shown to assume a Bayonet Mode for mêlée attacks. So, yes, this is a Morpher, that is also a gun, that can also can become a sword. Something tells me that as soon as it hits stores, Lewis Lovhaug will drop everything he’s doing and go on a hunt for it. XD

Anyway, that’s all for now. Lemme know in the comments if there’s anything else PR/Sentai related you’d like to see me do a Favourite 5 of. Ja né!

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What I Bought Today – Power Rangers Megaforce Deluxe Gosei Morpher

What’s this?! It’s Monday?! And yet, here we are, discussing…

So what did I buy? Well, believe it or not, it’s not a comic. Instead, I bought the new Gosei Morpher from Power Rangers Megaforce. Best of all, I bought it 25% off. *does my happy dance* …Oh, byte me, I never got morphers as a kid. Plus, it came with a few cards from the new Power Rangers Action Card Game, which I am hoping to eventually learn more about.

Also, if you’ve never seen the Gosei Morphers in action…

So, that’s my purchase for today. Come on back on Wednesday when I buy this week’s worth of comics. Ja ne!

Power Rangers Megaforce Official Teaser! It’s Evaluating Time!

Well, the first official teaser for Power Rangers Megaforce is out, and that means…

It’s Evaluating Time!!!

So first off, here’s the teaser for anybody who hasn’t seen it yet.

Okay, so obvious stuff out of the way first. This has a very prominent sort of ‘everything old is new again’ type of feel. I already knew ahead of time that the plot would be very similar to Mighty Morphin, what with five teenagers being selected by a giant head and his robot buddy to fight off alien invaders. You can make your own call as to whether or not this is a good idea or not, but considering the timing of this season’s airing and the Sentai footage being used, I don’t really blame them for going this route.

I also kinda figured they’d use Go Go Power Rangers again as the theme, though sadly still no Ron Wasserman. My only problem with reusing the theme here is that they’re reusing it after Samurai did, and…Well, how do I be fair about this? Samurai really should’ve had its own unique theme, one with a Japanese feel to it. There really was no reason for Samurai to use Go Go Power Rangers, other than it being the return of the series after Disney had cancelled it, and I don’t think that was a good enough reason to do it.

One thing I wasn’t really expecting was the old morph call of “It’s Morphin Time!” to return. Oh, I suspected at times, considered it a neat idea…and yet, I also find myself feeling a bit mixed by its presence here. Bare in mind, every season since Zeo has had its own morphing call, uniquely tailored to each one, some of my favourites being “Shift Into Turbo!”, “Wild Access!”, “SPD Emergency!”, and “RPM Get In Gear!”. Still, I can get behind the nostalgic feel to it, and since we already know that in the second half of Megaforce they’ll be calling on the powers of the veteran Rangers, I guess it kinda makes sense they’d use the original? Maybe?

The Megaforce Rangers: Gia, Noah, Troy, Jake, and Emma.

I suppose I should take a sec to talk about the suits. LOVE THEM. While I had mixed feelings toward Goseiger at best, I always loved how classic the suits looked. Oh, and for those who didn’t watch Goseiger, the season that Megaforce is being adapted from, and are among those who felt Samurai followed Shinkenger‘s plot too closely, you can relax here. Tensou Sentai Goseiger was about five angels separated from their world and forced to shack with some kid and his scientist father while protecting the Earth. I think we can safely guess that won’t be a factor here. lol

Speaking of suits, I notice that they’re using the Zord cockpits and footage from Goseiger instead of creating their own, and thankfully we (and the budget) are spared the pointless extra suits used only for when they’re in the Zords and for ONE fight scene in the last episode. Seriously, that always bugged the hell outta me. It just seems unnecessary and damaging to the budget to make the Mega Mode suits. Not only that, it always bugged me how DANGEROUSLY close they got to looking like the suits from the MMPR movie. -_-

Oh, and one last thing I should note, even though I’m sure I’ve mentioned this before: Power Rangers Megaforce is admittedly a stupid frigging name, but I just love how GLORIOUSLY 90’s it is. XD

Anyway, that’s all from me for now. Post your thoughts below, lemme know if you’re pumped for this season or not, and we’ll see how Megaforce does when it débuts next month. Ja né!