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Preface
Power Rangers Hyperforce. The one PR season I have never seen.
Sorry, I really didn’t have time to listen to multiple three-hour-long streams of a tabletop roleplaying game! I know. I’m crazy!
But, in all fairness, this series, about a team of Time Force cadets traveling through PR history to stop an alliance of villains, was a fan favorite by the PR fans that actually did end up watching it. It had an overall fun cast of people and even though I haven’t seen it, I do appreciate that PR was still trying new things and appealing to a wider audience.
Which is why when this comic was announced, many of those fans were hyped! As for me, even though I’m not as excited as they are, I am curious as to what this pertains to, especially how it relates to the main universe. It’ll be interesting to see how fans, who haven’t seen Hyperforce before, react to the events of this comic.
Now, let’s get to it!
The Cover
I like it. A good shot of the main five Hyperforce Rangers. (This story includes all six of them so I’m not sure why the Green Ranger couldn’t be a part of this, but ah well.)
It can come off as generic, but it’s actually pretty simple. The green beam of light in the background is framed like a teleportation effect or a portal, giving off the impression that the Hyperforce Rangers have arrived from this other world. It’s a sort of a meta-joke on how they are making it into the comic universe from their RPG origin. I can appreciate that.
The Story
Chloe, the Hyperforce Pink Ranger, explains to us newbies what her season is all about.
A group of villains known as the Alliance basically wanted to stop the Z-Wave from happening at the end of the Countdown to Destruction so they stole a time ship from the Time Force Academy in the year 3016. Jen Scotts, Pink Time Force Ranger, gave six cadets morphers and a special ship known as the hypership. The team of Hyperforce Rangers traveled through time and fought the bad guys until Chloe discovered that her long-lost dad was the leader of the Alliance. The Rangers were too late to stop them from changing the timeline completely. The Z-Wave was wiped from existence.
Which brings us to now.
Chloe is currently working for her evil dad, searching for any remaining Rangers that are still out there causing trouble. That was when she ran into Jack, the Hyperforce Yellow Ranger. Jack tries to convince her that working for her evil dad is not the solution. But, she claims that it is the only way to find Zordon and save her mother as well. However, Jack doesn’t give her a choice and knocks her out.
On their hypership, Chloe demands to be taken back, but Jack says that there is a way to save Zordon if they can get the other Hyperforce Rangers back together.
Turns out, after the timeline was messed up, the team fell apart.
Joe, the Hyperforce Green Ranger, went after his wife, Nadira. (Yes, that Nadira.) He got captured and Marv, the Hyperforce Red Ranger and Joe’s brother, went after him, being captured as well. As for the Hyperforce Blue and Black Rangers, Eddie and Vesper were apparently an item until they had a nasty breakup. It ended with both of them going off on their own.
Jack offers a deal that if Chloe helps him reunite the team, then she can go back to her dad without him trying to stop her.
Soon, Jack and Chloe go find Vesper… at Santa’s village, where she is the head elf helping Santa, who is also a Power Ranger, fight off naughty elves.
Take a moment to think about how awesome that sentence is. Okay, moving on.
After picking up Vesper, the three Rangers go to King Arthur’s Court, where they find Eddie getting married to the local princess. After Eddie and Vesper immediately get back together, the four of them escape the King’s Wrath and return to the ship.
There, Chloe gets mad at all of them that they were off having fun while she was the only one trying to fix the timeline. Eddie, Vesper, and Jack all apologize for how badly they handled the situation, especially when none of them tried to help Chloe through her time of need. But, it’s too late. Chloe already disabled their robotic assistant, Alpha 55, and stopped the ship, delivering them all to her dad.
On the ship, Chloe’s dad hugs his daughter and tells her what a super job she’s done betraying her friends and that he’s so proud of her. And then the father of the year tells Chloe that the other Rangers must be executed. Marv and Joe then inform Chloe of the situation, about how Chloe’s dad has been working for Mistress Vile, the upgraded Rita Repulsa from the main comic dimension, and that Chloe’s dad is planning on using the Hyperforce Ship for her plans.
Chloe starts to have doubts that maybe this wasn’t the best plan. She leaves the Hyperforce Morphers for the captive Rangers to grab while she gets Alpha 55 for help before confronting her dad. Her dad reveals that yep, he’s a scumbag and plans on reshaping the entire universe and the Morphin’ Grid with the help of Mistress Vile and Dark Specter. While Chloe declares that she won’t let that happen, the Rangers then escape from their cells with Alpha 55 freeing them.
Then, it’s time.
Chloe tries to reason with her dad, but he is consumed with power and is too powerful, having his own army of spiky Putties at his disposal. But the other Rangers arrive, joining the fight and protecting their friend. As Jack fights Chloe’s dad, one one-on-one, Chloe’s dad reveals that Chloe’s mom is still alive. Chloe wants to stay to find out what he was talking about, but Jack grabs her and all six Rangers and Alpha 55 retreat to their timeship, escaping in one piece.
Chloe is angry that the Rangers took her back without her getting the answers she needed, but due to the whole turning traitor thing, they call it even. Now with the looming threat of what Mistress Vile is planning, Vesper is doubtful that they’ll be able to do much about it. But, Marv reminds them that they’re a family and they shouldn’t give up yet.
And, so they go to find reinforcements. Specifically, the Wild Force Rangers on the Animarium.
However, when they get there, they only find Taylor, the Yellow Wild Force Ranger, and an injured Princess Shayla. Taylor reveals to them that a Ranger known as the Death Ranger took the rest of the Wild Force Rangers because, and she quote, ‘his mistress wanted everything.’
Ending Thoughts
For the many comics we have gotten of introducing a new team of Rangers (or re-introducing for many people), this has been the best example of how to do it.
Though the focus is on Chloe and her journey of ‘betraying’ the team, every character in this establishes their own personality. Not only that but their unique powers and small plot lines for each of them. They all feel like well-thought-out characters that fans can instantly connect to. And yes, a lot of this is carried over from what was already established in the original tabletop show, but even for someone like me who didn’t know these characters at all, it’s a solid mix of all of these elements, balancing out all 6 members of this team. Other teams have tried to do this with their own varying successes. (I personally can think of how solid I found the friendship between the Squadron Rangers). But, none of them have been able to establish this as properly as it did here especially not in the single story we have here.
I believe that a part of the success of this is because of the writers Melissa Flores and Meghan Camarena, two of the original forces behind the Power Rangers Hyperforce Show. (Meghan even portrayed Chloe!) For someone like me who has never seen the original show, it’s clear how much love was put into fleshing this cast and showing what the original show was about. It features locations shown in some of the episodes like Santa’s Workshop or King Arthur’s Court, giving a little more detailed insight for new readers into some of the insanity that happened in the show. This clever writing even shows in the action sequences. Sometimes, the Rangers will call out their own attacks, mirroring the original tabletop gameplay where the players had to call out the attacks their characters were doing for the game master. It’s this kind of writing that makes this story a fun experience through and through.
The artist for this issue is Federico Sabbatini. I may be mistaken, so apologies if I am, but this is his first work for Power Rangers. He’s worked for a lot of other series like Marvel’s Moon Knight and covers for Image’s Radiant Black and the Dead Lucky (another series that Flores has been writing). Anyway, the artwork for this story is absolutely phenomenal. The art style is detailed, showing off the cool environments and variety that this premise allows, but still maintains a cartoonish feel to it, which works in the story’s favor when they need to get the emotion through from the characters. This compliments the bright color palette being consistent with the overall tone of the story.
Power Rangers Unlimited: Hyperforce is a heartfelt and emotional reunion for the Hyperforce Rangers, servicing long-term fans with fun callbacks and writing while establishing who these Rangers are for new readers in preparation for their appearance in MMPR: Darkest Hour.
Random Thoughts from the Morphin’ Grid
- So, as of now, this is straight-up my favorite in terms of Power Rangers Unlimited one-shots. Heir to Darkness is #2, followed by Edge of Darkness, the Death Ranger, Countdown to Ruin, and Coinless.
- This is my first impression of the Hyperforce Rangers. Right now, my favorite is Vesper. Because she seems awesome, has a cool backstory about being a robot, and is a head elf. Who else would I care about?
- I have to say. It’s something truly special to have Santa Claus show up in a story released in July. Except for the comics released in December, I can’t think of a single comic that ever acknowledged Christmas exists outside of a few off-handed jokes.
- Also, Santa is a Power Ranger. Because, of course, he is. He deserves it. He has had more appearances than some other Rangers. And yeah, he has his own expansion for Heroes of the Grid. Yeah, that’s more than some other Rangers get.
- But, wait a second. Does that mean that other holiday figures are all secretly Power Rangers? Jack Frost? The Easter Bunny? Cupid?!
- Also, it’s now confirmed that the North Pole has an HR department. Very important detail.
- So, I’ll be honest. When I saw the Yellow Wild Force Ranger in the end… I didn’t actually know if it was Taylor. Yeah, the description fits with the long hair, but I thought that if the Death Ranger got the other Wild Force Rangers, they got the previous holders of those powers from before the Animarium floated in the sky. Why would I think that? Because I have to know when and where that scene at the end happened. Is it another point in time that the villains time travelled to in this dimension? Because if this is a universe where the Z Wave never happened, how did the Wild Force Rangers happen? I would assume that given the villains winning and taking over the Earth, Princess Shayla wouldn’t be able to recruit them at all.
- Also, remember that Charge to 100 with that Forever Pink team-up? Well, the Hyperforce Pink’s appearance there was based on the actor who of course looks different from her character. So, if this is another dimension, does that mean that the Hyperforce Pink that Kim met there was a different version than the one we got here?
- To this day, I gotta ask… where’s my Hyperforce Morpher?! Come on, somebody has got to make it. It’s been years and I haven’t been able to buy one. I want one!
- So, after all of this, will I be watching Power Rangers Hyperforce finally? Yeah… I think I will.
