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Preface
We officially start the year with our first field trip!
Except it’s really just the Entrance Exam, but it’s the thought that counts.
The Cover
On top, we have five students looking as generic as ever while the bottom half shows the main trio watching in awe of Morphin’ stuff happening. It’s mixed as a result. I do like the ‘realistic’ styling of the first half though. It’s cool to see.
The Story
So, Professor Katie Walker drives the morphin’ school bus to Chromia, dropping off our group of five students to complete their exam and get their powers.
Our trio has two paths: the quick, but probably more painful way or the slower, but the more parkour way. They take the safer but longer path, reaching their destination. However, they discover that the two other first-year students, Kartyr and Maev, went through the painful path and are predictably in trouble.
The trio goes back for them, saving Kartyr from sleeping down in a hole. Kartyr’s ankle is broken so Sage volunteers to stay with him and has the others go to the mystic temple on their own. Hours pass and Sage accidentally finds out that Kartyr intentionally jumped down the hole because he was afraid of not passing the trial, wanting to pin his failure on an accident. As the Ranger Academy School Bus picks Kartyr up for transport, Lindy and Theo go back for Sage, saying that they are not going to leave her behind.
All three of them make it to the Bandorian Monks together, each one going in one at a time to morph for the first time. Theo morphs into a Black Ranger. Lindy isn’t able to morph but she gets a cool souvenir. And, as for Sage, she doesn’t morph either.
At least that’s what she tells everyone.
Because she ended up morphing into a Green Ranger. A Ranger color that was said not to exist. She’s not sure what happened but she’s going to keep her morph secret until she figures it all out.
Ending Thoughts
I expected more if I’ll be honest with you.
I expected the dreaded ‘First Trial’ to be a lot more dangerous than it was. I expected the bully character to not be as sympathetic this fast. I expected the end of the test to be a much grander scene than what we got with Sage’s first Morph. However, in the end, I do appreciate the direction that this series is going. Sage’s interaction with Kartyr does show her that even people who act tough can be scared and do stupid things, which should help with her confidence issues. Plus, we still have an antagonist in the form of Tula with her mystery so there’s still room for conflict. And, even though the ending is technically Sage’s first Morph, it’s not the real moment. She still has her doubts and fears. She doesn’t know whether or not being a Green Ranger is a good thing or not. They’re going to save the moment for when Sage feels she’s finally ready. So, I’m okay with that.
Ranger Academy #4 takes us through an underwhelming exam before it gets us to an intriguing ending that’s sure to cause some drama later on for our heroes.
Random Thoughts from the Morphin’ Grid
- I’m disappointed we didn’t see any fanged lizards. What a waste!
- “Prism Peak doesn’t look too big.” / “That’s because it’s really far away.” Alright, Sage, I’ve been giving you a lot of leeway but that interaction was just flat-out stupid.
- I don’t know if that line about Dark Specter getting into Ranger Academy is going to be some weird tie-in into Darkest Hour right now. I don’t think it will. But, I’m just saying, that I now want to see Dark Specter hanging around this place. He would be an awesome school mascot!
- “Just because people say there used to be green or orange Power Rangers or whatever doesn’t mean it’s true.” Ok. This line. What I need to know is do these students study Ranger history? Because yeah, okay, I understand that there’s a big mystery involving certain Ranger colors not being present on campus anymore. But! This line makes it feel like there’s no record of any Green Rangers at all! We have cameos from Lost Galaxy, SPD, and Time Force. All teams with Green Rangers! Is that just something the teachers removed from their lessons? How does that work?!
- The last time we had someone break their ankle in Power Rangers, they got into a relationship with the Green Ranger ‘rival’ that helped them out instead of ‘finishing the race’. If that happens here, I swear to Zordon…
- We don’t have an official Morph Call yet, but I would love it if it was just the word “Please.” That’d be amazing!
- So, even though we don’t get a real morph out of Sage, we actually do see a glimpse at what the Ranger Academy suits are like. It reminds me a lot of Megaforce’s suits… which is something I actually don’t mind considering that Megaforce was all about the anniversary of the franchise (allegedly).
