Saturday, May 27, 2023

⚡ ONCE & ALWAYS: A Morphinominal Hour ⚡

What a way to start. I suspected we might see Billy in battle get a solo morph. The rest of the team coming in and Ron Wasserman's Redux theme playing was pretty awesome. Also awesome, MMPR finally gets its own big explosion. The suits had never looked better and Green Ranger gets another upgrade - oh how far we've come from Silver Stripe. They did a great job with the old audio but it was a little odd that wasn't Austin, at least it sure didn't sound like him. Also liked how they got creative like Zack and Minh looking on as the others morphed just off screen.

We knew it was coming, but Rita unleashing and killing Trini was still pretty shocking, with Barbara Goodson doing the voice on top of it. Just wow. First we had Lord Zedd revived in Dino Fury and now this - Rita in her purest form of evil without a human body. Can't help but imagine what it would be like if Zedd and Rita had reunited - probably a major power struggle with both wanting to be in charge. To have Robo Rita be Billy's fault hoping to revive Zordon was pretty surprising and I liked how she took over Alpha 8. Couldn't have imagined we'd get this kind of tie in to the Z-Wave. And since evil particles are out there, I would love to see something with Divatox coming back. Zeo/Turbo special next time? 🙂

The Bandora Protocol sequence was pretty cool. Alpha felt like just as he did years ago. Finally, Kat gets to do something to do in a reunion episode while it felt like Cardenas played Rocky kind of goofy, even phoning it in a bit. I liked the scope of Rangers answering Alpha's summoning call off screen. Ashley, Carlos, Leo, Kai, Damon, Conner, Trent, Devon, Ravi, Nate...  I didn't quite catch Phantom Ranger at first and it was nice they had Tanya out there especially as she's the only Ranger of that era to never return unmorphed. Merrick felt kind of random but they probably just wanted to include Turtle Cove or certain Lighting Collection figures for the set. Also liked the new figure props made exclusively for Jason, Kim and Tommy.

The drama was well done with Minh finding out the truth, wanting to get revenge and trying to morph. Minotaur was kind of an odd choice to come back but I liked Snizzard being the one to capture Rangers. Didn't really care for modifying the Putties from when they last appeared in Beast Morphers, making them look like the ZyuRanger dark gray with more obvious hoodies. Nice nod to Bulk and Skull but with the Juice Bar back, I really hoped for a surprise cameo. Plus nice continuity with Annie at Buzzblast Angel Grove which Jane was starting to plan for last year.

Bringing back the Moon Palace and the final battle there was excellent. Couldn't have asked for a better final morph and Trini's spirit passing on the power to Minh. I appreciate the effort put into the Megazord fight (movie Ninja Megazord is still the worst 👀) but would've loooved a sequence with Toei's Megazord suit. The updated cockpit with Billy leading was pretty cool and it was definitely better than how the zords returned in "GRID CONNECTION" which I'm sure was more Master Green's doing.

Robo Rita nearly going through the portal was awesome  Loved the recreation. I just assumed the dumpster was carefully edited old footage not that they reshot it.

Would've liked more from Adam and Aisha, but I liked how they mentioned being involved with the battle on Sirius fighting the Troobians. Billy owning Cranston Technologies with a beachside Command Center was great. Wasn't that surprised he's still with Cestria and had been away from Aquitar while Rita was out there. I don't personally get emotional easily but I see why a lot of people brokedown with the ending tribute. Also it was great Wasserman returned but I missed that old hard rock. Besides the closing intro using the Redux theme a final time I did like the zords summoning taking a cue from the original Dinozords theme.

We know Billy is expected to appear again this year and could this setup for something else down the line?  Could a future special/anniversary episode have JJ become Green Ranger? I'm not too optimistic as we approach when SPD takes place but we'll have to wait and see! And with the Dino/Cosmic Fury team heading to space to take on Zedd and new villains I kind of hope this isn't the only time Rita's balcony is used.

5/5. A morphinominal time with the MMPR feel updated for the 2020s.

Sunday, April 16, 2023

Chase Into Space: Dino Fury

Dino Fury improved on the first half a bit easily making it the best year of the show since RPM. 2021-22 wasn't just a new era for the show...  We'd come to find out from Simon Bennett spilling the tea just how bad things were behind the scenes in Ninja Steel and into Beast Morphers with executive meddling. Quite interesting hearing it straight from him.

I felt like it could have been 1994 up in here with Lord Zedd returning for his Sporix Master Plan. General Shaw's cameo was a nice nod to Beast Morphers with an appearance from the team and the beginning of the storyarc, with Zedd getting his staff and breaking out Scrozzle from GB offscreen, along with Loki's nephew Lothorn becoming the MoTD. Ayion going on about being the one who must stop Zedd got annoying, but otherwise this was a great plot and taking the fight to Rafkon was pretty cool. Even using teamup footage was executed well with Master Green being responsible for everything making "LEGENDARY BATTLE" suddenly make a lot more sense - more than "GRID CONNECTION" I gotta say.

Between Zedd getting captured and the 3 part finale we got my favorite filler in a fun episode featuring Torum Heng as Human Mucus. The finale had a very creative and nicely executed mashup of Ryusoulger combined with original footage making Void Queen fit seamlessly with the Nemesis Beast. The reveal/resolution of Amelia being the Void's daughter was well done and I liked Tarrick getting his old armor one last time. I liked the flash forward and Mucus & Slyther becoming human circus performers was cute. Of course Zedd escaped in a rare season ending cliffhanger and now the chase is on. I can't wait to see how Comic Fury plays out with hopefully more nostalgia and throwbacks as we celebrate PR30.

3/5 for "NEW LEAF"

5/5 for "LOVE HATE," "MORPHIN MASTER," "WISHFUL THINKING," "THE INVASION," "THE TRUTH," "THE NEMESIS"

4/5 for the rest

Thursday, October 6, 2022

Power Morphicon 2022: Unleashing the Beast (+ PMCs Ranked!)

I flew into Orange County Wednesday evening (8/26) and made my way to the airbnb in Long Beach that Batz, Mag-Num, her dad and friend had been staying at. Thursday I joined Batz for a day at Disneyland officially dubbed Ranger Bar Does Disney and then Friday was all Universal Studios. Can't wait for Super Nintendo World! Saturday we all left Long Beach and Batz & I headed to Pasadena - oh how nice it was to be back after 6 years. It was just after 12:30 by the time I got in a small line for my badge and Red Ranger membership level perks, WAY quicker than in 2018, thats for sure. On the lookout for anyone I know from the fandom, I observed a staff member run up to another fuming at how Jason David Frank was taking ALL the staff. I then headed to the villains panel, which I had been looking forward to with Colby Strong & Liana Ramirez (Beast Morphers) making their first ever panel, and the only panel appearance of Adelaide Kane (RPM) who was Saturday only - always great to see. Afterwards, I explored the floor for the first time, but unsure what to do, soon hopped next door to Starbucks and chilled off to the side of the floor with my frappuccino taking in all the action. JDF had a huge crowd in line as expected (also Saturday only), plus it was nice catching a nearby glimpse of the PMC7 Guest of Honor - GokaiRed from Gokaiger who I heard was charging like $300.

I rendezvous with Batz at the hotel to check in our room and back on the floor started to meet Beast Morphers cast - Rorrie Travis (Red) and Jazz Baduwalia (Blue). It was then time for the Mighty Morphin 29 Years Later panel and in the last hour of the day, I met Davi Santos (Dino Charge) and John Tui (SPD & Mystic Force) making his first PMC. Always ready to play paparazzi, I grabbed a pic of former longtime showrunner/EP Chip Lynn chatting with part of the Dino Fury cast as I slowly worked my way out.

Past PMCs had an official Saturday night event or concert happening but nothing was scheduled this year. So with the evening wide open after 6:00, I retreated back to our room and eventually met up with Batz who was hanging out in the hotel lobby bar. Soon we headed to Ralph's to get food & drinks for the Ranger Bar Pink Dolphin Party, grabbed dinner and begun setting up the hotel room. Tyler Waldman of Rangercast came by early and teased some info about season 30. Then the party got underway after 11:00 with a few rounds of Power Ranger fans coming by including our pal Eric Francisco, one of last from the old Mutant Chat who still goes to the con. I thought it was great seeing the younger generation in awe over VHS tapes of original episodes as one of the Ranger Bar TVs had In Space from Fox Kids and then Ninja Storm from ABC Kids/ABC Family playing.

Sunday got underway with the Dino Fury panel at 11:00 which included a message from showrunner/EP Simon Bennett officially announcing season 30 as Power Rangers Cosmic Fury - a 3rd season for Dino Fury with the same cast, something that hasn't happened since Mighty Morphin. It was supposed to be a bit of a surprise at the panel but Hasbro tweeted it out the night before around when Waldman was leaving our party, instead of Sunday at 8 am which PMC staff thought was happening. Whoops! It was also a bit awkward devoting 20 minutes of the panel to Cosmic Fury when the cast couldn't talk about it and very little was even known. But now that its all been revealed, I'm excited for this seemingly 10 episode 30th anniversary celebration with old faces returning and a new big bad likely joining Lord Zedd. I don't mind the upgraded Ryusoulger suits and get some fans wanting KyuRanger suits instead.

Anyway, up next was the Beast Morphers panel and soon after I met Jackie Scislowski (Yellow) and completed the quartet with Abraham Rodriguez (Gold) making sure to tell them how nice it was to see them after 4 years. I knew going into this weekend I wasn't really gonna see anyone from the Zordon era of the show but I did swing by Selwyn Ward ("The First Black Leader of the Power Rangers!") I had never met so he could sign an unopened Blue Space Ranger. Another thing different than past years was having the current cast at booths all weekend rather than the limited signings the casts of Samurai, Megaforce and Dino Charge had. So with part of the Dino Fury cast on the floor I met Hunter Deno (Pink), went to the voice actors panel at 3:00 and finished off PMC7 meeting Tessa Rao (Green).

This year definitely had other changes and differences from past PMCs. As always, the floor was packed with cast, all the PR toys you can ever imagine, even a good amount of non-PR stuff - but still felt a bit more lowkey without any presence from Hasbro, while past cons had Bandai, and 2018 in Oakland had full suits on display & a huge helmet display. It sounds like a lot of fans really enjoyed the interactions with cast and the intimate feel this year, obviously nice after what the world has gone through. I was unsure going in how this exactly would go but didn't feel like the pandemic impacted things at all in the end. This was also the first time I skipped Friday which worked out well since the panel schedule was rather light and I was confident I'd still have plenty of time to see a lot of recent cast. I was glad I didn't get the Gold Ranger membership this time (which I had done pretty much every year before), instead going for the cheaper Red Ranger with less perks/swag, especially as my collection of PR related clothing dating back to 2010 grows. Plus the PMC7 convention coin actually has the wrong date on it, all the more reason to cutback on these perks. 2024 I imagine will be a lot like this one, going just 2 days. There's a lot of Rangers, villains and voice cast I've met now and several I don't really care to. If there's no new cast, I'd hopefully be able to fill a few holes in recent & Disney era cast I missed when they were there before and whoever makes the con for the first time.

Check out my Instagram for photos/snaps!


PMCs Least Favorite to Favorite 

⚡ 2010: Easily my least favorite. At the time it was awesome PMC was moving to Pasadena under new ownership and I was ready to improve on 2007. But the trip got off to a rocky start after a falling out with puperazzi/Spy a few months prior came to a head in an encounter on Thursday. This was the only time PMC was in the convention center "basement" with a layout having the guests boxed in, so I'm not a big fan of how some of the pics turned out with the fan and guest on either side of the table. I got tons of autographs but lost a LOT of photos after the camera crashed Saturday evening. Jason Faunt and Erin Cahill (Time Force) are the only ones I for sure got new photos with. Some of the cast I definitely could've held off on seeing until later PMCs. I also have to just shake my head with how much I pushed to be included in the group on Night Zero in the long era of Chris Funaro as head of Mutant Chat.

2007: This was a VERY intimate experience for us all, literally being able to walk up to & meet cast, and getting autographs/pics with the entire cast of Operation Overdrive, what pretty much started it all. One of the first unexpected fanboy moments has to be meeting Paul Schrier in the hall. But I have to cringe at how way too awestruck I was at everything and not really talking to anyone besides Spy. Plus I was figuring out as I went along how quickly the camera (which was new then) used up non-rechargeable batteries and the whole insistence of sticking with the group even if it meant shleping my luggage around. 😬

2016: The big highlight was meeting all the Megaforce Rangers, one of the best groups of the 2010s. The Dino Charge panel with the Ninja Steel cast reveal and "Sudarso Bros" moment was awesome at the time, but aside from probably Zoe Robins (White), I don't care if I ever meet anyone from that cast in what would become one of the worst seasons of PR.

2022: I'd give this year the edge over 2016 but it's hard to top the next 3...

2012: This weekend was mega to say the least, getting a lot of photos, having no issues with the camera or anything and the Megaforce cast reveal in the Samurai panel which was a total shocker. Aside from how Power Rangers Samurai was going on TV, I loved meeting some of the team and still fondly look back on how open they were with posing for photos without the restrictions from before.

2018: Didn't care much for the Ninja Steel panel but of course the reveal of Beast Morphers with Rorrie, Jazz and Jackie during it was awesome. Other big highlights have to be David Fielding doing Zordon thanks to a rigged mic no one knew was happening and Christopher Khaymen Lee (In Space) & posse stopping by the RangerBar's Pink Dolphin Party.

2014: If I had to pick an absolute favorite this would be it. Hector David Jr (Samurai) made for one interesting night during that years Pink Dolphin Party. Great moments in meeting more of that cast and the expected Dino Charge cast reveal with Brennan Mejia who would become one of my favorite Reds and a pretty cool dude.

Thursday, March 3, 2022

Roarin' For Dino Fury

Dino Fury has been a true new beginning for the franchise with one of the best casts in years, a rad EDM vibes morphing sequence/roll call and all around improved writing from Simon Bennett & co. As the first season went on, I couldn't help but feel in retrospect how Beast Morphers was still too Neo Saban at times, especially with Zoey and Ben & Betty's wacky slapstick. Now that's outta here.

Zayto awakening and the flashbacks to Rafkon have made for some great episodes. Beast Morphers still has the better premiere but this season stayed locked in with other outstanding episodes in Izzy & Ravi's debut as Rangers and the return of OG Lord Zedd. Izzy & Fern representing LGBTQ+ has been awesome as well, long overdue for the show. It's interesting that early on Dino Fury was initially going to be a one-and-done season but was changed to two, and so the season was padded. Despite that, there were only a couple weak episodes I didn't care for much, while Void Knight trying to get the Sporix to revive Santuara was paced fairy well I thought. 

I wasn't sold on Buzzblast and the obvious Riptide set redressing, and while it can come off as a bit chaotic with so much going on so close together, it feels very modern for the show, as well as the Ranger hotline. I was however quickly sold on Jane & J-Borg, by far the best comedic relief since Disney era. I like the new direction they went with having Mucus as an additional comedic character.

I wasn't too sure about the Nexus Prism coming back but it worked pretty well as we really dove into PR lore with the Morphin Masters being responsible for a lot of old powers. And Mick's guest appearance and using his shapeshifting was fun - at least it was him and not a real teamup. Hopefully we can otherwise stay clear of Ninja Steel. >_>

Ivan in Dino Charge still has the best Gold Ranger debut in modern times but Aiyon's debut wasn't bad either, kind of a better episode plot than Nate & Steel becoming Rangers or Levi. 

The season finale was one of the most decent in years as far as being more of a midseason finale, which past seasons hadn't really done except for the Super Megaforce cliffhanger. I look forward to where things go as we really get rolling this year with the debut of Void King & Queen, Zedd coming back and if they play into him getting his Z-Staff. Also I've enjoyed Campbell Cooley's characters dating back to Snide so I was glad to see that continue with Slyther as a General.

5/5 for "SPORIX UNLEASHED," "NEW RECRUITS," "UNEXPECTED GUEST," "OLD FOES," "ANCIENT HISTORY"

3/5 for "SUPERSTITION STRIKES," "McSCARY MANOR," "SUPER HOTSHOT," "SECRET SANTA"

4/5 for the rest

Friday, January 14, 2022

Looking Back: Power Rangers Jungle Fury

Watching Jungle Fury again, I still remembered quite a bit but would my views change after all these years? I recalled it as being a lot weaker than the other Kalish seasons but that was a much different time in the show. Looking back, I can really appreciate what Marchand & Tellegen did, and how it was missed in recent years.

The season started with another solid premiere, not the best (better than Overdrive anyway), about on par with Mystic Force. I quickly got to like Dai Shi & Camille in the awesome copy of the set from GekiRanger (which would become one of my favorite villain storyarcs ever) and thought it was cool how the Rinshi were powered up to become the weekly monster. For the most part, the villain groups were handled well I thought (Dai Shi Clan/Five Fingers of Poison/Overlords/Phantom Beasts), aside from Scorch coming back one too many times - and in some cases - how the Dai Shi/Jarrod conflict was handled. Back when the season aired, I was kind of annoyed with Jarrod acting human one week and Dai Shi in full control the next. Plus in true PR fashion, it was ridiculous how easily his spirit escaped the box to begin with.

One of the best aspects of the season has to be the Masters. I still remember how exciting it was having the Spirit Rangers and a self-contained teamup when they'd join forces with the team. Loved RJ as a mentor and becoming Wolf Ranger. I wasn't as offended now, but originally, I really didn't like Casey. A bigger offense still has to be the Strike Rider and the annoyingly drawn out sequences it had, worse than SPD at times. JF had some of my favorite zords as well with some fun Flit-narrated battles, and I always enjoyed when the theme would play in episodes - besides Dino Charge - one of the last great intro songs/instrumentals. I also realize how much I miss the wire fu action style but Dino Fury definitely has had some great fight sequences, at times the closest to the old style since Disney era.

To this day, JF had one of the best Disney finales as I liked how it focused on the core 3 defeating Dai Shi, had awesome action, the destruction of the temple - and in the process - didn't do anything outta left field like Mesomonster or ridiculous like Octomus getting stuffed on magic. GekiRanger was great to watch as well. Besides having the original Rangers, I enjoyed the suits so much that this was one of the few times (after Time Force & Wild Force) that I bought the toys - inpaticular the Spring '08 Sound Fury line, Dai Shi, Camille/Flit and Beast Master Megazord I wished had appeared in the show.


 


Friday, February 19, 2021

Beast Morphin' Out

Coming off the dino teamup, Beast Morphers had some episode plots not all that great (Nate & his parents, Roxy & Ravi's trust issues), but I still enjoyed them especially GoBusters fight footage combined with the original stuff, like Ravi's overheating. Nate going over-the-top as Steel was fun and it was cool seeing Robo Blaze impersonate the real one, which should've happened earlier in the show. Also, I wish the musical had been more of a dream sequence than to have actually happened (kind of), but they weren't bad episodes. Zoey & her brother though was pretty lame with how the original fossil was disintegrated, how rushed the whole discovery was, not to mention the comedic slapstick with the dog.

And then we got to the good stuff. Evox's comment about a "very dark past" was a great tease. Nate and Dr K would turn out to be the best teamup, surpassing the Dino Charge return. They always manage to screw up returning Rangers, yet Dr K comes in like she never left. Loved it.

I knew about the Venjix twist since August but the voice switch was a surprise. Wasn't really expecting RPM clips either. Even if I hadn't known ahead of time I always thought the "horrifying discovery" in the episode description had to be Venjix. The way the scene played out was perfect. Yeah, tying up Ben and Betty was out of character but I chalk that up to there's no way they weren't gonna water him down from RPM somehow. And despite Venjix talking like old glory, I could never buy he was as powerful even after absorbing what remained from Scott's morpher. The only downside is this episode being another example of how overused the trans dimensional portals have become and why Dr K would let GB have the morphers briefcase in the first place.  And sure Beast Morphers used a lot of arrows but if it works, might as well roll with it.

Going into the finale, I guess I shouldn't be surprised the Venjix origin was largely ignored but it was great they kept the voice and referenced taking out a civilization. To me, the missing robotic voice filter could simply have been a side effect of the snake DNA/Morph-X. The Vault may have been something not planned early on (and could've been introduced earlier) but Chip definitely knew Evox was going to be Venjix with having Andrew Laing under the Randall Ewing pseudonym I thought was clever.

For todays modern PR, I was fine with Steel's sacrifice and how they worked in a final helmetless scene. I liked how it gave the team the drive to defeat Venjix adapting the GoBusters team energy flow. I don't know if allergic to human DNA was really the best idea and I realize putting things in retrospect how much they had the various DNAs as plot devices... not always executed well. Also, I thought redubbing the actor was fine, like something Neo Saban would've done. I really dug his running morph and the morph theme a final time. I thought for sure Nate would be the one to make Steel human and while I'm not too sure about the Grid acting sentinent, in this case, bringing him back with randomized Nate DNA mostly made sense to me. Having Jamie Lineham do it would've been cool, but I assume it came down to wanting a young actor. Also wish Colonel Truman could've had a longer scene but I did like Scrozzle getting captured offscreen hiding out around Corinth. 
 
I know some people had issues with the flashforward and Devon's promotion but I thought it made for a nice sendoff. Not the best finale but easily one of the best since Disney era, as well as Samurai which I always thought had a solid end, better than most of its 2 years. That's something I do miss now that Neo Saban at least tried, when finales had that cool finale moment (like Super Megaforce's mid-morph roll call) and would do something big like when the Samurai Megazord cockpit was destroyed.

4/5's except for 
"FOSSIL FRENZY" 3/5
"SOURCE CODE" 5/5
 

Thursday, October 29, 2020

PRBM: Evox Snare through Grid Connection

Continuing from "SECRET STRUGGLE," this was a solid 5/5 start for Beast Morphers final stretch run. I thought Evox would possess Mayor Daniels awhile longer, but I get that Devon wanted to save his dad quickly and get this resolved. The show doesn't always get the references right, but they were spot on here with Devon contacting Dr. K for help. I just wish the Vault had been at least hinted at sooner, plus how exactly did GB acquire some of that stuff? Can't help but hope Venjix wasn't in one of the acquired RPM morphers... >_>

As for the Chaku two-parter, I really liked seeing Gavan in original footage, the storyline around it, and how this all leads to the teamup. Ryjack was one of the best MoTDs in awhile. Some great unmorphed action in this with the reanimated foot soldiers. With so much MMPR nostalgia and remade Ranger suits in this day and age, I didnt think even think about the fact the original Putties hadn't been seen since season 1, only Z-Putties in PRiS. Also, I like Hasbro's new lightning bolt graphic to start the show. Things then took a bit of a downturn. I would've liked it better if Chaku had stayed RoboCop and perhaps his boss could've convinced him to go home to see his daughter, instead of Nate doing it, and making him human with the neural aligner. Plus it makes me realize how much Ranger tech has turned into magic now, unlike the old days of just being tech (like in PRLR), something I'm too sure about. We could've done without Ben & Betty in this episode with the Mario-ish Piranha Plant as well. 5/5 & 4/5

"FINDERS KEEPERS" was a great part 1 of the teamup, ultimately becoming a lot better than the following episodes, easily earning a 5/5. I love how Sledge returned with the classic "IT'S A BOMB," asks for his crew and Scrozzle reanimates EVERYONE, even Curio & Fury, previously forgotten about. Some great throwbacks with the van chase and old school back to back BM/DC team morphs.

While the Megazord battle felt tacked on, it worked as a way to keep the BM Rangers away from the ground fight I thought, nothing like SPD's weird usage of Dekranger in teamups. Seeing the Psycho data card, what are the chances Nate reformats and they actually use it?

 "MAKING BAD" potentiality could've been good but was squandered with the clip show unable to use the episodes original audio. Mystic Force was about the only decent part, since they got Leanbow, Koragg and Gekkor back for the redub. Apparently that was supposed to be Xander saying "He's a Ranger"? And how did they manage "Korogg" and "Mondoo" making it in? O_o

I did like they had Antonia Prebble return as Astronema, Beth Allen as Udonna and Susan Brady (Mystic Mother) for Rita. But yeah, Zedd was terrible especially that Zeo finale scene, clearly the show just getting a familiar VO to do it (Stig Eldred, the Neo Saban era Narrator among others). This made me think of "LOST & FOUND IN TRANSLATION" and coincidentally Steel/Vargoyle was AbareRed in that episode. Also, come on Evox, you only watched season 1 Goldar, for like a minute. Really hard to buy it was the same one with that voice. No fair Sledge is vaporized instead of given a bomb one last time, but that was pretty minor to the bigger issues.

Bastardizing the sentai is nothing I haven't seen before but "GRID CONNECTION" was up there with "LEGENDARY BATTLE" and "WORMHOLE" for bad ideas/fight sequences in crossovers. Having watched the morph a hundred times online before had made me even more hyped. Oh boy.

Why did the Morphin Grid have to send the meteor? Why couldn't GB have sent out a distress call and Jason comes in WITH the Power Coin? How did Rocky seemingly lose possession if not given to Jason? Why waste time with the moral and not start the action sooner? Jason coming in and revealing himself to be the real head of GB would've been cool.

I always feared the MM and DT Rangers would just show up, and sure enough they did. Plus the idea of using the Power Coin energy to send a message didn't make things any better. I felt like we needed an in-show reason for Snide to be brought back again, than to speculate Evox or Scrozzle must've liked him enough to have him teamup with Not-Goldar. I get including DT defeating Snide and didn't mind the redub, but there really should've been more room in between all this fast-paced action. I didn't quite get he zord summoning (which I assume was more of a footage thing) but do appreciate seeing the cockpits again, and Beast-X King joining DC Megazord. I just wish the zords could've done more.

I did like that this took place in the DC Dimension which I wasn't expecting and Devon going in the Grid was better than the Overdrive approach with making it a physical object. As a fan of Tyler/Brennan, I always like how they work in his catchphrase.

I'm just going to call part 1 the real teamup of the season. This wasn't any better than a 3/5, as is the clip show. Now hopefully they can bounce back and pull out all the stops in time for the finale.