#ninja rangers fear no danger

[matt0044]

Ninja Steel is Fun Actually or How I Learned To Stop Worrying & Love Victor Vincent.

1. The season seems keen on chilling out for most of its run with a dash of goofiness, each episode being its own adventure with the thinnest of Myth arc sown together. The Ninja Rangers themselves don’t have to answer to any higher power aside from the semi-sentient Nexus. No Zordon and especially no Gosei. They feel like high schoolers who choose for themselves to be heroes.

This is honestly my favorite kind of team similar not unlike with Lost Galaxy. They’re not Rangers because they were bestowed these powers by somebody but because the powers deemed them worthy. While Mic plays mentor, he and Redbot are mostly two Alphas working as one. It feel like an unofficial after-school club down to how their base is located in the high school ala Fourze.

Mic Kanic was a fun character, owing to Kelson Henderson’s being able to show his on-screen chops after being on voice-over duty. He’s the one who dispenses the moral of the story not unlike with Keeper, illustrating his points through reverse engineering them not unlike... a mechanic. Damn, that’s good.

Unlike with Keeper, he doesn’t feel as though he’s “there” for the sake of moralizing. He’s the one forging the Ninja Power Stars whenever the Prism displays a new weapon to wield along with Redbot. He doesn’t pretend to be smarter than the others, he’s just helping teens out in his own weird way. Not that his shape-shifting couldn’t have been played with in more episodes IMO.

2. The episodic nature feel far more like a feature than a flaw. In addition to the Rangers being high-schoolers, we have ourselves a light-on-plot format not too dissimilar to Mighty Morphin’ way back when. Now as an anniversary season. this can feel like a problem when many expect it to be “Go big or go home.” I get that yet... I also enjoy how one could go back to any episode in isolation.

That’s not to say that I don’t feel like it can’t feel held back at time in adhering to this format. I can say that giving each Ranger more pronounced character arcs while maintaining this structure wouldn’t have been impossible with a bit more focus on Story Editing. Preston reconciling with his father could’ve been set up if Marcus Tien had more of a presence up to that episode for one thing.

3. Victor and Monty. Where do I even begin with these two goobers? Chris Reid and Caleb Bendit go absolute ham with their characters ever scene they get. The latter is an over enthusiastic nerd who I swear has the hots for Mr. Vincent. The former has such a flare to him in bringing this young Gaston to life with such delicious arrogance.

Now... I get why they’re (charitably speaking) not exactly fan-favorites. Their C-Plot antics can feel divorced from the story compared to a lot of Bulk and Skull’s escapades way back when. To say nothing of some of their... bowel-based comedy routines.

Yet for me, there was just an unabashedly enthusiasm to their wacky hijinks that I could never hate for the life of me. They could be so juvenile yet did it without ever feeling an ounce of shame. Even their fart jokes don’t just settle for less.

One episodes they’re cocooned by a spider monster and float into the sky in their inflated wrappings. Another they try to turn the entire class into one big Dutch Oven to avoid a test they didn’t study for... only for the teacher to pass out gas masks. The cherry on top? They don’t get any.

It leaves me in a sense of “Oh my god,” but in the best way possible. I shouldn’t like them. I really shouldn’t but... I’m too much of a late 00s kid to grow out of it. Go ahead and call out my bad taste, I don’t care.

Now this isn’t to say that there were things that couldn’t have been improved upon from small adjustment to pretty major tweaks that I’ve often pondered.

1. The villains were a tad hit or miss. Odious was a good Star Scream in how she schemed behind the scenes and got the likes of Ripcon to take the fall when her fake Aiden plan didn’t precisely go as planned. Cosmo Royale is a huge ham in the best way as Galaxy Warrior’s host, playing up each monster of the day.

That said, Galvanax and Ripcon were the weaker of the lot. The latter could’ve had more of a rivalry with Brody. Maybe as a former master who gave him the skills his father couldn’t, leading them to clash when out in the field. It would help him stand out as a villain.

The former should’ve been less of a gruff brute like Sledge and more watching from the shadows ala Doctor Claw, stepping in when stuff got real like the season finale. The camera could hide him from view until he stepped into the fray. He could also do with a smooth yet menacing voice so to speak. You know, hype up his final showdown in the end.

2. Brody’s time is space could’ve been expanded upon. Perhaps a few of Galaxy Warriors’ contestants crossed paths with the young ninja and are in a conflict of interests. Be it a noble warrior or a former foe. Again, Ripcon could sort of be the Shadow Weaver to Brody’s She-Ra of sorts.

Wait... does that make Odious Catra?

Um...

Additionally, maybe show how out of touch he is with Earth customs due to living on an alien ship for a bit of comic relief. Think Super Sentai’s comedic Reds but more chill and far less obnoxious, being a good leader even with his eccentricities. You could have him be the ones to weird out Victor and Monty.

3. Sledge’s crew should’ve been a rival to Galaxy Warriors in Super Ninja Steel as they catch onto her ruse and return. You could actually have him bring over the Galactic Ninjas with Fox Bots replacing the Viviks, making them more of a big deal.

Odious would go along with it to boost rating for the show and attract more warriors for her benefit. She could try to play both side leading up to the finale with Badonna as a spy so to speak. She has magic so while not let her shape-shift.

4. I get the sense Dane Romero was meant to be dead but it was deemed a tad dark and brought back since they had three Akaningers to adapt. He could’ve acted as a secondary mentor for the Rangers as he caught up with his sons and taught them more advanced skills.

Despite this, Ninja Steel was a fun ride even if it was a touch mellow. I feel like some of the hate is a touch overblow for the sake of hyperbole but I don’t fault anybody for finding this to not be their cup of tear. The anniversary element is another post entirely so I’ll save that for later.

Alright, guys, tear me apart.

[rpgsandbox]

Part homage, all farce, the AWFULLY CHEERFUL ENGINE! is an irreverent, affectionate parody of pop-culture tropes and a love-letter to 80s roleplaying games in a new, modern comic-book sized format! It’s a wacky roleplaying game of action comedy!

       Hardcover collector's omnibus, softcover rules and adventures, blank ID cards, monster cards, hero role cards, VTT tokens

Are you a fan of the Ghostbusters RPG from the 1980s? Danger Mouse or Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles? Bill & Ted or Rick & Morty? Back to the Future, Indiana Jones, Dracula, or sci-fi adventures on the final frontier? Do you enjoy chortling at TV tropes or chuckling at pop-culture parodies? Then the Awfully Cheerful Engine! is here for you!

ACE! is brought to you by Russ 'Morrus' Morrissey (EN World, WOIN, Judge Dredd & The Worlds of 2000 AD), Dave Chapman (Doctor Who, Star Trek Adventures), and Marc Langworthy (Hellboy, Judge Dredd & The Worlds of 2000 AD). With a foreword by Sandy Petersen, co-author of the Ghostbusters RPG!

ACE! is designed for everybody! From talking animals to pulp heroes to eldritch horrors, kids and adults alike will find adventures to love with the Awfully Cheerful Engine!

This tabletop roleplaying game, which we’re calling ACE! with an exclamation point, is one of fast, cinematic, action comedy. To play you need a handful of six-sided dice, a pen, and some paper. Each player plays one Hero, except for one player who takes the role of the Director.

Think of ACE! as an irreverent, fun-packed movie. You might play as ghost hunters in New York City, a band of plucky galactic guardians, vampire slayers, or soldiers of fortune in the Los Angeles underground. Heck, you might even be cartoon animals. Good grief!

This is a multi-dimensional, time-hopping, genre-mashing, pan-galactic portal into any type of adventure you can imagine! Want to play in a fantasy world full of elves and orcs? Crew a starship as it explores the galaxy? Hunt vampires in Victorian London? Play as animal detectives, robot cowboys, wizards, ninjas, or time traveling bounty hunters?

The only limit is your imagination, and the requirement that you have fun.

This Kickstarter is for the full five-book set.

What? Five books, you say? Fear not -- they're pretty small books! They include the core rules, and four hilarious genre-hopping adventures. Each book is about 30 pages long. Except for one which is longer, but we wrote 'BUMPER SIZE ISSUE' on the front of that, so it's OK. If you’ve ever held a comic-book in your hand, the Awfully Cheerful Engine! will feel very familiar!

The core rulebook is just 30 pages in a bright, colorful comic-book sized format. We even gave it an issue number, like a comic-book! After that, each 'issue' is a standalone adventure, designed for one-shots or short campaigns with new characters each time. One week you might be fighting ghosts on the streets of Manhattan, and the next you might be exploring the frontiers of space in your trusty starship!

You don't have to play them all, or in order. The standalone format means you can fit them in whenever and however you feel like it. GM can't make your regular game? Go bust some ghosts instead! Pickup game at a convention? Investigate the strange goings-on in a small American town in the 1980s. Running a livestream? Board a starship and fight the Kulkan Empire! Play one of them, some of them, or all of them! It's up to you!

                Are they comics? Or are they RPGs? (They're RPGs)

ACE #1: Introducing the Awfully Cheerful Engine! With a foreword by Ghostbusters RPG author Sandy Petersen, this book tells you the rules, how to create your Heroes, and gives you a bunch of Extras (NPCs & monsters) to use. By Russ Morrissey.

ACE #2: Spirits of Manhattan. Strap on your Anti-Plasm Particle Thrower, grab your Electromagnetic Field Detector, and jump into your Ghostmobile. New York City needs your help! By Dave Chapman and Russ Morrissey.

ACE #3: Montana Drones & The Raiders of the Cutty Sark. At the request of Army Intelligence, Montana Drones and her team travel the globe in search of lost or hidden artefacts, often exploring dangerous sites and racing against hostile enemy agents to keep the objects of their quests from falling into the wrong hands. Striking locations, exciting chases, dangerous enemies and monotonous classroom lectures await! By Marc Langworthy.

ACE #4: Strange Science. Welcome to Wilden Falls, your average American town in the heart of the country. Surrounded by trees, nature, and there’s a wonderful waterfall that brings the tourists. It’s a quaint little town. Until weird things start happening at the local research facility, people go missing, and there’s a sudden influx of fitness nuts in the town. That’s before we get to the time travel, bodysnatching, and portals to other dimensions. Maybe ‘strange’ isn’t strong enough a word for it! By Dave Chapman.

ACE #5: Beam Me Up! These are the voyages of the starship FSS Brazen. Its continuing mission: to recklessly go where plenty of people have probably been before… and hope a major interstellar incident isn’t sparked in the process. In this highly illogical adventure for the ACE! roleplaying game, you’ll explore frontiers you never thought you had. By Marc Langworthy.

We give you four adventures to start with, and we have plans for more, but there's also a free compatibility license so anybody can write and publish material powered by the Awfully Cheerful Engine!

Hardy Hobbit. Teenage Samurai. Cheerful Stuntman. Clumsy Vampire. Squeamish Ghost. Who knew you could say so much in just two words? The possibilities are endless.

It’s not just Awfully Cheerful! It’s fast and fun, too!

You won’t get bogged down in endless rules and character sheets that look like tax forms. Your ACE! ID Card contains everything you need to know, and it’s only about the size of a credit card! But don’t try to spend it. It’s not a real credit card. Honestly, we tried, and it didn't end well.

You can download blank ID cards from our website. Don’t worry, there’s a printer-friendly black-and-white version too!

Making your Hero takes about five minutes. And that includes a coffee break.

You can choose from an array of talking animals, alien and fantasy species, and occupations from a bunch of genres. Play a cat, a crow, or a turtle. An alien, an elf, a robot, or a vampire. A knight, a pirate, or a wizard. An astronaut, a burglar, a reporter, or a spy. The core book has dozens of Roles to get you started with, and each adventure book introduces more!

Even better, you can already use our online character builder and make a character in about 30 seconds! It's so quick! Give it a try! And if you felt like sharing your Hero on Twitter with the hashtag #awfullycheerful and a link to this page, well, we'd be most awfully grateful!

                                       Build your Hero online!

Alternatively, each adventure comes with its own selection of pre-generated characters. If you don't want to make your own characters, you can simply use those - perfect for one-shots or new players!

Download the pre-gens for all four adventures from the official website!

In A.C.E! each Hero (that's you!) has a Role. Your Role gives you a special ability only you can use. Here's a quick look at some of the Roles you can play!

Talking animals like Ape, Cat, Crow, Dog, Kangaroo, and Turtle.

Species like Alien, Dwarf, Elf, Ghost, Goblin, Golem, Hobbit, Monster, Ogre, Robot, Vampire, and Werewolf.

Fantasy roles like Alchemist, Assassin, Barbarian, Cleric, Druid, Knight, Ninja, Outlaw, Pirate, Ranger, Samurai, Slayer, and Wizard.

Occupations like Actor, Archeologist, Astronaut, Athlete, Bounty Hunter, Boxer, Burglar, Chef, Con Artist, Cowboy, Detective, Doctor, Engineer, Gambler, Gangster, Hacker, Hermit, Inventor, Musician, Pilot, Priest, Professor, Reporter, Scientist, Smuggler, Soldier, Spy, Student, and Stuntman.

Even a couple of superheroes like Speedster and Vigilante!

Yep, you can play a Ghost. You don’t take damage unless its from a holy source or some special sci-fi ecto-gadget. But you also can’t pick things up. So there’s that.

Each of the adventures adds some more Roles (or recommends some old ones)!

Spirits of Manhattan adds Ghost, Demonologist, Doctor, Engineer, Exorcist, Inventor, Priest, Professor, Scientist, and Student.

Raiders of the Cutty Sark adds Botanist, Double-Agent, Socialite, and Witch.

Strange Science adds Brain, Cheerleader, Outsider, Protector, Radio Presenter, and Tycoon.

Beam Me Up adds Captain, Chief Engineer, Comms, Hologram, Gunner, Counsellor, and Pilot.

ACE! is a pretty fast, light game. If you played 1986's Ghostbusters RPG, you'll see the influence immediately.

Stats! The AWFULLY CHEERFUL ENGINE! is a d6 dice pool system*. You have four Stats -- Smarts, Moves, Style, and Brawn. If you have a Moves score of 3, you roll three six-sided dice when you try to jump a motorcycle over a ravine. If you roll high enough, you succeed. It's pretty simple!

Focuses! For each Stat you also have a Focus. For Smarts it might be a science, or chess, or history. For Style it might be bluffing, singing, or fashion, and for Brawn it might be brawling or swimming. You can choose from plenty of focuses. Foci. Focuses. Whatever.  Anyway, if the thing you're trying to do relates to a Focus, you get to roll an extra two dice.

Trait! You choose a trait, like Angry or Cheerful or Rebellious or Despondent. This, combined with your Role, makes you a Gullible Vampire, a Brave Turtle, or a Squeamish Scientist.

Karma! Finally, you have a bunch of Karma points. These can be spent for extra dice or to absorb damage from attacks, and they're recovered by using your trait.

*Fun fact -- did you know that 1986's Ghostbusters RPG, by Sandy Petersen, Lynn Willis and Greg Stafford, was the first ever dice pool RPG? Also Sandy Petersen has written an awesome foreword for the AWFULLY CHEERFUL ENGINE!

What, I hear you ask, is a CALAMITY DIE?

The Calamity Die is how you find out that your friends really aren't your friends. You see, when you make a roll, one of those dice is a different color, and is called the Calamity Die. And if your roll fails, and also the Calamity Die rolls a 1, your so-called 'friends' decide what happens to you. It won't kill you or anything, but...

Well, we'll leave that thought with you.

                             Nooooo! And it was all going so well!

Kickstarter campaign ends: Fri, June 18 2021 10:00 PM BST

Website: [Awfully Cheerful Engine] [EN Publishing] [facebook] [twitter]

[maswartz]

Power Rangers Mystech Mages

(logo by @masterpikachu6)

Outside the city of Salem Massachusetts hidden by magic stands the Spellington Academy of the Mystic Arts.The academy teaches students from around the world how to use magic from many different cultures throughout history. Each student is given a gemstone containing natural mana to use as a focal point for their spells. Students of the Academy are given the title of Mage while those who graduate are given the title of Mystic. Those who choose to teach are given the title of Sorcerer. One day a group of outcast students accidentally breaks the seal on a box the founder brought with him during the Mystic Exodus and unleashes an ancient evil that the founder had sealed away. Seeking revenge the evil King Jannul targets the students of the academy as well as the nearby city, The five are tasked by the twin headmistresses Sunny and Luna with stopping it using the magic they’ve learned as well as high tech weapons.

“The Spark Of Magic Ignites Our Engines! Power Rangers Mystech Mages!”

The Mage of Elements! Ruby Mystech Ranger!- Ezra- Ezra comes from a long line of famous magic users. Rumors began around campus that they only got into the school because of family connections. As a result he became obsessed with proving his worth. It was his spell that unleashed King Jannul, much to his guilt.

Ezra specializes in elemental spells including fire, water, air, earth, metal, wood and lightning, however they have the most practice with fire. Spells: Pyro burst- Charges his attacks with burning flame 

Ignis- Creates a ball of flame in his hand, can be used for illumination or as a projectile. First spell Ezra learned  

Agua armor- A liquid armor surrounds him. Does slow him down slightly. 

Granite gloves- Creates gloves of rock on his hands.   

Kaze katana- Engulfs his sword in a whirlwind  

Aborron Ivine- Creates ropes of vine to either climb or restrain  

Rustarag- Can enhance the strength of the users weapon or reduce the strength of the enemies weapon  

Wrath of Thor- Ezra shoots a bolt of lighting into the sky which causes multiple bolts to rain down.

Ruby Elemental Blast- Enchants a spell disk with all elements and launches it

Face Claim: Dillon Mitra

The Mage of Offense! Sapphire Mystech Ranger!- Nolan - When Nolan was a child he used magic to defend himself from an attacker and grew to believe magic was a tool to punish the guilty. He has a low tolerance for those who attack the helpless. Dating Angela Nolan specializes in offensive spells that boost his attacks. Spells: Spirit of the Samurai- Allows Nolan to channel the abilities and skills of a samurai. Vigor of the Viking- Allows Nolan to channel the abilities and skills of a viking. Stamina of the Spartan- Allows Nolan to channel the abilities and skills of a spartan. Stealth of the Ninja- Allows Nolan to channel the abilities and skills of a ninja. Armor of the Knight- Allows Nolan to channel the abilities and skills of a knight. Accuracy of the Archer- Allows Nolan to channel the abilities and skills of an archer. Bullet of the Soldier- Allows Nolan to channel the abilities and skills of a soldier. Rage of the Berserker- A dangerous spell that allows Nolan to enter a warriors rage. Sapphire Retribution Slash- All the damage Nolan took during a battle is channeled into a single slash. Face Claim: Sean Quan

The Mage of Illusions! Topaz Mystech Ranger!- Nathan- Nathan is a fun loving prankster. His pranks are infamous around campus. Sees magic as a way to bring people joy and hates those who use it to spread misery. In time he begins to date Jules. Nathan specializes in illusion spells and disguises. Spells: Web of Anansi- Traps the victim in an illusion web Loki Landscaping- Changes the victims view of the landscape, buildings on their sides, water flowing upwards, etc Coyote Phobia- A spectral coyote traps the victim in an illusion of their greatest fear. Nathan only used this once outside of battle and instantly regretted it. Coyote Philia- A spectral coyote traps the victim in an illusion of their greatest desire. Nathan doesn’t like using this one either outside of battle because of the pain it causes when it ends. Bunshin no Jutsu- Creates copies of himself

Topaz Trap- Nathan creates a group of illusions including of himself and when the enemy attacks the illusion he opens fire on them Face Claim: Chantz Simpson

The Mage of Swiftness! Jade Mystech Ranger!- Dinah- Athletic with a strong competitive streak, Dinah is still bitter about an incident when she was younger where she was disqualified from a track and field event after she accidentally used magic to give herself the advantage. Dinah specializes in spells that increase her physical attributes, usually her speed. Spells: Heracles Hear my Plea- Boosts the strength of the user Sandals of Hermes- Enchants the footwear of the user to enhance speed Great Eagle be my eyes- Enhances her accuracy Jade Jolt- Her body becomes like lighting for one minute allowing her to strike fast and hard. Face Claim: Talia Jackson

The Mage of Defense! Coral Mystech Ranger!- Angela- Kind and gentle. Angela is always trying to help others. She is sometimes blind to the fact her cheerfulness isn’t always welcome. Her kindness is not without limit however and those who unleash her anger do so at their own risk. In the field she acts as second in command. Dating Nolan Angela specializes in defensive and healing spells. Spells: Lux barios- Creates a shield of light, the user cannot move while using this spell. Luminous Armor- Creates a suit of armor made of light around either the user or a target. The armored one can move during this spell. Cupids Arrow- Shoots an arrow of light and love. Particularly effective against beings of dark magic. Loveal- A healing spell boosted by the emotional bond between the user and the subject Coral Caring- A spell that heals a person to full health, more intense injuries require more mana to heal. When used on beings of dark magic this spell will damage or even destroy them. Face Claim: Shailyn Pierre-Dixon Each ranger is given a Spell Sword and a Spell Shooter by Wolcain, the Academy’s blacksmith.

The Mage of Prophecy! Platinum Mystech Ranger!- Jules- When Jules was a boy his family’s house caught fire in the middle of the night. He woke up to his room on fire and nearly perished when a strange woman barged into his room. The woman put herself between him and the flames saving him, sadly his family was not so lucky. The woman explained that she was a sorceress from an academy that taught magic. She had a vision about his family dying in the fire and in her vision he died too. She told him that the burns on her body were proof that while it is possible to fight fate it is never easy. She took Jules to the Academy where she mentored him in the art of divination. Over the years he took after her and copied her strict nature hiding his emotions behind a serious exterior. However with close friends he lets this exterior down. Strangely it’s not this seriousness that resulted in him being alienated on campus, rather it was his bad habit of spoiling things. In time he begins to date Nathan. Spells: Future Eyes- Allows Jules to see what an enemy is about to do. Face Claim: Dante Brown As the Golmen get stronger to the point where the rangers are seriously injured in a battle they seek out the legendary Roc bird. The bird is said to have intense mana and will bestow its power upon those who complete its trials. After completing the trials the Rangers are granted the Roc’s Armor power up giving them stronger armor and arming them with bow and arrows. Zord Gems- Mystech Zords- Wolcain gives each ranger a Zord Gem, a special Mana Gem that bonds with a vehicle gaining the ability to turn into that vehicle. These vehicles are made of Mana Crystal (the natural material used to create the Mana Gems) as well as Mana Steel (steel infused with mana during its forging giving it mystic qualities). The spell Macrize enlarges the zords to full size. Ruby Rescuer- A firetruck that can channel Ezra’s elemental power Sapphire Jet- A jet that can channel Nolan’s offensive power Topaz Digger- An excavator that can channel Nathan’s illusion power Jade Speeder- A race car that can channel Dinah’s speed power Coral Copter- A helicopter that can channel Angela’s defensive power As with all zords the five can combine to form the Mystech Megazord but the zords can also split into groups to form the Mystech Ogre and Mystech Sprite Megazords Megiant Ogre! Mystech Ogre Megazord! Ruby Rescuer forms the body and right arm Topaz Digger forms the left arm Jade Speeder forms the head and right shoulder Megiant Sprite! Mystech Sprite Megazord! Sapphire Jet forms the legs Coral Copter forms the head arms and body Megiant Mystech! Mystech Megazord! Ruby Rescuer forms the body, legs and right arm Sapphire Jet forms the sword Topaz Digger forms the left arm Jade Speeder forms the head and right shoulder Coral Copter forms the chest armor Diamond Drill Megazord- A mighty driller powered by the Diamond Mana Gem. Turns into a solo megazord. Wolcain would go on to create five auxiliary Mystech Zords from some construction equipment he found in a junkyard. Orange Steamroller-  Forms a mighty hammer for the Megazord Teal Forklift- Forms a piercing trident for the Megazord Violet Truck- Forms a protective shield for the Megazord Navy Garbage Truck-Forms a vortex vacuum for the Megazord Lime Cement Mixer- Forms a cement shooting gun for the Megazord Years ago an archeological crew from the Academy discovered the ruins of the kingdom of Kiram and brought back a statue, a wagon being pulled by a mighty draconic beast. Wolcain rebuilt it into a mighty zord, the King of Spells, a mighty dragon that could turn into a train known as the Spellbound Express that would act as a guardian for the Academy. Its tracks circle the campus and students often wave as it passes by. As the Spellbound Express it has the power to travel to mystic realms and is often used for field trips to those realms. When the Mystech Rangers call on their aid it races into battle and forms the Mystech Express Megazord. After passing its trial the Roc agrees to help the Rangers in battle. In order to fully harness its power Wolcain creates a mighty golden jet for it to combine with to create the Roc Megazord. The golden jet can act as a carrier zord for transporting the main five zords. Allies: Headmistress Luna- One of the two Headmistresses of the Academy. Cold, calculating and logical. Though she hides it she truly cares about everyone on the campus from the students to the staff. She specializes in offensive spells. Headmistress Sunny- One of the two Headmistresses of the Academy. Warm, friendly and emotional. She encourages each student to do their best and reach their full potential. She specializes in defensive spells. Wolcain- The Academy’s blacksmith and expert at modern technology. He believes that if the magical community does not adapt to the modern world they’ll become a brittle relic of the past. He’s the one who comes up with the term Mystech to describe technology powered by magic. He created the Rangers tools and weapons. Natalia- The Academy’s teacher of divination. She rescued Jules as a child after having a vision of him dying with his family. She was seriously burned in her efforts but refused to have the scars healed wanting them to remain as an example to others of the price of fighting fate. Caleb- Civilian from Salem, no magic, Tech expert. Befriends the Rangers early on, helps Wolcain adjust the mystic sensors so they can actually detect the villain, ends up apprenticing with him and helping maintain the rangers gear. Carmen- Vampire. Studies spells about shadows. Loves photography. Shy. Outcast because of the negative stigmas about vampires. Her thirst for blood is satisfied by eating raw meat once a day. Only weak to religious symbols when they are held by a person with strong faith. Has enchanted sunglasses that allow her to be in the sun without pain. Lucas- Werewolf. Pacifist. Studies spells about animals. Only an outcast because he chose to befriend the others. Known around campus as a good listener to people's problems. Wants to be a therapist someday Villains: Many centuries ago the kingdom of Kiram prospered, its people utilized mana gems to use magic in their daily lives. However the King of Kiram grew hungry for power and his heart turned dark. His evil grew and corrupted the kingdom’s mana gems into dark mana gems. One day a traveling wizard confronted the dark king and sealed him and his followers away in a box. In process of escape steals mana gems corrupting many into Dark Mana Gems. Their plan is to steal or harness a large amount of Mana from either gems or people, both methods work, then corrupt it into Dark Mana. After that they’ll release it world wide corrupting all mana into dark mana. Using their control over Dark Mana they’ll control all Mana on the planet King Jannul- The king of Kiram who was corrupted by power and sealed away for his crimes. General Selen- A moon themed warrior and master of combat. Warrok- A masked fiend who is responsible for crafting the Golgems and Golmen. Krys- A warrior woman skilled in curses and vexes. She can supercharge the Golgems and Golmen at the cost of shortening their lifespan. Golgems- The foot soldiers are created by shattering Dark Mana Gems and animating the shards Golmen- Monsters created by embedding a Dark Mana Gem into an object. When a Golmen is destroyed its dark energy turns into a giant monster Railex- A monster machine that aids the Golmen in battle. Animated from one of the guardian statues left behind in Kiram it can turn into a warrior form armed with a chainsaw. During the final battle King Jannul has gathered enough dark mana to cover the world and engages the rangers in battle. The rangers are able to get a message out to all the various mystic academies and mystic communities around the world asking all the mages strong enough to cast a spell to dispel the darkness. However if they do they'll be revealed to the public. Without hesitation mages around the world raise their wands (or the equivalent) and cast the spell. Without the reserves of dark mana fueling him Jannul is weak enough for the rangers to defeat once and for all. In the aftermath magic is more common place and people around the world begin studying it at the academies. Ancient Mages: A monster steals a Mana Gem from Saurusia framing the Mystech rangers in the process. The Ancient Knights are sent after the thief and encounter the real Mystech Rangers and a battle ensues. After both sides realize they’ve been deceived they unite to fight the monster. Morphers- Mage Morphers- Wrist worn devices containing the Ranger’s Gemstone allowing them to tap into its power to cast spells. Morphing Call: I/We Call on the Magic Within! Morphing- Ranger colored energy flows from the morphers encasing the rangers in their gemstone before Ranger colored light shines from within shattering the gemstone revealing the suits.

Location: Massachusetts (Faces by @dream-chef-flavors​)

Power Rangers Ancient Knights <------Powerverse -------->Power Rangers Zenith Force

[hellzyeahwebwielingessays]

The Problem with Spidey as ‘Iron Man Junior’

Proponents of the MCU version of Peter Parker have often defended his characterization as logical and necessary in context. But is this really the case?

Tl:dr version: No it is not.

Forgive some laziness on my part because I’m going to be presuming everyone’s familiarity with the comic book iteration of Spider-Man and his MCU adaptation for the most part. To say there is a divide between many fans of former vs. the latter would be an understatement.

Detractors (which I count myself among) typically sum this up as the character being reduced to ‘Iron Man Junior’. In general this refers to MCU Peter Parker’s hero-worshipping of Tony Stark/Iron Man, their father/son relationship and the similar emphasis upon high technology in their hero identities. A connected point of contention is Peter’s aspiration to become an Avenger.

This was outright confirmed by Tom Holland himself in an interview for the then upcoming ‘Spider-Man: Homecoming’.

"I think the difference now is that Peter Parker finally has an all-time goal, and his goal is to become an Avenger…Everything he does, even though he's doing it for the right reasons, is done so that one day he can become an Avenger and prove himself to Tony Stark. And I think we've never really seen Spider-Man with that kind of motivation before."

Defenders of this take upon Spidey have argued that this portrayal makes sense in context.

After all, Peter Parker is a teenager who’s grown up in a world where the Avengers are beloved, especially Iron Man. Plus in the comics (under J. Michael Straczynski’s pen) there was a time when Peter and Tony shared a father/son relationship. Tony even equipped Peter with a high tech costume as he did in the MCU. Spider-Man early in his career attempted to join the Fantastic Four in ASM #1 and later the Avengers in ASM Annual #3.

The problem is these defences just don’t hold up to scrutiny.

Let me first be upfront about my philosophy towards adaptations.

I in no way shape or form demand nor expect adaptations to be 1:1 panel to screen translations of the source material. I fully respect that changes are a necessity.

One of many 22-page comic book stories put out every month in the 1960s inevitably needs to be altered when jumping to a 90+ minute live action film in the 2010s.

Even the characterizations need to be altered where necessary if the source material is found wanting. *side eyes Emma Stone’s Gwen Stacy*

However, my attitude is that adaptations should at minimum respect the spirit  of the source material no matter what. To do otherwise defeats the object of adapting the work in the first place. If a film is just borrowing superficial traits (names, costumes, powers, etc.) and but not representing the spirit of the character, then creatively speaking it might as well be an original character.

This is the case with the MCU version of Spider-Man. A fundamental component of Stan Lee and Steve Ditko’s original vision for Spider-Man was that he was in essence the anti-Robin.

At a time when teenaged characters were sidekicks (Dick Grayson), supporting characters (Rick Jones) or the ‘kids’ in teams (Johnny Storm) Peter Parker was unique as a totally independent  teen hero. Of course that independence only applied to his life as Spider-Man, but that was part of the point. Spider-Man was his escape and release from the pressures and hang ups of his regular life, which included his doting yet coddling aunt.

A critical part of this was that he was a self-made  man. No elder mentor guided him in the use of his powers, helped him create his equipment or provided any sort of advice/accountability for Peter. He did it all himself. He was a loner.

On a meta level this is partially why Stan Lee (and for the longest time consequent writers) showcased Spidey not jiving with super teams. It was done to emphasis Peter’s independence and thereby his uniqueness within the genre. Even if that’s not so unique anymore (even in film), it’s still a baked in component of teen Spidey’s story. An essential aspect of who he is as a character.

As is his working class status.*

In fact these things go hand-in-hand. Just as Peter had to shoulder an ‘adult hero’s’ burden as Spider-Man (noticeably Lee didn’t dub him Spider-Boy or Lad as would’ve been common back then he also had to struggle for every penny. With the death of his uncle and his aunt’s poor health the burden of household provider fell on his shoulders.

When you take all this into account, having him fanboy over the Avengers and have a superhero mentor (let alone a billionaire one) is an aggressive misreading of the character.

The best way I can illustrate this is with an analogy from the opposite end of the spectrum. Imagine if you will a movie depicting Dick Grayson’s transformation into Robin. Except Batman was wholly absent. Not even an off-screen presence.

That  is how poorly MCU has missed the point  of Spider-Man.

And it was never necessary.

Contrary to defenders of the MCU, making Peter an Avengers/Iron Man fanboy was not the only logical direction to go with the character.**

Yes, in Peter’s world most kids would revere the Avengers and Iron Man. But in the real world not every kid or teen likes the Avengers characters or movies. Just as not every major pop culture phenomenon has ever been universally  embraced by contemporary kids/teens. In the 1980s not every kid loved the Transformers or the Ninja Turtles. In the 1990s not ever kid loved the Power Rangers or Pokémon.

Of course, most kids did, just as most  kids like the Avengers characters today. Similarly most  kids in the MCU by extension would look up to the Avengers. However, if anything this could actually help generate a more spiritually faithful rendition of the character. Consider that on literally the first page of Amazing Fantasy #15 Peter Parker was mocked by his classmates for being an outsider. A bookworm who didn’t know the difference between a cha-cha and a waltz.

In the context of the MCU wouldn’t Peter’s lack of familiarity or interest in the Avengers make for an appropriate updating of that characterization?

Let’s also consider that in the context of the regular 616 universe Spidey held little reverence for any of the heroes who had preceded him. This included Captain America and other WWII heroes as well as the Fantastic Four and their leader, the world famous scientist Reed Richards. Peter would’ve surely known who Reed and Cap were but as originally depicted by Stan lee himself, he wasn’t falling over himself during any of their early encounters.

So there was already a precedent in the comics for Spidey to not be dazzled by famous A-list heroes, meaning it’d be totally believable in the context of the MCU. Indeed this was likely part of the point of the character. Just as being Spider-Man didn’t improve his outsider status within the high school hierarchy so too was he an outsider among his super hero peers. The nerd to the Avengers jocks if you will.

But what of those comic book sources that say otherwise? Surely ASM #1, ASM Annual #3 and JMS’ run on Amazing Spider-Man corroborate the MCU’s take upon the character.

Yes and no, let’s tackle them one by one.

In ASM #1 it was made explicit that Peter wanted to join the F4 for purely practical reasons. His family needed money so he hoped the F4 could provide and income. When he learned otherwise he departed as quickly as he’d arrived.

In ASM Annual #3 Peter was far from eager  to join the Avengers and was equally unimpressed with them as a group.

He actively sabotaged his own chances to join at the issue’s conclusion.

As for Straczynski’s run…sigh…strap in.

At face value this run does indeed seem to support the MCU’s rendition of Spidey. However, the support it offers falls apart due to two factors.

The first is that, well…Peter and Tony’s relationship was pretty nonsensical.

I’m no Iron Man expert so I do not know how old the character would be roughly. From my impressions of the character though circa 2006 he wasn’t even in his 40s yet. Peter by contrast was 30 years old when you do the math. Unlike Tony he’d had several very serious romantic relationships and was back then happily married (barring a brief trial separation). He and his wife had lost a child and even believed one another dead at one point or another. Peter at the time was also working as a teacher to teenagers where he was clearly framed as their elder authority figure.

What I’m saying is that Peter was if anything more emotionally mature than Tony at this time. Or at least he was mature to the point where he was not going to view Tony as his father figure given the minor age discrepancy.

The relationship was clearly engineered with the pre-determined endgame in mind. That endgame being the ‘Civil War’ storyline wherein Peter would unmask upon Tony’s request and subsequently become a fugitive in defiance of Tony’s unethical practices. The latter would entail Tony threatening Peter and the pair coming to blows.

This brings me to the second factor. The totality of Peter/Tony’s relationship was designed to be a testament to how it was ultimately a bad thing.

Tony wasn’t the man Peter believed him to be.

Tony didn’t have Peter’s best interests at heart.

Tony was willing to spy, threaten and even attack Peter.

And along the way Peter and his family lost their home and the safety of Peter’s anonymity. The end result was Peter’s life becoming a shell of it’s former self, with his loved ones in serious danger. In fact you could view his fugitive status as a way to recreate the ‘good old days’ when Spider-Man was feared and hated by the public and authorities.

Had Peter retained his independence rather than surrendering any part of it to his ‘father figure’ Tony Stark, much of this could’ve been avoided. If nothing else Peter might’ve been able to unmask privately rather than publicly.

Whilst the MCU addresses the first factor via de-aging Peter, it has no answer for the second. It borrowed from the JMS run superficially and ditched the greater subtext regarding how Peter shouldn’t  have formed a relationship with Tony.

I’d like to conclude by addressing the most obvious counterpoint to everything I’ve said.

If Spider-Man were more comic faithful wouldn’t it undermine the entire point of him being in the MCU? The appeal of the concept was seeing Spider-Man interact with the wider MCU. From the audience’s POV seeing yet another Spidey flick confined to using Spider-Man exclusive elements might as well have been produced solely by Sony.

The problem with this argument though is that it doesn’t consider the myriad of possibilities available. Spidey could interact with the wider MCU and still be in character.

I’m no writer but off the top of my head:

Spidey could have defied the Sokovia Accords and thus been wanted by the authorities (a neat updating of his traditional ‘outlaw’ status), consequently coming into conflict  with Iron Man

Spidey might have still dueled the Vulture and interacted with Tony as he did in ‘Spider-Man: Homecoming’. However, instead of gradually realizing he should be a ‘friendly neighborhood’ hero, he could call Tony out for ignoring small scale crime which indirectly ‘created’ the Vulture in the first place

Following ‘Avengers: Endgame’ the dissolution of the Avengers combined with the huge uptick in the population and displacement of citizens might’ve caused far more street crime that Peter would have to deal with. The remnants of H.Y.D.R.A. might’ve exploited this to gain a foothold upon which to rebuild.*** That might’ve warrant an appearance from more grounded heroes like Hawkeye or Ant-Man

An environment like this could’ve been exploited by Quentin Beck to frame Spider-Man, exploiting his already shaky public reputation and make himself look more appealing by contrast

Or Hell just do ‘Nothing Can Stop the Juggernaut’ but with the Hulk as Roger Stern planned to do in the first place

I’m sure many of you could suggest infinitely better ideas.

In conclusion, no matter how you slice it, there were better options than rendering Peter Parker Iron Man Junior instead of Spider-Man.

*Peter, as depicted in ‘Captain America: Civil War’ was clearly not well off financially, yet consequent depictions of Peter in the MCU have de-emphasized this to the point where you could argue they are very probably not working class anymore.

This makes sense internally as a billionaire Tony Stark has no reason to take Peter under his wing but allow him to still dumpster dive for equipment. Giving the boy at least some modest financial stability would be a logical step in building a relationship with him and giving him more time and energy to put into his scientific and heroic pursuits.

Whilst I don’t exactly agree with everything said here, this post dives into the subject more deeply.

**And even if it was, if the context demands Peter be rendered so unrecognizable then maybe it was just creatively reductive to integrate him into the MCU the first place.

***They have after all had connections to organized crime in the comics.

[harlot-of-oblivion]

My List of Various Tabletop Characters

D&D Characters (3.5 edition)

Arianna - Halfling Fae Druid

My very first D&D character. 💖 

I remember her animal companion was a very adorable dire otter with a poisonous bite...don’t ask. 🙈

She fell in love with a rather handsome gnome fighter. 

Kiara Taelie - Drow Bladesinging Bard

My character for an Underdark campaign. 

She plays the flute, which served as her secret way of worshipping her deity, Eilistraee. 

She became first daughter of her house when she had to defend herself from her older sister, whose devious ploy to remove Kiara permanently failed. 

Mirella Tealeaf - Sun Elf Dervish 

Her real name is Ruawyn Nyath, but she changed it after running away to join the halfling caravans. 

Her family is well known and respected as mages, but poor Mirella was the black sheep of the family since she has no talent for magic...can’t even cast a cantrip. 

She fell in love a sun elf noble, who happened to be the leader of the adventuring party.

Whisper - Moon Elf Spell Thief

Her real name is Laera Amastacia. Now you see why she goes by a cool and mysterious nickname? No one would take her seriously as a competent thief if she went by Laera!

She found out she could steal spells from other mages while studying magic at her local university. After a huge dispute with her family, she left to go make big money with her new found abilities.

She’s a heavy smoker and she loves to party. 

Tiana Nyavel - Sun Elf Mystic Theurge

Despite being an elf she’s a devout worshipper of Mystra. 

She can be a bit reclusive at times...and at times, I mean locking herself up in her tower for months and conduct magical experiments.

She’s vegetarian and detests any kind of cruelty towards animals.

Keilwynn Taelie - Drow Arachnomancer

Another character for an Underdark campaign and she’s the younger sister of the bladesinging bard up there. 

She’s a bit more of a traditional drow female, except that she’s a wizard who really loves spiders instead of a cleric of Lolth.

She’s true neutral which is strange in the Underdark.

Amala Starbreeze - Moon Elf Bladesinger

This is my most beloved character. In fact, I’m still play her in an Epic Campaign.

She is a Chosen of Mystra, but that’s stop her from having a good time!

Even though she’s a leader of a country, she still finds excuses to go on adventures. These adventures tend to be grand in scale and couple possibly doom the world if not stopped, but heyyyyy at least she’s having fun being a hero! 

Vivatrix, Harlot of Oblivion - Succubus Assassin

Ahhhh the characrer that inspired my blog’s name! And she’s huuuuuuge thot that loves to tease mortals.

She’s one of the most feared demons in the Abyss since she’s known to take out rivals for her mother, Malcanthet. 

Buuuut she found her way to the Material Plane and quite enjoys having the freedom to do what she wants...which can be really wild as well as dangerous.

Adriel, the Angel of Fury - Fallen Angel Bard Assassin

She was formerly known as the Angel of Bliss in the court of Sune, and enjoyed serenading mortals with her golden violin. 

But when she couldn’t bring bliss to a few mortals who suffered at the hands of men, she started to look for other ways to help...

Unfortunately, this caused her to fall from Brightwater and now she serves Mask, and runs an assassin’s guild specializing in helping ridding the world of vile men.

Kallista - Tiefling Conjurer 

She is a wizard that specializes in the Conjuration and many planar friends from celestial elephants to hellish fiends.

She is very shy and hates being the center of attention.

Her master is also the man that adopted her from the orphanage. He was impressed that she could summon a celestial monkey without training, so he took her under his wing.

Valencia Greta De Franco - Human Monk Ninja

She was given up to the Temple of Ilmater when she was baby and trained hard as a monk, but she was kicked out when she kept questioning their faith.

She came across a master in ninjutsu and after a scuffle she started to train under a new master.

She eventually went back home to figure out who her real family is...and it turns out that she’s nobility! Who would’ve thought. 🤣🙈

Yulia Shadowfang - Human Ranger Assassin 

She grew up on the streets of military country run my the Church of Bane, which is not very pleasant for anybody living there.

She was recruited into the Black Network when it was found out that she not only killed her father, but did in a way that cleared her of all suspension. 

She eventually fled her home and started to offer her services to the enemies of her country, selling information and killing any Black Network agents she crosses.

Starfinder Characters

Alara Korden - Dorjite Operative (Captain)

This character is unique since the race is completely made up just for me. I challenged my hubby to make me a space thot race, and ho boy he delivered. 

She can change her form to look like anyone and has empathy. Which is very useful as an operative and a space thot.

She has a soft spot romantic vids and erotic poetry.

Valentina - Android Technomancer (Ace Pilot)

She was a backup pilot for the Terran military before the uprising.

She named herself after Valentina Grizodubova, a female pilot from the Soviet Union during WW2.

Most of her kind fled into the darkest reaches of space, but she still hangs around outside of Terran space and offers her piloting skills to mercenary companies that don’t mind working with an android.

Vampire Character 

Cornelia Nona Velius - Vampire (Lilium) Clan Empusai 

Another unique character made just for me! I figured that Cain wasn’t the only childe sired by Lilith, so we made up a bunch of Clans descendant from her bloodline as well. 

She was a Roman woman of the Equestrian class before her embrace into vampire society. 

She’s a master manipulater, influencer, and has had a hand in various political schemes and intrigues throughout the last couple of millennia.

Bonus fact: I’ve stuck with this character through both Masquerade and Requiem. 

If you like to know more about a certain character, please do not hesitate to ask! My ask box is always open. 🌹🥰🌹

[bionicragdoll]

Nerds of a Feather Part 1

A/N Here is part one of my Donnie X OC fanfiction. I’m not super thrilled with the title so that may change, if anyone has any suggestions I’m open to them. While I have a general idea of where I want to go with this story I’m willing to incorporate any ideas that you the reader may have. Anything that doesn’t get added to this story will be filed away for future use. Feedback is always appreciated. Chapter 2 is in progress but since I’m going to be at Granite State Comic Con all weekend any updates are going to be at least a week out. Enjoy!

Four massive figures moved through the New York night, careful to keep to the shadows. With the mid autumn chill came shorter days and longer nights, something the mutants of New York took advantage of whenever they could. Hidden from prying eyes they were ever watchful for danger, or a hapless citizen in need of help. Movement at the street level caught Leo’s eye. He held up his hand in a signal for the other three to stop. Without a word he pointed down to the building across the street, its intricate pseudo-grecian facade and stone statues lining the steps made it an imposing structure despite being dwarfed by its neighbors. A team of familiar foes streamed out of the windows, running away from the scene of whatever crime they had just committed.

Donnie adjusted the settings on his goggles, “Foot Clan.”

“What are they doing?” Raph asked, “Shredder disappeared years ago and Leo took care of Karai. Who would be leading them now?”

“No clue,” Leo said, “Mikey, you and I will follow them and try to figure out what they are up to. Raph, you and Donnie go into the building and see if there are any clues or witnesses that can help us figure this out.” For a moment he thought Raph would argue about being left out of the fight but after a second he merely nodded and the two pairs went their separate ways.

They stepped into the main foyer, a large oak desk in the back center of the room, behind it a wide granite staircase swept downward, a dim light shining at the bottom. The two brothers looked at each other and nodded before descending. The stairs led them to a large room lit with florescent lights. Rows upon rows of metal shelves extended before them. The boxes that had once been carefully organized and labelled were now strewn about the basement. Whatever the Foot were looking for they had torn the place apart to find it. At first glance the room appeared to be empty, until movement in one of the aisles caught Donnie’s eye. A young woman was walking up the aisle toward them, one hand holding a piece of fabric to the back of her head, the other gripping the shelves in order to keep her balance. From the way she was looking back and forth he guessed that she was surveying the damage. She hadn’t seen them yet and he was still trying to determine what their next move should be when he saw her foot catch on an overturned box. Before he stopped to consider the consequences of his actions Donnie rushed forward and caught her before she hit the floor. “Are you all right?” He asked.

Startled she looked at him, eyes wide in disbelief, before flicking over to Raphael. “That depends.” She said slowly, “Am I currently seeing two giant talking turtles?”

“I’m afraid so.” He replied.

She studied him for a minute, her green eyes full of more curiosity than fear. “I don’t know if that me feel better or worse. But,” She continued, untangling herself from his arms and pushing her black plastic framed glasses into place, “I have bigger things to worry about than mutant turtle men. Like figuring out what the hell the Foot were after and how I’m going to explain this to my boss.”

“Yeah why would the Foot care about some moldy old papers?” Raph asked, joining the duo.

The woman rounded on him. “Some moldy old papers? For one thing these papers are not moldy. We take great pains to keep everything in here in good condition. Second this is the National Archives. We have records in here that have been classified since before your mother was hatched. There’s literally thousands of things that they could be after.” She takes another look around at the chaos that surrounds them. “Each one of these records had a specific place in the collection, until we get it all put back where it belongs it’s going to be almost impossible to find out what’s missing.” Her delicate fingers began to massage her temples, “Just thinking about what a nightmare this is going to be is giving me a headache.” Raph and Don looked at each other, eyes wide with shock. Not many people had the gumption to get in Raph’s face like that, especially having only just met him. Donnie looked back at the woman, she was shaking, whether it was from anger, frustration, or fear he didn’t know but something needed to be done to calm her down.

“Here,” Donnie said, leading her to the stair case, “Sit down. I’m Donatello, and my brother over there is Raphael.”

She sat down, still cradling her head in her hands. “Emily. Nice to meet you guys.”

Don sat down next to her, “Our other two brothers are already going after the thieves. With any luck they’ll be able to recover whatever it is that got stolen. Is there anyone that you need to call?”

“No. The silent alarm went off the instant they broke the window. FBI are going to be on their way right now and I already got a call from my boss about the situation.”

The techy turtle gave a quick look to his brother call Chief Vincent. Raph nodded and pulled out his phone to explain the situation. “We have friends in the FBI,” Donnie explained, “If you’d like we can stay with you until they get here.”

“I’d like that.” Emily replied.

Raph made his way back towards the pair, “Vincent’s already aware of the situation and sending a team over that knows us.” He looked down at Emily and how close she was to Donnie, “How come you’re not freaking out? Most people scream or pass out when they first see us.”

Emily looked up at him, “One I’m in shock and having a hard time processing anything at the moment. Two I’m probably concussed from getting hit in the back of the head which is not helping my thought process any. And three if you guys wanted to hurt me you would have done it already. Besides I’ve heard the rumors, this just confirms what I’ve been hearing around the city.”

At the word concussed Donnie’s head snapped up. It was then that he noticed that the fabric she’s been holding to her head was in fact a scarf, the pale yellow now stained with blood. “Can I take a look at that?” He asked.

She was silent for a moment, whether it took her time to process the question or if she was considering saying no he wasn’t sure. At last she nodded and pulled the scarf away, wincing as the hair dried with blood stuck and pulled against her skull. “Well it’ll need stitches but it’s not that deep. It looks worse than it is because head wounds bleed a lot.”

The sound of several pairs of heavy boots came thundering down the stairs. The pair of ninjas stepped in front of Emily, weapons at the ready. “Three men,” Donnie whispered, looking through the thermal imaging on his goggles, “Heavy armor and guns.”

“Could be ours.” Raph replied. Donnie simply nodded in reply but neither of them made a move to stand down.

The three men came down the steps, the words FBI emblazoned across each of their chests. “Donatello, Raphael,” one of them said with a nod, “Good to see you again. Is she a witness?”

“Good to see you McDonnell and yes she’s a witness. She’s has a minor head wound but other than that seems to be unharmed.”

“Thank you,” McDonnell said, “Chief Vincent wants to speak with you both, I’ll escort her outside so that we can get her statement.”

Emily cleared her loudly. “Her name is Emily, thank you very much.”

McDonnell and his two cohorts had the decency to look embarrassed, “Of course. My apologies. If you’ll come with me please ma’am we’ll get your head looked at and ask you just a few questions.” He guided placed his arm gently around her shoulder and guided her up the stairs. “If you don’t mind my saying so ma’am you look very familiar.”

“I get that a lot.” She said in deadpaned, almost resigned voice.

Outside of the imposing stone building the street was lined with sleek black cars while a crowd of men and women in cheap black suits milled about waiting for orders. Emily allowed herself to be guided to an ambulance. Without really processing what was going on around her she found herself wrapped in a blanket, a hot cup of coffee in her hand. She was aware that her two rescuers were standing mere feet away, giving their statements. The tall one, Donatello she reminded herself, kept glancing at her in what appeared to be concern. A stern blonde woman sat down next to her, “My name is Chief Vincent, Bureau of Organized Crime, we’ll be working with the FBI to track down the people that did this. Can you tell me what happened?”

Emily brought the coffee to her lips and took a deep swallow of the hot bitter liquid before nodding. “I was closing up, making sure everything was put away in the correct place, that nothing was misfiled and getting everything prepped for the next morning. Normally we work in pairs for security purposes but Eric said that he had tickets to the Rangers game so I told him that I could handle it myself.” She shook her head briefly before a lancing pain made her stop, “I never imagined something like this could happen. We have a night security guard Bob-” Emily stopped midsentance. “Did you guys find Bob, is he okay?” Before Vincent could respond a team of EMTs came into view, wheeling out a gurney that with a body covered in a sheet. At that moment the full weight of what had happened hit her. Bob was dead, those Foot soldiers could have easily killed her too. It seemed that all of the oxygen had been sucked out of her lungs, she began gasping, trying to get a breath. Her thought process, already compromised, stopped functioning entirely. Some part of her brain registered that Vincent was still talking to her, perhaps trying to calm her down even but the words were no longer registering. Her vision was started to swim and she felt herself going faint.

A strong pair of hands dragged her back into reality. For the second time that night Emily found herself into a pair of amber eyes framed by tortiseshell glasses. “Breathe,” Donnie said, “Look at me, focus on me. Breathe.” He led her through a series of the breathing exercise that Splinter had taught them to help them mediate. Eventually she found herself feeling calm, focused, and clearheaded. “There we go.” Taking a chance he wiped the tears from her cheeks. “It’s okay.” He assured her, “It’s all over now, I’m not going to let anyone hurt you.”

Without thinking Emily threw her arms around his shoulders, desperate for the security and comfort that he was offering. “Thank you,” She whispered, voice still shaky. Once her heartrate had returned to normal she pulled away but still kept her hand tucked inside his to keep her grounded. Taking another deep breath she continued. “Eric left early to go to the hockey game. I was down in the basement getting everything ready for tomorrow when I heard a window upstairs in the reading room break. I heard,” Her voice caught and Donnie gave her hand an encouraging squeeze, “I heard Bob check on it. There was- there was the sounds of fighting and then I saw Foot soldiers come downstairs. One of them hit me, on the back of the head. Next thing I know Donatello and Raphael are there.”

“Do you know what they could have been after?” Vincent asked.

This time Emily didn’t shake her head, “No. Most of our records are kept offsite. They have to be requested in advance then we let the user know when they’re available. I think that knowing the Foot that they were aware of that and had someone request whatever documents they were after to make sure they were onsite in order to steal. Right now the records room is a disaster. It’s going to take us weeks to sort out everything enough to figure out what exactly is missing.”

Another suit walked up to them and cleared his voice as polietly as possible, “Ma’am?” He said, looking at Vincent. “Leonardo and Michelangelo have arrived. They’re requesting to speak with you.”

“Of course.” She then directed her attention back to Emily, “Thank you for your cooperation. We’ll be in touch.”

Something about her tone bothered Donnie for a reason he couldn’t pinpoint. “What did she mean by that?” Donnie asked.

Emily gave him a smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes, “Statisically speaking most thefts from museums and archives are orchestrated by people that work within the institution. It’s perfectly rational that she thinks I may be a suspect. It’s her job.”

Another convoy of black SUVs pulled up to the National Archives building. The team that stepped out of those vehicles looked more like Secret Service than FBI agents. Finished giving his statement Raphael finally walked up to Emily and Don, “Who are those guys?”

“My dad’s bodyguards.”

The turtles’ eyes widened in surprise as Mayor Danvers stepped out of one of the SUVs and came rushing towards them. “Emily! Sweetheart! Are you okay? Are you hurt? What happened?” The man that always seemed unflappable on TV now wrapped his arms around his daughter, eyes wide with worry.

“I'm okay Dad.” She assured him, and then Donnie cleared his throat, “Mostly, I got hit in the head but Donatello said I’ll be okay.”

“Donatello?” Mayor Danvers turned to look at the purple clad turtle kneeling next to the ambulance. “Ah Yes, I’ve heard about you.” He cleared his throat and drew himself up straighter, as though he had suddenly remembered to maintain his composure. “You saved the city from both Shredder and the Kraang, and from what the police tell me you also thwart petty crime on a nightly basis. I apologize for not being able to attend the Key to the City ceremony after the Kraang incident but you have my sincere thanks for everything that you’ve done, and continue to do. Most importantly thank you for taking care of my daughter.” He pulled Emily close to him in a one armed hug. “Let’s get you to the hospital to get that looked at. Not that I don’t trust you,” He said to Don, “But I'd feel better if she got looked at by a professional.”

Donnie stood up, doing his best not to look imposing even though he towered over the mayor. “Of course sir. I agree.” He held out his hand, “It was a pleasure to meet you sir, and your daughter.”

Mayor Danvers took his hand in a firm but not overpowering grip, “Likewise. You and your brothers are welcome in our home any time. And if you ever wish to make your identity public, as long as I’m mayor, I’ll make sure the city has your full support.”

Both Raphael and Donatello stood up straight and bowed at the waist. “Thank you sir.” Raphael said. “We’ll let you get Emily to the hospital, and we’ll always do everything in our power to protect the people of this city.”

“Thank you gentlemen, and please pass my thanks along to your brothers, and whoever it was that raised you to be such fine, upstanding young men.” He began to guide Emily but she resisted for a moment.

She pulled a business card out of her wallet and handed it to Donnie, “If you get a lead on the Foot before I do, let me know."

Donnie watched the mayor lead Emily to a shiny black Bently. She gave him another small half smile before the door closed, hiding her from view. Absentmindly he ran his thumb back and forth across the card in his hand.

"What just happened?” Leo’s voice jolted him from his stupor, there was a hint of disapproval in his voice. When had he gotten so close?

Eyes full of disbelief Donnie looked up at his brothers, “I think she just gave me her number."

Leo crossed his arms, frown deepening, “And since when do we keep in contact with the people we save."

True to form Raph stood toe to toe with Leo, “Since she’s the first one that didn’t freak after seeing us. We helped her, now she’s willing to help us. I don’t see anything wrong with that.” There was the usual challenge in his eyes but there was also something deeper. It didn’t take an idiot to figure out that Emily had made an impression on his brothers, and Leo was many things but an idiot was not one of them. Whatever the reason for this sudden protectiveness he would deal with it later.

“Fine,” He relented, “If you're sure we can trust her. But she doesn’t come to the lair without Dad’s permission.”

There was a nod of agreement from the group and they all headed home. Donnie fell back behind the rest, card still in hand. When they got back to the lair the four filled in Master Splinter on what had transpired. “I failed Master Splinter,” Leo said, the words were becoming all too familiar, “The Foot got away, and now we don't know what they took or what they’re planning.”

“The only true failure,” Master Splinter said, “Is not learning from your mistakes. Both you and Michelangelo will meditate on your actions tonight to understand what you could have done better."

“Both of us Sensei?” Leo asked, making eye contact with Splinter.

“Yes both of you.” He leveled a firm gaze at each of his four sons. “While Leonardo is your leader you are all still responsible for your own actions. It is long past time for the rest of you to take accountability for the mistakes that you make." Splinter turned back towards Leo, “I’m afraid that this is my fault.” Leo opened up his mouth to interrupt but Splinter held up a hand to silence him. “Yes it is my fault. For too long I allowed you to shoulder the responsibility of the team’s successes and failures. That was wrong of me. It led to too much pressure being placed on you than you deserved, and not enough being placed on your brothers. I hope that it is not too late to fix my mistake and that you will be able to share the burden that you share with your brothers and that you can all grow into the wonderful young men you were meant to be. Now go meditate you two, and report to me when you are done. Raphael and Donatello, you are dismissed but do not disturb your brothers.”

Stunned oldest and youngest brother shuffled off to the dojo to do as they were told while the middle siblings went their separate ways. Raph started to head for his weights before changing his mind and followed his nerdy brother into the lab. “So you’re going to call this girl right?”

Donnie didn’t look up from the wall of monitors that he was analyzing. “Once I have info on the break in.”

The muscle-bound turtle gave out a low chuckle, “I meant like tomorrow genius.” That got Donnie’s attention.

“Why on Earth would I call her tomorrow? She gave me her number so we could work on the robbery, not so I could flirt with her.”

“Yeah? Who ever said anything about flirting?” Raph asked, causing Donnie’s cheeks to flush, “You could just check up on her. Make sure she's okay. Pretty traumatizing night for her, and you did a pretty good job calming her down. Not like she has any way of getting a hold of you. So you're going to have to make the first move.”

Donnie leaned back in his chair, processing this information. “Since when did you start making so much sense?”

“Since I saw the way she didn’t let go of your hand until she had to.” He tussled the top of Donnie’s head affectionately, “Don’t stay up all night braniac, you have a phone call to make in the morning.”

[tokupedia]

Japan World Heroes II: Day 1 part 1

After waking up and getting ready, I entered the hall to discover a swarm of autograph hound crazed fans lining up to meet their chosen targets.

Much like last time, Mr. Matt Frank, comic book artist and G-Fan extraordinaire was at his booth. This time with copies of his recent Redman comic as well as art prints and other merch. 

Mr. Kenichi Muraeda was in the building, using his talented artistry to dazzle fans by making drawings of Showa Riders as well as custom request pieces for a healthy $100+ a pop. I saw a few lucky people take home drawings of Kuuga, Dekared with Kamen Rider Blade, and Kamen Rider Brave Taddle Fantasy Form. He then advertised his skill to patrons by making art of Kamen Riders ZX, 1, Riderman, V3, Stronger and X and letting people watch.

He even blessed the Toei prop booth with a drawing of Black RX! 

I timidly approached his booth, wallet in hand. To my surprise, he saw my Kamen Rider art book, told me to put my wallet away and not only signed it, but illustrated it with a drawing of Kamen Rider 1!  

(Yes, I know the date is wrong, but chalk that up to him being tired as an overworked manga artist. I feel so honored and unworthy of such a gift and will treasure it always.)

I felt really bad and wanted to pay him, but he was flattered that someone in America loved his art so much he purchased a book just for the artist who illustrated those drawings to sign it. What a nice guy!

Before the panels, I got in as many signatures as I could. Mr. Kitagawa was happy to have his signature next to Furuya-san in my Godzilla book and I indulged in a photo op and autograph the day before with an Undead Spade King...

Second time standing next to a Heisei Rider actor, never stops being a humbling experience. Yes, that is the shirt I wore, it was comfy and it was a balmy 98 degrees in L.A., light colors and fabrics mean less solar flesh roasting.

First panel I attended was Mr. Kitagawa’s, whom in the photo is doing an out of suit performance of his incarnation of Godzilla. He was a funny and interesting guy, having a career in toku that spans all the way back to the early 1970s with suit acting in Battle Fever J and Shotaro Ishinomori’s Akumaizer 3 as a teenager.  He also talked a bit about working with Kenji Ohba and Sonny Chiba and when asked, he described that his most intense stunt was in Dengeki Sentai Changeman, where he had to do fight choreography on top of a moving car while fighting an enemy monster. Apparently he had to do multiple takes because the director wasn’t satisfied with his performance which stressed him out as he was in real danger of getting hurt. (Back in the day, they didn’t have as many safety devices to protect stuntmen and actors from accidents.) 

He did some examples of martial arts demonstrations and how they work in film and described what it was like to be a kaiju suit actor. Humorously, he said it was something he would never wish on anyone, given that the suits are restrictive, hot and hard to breathe in when he wore them and took 20 minutes to put on and take off. He was King Ghidorah in the Mothra films of the 1990s and revealed it took 20 people to operate the suit, some to move the three heads, some to move the tail and wings and others to operate the animatronics and a wire team to keep Mr. Kitagawa in the air during scenes where King Ghidorah was flying. All of them had to coordinate in time to do a scene properly.

Later, he did poses of Sentai Rangers he portrayed and revealed he now worked in the video game industry as a motion capture suit actor, the industry has recorded so much data on Mr. Kitagawa’s movements they can just program said movements into the coding without calling him into the studio and he still gets paid. He was contractually obligated not to say which games he was in, but stated they were mostly action and ninja games and we may have heard of some of them if he did disclose them, but he won’t. He, much like Kazuo Niibori, is now a mentor for the next generation of suit actors. Mr. Kitagawa is happy now, as he has more freedom than ever before to work how he wishes and is excited for the next generation as they have more than he did as a kid in terms of work opportunities.

The panel was briefly interrupted by one of the convention coordinators, who asked Mr. Kitagawa if he wanted Chicken for lunch. Mr. Kitagawa responded “NO CHICKEN! HAMBURGER PLEASE!”, then confessed he is terrified of chickens as he lived on a farm with his uncle and was traumatized as a child seeing his uncle behead chickens. Some fans in the audience wondered if Mr. Kitagawa was the inspiration for Red Buster’s fear of chickens. Mr. Kitagawa also said he hates turkey for the same reason.

His lifelong dream was to be Ultraman, a dream he never realized, but he did close out by giving the audience a heartfelt speech about never giving up on your dreams, even if they don’t turn out exactly how you want them to. He then surprised us with a Specium Ray pose and a really good cry of “Shuwatch!”, saying he’s still got it even if he’s too old to be Ultraman.

[fantomcomics]

What’s Out This Week? 12/4

We’re still pretty stuffed from Turkey Day, but we’ve got room for some fresh new titles!  

20XX #1 - Lauren Keely and Jonathan Luna

This sci-fi thriller for mature readers imagines a not-so-distant future-a world of norms and syms, divided by fear. Syms, a small percentage of the population with telekinetic abilities, form gangs to survive. But division only breeds more division, and Mer and Nuon experience this firsthand as they become entangled in the often dramatic, sometimes violent, but always complex social landscape of sym gang rivalries in Anchorage, Alaska.

Power Rangers Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1 (of 5) - Ryan Parrott and Simone Di Meo

The Power Rangers arrive in New York City to find Tommy Oliver (a.k.a. The Mighty Morphin Green Ranger) but soon discover he's joined forces with the villainous Shredder and the Foot Clan! As the Rangers are sent reeling by this betrayal, they're confronted by another (fr)enemy... the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles! Can these heroes find a way to work together to defeat the bad guys and save the world from total destruction?!  

Vampironica New Blood #1 - Frank Tieri, Michael Moreci and Audrey Mok

Riverdale's own bombshell bloodsucker is back! Following the events of the Jughead the Hunger vs. Vampironica crossover, Veronica returns to her own universe, still a vampire. She's not the same, and she knows it. And now she needs answers. But she may not be ready for what she's about to discover!

Over The Ropes #1 (of 5) - Jay Sandlin and Antonello Cosentino

Step Over the Ropes and into 1990s wrestling. Set in a fictional world, Over the Ropes dives into sports entertainment's biggest era. A young high-flyer named Jason Lynn goes off-script in a match to win the world title and sets the southern territory on fire as the face-painted wrestler, Phoenix. Jason's battles between the ropes are only outperformed by his struggles outside the ring. First dates. Crooked promoters. Cage matches. Factions and families. No matter what problems smack him with a steel chair, Jason lives by his catchphrase: I. Will. Rise.

Angela Della Morte #1 - Salvador Sanz

Angela Della Morte works for Dr. Sibelius, the most brilliant mind of the century. Using a new technology, Sibelius Labs are capable of separate soul from body. Using this tech Angela's soul can get into other dead host and take control of their bodies in undercover missions. But as the souls travels the void to get into their new receptacles, they must elude a tenebrous lifeform. This creature feeds with the substance of which the soul is made. It is the most dangerous predator in this new ecosystem, and its name is: Death.

Kill Whitey Donovan #1 (of 5) - Duncan Sydney and Natalie Barahona

After Anna Hoyt's sister commits suicide, she sets off for Atlanta to kill the man responsible for destroying her family - her fiancé, Jim "Whitey" Donovan. But Anna, a spirited though pampered daughter of a prominent doctor, can't do it alone. To get through the hell that lies between her Alabama home and Atlanta, she makes a deal with one of the Donovan slaves, Hattie Virgil, who has an agenda of her own. In exchange for a chance at freedom, Hattie, a survivor, will lead this unlikely pair on a quest that will change them both forever.

The Butcher Of Paris #1 (of 5) - Stephanie Phillips and Dean Kotz

In 1944, as Swastikas flew over Paris, one of the most notorious and prolific serial killers in history turned the occupied city into his personal hunting ground. Under the guise of opportunity and freedom, a killer preys on those desperate to flee . . . until a gruesome discovery alerts the police. In a city on the brink of war, the hunt for a serial killer begins as a French detective races to catch the villain before the Nazis beat him to it. The Butcher of Paris is a historical, true crime thriller about a killer wanted by both the Nazis and allied forces for the death of nearly two hundred victims.

James Bond #1 - Vita Ayala, Danny Lore and Eric Gapstur

New series, new team, new missions! VITA AYALA (Morbius, Age Of X-Man), DANNY LORE (Queen Of Bad Dreams) and ERIC GAPSTUR (James Bond 007) present a fresh take on the world's greatest secret agent. When a priceless piece of art is found to be fake, investigations lead down a rabbit hole of international crime and corruption. But what the hell does James Bond know about the world of art forgery?

Whatcha scooping up this week, Fantomites?

[inudono]

As far as Post-Morph Rollcalls go, ‘Omega Now, Omega Forever’ doesn’t really pack as great a punch as ‘Unleash the Beast,’ or ‘Ninja Rangers fear no Danger.’

Maybe I need to hear Austin St. John deliver the line, or maybe the ones that rhyme just flow off the tongue a bit better.

[aion-rsa]

Wheel of Time Amazon TV Series: Everything You Need to Know

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The Wheel of Time, the sprawling fantasy novel mythology by Robert Jordan, is heading to Amazon Prime as a series.

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One of the most popular fantasy franchises of the literary world, The Wheel of Time, is getting a live-action television adaptation. Originally authored by Robert Jordan, the 80 million-selling 1990-2013 book series depicts a sprawling mythology, amalgamating feudal and magical tropes with elements of Eastern mysticism. Indeed, the books bear philosophical influences from European and Asian culture, notably Buddhism and Hinduism, centered on the idea of time being cyclical in nature.

Amazon gave a series order to The Wheel of Time back in October 2018, setting the project as an hour-long series that will stream on Amazon Prime Video, as reported by Deadline and confirmed by an APV retweet. The move was the culmination of what had been a year-and-a-half process, going back to April 2017, when it was first reported that Sony Pictures Television was moving forward with the TV project.

The Wheel of Time Cast

Amazon continues to fill out the cast of its upcoming Wheel of Time series. This round of casting features four relatively new faces (at least to American audiences). Veteran Spanish actor Alvaro Morte will play Logain Ablar of the Black Tower. Hammed Animashaun (Black Mirror) will play Loial, an Ogier from Shangtai. Alexandre Willaume will be Thom Merrilin, a former bard. Johann Myers will portray the darkfiend Padan Fain.

Amazon recently released this footage featuring The Wheel of Time cast in a table read of the script, which also reveals the presence of Naana Agyei-Ampadu (GameFace), whose role is unknown at this time.

On September 10th, the cast and crew of #WOTonPrime got together to read the first episode of The Wheel Of Time. Production is now on its way and we are VERY excited to see this show come to life! #TwitterOfTime, this is for you. pic.twitter.com/FmWA4zeh2r

— The Wheel of Time on Prime (@WoTonPrime) October 2, 2019

As for the rest of the cast...

Daniel Henney was recently added to The Wheel of Time cast. He will play al’Lan Mandragoran, a.k.a. Lan, the stoic warder (essentially a protector,) of Moraine (Rosamund Pike). However, Lan happens to be the lone survivor of a royal bloodline, and is the uncrowned king of Malkier, a province that was overrun by forces of the Shadow. Henney's announced casting as Lan was accompanied by the following quote: "I swear to stand against the Shadow so long as iron is hard and stone abides - to defend the Malkieri while one drop of blood remains. I swear to avenge what cannot be defended."

Henney, an American actor, can be currently seen on CBS’s Criminal Minds, which he joined in 2015’s Season 10, and is also known as the voice of Tadashi in 2014 feature Big Hero 6 and its current animated series. Besides TV runs on Revolution, Hawaii Five-0 and Three Rivers, he appeared in the 2009 Fox-Marvel solo spinoff movie, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, as Agent Zero, the character known in the comic book mythology as assassin Maverick.

The series recently revealed a quintet of main cast members. The show’s official social media also provides pertinent quoted descriptions for each of the characters, culminating with the message, "It was about them all." The cast members consist of the following (pictured directly below from the left):

Madeleine Madden (Picnic at Hanging Rock, Tidelands) as Egwene Al’Vere. – “It was about a woman who would not bend her back while she was beaten, and who shown with a light for all who watched.”

Josha Stradowski (Instinct, Spangas) as Rand Al’Thor. – “It was not about me. It’s never been about me.”

Marcus Rutherford (Obey, Shakespeare & Hathaway) as Perrin Aybara. – “It was about a man whose family was taken from him, but who stood tall in his sorrow and protected those he could.”

Zoë Robins (Power Rangers Ninja Steel, The Shannara Chronicles) as Nynaeve. – “It was about a woman who refused to believe that she could not help, could not heal those who had been harmed.”

Barney Harris (Clique, Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk) as Mat Cauthon. – “It was about a hero who insisted with every breath that he was anything but a hero.”

They will, of course, join the show’s June-announced headliner...

Rosamund Pike officially landed the lead role in The Wheel of Time as Moiraine. A member of an all-female secret society of magic users, called the Blue Ajah of the Aes Sedai, Moiraine embarks on a dangerous journey with five young people she comes to mentor, one of whom she believes could be the reincarnation of someone prophesized to either save or destroy humanity.

Pike, an Oscar-nominated actress for her role as Amy Dunne in 2014’s Gone Girl, is also known from 2005’s Pride & Prejudice and as a Bond villainess in 2002’s Die Another Day. She recently fielded a small screen starring run on SundanceTV comedy State of the Union, and appeared in films such as A Private War, 7 Days in Entebbe, Beirut, Hostiles and The Man with the Iron Heart. She’ll next be seen in the August-scheduled crime drama, The Informer, and, amongst other projects, will co-star as Marie Curie in the fact-based 2020 romance drama, Radioactive.

The Wheel of Time Director

Uta Briesewitz is set to direct the first two episodes of The Wheel of Time, reports Deadline. This should be great news for genre fans, seeing as the German director and cinematographer, Brieswitz, brings small screen experience from directorial runs on shows like Netflix’s Stranger Things (in the recent Season 3), HBO’s The Deuce and Westworld, AMC’s Fear the Walking Dead, Starz’s Black Sails and Netflix-Marvel shows such as (the just cancelled) Jessica Jones, Iron Fist and The Defenders, as well as streaming giant offerings Orange is the New Black and the returning Altered Carbon. Plus, she’s fielded runs on Fox’s Lethal Weapon and The CW shows The 100 and Jane the Virgin. Indeed, with a peak television CV like that, The Wheel of Time should be in good hands for its launch.

The Wheel of Time series buck stops with Rafe Judkins, who assumes duties as writer, executive producer and showrunner. Judkins is no stranger to genre television, serving as a producer and writer on ABC’s Marvel series Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Netflix horror series, Hemlock Grove. He was also a story editor for NBC’s beloved geek-wish-fulfillment spy series, Chuck. Judkins will be joined by executive producers Rick Selvage and Larry Mondragon of Red Eagle and producers Ted Field and Mike Weber of Radar Pictures. Additionally, the property’s authorial legacy is in place with Jordan’s widow, Harriet McDougal, onboard as a consulting producer.

As Sharon Tal Yguado, Head of Event Series, Amazon Originals states:

“Developing and producing Robert Jordan’s beloved fourteen-books-series for TV is a big undertaking, and we don’t take it lightly. We believe that Rafe’s personal connection to the material and soulful writing will resonate with the book’s passionate fans.”

The Wheel of Time Release Date

The Wheel of Time has yet to announce a release date. However, a production timeframe was recently spotted in trade magazine Production Weekly, via fan site The Daily Trolloc. The excerpt claims that the series is set to begin rolling cameras in Prague, Czech Republic sometime in September 2019.

The Wheel of Time Details

The Wheel of Time TV series is moving along swiftly, with production having started on September 16, a bittersweet date, since it also marked the 12-year anniversary of author Robert Jordan's passing.

#ThankYouRobertJordan pic.twitter.com/B5MF5LO5aU

— The Wheel of Time on Prime (@WoTonPrime) September 16, 2019

Of course, The Wheel of Time is a large-scale endeavor, since the novels of Robert Jordan (nom de plume of James O. Rigney Jr.), three of which were completed by Brandon Sanderson after Jordan passed away in 2007, build an intricate mythology governed by the titular seven-spoke Wheel of Time powered by an incorporeal celestial source of power. Like the Force in Star Wars, it is a binary power utilized by gifted people, here called “channelers.” The story is spread across epochs in the continuing battle against Shai’tan (or, the Dark One,) who, upon breaking free of imprisonment from the Creator, exerts influence on the malleable to lead the source toward evil.

Amazon's series order for The Wheel of Time arrives after several years of starts and stops, going back to 2000 when author Jordan was still alive. A pilot called Winter Dragon, starring Billy Zane and Max Ryan, aired on FXX on February 8, 2015 (at 1:30 a.m.) to no fanfare or fruition (it was essentially a move by Red Eagle to prevent the rights from expiring). However, McDougal herself made media ripples in April 2016 when she announced “exciting news” about the property; something that required the clearing of some legal issues before moving forward. After the resolution of said legal issues, McDougal speculated that The Wheel of Time would become a “cutting edge TV series.”

We’ll keep you updated on Amazon’s The Wheel of Time as things develop.

Read and download the Den of Geek NYCC 2019 Special Edition Magazine right here!

Joseph Baxter is a contributor for Den of Geek and Syfy Wire. You can find his work here. Follow him on Twitter @josbaxter.

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Joseph Baxter

Dec 4, 2019

Wheel of Time

Sony Pictures TV

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from Books https://ift.tt/2Is5rVJ

[obsidianarchives]

Game of Thrones Recap: S8E6 - "The Iron Throne"

After the penultimate episode dropped the bar for plausible writing and character motivations, I was already primed for the finale to be more of the same. Written by men who had an ending in mind without much of an idea of how to get there, “The Iron Throne” is again carried by outstanding performances by the actors who have grown to embody their roles on screen, but hamstrung by the apathy borne through the shortcuts taken to get there. Still, we’re going to get these jokes off and try to make sense of what happened along the way.

King’s Landing

The episode opens with a quiet close up of Tyrion’s disgusted and broken face as he surveys the aftermath of Daenerys’s decision to go full Adele and set fire to the reign. If you didn’t know the finale was going to be Peter Dinklage’s Emmy push, you figured it out soon enough. The charred and still-burning remains of the capital city (with surprisingly walkable debris-clear walkways) daunt the Hand of the Queen as the last Lannister takes on the weight of his failure to convince Dany to be merciful, choosing a solo walk to the Red Keep.

Jon and Davos, after granting Tyrion’s wish of solitude, run into Grey Worm and a platoon of Unsullied soldiers carrying out the Queen’s Justice. The (not-quite) bastard of Winterfell gets on his high horse and objects to further slaughter of defeated Lannister troops but the leader of the Unsullied isn’t trying to hear any of that noise. To his eyes, they are the Queen’s enemies and they’re still breathing, so the job isn’t finished. Being the damned honorable fool he is, Jon tries to grab Grey Worm’s arm to stop him from carrying out his sentencing and the rest of the Unsullied square up to protect their general. The Northmen behind Jon follow suit, quite a bit slower, and we’re stuck in a stand-off until Davos eases tensions and suggests talking to the Queen to gain clarity on that order. Let’s keep it a buck, Jon’s troops would have gotten that WORK from the Unsullied. He knew it, Davos knew it, their mamas knew it, and so Jon lets Grey Worm’s arm go and skips along to see Dany faster than Cersei did avoiding the Cleganebowl.

Making his way into the castle, Tyrion passes the Small Council chambers, Cersei’s painted map of Westeros, and searches the cellars for some sign of hope against all futility that Jaime was successful at escaping with his sister. Digging through the rubble, he comes across a golden hand, and after uncovering his twin siblings’ remarkably well-preserved remains, breaks down in rage and despair. That boy was ACT-ING this episode!

Arya, who was last seen as Death riding a pale horse leaving the city, is for some reason back in the middle of King’s Landing on foot as she spots Jon making his way through Dany’s army celebrating their Queen’s conquest with the Targaryen flag already flying above the city. As Jon slowly summits the steps leading to the burned out Red Keep, we get a flawless rendering of Dany walking out to meet the masses with Drogon’s outstretched wings behind her, the Targaryen every bit the dragon she was born to be. Not ones for subtlety, Benioff and Weiss have the Unsullied and Dothraki (who both seem to have magically repopulated since the Battle of Winterfell) aligned in classic military propaganda formation straight out of the Third Reich, as Daenerys launches into her vision of the new world. Rather than being satisfied with coming home again and reclaiming her ancestral throne, she is now ready to liberate all the people of the world from tyranny wherever she sees fit on every continent, as she finally gives voice to her abstractions of breaking the wheel.

What made last week’s heel turn for Daenerys such an odd choice, was that this was the tyrannical energy the show had been seeding for her all series long. Dany the Conqueror, rather than the Queen, is who she has always been shown to be at the core. Even a character as single-minded as Daario peeped game on that seasons ago. Her needlessly slaughtering citizens of the country she now controlled added nothing to her story when she was already presented as someone who would burn down the old world and anyone standing in the way of her just new one. The fact that the show realized this hadn’t been presented as alarming enough to give Tyrion, Jon, and the others pause until two episodes before the finale — forcing the need to insert implausible character decisions this late into the game — is endemic of the writing so many have been disappointed by.

A Daenerys so convinced of her innate goodness that she sees herself as the only arbiter of justice is terrifying, yet entirely within the scales of an established morality we’ve seen since episode one. Burning your own city to instill fear in those who were only in the capital because they were already afraid of you is maddeningly pointless and logically inconsistent.

Tyrion, who’s as fed up as many of the viewers, confronts his Queen while confessing his latest treason of freeing his brother, and flings off his Hand of the Queen badge in front of the gathered host. Somehow he wasn’t executed on the spot for this (or all his other failures) and is brought to a makeshift prison since the Black Cells are closed for excavation at the moment. He shares a knowing look with Jon as he’s being led away, who turns to probe Dany marching back to her castle, leaving him alone on the platform until Arya ninjas her way up there. She tries to warn Jon that he’s in danger, but you already know he knows nothing.

A picture of inner turmoil, Jon visits Tyrion in his cell, seemingly looking for any way of talking himself into continuing to stand behind Dany after her war crimes. Tyrion however, realizing he played himself after betraying his best friend for inciting treason just last week, pulls a 180 and does everything but get down on one knee to beg Jon to put aside the Ranger and become who he was born to be. The former Hand tries to explain (as a proxy for the writers) how Daenerys’s murder frenzy was foreshadowed all along and compares burning slave masters with non-combatant civilians, showing my man has still lost the thread as he hasn’t been right since he shot his father with a crossbow.

I appreciate the attempt at demonstrating a pattern of violence, and the fact that Daenerys kept killing the right evil people did obscure a creeping tyranny of her own, but these two things are not analogous. It’s the same reason we can tell the difference between Tyrion using wildfire in the Battle of the Blackwater, and Cersei using it to blow up the Sept of Baelor. Tyrion also elides the fact that he was by her side, advising Daenerys through many of these decisions by admitting he loves her, so it's not his fault, nor would it be Jon's for that same reason. After all his other pleas fail, Tyrion echoes Varys trying to convince Ned Stark to confess in season one, and invokes the safety of Sansa and Arya, as it’s all too clear the lengths Daenerys will go to consolidate and maintain her power. He even flips Maester Aemon’s warnings that love is the death of duty into, “sometimes duty is the death of love.”

Still swearing by his Queen, Jon proceeds to the throne room, but not before being sniffed out by Drogon — the three-time defending Hide-and-Seek champion — who managed to bury himself completely in the falling ash. Meanwhile Daenerys, fulfilling her vision from the House of the Undying finally lays her eyes on the prize, and summits the steps to the Iron Throne. She reaches out to claim her victory, but just as in her dream she turns away before getting to sit, becoming distracted by Jon entering the room.

Secure in herself having attained her dream, she greets Jon warmly forgetting she’s disgusted with his betrayal. She begins telling him her origin story, which he interrupts to talk out his angst. As the stupidest man alive, Jon implores her to find some justification for her actions and searches for any shred of the woman he thought she was. Dany unwittingly talks herself out of salvation, describing the world she and Jon will build together as they decide what “good” is, and he realizes she’s too far gone with her convictions. Promising she’ll always be his Queen he finally kisses her like he did by the lake in Naboo, but as he slips the tongue Jon also slips his knife into Daenerys. Just like a man he had to get up in them guts one last time. Cradling Dany’s limp corpse the same way he did Ygritte after she was shot in Castle Black, Jon is a broken man crushed by the weight of his sense of duty to the realm with the genuine love he shared for his now murdered aunt.

The most surprising part of this moment was how boring the whole thing was. Despite genuine performances (Emilia Clarke deserves all her things), and a beautiful score backing it, the whole affair came off as entirely perfunctory. Sure it was the ending most expected, but I never thought I would feel the gaping nothingness watching it all go down. For all the investment I had in both of the characters’ arcs, it was Drogon’s pained screeches of fury that moved me the most as he felt his psychic bond with his mother severed. Watching my young dragon son try to nudge Daenerys back to life like she was Mufasa somehow managed to be far more evocative than the supposed shock of being stabbed to death by her love. Jon didn’t even get Lightbringer for all his troubles.

The dragon in a rage turns towards his cousin, and Jon who it feels like has been looking for a way to die ever since he was resurrected, stands there ready to receive justice. Drogon, First of his name, rightful heir to the Iron Throne and King of the Seven Kingdoms, decides instead to turn his fury on the chair whose corrupting force drove his mother to this end and melts the damn thing. We knew dragons were highly intelligent, but who knew they had such a grasp for symbolism? Taking a final look at Jon, Drogon picks up Daenerys with his claw and flies off into the night as we fade to black.

The scene reopens with Tyrion being awoken in his cell after an unspecified time skip marked only by the shagginess of his beard. Grey Worm leads him out to the Dragon Pit where the lords and ladies of Westeros’ Great Houses have assembled. Sam speaks for the Tarlys despite being disinherited as a member of the Night’s Watch, we have the unnamed Prince of Dorne mentioned two episodes ago, Queen of the Iron Isles Yara Greyjoy, Lord of Storm’s End Gendry Baratheon, a couple of random white men no one even bothers to introduce, and they even dug up Edmure Tully and a Neville Longbottoming Robin Arryn. But the stars of the show are clearly the Starks (Arya, Bran, and Sansa) here to get their brother out of prison. Oh yeah, Jon apparently was arrested off-screen despite there being no body of Daenerys, no dagger to find, and no witnesses to what happened, so you know his dumb ass confessed unprompted. And some people really wanted this dry snitching idiot as King.

As always in these Love & Hip Hop reunion shows, things get off to a contentious start. Yara, whose reign in the Iron Islands was granted by Daenerys, is all for executing Jon for regicide. Arya reminds her to check her tone, and that if she talks about killing Jon again she’ll help her join the rest of the Greyjoys in the afterlife with the quickness. Davos offers to pay off the Unsullied with the Reach (presumably Highgarden) but Grey Worm angrily rejects the bribe in favor of justice. As there is no King or Queen to decide that justice however, Tyrion proposes the assembled crowd decide on a new ruler. There is a perfectly hilarious moment as Edmure Tully really has the unmitigated gall to put himself up for the throne before Sansa — with all the kindness and shade she can muster — tells her uncle to sit his five dollar ass down before she makes change. For a moment, I thought he might have had the good sense to nominate someone else (namely Sansa), but he really tried it. The cackle I let out when I realized he was serious might be my favorite thing this season. Edmure couldn’t even sit down after being shamed into silence without accidentally banging his sword on the pillar of the tent. A clown to the last.

Sam tries to propose the concept of democracy and gets laughed out of the room to the general bemusement of the convened crowd. Tyrion, once again talking himself out of trouble is asked who he thinks should be crowned, and those who thought Jon’s parentage would come into play (at all) in the finale were as bitterly disappointed as #SansaHive when the Lord Lannister put forth Bran Stark. Citing the importance of stories, he decides that Bran has the most electability and as the Three-Eyed Raven knows all the stories. How he decided Bran had the best story when Sansa, Brienne, Arya, or even Davos are sitting right there, no one knows. It remains unclear how much anyone outside of Winterfell is even aware or believes about Bran’s abilities so I’m still not sure how the rest of the nobility went along with it, but after a whole season maintaining he doesn’t want anything anymore, Bran accepts the nomination as King with a sardonic “Why do you think I came all this way?”

Forget the horrible title of “Bran the Broken” as given by Tyrion, he’s Bran the Scammer. This fool really sat there in his chair and finessed his way to the top. Chaos is a ladder indeed! The last time we saw this man in charge he was giving away the two farm hands that Theon burned in place of him and Rickon, and losing his castle to a motley crew of Ironborn. But for some reason, everyone else seems to listen to the twice deposed Hand and Bran carries the day. After a unanimous vote, Sansa demures and asserts the North’s independence from the crown, which King Brandon Stark accepts. Apparently no one told any of the other houses that was an option before the voting. That noise you hear in the background is the internal scream of Dorne and the Iron Islands' regret. Bran then immediately makes Tyrion his Hand, much to Grey Worm’s objection, his punishment for his crimes being to fix the many wrongs he’s made…by doing the same job he already had and screwed up in the first place. Apparently this made sense to everyone but Grey Worm. To keep the peace, Jon, rather than being freed or executed is sent to the Night’s Watch, which their former Lord Commander can’t believe still exists.

Beginning our final goodbyes, we get Jon finally back to his glorious windswept curly hair blowing in freedom as he prepares to head north. He gets stared down by Grey Worm for the last time, who is sailing with the rest of the Unsullied to Naath so that he can honor his word to Missandei to free her people and protect the home she loved so much. The Dothraki are also boarding up, presumably to sail back to Essos as well, but for whatever reason pay no mind to the man who murdered their Khaleesi. On the dock of the bay, the remaining Stark children, after years of being split up by war, finally choose their own fates. Sansa is returning home to rule the North in the Stark name, Bran of course will remain in the capital as King, but the girl who threw away her life as no one to reclaim herself as Arya Stark of Winterfell, decides to make good on a season six promise (made when she thought she had no more family) to sail to the end of the map and find what’s west of Westeros. It’s another moment at odds with the character who had gone through hell to get back to her loved ones, but perhaps more understandable in light of her decision to live for more than just vengeance.

After another uncertain time jump, we find Brienne of Tarth as Lord Commander of the Kingsguard flipping through the Book of Brothers (the White Book) to see Jaime Lannister’s accomplishments, which she fills in with her own hand. Resisting the petty urges in me to turn it into a Burn Book, the most honorable knight in Seven Six Kingdoms restores a bit of dignity to the Kingslayer’s name with Oathkeeper (and possibly Widow’s Wail) hanging on the wall of White Sword Tower. They really could have given it back to the Starks as a sign of goodwill since they were forged from Ice, but I suppose technically it is with the last trueborn son of Ned Stark after they were used to defend his daughters.

Back in the small council room, Tyrion methodically rearranges the deck chairs on the Titanic as we meet King Bran’s court. The new Hand is joined by Bronn, Lord of Highgarden and Lord Paramount of the Reach, as Master of Coin (because a scammer never dies); Ser Davos as the Master of Ships; and Sam Tarly as Grand Maester (despite not having earned any actual links on his chain) because white dudes always fail up. Sam presents Tyrion with the newest work from the Citadel, “A Song of Ice and Fire” detailing the entire series as they lean into the Tolkien. Bran came through dripping in his Kingly raven-themed fit pushed by none other than Ser Podrick, who got himself into the Kingsguard as well. Asking about Drogon’s whereabouts, the best information the council has was that he was flying east (possibly towards Volantis or Valyria) and Bran intones he might have better luck finding the dragon before abruptly being wheeled out of the meeting. Picking up where the series began, we have the small council ruling the country while the King does whatever he feels like, bored with the monotony of ruling.

Speaking of full circle, the series ends mirroring its opening shot from the cold open, with riders leaving Castle Black and setting out beyond the Wall. With the threat of the White Walkers apparently over and the wildlings reaching a peace with the Night’s Watch, the journey is much less perilous. Jon, back in his familiar black as King Crow, and the Stark children now have chosen the people they want to be, as scenes of each of them stepping into their destiny are intercut with their muted victories. Sansa receives the coronation she’s long deserved as Queen in the North, Arya sets sail to Valinor, and Jon — reunited with Ghost and Tormund — sets out with the rest of the Free Folk seemingly forever, choosing to live his life in the real North.

Turn out the lights, the party’s over! In a vacuum, I don’t hate most of the resolutions nearly as much as I thought I would (especially if we end up getting the Arya spinoff that we deserve). But that’s just it, the episode felt exactly like what it was, a mad dash to get to bullet point notes for character journeys. If it weren’t for the previous episodes lowering my expectations, I’d be more disappointed with so many character arcs ending in flat circles, erasing years of growth, but there was no way for them to land planes that had already crashed. In the end, almost none of the plot points that were so interesting had any payoff in the final story and could have been wholly excised, from Jon being Aegon Targaryen, to Arya learning how to be a Faceless Assassin, Daenerys’s fertility or Cersei’s pregnancy, but what’s done is done. Like Dexter, we got four incredible seasons of television, and a few great episodes after that, but now my watch has ended.

It’s been a privilege hopping on these recaps with you all, and I look forward to hearing your thoughts about the finale for good or ill.

[matt0044]

Why do I like Ninja Steel?

To say the recent installment of Power Rangers hasn’t be divisive would be putting it mildly but I’m not hear to convince the “haters” to convert so much as say that what seems to put off people about the season is what makes me enjoy it as much as it does.

Well, with the plotline itself, it definitely follows the more episodic format of the previous seasons. Each episode pretty much is its own storyline but with overarching plot elements that tie them together. I never got the accusation of it being filler when almost each episode pretty much contributes to a piece of the puzzle. Well, recap episodes aside. But let’s not get hung up over it.

The rangers are simple in the characterizations but done better compared to Megaforce’s version of “simplicity” as I can see them being real people I’d like to hang out with and trust the world to. They’re easy to like and while I prefer characters who show very nuanced in their personality, I’m not very picky either.

One thing that has people divided is the brand of silliness that even Super Sentai’s no stranger too. Namely the kind delivered by our ever “intrepid” pair of Victor and Monty. One react to their ridiculous antics either with an exasperated “Oh my god...” or an amused “Oh my god” as you smile at how off-the-wall it all gets.

I fall firmly into the latter camp because while their antics can be basic bumbling and stumbling like in the premiere, things like them floating in the air trapped in a cocoon filling with their gas make me smile at how far they went with a simple fart joke. Mind you, I feel that particular gag could visit Power Rangers rather less frequently...

It’s clear that the writers just wanted to have pure simple fun with them and it shows. Even the actors seem to be just rolling with it and making the most of whatever material they get, playing off each other fairly well for all it’s worth. Yes, they’re no Bulk and Skull but they’re no Bulk and Spike either IMO.

Again, I don’t expect to make people “see the light” but rather get this off of my chest first and foremost.

[jacscorner]

Quick Review of Super Sentai Shows

I haven't seen a lot of Toku shows, but I've always wanted to get me thoughts out on them. I've seen every Sentai show starting from Gokaiger and after. Even though that's not a lot, these are still gonna be kind of long, so I'll tackle Kamen Rider shows at a later date. Each of these 'reviews' will be a paragraph or two in length, a quick few sentences on each Ranger, and will have a letter grade after it. Maybe someday, I'll go into greater detail, but just not today. Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger: My opinion on Gokaiger might be a little bias, but this is my favorite series. Gokaiger follows the adventures of a band of pirates as they look for a treasure that can only be found on Earth. Meanwhile, the Earth is being invaded by a Space Empire that has, in one way or the other, screwed them all over. This draws them into the battle as they fight to protect the Earth in order to protect the treasure, slowly growing to like the Earth as we get cameos and guest stars of previous Rangers-I might not be familiar with much of them since I've hardly seen much of the older shows, but I do love the crash course on Sentai Teams. The main gimmick of the show is the ranger's ability to transform into the rangers of previous shows, but when in their main suits, Blue and Green trade their gun and sword respectively to duel wield, Yellow and Pink also pull this. Gokai Red, Captain Marvelous: The fact that might just be his real name is hilarious. Probably, in my biased opinion, the most badass pirate n fictional history and best ranger so far. Gokai Blue, Blue: Cool guy and his personal arc is awesome. Also, there's an episode when he SOMEHOW holds five swords. Suck it, Zoro. Gokai Yellow, Luka: Wannabe Nami from One Piece, but she's still pretty cool. Gokai Green, Doc: Team smart guy and is probably the funniest character. He trips and falls around in the fights and although his own arcs are pretty petty, he's still enjoyable. Gokai Pink, Ahim: A Princess who's both Team Heart and team badass. Thankfully no 'princess laugh' Gokai Silver, Guy: 6th Ranger and a literal Super Sentai fanboy, complete with an autograph book and it's really funny. Gets his own powerup form that's kind of lame, but his gimmick is to transform into other 6th Rangers. Grade: A+ Tokumei Sentai Go-Busters: FBI agents fight Hackers. Okay, no, not quite that: a science institute is dragged into Cyberspace-I mean Hyperspace, with the only ones able to escape being 3 kids. These 3 kids grow up to become the Go-Busters. This is a super serious series-well, as series as these shows can get-and it's everything I could've asked for. Unfortunately, that was also kind of the problem. Anyway, they fight machines that have been infected with a virus by a homicidal computer avatar-even though a lot of these robots are made from machines that aren't electronic in nature. Go-Busters gave the feeling that there was a lot of good ideas going into this, but they weren't taken far enough. Each of the 3 main Go-Busters get a robot partner that is both a helpful side character AND helps them pilot their respective mech. Each of the Go-Busters also has a superpower due to being absorbed into Hyperspace, and a computer-based weakness. Red Buster, Hiromu: The most skilled member of the group, as well as the most socially inept. His super power is to run at super speed, and his weakness is to freeze up...but only when he sees or hears a 'chicken'. His partner, Cheeda Nick, is a humanoid robot that turns into a motorcycle and acts as Hiomu's older brother. Yellow Buster, Yoko: A hotheaded tomboy. Her special power is super-high jumping, and weakness is needing to keep the calories coming-AKA, needing her battery charged. Her partner, Usada Lettuce, is a rabbit-themed robot that part times act as a best friend and part time a nagging parent. Blue Buster, Ryuji: The oldest of the group and the one who has to keep Hiromu and Yoko from pulling each other's hair out. His super power is super strength, but his weakness is overexerting himself-overheating. In which case, he goes berserk and could destroy himself. His partner, Gorisaki Banana, is a gorilla-themed robot that is a doting, overbearing parent 24/7. Beet Buster, Jin: A super genius who was trapped in Hyperspace. He appears as a digital avatar that's remote-controlled by the real Jin who's still trapped. He really lived up this dry show by being funny and he even has a good arc. Unlike the previous 3, his mechs can be piloted without his robot partner. Stag Buster, Beet J. Stag: A humanoid robot that acts as Jin's partner. Unlike the other robots, he actively joins in the fight and is also funny. He constantly steps in front of people and interrupt them while talking. When transforming, it looks like excess parts from him form into Jin's suit, but this could just be cosmetic. Grade: C- Zyuden Sentai Kyoryuger: According to this show, during the age of dinosaurs, Aliens invaded and tried to take over the Earth, but the Dinosaurs beat them. To get revenge, they caused the ice age. But team mentor, Torin, stored their souls so they could be used again to fight the aliens-as oppose to using them for the other aliens who've surely came from other shows.  Anyway, cut to modern times when the aliens come back and the souls of the dinosaurs must find new wielders of their power to defend the planet. This is the typical goofy nature you should expect from these shows. Each Ranger uses a gun to transform, to fight, and get their own special weapon. Also, a bunch of smaller dinosaur batteries that can turn into upgrades and other tools. Kyoryu Red, 'King': Or Daigo, but almost everyone calls him King. The Fanged Hero who's a hotheaded shonen protagonist-get use to me saying that. His dinosaur is a Tyrannosaurus-because of course it is. If you've seen the last 3 Dinosaur-themed heroes, you should've known. Kyoryu Blue, Nobuharu: Or Nossan. The Armored Hero is literally the best character in this show. He tells bad puns and is a middle aged handyman who helps take care of his niece with his sister. His spirit is a Stegosaurus. Kyoryu Green, Souji: The Slashing Hero, a high school student who studies swordplay from his father, who runs a dojo. His dinosaur is a Velociraptor. Kyoryu Pink, Amy: The Horned Heroine, a high-class sophisticate who is always trying to get away from her fortune and be normal.  Her dinosaur is a Triceratops. Kyoryu Black, Ian: The Bullet Hero, European archaeologist-in the same sense of Indiana Jones, just replace the whip with a gun-who's also a playboy. He gets his own arc with one of the main antagonists. His dinosaur is a Parasaurolophus. Kyoryu Gold, Utsusemimaru: Or just Uchii. The Thunderous Hero is a feudal era Samurai who survived due to one of the main antagonist, Dogold(a living set of armor) taking his body. They have a constant rivalry that is pretty awesome to watch. His dinosaur is a Pteranodon. The next couple of rangers are mostly suplimentary. They won't appear as often as the main team, if at all. Kyoryu Cyan, Ramirez: Another person from an unspecified part of Europe. The Steel Hero is a jolly guy who SOMEHOW slims down when he transforms. He's actually a spirit who assists the rangers from beyond the grave. His dinosaur is a Ankylosaurus. Kyoryu Gray, Tessai: A Chinese Martial Artist and another Spirit. A disciplined warrior. His dinosaur is a Pachycephalosaurus. Kyoryu Violet, Dr. Ulshade: The Marine Hero, an old man scientist who originally built the heroes their transforming gun. He retires from hero duty and his granddaughter, Yayoi, takes after him-both as a scientist and as the Marinte Heroine. Their dinosaur is a Plesiosaurus. Kyoryu Silver, Torin: Torin is actually a defector from the invaders and eventually becomes a ranger himself. His dinosaur should be himself since he's a bird, but no, it's a Deinonychus. Grade: B+ Ressha Sentai ToQger: Thomas the Tank Engine. Okay, no. ToQger follows a group of childhood friends as they find themselves on the Rainbow Line, a train powered by children's imagination. With the Rainbow Line in danger by their counterpart, but the Shadow Line, who's goal is to cover the world in darkness, the ToQger uses their imagination to, well, imagine themselves as rangers to fight the Shadow Line. This series is a mix of a comedy and a drama, slowly growing darker and darker into a rather somber show. It's still a how focused on the power of friendship, but it's kind of deep. The Ranger gimmick this time, aside from trains, is that they switch their colors, and weapons, with each other. ToQ 1gou, Right: The energetic leader of the show, another Shonen-ish main Red. The most imaginative and childish of the group. ToQ 2gou, Tokatti: A Blue klutz, but he has a few endearing moments. ToQ 3gou, Mio: A no-nonsense Yellow ranger. ToQ 4gou, Hikari: The real lancer of this series and the Green Ranger. Is equal to Right, but is also his total opposite. ToQ 5gou, Kagura: The least skilled out of the group, but she's the most imaginative. And here, that's a big deal! ToQ 6gou, Akira: A defect of the Shadow Line, who joined the Rainbow Line to 'protect the rainbow'-cause you can't have a rainbow if the world is in darkness. Best ranger of the series. Grade: B Shuriken Sentai Ninninger: Naruto Sentai! No. Ninninger follows the adventures of five Grandchildren of an incredibly powerful ninja, the Hoka-I mean, the Last Ninja. They fight an army of demons-literally-who were sealed away by the Last Ninja himself. They're heralded by his former student, Izayoi, who aims to collect the 'Power of Fear' in order to resurect the Demon Leader. The monsters are created by Sealing Shuriken, which was what was used to seal him away, and infusing it with his demonic magic, transforming inanimate objects into demons-kind of like how a lot of Japanese Demons, 'Yokai', are made up of inanimate objects. Meanwhile, the ninjas are able to use ninjitsu, literal ninja magic, with the use of special shuriken. Ninninger has a lot going on with its story, to the point where it can feel like there's too much going on. The Wild Brilliance-Aka Ninger, Takaharu: Another Shonen-ish protagonist. He's the red ninja. The Rumbling Cloud-Ao Ninger, Yakumo: The blue ranger, team lancer who grew up in England...and apparntly went to Hogwarts since he can cast normal magic with a wand. The Dazzling Stillness-Ki Ninger, Nagi: Yellow Ranger, would rather work at an office then be a ninja. He's...kind of forgetable, honestly. The Flower in the Wind-Shiro Ninger, Fuka: The White Ranger is sister of Takaharu-everyone else, in relationship to the other, are cousins. The least skilled of the group, but she starts getting into her stride later on. The Shimmering Haze-Momo Ninger, Kasumi: The Smart Girl and the Pink Ranger. Is the best Ranger in a technical sense, since she's easily the smartest member of the team in terms of ninjitsu and is an aspiring scientist. The Shinning Star-Star Ninger, Kinji: An American Ninja/Cowboy...who transforms with a little cheeseburger, as oppose to the sword everyone else use. And he fights with a gun/guitar/sword. HE is best Ranger of the series. (He's the 6th Ranger and the only one not related to the main cast). He pursuited being a ninja after being inspired by the Last Ninja. Grade: C Doubutsu Sentai Zyuohger: Power Ranger Furries. No. Well, kind of. In an alternate dimmension, there is a land called Zyuland, home of the Zyumans. In universe, a group of anthropomorphic animal. In reality, a bunch of guys a little too enthusiastic in their cosplay. Our Red Ranger, a Zoologist, while studying animals in a forest, stumbles upon a giant cube, a Link Cube, which transports him to Zyuland. Meanwhile, Earth is attacked by a group of intergalactic aliens, the Dethgalien, who are only invading Earth because it's a literal game for them. In fact, they even have this neat arcade them, with monsters getting an 'extra life' with coins. After four Zyuman end up on Earth after it gets damaged, Yamata and the four of them have to fight to protect the Earth, while also trying to find a way home for the Zyumen. The Zyumen transform using Zyuoh Changers, which are cube cellphones. Monarch of the Skies-Zyuoh Eagle, Yamato: Token Human who prior, was given some Zyuenergy from Bard, an Eagle Zyuman who found Yamato while he was young and got into a serious accident. Thanks to that, Yamato is capable of transforming into the Red Ranger, while also getting Eagle wings. He also gets 2 more transformations. Yamato himself is a little less shonen then the previous two guys, with a strong passion for animals. As an Eagle, he can see great distances. Monarch of the Seas-Zyuoh Shark, Sela: The Blue Ranger and a Shark-Woman. She has super hearing and is serious. Her shark dorsal fin can, apparently, cut people. Monarch of the Savannah-Zyuoh Lion, Leo: This Yellow Ranger picks up the slack for Yamato's lack of shonen conventions. A hot blooded, Lion-Man warrior with a sonic scream...er, roar. Also, Lion Claws. Monarch of the Forest-Zyuoh Elephant, Tusk: This studious young man is the Green Ranger. He's studious and straight forward to a fault. He's an Elephant-Man with a super sense of smell. He can also stomp around with Elephant Feet. Monarch of the Snowfield-Zyuoh Tiger, Amu: The White Ranger, the most easy going of the group. She's a Tiger-Woman and have a super sense of taste. She fights with tiger claws. Monarch of the World, Zyuo The World, Misao: He is the best Ranger, period. Kidnapped by the Dethgalien, he gets forcefully infused with 3 other Zyoumen: a Crocodile, Wolf, and Rhino. What makes him the best is his overall arc as a character, being socially inept and fostering some misplaced guilt on the death of the Zyoumen. Grade: B+ Uchu Sentai Kyuranger: The most recent Sentai Series, following a rebellion group in their attempt to overthrow the evil Jark Matter, an organization that has already taken over the entire universe. The universe's last hope are the prophesied Kyuangers, who transform with the use of Kyutamas-little spheres based off of the constellations that they put into wrist-mounted blasters. By the end of the series, there is a grand total of 12 heroes. Unfortunately, this show REALLY loves caste herds AND is still Red centric, so we won't get much in the way of small groups mix and matching, and more so we'll divide the characters into certain groups or they'll have some kind of chemistry, and they won't interact with other people. (Ex. A and B hand out, A and C hang out, but C and B won't hang out.) To add onto that, the last couple of episodes or so really makes the show drag on, as though the writers struggled to write an ending AND reach the episode quota. But, it does give me a lot of 'favorite rangers', so pros and cons. The Super Star-Shishi Red, Lucky: The shonen protagonist to end the all-at least, as far as I've seen. His whole shtick is that he's lucky and sometimes it comes off as a deus ex machina, and other times it's more of in a symbolic  sense, ala "you make your own luck". His constellation is Leo. The Poison Star-Sasori Orange, Stinger: A mysterious lone wolf from a planet of humanoids with Scorpion tails. Speaking of, his constellation is Scorpius. He has a pretty intricate arc involving his brother, as well as with his partner below. The Ring Star-Oushi Black, Champ: A robot wrestling bull. That alone makes him a canidate for best ranger. He also goes through an arc of his alone, as well as one with Stinger. He's as big of a ham as they come, as he seems fully aware of the show he's in. His constellation is Taurus. The Beast Star-Ookami Blue, Garu: An anthropomorphic Wolf who's constellation is, yes, Lupus, the Wolf. He's another hot head who bonds quickly with Lucky. He might be my favorite ranger purely because of just how endearing he can be, like an actual dog. The Trick Star-Tenbin Gold, Balance: A robot-uh, I mean mechanical lifeform/android who's part of a pair of thieves with the guy below. He can control other pieces of machinery. He is flamboyant as all hell and he's so fun to watch. His constellation is Libra. The Silent Star-Hebitsukai Silver: An emotionless alien who has psychic powers. He follows Balance along in the hopes of achieving emotions, something his species has given up on like the Vulcans from Star Trek. His constellation is Ophiuchus, but he acts less like the Serpent Bearer and more like the Serpent itself. The Shinobi Star-Chameleon Green: A freakin' ninja from a suppose planet of ninjas! She's a sassy tomboy with her constellation is Chamaeleon. The Speed Star-Washi Pink, Raptor 283: A lady robot who was built to helm their speceship, the Orion. She's more or less an otaku, but they do their best to make her come cute and not cringey. Her constellation is Aquila. The Food Mei-Star-Kijika Yellow, Spada. A chef who...I guess comes from Space Spain. His constellation is Dorado. The Dragon Ma-Star-Ryu Commander, Commander Shou: The commander of the Kyurangers and the rebellion. He's eccentric and, although as much of a dork as Raptor, is so cool! His arc is early on in the series and it really shows just how great he is. A definite candidate for best ranger! He's an anthropomorphic dragon, so of course, his constellation would be Draco. The Big Star-Koguma Skyblue, Kotaro: A young Earthling-one of two Earthling Tokens-who joins the resistence and even goes through boot camp! His constellation is Ursa Minor. The reason for being the 'Big Star' is because he has a powerup that lets him grow to a giant size! He ends up looking up to Stinger as an older brother figure. The Space Bu-Star-Houou Soldier, Tsurugi: A Kyuranger who was put into cryogenic sleep. He's a haughty bastard, but considering he was the first president of space, he can kind of get away with it.  You'll either learn to love him or learn to tolerate him since he does get better. His constellation is the Phoenix. Grade: B Kaitou Sentai Lupinranger VS Keisatsu Sentai Patoranger: Cops and Robbers Sentai, the Sentai. Following Kyuranger, the show follows along the 3-way feud between the Lupinrangers, a group of phantom thief-themed sentai, the Patorangers, a group of cop-themed sentai, and the Ganglers, a Mafia-themed batch of villains. The three groups fight over the Lupin Collection, a group of magical McGuffins that were collected by the Phantom Thief Lupin(yes,that one.) The Lupins want them to get a wish. The Pats want them to fight the Ganglers. And the Ganglers want them cause power. The show LOVES the Lupinranger, with the Patoranger getting much less screen time. At the same time, they also get the most character development. Meanwhile, the Lupinranger get the most screen time and the most upgrades and weapons. Lupin Red, Kairi: UNLIKE the last, like, 3 Sentais, Kairi isn't a Shonen Protagonist (OMFG!). He's a confident and suave guy, but it's a front since his wish is to get back his older brother, who was kidnapped by a Gangler-and they weren't on good terms when he was taken. Lupin Blue, Toma: Cool, collected straight guy of the team. His goal is to get back his fiance. Probably the most interesting of the three thieves since his episodes either push him into VERY uncomfortable places for the character, or draws heavily on the memories of said fiance. Lupin Yellow, Umika: Team Little Sister. Her goal is to get back her friend. She has a romantic subplot with Patren 2gou and it's surprisingly interesting. Her episodes are surprisingly rare, at least, to me they felt rare. Patren Ichigou, Keiichiro: Hard boiled, no-nonsense cop. Comes off as an angry cop in the beginning, but is simply trying to uphold justice and protect people. His a rivalry with Lupin Red, but as Keiichiro, becomes a pseudo-older brother to Kairi. Patren Nigo, Sakuya: Bumbling oaf cop. A rookie who wants to prove his worth and struggles with confidence-but when he does get confident, it goes to his head quickly. Is endearing and honest and his episodes revolve around rising to the occasion. Patren Sangou, Tsukasa: Straight man(woman?) cop. Usually the one who has to rein in her other partners. Doesn't get too much attention. Lupin/Patren X, Noel: Double Agent kind of who works with both Lupins and Patrens. Can be kind of obnoxious and feels superfluous to the plot, but is a fun addition to both sides. Grade: A

[maswartz]

Power Rangers Shinobi Strike

(Logo by @masterpikachu6)

Centuries ago in Japan a wicked and cruel man led an army in an attempt to rule everything. However a group of shinobi rose up to fight him. Desperate for victory the wicked man opened a portal to the demon realm but him and his army were pulled into it. A blacksmith created a special sealing shuriken and the shinobi split this key into five pieces. They took the pieces and spread around the world to prevent the key from being reformed. Time passed and each shinobi began a family and their skills and tools were passed on as well. These included a scroll detailing the events of the battle and a Shinobi Shuriken. However a demonic Kitsune managed to steal the key shards and reopen the portal. The wicked man had become a Demonic Emperor with an army of Nonja. However time has left him weakened and so they send the Nonja out to harness fear to bring him back to his former glory. He also sends out shurikens charged with demonic power to create modern day Yokai. The current heirs to the five shinobi gather in a city near the site where the portal is weakest and unleash their power as the Power Rangers Shinobi Strike! With Ninpo and the tools and powers of the shinobi they fight back against the Demonic Emperor as their ancestors once did. After rescuing a man and his family the five are allowed to live in his martial arts dojo. Each ranger has power over an element but only via a special shuriken. One of their earliest tasks is to teach each other how to utilize the other elements.

Red Shinobi Ranger- The Burning Ninja-  Alexis Georgiou Kokinos Age: 20 Personality/Bio: Born in Greece, Alexis and his family made their home on Santorini Island, in the shadows of the volcano on the island. He is a very hot blooded and energetic young man. When it comes to innocent life he is very reckless, not afraid to jump into danger to rescue others. His Key Shard was the last one stolen and he sent out the alarm to the rest of the Shinobi as he followed the thief. He found them and tried to engage them but almost lost if not for the arrival of the other Shinobi Rangers. He holds the element of fire within him and can use his element’s power to burn his enemies or create a smokescreen. As the leader of the team, known as The Burning Ninja, he holds the Red Shinobi Ranger powers. Face Claim: Kostas Martakis

Blue Shinobi Ranger- The Storming Ninja- Simon Weaver Age: 19 Personality/Bio: Simon was born in the United Kingdom. He received his Blue Shuriken and Blue Shinobi Scroll from his uncle when he was young. As The Storming Ninja, Simon can control water, using it to drown his enemies or freeze it to create shields to shield himself and his friends. When the alarm about the theft of the Key Shards went out he was the second to arrive to save Alexis. He is the second-in-command of the team and the team strategist. He prefers to have his nose stuck in a book, rather than a battle, but when lives are on the line, he takes his Ranger duties seriously and fights alongside the rest of his team. Face Claim: Matthew Rhys Bond

Yellow Shinobi Ranger- The Quaking Ninja- Tito Cézar Almeida Costa Age: 21 Personality/Bio: Known as The Quaking Ninja, Tito was born in Brazil. For years he worked in his family’s quarry, so he’s no stranger to hard work. He is the physically strongest member of the team and the one they rely on to do the heavy lifting. He has a kind personality and does his best to fulfill his Ranger duties. He is often the peacekeeper of the group. After the theft of the Key Shards he received the Yellow Shuriken and Yellow Shinobi Scroll and became the Yellow Shinobi Ranger. He controls the element of earth and can use it to bury his enemies under layers of dirt or use dust to create a cloud to distract his enemies or make a quick getaway. Face Claim: Alex Meraz

White Shinobi Ranger- The Flowery Ninja- Monique Dupont Age: 18 Personality/Bio: One of the youngest of the team, Monique is a student at the local university in agricultural sciences in Paris, growing up there her entire life. Her father was an American and her mother a French botanist, fluent in English and French. She grew up with a natural affinity for flowers, and all plants in general and is skilled in botany. As The Flowery Ninja the element of wood grows within her and she can use it to slice her enemies like wheat or defend herself and others like the mighty oak. Monique was given the White Shinobi scroll along with a White Shuriken when she was old enough. After the theft of the Key Shards she was sent to find the others. Face Claim: Lily-Rose Depp

Pink Shinobi Ranger- The Metallic Ninja-  Anna Zamolodchikova Age: 18 Personality/Bio: The same age as Monique, the two women got along from the start. A prodigy with machines as a result of growing up in a Russian junk yard. Anna has grown up with her hands in the gears as she tinkers away at the machines her family has built. As The Metallic Ninja the element of metal shines within her and can create sharp blades or solid barriers. When she was old enough she was given a Pink Shinobi scroll along with a Pink Shruiken. Following the theft of the Key Shards she left to find the other Shinobi Rangers Face Claim: Harley Quinn Smith

Gold Shinobi Ranger- The Starry Ninja- Danielle “Dan” Anders Age: 23 Personality/Bio: Boisterous and loud while morphed, Danielle is a pretty shy and meek person in real life. The descendants of the blacksmith who created the key shuriken moved to the western United States and created their own tools and weapons to aid in the battle should the need arise. Danielle is the latest in this line. At first she resented the fact that she was a ranger, not willing to accept the responsibilities she wanted more to focus on her music In the end however her heart is in the right place, and she’s trying to make things right. When the Shinobi Rangers began to battle the Nonja her family began work on the Gold Ranger gear so she could join the battle. As The Starry Ninja the element of the void roars within her allowing her to strike enemies with bolts or blow them away with strong winds. In her down time she composes songs based on the noise and sounds of the battles. Face Claim: Jasmin Savoy Brown The different families each created their own Shinobi Zords over the years, however they each had a different idea for a theme. R- Shinobi Warrior Zord- A red humanoid who can use ninja skills in battle B- Shinobi Drago Zord- A blue dragon who can breathe flames Y- Shinobi Truck Zord- A yellow truck that can spread ninja traps W- Shinobi Hound Zord- A white dog that can spread chaos in battle P- Shinobi Train Zord- A pink train that speeds around in combat

These five unite to form the Shinobi Megazord

R- Sits in the torso and forms the head B/Y- Arms W/P- Legs

G- Shinobi Western Zord with Buffalo Buggy- A cyan humanoid that rides upon a buffalo styled buggy. These two can combine to form the Rodeo Megazord.

Both Megazords can become one and form the Shinobi Rodeo Megazord

By using their Ninpo to purify the demonic shurikens the team gains a set of auxiliary Shinobi Zords Shinobi Elephant Zord- An emerald elephant that can use its trunk to attack and combine with the Shinobi Megazord to form the Shinobi Elephant Megazord granting the megazord twin axes. The Elephant Shuriken also allows the Rangers to stretch their limbs to amazing lengths Shinobi Alien Zord- A navy UFO that attacks by manipulating gravity and can combine to form the Shinobi Alien Megazord. This megazord is armed with a powerful blaster. The Alien Shuriken can also be used by the Rangers to manipulate gravity as well Shinobi Submarine Zord- A purple submarine that can control waves and shoot missiles and can combine to form the Shinobi Surfer Megazord. This megazord rides a giant surfboard and can move at great speed. The Submarine Shuriken can be used by the Rangers to summon localized waves. In the aftermath of a difficult battle the Rangers are forced to flee and they stumble onto a fortress with a lion motif and take shelter within. While inside they discover the fortress is really the Shinobi Lion Fortress Zord and activate it. This zord can become the Shinobi Lion Megazord as well as combine with the other Megazords to form the Shinobi Superzord.

Within the Lion Fortress the Rangers find the True Ninpo Armor. This armor boosts a Ranger’s power tenfold. The True Ninpo Armor acts as a team Battilizer.

However as the Nonja army grew stronger the Rangers were forced to return to their homelands to find statues of ancient Shinobi Guardians. These statues bestowed new Zords onto the Rangers. The Shinobi Guardian Zords.

R- Shinobi Guardian Phoenix Zord- Statue found within a volcano B- Shinobi Guardian Drake Zord- Statue found within a cave on a cliff side Y- Shinobi Guardian Turtle Zord- Statue found within a cave on a beach W- Shinobi Guardian Tiger Zord- Statue found within the forest P- Shinobi Guardian Panda Zord- Statue found in a blizzard in the wastelands G- Shinobi Guardian Fish Zord- Statue found in a canyon

Shinobi Guardian Megazord: R- Head B/G- Arms Y- Chest W/P- Legs

The Shinobi Guardian Megazord can unite with the Shinobi Lion Megazord to form the Shinobi Ultrazord.

Ninpo- In the Power Rangers universe there are three types of ninja. Ninjor is a master of all three. 1. Ninjetti which uses the power of the users inner ninja beast (MMPR3/Aquitar) 2. Ninjitsu which uses the element the user is in harmony with (Ninja Storm) 3. Ninpo which uses the users own life force to perform incredible feats. However most people cannot use Ninpo too much without becoming weaker from the strain, the Shinobi Rangers use special Shurikens to balance this.

Power Rangers Rail Strike: One day one of the demonic shurikens hits the wreckage of a Shadowtrack train and turns it into a monster bent on reviving the fallen Darkness Emperor. It takes two teams of rangers to stop him. Ninja vs Ninja For years it was believed Ninjor was the only one of his kind. This is not true. There was once another, a red being known as Shinor. Where Ninjor was compassionate Shinor was cruel. Where Ninjor defended life Shinor destroyed it. Where Ninjor’s students were heroes Shinor’s students were the silent killers of legend. Eventually Ninjor had no choice but to seal Shinor within Shinor’s own temple and hide it from humanity. It was in this prison Shinor remained, until a man fleeing justice broke into the temple. This wicked man was tempted by Shinor’s promises of power and released him. Within moments Shinor betrayed the man and began his plan for revenge. He gathered enemies of the Ninja Rangers (Aquitar, Ninja Storm, and Shinobi Strike) leading to the three teams joining forces along with Ninjor to defeat the threat.

Morphers- Shinobi Morphers (hand held ranger colored shurikens) Morphing Call- Shinobi Technique! Ninpo Transformation! Morphing- The shuriken passes through the ranger creating the suits out of ranger colored energy. (Bios by @dream-chef-flavors and @rosegrl18)

Power Rangers Rail Warriors<———-Powerverse——–> Power Rangers Beast Might

[dailycharacteroption]

Roleplaying Races 5: Vishkanya

Another Paizo original today! This one draws upon Indian (that is, actual India) folklore!

Living stealthily alongside humans, the vishkanya are a race of hidden beings that survive by putting their talents for death and espionage to good use for those who have the coin. The exact mindset of the race hasn’t been fully explored, but it’s safe to say that they are urban survivalists, knowing full well the dangers of being exposed, but also having the cunning and charm to be able to live among those who would otherwise turn on them.

The concept for this race comes from a common figure in Hindu mythos, the Visha Kanya. This femme fatale figure refers to a woman who, through the consumption of specific poisons and antidotes over a long period, develops a natural toxicity to the point that their body fluids are deadly, making them deadly assassins whether they use more traditional methods or their wiles to lure their prey in close. Some stories even refer to them having the supernatural ability to poison with a touch or glance, which unfortunately has its roots in the misogynistic fear of women who own their own sexuality and act as initiators in relationships illicit or earnest, but that’s not the focus for today.

The vishkanya of pathfinder are not a race of all women, but they do universally have poisonous body fluids. Superficially, they resemble humans, but on closer observation one can make out forked tongues, ophidian pupils, and fine scales covering their skin.

With their bodies so superficially close to humanity, one might assume that these creatures are a created race, spies and assassins for aboleths, reptoids, or some other manner of manipulating infiltrator, but there has been no official evidence of this, so it’s also very possible their race simply evolved alongside humanity, their mimicry as much basis on the evolution of certain species as the mythological Visha Kanya does with the concept of becoming toxic due to a diet of poison, similar to the monarch butterfly.

While vishkanya may bear any number of personality traits, but the fact they are built biologically to survive by worming their way into the worlds of other races colors how they view the world. They leave morality to those with the luxury to focus on such things, instead doing what they must to survive. Certainly some may develop codes of conduct, but they know what their assets are, and how to use them.

That same instinct, however, means that vishkanya have little society of their own as others understand it, having to meet with others of their own kind in secret, in hidden places or behind a veneer of code and pretense. Some vishkanya may go almost their entire lives without seeing another of their kind, and instead live by the rules of the society they live in, at least publically, with hidden enclaves of vishkanya being more along the lines of guilds or support networks than any sort of governing body, though they may indeed have their own traditions and the like.

 Charming and agile, vishkanya have a natural allure about them, though their fear of being discovered makes them prone to irrational overreaction.

Naturally poisonous as they are, they have a high tolerance for most toxins, which only grows with maturity and power.

Perceptive and flexible, vishkanya are always on the lookout for trouble, and adept at getting out of it, and have excellent nightvision.

Despite their resilience, vishkanya learn early on to be careful when handling any poison, including their own.

Said toxin is a nerve-damaging sort of poison, their fluids only carrying so much of it in potency at a time, though it replenishes with rest.

Culturally, they favor the kukri as a weapon, as well as certain light ranged options for delivering their poison from afar, namely blowguns and shuriken.

Of course, not every vishkanya is the same, and a few traits have cropped up, such as some being more glib than flexible, or having a talent for blending their eroticism into performance. A few vishkanya are born with more human-like eyes, robbing them of night vision, but making it easier to pass as a human under close scruitiny.

 As you can imagine, vishkanya tend to favor classes that prefer a subtler approach. Rogue, slayer, and ninja are natural choices, but bards, rangers, alchemists, inquisitors, vigilantes, investigators, and even mediums and mesmerists being other good choices. Of course, with their wisdom penalty, the only classes that are tricky for them really are only most divine classes and other wisdom-based casters, though they can make do in their own way.

With that, we’re moving on from vishkanya towards other races later in the week! Stay tuned!

[green-ranger-maggie-sawyer]

Shards of Destruction

@avidreaderffn and I did another thing :D Cause we like writing Power Ranger reveal scenes 

Maggie yanked Alex back behind the building they were using for cover just in time to avoid an attack of poisonous snot. “What's rule number one, Danvers?”

“Don't die.” Alex peered around the corner and fired. “It's poisonous, not lethal.”

Maggie took over shooting while Alex reloaded. “Poisonous over the short term. We don't know what happens after the first half hour.”

Their comms crackled to life. “Ladies, time to fall back.” Winn’s voice was frantic.

Alex wrapped a hand around a grenade on her tac-vest. “What's up?”

“Kara’s gotten a hold of a water tanker. Since we know they’re aquaphobic, she's gonna drown them.”

Alex looked around the corner. “Alpha team, are you clear?”

“Three blocks back and still moving.” The youngest member of Alex's team was breathing hard, but still sounded strong.

Alex quickly traded a look with Maggie, who nodded. She tugged the grenade free, pulled the pin, and tossed it up the street. This time, Alex yanked Maggie out from their cover. They sprinted up the sidewalk, almost in step after nearly a year of running to and from danger. The explosion didn't even make Maggie flinch.

Deep roars of pain and fury echoed between the tall downtown buildings. Maggie saw a blur pass overhead. The scream of metal was what made her put on a burst of speed. Alex fell behind for a moment, making Maggie throttle down just a hint.

Maggie hadn't been a Power Ranger in over a decade, but she still had a vague connection to the Grid that showed in moments like these.

A whoosh of water drowned out the sound of aliens dying. Maggie knew never to look back. Looking back only made the fear turn her legs to jelly. Alex, however, didn't follow that rule. When Alex slowed down, Maggie looked over at her and saw relief.

“Hey, look at that,” Kara said, amused and pleased, “aliens that clean up after themselves.”

Maggie turned and saw no bodies in the street. Bright blue and green foam was bubbling down the storm drains. “Efficient. Gross, but I’m not complaining.”

Alex snorted lightly. “Supergirl, can you fly Dex back to base? He took a hit.”

“I’m fine, Danvers,” came the other agent’s gruff voice.

“Too late,” Kara said cheerily, “already here.”

“You both are mother hens,” Dex said. “I'm walking from the balcony.”

“If medical lets you,” Alex said with a grin. “Winn, any sign of more of them?”

“Nothing I can find,” he said. “Their energy signal has dissipated.”

Alex and Maggie headed back the way they came. A DEO round-up team was inbound, but it wouldn't hurt for Alex and Maggie to do a sweep of the area. Maggie tugged her phone out of her pocket and checked the messages.

Alex saw her frown. “What's wrong?”

“Bad news from an old friend. Nothing I can do, really, but I worry.” She tucked her phone away and made a mental note to check in with the current Red Ranger, Brody. The Ninja Steel team wasn't doing good, and Maggie wondered how she could send Kara their way.

They reached the edge of the water splash zone and paused. Alex carefully stepped into the colored puddles. Her shoe didn't hiss and smoke the way Dex’s clothes had when struck with the poison. Alex traded a look with Maggie, and they silently agreed to keep an eye on the chemical reactions around them.

Maggie kept watch on the empty street for new threats and curious civilians. Alex scoured the ground for weapons, armor, and anything alien. Kara returned to help gather up things in a pile, telling them Dex grumbled about being able to walk since it was a hole in his arm, not his legs.

The shiver of warning up her spine made Maggie raise her gun at the threat as it appeared in front of them. Something deep in her gut made her want to put Alex behind her even though she knew that wouldn't work.

“You won that little skirmish,” the hooded figure said. “But ultimate victory will be mine.”

Kara rushed forward. She went right through him, the hologram making itself known as it rippled. “Okay, that's cheating.”

“You may want to be sure my minions are truly gone.”

Alex tapped her comm. “Do another scan of the city. Now.”

“Doing, doing,” Winn said. “Ummmm….”

“Thanks not a sound I want to hear.” Maggie lowered her gun, knowing it would serve no purpose.

“The energy readings are supposed to be following the current of the sewers.” Winn’s words came out in a panicked rush. “But the energy is gathering in the center of the city!”

“What have you done?” Kara demanded.

“You’ll find out two hours from now.” The hologram vanished, taking the threat Maggie felt in the depths of her chest.

“Winn, give us the location of the energy pool,” Alex demanded.

Kara took off as soon as she had a destination. Alpha team rolled up in their DEO SUV, and Ford hopped out of the driver’s door to give Alex the wheel. Maggie took shotgun since the seat was empty. Alex ordered Ford to watch the gathered alien gear until the clean-up team showed up. Once the lights and sirens were on, Alex gunned the SUV towards the park where the energy was gathering.

“Clark just called me,” Kara said over the comms. “Metropolis was attacked by the same aliens. He had to open a few fire hydrants to deal with them. The same hologram threatened him, but he doesn’t have a way to scan the city.”

“We can scan the country from the Mohave base,” J’onn said. “I’ll get Vasquez on it.”

Maggie looked over at Alex when their friend’s name came up. Vasquez was running the underground base because it was Lucy’s day off. Alex swallowed hard. They both knew heading towards a build-up of alien energy wasn’t going to lead to good things. It was a trap, they both knew it. But they had to try and stop what was about to happen. Maggie dug out her phone and entered the chat between the three of them.

[We love you]

Lucy was likely heading towards the DEO building in town, either to help with the problem or to make sure her girlfriends accepted the necessary medical care. She wouldn’t have her phone easily accessible while she was driving. It wouldn’t make noise or vibrate to alert her of the message. She wouldn’t see the words until after the crisis was over. But there was no private comms between them at the moment. The text would have to suffice.

After checking the Ranger general chat, Maggie took a deep breath and put her phone away. The universe was out to get Earth today, and she wondered if the little blue marble she called home could no longer evade destruction. On the one hand, Earth hadn’t even managed to achieve a decent kind of space flight. On the other hand, entire galaxies knew of how Earth’s Power Rangers held back the tide of defeat again and again, without fail. Earth at least had left a legacy in its wake.

They arrived at the cross streets Winn had given them and saw Kara had cleared the area.

“Supergirl, a couple of federal agents, and a cop shutting down access to a Krispy Kreme won't look suspicious at all,” Maggie muttered as they got out of the SUV.

Alex directed her two remaining teammates up the north and south running roads, while she and Maggie split up to check the east and west streets. Kara floated high above the intersection, keeping an eye on everything.

“Does anyone else feel queasy?” Maggie asked as she looked between buildings and into windows for anything weird.

“I thought it was heat exhaustion,” Quinn said over the comms. “But we’ve done harder runs with more gear than those three blocks.”

“I feel like I’m hyped up on something,” Mitchell said. “I want to move faster to burn off this energy.”

“I feel it, too,” Alex said after a moment. “Ford, do you feel any different?”

“Negative, ma’am.”

Maggie started to head back to the intersection. “Only two of us were exposed to the alien puddle for a significant amount of time.”

Alex agreed. “The car’s air filtration would’ve continued to pump fresh air in, not recycle the old. Supergirl?”

Kara was quiet for a moment. “I’m up here because standing and walking drove me crazy. It doesn’t take a lot of my energy to fly, but adjusting for the wind and such does take the edge off the overwhelming need to move.”

“Back to the car,” Alex ordered, breaking into a run. “In physical form the aliens were poisonous. I don’t understand how they’re affecting us now, but we’re not staying here to find out. Kara, start widening the evac radius. Maggie-”

“On it.” Maggie yanked the passenger door open and grabbed the radio. She switched it over to the NCPD channel and called for back-up. There were already officers on the way. They would take over the evacuation once they were in position.

Once the doors closed, Kara grabbed them before Alex could turn the engine over. Mitchell banged on the roof and demanded a bit of warning next time. Maggie saw Alex’s knuckles turn white as they flew towards the DEO. She was aware of the event that triggered Kara into becoming Supergirl. It was likely Alex was not enjoying the flashback to the last time Kara handled a big metal container with her inside.

Lucy was just rolling up when Kara settled the SUV on the ground. Alex nearly fell out of the vehicle, but she still looked stable enough that Kara and her teammates didn’t notice. Alex held up her hands as Lucy jogged up to them. “We might be carrying some alien radiation.”

“Well you're about to irradiate the entire DEO on the way up to medical, so it doesn’t matter,” Lucy said, closing the distance without hesitation.

Maggie watched Lucy shift to take more of Alex’s weight and quickly joined the group hug herself to help. There was the slightest of trembles in Alex’s hands. She made another mental note to scour Lucy’s PTSD books for flight and airplane related issues. “C’mon, let’s get checked out and see what Winn’s come up with.”

Kara flew up to the command hub. Ford checked in with Alex, reporting how he was helping the cleanup team keep the area clear of civilians. Alex told him to listen to his elders, an old joke between them, before passing her comm unit to Lucy. After slipping the comm into her ear, Lucy told Winn to notify James about the evacuation so he could use CatCo’s resources to spread the word. Alex leaned against the back wall of the elevator and closed her eyes. Mitchell traded a look with Maggie and winked at her.

“You and Sawyer look like shit, ma’am,” he drawled. “Give us your gear; we’ll get it to the armory while you two go to medical.”

“At least I look like shit because of exposure to alien chemicals,” Alex shot back. She didn’t open her eyes, but she held out her gun for Quinn to take before undoing her tac-vest. “What’s your excuse?”

“Running after you and your sister puts stress lines on a man.” Mitchell shouldered her vest with ease. “And now that Sawyer here is more or less an agent, I have to make sure she lives through the day, too.”

Quinn was biting his lip to keep from laughing. Maggie jabbed Mitchell lightly in the shoulder, but she would take a hit to her character for Alex’s sake.

Lucy mouthed a grateful thank-you to the teammates before muting her comm. “I’d say something about Alex’s ass being worth chasing, but this is a professional setting and, more importantly, I don’t want anyone chasing after her or it.”

“I do like my face in its current arrangement, ma’am,” Mitchell said as Alex kicked at Lucy’s boots.

Alex cracked an eye open. “Why do you say “ma’am” to her with respect, but to me, it’s always sarcastic?”

Mitchell smirked. “That would be due to having actual respect for Director Lane. Or have you forgotten that we trained together and I know things about baby badass Danvers?”

Alex took a deep breath and opened her other eye just as the elevator dinged. Quinn squeezed out between the doors before they were open, and Mitchell wasn’t far behind. Alex huffed and called after them, “Knife practice! Tomorrow!”

“You’re on!” Mitchell yelled back as the doors closed.

Maggie felt a surge of admiration for her girlfriend at the casual idea that they would see tomorrow. It was never a guarantee that they would live to see the light of another day.

“Don’t look at her like that,” Lucy told Maggie, turning her comm back on. “Of course the world isn’t ending; it’s already tomorrow in Australia.”

Medical cleared them of all medical problems. There was no sign of being physically altered by the energy near the Krispy Kreme. As far as the improvised energy sensors were concerned, nothing was clinging to them or spreading to others. Agent Dex wasn’t a happy camper, but he wasn’t getting worse. He would recover after letting his body's fight against the poison run its course. According to his medical team, his body was responding as if he had a bad batch of steroids.

Maggie took a moment to recheck her phone. The Ninja Steel Rangers were down and out for the count. Their enemy wasn’t running rampant yet, but it was only a matter of time.

Maggie followed Alex and Lucy to the command hub in time to see Winn put a map of the world on one of the big screens. Red blots covered most of the major cities.

“I don’t like the look of that,” Lucy said as she came to a stop next to J’onn.

“Those aliens have attacked every heavily populated city in the world,” he said, looking over the three of them. “Everyone seems to have figured out their reaction to water, but the pooling of energy is probably going to happen in each of these cities.”

Alex crossed her arms. “Do we know what will happen when that energy reaches critical mass?”

“This is Myriad all over again,” Winn said, tablet in hand. “As far as I can tell, those melted aliens are growing into a bomb. A nuclear one.”

“Can we defuse the energy somehow?” Maggie asked. “Can we access the sewers and get whatever is gathered out?”

Kara shook her head. “I ex-rayed that entire intersection. There’s nothing physically -there-.”

“We only have one hour now,” Winn said. “Even if we could come up with something, we couldn’t implement it around the world in time.”

“I wouldn’t even know which direction to go in,” Kara said, groaning. “Which city do I save after ours? What county loses their capital?”

“Has Clark learned anything from the Fortress of Solitude?” Alex asked.

Kara shook her head. “The last time Krypton had any readings on this energy was centuries ago. It’s called, “zheo zhahkh.” But there’s almost no information on it.”

“And the other Earths?”

Kara put the dimensional doorbell on the table. “Cisco says they have no data on this energy or alien, either.”

Something nagged at Maggie, but she brushed it away to focus on the problem at hand.

“This can’t be it,” Lucy said, looking at those gathered. “Some nameless alien with no demands is -not- going to be the one who destroys Earth.”

Maggie looked around the room. No one had any bright ideas. The nagging was back, and the way Alex reached for Lucy’s hand spoke volumes. Her girls never gave up. Yet there they were, accepting defeat. “Winn, are you absolutely, one hundred percent, utterly certain there’s nothing we, the DEO, or anyone can do about this?”

He set his tablet down. “I wouldn’t even know where to start with coming up with a device to disperse this energy. It’s nothing the DEO’s seen before. All of earth's protectors, every single active hero the planet has, have nothing.”

Maggie looked at J’onn and Kara. They shook their heads, at a loss. Lucy and Alex were watching her, almost in pity. They probably thought she was refusing to believe the truth laid in front of them.

Well, they weren’t wrong.

That nagging feeling was a scream in her mind. She glared at the map on the screens and finally gave the wordless voice attention.

Zheozhahkh

Something old rolled in the depths of her soul, warm and sharp.

Zheozhahkh

Shit.

"Then it's time to bring the inactive ones back." Maggie yanked her phone out and dialed a number from long memory. There were some contacts that shouldn’t be named. The phone rang twice before being answered. “Jason, it’s Maggie Sawyer.”

“In the thick of it all, I take it?”

“Yeah. Listen, this is a global threat. There’s nothing anyone here can do, and we have less than an hour.”

“The current team is out of commission, on top of everything.”

Maggie circled around the table and motioned for Winn’s tablet. “I know, but I have a horrible idea that could save them and the world.”

“Let’s hear it.”

Maggie put Jason on speaker and put her phone on the table so she could tap at the tablet with both hands. “The cities around the world that have been attacked are now pooling energy called Zheozhahkh.”

“Why does that sound familiar?”

“Because it’s a borrowed word. We pronounce it “Zeoche.”

“Zeo Crystal.”

“Exactly. No one on Earth would have the means to channel Zeo Crystal energy.”

“Except us. I know where the Zeonizers are. I’ll get them and Alpha and teleport to you.”

Maggie looked at the timer in the corner of Winn’s screen. “We have fifty-three minutes.”

“I’ll be there in two.”

Maggie looked up from the tablet and knew every eye in the room was on her. She focused on Alex and Lucy. “I will explain everything in detail later, I promise.”

“I’m holding you to it,” Lucy said, deciding to trust Maggie. “For now, however, the relevant information.”

Maggie carefully set her Dino Gem on the table. “Winn, can you scan that?”

He ran the proper program, and his mouth dropped. “I’d ask you what you’re doing with a piece of an alien bomb in your pocket, but this thing is stable in a way the aliens aren’t.”

“This is an energy source. What’s out in the world right now is the uncontrolled, unrefined version of this. As far as I know, only one group of people in the galaxy have the means to make a Zeo Crystal into something safe and usable.”

Three gasps sounded from different corners of the room. Everyone’s eyes darted between Winn, who was open mouthed and looked utterly starstruck, Kara, who seemed like she couldn’t decide if she should feel disbelief or excitement, and J’onn, who for the first time ever looked like he had absolutely no idea what to say.

Kara recovered first. “Holy shit you’re a Power Ranger.”

A few more jaws hit the floor. Winn’s mouth opened and closed soundlessly.

Before an eruption of questions bombarded Maggie, Jason teleported in with the Command Center’s former A.I. Alpha 5. Jason seemed surprised by the number of people in the room. He raised an eyebrow at Maggie. In another life, she probably would’ve been intimidated by the first Red Ranger. She knew the laws of the Power Rangers, knew the importance of keeping the secret. The circumstances were different this time around.

“The world is about to end, and I can’t ask them to trust me on blind faith,” she told Jason as he put the Zeonizers on the table.

“Fair enough. What’s the plan?”

Maggie looked around the table, noting the various looks of awe and scrutiny. She was likely going to hear it from J’onn about uninvited guests, but she had a feeling it wouldn’t be as bad as it could be. She focused on Alpha, sliding the tablet towards him. “Am I correct about the energy field being a raw form of the Zeo Crystal?”

The robot barely glanced at the screen, no doubt interfacing with it in another way. “Aye yai yai, Maggie, this is the most volatile kind of Zeo energy ever seen in this galaxy!”

Jason gave Alpha a look. “Ever? Are you sure about that?”

Alpha’s head tilted a little. “For as long as the Ranger Corps has been able to record Zeo energy in this galaxy, all of it has come from relatively stable sources such as your Dino Gem. Raw Zeo energy such as this is rare and highly controlled due to how explosive it can be.”

“What’s going to happen to all these cities in forty-eight minutes?” Lucy asked.

Alpha looked up at Jason, who shook his head. “That answer doesn’t matter because we’re not going to find out.”

“How are we going to save almost a hundred cities in less than an hour?” Alex asked.

Maggie lined up the Zeonizers. “We’re going to need every Power Ranger Earth has ever had.” She looked at Jason. “And I do mean every Ranger.”

He nodded once. “Alpha, send out the call. All hands on deck. Everyone to their base of operations or meeting point within the next five minutes.”

“How many Power Rangers are there?” Winn asked, finally managing to find his voice.

“Each new team is a new set of Rangers,” Maggie said, looking over what Alpha was loading onto the big screens as he replaced the maps. “There have been at least six members on a team every year for the last twenty years.”

Jason coughed. “With the exception to the rule, of course.”

Maggie snorted. “Doctor O is your fault, I just happened to fall into his underground lab.”

“That isn’t my fault,” Jason protested. “If I had known half of what he was up to-”

“You would’ve been right there with him, don’t even deny it.”

Jason glared, but Maggie had already been stared down by those who actually wanted her dead.

“Back to the crisis at hand,” J’onn suggested.

Jason shook his head. “Each team has a way of channeling Zeo energy. It’s the source of all our powers, even if each team has a different name for it. What, exactly, is your plan, Maggie?”

“We get the teams teleported out to the cities and have them start channeling the energy fields. Those teams act as the refineries the Ninja Steel team can use to bolster their powers.”

Alpha started to assign teams to the list of cities. “Each city will need at least three Rangers to channel the Zeo energy in less than four minutes. Once the energy is stored in the Morphing Grid, the Ninja Steel Rangers will be able to draw upon it and access a new level of power.”

Jason grinned at Maggie. “Those were always fun, weren’t they?”

She smirked. “Definitely a fun way to watch a monster freak out.”

Blue, white, yellow and black beams of light landed in the empty space between the big screens and table. Maggie’s old Ranger team smiled at her, unbothered by the call to arms with so little notice. Kira ran over to hug Maggie while Tommy and Jason met halfway to trade their old handshake. Trent and Ethan clapped Maggie on the shoulder once Kira released her.

Tommy put the old Dino Morphers on the table beside the Zeonizers. “Congratulations, Maggie, you’re the first person in history to mobilize every single Ranger for any planet.”

She blushed a little but still preened. “We Red Rangers don’t do anything by halves.”

“Except calculus homework,” Ethan teased.

“Tommy,” Alpha said, “the Zeonizers are DNA locked in a way that can’t be undone quickly enough. You will have to use the Red Zeonizer instead of the Black Dino Gem.”

He didn’t hesitate to place his Gem on the table next to its Dino Morpher. “I’m sure there’s someone here you trust with this, Maggie.”

Maggie had to use every bit of self-control she had to keep from looking at her girlfriends. She wouldn’t, couldn’t, ask something of this magnitude of either of them. Tommy gathered the Zeonizers and teleported away with Jason. Maggie picked up her Gem and Morpher, combining them for the first time in over a decade.

At the time of Mesogog’s defeat, the Dino Gems had been depleted. After twelve years of going unused, however, there was a new charge to them. Maggie didn’t know if it was enough to morph. She had a feeling she would find out if necessary.

“What about this one?” Kara asked, motioning to the Black Gem still on the table.

Maggie shook her head. “We need a minimum of three Rangers. The four of us should be able to handle the energy pool here.”

“You’re adorable when you’re trying not to play favorites,” Lucy said as she and Alex closed the distance between them. “At the end of the day, I’m still just an Army Major tossed into the deep end of running a base. Alex is the one with the training in all things alien and, well, extra-normal.”

Alex shrugged when Maggie looked over at her. “Only if you think it’s necessary.”

Maggie exchanged a look with her teammates. They nodded, having heard a little about Alex over the past year. Maggie made space for Alex to step up to the table and reach for the Dino Gem. It glowed, for all it was black, seeming to eat the light around it. Alex’s eyebrows shot up. She picked up the Morpher and copied their actions, placing the Gem within.

“Whoa. That’s new.” Alex blinked at the strange feeling and looked down at the Morpher.

“You are connected to us now,” Ethan explained. “And not just the four of us, but every Power Ranger on Earth. We’re always aware of each other, united not just through the Morphing Grid, but through teamwork and everything we face together.”

Alex nodded. “So, now what?”

Before Maggie could admit she wasn’t entirely sure how, exactly, they were going to channel the raw Zeo energy, Kara was halfway across the room in an instant. She stared out the balcony for a moment before looking back at the Rangers. “I hear screaming.”

Alpha placed a small diode on the table. A holographic orb sprung from it, giving a 360 view of the intersection holding National City’s Zeo energy. “Aye yai yai, Kudabots are trying to harvest the Zeo energy for Galvanax!”

“Who do you think can get to a fight faster?” Trent asked. “Power Rangers or Supergirl?”

Kara smirked and took off the moment Alpha teleported them out of the DEO control room. When they landed in the middle of the intersection, Supergirl was punching her way through the edge of the Kudabot swarm. Maggie barely had a moment to breathe before her powers forced a morph in the overwhelming presence of Zeo energy. She looked over at Alex, who was morphed as well, leaping into the fight without hesitation.

“This feels different from any fight I remember,” Kira said as the team spread out to attack the Kudabots.

“We’re actively channeling power in a way we never have before,” Ethan said. “Our morphers are giving all this extra Zeo energy a direction, but that means it has to pass through us.”

Maggie kept as close to Alex as she could without getting in the way. She knew Alex could handle a fight, knew Alex went up against aliens that were stronger and faster than her on a regular basis. But being a Power Ranger was a level of danger and power Alex had never quite experienced. Maggie didn’t want her to get overwhelmed or cocky; either direction would get her hurt, or worse.

The four minutes needed to clear the Zeo energy was both far too short and way too long. As soon as the pool in National City was gone, the Kudabots left.

“There are over fifty cites left,” Lucy said over the linked comms. “We have less than half an hour.”

Maggie faced Kara as she landed amongst them. “Joining us, or staying here just in case?”

Kara looked up the block, seeing the edge of the evacuation line Maggie couldn’t. “Someone’s bound to try something if I’m seen leaving.” She glanced at Alex, then back at Maggie.

Maggie nodded once in silent promise to watch over Alex. “Alpha, teleport us to the next city.”

With fourteen teams, the Dino Thunder Rangers only had to fight off Kudabots in three other cities. When the five of them returned to the DEO, Alpha had Summer Cove on the Viewing Globe. The same alien that had attacked National City and Metropolis was now trying to slaughter the upgraded Ninja Steel team. Apparently, the alien was working under Galvanax’s orders in an attempt to destroy Earth entirely since Galvanax couldn’t defeat the Rangers.

“Isn’t destroying Earth a bit of overkill?” Winn asked. “I mean, we’ve gone up against a few delusions of dictatorship, but not outright annihilation.”

Maggie traded a look with her teammates. “It might be a lot more common than you’d think.”

“How common?” Lucy asked, voice deceptively light.

Trent looked around at the gathered agents and shrugged. “You know how Ranger teams kinda disappear about as abruptly as they show up? That’s usually because they’ve expended every last bit of power available to them in a last stand to save Earth.”

Kara’s jaw dropped. “There’s been at least a team a year for the last two decades!”

“Earth is kinda seven billion slaves waiting to happen,” Kira pointed out. “And while twenty years isn’t a long time galactically speaking, Earth has a bit of a reputation for having the best Ranger teams.”

“Conquer Earth, get a badass reputation?” Alex guessed.

“A reputation and a foothold into the galaxy,” Maggie said. “Earth’s position at the edge of the galaxy kept it out of the last major war for the Milky Way fifteen years ago. Now, threats are coming from outside. Taking Earth means having a launching point for an invading army.”

“That’s not terrifying at all,” Winn muttered.

With new strength, the Ninja Steel Rangers defeated Galvanax’s latest threat to Earth. Once the battle was over, Alpha shut down the Viewing Globe. Maggie sighed and detached her Dino Gem from the morpher. Her teammates followed suit, and Alex deflated a little when her connection to the Morphing Grid thinned out. When Alex put the Dino Gem on the table next to the morpher, Trent nudged it back towards her.

“Maybe you should hold on to that,” Trent said. “It’s just a pretty rock right now, but you never know.”

Alex looked at the four of them. “Are you sure? What about-”

Kira rolled her eyes. “Doctor O has, like, four other power sources. He’ll survive without this one. Although Maggie’s the leader, so it’s kinda up to her.”

Maggie considered her girlfriend for a moment but took just long enough for Lucy to groan in exasperation. “First she gets a Kryptonite sword, then a Maaldorian blaster, and now a Power Ranger crystal? Can we stop giving Alex an arsenal, please?”

Half the room snorted with laughter. Alpha bade them farewell before teleporting back to Angel Grove, taking the morphers with him.

Trent clapped Maggie and Ethan on their shoulders. “So you know what we can do now that we couldn’t in high school? Drink after saving the world.”

“I am down for that,” Ethan agreed.

“I know just the place,” Maggie said, looping an arm with Alex.

Half an hour later, the Superfriends and Dino Thunder team were taking over two tables at the alien bar. Half the patrons were confused as to why the group was so large, but some had an idea as to why there were three new color-coded additions.

“So,” Lucy said once everyone was settled with their drink of choice. “How does one become a Power Ranger?”

Maggie opened her mouth, only to be waved into silence by Ethan. “Oh, no,” he said. “You don’t get to tell this story, Miss I’m A Badass Red Ranger.”

Kira raised her glass to him. “She’ll make the rest of us look lost without her.”

“I’m not that bad!” Maggie protested.

Trent shook his head. “These are your girlfriends and closest friends, right? Well, I think we need to make the best first impression possible. And that means embarrassing the shit outta you.”

Maggie rolled her eyes. “Okay, fine. Give it your best shot.”

Kira put her stein down and rubbed her hands together. “So it started with all three of us getting detention on the first day of senior year…”