Series / Power Rangers Wild Force

Due to the nature of being an anniversary season with three team-up episodes, spoilers for all previous Power Rangers entries up to Power Rangers Time Force are unmarked. You Have Been Warned!

Wait, no Pink Ranger? Wasn't that a rule or something?^note Okay, the White Ranger has pink accents, but still.

"Wild Access!"

— Morphing call, Power Rangers Wild Force

Power Rangers Wild Force is the 10th anniversary season of Power Rangers, based on Hyakujuu Sentai Gaoranger. Pollution is destroying the earth, and thus destroying the seals on a villainous race of demons called the Orgs. Naturally, they're coming back to take revenge and destroy humanity. Luckily, the pollution also disturbed the rest of a woman named Princess Shayla, and she has brought her home, the Animarium, to rest above the Colorado town of Turtle Cove. She also has zords and morphers; she just needs to find the owners of their corresponding animal crystals...

In the meantime, Cole Evans is an orphan who found his way to South America. He's not sure how, but when he came of age, the natives who took him in explained this to him and sent him on a journey back to the U.S. to learn more about himself... and giving him the Lion crystal he was found with. He meets the other four Rangers in short order, and becomes their new leader, the Red Ranger. Along the way, he learns the story of how he became an orphan, and his fight becomes very personal.

The first season produced after the Disney buyout, Wild Force was a transitional season; the first half was aired on Fox Kids, while the second half aired on ABC Kids. A very divisive season among the fandom, some dislike it for its lack of originality, being largely a clone of Gaoranger (some episodes are near shot for shot remakes^note Not that that's a bad thing, necessarily.); the teamup episodes are pretty much the only cool bits that weren't Gaoranger footage. This apparently stems from producer Jonathan Tzachor's pushing for the show to be more and more of a copy and paste^note Or a more faithful adaptation, depending on who you ask. of the Sentai. What draws fans to it is mostly the technical aspects—beneath the surface is a dark story of murder and war, and also, it has lots more giant robots than usual - not only that, but the individual Wild Zords are viewed by fans as being some of the coolest-looking animal mecha in the series due to their streamlined and almost naturalistic proportions. The other thing Wild Force is notable for is not one, but two excellent team-up specials.

The first one, "Reinforcements From the Future", is the traditional "Bring back last year's cast, just for kicks" episode. It's widely considered as one of the best team-up episodes in the franchise, as it doesn't just bring everyone back for a rock 'em, sock 'em battle with complete strangers — there was a serious effort towards closure of dangling plot threads of Time Force and to get as much cross-series character interaction in as possible. This included expanding on Ransik's backstory, reuniting Wes and Jen after their heartbreaking split and flirtatious behavior between the Wild Force Lancer and the Time Force Sixth Ranger. Also notable is that it was made with completely original footage; there was no Gaoranger vs. Timeranger to copy from.

The second was a 10th anniversary special where Cole was recruited for a special mission with Red Rangers from every prior incarnation.^note Missing one Red Ranger, Rocky, who shared the Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers costume with Jason. They put in the red-colored Sixth Ranger from Time Force, Eric, to make up for it.

Wild Force was the end of an era on various fronts:

• It was the final Power Rangers season to be consecutively produced by Jonathan Tzachor, after 10 consecutive seasons over the course of nine years. Janine Dickens became the new Power Rangers producer, starting with Ninja Storm.
• It was the last season to have MMPR Productions as a production company. Village Roadshow took over for Ninja Storm.
• It was the last to be filmed in the United States, as the creative team would move to New Zealand after the season finished production.
• It was the last to feature actors Paul Schrier and Jason Narvy as Bulk and Skull until Samurai.
• It was the last to feature Richard Steven Horvitz as an Alpha robot (in this case, Alpha 7).
• It was the final season to be co-produced by Scott Page-Pagter and Paul F. Rosenthal. Rosenthal co-produced the Power Rangers franchise from the beginning, and Page-Pagter co-produced six out of the first 10 seasons.
• It was the last to change a Ranger's gender in the transition from Super Sentai to Power Rangers until Dino Fury.

Wild Force was followed by Power Rangers Ninja Storm.

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Recurring Power Rangers tropes include:

• Action Girl: Taylor, who used to be in the Air Force, and Alyssa, who has been trained in martial arts since she was kid by her father.
• Aim for the Horn: Orgs can be weakened by cutting of their horns. This can prove fatal to high-ranking Orgs who have only one horn as Toxica found out the hard way when Onikage tricked her into letting him cut off her horn. While it allowed her to survive the Sacred Water, it also made it easier for Mandilok to use her as a shield when the Rangers took a shot at him.
• Always Chaotic Evil: The Orgs who are born of evil emotions and darkness. However, Jindrax, Toxica and even Zen-Aku prove in the end that they are capable of change.

• Chest Insignia: Team insignia on the belts, personal emblems on the upper-left chest.

• Compressed Adaptation: Was given 40 episodes to Gaoranger's 51. This included an original two-part team-up with Time Force and the single episode Milestone Celebration^note Gaoranger vs. Super Sentai was a direct-to-video supplement to the series.
• Deadly Ringer: Monster of the Week Bell Org used a hammer to send sound waves from his own body, and also had the Bell Trapper attack, where he dropped a massive bell on an enemy and then hitting that bell with his hammer to attack them.
• The Dragon: Co-Dragons Jindrax and Toxica.
• Evil Will Fail: Inverted. Despite Master Org's wickedness leading to the destruction of many Org leaders and Jindrax and Toxica abandoning him, even without anyone else, Master Org was the first villain in the franchise to singlehandedly bring the Rangers the closest they've been to defeat yet, destroying their Zords, bringing down their base, and covering Earth in an acid rain.

• Humongous Mecha: The Wildzords.
  • Animal Mecha: Besides the stuff in Animal Motifs above:
    • Bears Are Bad News (both Polar Bear and Black Bear).
    • War Elephant
    • Killer Gorilla
    • Never Smile at a Crocodile (Alligator) and another Threatening Shark (Hammerhead).
    • Rhino Rampage and his armadillo partner.
    • The Marvelous Deer
  • Combining Mecha: Well, it is Power Rangers. But this series has a simple, uniform combination scheme that allows for about five seasons' worth of combos. Some become arms, some become waist-and-legs, some become head-and-torsos, and any arms zord can attach to any head and torso zord, which can attach to any legs zord. The zords are generally identified by which torso piece they use: the Lion Zord is the Wild Force Megazord, the Gorilla is the Kongazord, and the Falcon is the Isis Megazord. Merrick also gets a three-part combiner called the Predazord, and Animus is himself a five-part combiner. There's also a one-off where the Lion was enlarged and became centaur-like legs for the Falcon torso, called the Pegasus Megazord. One episode is devoted to an Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny between the various Megazords and their nigh-infinite modes. In exchange, though, the Megazords can't combine with one another into bigger, badder formations.
  • First Church of Mecha: Animus, and can be extended to the lesser zords as well.
  • Leader Forms the Head: All three zords that form Megazord torsos (Lion, Gorilla, and Falcon) belong to Cole, and there's one formation where the Falcon is the torso and the Lion becomes the legs. Averted with Merrick's Predazord, where the Wolf only makes an arm. Although the predazord's head (Formed from the alligator zord) Is still wolf themed.
  • Mechanical Lifeform: The zords are all treated as living creatures rather than just robots.
  • Mecha Expansion Pack: The first season to take it to ridiculous levels (even by Power Rangers standards).
    • The show actually showed some restraint. According to Gaoranger canon, there are one hundred potential combining Zords. Only thirty or so actually have what they turn into written out, and that includes the ones seen on the show. However, it's still an impressive number: if sticking to what the show tells, three Zords per Ranger plus five Animus components make 23 Zords - a record.
  • Meta Mecha: The Soul Bird rides in the other megazords as an alternate cockpit.
• Make My Monster Grow: Accomplished with magic beans Toxica shoots from her staff.
• The Mentor: Princess Shayla.
• Mini Dress Of Power: Part of the White Ranger's costume, averted for Yellow since She's a Man in Japan.
• Monster of the Week: Called "orgs". Some sort of evil spirit or demon, all of which sport twin horns, save the higher ranking "Duke Orgs" which sport only one.
• Mooks: Putrids.
• Never Say "Die": a really screwy example happens when discussing the fate of Cole's parents - just read the article.
• Precursor Heroes: The ancient Animarian warriors.
• Ragtag Bunch of Misfits: a Raised by Natives Nature Hero, a Bratty Half-Pint semi-pro bowler, a florist, a college student, and an Air Force pilot.
• Recycled IN SPACE!: Power Rangers with ANIMALS!
• Rookie Red Ranger: Cole. Again, the Lion Zord's chosen Ranger is leader by default... even if he just arrived this morning and is clueless.
• She's a Man in Japan: For the fifth (and for 19 years, last) time in PR history (this being the fourth consecutive season of a male Yellow Sentai Ranger turning into a female Yellow Ranger, to boot): Taylor occupying Gaku's (GaoYellow) spot.
• Thememobile/Cool Bike: The Savage Cycles and Cole's Wild Force Rider
• Transformation Sequence: The rangers unflip their morphers (which are cell phone shaped) and press the main button on it, calling out “Wild Access!” and the hold it to their ear. The phone then shifts into a humanoid form before forming as the suit for the rangers. Finishing with the animal power forming around their heads as the helmet.
• Villains Act, Heroes React: As is the norm for the franchise, we generally get a MOTW appearing with an Evil Plan Once an Episode, with our heroes then arriving on the scene to stop them.
• Word Power:
  • By the Power of Grayskull!: "Wild Access!"
  • Calling Your Attacks: Due to sticking to Sentai more than usual; in fact, many of the attacks have the same names as the Gaoranger version. Most series have the Rangers name the weapon they're using, but Wild Force feels almost like Digimon when the Rangers are using their Zords. "[Name of formation here] Saber!" is abandoned in favor of things like "Predator Wave", "Pachyderm Crusher", "Revolver Phantom", "Isis Stare", and "Wings of Animaria". Not that that's a bad thing.
  • Invocation:
  "Blazing Lion!"
  "Noble Tiger!"
  "Iron Bison!"
  "Surging Shark!"
  "Soaring Eagle!"
  "Howling Wolf!"
  "Guardians of the Earth, united... we ROAR! Power Rangers Wild Force!"

This subseries contains examples of:

• An Aesop: Pollution is bad. See Green Aesop below.
  • A lesser example is "A leader is required for any group."
• Ambiguous Gender: Mandilok is weird looking and sometimes speaks in a masculine voice and sometimes a feminine voice. No wonder when it first calls in Jindrax and Toxica as their demanding boss, Jindrax even says, "Yes, sir!... or Ma'am?... Whatever." Mandilok doesn't notice to say anything to make it clearer.
• Ambiguous Syntax / Exact Words: While giving the backstory of the Animarium, Princess Shayla refers to the five ancient warriors who fought in the battle of Animaria to defend her and says that she escaped with her protector during the fight. The flashback shows that there are indeed six warriors but, from the way she recounts the story to the Rangers, it sounds like she's referring to "The five ancient warriors, one of whom was my protector," as opposed to, "The five ancient warriors, in addition to my protector."
• Animal-Themed Fighting Style: the Rangers fight in a manner resembling animals, running on all fours (or in the case of the Yellow and Blue Rangers, flying through the air) and slashing with their claw-tipped gloves.
• Arbitrary Skepticism: They assume Max got hurt because he was scared, while Max claims it was because an Org was there.
• The Artifact: The finale "The End of the Power Rangers" seems like an odd title to name a season that had 12 seasons and counting following it, but this was originally going to be the final season of Power Rangers before Disney was convinced to move production to New Zealand to save cost.
• Artifact of Doom: The Mask of Zen-Aku.
• Artistic License – Space:
  • In "Forever Red", there are horses and Rangers unmorphed, except for Aurico, on the moon, which somehow has (earth-normal) air and gravity. Which is entirely consistent with Rangers' previous trips to the moon, incidentally, as shown in MMPR, Zeo, and Lost Galaxy.
  • Besides that, during Cole's "fight" with Serpentera, he manages to hit the brakes and skid into a drifting slide, complete with actual glowing skid marks. In space.
• Bare-Handed Blade Block: Alyssa does this to Samurai Org's sword in "A Father's Footsteps". She the follows it up with breaking the sword with her elbow.
• Bash Brothers: Some of the zords work in pairs, specifically the Black Bear and Polar Bear and the Rhino and Armadillo. Among the Rangers themselves, Danny and Max have this dynamic. As do Wes and Eric.
• Beam-O-War: Unlike their Super Sentai counterpart which had a signature sword duel, the Rangers used their Jungle Blaster against the Org Generals and their Nexus Blade.
• Becoming the Mask: Mixed with Hijacked by Ganon. Originally, the Master Org the rangers had been fighting turned out to be a human who was once friends with Cole's parents. When his Co-Dragons found out, they betrayed him to his death…but the spirit of the real Master Org possessed his corpse, reviving him as a true Org.
  • It's implied that the reason he became an actual Org was because the original Master Org was influencing him to the point where the two of them became one and the same.
  • Also, Merrick becoming Zen-Aku.
• Big Damn Heroes: In the two-part finale, as per routine.
• Bittersweet Ending: The episode "A Father's Footsteps." Alyssa gets to meet up with her father, but the Rangers' battle with Samurai Org makes her so late that they're only together for a few minutes. However, the episode makes it clear that her father has worked out why she was late and wants her to keep on fighting the good fight and is proud of her for it.
• Book Ends: From a production standpoint — the scenes at Turtle Cove Lanes in "The Tornado Spin" were filmed at the Santa Clarita Lanes — the very same filming location used for the original, unaired MMPR pilot from back in 1992.
• Bowdlerise:
  • When Merrick defeats Nayzor, the Gaoranger footage has him charge him and impale him against a rock. The Wild Force version keeps the footage except for the actual impalement, making it look like Merrick somehow just destroyed Nayzor by shoving him.
  • When Jindrax shrinks in the Gaoranger episode, it's because he farted out the growth gas. In Wild Force, he burps it out instead.
  • Toxica being used as a Human Shield against the Jungle Blaster was worse in Gaoranger, because the Jungle Blaster never existed there; the Gaorangers used the Jungle Sword on her, and she was literally stabbed in the back. This, aside from selling toys, may have been the only reason for the Jungle Blaster's introduction.
• Broken Aesop: The third episode "Click, Click, Zoom" concerns Taylor falling victim to a MOTW's invisibility powers when she tried attacking it head-on, alone. The Episode's Aesop of "don't rush into things alone" is outright defied when Cole just does the exact same thing and weakens the monster without the help of the people he's trying to make into a team.
• But Now I Must Go: Shayla at the finale.
• The Cameo: Singer/actor Aki Aleong appears as an old man residing in a local temple in "Never Give Up!"
• Catchphrase: Max and Danny's "NEVER GIVE UP!", carried over from Gaoranger.
• Chilly Reception: Taylor initially isn't fond of Cole.
• City of Adventure: Turtle Cove
• Cloudcuckoolander: Princess Shayla, who has a tendency to let her mind wander into Merrick's eyes, even when her Rangers are in mortal danger. She can also be very childlike at times.
• Cock Fight: A wealthy young man named Collin is Danny's rival for Kendall's affections. Danny's kinder personality wins Kendall over, but we can't say that Danny was victorious, because he had to break up with Kendall in order to protect her, and it's not clear that they hooked back up after Danny's Ranger duties ended. Though they might have, and may have given birth to Z, the Yellow S.P.D. Ranger.
• Collapsing Lair: As a result of Master Org's ceremony to revive the Org Heart, the entire Nexus caves in. Master Org survives by crumbling into sand.
• Combat Pragmatist: In a surprising display of intelligence, one episode has Toxica make a point of attacking Alyssa (who is by herself) before she can finish morphing.
• Combined Energy Attack: The final defeat of Master Org came from every animal spirit they had found and others they had yet to find combining their power in an energy beam beat down.
• Composite Character: Composite Location, in this case. In the source, the Gaorangers' base was actually a flying turtle-shaped stone structure called Gao's Rock, which could shuttle the Gaorangers between the Animarium and the surface. Here, the Rangers' base is a ruined temple located on the Animarium itself (it wasn't really explained how the Rangers got back and forth, though the finale shows the Animarium using a tractor beam to get Merrick and Kite out of Master Org's line of fire; it could be inferred this was how transportation was accomplished),
• Continuity Nod: Since Cole already met Wes and Eric in the usual team-up, they greet each other like old friends. Also, the Ranger who recruits Cole is Carter Grayson, the Ranger Wes met in his usual team-up episode, implying Wes is the one who told Carter where to find Cole.
• Continuity Snarl: The only thing that people don't like about "Forever Red" is the continuity problems that result from it, mostly of the account of the Machine Empire's defeat not lining up with the events of Zeo or In Space at all. "Where did the powers come from", though, is more of fans not doing the research. Nothing was ever shown happening to the Zeo Crystal and a big question in Turbo was "where'd all the Zeo stuff go?" Though the Turbo powers were destroyed alongside the Power Chamber, "True Blue to the Rescue" reveals that Storm Blaster was able to provide Justin with a spare morpher, so Lightning Cruiser was obviously able to do the same for T.J. Adam was also able to use his Mastodon Power Coin in In Space, though it still had issues, so Jason might've used his old morpher and coin.
  • Word of God provided an answer for the MMPR powers, Jason beat up a Dark Red Ranger (inspired by the comic) and stole that coin. Furthermore, the fan hoax "Scorpion Rain" was made canon by writer Amit Bhaumik (one of that hoax's perpetrators), allowing for Serpentera to be on the moon and such.
• Crisis Crossover: "Forever Red", where nine Red Rangers and a red-colored Sixth team up to stop the Machine Empire from getting access to Serpentera, a zord with the power to destroy an entire planet.
• Crossover: The highly lauded "Reinforcements From the Future", capped off with a picnic and some Ranger bonding.
• Cycle of Revenge: Cole refuses to finish off Dr. Adler and ultimately forgives him to break this, realizing Adler's desire for revenge was what turned him into what he ultimately became.
• Darker and Edgier: While the acting makes most episodes much cornier than the PR baseline by far, uh, see Disney Death. "The Master's Last Stand" and the episodes hinting toward it can chill. Also, there's a Monster of the Week casually executing some construction workers, and while the Zords get better, Animus was in human child form during his onscreen death (and unlike his Sentai counterpart, he's not seen coming back to life with the rest of the Wild Zords).
• Determinator: Early in the series the Red Lion Zord becomes critically injured because it's not strong enough to maintain the Megazord while the Bear Zords are attached, but it still insists on fighting, even after the Megazord splits up.
• Disney Death: Ironic case—the show was the last Power Rangers on Fox and the first on ABC. When it was on Fox, Cole's parents are shown to be rather nightmarishly invaded by vines—something that Fox only let the producers do because they were assured that the parents would be shown as being still alive as the Brainwashed Jindrax and Toxica. When it transitioned to ABC mid-run, that particular plot point was forgotten or ignored... resulting in a literal Disney Death. Many fans agree that this was for the best, as the deaths add a lot to the show and Cole's character that would have been lost without it.
  • Played straight with the Wild Zords (Which makes it an awesome reversal of PR's usual Never Say "Die" methods. Zords? They get better. Humans? Die horribly and permanently).
• Distressed Damsel: Shayla gets kidnapped three times throughout the series. In a very literal use of Rule of Three, the fourth time an Org tries to kidnap her, she suddenly becomes a Damsel out of Distress.
• Dramatic Necklace Removal: Shayla wears a necklace given to her by Merrick which she uses to communicate with the Rangers. Master Org snatches it from around her neck near the end of the series.
• Dub Name Change: Both played straight and averted. Notably, Animaria is pretty much similar to Gaoranger's Animalia, and many of the Orgs retain their original names (in fact, the term "Org" is directly taken from Gaoranger). Also, the Wild Zords are sometimes called by their Sentai names, the Power Animals.
  • This goes a bit further in Reinforcements From the Future Part 1 where Ransick calls Jen "Time ranger" ranther than "Time Force ranger."
• Easy Amnesia: Happens to Cole in the episode "Identity Crisis".
• Expy: Zen-Aku/Merrick is pretty much a copy of Tommy from Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers. Actually a good guy under an evil spell, long hair, summons his zords via playing a tune on his flute/dagger, has a multi-episode arc devoted to his arrival and redemption in the middle of a bunch of stand-alone episodes, and is often late to the fight.
  • Probably unintentional but Master Org is almost a carbon copy of Typhus, Host Of The Destroyer Plague except the deaths caused by him are a lot less gruesome and horrible.
  • Animus is more-or-less Daizyujin from Kyōryū Sentai Zyuranger.
• Fake Shemp: Aurico in "Forever Red", never demorphing and voiced by Christopher Glenn. (You'd think with the headgear and ability to use the original Aurico's stock morph scene, not demorphing wouldn't have been necessary). Leo Corbett infamously came close to this too, but production convinced a reluctant Danny Slavin to act on a where Leo arrives in morph, and then demorphs for about five seconds, just so he can be part of the big morphing sequence with everyone else.
• Family-Unfriendly Violence:
  • As a plot point, nonetheless. The blood dripping from Zen-Aku's hand indicates he isn't a normal Org, as Orgs don't have hearts and therefore can't bleed.
  • In another episode where Alyssa is attacked and Zen-Aku tends to her wounds, she has a bloody scrape on her leg.
  • Flashbacks showed vines assault and grow through the bodies of two terrified humans. Apparently, a bloodless death can't possibly disturb anyone.
• Fanservice: Merrick bathing in a lake.
  • Toxica's "ninja" outfit, which includes a black leather miniskirt and fishnet stockings.
  • Jen's outfit seen at the end of Reinforcements From the Future Part 1 and the first half of the second part.
• Fastball Special: Danny would regularly throw Max during their morphed fight scenes.
• Fighting Fingerprint: This is how Alyssa's father is able to deduce her identity as a Ranger when seeing her fight in costume.
• Fish out of Water: Cole, a person who grew up in a jungle, has no idea what a motorcycle is or how to even ride one- Alyssa has to teach him twice in the same episode before he gets the hang of it.
• Floating Continent: The Animarium.
• Follow in My Footsteps: Alyssa's father was disappointed she didn't want to take over the dojo, until he learned she's a Ranger.
• Foreshadowing: "Ancient Awakening" has Alyssa showing off some cycling moves, before the Savage Cycles are revealed and she does even more.
  • In "Reinforcements From the Future" part one, Cole makes the comment to Wes that he didn't know there were other Power Rangers in addition to the Wild Force team, and Wes explains that are several other teams of Rangers, all fighting for the same goal. Noteworthy, because the scene has no other purpose than making a Continuity Nod to the numerous teams before the Time Force Rangers, with "Forever Red" coming nine episodes later in the season.
• Forgot the Call: Cole in "Secrets and Lies".
• Freeze-Frame Bonus: Observe Alyssa in class, and you'll find that she's left-handed.
• Full-Potential Upgrade: The Lion Zord couldn't handle the Bear Zords' power that well, so the Rangers got the Gorilla Zord, which doesn't have that problem.
• Green Aesop: Subtle for most of the episodes, with it being a borderline Fantastic Aesop that "If people keep polluting, the Orgs will keep attacking." However, the Animus Arc was Anvilicious. How so? Well, Animus takes away the Rangers' powers and Zords because of the fact that "humans shouldn't save the Earth if they keep polluting it." Sure it turns out to be a Secret Test of Character, but it really makes no sense when you consider that he's been watching the Rangers fight to protect the Earth the entire time and the Rangers and the Zords are the only thing at the moment stopping the Orgs from making the pollution and environmental destruction worse.
• Green Gators: The Alligator Wild Zord has a predominantly green color scheme.
• God in Human Form: Animus.
• Good Costume Switch: A minor one involving Merrick's Predazord. While he's Zen-Aku, the visor of its helmet is down so it appears to have a snarling wolf's face and it has an Org-like horn atop the helmet. When he is saved, in his first use of the Predazord as the Lunar Wolf Ranger, the horn retracts and the wolf head opens up, allowing a more blank, human/robot face to emerge, symbolizing his change from animal to human.
• Good Is Dumb: Animus, in a nutshell. He decides to take away their Zords purely because they are not 100% pure, even though doing so will 100% guarantee the Earth's destruction. Considering that he DIED both times he took on Master Org and needed the Rangers to save the day, also a case of Too Dumb to Live.
• Gratuitous Princess: Princess Shayla is the mentor for the Power Rangers. No particular plot-relevant reason for her to be a princess.
• Guys Smash, Girls Shoot: Played with. Danny and Max have melee weapons, but Taylor uses the Eagle Sword, Alyssa the White Tiger Baton, and Cole the Lion Blaster. Their Crystal Sabers all have projectile capabilities, as well.
• Happily Ever After: Of course, the Rangers Earn Their Happy Ending... although you could consider it a Bittersweet Ending if you consider that Shayla and Merrick do not get together. Another reason it is a bittersweet ending could be that unlike Lightspeed Rescue, they don't even get to keep the jackets as souvenirs (the jackets and the morphers are taken away and they're just told to walk away). They risked their lives for the best part of a year and they wind up with nothing to show for it, talk about ungrateful.
• Heel–Face Turn: Toxica and Jindrax did this near the end of the season when they helped the Rangers rescue Princess Shayla. Of course, their turn probably began when they abandoned Master Org when he betrayed them. Of course, seeing as how they betrayed him first when they learned he was originally an impostor but somehow became the real thing, it's probably understandable why they didn't return to his services.
  Jindrax: Heh heh! You know Toxica, it felt strangely good to... help somebody for a change.
  Toxica: Yeah? Well don't get used to it, Jindrax!
  Jindrax: Heh! Don't worry; short memory span - I'll totally forget about it!
  • Also counts for Zen-Aku, who appears alive in the final episode (with no explanation) and decides to join Merrick on a road to redemption.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Ransik post-Heel–Face Turn during the Wild Force/Time Force crossover. He sacrifices himself to destroy the mutant half of the Mut-Orgs. Amazingly, he survives and is purged of his mutant half, making him completely human. It was that day that Ransik finally found his true redemption.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: Max and Danny, who also get some Ho Yay in. They're seen having a trip around the world in the end of the series.
• Humanity on Trial
• Iconic Outfit: Jen's black leather in the Time Force crossover.
  • Andros spies on the Machine Empire generals in his iconic cloak in "Forever Red"
• If You Kill Him, You Will Be Just Like Him!: One of the reasons Cole chose not to finish Dr. Adler (who, by this point has been revealed as Master Org) off in "The Master's Last Stand". The former realizes that taking the latter's life out of vengeance would make him no better than his enemy, and feels him being rendered powerless and critically injured is punishment enough.
• In Medias Res: All Power Rangers seasons have some level of hero/villain backstory before the season begins, but this season opens with Cole joining the team after the other four Rangers have been fighting the Orgs for a time and we find out about their "calling" later in the season.
• Innocent Flower Girl: Possibly Kendall, but Danny definitely fits as an Innocent Flower Boy.
• Interim Villain: Mandilok.
• It's Not You, It's My Enemies: Danny to Kendall.
• It's Personal: Master Org killed Cole's parents. Although he eventually manages to forgive (and even pity) him, for a while there is nothing but raw hatred between the two of them.
• I Work Alone: Merrick lives and breathes this trope. Makes sense, given that he's The Atoner.
• Jerkass Has a Point: Danny's romantic rival in "Three's A Crowd" is completely rude to him and clearly loves Kendall only for her beauty and tells Danny not to pursue her so he can have her to himself. However, Danny actually agrees with him that focusing on Kendall while he has responsibilites as a ranger keep him too busy.
• Journey to Find Oneself: After reforming, Toxica and Jindrax decide to do this as does Merrick Baliton with Zen-Aku accompanying him.
• Jurisdiction Friction: The first teamup gets kicked off because the Wild Force team and the Silver Guardians each believe they're fighting their enemy (mutants for the Guardians, Orgs for the Rangers)...until Trip tells them they're actually both at once. It's not helped by the fact that Eric happened to pull over Taylor for speeding right before that. Fortunately, everyone begins to cooperate quickly.
• Last Villain Stand: Inverted to the extreme. Despite having no more monsters, the Nexus being destroyed, and Jindrax and Toxica abandoning him, after completing his transformation into an Org, Master Org successfully managed to strip the Rangers of their powers, destroy all the Wild Zords (including Animus, the King of the Wild Zords), knock the Animarium out of the sky, and nearly conquered the entire planet all on his own. It was only through a Deus ex Machina that the rangers won. Still, it would be a long time before anyone else would top that.
  • To be fair, Ransik did just as well until his Heel–Face Turn.
• Like an Old Married Couple: Jindrax and Toxica, Justified as they spent that past 3000 years hiding out together. Danny and Max can be this sometimes, as well.
• Line-of-Sight Alias: Cole met a young boy running from some builders in the street. Asked his name, the boy looked around before answering "Kite." His counterpart in Hyakujuu Sentai Gaoranger is Futaro, who took his name from "fuusen", the Japanese word for balloon, after seeing one.
• Lunacy: Both Merrick and Zen-Aku have special attacks that invoke the moon. The Samurai Org from "A Father's Footsteps" wielded a sword that used moon-based attacks.
• Make My Monster Grow: Toxica to every Org the rangers destroy. Jindrax would do it if Toxica wasn't around or couldn't.
• Man of Kryptonite: Cell Phone Org and Lion Tamer Org were each particularly effective against the Rangers; Cell Phone Org could disable their Growl Phones and stop them morphing, and Lion Tamer Org was able to essentially "hijack" the Red Lion and thus take control of the Wild Force Megazord.
• Massive Multiplayer Crossover: The "Forever Red" special was one of these, as every Red Ranger in the franchise so far^note Except for Rocky, whose actor had moved immediately prior to the episode and wasn't able to be contacted in time teamed up to take down a group of villains. IT WAS AWESOME.
• Meaningful Name:
  • Taylor Earhardt, Air Force pilot and Soaring Eagle Ranger, as a nod to Amelia Earhart. Considering the fact that she also (from the perspective of the rest of the world) mysteriously vanishes during a flight and is presumed dead, her name is practically prophetic.
  • Zen-Aku is literally "good-evil".
• Memorial for the Antagonist: After the rangers disband, Cole visits his parents' graves…as well as the grave of Viktor Adler. He pays his last respects to the man who betrayed and murdered his parents and enabled the rebirth of Master Org, sincerely hoping he can find peace now.
• Mighty Roar: Part of the motif this season; the vanilla Megazord Finishing Move is even made up of the Wild Zords roaring Frickin' Laser Beams.
• Milestone Celebration: "Forever Red".
• Minion Shipping: Jindrax and Toxica.
• Musical Assassin: Zen-Aku summons his evil zords with his flute-blade weapon.
• Mythology Gag
  • Taylor served at USAF Base Norquist, named for minor character General Norquist from Power Rangers in Space.
  • Alyssa is given the Kaplan Award - named for Angel Grove High's principal from Mighty Morphin' - Turbo.
  • The Rangers first confront the Mut-Orgs at Cranston Plaza - a nod to Billy Cranston, the original Blue Power Ranger.
• Nature Hero: Cole.
• Noble Demon: When Alyssa was injured, Zen-Aku nursed her back to health instead of attacking her.
• Oni: The Orgs. They were born from a toxic pool in the past, and were revived in the modern age thanks to rising pollution levels. Their horns were also the source of their powers and if it was destroyed, they would die.
• Only the Chosen May Wield: The Rangers are each shown being chosen by their respective animal crystals, which glow when the Ranger first comes into contact. Later animal crystals show a similar reaction when the respective zord chooses the relevant Ranger.
• Our Werewolves Are Different: Zen-Aku could be considered a werewolf. The only real difference is that Merrick is in that form not just during a full moon, but during all the moon's phases and only reverts to his human self during a new moon.
• Oracular Urchin: Kite.
• Orcus on His Throne: Despite killing Cole's parents pre-series and nearly taking over the world in the end, your average episode has Master Org appearing only briefly, and doing very little. As monsters are just wandering Org spirits finding host objects and being pointed in the direction of the Rangers by Toxica and Jindrax as opposed to the muscle behind some evil plot of the week, there are perhaps eight episodes Master Org isn't superfluous to, and it's painfully clear.
  • Hell, Toxica and Jindrax themselves realize that Master Org really isn't doing much of anything which is one of the reasons (among others) why they end up deposing him in favor of Mandilok.
• Paper-Thin Disguise: More even than most series. The Rangers walk around in public with their Ranger names and animals on the back of their jackets, although at least they have the benefit of not having so many fights in the city as some of their other counterparts and of living on the Animarium for pretty much the whole series. In human form, Jindrax also has the same unnatural mouth he has as an Org.
• Parental Abandonment: Cole.
• Quickly-Demoted Leader: Taylor.
  • The Resenter: She holds it against Cole for a few episodes, but eventually lets it slide when Cole proves his worth.
• Raised by Natives: Cole.
• Ramming Always Works: Shayla saves Merrick and Kite in the finale by hitting Master Org with the Animarium. She doesn't even drop it on him, she skims skyline and smacks him with the edge of the island.
• Redemption in the Rain: In the finale, the Rangers themselves.
• Remember When You Blew Up a Sun?: Nearly all the Red Rangers get in on this at the end of "Forever Red".
  • Some had more impressive apex achievements than others, of course. Hey, did T.J. ever tell you about the time he got baked into a pizza?
• The Remnant: The generals of the Machine Empire in "Forever Red".
• Repeat Cut: The end of the morphing sequence in "Reinforcements From the Future Part 2".
• The Reveal: "Forever Red" reveals that T.J.'s full name is "Theodore Jay Jarvis Johnson".
• Rule of Cool: "Forever Red".
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Instead of being destroyed or turned human like other Power Ranger villains (although Toxica was technically destroyed, she was revived thanks to Jindrax), the Evil Duo actually gave up fighting and left to travel the world. This is another rare moment in Power Ranger history.
• Sealed Cast in a Multipack: The Power Animals. The ones who gave the five main Rangers their powers were still on the Animarium, but there were plenty of others sealed away in different places on the surface world. The same is probably true of the Gaoranger source material...
• Sealed Evil in a Can: The Orgs were spirits sealed in the earth 3,000 years ago. They were freed in the present day to possess everyday objects due to pollution and the appearance of a successor to their Big Bad.
• Secret Test of Character: At one point, Animus has no choice but to take away the Wild Zords from the Rangers to see if they can help humanity stop the Orgs from polluting the Earth.
• Series Fauxnale: Disney was planning to cancel the series after this season before being talked into moving production to New Zealand. The two-part season finale is even called, "The End of the Power Rangers".
• Setting Update: In Gaoranger, the Gao Warriors were a clan of samurai. In Wild Force, the Legendary Warriors (and Animaria as a whole) are given a more European flavor. While the Orgs are inspired by Oni, this is never alluded to.
• Shirtless Scene: Cole.
• Shoo Out the Clowns: After helping the Power Rangers, Jindrax and Toxica hit the road before the final episode, which is one of the bleakest climaxes in Power Rangers history.
• Shout-Out:
  • In "Forever Red", Jason and Tommy's hand gestures when morphing are much closer to their sentai counterparts (Zyuranger and Ohranger, respectively).
  • Jindrax's brother Juggelo is either one of the most unusual shout-outs in Power Rangers history or a complete coincidence.
• Sleeves Are for Wimps: Cole.
• Spared By Adaptation: Unlike their Super Sentai counterparts who were buried in their Collapsing Lair and later destroyed during a team up with Ninja Storm's counterpart, Toxica and Jindrax pull a Heel–Face Turn and leave for a road trip just before the finale.
• Speaks Fluent Animal: Cole. Merrick can do it too, though he rarely uses it with anything other than his own Zords. The other rangers are shown on a few occasions to be able to understand their own main Zords (Danny can understand the Bison, for example), but never anything else.
• Spotlight-Stealing Squad: Nope, this award doesn't go out to Cole, but to several others like...
  • Taylor, who is arguably well-rounded and showed a full range of emotions in addition to ass-kicking. It also helps that actress Alyson Kiperman was very experienced in acting.
  • Jason and Tommy in "Forever Red". Also, Carter continuing his badassery in that same episode. Hell, might as well just say all the veteran Red Rangers in that episode (of course, if you're going to bring back almost every veteran Red Ranger, you give them the darn spotlight).
    • Cole himself stole the spotlight when he was the one who destroyed Serpentera AND survived.
  • And before that, the return of the Time Force Rangers.
• The Starscream: Mandilok, the Mouth General of the Orgs. Having been suspicious of Master Org and finally realizing he was actually the human Dr. Viktor Adler, Jindrax and Toxica went to look for a replacement for Master Org, and they found Mandilok. He was more than happy to be of service to them as their new master. Later, after Viktor lost all of his Org powers in battle with Cole, Jindrax and Toxica introduced Viktor to Mandilok and, mocking him out of knowledge that the real Master Org died 3,000 years ago and claiming that Master Org is never coming back, he throws Viktor off a cliff, taking his place as the new master of the Orgs for a while until the reborn Master Org's eventual return.
• Strong as They Need to Be: The power levels of the Mut-Orgs in the Time Force team-up seemed to fluctuate depending on what was required for the plot. They curb-stomp Wes and Eric in their first battle but Cole is able to chase them off with a blast from his Falcon Summoner. In their second battle with the Rangers, they easily defeat all of them until Jen arrives and fights them without even needing to morph. In their final clash with the heroes, the Mut-Orgs have been stripped of their mutant powers by Ransik making them weaker and easier to fight though this doesn't explain away the earlier instances.
• Sympathetic Villain, Despicable Villain: Mixes this trope with Humans Are the Real Monsters; Jindrax and Toxica, despite being part of a species that is Made of Evil, are loyal to the Org cause and are disgusted by the treachery of their bosses to the point of making a Heel–Face Turn. In one episode, Jindrax in the episode "Team Circus" is revealed to have a brother that he genuinely loves and is distraught when he dies. Master Org, meanwhile Was Once a Man who chose to become evil after being rejected by a woman he loved and has no qualms about throwing away his minions' lives when he has no use for them.
• Team Handstack: "Forever Red" ends with a group fist-bump.
• Team Mom: Alyssa, who goes so far as to read bedtime stories to her teammates.
• This Is a Drill: The Predazord's Lunar Phantom finisher involves the Alligator Zord's tail being used as this.
• Took a Level in Jerkass: Jason in "Forever Red" was a lot more arrogant and generally 'angry' than he ever was previously and original dialogue indicates he was supposed to be even more cocky: "Back aside kid, I'll show you how the original Red Ranger gets it done." The reason is that apparently Austin St. John wanted to add some "bite" to the character as compensation for returning to the franchise, and this can be seen as early as Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie where (while Brainwashed and Crazy) he seemed to have anger issues towards Tommy.
• Tribal Face Paint: Worn by the tribe that Cole is an adoptive member of at the beginning of the series.
• Turtle Island: Invoked by the Animarium.
• Unusually Uninteresting Sight: Jindrax buying things from a store in full Org form has to count.
• Walking the Earth: Merrick and, somehow, Zen-Aku in the finale; also, Danny and Max.
• Was Once a Man: Master Org. And depending on your views on canonicity, Jindrax and Toxica could be as well. Also, Zen-Aku. At first.
• Wave-Motion Gun: Zen-Aku's Predazord uses the Predator Wave finisher, which manifests as this.
• Wham Shot: The fact that Zen-Aku is bleeding from a cut on his hand is a shock as Orgs don't have hearts and thus can't bleed.
• Whip Sword: The megazord's Sword And Shield Mode.
• Wing Shield: The Isis Megazord can use the Falcon's wings to deflect incoming attacks.
• You Can Turn Back: In "Forever Red", Tommy says this to the other Red Rangers before their mission gets underway. Cole is the first to reaffirm his commitment.
• Your Size May Vary: Somewhere between Zeo and Wild Force, Serpentera went from "make the Rangers' Megazords look dinky" size to normal Megazord size.

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