History Webcomic / ComboRangers

** Blue's and White's are pretty straightforward (UsefulNotes/MacOS and Windows, respectively).

* CerebusSyndrome: The first season started as a WidgetSeries, taking a level of serious storytelling towards the final episodes, with the Crystal Warriors presenting a more genuine threat than everything General Pile had tried before, combined. The stories still kept a humorous tone, but became more and more serious with time.

* LukeIAmYourFather: Well, not for [[NamesTheSame Luke]], but [[spoiler:Dr. Delirium, TheDragon of the ''Zero'' season, is Maya's long-lost father, Dr. Paul Cooper.]]

* DarkSkinnedBlond: Kiko had his hair dyed blonde in ''Zero''.

* ClarkKenting: Since they were repowered, the Rangers ditched the helmets for colored visors. And no one figures out who they are unless they're told or manage to see it (like Anti-Combo did). Even Ken, who looks ''exactly the same'' thanks to his BlindingBangs.

* BlindingBangs: Ken.

* FourFingeredHands

* {{Sentai}}

* YouGottaHaveBlueHair: Fabi's is purple. Also, all the Go Go Riders (except for Pulse, the Pink Rider, whose hair is orange) have color-coded hair, though Flash's flip-flops between blue and blonde.

* {{Meganekko}}: Lisa. Yabu mentions in the narration that he gives her so much focus because [[AuthorAppeal he likes girls with glasses]].

* ColorCodedForYourConvenience: Par for the course when it comes to Sentai, but here it goes a little further: every character has their own speech bubble color, [[TropesAreTools which does make it easy to follow offscreen dialogue]]. And yep, the Rangers' bubbles are their respective colors. [[spoiler:It's even used as a hint for the true identity of the Master in ''Zero''.]]

* MulticoloredHair: Tati has light ash-brown (okay, orange) hair with blond streaks.

* FiveManBand: Par for the course.
** TheHero: Fox.
** TheLancer: Kiko.
** TheBigGuy: Lisa, whose power is said to rival Fox's; she defeated the Yellow Crystal Warrior by herself in a fit of rage and was often more than a match to Deck.
** TheSmartGuy: Ken.
** TheChick: Tati.
** SixthRanger: Luke, who would go on to become TheChick when Sara took his place as the SixthRanger.

** It gets ridiculous in a ''Revolution'' episode where Kiko leads the others in a speech against hate and intolerance. Partway through, they all remove their visors... and their families, who are watching them on TV, ''still can't put two and two together'', thinking they only ''look'' like their children. As if to [[LampshadeHanging lampshade]] this, [[SugarWiki.FunnyMoments Ken is seen sheepishly looking to the side while everyone else takes off their visors.]]

* ComesGreatResponsibility: And how.

* DarkerAndEdgier: The 2006 comics series published by Panini.

* DumbIsGood: Fox could be the poster boy of the trope.

* EverybodyLaughsEnding: Episode 8 and series finale of ''Zero''.
* [[spoiler:EvilTwin]]: The BigBad of ''Zero'' turns out to be [[spoiler:an evil copy of Combo, created from the guilt he felt when the Rangers pulled off their HeroicSacrifice at the end of the original series.]]

* ColorCodedForYourConvenience: Par for the course when it comes to Sentai, but here it goes a little further: every character has their own speech bubble color, [[TropesAreNotBad which ''does'' make it easy to follow off-scene dialogue]]. And yep, the Rangers' bubbles are their respective colors. [[spoiler:It's even used as a hint for the true identity of the Master in ''Zero''.]]

** It gets ridiculous in a ''Revolution'' episode where Kiko leads the others in a speech against hate and intolerance. Partway through, they all remove their visors... and their families, who are watching them on TV, ''still can't put two and two together'', thinking they only ''look'' like their children. As if to [[LampshadeHanging lampshade]] this, [[FunnyMoments Ken is seen sheepishly looking to the side while everyone else takes off their visors.]]

** It gets ridiculous in a ''Revolution'' episode where Kiko leads the others in a speech against hate and intolerance. Partway through, they all remove their visors... and their families, who are watching them on TV, ''still can't put two and two together'', thinking they only ''look'' like their children. As if to [[LampshadHanging lampshade]] this, [[MomentOfFunny Ken is seen sheepishly looking to the side while everyone else takes off their visors.]]

The story starts in [[CityOfAdventure Cidade]] [[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment City]], where five nine-year-old kids are drafted by a retired hero, the Mighty Combo, to fight the good fight against the invading aliens of the Deskarga Empire, led by the terrible General Monte and his army of monsters. As the children fight on, their bonds of friendship and sense of justice grow stronger and stronger, allowing them to defeat enemy after enemy, ultimately saving the world from destruction.

Months later, however, a new threat to mankind resurfaces in the form of Dr. Delirium and his elusive Master, who wish to use the people's fear for sinister purposes. Uncle Combo (as he's affectionately called by the kids) is forced to bring the quintet, who had forgotten their adventures, back into action in the new phase of Combo Rangers, known as ''Combo Rangers Zero'' (1999-2000). New allies show up, enemies start presenting a bigger threat, and the heroes mature more and more from their new experiences.

By the third phase, ''Combo Rangers Revolution'' (2000-2001), the Rangers were living relatively peaceful lives as they entered their teenage years, when another threat looms from outer space, this time represented by Cardman, an evil wizard whose goal is to steal all the beauty on Earth. Eventually, however, the world is shaken by a series of natural disasters, spelling the Earth's impending Collapse... of which, unfortunately, readers never got to know the conclusion thanks to the season being LeftHanging with 14 episodes.

The Combo Rangers' adventures were a huge hit amongst Brazilian Internet users, back in its emerging era in the country during the turn of the 21st Century; so much, in fact, that while ''Revolution'' was rolling, they even got [[ComicBookAdaptation their own comic series]], published by JBC, which lasted 12 issues between 2001 and 2002 (as well as a three-issue miniseries based on the ''Revolution'' series before that), each with their own self-contained story. A second series, published by Panini in 2003, was a bit more mature (both in art and in story) and lasted 10 issues. Since then, the series lay pretty much dormant as Yabu shifted his focus to ''Sea Princesses'' and other personal projects, until he announced, late in 2012, a fundraising campaign for three brand-new ''Combo Rangers'' albums. The R$ 40,000 (about US$ 17K) goal was met in just ''two weeks'' - which goes to show how fond are the memories of the Brazilian Net surfers who followed the Rangers more than ten years before. The first of these albums, ''We Are Heroes'', was released in the 16th Rio de Janeiro Biennial Book Festival, in September 2013, with the other two coming out in the following years. The graphic novel trilogy and most of the print comics have been (re-)released digitally. The first graphic novel has been released in English through [=iTunes=] and Comixology.

More details on the albums, and the series in general, can be seen [[http://comborangers.com.br/ here]] (in Portuguese).

* TheAce: Maya
* AchievementsInIgnorance: Fox pretending to be intelligent (complete with NerdGlasses) to save his teammates from a monster who drained their minds. He explains that he managed to pull it off by "saying a lot of stuff he didn't even know what meant".

** It was hinted that Maya felt something for Luke, but that only applied to her alternate future self (the BadFuture the original Luke came from). The present Maya acknowledges he's pretty, but respects his feelings for Lisa.

* AnimeHair: The Go Go Riders (the Rangers who protect the planet Toobaine) and, as of ''Revolution'', Fox and Ken (both of which got scaled back in the reboot).
* ArtEvolution: There's a reason why the original arc is called "Little Ball" by fans. Lampshaded in the finale of ''Zero'':

--> '''Lisa:''' Uh... Yellow Combo Ranger.
--> '''Civilian:''' But you guys didn't use to be this tall! ''(imagines the Yellow Ranger's first appearance)''
--> '''Lisa:''' Yeah, well, we really stretch at this age.
* AsianAndNerdy: Ken's original characterization. As time passed, the nerdy part was mostly ditched, though he still has a sharp brain (possibly only behind Lisa and Maya).

** CreatorCameo: He started as an unassuming grocery owner. It's possible that his role got upgraded after the speculations on him being the White Combo Ranger before he was revealed to be Luke.

* BadFuture: In the timeline where Luke came from, [[spoiler:Lisa had died while shielding him from an attack by Deskarga troopers, so]] the Combo Rangers were defeated and General Monte could TakeOverTheWorld. He became an ActionSurvivor by joining an underground [[LaResistance resistance group]] led by Maya, and was later sent back in time to SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong [[spoiler:(which he managed by TakingTheBullet for Lisa before she could do the same for his present self)]].
* BlindingBangs: Ken

* BrainwashedAndCrazy: Dr. Cooper, when he was Dr. Delirium. [[spoiler:Also Luke during his Black Combo Ranger phase.]]

* CerebusSyndrome: The first season started as a WidgetSeries, taking a level of serious storytelling towards the final episodes, with the Crystal Warriors presenting a more genuine threat than everything General Monte has tried before, combined. The stories still kept a comic tone, but the storylines became more and more serious with time.

** It gets ridiculous in a ''Revolution'' episode where Kiko leads the others in a speech against hate and intolerance. Partway through, they all remove their visors... And their families, who are watching them on TV as they are speaking, ''still can't put two and two together'' (they only think the Rangers look like their children).
* ClingyJealousGirl: Tati can be like this at her worst. Especially concerning Maya, whom she thinks keeps putting the moves on Fox.
* ColorCodedForYourConvenience: Par for the course when it comes to Sentai, but here it goes past that: every character has their own speech bubble color (which does make it easy to follow off-scene dialogue). And yep, the Rangers' bubbles are their respective colors.

* ComicBookTime: Averted! The Rangers aged in real time (though we never saw their birthdays, with the exception of Ken's 16th birthday in the 2006 series, and even that was ABirthdayNotABreak). They started out at 9 (1998), then in ''Zero'' they were 10-11 (1999-2000), and had turned 12 by the time ''Revolution'' stopped (2001). And, in one issue of the JBC series (2001-2002), Fox states he had recently turned 13.

* TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt: The "Collapse" arc in ''Revolution'' was supposed to be about this, but the season went unfinished, so we'll never know what happens afterwards (see also LeftHanging).
* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: Fabi truly cared for Dr. Delirium, to the point of silently crying every time the Master punished him. This is because he, too, did care enough for her to bring her out of the streets to live with him [[spoiler:if only because she resembled his daughter, Maya.]]

* [[spoiler:EvilTwin]]: The BigBad of ''Zero'' turns out to be [[spoiler:an evil copy of Combo, created after the guilt he felt when the Rangers pulled off their HeroicSacrifice at the end of the original series.]]

* EyesDoNotBelongThere: General Monte's lieutenant Carolho is a grey mass of eyes with arms and legs, who can throw his eyes at enemies. Every one of his evolutions (which started when he got into a teleporter with an ape monster and they got fused, ''[[Film/TheFly1986 The Fly]]''-style) retained this trait. Also the Deskarga footsoldiers, the Four-Eyed Men.
** What? They should've been called "Three-Eyed Men"? The Four-Eyed Men ''do'' have four eyes! [[ToiletHumor Just don't ask us where the fourth eye is...]]

** TheHero: Fox
** TheLancer: Kiko
** TheBigGuy: Lisa, whose power is said to rival Fox's; she defeated the Yellow Crystal Warrior by herself in a fit of rage and was often more than a match to Deck
** TheSmartGuy: Ken
** TheChick: Tati
** SixthRanger: Luke, who would go on to become TheChick when Sara took his place as the SixthRanger
* FlyingBrick: The Combo Rangers became this after their repowering. Before that, they were just a regular tech-based {{Sentai}} only with augmented abilities when in uniform.
* ForHalloweenIAmGoingAsMyself: Issue #4 starts with the Combo Rangers at a cosplay contest. Fox has the [[SarcasmMode brilliant]] idea of entering as Red Combo Ranger. Thankfully for him (and his teammates), when he gets a distress call just as he's on stage, everybody thinks it's AllPartOfTheShow.

* HealingHands: Luke. No one knows where he got this power from since, like the others, his new powers were bestowed by the wizard Syros.

* HumongousMecha: The Combotrons, which stopped appearing altogether halfway through ''Zero'' after the Combo Rangers lost their powers.

** Even as a self-parody, this is spoofed in the first two issues of the JBC series, when the team does this intro and both times Luke points out he got left with nothing to say.
* InsufferableGenius: Maya won't let you forget that she's the prettiest, smartest, best fighter girl around. Even though she has no superpowers. Exhibit A:
---> '''Luke:''' We met in my future. You're known there as a great heroine, you know?\\
'''Maya:''' Hehehe, the Mighty Combo told me. But seriously, such a pretty and smart girl like me just had to be a superheroine! One of these days I'll have my own website!\\

---> '''Maya:''' ''(to Fabi)'' I can't forgive you for harming those poor humans, even if you're almost as pretty as me, something I thought impossible!\\

* KidHero: They started their careers when they were 9.
** Arguably, the preceding Combo Rangers were also kids.
* LeftHanging: The ''Revolution'' arc stopped halfway into the season, with only 14 episodes, due both to the conflict with the printed publication and a major case of ScheduleSlip. Due to this, many a fan was left wondering how this season would end, considering that the then-running print comics are side stories.

* MadLibsCatchPhrase: Often directed from the Combo Rangers to whatever villain is in the scene, though it may be the villain of the turn to them, or some other hero to the villain. Also, the first line ''must'' be said off-scene.

* MakeMyMonsterGrow: Possibly the most disgusting method available: have Pum fart at them and up they go.

* {{Meganekko}}: Lisa
* MoodWhiplash: The JBC series was quite prone to this, swinging between light-hearted and funny in one issue, to action-packed (but not without the idiosyncratic humor) in another, to a heartwarming tear-jerking tale in another.

* NinetiesAntiHero: The ironically-named Pacificator.

* PerpetualPoverty: Became a RunningGag since the loss of the original Combo Base, and even harder in the JBC series, wherein Uncle Combo was shown to be constantly broke and trying to make ends meet (he even boards at Spectroseven's home for a while).

** And Luke retributes the favor to a heavily wounded Lisa.

* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: After the Crystal Warriors destroy General Monte's plans and empire and his wife ditches him, Pum instantly jumps ship and leaves him alone.

** Ken's last name is Oozora, just like Change Pegasus, another blue ranger.
** One of Tati's aunts is called April. And which month comes after April? [[Comicbook/SpiderMan May]] (they even do look alike).

* SoulJar: [[spoiler:Before dying towards the end of the first season, Luke transferred his soul to a shard of the Supernova Crystal so that, one day, he could be revived in his present body. This, coupled with [[ThePowerOfLove Lisa's feelings for him]], is how he is able to come back to life after the backlash of his depowering in ''Zero''.]]

--> '''Fox:''' ''(laughing hard)'' These guys pose even more than us!

** Red's and Yellow's are Unix distributions (Redhat and Linux, respectively)
** Green's and Pink's are codenames for Windows versions (Chicago - for Windows 95 - and Memphis - for Windows 98 - , respectively)
** Blue's and White's are pretty straightforward (UsefulNotes/MacOS and Windows, respectively)

* TranslationYes: In episode 19 of ''Zero'', Pum's lines are given captions. Even though he still uses PokemonSpeak, the captions are ridiculously long.

* YouGottaHaveBlueHair: Fabi's is purple. Also, all the Go Go Riders (except for Pulse, the Pink Rider, whose hair is orange) have color-coded hair (though Flash's flip-flops between blue and orange like Pulse's).

* LeftHanging: The ''Revolution'' arc stopped halfway into the season, with only 14 episodes, due both to the conflict with the printed publication and a major case of ScheduleSlip. Due to this, many a fan was left wondering how this season would end, considering that the then-running comics are side stories.

* AnimeHair: Fox and Ken, as of ''Revolution''. Also the Go Go Riders (the Rangers who protect the planet Toobaine).

* AsianAndNerdy: Ken's original characterization. As time passed, the nerdy part was ditched, though he still has a sharp brain (possibly only behind Lisa and Maya).

* ColorCodedForYourConvenience: Par for the course when it comes to Sentai, but here it goes past that: every character has their own speech bubble color. And yep, the Rangers' bubbles are their respective colors.

* ComicBookTime: Averted! The Rangers aged in real time (though we never saw their birthdays). They started out at 9 (1998), then in ''Zero'' they were 10-11 (1999-2000), and had turned 12 by the time ''Revolution'' stopped (2001). And, in one issue of the JBC series (2001-2002), Fox states he had recently turned 13.

* IdiotHero: Fox. Dear God, Fox.
** Actually, there's a subversion here: Fox is a capable and competent team leader and hero. The problem is, that aside, he's about as intelligent as a brick.

''Combo Rangers'' started out as a webcomic written by Brazilian author Fábio Yabu (who also created the ''Sea Princesses'' series), first published in 1998 (thus being one of the genre's pioneers in Brazil). Initially an AffectionateParody of ''Franchise/SuperSentai'' and {{Toku}} in general (though no pop culture outlet was safe), ''Combo Rangers'' steadily grew to become its own thing, while keeping true to its influence and comedy roots.