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Fridge Brilliance

  • Why go back and adapt Go-Busters instead of adapting Zyuohger or Kyuranger? In the case of Kyuranger, it's probably because it would be rather hypocritical to switch toy companies from Bandai to Hasbro and immediately turn around and adapt a Sentai made with involvement from Bandai of America. As for both? Go-Busters was the last season whose henchmen could not have been aliens had the series been adapted. If Saban had adapted Zyuohger or Kyuranger, they would've had the villains be aliens for the 5thnote  time in a row! And as for why Go-Busters and not ToQger, which was also skipped? Saban's contract with Nickelodeon is for 3 more seasons. It's entirely possible that the franchise will do a Channel Hop in the middle of a ToQger adaptation if Saban follows up a Go-Busters adaptation by adapting another sentai Out of Order!
  • Toy-related example: A Go-Busters adaptation was unlikely while Bandai made the toys, mainly due to the fact that allegedly, the suits in Go-Busters were made to be more akin to those worn by American super heroes (which used leather), including those worn by heroes from Marvel Comics... the action figures for which are made by, you guessed it, Hasbro.
  • The first episodes seems to play out similar to Go-Busters's backstory with the Transport Research Center being infected by Messiah and forcing them to isolate the foe in another dimension entirely. Here, Grid Battleforce is directly attacked by Evox and he even claims two of their own as his generals. However, the Rangers are brought together in time to send their enemy forces to another dimension without that great of a cost. Beast Morphers is what would happen if they were ready in Go-Busters all those years ago.
  • Mayor Daniels mentioning Sledge despite his machinations being done in an alternate dimension makes sense with how the Poisy Show had him attempt an attack in the main universe. With the transporters being able to reach other dimensions, I wouldn't be surprised if Grid Battleforce was wary of threats outside their world. They're harnessing the power of the Morphing Grid, which is known to span across multiple universes. They could've taken a glimpse of what happened on the seasons that take place in a different dimension like RPM.
  • The names of Evox's monsters follow the same pattern as used in Go-Busters, such as "Tireroid" becoming Cycletron. While this isn't the most creative, and lacks the on the nose puns of past seasons, it makes sense for Evox to give his monsters these names; they're practical and fit their purpose. This can extend to the Rangers with how their Morph Call is "Activate Beast Power" which doesn't quite sound very catchy. For Grid Battleforce, it's straight to the point without any real need for anything fancy.
  • Roxy having a pre-existing love relationship with Ravi would greatly explain their more frequent encounters and duels later on, as per Escape and Ryuji/Blue Buster's rivalry in Go-busters' original footage.
  • Unlike Calvin and Hayley, Ravi and Roxy were Rangers-to-be working for a government funded agency. As such, their love life would be discouraged by their superiors unlike with teenagers who are working as vigilantes.
  • In adapting the weakpoint of Yellow Buster (explained as Evox contaminating the animal DNA used to create the powers), they altered her energy-replenishing cure from candy for Yoko to carrots for Zoey, presumably so as not to encourage kids watching to eat too much candy, and also to make a surface-level Bugs Bunny reference. The Brilliance of this? Carrots are not part of a rabbit's normal diet; they're essentially like candy to a rabbit in terms of their nutritional value.
  • The reasoning for the Red Ranger's weakpoint (Cheetah = cat = afraid of dog) may seem like a simplistic, unscientific explanation meant for kids. However, ranchers and farmers in Africa do, in fact, use guard dogs to scare predators like cheetahs away from their livestock (it's actually beneficial for the predators too, as the ranchers don't have to shoot them. In fact, there are wildlife conservation programs that sponsor guard dogs.) There's also the fact that many dogs resemble spotted hyenas, which commonly chase cheetahs off their kills. Hyenas aren't actually dogs (genetically speaking, they have more in common with cats), but the physical resemblance to dogs might be enough for a dog to trigger a response.
  • The whole thing with Ravi "going berserk" actually makes more sense with this premise compared to Go-Busters - he'd merely be displaying the behavior his avatar would have had. The idea that avatar!Roxy can still turn him into an avatar implies that it's as simple as leaving that switch flipped.
  • After the first episode, the Blaze and Roxy Avatars "glitch" less and less. They stop glitching at all in Episode 5. While the obvious explanation is that the show is saving money on CGI, the in-story explanation could be that the Avatars have sufficiently "adapted" to the outside world. Though they're still shown glitching, particularly after a battle which implies that there are still moments of destabilization.
  • While they can't call the Big Bad "Messiah", there are still some religious connections to it. Evox is a snake, and a snake is well known for seducing Eve and knocking her and Adam out of the Garden of Eden (or in this case Roxy and Blaze). But what was the apple? Morph-X because the idea of making an energy source from the Morphing Grid was essentially the good guys tying up the Morphing Grid up "with a ribbon" for the bad guys. Also, Steel being based on a scarab is a sign of Egyptian mythology. Scarabs were the signs of rebirth and one of the major symbols of Ra. Ra's major enemy was Apep who was, guess what, a snake!
  • In "A Friend Indeed", had Blaze and Roxy simply returned to the Cyber Dimension with the two disks of memory Railtron collected during the first Act, the Rangers would never have been able to restore Cruise and Smash's memories. However, traveling between dimensions requires Morph-X, and in the previous episode, Evox was angry that a lot of Morph-X was used to get so little accomplished. It therefore stands to reason that Blaze and Roxy would be unwilling to go back to Evox with anything less than all three sets of data.
  • In "Hypnotic Halloween," Devon and Ravi use a grappling wire from their morphers to ensnare their brainwashed teammates. While it wasn't shown before, Roxy's been frequently shown using her own version. Considering her Ranger form was corrupted by Evox along with her Avatar, it makes sense that some of the gadgets Nate originally had created for the team would be included if a bit muddled from the infection.
  • Blaze and Roxy utilizing their Morph-X Keys to teleport could be counted as similar to the Rangers' Transporter but with some alterations courtesy of Evox's infection. Scrozzle would be able to replicate it for his own use considering how his Gigadrones can be transported out to the main universe. Odds are that he used the Gigadrone teleportation across the Cyber Dimension in his takeover.
  • Why was Evox so angry when Avatar Roxy was destroyed in Season 1 when every other time one of his generals gets destroyed he doesn't care? Because he knew her memories would get transferred to the real one, and she'd tell the rangers all about his big plan.
  • At the end of episode 20, it's highly implied that Evox managed to infect Mayor Daniels to escape into the human world. How can a computer virus do such a thing? If you recall, Evox did succeed in corrupting 2 humans and making avatars out of them, and he also almost managed to take over a half-human body. By that point, he should have the skills to jump into a real human host, since he's had enough experience dealing with them. It's also implied that it's a fraction of Evox since the Morph-X tower's explosion clearly hit him hard and took him down physically. However, a part of him clearly rode the shock wave through the Cybergate when Mayor Daniels was waiting for Devon. It's just enough to not be rejected by the human body yet not powerful enough to fully infect it. For now.
  • Scrozzle creates a Robotron for Christmas and even brings out a Gigadrone. It's likely the latter will be addressed in Season 2 but in the former's case, odds are that he had enough of the Evox Virus leftover to make a new creation.
  • While the Gigadrones might not have provided much in the way of data, it's likely that they could be used for raw materials to create new Zords like with the Beast Wrecker and Jet. Heck, it's likely how they could have rebuilt them after the Cyber Dimension's destabilization.
  • Vargoyle having a Gigadrone counterpart makes sense considering Scrozzle created him and likely made a point to save his data in the event he might need it. Similarly, "Karatedrone" in "Target: Tower" likely was made from spare Robotron data if they needed to launch a Gigadrone right out the gate.
  • Steel being out and about in Coral Harbor without drawing concern makes sense considering that he's with Nate, a known child prodigy from Grid Battleforce. Anybody with GB's clearly not a Robotron and soon enough, Steel becomes part of the community. Not to mention, since the series' continuity established itself in the prime Power Rangers universe and not alternate dimensions like RPM and Dino Charge, one must remember that the previous season has Redbot walking out and even become a famed author where nobody gives a damn about him being a robot. This makes it clear that in Power Rangers, so long that they aren't posing as a threat, then robots (and possibly other non humans) are accepted into the community.
  • Compared to the other Power Rangers seasons on Nick that sticks with one Sentai source, the start of this show's season 2 noticeably lacks the pacing whiplash to re-establish the status quo. This can be explained by how the characters are set up and how season 1 ends. In previous seasons, the team either splits up (with the promise of coming back as soon as possible), or their powers are lost altogether (in the case of Ninja Steel). However, in the case of this season, consider that: 1) The rangers never lost their powers, 2) The destroyed zords were rebuilt quickly enough that the main ones were available to fight in the post-season 1 Christmas special, 3) The rangers all live in the same city and work in the same organization, and 4) Evox was clearly implied to have survived season 1's finale. With all those points, by the time season 2 rolls in, it's already back in status quo.
  • The fact there is no evil blue ranger could also be a nod to how in the source material, his mecha was the only one who couldn't be replaced by another in the three part combination.
  • Blaze having a change of heart makes sense when he's seen what his Avatar had been doing as his worst traits come to life. Something like that can really put things into perspective.
  • Gamerdrone's Morph-X Drain Dome makes sense with the video game motif of boss battles having a ticking clock element that makes puts your player characters at risk. It also emulates a boss arena where the player characters are trapped until they win or lose.
  • Why does Robo Blaze look very different from Blaze Avatar while Robo Roxy's real difference between her avatar counterpart is just the color? That's because Roxy Avatar was destroyed first, which could give Scrozzle more time to reconstruct her data. She was also destroyed in a rather "clean" manner, which could help things along. Contrast that to Blaze Avatar's destruction, which happened during the assault at Evox's base, in the middle of a massive Morph-X tower explosion. It's a real miracle that Scrozzle could even recover his data, likely meaning that his Ranger form had to be modified almost from the ground up with help from lingering data from the real Blaze.
  • Evox bringing in Megan to head the construction of the Beast X King Zord was likely to have a scapegoat that already had bad blood with the Rangers, keeping any blame off of Mayor Daniels.
  • Ravi's selfish desire to see the Pan Global Games himself works with him coming out of his shell in terms of sharing his art with his friends and family as well as not worrying about Roxy's life.
  • Blaze and Roxy buying a puppet for Scrozzle's Controlatron is amusing, but it's not like they could pose as their organic counterparts now in the land of the living. Back when they were just avatars, the real ones were locked away in stasis. However, now that the real ones are up and around, they can't just stroll in and claim to be their human counterparts when the real ones could easily blow their cover by simply being in viewing distance. It took the real Blaze going out of town for Robo Blaze to come in and impersonate his human counterpart, and that cover was blown easily. It's more likely in this case that they simply stole the puppet.
  • Ironic that Mayor Daniels, a harsh critic of Morph-X as a potential villain magnet initially, would be soon become merged with a villain striving for the Morphing Grid itself.
  • Evox's constant Morph-X consumption is not unlike J's need for Enetron. Steel was meant to be Evox's robot body at first so...
  • The Rangers' weak-point seem to counter their personalities in a way. Devon freezes up as opposed to how he can be a kid at heart with how excitable over games he can get, or because of how active he usually is. Ravi's overheat causes him to act aggressively as opposed to how formal and repressed he tends to be in public. Zoey's exhaustion counters how lively and open she tends to be.
  • In Crunch Time, how can Robo Blaze enter the Grid Battleforce base without raising any alarms, even when he came in with the other rangers? That's because Grid Battleforce is no stranger to having robots, such as Steel and the Beast Bots, as part of the team, running in and out of the base. They likely have no need for a robotic sensor/scanner either, considering almost every robot character is noticeably, well, robotic. Robo Blaze only managed to get in because not only he looks human, but also that neither him nor Robo Roxy have attempted to do this for most of season 2's run.
  • After the reveal of Evox's true identity as Venjix, a lot of things start to make sense in hindsight:
    • Evox's raspy, guttural voice isn't just the typical voice for a bad guy in a kids' show. For most of his run, Evox is incomplete. It took him absorbing the rest of Venjix's data to come to full power, including having his original voice back. Likewise, it makes sense that his Venjix voice lacks the robotic tone, since he still has snake DNA in his programming, so he's still not 100 percent machine.
    • Why didn't Evox suggest Venjix (someone who actually destroyed the world) as a subject of the reanimizer? Cause he is Venjix. On that note, that would explain the need for his underlings to look up and suggest villains to bring back with the reanimizer. Evox is not from this dimension. There's also another subtle bit to it. If you look closely, you'll notice that Venjix's club-staff is not among the villain weapons in Ryjack's collection.
      • Him not suggesting Venjix would make sense even if they weren't one and the same. If one of his underlings suggested Venjix, Evox could claim that Venjix is too dangerous to bring back (him destroying the world successfully in addition to betraying his own creator would be good enough reason), which would be a good excuse to keep suspicion away from him without being questioned.
    • Evox's true identity as Venjix is subtly hinted at all the way back in Season 1's "Evox's Revenge" when Evox orders Blaze Avatar to "return to your Earth dimension" - suggesting that Evox is not actually from the main Earth dimension. Also in "The Cybergate Opens" when Evox is about to take over what eventually becomes Steel's body, he gloats about how he's going to take control of this "new and mighty body" - the "new" implying that Evox has had a physical body before.
    • Why is that no matter how badly Evox treats them, Cybervillain Blaze and Roxy never once even consider trying to overthrow him? Because he programmed them both to be blindly loyal to him - just as he did with Tenaya 15. He wanted to avoid having another General Shifter or Kilobyte situation arise. Scrozzle meanwhile simply lacks the spine to go against Evox.
    • A past villain defeated by Rangers would see sense in creating new right hand minions out of would-be Rangers.
  • Connected to a point above, the special episode Making Bad isn't just an excuse to look back through the history of ranger villains. Note that they're suggesting and explaining which villain to bring back to Evox and Sledge's entourage. There's one thing they have in common. Namely, they're from another dimension.
  • Meta:
    • Steel was originally built to become Evox's new vessel but became the fifth Beast Ranger instead. In RPM, Dillon, the fifth Ranger of the group, was originally planned by Eddie Guzelian to be Venjix's final vessel come that season's finale before Chip Lynn replaced him mid-way.
    • Andrew Laing used a pseudonym during his time as Evox to hide the reveal. That name was Randall Ewing (Dillon was played by Daniel Ewing).
    • Randall Ewing is also a near perfect anagram of Andrew Laing.
  • Beast Morphers being revealed as an RPM sequel becomes clear with certain aspects. Devon struggles to connect with his dad not unlike Scott with Colonel Truman, both Red Rangers having a similar hairstyle. Nate is a young prodigy who creates the team's tech like Doctor K with a similar lab aesthetic to their design, the former being more socially awkward compared to the latter's initial standoffishness. Steel and Ziggy are also the more quirky teammates who join up last right quickly after another Ranger, having a bit of a quirky dynamic with the team's techie to boot. Roxy even gives off some Tenaya vibes in terms of being a tactical Action Girl. Even Ben and Betty give off some Gem and Gemma vibes.
  • The Rangers form a sort of X with their pre-morphing stance.
  • Any robotron built by Scrozzle always have a personality, being talkative and animated. However, when Evox resurrects them in the last two episodes, they all lack personality and are all mute. This could just be chalked up to the production team not seeing the need to voice those robotrons again, until you realize that making mute bots without any personality that does its job straight to the point is exactly what Venjix would do.
  • Venjix appearing on the first season of the Hasbro era might be a coincidence, but then you recall that, with the exception of Dino Charge (for good reason, though Colonel Truman's actor did appear to play a different character), every Neo-Saban season had at least one crossover, particularly one with an RPM representative, and that the last Saban ran season prior to Samurai had its Red Ranger destroy someone who also had the name of Venjix. Then remember how the Disney era only had four crossovers, with only one of them involving Rangers from throughout the history of Power Rangers. It's the case of Venjix being Genre Savvy, waiting out the Neo-Saban era and striking the moment the franchise was out of Saban's hands... Only to realize too late that the second season was laden with crossovers, especially one from the RPM universe.
  • Unlike the last time Venjix was created and set his goal in motion, he doesn't succeed as Evox. This is because the main universe has plenty of Power Rangers, and is where the Morphing Grid towers are located. He came from a dimension in which there were little confirmed Power Rangers prior to RPM, and his creator is a kidnapped and indoctrinated child who was in a project from an organization that doesn't give a damn about murdering their own scientists to keep it's reputation, in addition to the lies (They let Venjix become as much of a threat as he was after all). The fact they got away with it for so long implies it was a Crapsaccharine World long before Venjix took over. The rebirth as Evox happened merely by accident, and in an environment with an organization that is fully good. So when Evox is confirmed to be a threat, they do everything they can to eliminate it with the newest of Power Rangers. On two occasions, they even have help from the originator Dr. K, who has already learnt from the past mistakes.
  • The logo "V" on Evox's Cybervillains was initially looked like a leftover of Beast Morphers's source inspiration as the major villain faction, Vaglass and originally held no real meaning. Or so everyone thought. By the time season 2 draws near its end, said logo eerily becomes a Foreshadowing to who Evox really is.
  • Colonel Truman helping Ben and Betty capture Scrozzle after Evox/Venjix's final defeat has a bit of symbolism to it, in that Beast Morphers tied up a loose end from RPM, so RPM repays the favor by tying up a loose end from Beast Morphers.
  • On the topic of reanimating past villains:
    • When the villains discuss which classic villain should be reanimated, all four of the proposals prior to Goldar were rejected because they backstabbed the villains in one form or another. However, there are also two more reasons that weren't brought up, namely that they're debating on which villain to reanimate. Lord Zedd, Astronema, and Koragg are all still alive while Psycho Red is technically still alive in the form of his data card. The second reason? When he was Venjix, three of his generals (Shifter, Kilobyte, and Tenaya) betrayed him on separate occasions - twice in Tenaya's case. Tenaya's second defection led to his defeat at the hands of the RPM Rangers. As the villain with the final say, he'd rather nip it in the bud. With this in mind, Goldar makes a lot more sense, as not only was he deceased and thus can be reanimated, but that he rejected a chance at redemption for his wings. A shoe-in pick for sure.
    • Goldar looking different after being brought back at first seems like an Ass Pull to just use Kyoryuger vs Go-Busters footage without explaining why he looks different (Kyoryuger vs Go-Busters' villain is a construct of Zyuranger's bad guys that just happened to look like Grifforzer). It's only when you remember that Scrozzle used diamonds to power up whoever they decided to reanimate. Without going out and saying it, it can be assumed Goldar was altered because using the diamonds changed his appearance.
    • When the cybervillains brought up Lord Zedd, why did they mention his treachery as the biggest reason to not resurrecting him? After all, they previously mentioned Koragg and Astronema, both of which turned good, and was the reason for why they chose not to pick them. Zedd also turned good, so why didn't they address it? Well, both Koragg and Astronema broke out of their mind control and willingly chose to turn good. Zedd meanwhile, was forced to turn good thanks to a hefty dose of Z-wave radiation. They probably understand that Zedd turning good was something that's outside his control.
  • Evox's final form turns the skies red not unlike with Gamertron and Keytron's respective Morph-X Drain Domes, the latter of whom he had revived. With previous Robotron data like that, his own dome could span the whole globe to take in any Morph-X all over.
  • Ryjack reanimazing the Viviks makes sense when you consider that Sledge had been in our main dimension during Super Ninja Steel, seeking out Energems. Chances are that remains of his underlings weren't exactly too hard to come by.
  • Doctor K knowing of Xenowing splitting from Doomwing seems a bit convenient until you consider that she might've been seeking out ways to separate Hybrids like Dillon and Tenaya to make them fully human only to come up dry across dimensions. Also, "Dimensions in Danger" implied that the Ranger teams in the three Dimensions (Prime, RPM, and Dino Charge) share intelligence with each other on a regular basis.
  • In addition to helping Nate with his guilt and despair over releasing Venjix, Doctor "That is not spandex" K would have an added interest in traveling to his dimension since (1) harnessing energy from the Morphing Grid is similar to her channeling the bio-electric field to create the RPM ranger suits, and (2) the Beast Morpher suits are made of a different material than her spand..self-assembling nano-fiber.
  • Evox's end at the hands of Morph-X infused with human DNA is karmic on so many levels when you consider that he drove humanity to the brink of extinction in RPM, even creating hybrids. Now? The very essence of their genetics and the very power he had sought after all season(s) becomes his ultimate undoing.
  • On the surface, Evox/Venjix's final form being taken down quickly seems like a waste, considering there was a whole big fight scene with Messiah Reboot in Go-Busters. But the thing is that you know what that form can do and realize that it's imperative to stop Evox/Venjix as quick as possible. They even gave a rational justification for it: unlike the Go-Busters, who merely fought Messiah defiantly and scored a lucky hit, the Beast Morphers didn't beat around the bush and actually came up with a plan of attack. It may not be flashy, but it is effective. It was also established in the prior episode that Evox made himself immune to all of Grid Battleforce's weaponry, so the Rangers already knew that using conventional weapons was pointless. It's also fitting that Evox went out on a smaller Zord battle, given his history...
  • The Robotrons "morph" from everyday objects into humanoid machines.
  • Roxy assuming Ravi was cheating seems cheap. However, their last conversation before Evox hijacked her mind was them breaking up. It's not a stretch to for her to ponder if he had considered moving on during Season 1 at least. All her Avatar saw was him during battle.
  • Evox pulling a Rita Repulsa more often is less Villain Decay and more about how victory's been consistently taken from him despite being so close. After getting a new body, he seemed invincible enough yet had to survive a dimension collapsing via Mayor Daniels and became weak because of it. Being busted down to square one wears on even the best baddies.
  • The Rangers calling out, "Transport [Weapon]" makes a tad more sense than the Go-Busters touching their Transpods and getting the weapon they need right away.
  • With Season 1's cliffhanging scene, Evox surviving certain doom by way of infecting something (or somebody) to bide his time for another attack seems familiar...

Fridge Horror

  • While they did send Blaze and Roxy to the Cyber Dimension the Rangers and Nate accidentally sent Evox with them. With the small amount of time they had, they only sent them as far away as possible which meant they could have been sent anywhere. Including Corinth where there is an active war against another sentient computer virus. Becomes fridge brilliance when it's revealed that Evox is Venjix, meaning that the RPM rangers would know full well how to defeat him.
  • In Episode 12, when Ben and Betty bring pizza into the lab, Steel asks if he can try some, mentioning that his smell sensors tell him it would be delicious. He's then reminded that he can't eat. While this scene is obviously meant to be humorous, imagine how awful it would be if you were capable of smelling and craving food, yet were physically incapable of eating.
  • In season 2 episode 2 Save Our Shores, Blaze and Roxy are scanned by Scrozzle in order to recreate their avatars as robots. When the rangers tell them this after fighting the robots, the pair is understandably horrified. Remember, they both have the memories of their avatars. They know how dangerous they were. And they don't have any kind of link to their robot selves, so for all they know, the robots are far stronger than they were as avatars. Who wouldn't be freaked out by that? Not to mention the sheer potential for identity theft, fraud, and defamation the robots can do to the 2 of them. Evox already did it with Mayor Daniels, so who's to say the robots won't do the same with Blaze and Roxy.
  • What exactly did Scrozzle do during the year that passed between Evox's defeat and his capture? It's highly unlikely he spent all that time just hiding. Considering his technical genius, he could have quite a few cards up his sleeve that he's just waiting to play...
  • Seeing real-world cities like Philadelphia and Chicago with Morph-X towers in them. Evox could've easily sent his forces to attack in these and other places, and nobody there could've done anything to stop them — it would probably take the Rangers a while to get there, and by the time they did, who knows now many people could be injured or killed, buildings destroyed or damaged, etc.? Not to mention, this is as the point where Evox was revealed to be Venjix reborn, so it underscores the stakes — if he isn't stopped now, he'll destroy those cities just like he did on his Earth, and probably cause the Apocalypse all over again.
  • At the end of "Source Code", Dr. K goes back to her own dimension to make sure there weren't any other traces of Venjix, seeing as how he managed to survive in Scott's Cell Shift Morpher. That give the horrifying possibility that Venjix could still be out there.

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