A new era of Power Rangers is before Linkara as he looks at Power Rangers Beast Morphers, Hasbro's first attempt of a season that used Sentai footage Saban skipped over.
Tropes:
- And You Thought It Would Fail: Linkara owns up to the fact he previously and publicly stated he never thought Go-Busters would ever have been feasible for a Power Rangers counterpart.
- Ass Pull: Brings up the fandom's criticism that Evox being Venjix was just fanservice in order to make an otherwise weak villain more interesting. While he doesn't disagree, Linkara does agree the twist actually does make Evox more interesting, and that he usually enjoys when Power Rangers references their own lore (as long as it has a payoff).
- Call-Back:
- When discussing the nonsensical "scientific" explanations for the DNA usage in this series, the "Far too complex for you to understand" clip from the Megaforce review makes a return.
- Linkara likens Zoey's reporter mother Muriel Reeves having video of the Ranger morphing but not bothering to actually check the footage before planning on airing it to Bulk and Skull doing the exact same thing back in Mighty Morphin.
- Points out the fact Jason getting another Tyrannosaurus Power Coin when he should already have his powers from Forever Red, but hand waves it that maybe the powers were lost between then and now, since its happened before in other seasons with other powers.
- Cannon Fodder: Shows disappointment when the bad guys resurrect the Putty Patrollers and the Vivix, pointing out their terrible track records handling the Power Rangers.
- Captain Obvious Reveal: Calls out the second season for treating Evox being fused with Mayor Daniels as some big reveal, when the season one finale already showed the mayor's hand infected with Evox's evil, purple energy.
- Chromosome Casting: When the Dino Charge team first show up for a crossover; Linkara makes a quick, snide observation that all the Dino Charge Rangers to first appear are male (Shelby, the Dino Charge Pink Ranger, does show up later, although only morphed due to alleged trouble with production).
- Fanservice: Linkara comments that he actually enjoys the fanservice of this season and considers it to be Super Megaforce done right. As it acknowledges past continuity, pays respect to all sections of the franchise (the crossover episode had representation from the Saban, Disney, Neo Saban, and Hasbro Eras), ties up loose ends from a past season (finishing Venjix for good), and has a character from a previous season use their experiences to help push one of the new characters forward.
- He also discusses fan criticism of the show's last quarter seemingly using fanservice as a crutch, pandering too much to the older fanbase and with no apparent faith in its own ideas. While he understands the criticism, as this is a problem he shares with modern Star Trek (at least at the time of the video's release), he ultimately disagrees, noting that the vast majority of the show wasn't filled with such references and had already established its own identity, characters and story arcs over thirty episodes prior.
- He does express disappointment, however, that the Beast Rangers barely get to do anything alongside the dino-themed Rangers, although this was due to the Sentai-equivalent team-up movie sidelining the Go-Busters in favour of the dinosaur teams, as Tokumei Sentai Go-Busters apparently didn't perform well.
- When discussing how he did not think Go-Busters would make a good Power Rangers season in his Dino Charge review, he expressed annoyance that some fans thought it would make the perfect adaptation just because Go-Busters said "It's Morphin Time!" before their transformation. One bit of fan service as a nod to the original Power Rangers did not suddenly make the Sentai the perfect Power Rangers season-to-be in his opinion.
- Flat Character: Points out that the weak link this season was its villains; the Blaze and Roxy copies lacked depth and just felt like wasted potential, Evox's general Scrozzle was so dull Linkara struggled to even remember his name, and the only thing that really gave Evox anything worthwhile was the fact he was secretly Venjix, and even then that wasn't revealed until the last few episodes.
- Foreshadowing: At multiple points in the review, Linkara makes numerous references to Power Rangers RPM, pointing out the numerous, albeit sometimes superficial, similarities. Most of the time this is done in Linkara's usual, half-sarcastic fashion, until it's later revealed in the final episodes that Beast Morphers is a pseudo-sequel to RPM.
- Hand Wave:
- Points out how some fans seemed to take issue with the agency having Mystic Force morphers in storage, but Linkara figures Udonna probably donated some as the equivalent of empty spellbooks for research (not morphers from the actual Mystic Rangers).
- Is fine with the fact Evox doesn't act exactly like Venjix from RPM, noting there could be any number of logical reasons he would act differently over time, in a new dimension, and in a new body.
- Is fine with Jason being given a new Tyrannosaurus Power Coin in spite of getting his powers back in "Forever Red", since maybe the powers were lost or failed in the interim. Is also fine with the Mighty Morphin team having the original Megazord instead of the Thunder/Ninja Megazord, since he figures maybe the Zords are directly linked to the powers, so old coins equals old zords.
- Idiot Ball:
- Calls out Nate for reviving Venjix as Evox by combining old Ranger tech, Morph-X, and snake DNA! However, as baffling as this idea is, he does eventually give it a pass since Nate was a child at the time.
- Calls out the agency for their decision to immediately turn the power grid back on after separating Evox from the mayor, when had they left it off they could have theoretically starved Evox into submission.
- Lazy Artist: Was not a fan of the morphing sequence this season, saying it felt lazy (being just a colored vortex with a CG of the ranger's animal briefly popping out).
- Milestone Celebration: Linkara jokes that although this season was released on the odd 27th year anniversary of Power Rangers (and thus isn't a milestone year) it still did fanservice better than Megaforce.
- Plot Hole: Briefly touched on when the season eventually reveals this is their dimension's first set of Power Rangers, why the other rangers would have arrived to share their tech in the first place.
- Power-Up Letdown:
- His reaction to the Red Ranger's battlizer, since its power source was inherently evil so it had to be destroyed. Linkara notes the "Red Fury Mode" was a completely American creation so required all original footage, before sarcastically adding it seemed like "money well spent" with how little it was used.
- Was a little disappointed when Steel became human because it meant losing his cool voice.
- Production Foreshadowing: Linkara started up a thread on Twitter
as he watched the show in prepration, and some of the stuff he commented on ended up in the video. - Prolonged Prologue: Something about this season that really annoys him, is that many episodes will go for several minutes before finally getting to the theme song. At one point, Linkara notes an episode is already half over by the time they get to it (coupled with the fact he dislikes the theme song in general).
- Questionable Casting: While he understands the excuse that the show didn't have the masters of the original voice recordings for the villain Clip Show, he expressed confusion at the dubbing they replaced it with. Of course, Lord Zedd gets a pass since Robert Axelrod has passed away, but why they couldn't have gotten Barbara Goodson to voice Rita or Kerrigan Mahan to return as Goldar was a poor decision, in his opinion.
- Recruit Teenagers with Attitude: This is the season where he does not like the trope being used. He's fine with the likes of Zordon and Gosei using teenagers because maybe they could sense the potential in their candidates, but a military organization using teenagers as opposed to trained soldiers just doesn't make sense.
- Rookie Red Ranger: Discussed when Devon is made the leader of the team when he has no previous experience and isn't even a member of the Grid Battleforce agency. That being said, Linkara does also point out Devon quickly steps up for the role and is a good leader, overall.
- Shout-Out: There are a lot of Rick and Morty clips in this recap to reflect Linkara's bafflement with the weirder-than-usual Weird Science that sets the show in motion, particularly its confusing take on genetic manipulation.
- Simple, yet Awesome: Was a fan of how simple this season's Battlizers were, light armor that was just enough to look like an upgrade without being too silly or bulky. Even Devon's "Red Fury Mode" for how useless it was in the grand scheme of things, Linkara was at least a fan of its overall visual aesthetic.
- Spandex, Latex, or Leather: Since Beast Morhpers is the first season not to use spandex, Linkara gives his thoughts on the leather-based Ranger suits. Personally, Linkara likes them, seeing them more of a practical suit.
- Spoiler: Similar to the Mystic Mother twist; Linkara expresses a bit of annoyance that fans ruined the twist that Evox is actually Venjix, reminding his fans he doesn't watch the show until months before he plans on doing his reviews, not as it airs.
- Spotlight-Stealing Squad:
- Points out the strange happenstance that Dino Charge gets all the crossovers with this season as opposed to Ninja Steel, which was the preceding ranger team. This is because the Super Sentai Go-Busters originally came out before Kyoryuger, with Ninninger premiering a few seasons after (thus completely unconnected with Go-Busters).
- This is also true of the Dino Charge Rangers in general, who seem to get more focus over the Beast Rangers. Especially apparent when the Mighty Morphin and Dino Thunder rangers show up creating a clear dinosaur ranger motif, although this was due to the original Sentai footage as Linkara notes.
- Sudden Musical Ending: The final minutes of the show features a big song and dance number that he doesn't know what to make of, likening it to something out of Xanadu.
- They Changed It, Now It Sucks!:
- Hangs a lampshade on the controversial re-naming of the Gold Ranger's Zord from a rhino beetle to a praying mantis, joking that this is probably just a Power Rangers tradition at this point.
- Talks about his trepidation with the fact Neo-Saban has passed the franchise over to Hasbro, what with Hasbro's less than glowing history with live-action properties. However, this becomes a Defied Trope when Linkara notes Hasbro was happy to keep most of the old writers on board and they ended up creating a fairly decent season.
- Was not a fan of them bringing back Goldar as Goldar Maximus, since they didn't get the same voice actor, plus them acting like he and Jason have some deep, personal rivalry aside from just being general enemies.
- They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character: One of his complaints regarding the evil Blaze and Roxy is that they do not take advantage of looking like their friends and using subterfuge and emotional manipulation against the Rangers. Sure, Linkara does note of a couple of episodes that they use it, but he wished they would have more to them. This even extends to the added mutations near the end as he wished they would show remorse and guilt over their actions, or at bare minimum some self-preservation (especially from Blaze after Roxy's demise).
- Timey-Wimey Ball: Brings this up when Sledge and his crew return with a vendetta against the Power Rangers since it is confusing with how much Dino Charge repeatedly kicked the timeline in the balls if the events of that season are even considered to have still happened or if it was all erased when the rangers stopped the extinction of the dinosaurs.
- Troubled Production: Brings up the rumor as to why Riley and Shelby only appeared morphed during the Dino Charge crossover was due to the fact actors Michael Taber and Camille Hyde said filming for Power Rangers was a miserable experience. Linkara even takes a moment to discuss the fact being an actual actor on the show isn't as glamorous as fans may assume it is.
- Unresolved Sexual Tension: Understands both sides of the agency having a strict "No Dating" rule; on the one hand he points out that not allowing Zoey and Nate to date because it would be a distraction is pointless since romantic tension can be just as, if not more so distracting as what happens one episode during their Almost Kiss. On the other hand, Linkara notes while dating itself isn't a problem, should a couple go through a messy break-up, it could be extremely detrimental to the team.
- Unsympathetic Comedy Protagonist: He discusses this in regards to why Ben and Betty don't work as comic relief compared to Victor and Monty from Ninja Steel. Victor and Monty were arrogant pricks, which made all the jokes and humiliation at their expense cathartic to watch. With Ben and Betty, who are genuinely nice and loving people, it's less entertaining and makes the audience just feel bad for them.
- Weaksauce Weakness: Dislikes the weaknesses given the rangers due to their powers being derived from animal DNA; not only do they make no sense for anyone who has beyond a first grader knowledge of animal biologynote , but they are mostly there just to be comic relief.
- "Well Done, Son" Guy: What Linkara views as the overarching theme; summed up as "Family". Each of the Rangers are given character arcs that have them trying to make their parents proud, with the two most focused being Devon's relationship with Mayor Daniels and Ravi with Commander Shaw.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: While he has no inherent issue with the Mighty Morphin team using the original Megazord (even though it was destroyed, he figured old powers restored means old Zords), he does point out the Ninja Falconzord was never destroyed and wonders whatever happened to it.
- What Measure Is a Non-Human?: Claims that Steel sacrificing himself in the finale really didn't affect him emotionally, since, throughout the entire series, Steel had always been shown willing to put himself in danger for the greater good since he was a robot.
