YMMV / Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Once & Always

• Alternate Character Interpretation: Catherine Sutherland talked about an early story idea from when Tommy was slated to have a bigger role (before Jason David Frank declined) that the two would be estranged but still raising JJ together - and although it isn't mentioned in the final thing, Kat only says she has to pick JJ up, suggesting that it could be the case there too.
• Common Knowledge: A behind-the-scenes set photo that was leaked showed a wrecked, overturned van in the middle of a rocky field. Many fans, including the one who leaked the photo, were quick to assume that the special would have Trini driving when Robo Rita attacked, leading to her being killed in the attack. As such, a large amount of backlash ensued for the writing staff and even the cast being heartless to use Thuy Trang's real-life death in that way. This immediately dissipated when the trailer revealed that Trini sacrificed herself to save Billy and the wrecked van was for a completely different scene, although the real cause of her death did cause some backlash regardless.
• Fan-Preferred Couple: Tommy/Kimberly remains a popular ship even decades later, with many fans disappointed that Ninja Steel confirmed that Tommy and Katherine were still together and had a son. A lot of Tommy/Kim fans prefer to think that Tommy and Katherine divorced amicably by the events of this special and he was back together with Kimberly.
• Fanfic Fuel:
  • Given that it's been quite some time since we've seen the MMPR and Stone Canyon rangers, it leaves a lot of ideas for fanfic writers to explore, like what Zack has been doing as a congressman or how Aisha returned from her stint in 19th century Africa and ended up as part of the SPA division.
  • The numerous rangers who were captured and what they've been doing since they were last seen. For example, what happened with Merrick since he left on his journey with Zen-Aku?
• Fanon: Since Minh's father is never seen or even mentioned, with it being implied that she was raised only by Trini, some fans like the idea of it being Richie from Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers, and that he also passed away years ago, as his actor Maurice Mendoza died in 2013.
• Fridge Brilliance: Adam and Aisha being apart of S.P.A. isn't mere fan service. During Once A Ranger, the Sentinel Knight brought Bridge from the future fighting alongside Adam. Knowing this after returning to his Dojo, he probably reached out to the other space borne Rangers about the existence of an extraterrestrial police organization. Once he had learned about the existence of the Space Patrol organizations, him and Aisha were probably assigned to S.P.A. to learn more and to pursue the threat of the Troobian Empire. Even the names S.P.A. and S.P.D. implies and active group and a reactive one
• Ho Yay: With how Billy and Zack both act as Parental Substitutes to Mihn and how they sometimes argue Like an Old Married Couple, you won't be faulted for forgetting Billy has a wife on Aquitar.
• It's Short, So It Sucks!: While still liked overall, many feel that the special could've benefited from a longer length to flesh out Minh's arc and offer more room for character interactions. As it is, 51 minutes is only barely the length of a film, and only slightly longer than a two-part episode.
• Moral Event Horizon: Robo-Rita crosses this when she kills Trini at the beginning of the special.
• Nightmare Fuel:
  • Aside from the defeated monsters, no one died in the original Power Rangers series, with Zyuranger plot points reworked so death was not an issue (particularly the Green Ranger plotline, with Tommy merely losing his powers while his Zyuranger counterpart, Burai, died). Not so this time, as the special opens with Robo-Rita killing Trini!
  • It's bad enough that Rita returns to menace the Rangers, but her new robot body ups the fright factor with a Nightmare Face that makes her look like a Mechanical Abomination.
• Special Effect Failure:
  • The morphers used by the Rangers when morphing is Bandai's Legacy morpher, which is bulky and has the faceplates made out of diecast metal. However, the morphers on the Ranger suits' belt buckles are the same style used back in the 90s, which is smaller and has a matte silver finish.
  • The fluffy collars worn around the necks of the Rangers while morphed are not really attached to the helmet in any way, so any time the Rangers bend their neck, there's a large noticeable gap between said collar and the helmet.
  • Whenever Kat appears morphed, her Pink Ranger helmet uses a darker shade of pink than the suit. Strangely, Kim's suit doesn't have the discrepancy.
  • The Green Ranger costume is not only a lighter shade of green than normal, but strangely has three bands around each arm instead of one. The figure version is colored correctly and only includes one band per arm.
  • While the joints of the Lightning Collection figures used to show the captured Red, Pink, and Green Rangers were filled in, this wasn't applied to any of the other figures depicting the other captured Rangers, meaning all of their figure joints are in plain view.
  • Many of the Putties have the hoods of the stuntmen's suits pulled over the mask, instead of the mask covering up the hood opening.
  • While the Megazord's combination sequence is well-done, the fight between it and Robo-Snizzard is stiffly animated and cartoonishly rendered. Its forearms are also oriented sideways throughout the entire fight sequence.
• Tainted by the Preview:
  • While Jason David Frank and Austin St. John both had issues at the time that may have prevented them from returning, as well as the passing of the former, many have expressed irritation Amy Jo Johnson did not return, meaning that the three most popular Rangers are the only absent ones and the special focusing on plots and storylines from Season 1 only has two Season 1 Rangers returning.
  • Others are annoyed just because they have Mighty Morphin fatigue, and even if it is new material, rather wished Hasbro would move on.
  • Some believe that having Trini's death happen on-screen and the movie focusing on Minh getting revenge, rather than having Trini pass away some years prior when the story starts, to be in rather poor taste.
  • A minority of people took issue with the special looking similarly to the main series (since it largely uses the same production crew), rather than looking similar to other high-quality streaming-exclusive specials and series.
  • The thickness of the neck pieces on the new suits has drawn some criticism. While they do evoke the look of the costumes used for American footage in Mighty Morphin, modern appearances of the suits have used the series' standard design.
• Tear Jerker:
  • Trini's death at the beginning of the special. She Takes the Bullet for Billy and ends up vaporized. While Billy and Zack remove their helmets to stare off the cliff in shock, Kim can be spotted collapsing to her knees over the loss of her best friend.
  • Billy and Zack argue over how to break the news of Trini's death to Minh, in particular whether or not to reveal that her mom was a Power Ranger and was killed by an old foe. Minh ends up walking in on their conversation and while she warms up to Zack again, a year later she's still angry at Billy and blames him for her mother's death.
  • Minh outright tells Billy that everything is his fault. He doesn't argue with her on this point, as it is later revealed that Billy is in fact the one to blame for the evil of Rita Repulsa coming back as Robo Rita in the first place.
  • When Rita's evil possesses Alpha 8, he throws Billy away and tries to tell him to run before Rita completely overtakes him. Alpha 9 expresses grief for his predecessor, and it's all but said Rita killed him when she took over his body.
  • The special ends on footage from the second season of Mighty Morphin featuring Kimberly singing "Down The Road" with the rest of the original team around her, before fading into a tribute to the late Thuy Trang and Jason David Frank.
• Unexpected Character:
  • Zack and Billy are returning, the latter being more shocking given what happened to cause David Yost to leave the series in the first place^note He was bullied behind the scenes by members of the production team for being gay. Unlike the other Mighty Morphin Rangers, neither of them ever returned on-screen after their departure, until now.^note Walter Jones did host a one-off special that showed the lost pilot and voiced a handful of monsters during the latter half of the original Saban era, but this special marks the first time he's returned as Zack.
  • While Adam's return was somewhat expected the same can't be said for Rocky or Aisha. The former because his actor announced his retirement a few years ago, while Aisha's last appearance was her unceremonious exit in Season 3.
  • Not many would have expected to see a new version of the Mighty Minotaur, considering the previous version only appeared in one episode of the original series (with zero original footage, even).
• Visual Effects of Awesome: While the Megazord fight was poorly rendered, the combination sequence is clearly the most polished part about it.
• What the Hell, Costuming Department?: Aside from the overly thick neck pieces on the Ranger suits, a small number of fans were not impressed by the decision to render the Megazord in CGI, particularly since its Sentai counterpart had recently made an in-suit appearance two years prior.