YMMV / Power Rangers Ninja Steel

• Anvilicious: Thanks to Executive Meddling, almost every episode is dedicated to teaching one of the characters (and the audience) An Aesop. This is done in a very unsubtle manner in which characters even explicitly state the Aesop that they are supposed to learn. Not even the original Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers was that heavy handed. To make matters worse, several of these lessons fall apart due to weak writing.
• Base-Breaking Character:
  • Victor and Monty have elicited mixed reactions. Some find their antics hilarious, especially them trying to fight the monster in Episode 3, while others view them as an unfunny attempt at being the next Bulk and Skull.
  • Brody: Some fans find him as a sympathetic Woobie, while others view him as a bland Red Ranger. His backstory not being relevant and William Shewfelt's acting breaks the base even further as some claim to be as wooden as Troy while others point out moments such as Brody's breakdowns with his father and Aiden.
  • Calvin: Some like Nico Greentham's portrayal, his relationship with Hayley endearing, and his character flaws and personality extending throughout his focus episodes. Others hate Calvin and claim his character is generic, boring, and believe his lazy nature and treatment of Hayley in Super Ninja Steel make him a terrible boyfriend that Hayley should dump him.
  • Sarah: Sarah started off very likable, but her lack of personality caused her to drop off with the fanbase, and her detractors view her as a character the writers just force into any situation. Others find her scientific nature interesting, the dynamic with her mother a major fix to her character.
  • Viera: An interesting new addition to the Ninja Steel characters to some fans and a potential candidate for the Green Ranger that many hoped would get adapted (this did not happen), a bland character with poor acting to others. There are also those that don't mind her, but have a problem with her Heel–Face Turn occurring too quickly for one episode.
• Broken Base:
  • The intergalactic game show premise: some find it ridiculous and completely at odds with both the ninja theme and the general themes of Power Rangers. Other find it awesome and believe that it will be able to justify the eclectic nature of many of Ninninger's power-ups and mecha.
  • Once again the possibility of Nickelodeon's twenty-episodes a year rule coming into play is creating waves, with some fans believing that Dino Charge has proven that the writers know how to pace themselves around the hiatus and two-year structure, while others are demanding either more episodes or a jump to another channel. The hiatus coming earlier this year so as to not conflict with the new movie doesn't help matters.
  • The writing and the plots for the series have had mixed reactions from fans and viewers. Some feel as though the writing has stepped down a lot from Dino Charge and returned to the start of the Neo-Saban Era while others defend it with the "its a kids show" and the characters help the story.
  • The use of classic Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers background music, such as the "Bulk and Skull theme" for Victor and Monty, in the background of Super Ninja Steel episodes. Some like it and view it as an homage to the 25-year history of the franchise, others think the songs don't belong in an otherwise bland season.
• Ensemble Dark Horse: The Rangers' mentor Mick Kanic, is very popular among fans not just because he's played by Kelson Henderson but because he's a likeable mentor when compared to the previous Ranger mentors from the Neo-Saban era, some of whom have been considered to be scrappies by fans. It's because of his status that he will be returning in Power Rangers Dino Fury, this time mentoring the Dino Fury team.
  • Kody, Hayley's dog, has a lot of respect and love for his Heroic Dog traits to the point fans see him as one of the best characters in the show despite his limited screentime.
  • Ironically, Cosmo Royale is the least active villain, but is loved for his personality in a season of flat and generic generals. His focus episode, Grave Robber, earned him even more praise for being the only other villain outside of Odius with a unique plan that nearly defeated the Rangers.
• Epileptic Trees:
  • As soon as it became clear that ToQger wouldn't be adapted, fans of the Sentai series started theorizing ways that elements from it could be included, which happened with Cosmo Royale, whose Sentai counterpart is ToQger villain Baron Nero, though Cosmo has a different head than Nero since he has pointed ears, green eyes and no nose when compared to his Sentai counterpart's pointed nose, yellow eyes and brown skin.
  • At a toy fair displaying Ninja Stars from the series, one of the Ninja Stars shown is Tridoron from Kamen Rider Drive. Did Saban make a mistake like they did with the trailer for Dino Charge^note which has a Blink and Miss shot of Kamen Rider Wizard and include it by accident^note Ranger Keys for Gosei Sentai Dairanger were shown off at another toy fair, yet despite the keys being used in Megaforce, they were never released? Or does Saban intend to adapt the crossover between Drive and Ninja Steel's source material and the mech fight scene from Super Hero Taisen GP: Kamen Rider #3? That Saban filed a new trademark for "Power Rider" is just fuel for the fire. Although nothing happened in the first season, the first episode of the second season featured the monster from the crossover, so only time will tell if this leads to a full-blown appearance of Drive.
  • A general theory is that Summer Cove High School is actually a privately funded tech school as opposed to a public school, due to certain aspects (theater and the arts) appearing more shoehorned in as opposed to being naturally part of the school, the expansive shop class, multiple science classes, and Redbot walking around being treated as a case of Unusually Uninteresting Sight from the general school, not to mention that Preston (whose father is ultra-rich) is shown to care more about magic than tech, suggesting that his father bought his son's way in to the school if it was private.
• Fan Nickname: After the first episode, Bomb Pop for the trio of Brody, Sarah, and Preston since their colors match up to the ice cream treat of the same name.
• Germans Love David Hasselhoff: Sarah is pretty well liked in Brazil because her actress is from there (like Dustin and Ivan).
• Harsher in Hindsight: The episode "Rocking and Rolling" involves an attack on a country music concert. Flash forward a month and a half after this episode's airing...
• Heartwarming in Hindsight:
  • Ninninger featured a cameo from Dino Charge actor Yoshi Sudaraso getting saved by Ao Ninger (the Blue Ranger). Now that Yoshi's brother Peter has been cast as the Blue Ranger, that scene becomes a lot cooler.
  • At the time of the episode airing, "Dimensions in Danger" was criticised for side-lining the majority of the returning rangers in favor of giving Tommy the majority of the spotlight. Following Jason David Frank's death in November 2022, the crossover would go down as his final appearance in the franchise and instead serve as a suitable tribute to both the character and actor who had served as the face of the franchise for many years, especially in light of Jason David Frank revealing before his death that this was his intended final role as Tommy on-screen.^note He did appear in a couple of voiceover roles since then before his death
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • After the premise of Ninja Steel was announced Doubutsu Sentai Zyuohger started airing, whose villains' motives are to play out a game of their own.
  • Probably not that hilarious, but Brody being kidnapped after the disappearance of his father and Made a Slave in space — would that make him "Human Debris?" Following this one up with him gaining special armor and a giant robot after being freed, does it make him a Paladin?
  • Galvanax threatened his subordinates by claiming that he will fire them into the Sun. One would think that he should know better after what happened to Sledge.
  • The verbal exchange between Galvanax and Brody in #4 sounds a lot like Quill calling Yondu out near the finale of Guardians of the Galaxy (2014). A major difference being that Galvanax is far worse than Yondu could ever be (at least based on his actions in the movie).
  • In episode 11, two of the rangers trick Madame Odious by exchanging the power stars for an antidote for Brody, only to reveal that the stars were made of chocolate and painted to look like such. Any chance the writers were looking at the Beyond Good & Evil 2 teaser trailer or just a coincidence?
  • In Linkara's History of Power Rangers, he points out Power Rangers Ninja Storm having a ninja theme, yet having a "ninja magic electric guitar" several times even after his review of Ninja Storm. Come this season, and we get a cowboy ranger who's signature weapon is an actual Electric Guitar with magical ninja powers!
  • In SPD, Kelson Henderson played Boom, a assistant who at one point envisioned himself as one of the rangers. In this series, his character, Mick, actually becomes one in the season finale and an alternate red colored one to boot!
  • Sheriff Skyfire actually shares a name with one of the iconic Transformers, renamed for the original cartoon from Jetfire due to copyright reasons. Let's just say we might see even more reused Transformer names after this...
  • The plot of the first season's Christmas Special involves a Power Ranger going through time to retrieve the Ninja Stars to defeat a monster... This turns out to be the plot to Avengers: Endgame.
• Ho Yay: Pretty much all the guys get paired up with each other, even Calvin who has an in-show girlfriend. It's not helped, or made better depending on how you see it, by the cast releasing videos of themselves hugging each other or being really close. Considering that Peter (who plays Preston) is a fan, he most likely knows about the shipping side of the fandom or was given the heads up from his brother and gets the others to play along to mess with the fans.
  • Calvin/Preston is gaining a bit of traction because their actors (Nico and Peter) keep posting videos of themselves hugging and talking flirtatiously and mentioning their pairing name: Calston.
  • Brody/Levi has some grounds too. In addition to being the traditional Red/Sixth ship, Levi's first episode has him paying Brody to hang out with him and eat lunch with him. So, basically a date.
    • The reveal that Levi is actually Brody's missing brother Aiden caused people to quickly drop the pairing.
• I Knew It!:
  • Many fans were right when Levi was revealed to be Brody's long lost brother Aiden.
  • A lot of people accurately guessed that "Aiden" from the end of Poisonous Plots was a robot/spy by Madame Odius.
  • Also, many assumed Brody's dad wasn't as dead as we were told to believe. The finale of Ninja Steel confirmed that he wasn't dead at all.
• Informed Wrongness: In Grave Robber, Levi's supposedly in the wrong for not joining the other rangers, due to simply disliking board games. Whilst he was a bit aloof about it, he had every right not to like board games.
• It's the Same, Now It Sucks!:
  • Some fans have felt that Galvanax's hunt for the Power Stars and Ninja Nexus Star is too similar to Sledge's hunt for the Energems in Dino Charge.
  • Similarly, many aren't too excited about the fact that Brody, like Tyler, has a missing father. This is mitigated somewhat due to it being implied Brody's father was killed. And then, like Tyler, Brody's long-missing father is revealed to be alive, but spends very little time onscreen with his son. Much like James Navarro, at best this makes Dane Romero feel like a pointless character the writers didn't know what to do with. At worst, they both seem like lousy parents who weren't worth all of their respective sons' emotional labor.
  • Some fans aren't happy that the Make My Monster Grow method is yet again a laser shot from a spaceship. For the fourth and fifth year in a row.
  • The first half finale hits a lot of the same beats as its PRDC counterpart, with the Big Bad coming in person to steal the Rangers' power source one by one, someone needing rescue from the villains' ship, said ship being apparently wrecked in the climax but turning out not to be completely destroyed, and a former underling clawing free in the damaged ship to declare themselves the new Big Bad in the wake of the old one's apparent demise. (Also, though it didn't occur in the first season finale in PRDC, also from Dino Charge are the Big Bad demanding and getting the Make My Monster Grow treatment but being beaten without a Zord battle, and a new Ranger unmasking as the Red Ranger's Disappeared Dad.)
• Jerkass Woobie:
  • Ripcon may be a jerk and rival to Brody, but is still being treated as a Butt-Monkey by Galvanax and Madame Odious and he definitely did not deserve to be framed by the latter for treacherous acts that she committed.
  • Clint in "Sheriff Skyfire", because most of the students don't follow a few simple rules and just complain to him about it, which nearly caused him to quit for being unappreciated. As the titular character explains, it can be difficult for lawmen to help people if they don't obey the law.
• Memetic Mutation:
  • Since Levi's a ninja cowboy ranger, jokes have been made about him being the 'Merica Ranger.
  • Victor the undercover cop (The extreme case of Dawson Casting with Chris Reid as Victor has had fans joke he's really an undercover cop and not actually a high school student).
• Mis-blamed: Judd Lynn and other writers have taken heat for the comedy here and in the previous season due to it being rather juvenile at times. At Power Morphicon 2018, Lynn revealed that higher ups were the ones insistent on comedy while he and his team wanted to be more serious, referencing In Space for the tone they had wanted originally.
• Moral Event Horizon: See the page for examples.
• My Real Daddy: In full effect, with Judd Lynn returning being the only thing some fans needed to know about the new season.
• Narm: As per usual, dialogue such as, "oh no, that person is falling" is still present in Power Rangers shows.
  • Brody’s catchphrase, in which he will declare pretty much anything as “EPIC”! Made all the worse when he typically delivers it in the most wooden tone of voice possible.
  • The episode Happy To Be Me has Tynamon swap his voice with Levi's, in order to operate Levi's Power Star. Levi then spends the episode angsting about losing his singing career, but hearing hearing him angst in Tynamon's squeaky voice makes it more hilarious than sad.
  • During the Previously on… segment of the final episode, the narrator recaps the events of last week's episode in his usual over the top, dramatic voice. When he gets to mentioning Calvin and Hayley's relationship issues, he still uses the voice, making it sound like the most epic soap opera ever.
    Narrator: They broke up!
• Narm Charm: There are definitely some cheesy moments and dialogue (the Rangers coming up with names for their Zords comes to mind), but it works because the show clearly doesn't take itself 100% seriously.
  • Every other Ranger has their suit based on the Ninja theme, as you'd expect. Levi's suit, on the other hand, has a stylized cowboy hat, inexplicable poncho and a guitar/sword hybrid. Because he's a country singer. The fanbase loves it.
• One-Scene Wonder: Sheriff Skyfire, the first time in a long time that a character in Metal Heroes has been adapted in the West. This caused a lot of viewers to look up the series his Japanese counterpart was in.
• The Scrappy:
  • Amongst the heroes, the fanbase and a majority of viewers dislikes Redbot for being wasted and unnecessary to the plot. While some clung onto the Jossed idea that he’d become Brody’s zord, many began to warm up to him in his focus episode with Hayley. Unfortunately, his disappearance throughout the episodes caused many to question his importance to the plot.
  • In terms of the villains, Galvanax is hated because of his similarities with Sledge except none of the charm or personality that made Sledge endearing, his lack of goal for attaining the Ninja Power Stars until the finale's I will finally rule the entire galaxy line that made his entire character feel flat and generic. The wasted potential as an evil father figure to Brody and a poor excuse for not combating the rangers as well as Odius playing him for a fool led to viewers declaring him as one of the worst primary antagonists next to Divatox and Master Xandred.
• So Okay, It's Average: The general consensus of the show. While it is considered a step up in comparison to the first two Neo-Saban shows, it has a hard time not being seen as inferior to Dino Charge.
• Stock Footage Failure: Before the show even started some people already pointed out an instance. Specifically, Chrystiane Lopes as the Pink Ranger. She is significantly shorter than the rest of the cast, including White Ranger Zoe Robins. In Ninninger, Yuka Yano (the White Ranger) was the shortest member while Kasumi Yamaya (who played the Pink Ranger) was a similar height to the others. This isn't without precedence; multiple rangers have had their heights changed when they morph.
• Suspiciously Similar Song: Starting with Episode 5 of Super Ninja Steel, the entire soundtrack has been replaced with sound-alikes of songs from MMPR, including the juice bar theme, and most notably Bulk & Skull's theme.
• Take That, Scrappy!: None of the surviving members of Galaxy Warriors or the show's audience shed a tear about Galvanax's death nor do they object to Madame Odius taking over (Or that she had a hand in his demise.). In fact, Galvanax was only mentioned in the Super Ninja Steel narration and the series finale.
• They Changed It, Now It Sucks!: The change in Transformation Trinket compared to Ninninger caused a mixed reaction in the fandom. Bandai and Saban admitted it was a sales ploy, since role play weapons and Morphers always sell well, so having the two as the same item would actually hurt them^note This actually was the case for Ninninger, where the Ichibantou sold phenomenally while the Karakuri Hengen was only "moderately" popular.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character:
  • Nothing is really done with Brody's backstory of being kept as a slave for 10 years on Galvanax' ship. Firstly, the show doesn't do anything with his Fish out of Water position as it takes only 3 episodes for him to fully acclimate to life on earth. Secondly, his past of being forced to work as a slave for the people who seemingly killed his father doesn't do anything to him psychologically. So despite all of this baggage, Brody simply acts as a typical high school student.
  • In season one, Ripcon is The Bully and The Brute of Galvanax's forces, but delegated to being the Butt-Monkey of the Galaxy Warriors' staff. His attempts and Informed Ability as Brody's rival and tormentor fail due to the rivalry hardly ever being established outside of stock Ninninger footage and said stock footage of his counterpart's prowess contrasting with his established personality. Then he gets killed only a fourth of the way in the series series without the emotional and endearing traits or motivational backstory that fans enjoyed about his Ninninger counterpart.
  • Levi Weston is the first ranger to be a famous artist, yet the show rarely explores the consequences of having this kind of life.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot:
  • The subplot of Brody being a space ninja from Earth having to readjust is hardly brought up and resolved in three episodes by getting him a car.
  • Preston’s plot with his father explores his characters dynamic, but is only used in one episodes as opposed to the storylines with the Collins, Mercers, and even the Navarro’s from the previous season.
  • Levi's fame and numerous fans don't play a role after "Rocking and Rolling".
  • Viera's subplot was rushed in only two episodes and her Heel–Face Turn as well as her belief that she always knew there was another way would have been established better had she proved herself as a combatant and antagonist to the rangers working with Galvanax early on in the series.
  • Galvanax is the champion of Galaxy Warriors and is implied that his show has an influence on the rest of the universe, but that is only used once in the Royal two-parter and instead of using his champion status to host the show and give the contestants some battle advice, the champ spends most of his time barking orders on his seat belt instead of doing anything useful.
  • While Dimensions in Danger was liked by many, just as many agreed that it would've been better as a two-part episode to let everyone get a chance to have a spotlight and to leave some breathing room, resulting in a couple possible things that didn't get to happen:
    • T.J. implies that he had some sort of history with Draven, but he never expands upon this.
    • Tommy never directly interacts with either Rocky or Trent, despite serving as their teammates at different points in the franchise, and his interaction with Kat was minimal.^note  They hold hands at the end.
    • Despite their actors being brothers, there isn't any connection made between Koda and Preston, despite the fact that they have perfectly usable Sentai footage of them interacting together. This is rectified somewhat by the fact that Koda appears one more time in the episode "The Poisy Show", and has more screentime with Preston.
    • Tommy's son J.J. is never referred to again after the opening scene, let alone even seen. Although he does star in the Power Rangers: Soul of the Dragon comic book.
    • We have 3 separate dino-themed rangers from 3 different seasons, and yet their interaction with each other is basically nonexistent.
    • Speaking of dinosaur rangers, the fact that the Ninja Steel rangers teamed up with all 3 of them could've been used to adapt Dinomaru, but they didn't do that.
    • Tommy only morphed into Dino Thunder Black once, and he never morphed into Red Turbo Ranger. The extended fighting sequence on Nickelodeon's YouTube channel at least showed him morphing again to the former, but he never morphed to the latter. The graphic novel "Soul of the Dragon", released a few months after this episode, reveals that he does still have access to his Turbo powers, which begs the question as to why he didn't use them.
    • Speaking of his morphs, his Master Morpher, while cool, doesn't have a backstory and we never see how Tommy got it. This would have opened doors to future team up episodes involving veteran rangers, especially ones with multiple ranger forms.
    • Trent, T.J., and Gia don't get a full fight sequence, and the former two don't have any morphed dialogue at all.
  • One main criticism to the show overall is, despite the title, the show never really capitalizes on the whole ninja theme. The characters are ninjas, but that's about it and there's very little aspect to it. No ninja code, very little look in on the ninja life outside the suits, etc. In comparison to MMPR's third season and Ninja Storm which did more with the motif, for this show it just feels more like it's In Name Only. Also a result of Executive Meddling.
  • The show never explores the origins or nature of the Nexus Prism, despite it being the source of the Rangers' powers. Mick keeps mentioning it being legendary throughout the universe, but other than "the legend says it could do that" every time it does something new or gives the Rangers another zord, it really doesn't come up.
• Unexpected Character:
  • Originally revealed in the Super Ninja Steel trailer Sledge and Wrench. Lampshaded.
    Sledge: Guess who's ba-ack?
  • With "Dimensions in Danger" being the 25th anniversary special, fans were expecting returns from past Rangers. But no-one expected to see the White Falconzord make a comeback appearance.
  • Because Metal Heroes was adapted only twice and neither was the series he was from, few if anyone, expected Sekai Ninja Sen Jiraiya to make an appearance in the form of Space Sheriff Skyfire.
• Unintentionally Sympathetic: Believe it or not, Victor and Monty sometimes fall into this. Say what you will about them, they can be annoying and deserve most of what's coming to them but some of the comeuppance that goes towards them can go a little too far and can be outright dangerous, not helping that the rangers always laugh at their outcome.
  • An example of this is in "Drive to Survive" when they're trapped in a spiderweb for simply wanting to skip class in school, resulting in their fart gas filling up the web like a balloon and when it pops they eject into the sky whilst the rangers laugh at their misery.
  • Venoma, the final Galactic Ninja. In her last episode, all she wants to do is reclaim her honor and go home, and is essentially a reluctant pawn in Odius' schemes. One can't help but feel a bit sorry for her when she's killed off.
  • In Grave Robber, we're supposed to see Levi in the wrong for not enjoying video games. Levi even gets scolded by Mick for not joining the other Rangers in playing a board game, with his argument being that the other Rangers joined him with his favorite activity and yet, Levi didn't join the Rangers playing a board game just because he didn't like it. Never mind the fact that Levi had every right not to like board games, but the Rangers clearly enjoyed his favorite activity as well whilst Levi didn't like playing board games, hence why they joined him with his singing whilst he (initially) didn't join them with the board games until Mick guilt-tripped him, so the moral doesn't work and ends up making Levi more sympathetic.
• Unintentionally Unsympathetic: Calvin, he usually comes off as this to some viewers due to his treatment towards Hayley during Super Ninja Steel.
  • His behavior in the episode "Doom Signal" is where this trope fits the most. We're supposed to feel sorry for Calvin after Hayley scolded him for his Brutal Honesty towards her performance and whilst Hayley may not have been completely innocent in this situation herself since she did ask for his honest opinion, it was ultimately Calvin's fault for showing up late, forgetting to bring in the props (resulting in her audition being unimpressive) and brushing off her feelings entirely which caused them to break up. However, the episode suggests that we're meant to side with Calvin (over Hayley) when Sarah informs Hayley that she's the one who needed to apologize to Calvin after she rightfully scolded him for coming off as uncaring, telling her that she overreacted with Calvin's honesty but hardly acknowledging Hayley's side of the story.
• The Woobie:
  • Brody. Imagine, you're about eight years old. One day a McGuffin falls from the sky. A warlord comes for it. Your dad shatters it and appears to be vaporized. Before you can even finish your Big "NO!", you're being dragged onto the warlord's ship; he takes you away from your family and everything you have ever known. Your whole childhood is spent as slave labor on his ship, untold thousands of light years away from anything you've ever known.
    • The second episode makes this worse: he frantically searches his childhood home for his brother but there's no trace of him and looks to be on the verge of tears once this knowledge starts to sink in.
    • Poisonous Plots and Family Fusion. Hooo boy.... You learn that your brother has returned after all these years, only to soon find out that he's really a robot made by the bad guys to steal the very same thing your father tried to protect. But thankfully, destroying the robot and singing the song your father wrote long ago helps reveal that the cowboy/samurai you befriended is your real brother all along.
  • Mick was sold onto Galvanax's ship as a slave with Brody and hasn't seen his family in years. When he does, it's a video call and he has to tell them he can't see them in person because he has to help on Earth.
• What the Hell, Costuming Department?: While not major, Trent's suit in "Dimensions in Danger" has been called out for having a white neck instead of black. Humurously enough, the staff of Super Sentai didn't seem to notice this as the error persisted into a future Sentai season.

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