When Monzo and strangefour heard that my hands got cut up last week, they threw this guest strip together in a jiff. Little did the know that my hands are way too impatient to get back to work, and so I did not need this strip yesterday. I thought about throwing it into next week, but… well, with my new MWF schedule, cutting one of those out for a guest strip is kind of dickish, so I figgered I’d use it today. Why not?
They have given me a video to link for context. I will also require this video, because heck if I know what’s going on.
checked the link and that is an odd guy. funny, but odd
More like the guy is awesome!
The new theme: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUKQWZeJtC0
They are really playing up on the nostalgic factors of the original series, huh? The “new” song has maybe four new lyrics I think.
Sadly, Bulk’s Great Return To Yonder Screen was hampered by episode one of Power Rangers Samurai being episode three of Power Rangers Samurai.
Gnrf.
Yeah starting in the middle and not making the rangers likable didn’t help. Also there was only a middling quantity of Bulk.
wait, they only brought back bulk? then his power of awesome is lessened (growing up skull was my favorite character, though now i don’t know why)
So, it was like Teen Titans?
Yeah, that ticked all us ranger fans off.
I’m still mixed on Samurai. Shinkenger I like, but…dammit, I’m trying NOT to compare PR to it’s Sentai!
Reeeeeally took me a while to recognize the comic scene!
I recognized the comic scene immediately (from issue #80 in a 4 issue limited series), but had to read the comments to find out who the heck Bulk was.
Rom the Spaceknight! You sir are awesome.
NO! Such a waste of pie!
Rangers Together! Samurai Forever!! Plus Bulk and Spike (the son of Skull and Kimberly)! And why’d they start with ep 3 anyways?!
“Spike (the son of Skull and Kimberly)”
Admit it, you’re just —-ing with me. No way anyone is dumb enough to write a plot device that stupid. Surely you’re joking.
Son of Spike.
Some fans demand Kimberly must be his mother, because a hack who used to write for Power Rangers tried to stick Skull marrying Kimberly into the 10th anniversary script (it was tossed out.)
It was also suggested that Jason and Kimberly were together, though this was back during the Turbo movie. That, too, was thrown out, though a lot of their scenes still suggest it.
Personally I like to think she fell off the pommel horse.
…
Lord am I screwed up.
Hahaha Bulk is jumping out of the AstroMegaship Mk. II! So that’s how he came back from the colony on Mirinoi!!
I approve this message.
Finally someone here who knows what they’re talking about.
‘course I do. I can even tell you the original Megaship was sacrificed to protect the colonists of Terra Venture when they fled from Trakeena’s final assault in space shuttles, somewhere in orbit around Mirinoi. And that the Astro Megaship Mk II was introduced in ‘Forever Red’, which was also the previous last time we saw Bulk, running some sort of bar & pool called ‘Bulkmeier’s’ where Tommy apparently liked to hang out. He was already back from Mirinoi back then.
High five!
Y’know, I’m not sure that works. The idea seemed to be that Andros, who was the one flying the Astro Megaship Mk. II, hadn’t come to Earth yet when he made that phone call, so Bulk COULDN’T have gotten a ride from him!
PRLG has the “Astro Galactic Megazord” (Megaship re-released in black and gold.)
http://www.collectiondx.com/toy_review/1999/deluxe_astro_galactic_megazord
Those are the Torrozord colors, so I like to think that the colonists rebuilt ‘er out of bits of the trashed MKI and Torrozord (both of which were, IIRC, blown up near Mirinoi.)
(Actually, PRLG has a red one with a new Space Ranger too…. http://www.grnrngr.com/toys/pictures/03122_2.jpg)
All of which is beside the point, since the wormholes around Mirinoi have been shown to be Suspiciously Obliging about opening on Earth as plot purposes demand.
Hmmm that’s a good point…
Yah, the best explanation is that Bulk followed the Lost Galaxy Rangers/or aliens, through a wormhole before Forever Red, during the Galaxy Ranger and Lightspeed Rescue teamup, and met back up with Skullevich and started their own Juice Bar like business.
This comment is the best thing ever. I’m not really into Power Rangers anymore (it lost its appeal when I got older) but damn I was obsessed with it when I was 5. I had EVERYTHING and I saw the premiere of Samurai just for the nostalgiac factor and it was AWESOME. So I still like Power Rangers in that way. I’ll still watch the old series, or I did when they were replaying it. Anyway, awesome comment! I love that all the series are tied together!
Yay, Bulk is back! Skull must appear in at least one episode. Also the new Rangers look like teenage douchebags. Then again, so did the original team. Hard to believe the major change in teenage douchebag looks…
He was also one of the 3d graphic artists who produced Image Comics’ series THE RED STAR…
It’s always nice to learn new things.
It’s like having a slice of my childhood back and better than ever! WOO!
… And then I remember they’re raping Shinkenger and I’m like, “Well… Shit.”
They’re not raping anything. Seriously, that is one of the most overused words in the English language and it’s almost always used in the wrong context (even in hyperbole).
They’re just doing the same thing they’ve always done with Power Rangers shows that play in America. And it’s done by the same company that makes the Japanese version. You can’t rape yourself.
The closest you can get is bitter masturbation.
Does the Pie Throwing mean that Ultra Car is an unlockable character in Mortal Kombat too? I would love to see the X-Ray effects in the new game from the pie hits fracture some ones skull.
The ’90s nostalgia wave must have finally hit, if Power Rangers is relying so heavily on it between the remixed theme and the return of a comic relief character from nearly 2 decades ago. It’s really strange though, when you consider how part of Power Rangers/Super Sentai’s schtick is its self-renewing nature.
At least 80s nostalgia is now officially over.
It’s so hard to believe 1994 was almost 20 years ago…I was 5 then…in my mind, 20 years ago is still the 80′s. I can’t consciously switch over for some reason.
OH, okay. This is some Power Rangers reference. That’s what I have no idea what the Hell is going on. Aside from the TF #80 reference, of course!
Yeah. It was actually kind of nice that the guys who are filling in took the initiative of referencing a bit of pop culture that isn’t normally on Willis’s radar.
I had to take a look at the video to catch the Bulk reference and I’m glad I looked. It was funny, but also makes me feel old, since this is a COLLEGE memory for me.
Jesus, Bulk looks like Robo_rob now.
While its cool to see Bulk again after all these years, I really don’t understand why he was brought into the new series. I mean, he’s a nostalgic factor for those of us who watched the showed 17 years ago. And yeah, they did that crappy “re-invision” of the original episodes, but I didn’t think Bulk was necessary as a tie-in for the series.
Also I wonder who Spike’s mom is. He’s supposed to be Skull’s son, but I once heard that production staff hinted that Kimberly might have married Skull, of all people.
Keep in mind, the remake crap was Disney. Shortly after that was started, Saban was VERY fast at buying Power Rangers back. Samurai is the first series produced by Saban since Time Force (Disney bought Power Rangers in the middle of Time Force. Technically, people say Wild Force (which followed Time Force) is a Saban one since it was in pre-production when the purchase happened, so Disney had to let it be made).
As for Spike’s mom, the Kimberly thing was something that was suggested but was never put into the Forever Red episode. The Turbo movie was suppose to suggest Jason/Kimberly as well.
However, it can’t be Kimberly either way. Based on how old Spike is (13 to 15, he looks way too old to be below 13), he had to have been BORN somewhere between Zeo and In Space.
ALOT of time has passed between the seasons. Enough for Tommy to have gone to college, became a Paleontologist AND a science teacher. That’s some 7+ years of school. PLUS there was a couple years before he became a teacher.
We don’t know for sure how many actual years have passed for them. But it’s apperantly enough for Skull to have a teenage son. Most of the original PR actors are in their 40′s now so it’s possible.
From what I remember of the series, they’ve always indicated that time moved in the show at the same pace as time moved in the real world. Even with shows like SPD, the year they spent as Rangers in the future was a year that the present didn’t have Rangers. And I remember that when a couple of series had crossovers with previous teams they always indicated that the events of the previous ranger team occurred the prior year.
And also the show has had points where they’ve shown calendars and newspaper, indicating the date being the present year in the real world, with the exception of the shows that take place in the future.
As for Tommy, the implication with that was that Tommy proved to be a closeted super-genius or something story-convenient like that which allowed him to graduate early. In truth, I think they were just hoping the fans wouldn’t do the obvious math.
Yea, but technically speaking they always tried to sync up the show to the actual year that show was shown in (So MMPR season 1 would be 1993, season 2 would be 1994, and so on). In fact, the end of In Space wasn’t suppose to be done In Space. They said that those events would happen in… what, 2000? 2001? But they occurred in 1998.
So if you follow this idea, it would mean that Samurai occurs in 2011.
As for Tommy, his time as a Power Ranger ended in 1997 while Dino Thunder began in 2004.
I’d wager he only went to college to become a paleontologist. That’d take 3-4 years (so 2000 to 2001 he was done and likely immediately after the opening events for Dino Thunder occur), in 2002 we have Forever Red, and then two years later is Dino Thunder. He might have done some learning to become a teacher, but probably for the most part he rode on his paleontology knowledge to pave an easy way.
Oh god, this is not what I expected to be doing today.
There’s a 4 (?) month gap between the end of Zeo and T:APRM. LOTS of shit supposedly happened there. Tommy and Zedd had their big showdown prophecied in Zeo Quest, Bulk and Skull quit the Detective Agency and went off with an Edenoite to solve a mystery “off the coast of France,” the Command Center got completely rebuilt, Scorpion Rain happened, etc.
Actually, Kim’s mom moved to France in season 3, and she was going to move there to join her after the Pan Global Games, so if Skull’s kid dates from their mission to France…
I kinda doubt that. Skull was a toady and wanna-be bully when he was a kid, but as an adult, he developed into being a really good guy as did Bulk. I highly doubt he would knock up Kimberly and then go off on assorted adventures with Bulk for several years, leaving Kim to raise the child by herself. And Bulk would have never allowed it either. He would have done the right thing and helped her with the kid, whether it be living in France or marrying Kim.
And considering this this is Power Rangers, that whole idea seem EXTREMELY unlikely. Saban and Disney would never advocate illegitimate children for the main characters like that on a kids show that only allowed characters to kiss in like 4 episodes and refused to utter the word “kill”.
And I don’t remember them ever saying that Kim would move to France after the games. They implied she might return to the Rangers in Angel Grove, but I don’t recall France ever being indicated in her future. She moved to Florida and then fell in a love with a guy there.
If I’m right, she moved back to Angel Grove, as did Jason, in Turbo: APRM. Well, Jason did anyway. Given the implied relationship between him and Kimberly, it seems likely it was intended she moved back too.
I just realized this is a homage to Optimus returning as an Actionmaster from issue 80 of the Marvel run! AWESOME!
I love that his sound effect is “Bllk.” XD
That very sound effect made me do a double table, because I immediately thought it says “Bulk.”
And I don’t know how I wrote table. I really don’t. I meant take. Double take.
Throughout this whole thing, I love how the Nanashi isn’t saying anything XD
Ha
also liked the way you drew Douokoku and Shitari
I like how you represented Optimus Prime’s comeback, jumping off the Last Autobot.
This is the one that got me interested in this comic and caused me to start reading EVERY SINGLE ONE of your strips David. I’m starting to wonder if you might be a fan of my Mighty Morphin Power Rangers (Re-Airing 2010) fan page
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Mighty-Morphin-Power-Rangers-Re-Airing-2010/191967431199
is it bad that im 19 and i watch this?
I’m going on 21 and have been watching Power Rangers since I was 2 or 3 years old. So no it’s not a bad thing.
RPM was god tier, then they gave the series back to Saban and he does what he always did. Stuck in the fucking 90s and ruining a good japanese show.
I’m gonna go hang myself…
Sorry, just an inside joke me and my brother make every time Bulk gets humiliated. He clearly just wanted to be friends with the rangers and had trouble expressing his emotions. Every time he tried to get close to them, he’d end up with food on his face and a room full of people laughing at him. I bet he wouldn’t be so overweight if it wasn’t for all the cakes he got pushed into.