Well, thanks for ruining my week with this awesome story. I had work to do! Sleep to sleep! House to clean! I couldn't do any of it because I had to keep reading. This was just incredible, top to bottom. Great plotting, characterization, arcs, pathos, the whole deal. And I'm always down for some Billy torture - he's my favorite and I love to watch him suffer. Great work, wonderful to read a completed story like this, and can't wait to see more in this universe. Love love love.

The first six seasons of Power Rangers are the best.

Things I learned watching Power Rangers.
1) It’s a TV show!

Hmmm

A great start!

Last chapter I was thinking if Kim or Zack were going to say something about not pulling an Abu, was glad that you mentioned Aladdin in this chapter.

I know this is a late review as I work my way up to your recent story, but I've got to say that out of all the rangers I feel Kim is going to be hurt the worst when the shit hits the fan.

Interesting chapter and plot idea

Awesome

I really loved reading your story! It was a lot of fun to read and very exciting. You are a brilliantly talented writer. Your writing has an excellent cinematic quality and I feel you write with great thought and understanding of each of the characters and their emotions. Although I am not very knowledgable of Power Rangers as I only remember a few episodes from when I was younger your excellent descriptions have made me want to revisit the show and learn more about the characters you have brought to life in your work. I really appreciate the great deal of time and effort you must have put in to this story. Great work!

Are you ready for some epic fangirling? Because that’s what’s about to happen here.

I just finished marathoning this entire story over the course of the past couple days. I haven’t been able to stop! It’s been a long time since I’ve been this enthralled with a work of fanfiction, and I loved every minute of it! What I really adored about this entire story is it is very solidly based on the events from the television show. All the major plot points in what happened are there, you didn’t try and take this is a crazy new direction or anything. You took what was already there and simply added more depth to it. I think that’s why this worked so beautifully! As someone who grew up when the show originally aired, this was exactly what I had been looking for in a fanfiction: the same storyline from the show just reworked to capture a more mature audience that wants to see more depth, risk, and consequences. Absolute perfection!

So much that I loved about this story, but I’ll just hit the highlights here or else this review will never end.

I really loved the backstory that you created for Tommy. I think it works exceptionally well, especially given the themes that you put into the story. I love that even before he’s chosen by Rita, he’s distinctly set apart from the original Rangers, having grown up very differently from them. I like that he’s not exactly a good guy, even when we first meet him. He’s a bit of a rebellious teenager with a complicated home life, but you still give us the sense that underneath all that he is in fact a good person. And the story about his parents was really unique and I think it fit in so well. It was unexpected, but the more I read about it the more it made sense with this version of Tommy. I like how it’s the mother with the crazy marital arts obsession, making the whole thing much less of a cliché.

I also love how you worked the spell that was put over Tommy. He wasn’t a mindless slave… that would have been too easy. He knew exactly what he was doing and was able to think independently… which is going to make the fallout from when he’s trying to be good again so much more complicated (which I can’t wait to really get into with the next part of this series by the way)! But more than that… it allowed you to really develop relationships between Tommy and Rita and her cronies. I think that might be what I was more fascinated about with this story. I like the mother/son complication between Tommy and Rita… but I adored how you had him create these meaningful connections with Goldar, Scorpina and Finster especially. And how that was what ultimately saved his life – how Finster cared enough about him to betray Rita in order to save him – and yet it will ultimate be what will make his life a living hell post-mind control, considering how Rita, Goldar and Scorpina feel so personally betrayed. That’s a whole new level to this storyline that I absolutely adore! Really elegantly done!

And I would be remiss if I only focused on Tommy in this review (though he is my favorite). But what you did with the other Rangers was fantastic as well! Giving them more depth and flaws… Billy struggling to feel on par with the rest of the fighters… Jason struggling with the weight of trying to lead this team while trying to balance a life outside of fighting monsters… Zack trying to keep up with Jason and often feels on the outs with his differing thought process… Trini, being quite intelligent herself but lacking the confidence to see it next to Billy… Kimberly trying to have a social life all the while trying to save the world. All these features fit in so well with what we already know about these characters!

And another one of my favorite things you did here was incorporate some real risk and consequences into this world. The Rangers don’t also shake off injuries by the end of a battle. Billy ends up in the hospital. Jason gets stabbed and almost bleeds out. Both Jason and Tommy’s injuries during their final battle (btw, I hope that comes up in the next installment when they’re trying to help Tommy get over his guilt. How Jason was so afraid that he had killed him in that final battle before they captured him. I just loved that moment and I think it would be a perfect point for them to relate to each other as they are both trying to heal). That’s what I’m really missing from rewatching the old kids show… in this story there is real risk in their battles. These are legit life and death situations that they have to deal with. And more than that, mentally trying to deal with the fact that they are finally finding out that they are not indestructible. That they really could die in one of these battles.

Okay, I’m going to wrap this up mostly because this is going to be about two pages in my word document as it is (suddenly wondering if there’s a max word count for reviews…) but one more point I’d like to make. I have to admit that as much as I loved this story as a whole, I was an eensy, teeny, wittle bit let down when they finally broke Tommy’s spell. I get what you were doing with his reaction upon realizing the spell was broken, and it’s not that it didn’t work within the story… just as a personal preference I was hoping for more drama there. Maybe a reaction from the other Rangers when he loses consciousness that final time, afraid that they had killed him by severing the tie he had been so desperately clinging to. Certainly more of a reaction from Tommy at feeling the weight of what he had done (you mentioned in your author’s note in the very first chapter having him get physically ill when the spell is broken… I was hoping for something along those lines when we finally got to that point). Again, the way you presented it with him basically going into shock was definitely a believable outcome… this is just a personal preference kind of observation.

Okay, I could go on forever about how much I loved this story, but I won’t bore you with more of my gushing, haha. I was so happy to find this story, I’ve been reading the new comic books which I’ve been very much enjoying, but as I have to wait a whole month between installments I went looking for something to fill the void between issues, haha. Again, WONDERFUL job with this and I am off to jump into the next story in the series!

EFFING EPICC. I FEEL. THE. HYPE.
*internally screams in excitement* what a wonderful chapter. action packed and with lots of heart. the struggle was real, this battle was a tough one for everyone. ah my heart went out to kaplan and bulk and ah just everyone, even to finster too. but oh no the conflict isn't over yet (HYPEE).

This is brilliantly written. The final scene reminds me of a quote from Yes, Minister - "You have to get behind someone before you can stab them in the back."

Fantastic chapter and fanfiction.

Wonderfully written. :)