Not mine, someone else's.
See, I've been a fan of Power Rangers since it started, literally. I was only three years old at the time, but that certainly didn't stop me from falling in love with it. I was not an outlier, by any means, since it seems like most boys (and girls) of that age were just as into it as I was. Power Rangers was everywhere, and on everything.
Dude, I had a Power Rangers-themed pretend shaving kit. That is not a joke. Don't believe me?
Well, I found one on eBay, sucka!
Clarification: The child pictured is not me, though I did have that haircut. We all did.
So you might say I was really into Power Rangers. A mental health professional might say I was "dangerously obsessed," but Dr. Renfroe doesn't even read my blog, so his opinion doesn't matter.
Anyway, not a whole lot has changed since those days, except for the quality of licensed goods available. Case in point: Power Rangers - Heroes of the Grid.
(Image property of Renegade Game Studios)
This is a new Power Rangers-themed board game currently being funded through Kickstarter. Well, I say "being funded," but it actually hit its funding goal in less than 8 hours and now we're just crushing stretch goals left and right.
The game is being produced by Renegade Game Studios, and it looks pretty sweet. It's a co-op game for 2-5 players (2-6 if you have enough rangers), each player taking on the role of a ranger protecting the city of Angel Grove from the forces of evil. If you're interested you can lean all the details from the Kickstarter page linked above, but for now I'll just give you my thoughts on it so far.
Let me first say that I am not involved with Renegade or the creation of the game in an official capacity. I'm backing the game (preferably at the top-tier "Morphin Master" level, but I might have to drop down to the "Go Go Power Rangers" level since things are kinda tight at the moment), and I've posted a few comments on the Kickstarter page. But outside of those things, I have no role in the game's production, and I'm not receiving any sort of kickback or payment for writing this post. I just want to tell you about something that I'm really excited about.
So with that out of the way, I'll just quickly go over my observations.
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The Wanna-Be Ranger is back!
(Image property of Renegade Game Studios)
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First off, everything looks gorgeous. Great artwork abounds, a good portion of it by Dan Mora, who does a lot of artwork for the Power Rangers comics by Boom! Studios. His stuff is fantastic, and getting him involved was not only a big win, it was practically required.
Beyond the 2D artwork, I love the miniatures. They're big and detailed, and from what I've seen they look to be of pretty high quality. I love that each ranger is molded in the proper color plastic, and I can't even tell you how excited I was when they added Primator as a monster for one of the stretch goals. He was my favorite monster as a kid, and I honestly never would have expected to see him in any third-party stuff.
From what I've seen of the gameplay, I have to say it looks pretty fun. I was really afraid it would would be a case of style over substance, but I'm happy to say that doesn't seem to be the case. The whole "cards as health" mechanic is really interesting, and there's just a cool "simple but challenging" feel I get from the whole thing. There really seems to be a feeling of being on the backfoot when the game starts but slowly fighting back and building up your powerbase until you can turn things around and take the momentum for yourself. It almost reminds me of my favorite tabletop game, Sentinels of the Mulitverse, and it really seems to fit that Power Rangers feeling.
Add to that the sheer amount of stuff that comes with it, as long as you're pledged to one of the higher tiers. Two Kickstarter-exclusive expansions (I'll come back to that), tons and tons of miniatures, and even a non-exclusive expansion based around the Boom! Comics Shattered Grid storyline, which features Lord Drakkon (the villain of that storyline), not to mention all of the main characters from the Power Rangers HyperForce live play RPG series. That is amazing, especially since the blue ranger from that series is portrayed by Andre from Black Nerd Comedy.
Think about that for a second: I'll get to play one of my favorite YouTubers (and I will be playing as him, you can bet your bottom dollar) as a Power Ranger in an official Power Rangers board game. Like, where do we even go from here?
I do, of course, have some qualms and concerns. Chief among those involves some of the Kickstarter exclusives. I understand having exclusives as a nice little incentive for people to back the project rather than just let it go by. I'm totally on board with that, and whether or not I stick with the top tier, I will be getting all the Kickstarter exclusives. But there is one problem. The Green Ranger.
Tommy, the Green Ranger, as a playable character is currently listed as a Kickstarter-exclusive reward for the project hitting the stretch goal of $315,000 USD, which it will most likely hit in just a few hours. I don't have a problem with him being a stretch goal, but I do have a problem with him being a Kickstarter exclusive.
The thing is that Tommy (as the Green Ranger) is intrinsic to actually capturing the essence of the original Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. You could potentially make the same argument for the villainous Lord Zedd as well as Tommy's later form as the White Ranger, but they weren't added to the show until the second season. The Green Ranger, on the other hand, is a fan-favorite character added to the show during a fan-favorite story arc in the first season.
To put it in other terms, imagine an X-Men game without Wolverine, or a DC Comics game without Batman, or a Godzilla game without King Ghidorah. None of these characters are my favorites, but those games would feel incomplete without them, and a MMPR board game without the Green Ranger would be, in my humble opinion, just that: incomplete.
Again, to clarify, I am getting these exclusives. I will have the Green Ranger, and therefore, a complete experience, so I'm not just whining to get what I want. I'm actually thinking about this from the point of view of the game's longevity. If I weren't involved in this Kickstarter, if I didn't know anything about it, and a year from now when the game is out (hopefully), I saw it in my FLGS (shout out to GameKnight Games in Winnipeg), I would get very excited. I'd start looking into it and ultimately find out that it's now impossible to ever get the Green Ranger for the game. Armed with this knowledge, it is extremely likely that I would not buy the game. And I can't be the only person who would have that reaction. It just seems like a decision that's going to hurt the game in the long run.
Still, Renegade has taken steps to make the Kickstarter exclusives more easily available. When the campaign started, the minimum tier to get the stretch goal exclusives was $150, but they've since added a $90 option that includes all the exclusives, minus the Green with Evil and White Light expansions and the extra Rita Repulsa miniature. This makes what I consider to be the complete base set experience relatively cheap, and competitive with other games on the market that contain this much plastic. But part of me still hopes they'll ultimately decide to release the Green Ranger at retail as a separate character pack or the like.
But hey, maybe I'm making it out to be a bigger deal than it is. It's not enough to make me choose not to go for it out of principle or something like that. No no, I am fully on board for the game, and my favorite of the Mighty Morphin Rangers (Adam, the second Black Ranger) isn't even in the game! And, like I said, I'll be getting all the things, so at the end of the day I'm happy.
Despite my complaints, this is a project I'm very excited about, so much so that I decided to try to use whatever minuscule amount of influence I may have to try and get more eyes aimed in its direction. I'll even be adding the Kicktraq chart for it to the blog (at the bottom of the page)
If you are or have ever been a Power Rangers fan, here's the link again, definitely check it out. If you like what you see, back the game, watch the gameplay videos, like the updates, and join us in the comments section. You might just see me there.
Until next time!
Current interests:
Listening - Various
Playing - World of Warcraft
Reading - Power Rangers: Shattered Grid (Boom! Studios, 2018)
Watching - Five Deadly Venoms (1978)
From what I've seen of the gameplay, I have to say it looks pretty fun. I was really afraid it would would be a case of style over substance, but I'm happy to say that doesn't seem to be the case. The whole "cards as health" mechanic is really interesting, and there's just a cool "simple but challenging" feel I get from the whole thing. There really seems to be a feeling of being on the backfoot when the game starts but slowly fighting back and building up your powerbase until you can turn things around and take the momentum for yourself. It almost reminds me of my favorite tabletop game, Sentinels of the Mulitverse, and it really seems to fit that Power Rangers feeling.
Add to that the sheer amount of stuff that comes with it, as long as you're pledged to one of the higher tiers. Two Kickstarter-exclusive expansions (I'll come back to that), tons and tons of miniatures, and even a non-exclusive expansion based around the Boom! Comics Shattered Grid storyline, which features Lord Drakkon (the villain of that storyline), not to mention all of the main characters from the Power Rangers HyperForce live play RPG series. That is amazing, especially since the blue ranger from that series is portrayed by Andre from Black Nerd Comedy.
Think about that for a second: I'll get to play one of my favorite YouTubers (and I will be playing as him, you can bet your bottom dollar) as a Power Ranger in an official Power Rangers board game. Like, where do we even go from here?
I do, of course, have some qualms and concerns. Chief among those involves some of the Kickstarter exclusives. I understand having exclusives as a nice little incentive for people to back the project rather than just let it go by. I'm totally on board with that, and whether or not I stick with the top tier, I will be getting all the Kickstarter exclusives. But there is one problem. The Green Ranger.
Tommy, the Green Ranger, as a playable character is currently listed as a Kickstarter-exclusive reward for the project hitting the stretch goal of $315,000 USD, which it will most likely hit in just a few hours. I don't have a problem with him being a stretch goal, but I do have a problem with him being a Kickstarter exclusive.
The thing is that Tommy (as the Green Ranger) is intrinsic to actually capturing the essence of the original Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. You could potentially make the same argument for the villainous Lord Zedd as well as Tommy's later form as the White Ranger, but they weren't added to the show until the second season. The Green Ranger, on the other hand, is a fan-favorite character added to the show during a fan-favorite story arc in the first season.
To put it in other terms, imagine an X-Men game without Wolverine, or a DC Comics game without Batman, or a Godzilla game without King Ghidorah. None of these characters are my favorites, but those games would feel incomplete without them, and a MMPR board game without the Green Ranger would be, in my humble opinion, just that: incomplete.
Again, to clarify, I am getting these exclusives. I will have the Green Ranger, and therefore, a complete experience, so I'm not just whining to get what I want. I'm actually thinking about this from the point of view of the game's longevity. If I weren't involved in this Kickstarter, if I didn't know anything about it, and a year from now when the game is out (hopefully), I saw it in my FLGS (shout out to GameKnight Games in Winnipeg), I would get very excited. I'd start looking into it and ultimately find out that it's now impossible to ever get the Green Ranger for the game. Armed with this knowledge, it is extremely likely that I would not buy the game. And I can't be the only person who would have that reaction. It just seems like a decision that's going to hurt the game in the long run.
Still, Renegade has taken steps to make the Kickstarter exclusives more easily available. When the campaign started, the minimum tier to get the stretch goal exclusives was $150, but they've since added a $90 option that includes all the exclusives, minus the Green with Evil and White Light expansions and the extra Rita Repulsa miniature. This makes what I consider to be the complete base set experience relatively cheap, and competitive with other games on the market that contain this much plastic. But part of me still hopes they'll ultimately decide to release the Green Ranger at retail as a separate character pack or the like.
But hey, maybe I'm making it out to be a bigger deal than it is. It's not enough to make me choose not to go for it out of principle or something like that. No no, I am fully on board for the game, and my favorite of the Mighty Morphin Rangers (Adam, the second Black Ranger) isn't even in the game! And, like I said, I'll be getting all the things, so at the end of the day I'm happy.
Despite my complaints, this is a project I'm very excited about, so much so that I decided to try to use whatever minuscule amount of influence I may have to try and get more eyes aimed in its direction. I'll even be adding the Kicktraq chart for it to the blog (at the bottom of the page)
If you are or have ever been a Power Rangers fan, here's the link again, definitely check it out. If you like what you see, back the game, watch the gameplay videos, like the updates, and join us in the comments section. You might just see me there.
Until next time!
Current interests:
Listening - Various
Playing - World of Warcraft
Reading - Power Rangers: Shattered Grid (Boom! Studios, 2018)
Watching - Five Deadly Venoms (1978)
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| He's outie 5000! (Image property of Renegade Game Studios) |
