Shattered Grid Annual #1
Jul. 5th, 2018 11:02 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
akinoameSo I got the Power Rangers 2018 Annual #1 this week, thinking I was actually getting the one with Karone. But this had RPM and PRiS in it, so okay. Didn't mind. Read it.
Had some issues.
So, honestly, I don't have too many issues with the comic as a whole, but I think I have a flashpoint when it comes to PRiS, specifically Andros and TJ.
I've said before that PRiS fails to address a huge elephant in the room--the fact that TJ was the Rangers' leader before Andros. That Andros reluctantly takes on a team that he knows failed. He's heard the rumors on Cimmeria. He heard Divatox boasting about how she "destroyed" them. And, well, there's this dude in red very obviously leading the group of Earthlings who call themselves Power Rangers, so...yeah. Given Andros's general attitude in the first two episodes, it's easy to guess what he was thinking about TJ. This was him, the Red Ranger who led his team to failure. The guy who lost Zordon.
And I guess it's probably for the best, in terms of teambuilding, that these issues are never addressed. But the team settles into a weird routine in the early episodes. Carlos is named the Black Ranger, transferring over from Green, so by default, he becomes second-in-command. Sort of. See, in the Sentai footage, it's obvious that the Black Ranger was the next in command. But in Power Rangers, TJ is always the one who takes the lead...and partially because Andros still seems reluctant to. Andros is not used to dealing with people. He's lost everyone he cares about--his sister was kidnapped, his best friend is in a coma, his people are scattered throughout the universe, and he never finds out what happened to the rest of his family. Quite honestly, summarizing a series review that I may never finish, Andros is afraid of letting anyone else into his life, because he's lost so much. TJ, on the other hand, left his hometown to move to Angel Grove, and left his home planet and his family and one of his friends behind in order to pursue Zordon. TJ had a choice in the matter. Andros never did.
And that brings me to Shattered Grid. I appreciate the attempt at addressing that elephant in the room. But somewhere in it, I feel like Andros and TJ's personalities were reversed. And this despite my favorite TJ moment honestly being the Karone arc, where Andros brings Astronema onto the Megaship without consulting anyone first, and TJ makes it very clear that he doesn't trust Andros's judgment, he doesn't trust her, and he takes the lead throughout two episodes. In that moment, TJ is exactly the leader the Rangers need--he understands where Andros is coming from, his emotions and what he needs, but he cannot trust him to make a sound judgment where his sister is involved. That it's one thing for Andros to try to reason with her, and he will absolutely support him on that. But going so far as to trust her is more than he's willing to support.
TJ knows when to step up and when to step back. And I think that's why he never really clashed with Andros--he's got a better sense of that than most Red Rangers, and Andros himself really doesn't want to be the leader and have responsibility over people. It's why Andros continues to do things alone. And when Andros continues to do things alone, he definitely misses out on his self-care. The first time we see the simudeck, Andros puts a training program into it. But then the others start programming games and Earth-like surroundings. Andros learns how to play pool. How to play basketball and coordinate with TJ. It's stuff that he learns to like. And TJ, being a much more emotionally mature human than Andros, he acknowledges their need for normality and breaking up the stress of living on a spaceship, searching for a lost sage. And Andros seems to realize that too. Neither of them complain about going down to Earth to walk around the mall or see a movie or entertain Carlos's young protege.
So it's weird seeing TJ blow up about a game of cards, when even Alpha and DECA need the relaxation to blow off steam. If it were early Andros, I could understand. Likewise, I'd believe the paranoia and determination to do everything on his own, particularly without a morpher, from Andros. Not from TJ.
And I think part of that comes down to personality and their experiences. Andros and TJ both suffered heavy losses as Rangers, but because of the way they experienced them, they handle things very differently. I'm still on the fence over whether or not Andros has PTSD, but it's clear how much his sister's kidnapping affected him at an early age. And then he lost Zhane in battle, in an attack so devastating that his home planet was abandoned. He doesn't like to go back. It's empty and silent. The only times he's gone, he's had to--because he thought Karone was there, because he and TJ had to raid the medical supplies, because Astronema actually was there. TJ, on the other hand, is always going back to his home planet, and always sees people around. Sure, the Power Chamber was raided and destroyed, with him and his teammates inside. But he didn't suffer the kind of loss that Andros did when KO-35 was invaded. Nobody on his team died. The only person who left, left by choice, and they knew it was a difficult decision on his part and TJ and the others absolutely supported him. And then we go into "Shell Shocked," the infamous episode where the Ninja Turtles appear, are brainwashed, and take control of the Megaship. Andros is suspicious from the start because once again, strangers are in his home, and he will always have that fear that someone will take his home away from him again--whether they call themselves Power Rangers, Ninja Turtles, or whatever. TJ's judgment on this is wrong. He learns his lesson and moves on. So when Astronema comes onto the ship, with Andros's blessing, TJ is suspicious purely because of experience--she has tried to hijack and destroy their ship multiple times. He can believe she is Andros's sister, but he has no reason to believe she would change sides that quickly or easily. He keeps her at a distance and outright tells Andros when he thinks this is a stupid idea. And Andros, in turn, struggles with that doubt--not TJ's doubt in him, but his own good reasoning versus his desperate need to get back something that he had lost.
So, yeah. I won't lie, there are other things that make it really hard to get as excited about Shattered Grid as everyone else--I'm not a huge Tommy fan, even if I like the idea of Lord Drakkon, I just don't have the emotional connection to him that makes him work. I don't get the writers' hatred for all Alphas. I really, really don't like the whole "[insert children's show here] needs to grow some fangs!" that goes in and out of vogue every few years, even if I enjoy some re-imaginings (for example, it's the characters that sell me on Kamen Rider Amazons, but I'm not a big fan of all the gore and dark 'n gritty). And despite everything, I can't help but always feel like these are attempts to make fanfics like "Personality Conflicts" canon--sure, I liked the PC-verse back in the day, but now my tastes have changed and I really can't get into it the way I used to.
Do I regret spending $8 on this comic? That's...complicated. Mostly because I can buy a volume of manga for $10 that has more pages and more fully realized stories, whereas this is a slim volume and I really feel like the money is just going toward color--but that's a whole 'nother issue. But for what it's worth, I enjoyed the Zeo one, despite my usual indifference to Tommy. I enjoyed SPD for the most part, loved the Dr. K focus in RPM, and I even really liked the work at trying to flesh out Brody in Ninja Steel, despite me really having no interest in continuing that series. But I definitely ran into the same problem with PRiS that I ran into reviewing it--it is not a good series to pick apart. It's a very delicately woven fabric--as soon as you pick at the threads holding it together, the entire thing unravels, and you realize it's not as good as you always regarded it. And while I appreciate the attempts at fixing that, they rewove the threads into something that doesn't look like the original. TJ should never, ever be acting without his team. His first concern should be for them. Andros shouldn't give a damn whether or not TJ or the others follow orders, if only because he always acts on his own anyway.
It should be Andros, not TJ, who is sucked out of the airlock. It should be TJ, not Andros, staying on board with his team, fighting to the bitter end.
Andros is a survivor. TJ is a leader. That is who they are.
Had some issues.
So, honestly, I don't have too many issues with the comic as a whole, but I think I have a flashpoint when it comes to PRiS, specifically Andros and TJ.
I've said before that PRiS fails to address a huge elephant in the room--the fact that TJ was the Rangers' leader before Andros. That Andros reluctantly takes on a team that he knows failed. He's heard the rumors on Cimmeria. He heard Divatox boasting about how she "destroyed" them. And, well, there's this dude in red very obviously leading the group of Earthlings who call themselves Power Rangers, so...yeah. Given Andros's general attitude in the first two episodes, it's easy to guess what he was thinking about TJ. This was him, the Red Ranger who led his team to failure. The guy who lost Zordon.
And I guess it's probably for the best, in terms of teambuilding, that these issues are never addressed. But the team settles into a weird routine in the early episodes. Carlos is named the Black Ranger, transferring over from Green, so by default, he becomes second-in-command. Sort of. See, in the Sentai footage, it's obvious that the Black Ranger was the next in command. But in Power Rangers, TJ is always the one who takes the lead...and partially because Andros still seems reluctant to. Andros is not used to dealing with people. He's lost everyone he cares about--his sister was kidnapped, his best friend is in a coma, his people are scattered throughout the universe, and he never finds out what happened to the rest of his family. Quite honestly, summarizing a series review that I may never finish, Andros is afraid of letting anyone else into his life, because he's lost so much. TJ, on the other hand, left his hometown to move to Angel Grove, and left his home planet and his family and one of his friends behind in order to pursue Zordon. TJ had a choice in the matter. Andros never did.
And that brings me to Shattered Grid. I appreciate the attempt at addressing that elephant in the room. But somewhere in it, I feel like Andros and TJ's personalities were reversed. And this despite my favorite TJ moment honestly being the Karone arc, where Andros brings Astronema onto the Megaship without consulting anyone first, and TJ makes it very clear that he doesn't trust Andros's judgment, he doesn't trust her, and he takes the lead throughout two episodes. In that moment, TJ is exactly the leader the Rangers need--he understands where Andros is coming from, his emotions and what he needs, but he cannot trust him to make a sound judgment where his sister is involved. That it's one thing for Andros to try to reason with her, and he will absolutely support him on that. But going so far as to trust her is more than he's willing to support.
TJ knows when to step up and when to step back. And I think that's why he never really clashed with Andros--he's got a better sense of that than most Red Rangers, and Andros himself really doesn't want to be the leader and have responsibility over people. It's why Andros continues to do things alone. And when Andros continues to do things alone, he definitely misses out on his self-care. The first time we see the simudeck, Andros puts a training program into it. But then the others start programming games and Earth-like surroundings. Andros learns how to play pool. How to play basketball and coordinate with TJ. It's stuff that he learns to like. And TJ, being a much more emotionally mature human than Andros, he acknowledges their need for normality and breaking up the stress of living on a spaceship, searching for a lost sage. And Andros seems to realize that too. Neither of them complain about going down to Earth to walk around the mall or see a movie or entertain Carlos's young protege.
So it's weird seeing TJ blow up about a game of cards, when even Alpha and DECA need the relaxation to blow off steam. If it were early Andros, I could understand. Likewise, I'd believe the paranoia and determination to do everything on his own, particularly without a morpher, from Andros. Not from TJ.
And I think part of that comes down to personality and their experiences. Andros and TJ both suffered heavy losses as Rangers, but because of the way they experienced them, they handle things very differently. I'm still on the fence over whether or not Andros has PTSD, but it's clear how much his sister's kidnapping affected him at an early age. And then he lost Zhane in battle, in an attack so devastating that his home planet was abandoned. He doesn't like to go back. It's empty and silent. The only times he's gone, he's had to--because he thought Karone was there, because he and TJ had to raid the medical supplies, because Astronema actually was there. TJ, on the other hand, is always going back to his home planet, and always sees people around. Sure, the Power Chamber was raided and destroyed, with him and his teammates inside. But he didn't suffer the kind of loss that Andros did when KO-35 was invaded. Nobody on his team died. The only person who left, left by choice, and they knew it was a difficult decision on his part and TJ and the others absolutely supported him. And then we go into "Shell Shocked," the infamous episode where the Ninja Turtles appear, are brainwashed, and take control of the Megaship. Andros is suspicious from the start because once again, strangers are in his home, and he will always have that fear that someone will take his home away from him again--whether they call themselves Power Rangers, Ninja Turtles, or whatever. TJ's judgment on this is wrong. He learns his lesson and moves on. So when Astronema comes onto the ship, with Andros's blessing, TJ is suspicious purely because of experience--she has tried to hijack and destroy their ship multiple times. He can believe she is Andros's sister, but he has no reason to believe she would change sides that quickly or easily. He keeps her at a distance and outright tells Andros when he thinks this is a stupid idea. And Andros, in turn, struggles with that doubt--not TJ's doubt in him, but his own good reasoning versus his desperate need to get back something that he had lost.
So, yeah. I won't lie, there are other things that make it really hard to get as excited about Shattered Grid as everyone else--I'm not a huge Tommy fan, even if I like the idea of Lord Drakkon, I just don't have the emotional connection to him that makes him work. I don't get the writers' hatred for all Alphas. I really, really don't like the whole "[insert children's show here] needs to grow some fangs!" that goes in and out of vogue every few years, even if I enjoy some re-imaginings (for example, it's the characters that sell me on Kamen Rider Amazons, but I'm not a big fan of all the gore and dark 'n gritty). And despite everything, I can't help but always feel like these are attempts to make fanfics like "Personality Conflicts" canon--sure, I liked the PC-verse back in the day, but now my tastes have changed and I really can't get into it the way I used to.
Do I regret spending $8 on this comic? That's...complicated. Mostly because I can buy a volume of manga for $10 that has more pages and more fully realized stories, whereas this is a slim volume and I really feel like the money is just going toward color--but that's a whole 'nother issue. But for what it's worth, I enjoyed the Zeo one, despite my usual indifference to Tommy. I enjoyed SPD for the most part, loved the Dr. K focus in RPM, and I even really liked the work at trying to flesh out Brody in Ninja Steel, despite me really having no interest in continuing that series. But I definitely ran into the same problem with PRiS that I ran into reviewing it--it is not a good series to pick apart. It's a very delicately woven fabric--as soon as you pick at the threads holding it together, the entire thing unravels, and you realize it's not as good as you always regarded it. And while I appreciate the attempts at fixing that, they rewove the threads into something that doesn't look like the original. TJ should never, ever be acting without his team. His first concern should be for them. Andros shouldn't give a damn whether or not TJ or the others follow orders, if only because he always acts on his own anyway.
It should be Andros, not TJ, who is sucked out of the airlock. It should be TJ, not Andros, staying on board with his team, fighting to the bitter end.
Andros is a survivor. TJ is a leader. That is who they are.