[DreamSword]

Power Rangers Volume 2

Surprisingly enough, this volume ended as some of the better stuff in terms of recent volumes, though not without some caveats.

When read under the lens of "rules sometimes need to be broken" it just comes across as more pretentious than anything, much like how the ongoing plot regarding Zordon's' rules does in Mighty Morphin'.

When viewed with the lesson of "there's good and bad in everything" though, it actually ends up alot better, and having Ecliptor show up to be the symbol of that, with it reinforced with the alien race that the Rangers have to deal with in the latter half of the volume punctuates it rather well.

"Just because you're correct it doesn't mean you're right."

That was a meme phrase that circulated my circles of the internet a few years back, and on its face, yeah, it is a funny, nonsensical statement. But when put under the lens of morality, there's some credence to it. Drakkon was right in that the empire the Omegas were out to save would want to kill them, but what he didn't take into account was that not everyone of that race was vile.

Keeping in mind the rights, thoughts, and feelings of the individual can be tough, especially when you hear so often of all the bad a group of people under a common banner do or have done. But it's because it can be hard that we need to remind ourselves that everyone has their own motivations, thoughts, and ideas. Some people only do things for a paycheck, others are forced, and not everyone will agree with what their rulers say or think.

The Empyreals are short sighted in this sense as well; Wiping out entire civilizations based upon their own objective morality. And while the Omega Rangers might be doing things that are frowned upon by others, they have their belief that everyone deserves a chance to live and improve themselves, and that, you know, genocide is bad. Thus they continue to fight for it, even if it doesn't exactly feel good sometimes. And taking what one considers the high road is often difficult when put against things that are seen as easier or practical.

While that might all sound like very high praise from me, the biggest thing keeping me from fully enjoying this chunk of story is actually the character interactions. When it comes to Drakkon especially I feel like alot of them are poorly handled. Drakkon is meant to be seen as a sort of corrupting influence, but yet we never really see him digging into anyone all too much. There was a bit with Trini wherein she shut him down immediately, and both Zack and Jason are just sort of coming around to him... because they are. For Jason especially it just comes across as out of character.

Overall this volume isn't bad, but it could've been so much better, and that's a shame.