With This Ring (Young Justice SI) (Thread Fourteen)

[Mr Zoat]

For the purposes of this portion of the story, do things retconned in or established as events prior to the first season from later seasons generally apply? E.g. historic teams, character and mcguffin backstories etc? I'd have assumed yes, but the last five years or so have expanded and patched over cracks in quite a lot of the PR multiverse.

Click to shrink...

I only really watched early Power Rangers, so I probably don't know about the rest. It won't be relevant anyway.

 

[Vaermina]

I only really watched early Power Rangers, so I probably don't know about the rest. It won't be relevant anyway.

Click to shrink...

You have the two groups about to fight, I think that would make the bits of the setting that tell us character strength and abilities rather relevant.

 

[LazySloth13]

If the link to the reboot universe means anything then this version of the rangers are a darker take to the more kid friendly television show, which might translate to being more open to the use of violence to deal with the latest monster unleashed by Rita, and Paul trying to deescalate until he gets frustrated and overpowers them or cuts off their connection to the morphing grid. If it's not then there's likely some minor friction from the more light hearted rangers and the more grounded Paul with plenty of funny interactions of him trying to explain himself and the situation.

Other than that maybe Paul winds up skipping to various Power Ranger settings, fighting the local team, once he manages to figure out how to stop it he forms his own team of rangers with each member representing an aspect of the emotional light spectrum. Each lantern ranger gets a zord based on their Emotional Entity and combine to form a White Light Megazord, likely to be used to fight whatever force is transporting him.

 

[Caligstro]

If the link to the reboot universe means anything then this version of the rangers are a darker take to the more kid friendly television show, which might translate to being more open to the use of violence to deal with the latest monster unleashed by Rita, and Paul trying to deescalate until he gets frustrated and overpowers them or cuts off their connection to the morphing grid. If it's not then there's likely some minor friction from the more light hearted rangers and the more grounded Paul with plenty of funny interactions of him trying to explain himself and the situation.

Other than that maybe Paul winds up skipping to various Power Ranger settings, fighting the local team, once he manages to figure out how to stop it he forms his own team of rangers with each member representing an aspect of the emotional light spectrum. Each lantern ranger gets a zord based on their Emotional Entity and combine to form a White Light Megazord, likely to be used to fight whatever force is transporting him.

Click to shrink...

I love it, but I also kinda hope you didn't just predict everything

 

[ForeverShogo]

They'll likely still be lighthearted. At least for now.

If it's the bootleg universe, then things follow the canon up until the events of Power Rangers Zeo (Season 4). With the point of divergence being that the Rangers lost to the Machine Empire, which went on to force Earth's surrender.

Zoat said that this is taking place before Tommy showed up, which was Episode 17 of Season 1.

And just for fun . . . Season 1 was 60 episodes, Season 2 was 52 episodes, Season 3 was 33 episodes, then there was a 10 episode mini-series with the Aqua Rangers, and then you got to Season 4 with 50 episodes.

Timeline wise . . . Each season apparently took place over a single year. Season 1 happened in 1993. The fight against the Machine Empire happened in 1996.

So a pretty decent chunk of material/time before the timeline gets to whatever it is that caused the Machine Empire to win. Hopefully butterflies prevent that.

 

[Mr Zoat]

I don't think I'm
in Kansas anymore

Pink slows, putting an arrow on her bow from.. somewhere, and loosing it at me. I flicker aside and the arrow misses, striking a car behind me and-.

BOOM!

A wave of force passes over me as the car explodes, pieces of metal and plastic raining down around me. A few hit my construct armour but they're hardly a threat. Another arrow and I dodge again, this one gouging a chunk out of the road.

I'm being attacked by Power Rangers. Now, as far as I remember that wasn't a program with a great deal of moral nuance. Zordon picked his teenagers with attitude, gave them their power coins and zords and had them fight Rita Repulsa, the least efficient alien invader ever. Each week, a new clay monster brought to life. Each week, a new chunk of… Angel Grove, flattened under the giant monster versus zord battle. No wider comment on why the world wasn't having a total freak out or why the military didn't nuke Angel Grove. Or why Rita didn't invade literally anywhere else with her teleporters. And.. okay, that was because all the actual fight footage came from a Japanese series with… Well, I never watched it but it probably had a completely different story.

But Rita wasn't attacking with any sort of political goal in mind beyond 'conquest = good'. There was no difference of opinion that could be resolved by dialogue. No discussion about the morals of killing or the use of child soldiers. Not much of one about the state of the rest of the universe where people could and did just openly declare for Team Evil. I mean-

The Red Ranger leaps at me and I sidestep around his attack, his sword cutting a slice through the tarmac as he recovers and move into a guard position.

-how was Rita's base-.

Blue Ranger. Billy, I remember him. He keeps back a little, spear held in both hands as he repeatedly stabs and retreats, trying to hold my atten-

I fly upwards five metres, causing… Zack? The Black Ranger, to miss his axe swing. I happen to know that his axe can be transformed into a large energy gun which would be far more of a threat to me.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I fear there's been-"

Another arrow, and this time I use a construct shield to block it. Failing to embed, it skitters off to my left before falling to the ground and blasting apart a stretch of pavement.

"-a misunderstanding."

I hold up my hands in what I hope they understand is a gesture indicating that I don't want to fight.

"I don't work for Rita and I'd really appreciate it if you'd stop attacking me." I smile, dismissing my construct armour in favour of a slightly thickened environmental shield. "Please?"

The Rangers take a moment to redress their line, staring up at me. Red Ranger points up at me with his left hand, sword still in his right.

"If you're not with Rita, why were you hanging out with Baboo and Squatt?!"

"That was simply where I appeared on this Earth. I didn't recognise the two of them and since they were just talking to me I didn't have any reason to attack them."

"Wait." Billy-. William? Jerks in surprise. Are they being unusually physically expressive because they can't see one another's faces? "You're Orange Lantern!"

Black Ranger turns his head towards Blue. "You know this guy?"

I nod, lowering myself to two metres up. Let them see my decidedly non-monster face a little easier. "An Orange Lantern, yes. Does this parallel have a version of my Corps, or are you stuck with Larfleeze?" No immediate response. "Someone else?"

"No, he's a.. comic book character." He glances at his team and then returns his attention to me. "Like… Superman or Batman."

"Yes, that happens between parallel universes sometimes." Though this is the first time I've been on the receiving end of it. I wonder if my adventures on Earth 16 made it into Earth Prime comics? "Look, I'd really appreciate it if you could point me in the direction of anyone with the sort of exotic detection equipment-"

Yellow Ranger… No, her name's gone too. She walks over to where I was talking to 'Baboo' and 'Squatt' and picks something up.

"-I could use to detect what technique they used to bring me here so I can go back-."

"Ah, guys?" Yellow Ranger walks back to her fellows with a.. comic in her hands. "I think-"

She turns the book around, showing white spaces where parts of the illustration used to be. It's next to Kaldur…

In a room, surrounded by exotic equipment…

"-he's literally a comic book character."

I land, walk over and take a closer look. The illustrations are simplified compared to how they really looked, but… Yes, that's Mount Justice.

Okay.

Okay.

There probably are magic rituals which used fictional focuses to summon best-matches from parallel universes. That wouldn't work on Earth Prime, because the shaped magic field doesn't extend much beyond the planet, but there's no reason why parallel universes wouldn't work differently.

The alternative-.

"Um. Are you okay?"

The alternative is that those moronic Saturday morning television villains just used.. something to bring to life a comic character, and that's me. And that spell would have needed to recreate their -my- entire memory from a comic which would only hold a tiny portion of their story. That… Sounds ridiculous, but… Parallel universe magic system. I can't.. be sure that it couldn't work.

"Oh dear."

Breathe in. Breath out.

"No.. I.. don't believe that I am." I notice with some relief that they've mostly lowered their weapons. "The… The blue one. He had a bottle, he said that something wasn't his fault. If there was a potion in that bottle, that might be what caused… Me."

I send orange filaments across the street to where I appeared and… Yes, the fragments of the bottle. I reassemble it, careful not to remove the tiny amount of chemical residue.

"Do you know anyone who could analyse this?"

William nods. "I could."

"You can analyse magic potions?"

"No, but I can analyse the chemical composition."

"Whether it brought me here from a parallel universe or created me from a comic, I doubt that this is a matter of conventional chemistry. And frankly, my ring outperforms a-"

Ring, year?

Nineteen ninety five.

"-nineteen ninety five mass spectrometry system."

"Ah. Yes, you're probably right. How about Zordon?"

Red Ranger's head jerks his way and I'm pretty sure that he's glaring at him under that helmet.

"And who might Zordon be?"

 

[Bigking321]

Huh...

That's a really interesting start.

He should really make a copy of that comic. And all the other comics he can find if they match the reality he came from.

 

[RichardWhereat]

They "blew your mind" telling you you're a comic character. Tell them they're a tv show.

 

[Signaller]

Ah, so we're working to Beetleborgs logic. Got it.

(Also, didn't John Constantine have experience with this sort of thing?)

 

[hance1986]

I'm reminded a bit of that JLU episode 'Legends' where the Justice League was transported to a parallel Earth that was a comic book cover for a nuked and ruined Earth.

 

[Ardy]

I did not see that one coming

 

[Bigking321]

They "blew your mind" telling you you're a comic character. Tell them they're a tv show.

Click to shrink...

I think it's more that he seems to be a literal comic book character brought to life. He's fine being in comic books in parallel dimensions.

But being extracted from a book with magic is probably a new one. All kind of existential stuff. Is he just a copy? And so on.

I don't expect him to be shocked for long with his mindset. Probably just shrug and carry on as normal.

 

[Cuchulin]

I wonder how closely the comics match up with what OL remembers?

 

[Someguy Somewhere]

Ah, so we're working to Beetleborgs logic. Got it.

(Also, didn't John Constantine have experience with this sort of thing?)

Click to shrink...

Damn....beat me to it.

For those that don't know, beetleborgs was another show in the same style of power rangers, in that it was imported japanese footage re-scripted and acted to cover the out of costume madness for western consumption.

Their excuse was 'some kids made a wish to be their comic book heroes....and neglected to think about the villains that came with it'

...

Well at least OL didn't end up in Super Human Samurai Syber Squad...pretty sure you could have taken out the villain in that with a couple fridge magnets, leaving him bored to tears.

 

[NameOrdane]

I wonder if Ambush Bug will find these comics to confirm that Paul isn't a self insert.

 

[Signaller]

They "blew your mind" telling you you're a comic character. Tell them they're a tv show.

Click to shrink...

Are they a show, from the perspective of YJ characters?

Also, is there an inverse of this page - https://powerrangers.fandom.com/wiki/List_of_references_to_Power_Rangers/Super_Sentai - showing references that PR characters/etc have made to other properties?

 

[Venustoise]

Well, at least they'll presumably know some of what OL's done and the context behind his more.. morally grey actions. Should stop some conflict anyways.

Hey Zoat, if Paul assimilates a monster from P/R, would it show up in the P/R's Orange Lantern comics in future issues?

No discussion about the morals of killing or the use of child soldiers.

Click to shrink...

Linkara would like a word with you about that last bit.

The Rangers take a moment to redress their line, staring my at me. Red Ranger points up at me with his left hand, sword still in his right.

Click to shrink...

Glad they remembered Zordon's rule about (de)escalation.

"Wait." Billy-. William? Jerk in surprise. Are they being unusually physically expressive because they can't see one another's faces? "You're Orange Lantern!"

Click to shrink...

... Well.. This is different...

"Ah, guys?" Yellow Ranger walks back to her fellows with a.. comic in her hands. "I think-"

Click to shrink...

Speech mark missing.

Ring, year?

Nineteen ninety five.

"-nineteen ninety five mass spectrometry system."

Click to shrink...

If this is pre-Tommy, shouldn't the year be 1993?

 

[Cuchulin]

Well, at least they'll presumably know some of what OL's done and the context behind his more.. morally grey actions. Should stop some conflict anyways.

Click to shrink...

Not to mention the fact that he is a lighter shade of grey and always at least tries to work for (his perception) of the greater good as well as his general attitude of "Don't want trouble? Don't start trouble".

 

[KaiKolo]

It is kind of appropriate that Paul gets to experiences what it feels to be the fictional character being brought to "the real world". It would be fun to see how the in-universe DC comics publication illustrates Paul's adventures as part of the Team.

 

[Vaermina]

I don't think I'm
in Kansas anymore

Click to shrink...

You know, I shouldn't be so disappointed that you felt the need to nerf the Power Rangers so much. But I am.

Mostly because you didn't actually need to. Paul would have still won without it. He would have just taken a couple knocks doing so. Which would have made a much more satisfying to read encounter.

 

[Lord Ernest]

Damn, that's a new one. The Illustres could rationalize being summoned to another universe, but possibly being an actual comic book character brought to life and copied from the real Orange Lantern? All kinds of questions and existential crisis involved.

Well, at least they'll presumably know some of what OL's done and the context behind his more.. morally grey actions. Should stop some conflict anyways.

Click to shrink...

Not to mention the fact that he is a lighter shade of grey and always at least tries to work for (his perception) of the greater good as well as his general attitude of "Don't want trouble? Don't start trouble".

Click to shrink...

Would they? I mean, know of what the Illustres has done? If those are Young Justice comics it may not show all of what the Illustres has gone through. There might be some mini-series or volumes of Orange Lantern with the stories of his space adventures. Some of those adventures may be in cross-over comics or special one shots, not to mention that the big events would be on mini-series of their own. Blue Ranger might not have read those.

And who knows how the events are depicted, or if the Illustres' changes in attitude and modus operandi are explained by different authors interpreting his character in different ways. That's some more questions added to the mind blow.

In fact, they might need to raid a comic book shop or something. I know I would.

 

[Vaermina]

I would also point out this is his own fault as he's the one that told Ambush Bug to go to the White Space and look for his books.

 

[RichardWhereat]

If I showed up after all that experience in 16, with my powers, in Power Rangers, as a comic book character..

I think I'd go have a word with my creator. And then share a joint with him. Because whoever it is who wrote my life, desperately needs a hug.

 

[B.B. Rain]

So, just to make sure I'm getting this right, Mr Zoat:

Orange Lantern isn't freaking out about the possibility of being/becoming a comic book character himself, or his life ending up considered a comic book like his friends.

He's also not freaking out about the possibility that the local villains used a comic book about him to kidnap him, and he now has to find a way home to his Young Justice variant.

Instead, he's upset about the possibility that rather than being the Orange Lantern from the universe said comic is based on, he might be a clone created based on the comic book based on his - Orange Lantern Paul's - life, thus having concerning implications about how much of the original OL's memories, personalities, and existence was copied, leaving him without the ability to return home to his family and friends, and possibly adding some additional vulnerabilities & potential time limitations to his - Comic-based Simulacrum OL - continued existence, forcing him to revisit his own mortality?

 

[BlueMangoAdea]

I wonder if he IS a copy that cannot go back, in which case he will presumably just live there forever?

 

[Chojin Patriarch]

I don't think I'm
in Kansas anymore

Pink slows, putting an arrow on her bow from.. somewhere, and loosing it at me. I flicker aside and the arrow misses, striking a car behind me and-.

BOOM!

A wave of force passes over me as the car explodes, pieces of metal and plastic raining down around me. A few hit my construct armour but they're hardly a threat. Another arrow and I dodge again, this one gouging a chunk out of the road.

Click to shrink...

Ah, yes. A world where just about anything explodes if struck with sufficient force. Gotta have the oddly empty model buildings go kaboom when your giant robots and monsters duke it out, after all.

Spoiler: Commentary spoilered for length

I'm being attacked by Power Rangers. Now, as far as I remember that wasn't a program with a great deal of moral nuance. Zordon picked his teenagers with attitude, gave them their power coins and zords and had them fight Rita Repulsa, the least efficient alien invader ever. Each week, a new clay monster brought to life. Each week, a new chunk of… Angel Grove, flattened under the giant monster versus zord battle. No wider comment on why the world wasn't having a total freak out or why the military didn't nuke Angel Grove. Or why Rita didn't invade literally anywhere else with her teleporters. And.. okay, that was because all the actual fight footage came from a Japanese series with… Well, I never watched it but it probably had a completely different story.

Click to shrink...

I blame the 'Morphing Grid' for that. Can't have an exciting 'monster of the week' show if the authorities keep butting their heads in.

But Rita wasn't attacking with any sort of political goal in mind beyond 'conquest = good'. There was no difference of opinion that could be resolved by dialogue. No discussion about the morals of killing or the use of child soldiers. Not much of one about the state of the rest of the universe where people could and did just openly declare for Team Evil. I mean-

Click to shrink...

On the other hand, Good had plenty of champions too. Not just Zordon and a bunch of other alien Ranger teams, either...

The Red Ranger leaps at me and I sidestep around his attack, his sword cutting a slice through the tarmac as he recovers and move into a guard position.

-how was Rita's base-.

Click to shrink...

Magic, OL. She is a space witch queen.

Blue Ranger. Billy, I remember him. He keeps back a little, spear held in both hands as he repeatedly stabs and retreats, trying to hold my atten-

I fly upwards five metres, causing… Zack? The Black Ranger, to miss his axe swing. I happen to know that his axe can be transformed into a large energy gun which would be far more of a threat to me.

Click to shrink...

Ah, good to see his memory's being jogged. Probably a bit fuzzy because he gave his DC memories a rattle to remind himself, back in the day. Who'd have though he'd end up here?

"Ladies and gentlemen, I fear there's been-"

Another arrow, and this time I use a construct shield to block it. Failing to embed, it skitters off to my left before falling to the ground and blasting apart a stretch of pavement.

Click to shrink...

Careful there, Pinky. Watch it with the collateral damage.

"-a misunderstanding."

I hold up my hands in what I hope they understand is a gesture indicating that I don't want to fight.

Click to shrink...

At least by de-escalating, they're not likely to jump to Mega-cannon first.

"I don't work for Rita and I'd really appreciate it if you'd stop attacking me." I smile, dismissing my construct armour in favour of a slightly thicken environmental shield. "Please?"

The Rangers take a moment to redress their line, staring my at me. Red Ranger points up at me with his left hand, sword still in his right.

Click to shrink...

Ah, yes, the over-emoting needed for full-body and face-concealing combat gear... Gotta make it obvious for the kiddies watching, after all.

"If you're not with Rita, why were you hanging out with Baboo and Squatt?!"

"That was simply where I appeared on this Earth. I didn't recognise the two of them and since they were just talking to me I didn't have any reason to attack them."

Click to shrink...

And if they had attacked, you'd have simply restrained them, naturally.

"Wait." Billy-. William? Jerk in surprise. Are they being unusually physically expressive because they can't see one another's faces? "You're Orange Lantern!"

Black Ranger turns his head towards Blue. "You know this guy?"

Click to shrink...

...Okay, that's a new one.

I nod, lowering myself to two metres up. Let them see my decidedly non-monster face a little easier. "An Orange Lantern, yes. Does this parallel have a version of my Corps, or are you stuck with Larfleeze?" No immediate response. "Someone else?"

"No, he's a.. comic book character." He glances at his team and then returns his attention to me. "Like… Superman or Batman."

Click to shrink...

Mark that one down in your calenders as a first.

"Yes, that happens between parallel universes sometimes." Though this is the first time I've been on the receiving end of it. I wonder if my adventures on Earth 16 made it into Earth Prime comics? "Look, I'd really appreciate it if you could point me in the direction of anyone with the sort of exotic detection equipment-"

Click to shrink...

Maybe you can 'acquire' a few back issues to show off to Ambush Bug? Prove you're not a fan-fiction SI like he assumed? Even though you totally are.

Yellow Ranger… No, her name's gone too. She walks over to where I was talking to 'Baboo' and 'Squatt' and picks something up.

"-I could use to detect what technique they used to bring me here so I can go back-."

Click to shrink...

Given there were several of each ranger just to use the Morphin' suits, that's not surprising. Also, no amused thoughts about the oddity of one girl having a skirt, but not the other?

"Ah, guys?" Yellow Ranger walks back to her fellows with a.. comic in her hands. I think-"

She turns the book around, showing white spaces where parts of the illustration used to be. It's next to Kaldur…

Click to shrink...

...Well, blow OL down with a feather. Is the comic titled 'With This Ring', might I ask?

In a room, surrounded by exotic equipment…

"-he's literally a comic book character."

Click to shrink...

So, the bad guys made a potion that would de-fictionalise a single character... And they picked OL?

I land, walk over and take a closer look. The illustrations are simplified compared to how they really looked, but… Yes, that's Mount Justice.

Okay.

Click to shrink...

I'm betting they're cartoon-style, like the thread pic in post #1, or the DCAU-inspired comics.

Okay.

There probably are magic rituals which used fictional focuses to summon best-matches from parallel universes. That wouldn't work on Earth Prime, because the shaped magic field doesn't extend much beyond the planet, but there's no reason why parallel universes wouldn't work differently.

Click to shrink...

It's even technically a thing in the Saban-multiverse, given shows like Beetleborgs, as mentioned by Signaller. (A series adapted from one of 'Super Sentai's sister tokusatsu series, of course.) And they DID have a crossover with the Power Rangers in a comic, no less.

The alternative-.

"Um. Are you okay?"

Click to shrink...

What a thing to ask, when you've just been pulled out of your home universe into one that's even more illogical.

The alternative is that those moronic Saturday morning television villains just used.. something to bring to life a comic character, and that's me. And that spell would have needed to recreate their -my- entire memory from a comic which would only hold a tiny portion of their story. That… Sounds ridiculous, but… Parallel universe magic system. I can't.. be sure that it couldn't work.

Click to shrink...

So this could easily be a vision OL is having, thanks to the summoning whatever-they-did, and his real body is still sitting in Mount Justice surrounded by all manner of whatsits going bonkers.

"Oh dear."

Breathe in. Breath out.

Click to shrink...

Thanks goodness for the Ring preventing an actual panic attack, eh?

"No.. I.. don't believe that I am." I notice with some relief that they've mostly lowered their weapons. "The… The blue one. He had a bottle, he said that something wasn't his fault. If there was a potion in that bottle, that might be what caused… Me."

I send orange filaments across the street to where I appeared and… Yes, the fragments of the bottle. I reassemble it, careful not to remove the tiny amount of chemical residue.

Click to shrink...

As noted yesterday, Baboo is an alchemist.

"Do you know anyone would could analyse this?"

William nods. "I could."

Click to shrink...

...Someone with a degree in magical and/or alchemical interactions with inter-dimensionality might be better.

"You can analyse magic potions?"

"No, but I can analyse the chemical composition."

Click to shrink...

More likely it's something akin to the Danner Formula, and the true power isn't in the chemistry by itself.

"Whether it brought me here from a parallel universe or created me from a comic, I doubt that this is a matter of conventional chemistry. And frankly, my ring outperforms a-"

Ring, year?

Click to shrink...

About time he thought of that.

Nineteen ninety five.

"-nineteen ninety five mass spectrometry system."

Click to shrink...

Season 1, then. And pre-Tommy, of course.

"Ah. Yes, you're probably right. How about Zordon?"

Red Ranger's head jerks his way and I'm pretty sure that he's glaring at him under that helmet.

"And who might Zordon be?"

Click to shrink...

Ah, Billy. Plenty of book-smarts, not much street-smarts.

Interesting that OL didn't recognise the name. But given that he's also having trouble remembering some of the Ranger's identities, it's probably down to his familiarity with the series being at a 'It was on in the background at friends' places' level and he has only the most tenuous familiarity with the setup. Should definitely see about getting back issues of the comic though, in case of future Ambush Bug shenanigans.

Edit: As PepeTheFrog brings up below, I suppose he's playing dumb and pretending not to know things about them. If only to avoid making trouble when they realise he may know their identities, which I think they had a restriction about letting people find out?

 

[Signaller]

Actually on second thought, Beetleborgs showed the comic pages burned through when various entities escaped. This is just the printer ink, the paper's fine?

 

[ForeverShogo]

Given that the April Fools stuff tends to be him seeing/living the experiences of other versions of himself rather than being transported there whole cloth, I think I'm going to lean towards the possibility that this Paul is a magically conjured copy. Which sucks for him.

It does make me a little curious about the state of DC Comics in the Power Rangers universe.

Orange Lanterns weren't a thing until 2008. Young Justice started airing in 2010. As said in my previous post, Season 1 of Power Rangers took place in 1993. (Though the ring is saying in this update its 1995 for some reason.)

They're way ahead of schedule, even disregarding that the comic in question is about Paul being plopped into the Young Justice universe.

 

[SotF]

Ah, so we're working to Beetleborgs logic. Got it.

(Also, didn't John Constantine have experience with this sort of thing?)

Click to shrink...

Technically, Beetleborgs is also a parallel universe that has Power Rangers comics and a TV series (and the reverse is also true).

There's the comic crossover that happens later during Turbo, but there are some easter eggs about it in earlier seasons where they used the prop comics from Beetleborgs in MMPR at different points there since they, apparently, made a LOT of them as extras.

The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are running around somewhere, though in one of the weaker versions due to the crossover with In Space, but that series uses the live actions movies as background...though there is also the more recent comics crossover (which, retroactively, makes the other crossover make no sense since the Turtles had no clue about the Rangers there, though they'd been laying low after their time travel incident there).

You may or may not have masked rider wandering around as well...

They'll likely still be lighthearted. At least for now.

If it's the bootleg universe, then things follow the canon up until the events of Power Rangers Zeo (Season 4). With the point of divergence being that the Rangers lost to the Machine Empire, which went on to force Earth's surrender.

Zoat said that this is taking place before Tommy showed up, which was Episode 17 of Season 1.

And just for fun . . . Season 1 was 60 episodes, Season 2 was 52 episodes, Season 3 was 33 episodes, then there was a 10 episode mini-series with the Aqua Rangers, and then you got to Season 4 with 50 episodes.

Timeline wise . . . Each season apparently took place over a single year. Season 1 happened in 1993. The fight against the Machine Empire happened in 1996.

So a pretty decent chunk of material/time before the timeline gets to whatever it is that caused the Machine Empire to win. Hopefully butterflies prevent that.

Click to shrink...

There are apparently also a few episodes that never aired in Season 3 of MMPR, the "big one" being a planned 4 part crossover episode with Masked Rider that was mostly finished and supposed to be a 2 episodes of MMPR and 2 episodes of MR, which would have been at the tail end of MR's shown episodes, and be a 2 weekend event thing, but MR's ratings kind of killed that one. They were also planning a crossover with Mystic Knights which had props and a script, but budget shifted other than some small bits of filming...both of those had parts lifted and re-used as Fox Kids bumper material at the time.

The main issue was budget stuff for a lot of it, as they went further in, the harder it was to use existing sentai footage, so had to cut back.

 

[Vaermina]

I blame the 'Morphing Grid' for that. Can't have an exciting 'monster of the week' show if the authorities keep butting their heads in.

Click to shrink...

The actual answer is that this isn't the first team Zordon's called on Earth.

The first team, was called in 1969, and since then the survivors have been liaising with the US government via their own super corporation on a number of issues to smooth over the whole alien thing.