Zabitan's Magic Happy American Tokusatu Reviews

[Zabitan]

Hello there everyone I'm Zabitan, and I am here to take you on a strange trip into the world of American/Western Tokusastu productions starting with the first attempt at duplicating the success of Power Rangers, and one of my personal favorites VR Troopers.



I guess I'll start by saying what I plan on doing with this. I'm going to watch an episode of VR Troopers a day, and review it from Monday to Friday.

I will also watch episodes of Metal Hero but only the ones that the episode of VR Troopers used footage from so I can see for myself what footage they had to work with.

I'll save official reviews of those episodes when I decide to review the shows themselves.



Anyway I guess I'll start by talking about the Cybertron pilot. I like seeing Jason David Frank as the main character, Grimlord having a bully son who's the hero's main rival. Jamie Kennedy before he was famous as one of the comic relief characters.

My only real gripe is the transformation being just JDF starring at a crystal. I can understand him putting his hand on it, and then saying his transformation phrase to start it but just starting at it no.

Everything else I don't know I like Tao being a mentor, Tao's daughter Mia, and seeing how the show would have been like with only one Metal Hero show but at the same time I still like the VR Troopers we did get.

It mostly has to do with the fact that only the script for what the first episode would be about, and only about ten minutes of footage with 90% of it being Metalder

And it's pretty hard to judge a show that doesn't exist since there's no way short of a magic what if machine to tell if it would have been better or not.

I will say it's a pretty good what if though like if Saban was going to make an actual Karato series out of Janperson, or if they were going to take Rescue Hero or Blue Swat and make it something like Mega Patrol.



So on to the first episode of VR Troopers The Battle Begins written by Douglas Sloan, and directed by Shuki Levy.

So we start with how every episode starts with our main hero Ryan Steele sitting in front of a bell at park going on about his legendary missing daddy issues. Not much else to say since all the really good jokes have been made, and so no real reason to talk about them other than what the moral of the story is.



We then go to Tao dojo where Ryan, and his best friend JB Reese are in the middle of a karate tournament against the generic Crossworld City dojo with Tao dojo down 1 to Crosworld's 2 while their friend, and sensei Tao, and Ryan's pet bloodhound Jeb watch and cheer on.

I will say that I always enjoy how much 90's Saban shows treat karate tournaments like they're these big things that everyone in town is obsessed with. The middle aged white guy ref, random judges in business suits, and my personal favorite the audience that has a random guy with a 70's porn stache.

Ryan fights some random blonde guy in black gi, and they pretty much just kick at each other until they punch each other, Ryan takes him down with a scissor kick winning a point for Tao dojo.

Now for the tie breaker JB vs random Asian guy in black gi. They punch, and karate chop each other, then they kick each other, then random Asian guy jumps, and JB kicks him winning the tournament for Tao dojo, and Ryan, JB, and Tao celebrate.



We then go to the Underground Voice Daily where crazy editor Woody is on the phone giving the five Ws before comically slamming the phone on his own finger calling forth Kaitlin Star Ryan and JB's other best friend who works as reporter at UVD to tell her that local greedy evil rich corporate asshole type and the shows main villain Karl Ziktor is demolishing an old building to make a power plant.

Ryan, and JB then go on their motorcycles to meet Kaitlin at Occupy Crossworld City. While in his totally not creepy, and evil looking corporate headquarters Ziktor himself grabs his pet lizard Julia so they and his secretaries can watch the old building getting blown up.

Ziktor, and the foreman for the demolition team take turns counting down from five so that we can cut back and forth between Ziktor in his office, and Ryan and his friends at the demolition site, and then we see the old building get blown up.

Ziktor gets up, and tells his secretaries to return to virtual reality to await further instructions, and they turn into Skugs gold robots with weird faces in black tights with capes who are the show's henchmen, and slide into the floor while Ziktor starts gloating about taking over the city.

There's something about this part that bugs me but it won't make sense until I get to my final thoughts so let's move on.

[Zabitan]

We then go back to Tao dojo where Ryan is putting up the trophy he, and JB won from the tournament earlier, and straightening up around the dojo while JB is trying to update the dojo books on the computer, and Kaitlin is playing with Jeb.

Just then the computer starts acting weird, and Ryan, and his friends try to see what's going on, and the image of a middle aged black guy shows up on the screen. The man says he's Professor Horatio Hart, and that he has a message from Ryan's father.



Meanwhile at Ziktor industries Ziktor's secretaries inform him of it, and he has them leave while he puts his hand on his crystal ball, and goes "Forces of darkness empower me. Take me back to my virtual reality", and transforms into Grimlord, and goes to his virtual dungeon to see his army of mutant robots.

Now I would like to make that one joke where you pretend to confuse the Japanese names with the American ones like if I was talking about Power Rangers I would joke "The astronauts open the space dumpster, and accidentally release Band-er I mean Rita Repulsa" but honestly I would be here all day if I did that, and we've just seen the Metalder monsters.



Instead I'll just compare and contrast what I like and what I don't like about the villains of VR Troopers with regards to the ones on Power Rangers.

For starters I like how they look since they look like how I imagine robots, and mutants would look like if they were real, and I like how they are an actual army as opposed to just a few characters.

And I like General Ivar if I wasn't such a wimp about needles I would get General Ivar as a Tattoo on my back I think he's that cool.

On the other hand there's just so many of them, and it's always the same amount no matter who gets blown up so it's hard to care sometimes who's supposed to be a main minion and who's just an MOTD.

Especially since it still comes across like Grimlord's the Zedd/Rita, Ivar, Decimator, and maybe Zelton, Dark Heart, and Blue Boar are the Goldars, Icebot is the Finster, and Toxoid, Air Striker, Fighterbot, and maybe the tankbots are the Squats, and Baboos.



Anyway Grimlord calls up General Ivar, to make sure that the final assault on reality is under way, and to stop Ryan, and his friends from going to Professor Hart's lab

We then see Ryan, and his friends in Kaitlin's car driving to the lab while Ryan explains that Professor Hart worked with his dad, they were both close to a major scientific breakthrough when his father disappeared.

Just then two of Grimlord's mutants Air Striker, and Fighterbot appear, and on Grimlord's orders start trying to blow up Kaitlin's car with enough missiles, and lasers to turn mount Everest into a gravel pit, and still end up missing it.

And yet our heroes are still smart enough to get out soon as they get the woods to escape to the bridge but Grimlord is also smart enough to have Fighterbot destroy the bridge before they can reach it.

[Zabitan]

We then see our heroes walking through a field explaining that when we weren't looking they were able to find a side road.

You know I'm starting to notice a pattern with this episode of just Ziktor/Grimlord screwing over Ryan, and his friends, and then the next scene is like they don't even care.

Anyway Ryan, and his friends then find some weird triangle thing in the middle of nowhere. The Professor's voice comes out, and tells them to enter, and they do. we then see Professor Hart's lab, I'll admit I like it just because of how futuristic it looks.

Inside our heroes look around, and then the Professor appears on the lab's screens revealing he only exists as a virtual image, and tells them to put on some VR visors which he makes appear out of thin air.



Our heroes put them on, and are assaulted by a 90's screen saver that the Professor explains is them looking through the reality barrier. Then Ryan's father appears which JB explains is a virtual recording like a 3D video.

Ryan's father shows some Metalder clips, and explains that Grimlord has been making mutant robots so he can attack the reality barrier and take over the world.

He then says that he and Professor Hart need Ryan, and his friends to become superheroes called the VR Troopers, and explains about the skugs but he doesn't actually show them.



He then explains that if they fail to defeat the Skugs in our world they will have to fight them in an outpost next to a virtual black hole called the Battle Grid.

But instead of showing what the Battle Grid looks like he shows them transforming into the Battle Grid suits but doesn't explain why they have those suits when they go there.

Though I'll admit I like the insta morph effect with the weird "seizure" lights, and the Troopers glowing as civilians, and being in the suits when it fades.



I will say this just to get it out of the way I do enjoy the Battle Grid suits. I Like how all three of them try to incorporate elements from the Metal Hero suits into them like the padding meant to be the metal plates on their main suits.

And how they make the Troopers look more like they're part of the same team while still having individual elements to tell who's who.

Like Ryan's suit has this half red half blue color scheme with the yellow eyes, and all these various designs that I'm guessing are supposed to look like metal plates.

Kaitlin has this white suit with a red stripe, and black visor on the helmet, and a design that looks like she's wearing a one piece swimsuit/leotard, and even looks like it has straps, and it even has these yellow crystals on her chest, and a belt on there.

Hell JB's is the most "normal" looking and it still manages to have elements of both Ryan, and Kaitlin's suits with this solid body suit and armored design like Ryan but with this silver helmet with a black stripe, and red visor, and red, and silver crystal like shapes like a male version of Kaitlin.



We finally get to see the main suits, and I'll say that I like how they have full body armor, and how they all have unique designs to them, and the various lights on all them.

Ryan's father then tells them they are Earth's last hope, and there's an admittedly touching part where Ryan tries to reach out to his dad, the message ends, and our heroes take off their visors, and Ryan's still sad about his dad.

The Professor then has these three pendants appear which he explains are the transformation virtualizers that will allow them to become VR Troopers, and travel between realities to stop Grimlord' and his mutants, and our heroes then put them on.



Meanwhile at the Virtual Dungeon Grimlord has his Tankbots attack the lab, so the Professor tells them to say Trooper Transform, and use their new powers which they do, and we get to see them transform for the first time.

Ryan's transformation is the Metalder one with Brad Hawkins, and without the part where he grabs his own arms for no reason, and JB, and Kaitlin's transformations are the Spielban, Dianna Lady ones with Michael Bacon, and Sarah Brown.

We then see JB, and Kaitlin fight an ape like mutant called Kongbot who attacks with huge fists he can launch at opponents, while Ryan fights Grimlord's second in command Decimator, and the Tankbots who open fire on him.

JB, and Kaitlin jump to attack Kongbot who punches JB, and pins him to the ground, but JB gets out of the way, and Kaitlin tries to kick Kongbot but he just punches her out of the way.

Meanwhile Decimator jumps at Ryan with his sword, and tries to slash him but Ryan keeps getting out the way, then he jumps, and kicks Decimator, and blocks him with his arm but Decimator jumps out of the way.



I'll also add that when they're in Trooper mode they have what I like to call Trooper vision where you can see what it looks like in the helmets, and in addition to the main visor there's also a little screen so they can talk to others, and see what's going on elsewhere.

It's a small thing but it adds a nice touch to how the Troopers' powers work, and adds to the techno feel of the show.



Meanwhile JB does a jump kick at Kongbot, and knocks him upside the head, and then tries to slash him with his sword but gets punched aside, so he tries again but still gets punched so he kicks Kongbot and knocks him back again but Kongbot keeps running at him.

So the Professor tells JB to use his Laser Lance against Kongbot, and I'm not gonna lie it's awesome. Lightsabers are cool, double edged Lightsabers are cool so using a double edged Lightsaber to slash a robot until it blows up is just perfect.

Meanwhile Ryan is still dealing with Decimator kicking him, and trying to dodge his sword slashes but then Decimator rushes at Ryan, and slashes his shoulder, and exposing his circuits, and sending him off a cliff.

At the lab JB, and Kaitlin back in civilian mode return from defeating Kongbot, and wonder where Ryan is. The Professor explains that Ryan's communication system is down, has JB use the geo thermal scanner to find Ryan.

Meanwhile at the Virtual Dungeon Grimlord, and his mutants celebrate Ryan's defeat, and plan to continue the invasion of Earth. While at the bottom of the cliff Ryan lies quiet, and motionless as the words To Be Continued flash on the screen.




Now here's where I would talk about Finale Thoughts but I'll save those for part as this is a multi parter.

So tune in next time for more Magic Happy American Tokusatsu Reviews.

[Zabitan]

So we start where we left off with Ryan in Trooper mode lying at the bottom of a canyon only now he's talking about the time his dad told him to never give up.


Back at the lab JB, Kaitlin, and the Professor are still looking for Ryan. The Professor explains that Ryan's main power source is down so he has one of the lab's machines materialize a device to fix Ryan's circuits.



Kaitlin, and JB then take Jeb, and her car to get to Ryan in time with Kaitlin wishing they could get there faster but she, and JB start to regret that when her steering wheel, and breaks are stuck, and the car is still moving on it's own towards off a cliff.

Just when it looks like they're going to have a car wreck the doors of Kaitlin's car sprout wings and it starts flying, and the radio turns into a computer screen with the Professor who explains that he upgraded her car when know one was looking.



Meanwhile at Ziktor industries. One of Ziktor's Skug secretaries informs him that Ryan is still alive. While he is watching it on a tv in his office for himself I might add.

However he believes that he can use it to destroy all three Troopers at once.



Kaitlin lands her car, and they all get out to look for Ryan who's okay except for the fact that he can't move so JB uses the device the Professor gave to fix Ryan.


Just then a group of Ziktor's secretaries appear, and transform into their true forms, and which Kaitlin just automatically knows, and we get our first Skug battle.

They both kick at them, but then Kaitlin gets flipped over by the Skugs while JB kicks at them but they get out of the way.

Kaitlin gets flipped over again, and JB gets knocked down by a leg sweep kick but gets back up and kicks a Skug but then gets down, and let's the Skug run towards him so he can grab it with both his arm and leg, and throws the Skug off.

Meanwhile Kaitlin is trying to get two Skugs off so she runs up a tree, and slams them into each other.


Now here is where we get into the elephant in the room. The infamous weakness where the Skugs disintegrate when they touch each other.

Yeah it's pretty lame 1994 was not a good year for henchmen in American kids based on Japanese ones.



Anyway Kaitlin tells JB and he wastes no time, and kicks the two Skugs in front of him into each other Kaitlin, and JB then go to take Ryan back the Lab.

Once there the Professor scans Ryan, and has a machine fix Ryan. Kaitlin wonders why the Virtual power didn't protect Ryan.

To which the Professor explains that the Troopers must still defend themselves even with the powers.

Afterwards we see some flashing lights, and Ryan turns back into Brad Hawkins.

I will say I like the idea that their VR Trooper forms are actual robots, and if they get damaged as robots they have to get repaired.

[Zabitan]

Meanwhile at Ziktor industries Ziktor tells his secretaries he wants to purchase some land that will soon be available. Then he brags to Juliet about how it's like a game of I Win while they watch scenes of factories, and construction crews.

Why? I'm guessing to try, and make it look like the stuff about the old building from the last was actually relevant.

Unless Haim Saban generally thought that kids, and parents liked shows buying land.

VR Troopers: Superheroes, Robots, Martial Arts, Real Estate



Anyway back at the lab the Professor congratulates the Troopers on their first time. But the Troopers themselves are worried about Grimlord, and his mutants.

So the Professor has them put on the visors, and he shows them some more Metalder clips of monsters they'll have to fight and there is an admittedly funny part where the Troopers actually get freaked out by a monster, and make defensive poses while the Professor does an aside.

Afterwards Ryan says that if that's what it takes to find his father he'll do it, and Kaitlin says they'll be with him.



Just then Jeb gets on the machine, and starts messing with it which then starts electrocuting him, and when it's done he starts talking with a Jack Nicholson impersonation.

Now I'm just going to flat out say it I like Jeb because I like his whole sarcastic commentary on everything.

Anyway the Professor says he can make Jeb normal but Jeb doesn't want to so Ryan makes him promise not to talk around anyone besides them.



Back at Ziktor industries Ziktor transforms into Grimlord, and goes to the Virtual Dungeon.

While at Tao dojo the Troopers are practicing martial arts while a Ron Wasserman song plays afterwards Tao himself comes out with some brooms, and dust pans, and asks them to clean the dojo before they leave.



We then go to the Underground Voice Daily where Woody is playing with some toys when Kaitlin comes in, and Woody asks if she has her story ready which she doesn't.

So she grabs her camera, and drives her car just outside Crossworld City when she sees something strange, and finds Grimlord's mutants getting ready for the final assault on reality.



At Tao dojo the show sets up this sub plot where Ryan is trying to become part owner of the dojo when Kaitlin comes in and tells them she has to talk to them while grabbing her Virtualizer to show them it's Trooper related.

So Ryan and JB leave with her while Tao just stands around confused.

While at the Virtual Dungeon Grimlord's mutants are cheering while Grimlord has all of them attack the reality barrier.

Back at the UVD JB puts a floppy disk into Kaitlin 's computer that lets them talk to the Professor so Kaitlin shows him her pictures and he tells them to stop Grimlord's army.

[Zabitan]

So they all go to the dark room, and transform into the VR Troopers.

The Professor tells Ryan to attack Grimlord's base to stop his army, and gives him a spaceship called the Skybase to do it with.

Just then the Skybase is attacked by Grimlord's remote controlled jet fighters so he fires some missiles at them.

Meanwhile JB and Kaitlin sneak into Grimlord's base, plant explosives in the main power core.

Just then the alarm goes off so the Skugs go after JB, and Kaitlin who try to escape the base in time when they are attacked by a robotic surveillance camera but they manage to escape before it's destroyed.

Which I'll say I like this part because of how it reminds me of a live action Contra.



Back in the Virtual Dungeon Grimlord tells General Ivar to send an Ramada of tanks at the Troopers so the Professor tells Ryan to use the VR Battle Cruiser.

Ryan tries to attack all the tanks but they keep coming so the Professor tells him to attack General Ivar's tank.

The Battle Cruiser, and Ivar's tank try to run each other off but Ryan succeeds in pushing Ivar's tank off the cliff and JB Kaitlin high five while Jeb's eyes bulge out.



Back at the Virtual Dungeon Grimlord is mad the Troopers beat him and vows revenge.

At the lab the Professor congratulates the Troopers but warns them that Grimlord will strike again.

Then Grimlord himself sends a message to taunt them.

"I miss you Dad" the end.

[Zabitan]

So finally (pardon the pun) here's my final thoughts.

I'll start by saying that as VR Troopers fan myself I'm not too big into the whole idea that the show is better than PR because it's "Darker" and " Edgier" since that's only half the show.

I'm usually not a fan of stereotypical evil businessman types, and it's especially weird since one of the richest guys around made this but at the same time I can see why they other people might see this as more "realistic"



I'm not to sure about the Virtual Reality motif since aside the visors, and some of the effects this could easily just about technology in general.

I'll admit I do like the whole theme of technology like how the Troopers, and the Professor represent technology being used to for peace, and fixing the world, and Ziktor represents it being used for war, and pollution, and all that bad stuff.




I guess I should talk about Ryan's epic daddy issues but I don't don't know like I said all the good jokes have been done, and despite or perhaps because I've seen so many Anime, and Tokusatsu shows that I'm pretty much just as used to missing/dead family issues as I am with monsters, and robots.



I like how the Troopers have jobs, and goals like all of them working at the dojo, Ryan wanting to be part owner, JB being a computer genius, Kaitlin being a reporter.

I like how the heroes turn into robots, and have armor, and the vehicles, and how you can see what they see.

I also like the comic relief side characters

I like the monsters, and how they look like how I imagine robots, and mutants would look like though I wish they weren't so many at a time though that's more with Metalder then VR Troopers.




The only real combo breaker for me is the stuff with the old building in part 1, and Ziktor talking about land.

On one hand it's only three minutes but that's three minutes that could have been spent on anything else.

Like having Tyler's message make more sense, having that deleted Skug fight that part 1 was supposed to have, and maybe even having an actual Battle Grid scene to introduce the suits, or just use the unused fight scene footage that was in the episodes they adapted.




Which reminds me, and I'm probably going to point this out a bunch of times for a show that uses two later three Japanese superhero shows and ended because of a lack of footage there's either a whole fight scene they don't use or they use it but not all of it.

Especially since there was a whole fight scene from the episode of Metalder they used in Part 1, and in the Spielban fight they used had Spielban use the Gaios tank.

Other than that it's a good premiere.

[Zabitan]

We start off with Ryan thinking about the time his dad taught him origami which leads to a scene where he, and his friends are riding on horseback through the woods talking about how great it is to get out of the city for a bit while Jeb gives snarky commentary about the horses’ breath.

Eventually they see a seemingly abandoned building, and dismount to investigate.

Kaitlin takes out her camera, and sees that it’s a prison with a single scraggly faced middle aged looking white guy as a prisoner, and a mysterious “S” symbol on the wall.

The Troopers then decide to investigate further.



Meanwhile Ziktor watches the Troopers sneaking around what he claims is his reactor parts facility, and decides to transform into Grimlord.

In the Virtual Dungeon he talks to an unnamed spiky red female mutant who Metal Heroes wiki has dubbed Scarlet Seductress who is apparently Grimlord’s advisor.

She tells Grimlord to distract Ryan, and destroy him.



When Ryan, and his friends get to the building three random security guards show up without saying anything, and transform into Skugs, and the Troopers fight them off while Jeb runs off.

JB kicks a Skug while Ryan punches, and kicks one, and Kaitlin flips over another.

Then Ryan, and JB flip over their Skugs while Kaitlin punches, and kicks hers.

Then Ryan kicks, and flips over his again, and then all three kicks their skugs into each other defeating them.



At the Virtual Dungeon Grimlord requests another diversion, and Scarlet Seductress suggests drawing them into the Battle Grid.

First we go to the Lab where an alarm I jokingly refer to as a Dragonzord light goes off, and then the Professor says Battle Grid alert Prepare for Battle Grid mode.



Then we see Ryan, Kaitlin, and JB’s faces over a black background that turns into seizure lights, and then we see the Battle Grid suits form onto them.

Ryan has these armor like pieces, Kaitlin has these weird little cubes that I jokingly refer to as popcorn pieces, and JB has what looks like glass shards.

I’ll admit I like them because of how unique everyone’s transformation is.



Then some more glass shard looking things appear and turn the black background into a portal that looks like a cheesy 90’s screen saver, and the Troopers fly through it while we see them from behind as a group, then individually from the side, then as a group from the front, and finally from behind again.

I will say while the CGI for the Battle Grid portal is very cheesy, and 90’s I do like the flying effects for the Troopers.



I’ll take this moment to actually talk about the Battle Grid itself.

It’s basically just this small glowing room with all these curtains with weird glowing lights underneath that I’m guessing is supposed to be the “sky” here, the ground is all rocky, and there’s these weird rock formations, and these weird barren trees, and there’s fog on the ground.

On one hand I have to say that I like it because it looks how I imagine virtual reality or some other dimension would look like if I physically went there, and in some episodes it’s the only time the Troopers actually appear in Virtual Reality but in some episodes it’s the only time we see some Troopers appear in VR Trooper mode even if they don’t transform into the full armor.

But on the other hand not only will I admit it’s cheesy I also have to admit as much as I like the Battle Grid suits themselves I have to wonder how much all the stuff for the Battle Grid set actually cost since I can’t imagine any of it could be cheap.

It makes me wonder why they didn’t just make the Battle Grid suits but call it Hyper Tech mode or something, and use the money they would have used to make the set to either make suits for the full armor the stunt people could actually fight in, or an American suit for Grimlord before season 2, and some American suits for Decimator, and General Ivar, or anything really.



Anyway on to the actual fight itself they land in the Battle Grid. JB is on the left, Ryan is in the middle, and Kaitlin is on the right, and they all just stand around talking wondering what Grimlord is up to.

Then we see the Skugs rise up with their arms crossed like vampires, and then unfurling them to make karate poses.

The Troopers do this thing where JB goes V, Ryan goes R, and Kailtin goes Troopers like they’re a Super Sentai team which I actually kind of like.



Ryan jumps through the air while doing a sideways karate chop, and then he lands on this rock formation, and then starts punching, and kicking a Skug, and knocks it off, and then he does this summersault down to the ground, and then Ryan starts kicking, and punching more Skugs.

Then Kaitlin punches, and low kicks some other Skugs, and then there’s this awkward edit where it looks like a Skug is hitting Kaitlin but it’s really JB who got hit, and he gets thrown back, and Kaitlin runs up to help him back up, and then they jump, and JB does this mid air kick that knocks a Skug into two others.

A scene I might add you see in every Battle Grid fight.



Then we see JB, and Kaitlin fight off the skugs some more for about a second.

Ryan punches, and kicks some more Skugs before grabbing one by the neck, and kicking it.

Kaitlin does a mid air summersault, and punches, and kicks some more, and knocks one into some others.



Now all the Skugs are gone, and we see Ryan, and then Kaitlin, and JB join him, and Ryan figures they should find out what’s with the old building that spooks Grimlord

Then they all say VR Troopers, and go back to reality.

What’s weird though is that we hardly ever directly see the Troopers transform back out of Battle Grid, and return to reality it’s usually they say VR Troopers the screen goes white, and then it cuts to the next scene, and most of the time the screen doesn’t even go white it just cuts to the next scene.



Anyway we then go to the Underground Voice Daily where after a brief comedy bit where two people pet Jeb we see Ryan, and JB are researching the building, and find out it’s owned by the government, and that they used to build nuclear weapons.

Meanwhile Kaitlin is in the dark room trying to enhance the pictures she took, and there’s one bit I like where she briefly mentions the Battle Grid.

Then she shows the others her pictures, and they decide to the lab hoping the Professor has some equipment that can help.

[Zabitan]

Meanwhile at the Virtual Dungeon another unnamed mutant who will later be identified as the Magician in A Dirty Trick is warning Grimlord that the Troopers will find out everything if they don’t cease operations.

And there’s this funny bit where Toxoid suggests poisoning the water but then Decimator quips that it’s stupid because teenagers don’t drink water.

Then Grimlord suggests they should attack the reality barrier to distract the Troopers while they take the prisoner to Virtual Reality.



At the lab the Troopers use the lab’s image enhancing software to blow up the image, and get a good look at the prisoner’s face, and Ryan, and the others notice something familiar about him so they digitally remove his beard.

Meanwhile at Ziktor industries Ziktor is bossing around Rooney the city’s cowardly mayor, and another comic relief character, and after the mayor leaves he transforms back into Grimlord, and orders his main fleet to distract the other Troopers while a ground squad handles Ryan.

Back at the lab the Troopers have finished removing the facial hair from the prisoner’s face (damn I wish I had that image editing software that way my fan made Battle Grid Troopers wouldn’t look like crap but I digress), and Ryan notices the prisoner looks like his father but JB, and Kaitlin warn him that it’s just a digital estimate of what the man might look like but Ryan wants to make sure just in case.

Just then another reality break alarm only this one is some glowing letters that say ALARM over red, and white background, and the Professor warns the Troopers that Grimlord is once again trying to penetrate the reality barrier so the Troopers transform to stop him.

[Zabitan]

The Professor warns Ryan that Grimlord has sent his mutant scouts which are these black and yellow ninja like foot soldiers with these weird helmets that I think look cool though I don’t think they get used much sadly.

And a group of them wrap ropes around Ryan, and try to electrocute him but he just grabs the ropes, and throws them.

But then one tries to fire laser needles at Ryan but he ducks out of the way, and they hit another mutant scout.

Then two more try to come after Ryan with their double edged swords/spears but he gets out of the way then grabs them, and throws them causing them to explode.

Then it’s just one last one (The Magician), and he and Ryan both jump at each other, Ryan karate chops the Magician but he punches Ryan’s stomach so they disconnect then the Magician breaths fire, and causes explosions but then Ryan jumps out of the way so the Magician throws an exploding shuriken but Ryan karate chops it out of the way.



Meanwhile Kaitlin fights off some Skugs by punching, and kicking them, and then using her ray gun on them.

While JB fights yet another unnamed robot mutant one who not even Metal Heroes wiki has a name for though they say they’re thinking of calling him Shockerbot because he was called Mecha Shocker in Spielban which I think is a good name though he’s also been called Shiskabot after Jebs snarky commentary for him.

Though just to be a sarcastic dick I’ll call him Nathaniel Merryweather the 3rd for this review.




Anyway JB jumps at Nathaniel Merryweather the 3rd, and tries to slash him with his sword but Nathaniel grabs it, and throws JB, and then grows out these tentacles to shoot JB with electricity.

But JB shoots him with his ray gun so Nathaniel grows a bazooka out of his shoulder, and shoots JB with lasers but JB teleports, and hits Nathaniel with his sword.



Meanwhile Ryan is still fighting Magician who is running while teleporting at him but Ryan punches, and throws him.

But the Magician teleports away, and reappears with a whole army of clones who come after Ryan with their swords/spears so the Professor gives Ryan a program that lets him see the real Magician who still comes after Ryan with his sword/spear but Ryan doges, and blocks, and then grabs it, and throws the Magician.

Then he uses a move called the Lightning Hand command where his hand grows a laser blade, and he karate chops the Magician but the Magician teleports out, and the Professor says he’s retreated so Ryan searches for his father.

Meanwhile Kailtin is fighting off some more Skugs by kicking, and throwing them while Nathaniel is firing lasers at JB who shoots his own lasers at Nathaniel who keeps coming so JB finishes him off with Laser Lance.



Afterwards there’s a bittersweet part where Ryan goes to the old building but finds it abandoned, and the prisoner gone but sees an origami bird seemingly confirming that his father was the prisoner, and looks for him.

While at the Virual Dungeon Decimator confirms the prisoner has been transferred to Virtual Reality, and Grimlord orders some fighters sent to the reality barrier.

So JB, and Kaitlin get in the Skybase which gets hit so they fire missles at the jet fighters but they keep coming so Kaitlin takes evasive maneuvers, and there is a funny part where the jet fighters keep hitting the Skybase, and JB quips “What happened to ‘evasive maneuvers’” to which Kaitlin goes “This isn’t a Sports Car JB it’s hard work”, and they apologize to each other.

Eventually though they fire missles at the jet fighters, and destroy them, and talk to Ryan who sadly reports he was too late.



While at the Virtual Dungeon Grimlord is mad at his minions for failing to destroy the Troopers.

JB, and Kaitlin then go to the abandoned building to find Ryan sitting around holding the origami bird bemoaning the fact that he was too late to save his dad, and his friends comfort him.

And I’ll be honest I find this actually very touching.

Anyway “I miss my dad” the end.