Power Rangers took Tabletop by storm last night in the debut of Power Rangers Hyperforce, and for many, this was their first foray into the interactive tabletop genre. So, how did they do? The answer to that is a mostly positive one, though there is room for improvement. Hyperforce has some great things going for it, including a stellar cast that is embracing the fun of roleplaying. There are few things as enjoyable as sitting around a tabletop roleplaying with friends who are equally as invested int he world and characters you’re creating, and you get a genuine sense that everyone wants to be a part of it.
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Over the course of three hours, all of the participants had shining moments while still developing their characters at their own speeds. It’s hard not to love characters like Chloe (played by Meghan Camarena) and Marvin (played by Peter Sudarso), but it’s their interactions with the rest of the cast that put them over the top, and all of the characters thus far have something to contribute.
That camaraderie between the characters came across onscreen, but Hyperforce does need to do a better job of actually explaining the system. Hyperforce uses a custom roleplaying system, which is perfectly fine, but without proper context, it is easy to lose sight of how the Rangers (or cadets for most of the episode) are achieving their goal.
Is a high roll of 8 good or bad? How does that affect the blaster shot or their charisma roll to fool an enemy? Do the cards just give Rangers weapons or objectives and usable items as well, and are they consumable or do they stick with you all game? These are things that would typically get explained during a tabletop session, and it is important to give the audience that information since they don’t have character sheets directly in front of them.
Overall there’s a lot to like, and the story seems genuinely interesting. Even so, some improvements would go a long way to increasing viewer investment, and you can find out what we loved and what we didn’t in the next slides.
Things We Loved
Alright, we’re kicking off things with what we loved the most about the first session, and that has to start with the cast.
This cast is stellar, and they all seemed to be invested in the story and finding their particular character quirks. Early standouts were Chloe (Meghan Camarena), Jack (Paulieย Schrier), and Marvin (Peter Sudarso), the last of which was so amped to be there you could feel it through the screen.
While it took them time to find their voice, Eddie (Andre Meadows) and Vesper (Cristina Vee) had some great moments throughout, includingย Vesper’sย love of open hand hitting people into solutions. Turns out Eddie is also quite good at impersonating principals. Who knew right?
A specialย shoutoutย also goes to Erin Cahill, who picked up right where she left off as the Time Force Pink Ranger and delivered an epic performance.
Hyperforce also worked in Power Rangers lore and effects whenever possible, includingย an early reference to Time Force villain Ransik. They also briefly showed Cahill’sย morphing footage, but nothing beat the reveal that Alpha 55 was going to be the team’s android. Well, getting their morphers was pretty close, but still, Ay-Yi-Yi-Yi took the trophy right?
Other moments of note were how “Dammitย Marv” quickly became a staple, especially when he almost Leroy Jenkins’dย his entire party. The Super Mega Ultra Vortex blaster was also pretty sweet, though kind of wish fans had a chance to actually see it.
Hit the next slide to find out what the show can improve on.
Things That Need Improving
While a great deal of the appeal behind tabletop is using your imagination, there do still need to be some visual aspects to it that help bring the world to life for the players. This especially goes for second-hand viewing, and that is the biggest area where the show needs to improve.
Fans want to see how the game actually works, and to do that there need to be visuals illustratingย certain facets of the game. The game is live, so you can’t do post editing to insert graphics, but you can show what the cards look like during the show’sย intro and break so that players understand what the players are drawing.
The same goes for villains or locations and NPC characters. When certain big personalities are introduced, perhaps put up a portrait or quick bio of them to illustrate to the players. Even an overview of the character sheets would be helpful, giving fans some context to what is going on during the game. Viewers had mostly no context for things like Energy, effet tacks, supers, or cards, and having a quick summary would help that along.
A brief recap during the breakย would also be helpful, but not from the macro perspective. A quick recap of where the characters are right now at this moment would get new viewers in quickly while also catching up viewers who might have missed a crucial element.
As for the implementation of Power Rangers, Hyperforce is doing it quite well in terms of the storyline, but there seems to be a missed opportunity in terms of using the actual footage. The footage they used was very brief and didn’t even show the entire morphingย sequence. It would have been amazing to see it in full, but perhaps there is a licensing issue at play there.
All in all the show got off to a great start, but hopefully, some of these things will be addressed in future episodes.
Hit the next slide to get a rundown of what Power Rangers Hypeforce is all about.
What Is Hyperforce?
Power Rangers Hyperforce is an interactive tabletop system that is played live on Twitch TV on Tuesday nights. It is a completely original system and features a talented cast of fans, internetย personalities, and actors from the franchise.
The cast includes Peter Sudarso (Power Rangers Ninja Steel Blue Ranger), Andre of Black Nerd Comedy (Power Rangers super fan and Internet personality), Meghan Camarena (social media personality, Strawburry17), Paulie Schrier (Bulk from Mighty Morphin Power Rangers), and Cristina Vee (actress, social media personality).
The team is based on Greek mythology. The Red Ranger is based on Iapetus (Lion), while the Blue Ranger is based on Oceanus (Serpent). The Pink Ranger is based on Hyperion (Phoenix), while the Black Ranger is based on Coeus (Cerberus). Finally, the Yellow Ranger is based on Crius (Ram).
Power Rangers Hyperforce is set in the year 3016 at Time Force Academy. A team of Time Force Ranger cadets must band together to defeat an ancient evil who is set on unraveling the very fabric of the universe. Under the leadership of their mentor, Jen Scott (Time Force’s Erin Cahill), and with the show’s Game Master, Malika Lim, the newly minted Rangers will cross both time and space to complete their mission while running into many familiar eras (and faces) along the way.
You can tune into Hyperforceย on Tuesday nights, and make sure to follow @MattMuellerCB for full coverage of Hyperforce and all things Power Rangers.
