Raditz vs the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers

*Originally published on 8/5/10


I loved Power Rangers growing up as a kid. Even though it aired while I was still in school, I still watched it whenever I could. After internet critic, Linkara started doing a season by season retrospective analysis of the show, I once again became intrigued and started watching episodes where I could find them. It's goofy and ridiculous, but it's quite enjoyable.

Also being a fan of Dragonball Z, I started to wonder how the team would fare against one of those opponents. Of course, Cell and Majin Buu are far out of the Rangers' league. Heck, I doubt they would be able to best Frieza either, however, there is one opponent against whom they might have a shot. The one character who, according to the DBZ Abridged writers is more of a butt monkey than Krillin, Goku's own brother, Raditz. For the sake of simplicity, and because I'm more familiar with them as characters, I'll go with the original six rangers.

He was the first villain of the series and was killed only a couple of episodes in. So maybe, just maybe, the Power Rangers will have a chance against him.

Raditz seems to have quite a few advantages. He has DCU metahuman level strength and speed and was able to fight off both Goku and Piccolo, who were at the time, the two strongest warriors on the planet. He is also capable of shooting powerful blasts of energy and can take just as much damage.

The only obvious advantage the rangers have is the fact that there are six of them. They also have weapons. I doubt a sword or axe would do any damage, but there's a chance they can inflict some damage. While most of their weapons are of the primitve variety (sword, bow and arrow, axe etc), the rangers also have their blade blasters, which double as daggers and laser guns. It won't turn the tide, but it could help them out in a pinch.

The rangers have fought monsters with superior strength before, but Raditz's speed makes things a lot more difficult for them. If Raditz will stand still long enough, the five original rangers can put together their mega blaster. Under normal circumstances, Raditz would just dodge it, but that's where Tommy comes in. If he can get a hold of Raditz's tail, it will render the Saiyan immobile. Unlike Goku, Tommy won't be naive enough to let go when Raditz asks. The "brother" card that Raditz plays in the series will also be rendered useless.

While the rangers don't normally summon their zords until Rita or Zedd makes the monster they're battling larger, they have on occasion summoned them when they were on the losing end of a fight. If things do get so desparate that they need to call the zords, there's a good chance that it will turn the tide of the fight.

The Megazord may not be as fast as Raditz, but it can take a lot more damage than the rangers can and a punch from a giant robot will do more harm than a hit from an individual ranger.

Most of the monsters that the rangers battle are goofy and not all that threatening. While they are certainly capable fighters and heroes, I'm not sure that they have the resources necessary to take on a Saiyan, even a low level one like Raditz.