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It’s coming!

On November 23rd 1996, Power Rangers Zeo wrapped up it’s final major arc for the season in ‘Good As Gold’, an episode that saw the Machine Empire finally vanquished by  Lord Zedd, Rita Repulsa, and their merry band of minions. As they left the Empire in ruins, Zedd proclaimed he ‘was back’

Aside from a small comically themed cameo in Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie, Zedd and Rita were not the principle antagonists of the following season, Power Rangers Turbo. Indeed, their cameo in the Turbo movie implied Zedd had given up altogether on his attempts to conquer the Earth

‘Good As Gold’ also saw Bulk and Skull, the show’s band of bunglers, head off to Paris to join a rival detective agency, taking on a mystery assignment.

When they returned in Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie, there was no mention of this mission. They were back in the States with the former Detective Stone, and all three of them were now working again for the Angel Grove Police Department.

Fans were left mystified, continuity in Power Rangers wasn’t always the strongest, but this was more noticeable than previous misfires. Entire events had been set up for pay-offs that never came, and for a time fans pondered what truly happened between the events of Zeo and the Turbo movie.

On March 14th 1998, a message posted to the #alt-mmpr IRC channel by one Derik Smith claimed that such a transistion between the eras did exist, and that it had been shot and filmed rather cheaply as a means of promoting the Turbo movie, using toys and stand-in voice over talent. This took the form of an episodic short film, split into five parts, and aired ‘exclusively’ in Australia.

This mini-series was christened ‘Scorpion Rain’ by those who had claimed to have seen it.

The story centred on Lord Zedd threatening the earth with his Zord Serpenterra, now fiercer and more powerful.

In the ensuing battle, the Zeo Zord fleet is destroyed save for Super Zeo Zord V, which Tommy and Katherine use to combat Serpenterra, before boarding the Zord and planting bombs that ultimately cripple Zedd’s war machine, dealing the galactic conqueror such a crippling blow that he calls off further attacks on the Rangers’ home world.

 In reality, this was an elaborate practical joke being played on the fandom by Smith, along with atu Sharp (aka Jovette), and Amit Bhaumik. Other participants in the hoax included Joe Rovang, Jarod “Static-Pulse” Burton, and Chris “Cmdr Crayfish” Funaro.

Amit Bhaumik would eventually work on the official Power Rangers television series for real, and was eventually given the position of script editor for the tenth season Power Rangers Wild Force, Amit would go on to write several team-up episodes for the season, culminating in the anniversary story ‘Forever Red’.

It is here that the Scorpion Rain hoax was taken to another level, as Forever Red was written to serve as a spiritual sequel to it, again involving Serpenterra, and tying up the final loose ends of Zeo  by seeing off both it and the Machine Empire.

While fans would engage in highly volatile debates over the place of Scorpion Rain in both  Power Rangers fanon and canon, the question of what actually happened between Zeo and Turbo officially still occupies fan’s minds today.

Coming in 2023, in time for Power Rangers 30th anniversary, Scorpion Rain will enter the fray again....not as a mini-series, not as a imaginary prequel to an official story, but as a fully illustrated ten page comic strip story.

Written by Zarius and illustrated by Xavier Rojo, Scorpion Rain: The Comic Strip is a unique tale loosely based off of the original story that hopes to answer fans burning questions over what exactly happened between Zeo and the Turbo movie

“Scorpion Rain has been at the forefront of my mind since I first learned about it years ago in the fandom. In the past I have seen many fans try to tell their own take on the tale in many fan-edits and fanfiction, but nobody has really taken a stab at turning it into a comic.

Due to how little it is known of it, my version of Scorpion Rain isn’t 100% true to the story, there are still elements of the original I’ve left intact (like the final act), but I’ve added a lot more meat to the few scraps of bone we were given to chew on.

There are easter eggs and cameos that set things up for Turbo and tie up a few extra loose ends. And the two pages we devote to Bulk and Skull are certainly all mine.

Scorpion Rain, I feel, is a story that definitely deserves a place in the ongoing PR tapestry, and shouldn’t be thought of as a crude joke or a frequently contested point.

This was born out of a desire for closure in the Power Rangers community, to give Zeo more of a deserving send-off rather than what it actually got.

My artist Xavier Rojo is a precision talent who many times over has over-delivered for me, and I know he will score a home run with this endeavour. If you enjoyed his work on my Spider-Man comic strips, you’re sure to like this.

A lot of thought and heart went into the hoax all those years ago, I just hope I match the Power they possessed with this take

You know what time it is guys!”

Links

Team Sea3on have been in contact with several potential studios to help finish off the pilot episode of their project and get it ready within the year, but the quotas they have are still quite steep, and they only have $24 K in the bank. They are considering opening an additional Kickstarter campaign to raise more of the funds required.

Here is their press release:

WE NEED YOUR HELP! Hey Freedom Fam,

We wanted to take this opportunity to update you on the progress of our project. As you know, we have been working hard to create a 2D Animated Pilot for Sea3on, but we are facing some roadblocks in terms of keeping up with demand.

We have been actively trying to source out studios to complete the project, and have reached out to various studios across all continents. Unfortunately, the quotes we have received are all very expensive, making it difficult for us to proceed with our limited budget. To give you an idea, we have attached actual replies with dollar values so that you can see how much a 22 minute 2D animation pilot will cost.

Currently, we have about $24K USD in the bank, which is not enough to send to a studio to complete the project. However, we are determined to continue working on the project despite these challenges and limited time. We hope that you can continue supporting us by spreading the word about the project and asking others to help out.

We believe that with the help of a studio, we can complete the episode within the year. Additionally, we are considering a Kickstarter to raise the funds necessary to complete the project.

We want to express our sincere gratitude for your support and commitment to the project. We are hopeful that together, we can overcome these challenges and create a successful pilot. If you have any questions or concerns, please don't hesitate to reach out to us.

Thank you again for your continued support and encouragement.

Sincerely,

Fourteen years ago, Marvel took something away from me, fourteen years later I took it back.

I owed it to that character, I owed it to the fans that character inspired, because while the Spider-Verse movie makes the claim that anyone can be that character, you first have to be shown first that character is worth the journey. For most of those years, he simply wasn't.

He was a devil dealing loser who shirked responsibility to his family and his future, who would ever want to be him?

For ten of those fourteen years, my hero was gone, he wasn't learning vital lessons, he was drifting too much away from what made him special, he pursued and fully realized dreams, sure, but there was always a catch and he didn't prove capable of sustaining them, and there's a good chance he never will, all in the name of 'relatability', of the 'everyman', all half-hearted buzzwords to hold back the sustainment of creativity and imagination, and limitless growth.

The Rescue was conceived as a proof of concept, a love letter to a loose end that was never properly picked up om, not even in the pages of the very universe that followed through on some elements of it. Kaine brought baby May back to his mother, that we know from MC2 comics, but Peter didn't seem to have much involvement in the situation coming about, that struck me as a bit odd, almost unfair that he had no say in a moment that I feel under any other writer/artist, would have been something that truly redefined the comics and character.

So I took it upon myself to give him that moment, even in an unofficial capacity, and have it realized as a webcomic. Not the most original piece, but one that I knew would provide me and the fans with adequate closure, not just the characters.

Is it canon with MC2? It's a fanfic, of course it's not, it's not official, could you count it as being part of MC2? Sure, if you want, my own personal stance is it's entirely it's own thing.

I'd like to thank my artist Xavier Rojo for his bedazzling artwork and time dedicated to the project, I'd like to think all those who have followed this strip's progress on the blog and for the many likes it has received.

Spider-Man, his family, his message, resonates so strongly to me, to many of you too, he was always the one hero I could relate to through all walks of life. As a teenager, he was bullied, as an adult, he's misunderstood, he could be a dick, he could be a sweetheart, he can be sarcastic and quick to wit and temper, he can despair and self doubt.

He taught me that I am a human being, that we are all human beings, that we are all outsiders looking in, wanting to be accepted, wanting to be noticed and for all the world to marvel at our might.

He rescued me.

And I hope, even for just one more day, I got to rescue him.