The Psycho Rangers: Difference between revisions
→Comic Books: Added example
m (update links) |
(→Comic Books: Added example) |
||
| (9 intermediate revisions by 6 users not shown) | |||
Line 1:
{{trope}}
[[File:
A regular [[Legion of Doom]] has members which oppose the heroes and are often their archrivals, but their powers are scattered all over the place, and they're not necessarily [[Evil Counterpart
'''The Psycho Rangers''' ''are'' the collective [[Evil Twin]] of the [[Five-Man Band]]. Each one's nature/powers mirror a specific hero and they work together as a group. The same way [[The Hero]] can get his [[True Companions]] together to fight the [[Monster of the Week]], sometimes [[Big Bad|The Big Bad]], [[The Rival]], [[Evil Twin]], [[Monster of the Week]] or [[Evil Counterpart]] can get himself a team made up entirely of Evil Counterparts to the main cast. As a result, if the team includes such specific characters as the [[Big Bad]] and [[The Dragon]], they may also be a [[Five-Bad Band]].
If they know all the moves of their heroic counterparts, the Psycho Rangers may be too strong for their duplicates one-on-one. The heroes can sometimes turn the tables by [[Opponent Switch|switching opponents and fighting each others' evil doubles]]. Without knowledge of the heroes' fighting techniques, the Psycho Rangers become much easier to defeat. (Unless they promptly switch ''back'' again.)
If
The most extreme, but not the most common, type of Psycho Rangers are literally evil clones or [[Mirror Universe]] counterparts of the heroes.
A [[Sub-Trope]] of [[Five-Bad Band]] and [[Quirky Miniboss Squad]]. May to various extents also be a [[Similar Squad]]. Can be part of a [[Geodesic Cast]]. Usually turns out to be an [[Evil Knockoff]] team. May lead to [[Counterpart Combat Coordination]].
{{examples}}▼
▲{{examples}}
== Trope Namer ==
* The trope namer are the Psycho Rangers from ''[[Power Rangers in Space]]'', a group of evil rangers that fought against the Space Rangers during the course of the series. Their counterparts in ''[[Denji Sentai Megaranger]]'' were the Jaden Sentai Nejiranger.
Line 48:
** Taijutsu specialists face off when [[Incurable Cough of Death|sick and dying]] yet still unbeatable Kimimaro meets still-recovering miniature [[Bruce Lee Clone]] Rock Lee.
** Then the series proceeds to set Sasuke himself up as Naruto's very own Psycho Ranger. Right up to the point where Naruto and his charming spiritual freeloader start to psycho back...
* ''[[Sailor Moon]]'' had a set of these guys in most seasons (in order of appearance: Shittenou, Ayakashi Sisters, Witches 5, Amazones Quartet and Amazon Trio). Each of these groups was made up of [[
** Classic Sailor Moon: The Shittenou. Jaedite - Mars, Nephrite - Jupiter, Zoicite - Mercury, Kunzite - Venus.
** Sailor Moon R / Black Moon: The Ayakashi Sisters. Kooan - Mars, Berthier - Mercury, Petz - Jupiter, Calaveras - Venus.
Line 56:
* Weiss of ''[[Weiss Kreuz]]'' run into no less than ''three'' teams of Psycho Rangers, with increasingly closer resemblances to the series' four protagonists: Schreient, who qualified as Psycho Rangers mostly just by being a team of four assassins opposing the protagonists; Schwartz, who draw a more direct comparison ("Weiss" and "Schwartz" are German for "white" and "black"); and La Mort, the four villains of ''Dramatic Precious'', all-out Psycho Rangers who started out as a previous incarnation of Weiss themselves only to be driven [[Ax Crazy]] by the job.
* ''[[Digimon Frontier]]'''s Dark Legendary Warriors. Notably, there's not as many straight match-ups as you think; [[Holy Hand Grenade|Lobomon]] has a rivalry with [[Dark Is Edgy|Duskmon]], as does [[Designated Girl Fight|Kazemon with Ranamon]], but the other three per team aren't as clear-cut - the good guys tended to encounter just one of their dark counterparts at once, and they'd all team up against him.
** ''[[Digimon Savers]]''' Bio-Hybrids. Kouki to Marcus (both are [[Hot-Blooded]] fighters, but Kouki takes it all the way to sadistic [[Blood Knight]]), Nanami to Thomas (both [[Teen Genius
* In a recent chapter of ''[[Mahou Sensei Negima]]'', while observing [[Floating Continent]] Ostia, [[Arch Enemy]] [[White-Haired Pretty Boy|Fate]] has revealed that he has his own [[Transformation Trinket|Pactio cards]] and a squad of partners to match the Ala Alba. It was also revealed that Nagi Springfield's team the Ala Rubra when ''they'' fought Fate had a similar set of opponents each to match their abilities: a [[Supernatural Martial Arts|martial artist]], a [[The Big Guy|Big Guy]], a [[Glass Cannon|wide-spread destroyer]], a [[Barrier Warrior|barrier fighter]] and Fate himself to match the [[Kung Fu Wizard|combat]] [[Magic Knight|mage]] hero Nagi.
* Mewtwo's Pokemon clones from the [[Pokémon: The First Movie|first movie]]. The Venusaur, Charizard, Blastoise and Pikachu clones sport markings to distinguish them from the originals but the rest all look the same. It's subverted when {{spoiler|Ash gets killed in the crossfire and their tears revive him}}. In fact the movie might count as a deconstruction of this trope.
Line 83:
** The clones in the filler Invasion arc. They are stronger and more violent than the originals. And the filler [[Big Bad]] has cloned most of the captains. [[Cool Versus Awesome|Fun times]].
* The tail end of the last episode of the first season of ''[[Galaxy Angel (anime)|Galaxy Angel]]'' showed a team of evil counterparts to the Angels, one of whom was a spy that the real Angels just helped release. Unfortunately, [[They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot|this is all we ever see of them.]]
* In ''[[Berserk]]'', the "reborn" (for lack of a better term) Griffith creates a new Band of the Hawk (comprised mostly of [[Legions of Hell|Apostles]] like himself) that has counterparts to the
** Grunbeld is a massive warrior who wears similar armor and has an [[Arm Cannon]] like Guts
** Irvine and Locus are [[Bishounen]] [[Noble Demon]] characters who are obvious counterparts to two nobles (literally and figuratively) on Guts' side, Serpico and Roderick
Line 90:
* The ''[[Yes! Pretty Cure 5]]'' movie features a Dark Cure team. In what is perhaps a bit of [[Genre Savviness]], the first thing they do when they face the Pretty Cure team is to warp their counterparts off to different locations so they can't use the "switching opponents" trick.
* The Garuru Platoon from ''[[Keroro Gunsou]]''. Giroro's counterpart is [[Aloof Big Brother|Garuru]], Dororo's counterpart is [[Unknown Rival|Zoruru]], Kururu's counterpart is Tororo, Tamama's counterpart is Taruru, and Keroro's counterpart is {{spoiler|a child-aged clone of himself from before he met Fuyuki and Natsumi.}}
* [[Deconstructed]], like so many other tropes, in ''[[Angel Densetsu]]'', the various evil (and often [[Distaff Counterpart|spear]]) counterparts to the [[Five-Bad Band]] (no, that's not a typo) are not a cohesive unit, but come in bit and pieces, you have to think on it a bit to see all the similarities. Oh, and of course [[Zig-Zagging Trope|zig zagged]] too, the ''heroes'' are a Five '''Bad''' Band, so their enemies are... [[
* ''[[Eyeshield 21]]'' had traces of this in both Shinryuuji amd Ojou. Hiruma, Unsui, amd Takami are all physically average quarterbacks who compensate with their dedication and intelligence, Kurita, Yamabushi, and Ootawara are all incredibly large noseguards who cry at the end of their games, Monta, Ikkyu, and Sakuraba are all recievers determined to be the best who have one area of specialty, and Sena, Agon, and Shin are the "aces" of their team.
* ''[[Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt|Panty and Stocking With Garterbelt]]'' has the two [[Lawful Evil|rule-obsessed]] demon sisters Scanty and Kneesocks, whom are also the [[Big Bad]]'s daughters. Respectively they battle their counterparts with [[Revolvers Are Just Better|revolvers]] and [[Sinister Scythe|scythes]].
Line 120:
** Proteus = Metamorpho
** Vulcanus = Black Lightning
* The [[Incredible Hulk]]'s [[Evil Twin]], the [[Red Hulk]], joined forces with the [[Evil Counterpart
** Now there's also a Red She-Hulk in the mix.
* [[Norman Osborn]], the [[Villain with Good Publicity]] formerly known as the Green Goblin, led ''two'' groups of Psycho Rangers, as part of ''Dark Reign'':
Line 130:
** Patriot, the [[The Hero|determined leader]] is met by the doubt-filled, insecure Melter.
** The gay magician Wiccan's counterpart is the female sorceress Enchantress.
** The [[Action Girl]] Hawkeye II meets the Executioner II, a [[Psycho for Hire]]; both are [[Badass Normal
** Stature faces Big Zero, a [[Badass Bookworm]] [[Legacy Character]] against a [[Dark Action Girl]] and racist. Both are size-changers.
** Vision and Egghead are both robots.
Line 136:
** For unknown reasons, Hulkling doesn't have a counterpart in the other team. The Dark Young Avengers are somewhat unusual, because the Dark Young Avengers were not gathered together to fight the original Young Avengers, but just want to be heroes. However, they will probably end up under Osborn's control. What's more, some relationships between the members of the Dark Young Avengers mirror those in the Young Avengers. just like Stature and Vision love each other, Big Zero has a crush on Egghead.
** The title of the story arc; "Young Masters", combined with their names, offers a pretty big clue as to where it's going.
* ''[[X-Men]]'' examples:
** In one of the ''
** In the ''Fall of the Mutants'' arc, when the X-Men went missing, the villain Mojo tried to use cloning technology to create his own version of them. He first tried gender-swapped and [[Furry]] versions of them (Mojo is far more concerned with a minion's entertainment value than battle prowress) but considered the results failed experiments [[Bad Boss| and had them destroyed]]. He then created child versions of them (the second incarnation of the "X-Babies", the first being the actual team that had been de-aged) but again considered them a failure and ordered them disposed of... But they escaped, and would ally themselves with ''[[Excalibur (Comic Book)|Excalibur]]'', making this a Subversion. They would ultimately work for Mojo again, after he agreed to a ''very'' long list of contract negotiation conditions in their favor.
* The original Soviet Super Heroes team primarily featured clear counterparts to [[The Avengers (Comic Book)|The Avengers]] team they often opposed. Perun, the Slavic god of thunder, was the Thor counterpart; Sputnik/Vostok, a calculating android, was the Vision's counterpart; the Red Guardian, uber-patriotic Soviet supersoldier, was the Captain America analogue; Surge, a man in a suit of [[Powered Armor]], was Iron Man; Sabercat was the Beast, Vanguard was Hawkeye, Darkstar was the Scarlet Witch, etc.
* Another case of the Psycho Rangers not actually facing their counterparts (because [[Final Crisis|they're dead]]) is the team of knock-off [[New Gods]] that have bedeviled the [[Justice League of America]]: Dr Impossible, the evil Mr Miracle from an early storyline, is now joined by Hunter (evil Orion); Neon Black (evil Lightray); Chair (evil [and dumb] Metron); and Tender Mercy (evil Big Barda).
Line 145 ⟶ 147:
* In the [[Archie Comics]] version of ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog (comics)|Sonic the Hedgehog]]'', there's at least three groups. The first is the Suppression Squad, [[Mirror Universe]] counterparts of the Freedom Fighters. The second is the Destructix, a group of mercenaries lead by Scourge the Hedgehog, Sonic's [[Mirror Universe]] counterpart, and his girlfriend Fiona Fox (which may be a jab at Sonic and Sally being unable to stay together). Recently, Eggman's unleased a series of Metal-series bots comprised of Metal Sonic, Metal Tails, Metal Knuckles and {{spoiler|Mecha Sally}}.
== Fan
* A rather interesting case in ''[[Pretty Cure Perfume Preppy]]''. The Akutare brothers, managers of the Sunday Scent Shop, oppose the girls in episodes 16 and 17... But the girls are five, so neither Ayameko nor Hanae have counterparts.
** Counterpart fan series ''[[Shining Pretty Cure]]'' and ''[[Pretty Cure Full Color]]'' play this more straightly, with the main villains being an equally element-oriented team of [[Evil Counterpart
* In the [[All Things Probable Series|"All Things Probable" series]] of ''[[Kim Possible]]'' fanfics, [http://www.fanhistory.com/wiki/Team_Probable Team Probable]{{Dead link}} is a group similar to Team Possible, except that they assist villains for pay rather than stopping them for free. Its members (except the [[Team Pet]]) are the [[Distaff Counterpart|opposite]] [[Spear Counterpart|gender]] from their respective counterparts.
* In ''[[My Little Avengers]]'', [[Big Bad|Loki]] eventually assembles a team of Dark Avengers to combat Thor's Avenger team, selecting ponies whose powers make them [[Evil Counterpart
* {{spoiler|The Axem Rangers X}} in Part 2 of ''[[Clash of the Elements]]''
Line 164 ⟶ 166:
* The ''[[City of Heroes]]'' [[Expanded Universe]] novel ''The Freedom Phalanx'' has the Tyranny Legion, Psycho Rangers for the not-yet-formed Phalanx. The armored hero Positron has his old boss, Doctor Null, who's stuck inside his armor; Synapse, who got his powers from one of Null's experiments, has Revenant, his ex-friend who was turned into a zombie through a similar experiment; Sister Psyche, the mutant psychic, has the Shadow Queen, whose psychic powers come from a possessed mask; Manticore, a [[Batman]]-esque vigilante, has Protean, the shapeshifter who killed his parents; and, of course, Statesman has Lord Recluse, whose rivalry the entire game revolves around.
* [[Tom Clancy]]'s ''[[In Name Only|Op-Center]]'' series (which, as the [[Pothole]] implies, was ghostwritten) has the titular crisis command headquarters and its Russian counterpart, ''Mirror Image''. Sometimes they cooperate, sometimes not.
* Sherman Alexie's horror novel ''[[Indian Killer]]'' features two [[Power Trio
* In ''[[Animorphs]]'', [[Sixth Ranger Traitor|David]]'s ultimate plan for the [[Super Empowering|blue box]] was to use it to create a gang of morphing criminals to counter the Animorphs. The Animorphs were able to defeat him before he could put this plan into action.
Line 220 ⟶ 222:
** Sync is actually Guy's counterpart, although this is more by virtue of everyone else being taken than anything else.
*** Storywise, there is a time when Sync and Guy conterpart each other, when Sync puts the curse mark on Guy.
* The Cocytus members in ''[[Wild
** Don't forget the villains of [[Wild
* The Praetorians in ''[[City of Heroes]]'' are the [[Mirror Universe|evil other-universe]] counterparts of the Freedom Corps heroes.
** The first of the new Positron Task Forces introduced in Issue 17: Dark Mirror, feature a team of "[[Evil Knockoff|shadow simulacra]]" of the [[Player Party]]. Issue 17 in general revolves around doubles of the [[Player Character]].
Line 232 ⟶ 234:
* In ''[[Battle Realms]]'' the Serpent clan is the yin counterpart of the yang Dragon clan.
* ''[[Hexen]]'' has Zedek, Traductus, and Menelkir, a trio of [[The Dragon|Dragons]] who are clones of the three player character classes. Each uses the most powerful weapon of his class.
* The ''[[
* The Dark Aeons from ''[[Final Fantasy X]]'' are evil versions of all the Aeons that can be obtained in the game and boast higher HP, super powerful attacks and evil colour schemes. Though they are fought separately, the Dark Magus Sisters are fought together thus invoking the trope. Your normal Aeons will take on the appearances of the Dark Aeons at the end when Yu Yevon possesses them. They reappear in the sequel as possessed once again.
* In ''[[Ultima IV]]'', the final fight is against the "evil yous", a team of evil copies of your party.
Line 271 ⟶ 273:
* The Anti J-Team in ''[[Jackie Chan Adventures]]'', comprised of criminal counterparts of Jackie, Jade, Viper, El Toro, and Tohru.
* The Delightful Children From Down The Lane in ''[[Codename: Kids Next Door]]'' look eerily similar to [[Five-Man Band|Sector V]]. {{spoiler|The movie reveals that they were once the lost team from Sector Z.}}
* CHYKN in ''[[WITCH (animation)|WITCH]]''. Formerly the team that did the job WITCH does now, Season 2 Big Bad and [[Fallen Hero
** CHYKN was technically stronger than WITCH because they had two [[Amplifier Artifact
* One of the [[Big Bad
* In the Original ''[[Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 1987|Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles]]'' Series, the Punk Frogs are a notable subversion. While Shredder did (indirectly) mutate them from ordinary frogs, going as far as to teach them how to fight as well as even ''naming them'' based off his heroes such as [[Napoleon Bonaparte]] and Genghis Khan, he had to trick the frogs into believing that the Turtles were the bad guys in order [[Let's You and Him Fight|for the Frogs to fight them.]] When they find out the truth, the Frogs instantly turn against him.
* Played straight and subverted on ''[[Justice League]]''. In the original, there were three versions of the Injustice Gang. However, only the third was made of any form of counterparting to the seven members of the League (and even then, the relations were stretched at best), and the fights for each tended to trade off who fought who every time. In ''Unlimited'', the various Injustice League members merged into the [[Legion of Doom]], which had grown in response to the Justice League's growth. It should be noted that the villain The Shade has the distinction of being on all four Injustice Leagues. (He points this out at the third Injustice League formation, to which the villain recruiting him replies "Third time's the charm".)
Line 279 ⟶ 281:
** In the [[Grand Finale]], when the Legion of Doom and the Justice League were about to come to blows, there was an excellent shot of everybody facing off with their [[Evil Counterpart]]: Green Lantern vs. Sinestro, Superman vs. Bizarro, Atomic Skull vs. [[Captain Atom]], Giganta vs. Iron Giant, Volcana vs. Fire...and Batman standing alone, since nobody is cool enough to beat Batman.
*** or because of the Bat embargo, none of his rogue's gallery could appear.
* ''[[
* ''[[
* Clones of the protagonists from ''[[Gargoyles]]''. Subverted in that only Goliath's clone [[Sdrawkcab Name|Thailog]] was actually evil. But they did have the same fighting their doubles problem.
** In the comic book continuation, {{spoiler|Lexington's clone Brentwood chose to stick with Thailog. He's portrayed, like the rest, as more gullible and naive than actually evil.}}
Line 291 ⟶ 293:
[[Category:Foil]]
[[Category:The Index Team]]
[[Category:
[[Category:Ensembles]]
[[Category:Villains]]
[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]]
[[Category:This Index Is Copypasted]]
| |||