Zord - Zords Used By Enemies

Zords Used By Enemies

Several times during the Power Rangers series, certain villains have piloted Zords of their own or taken control of the Zords belonging to the Power Rangers. The first instance of this was during the first season of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, in the Green With Evil arc, in which the Rangers first fought the evil Green Ranger and his Dragonzord. In this encounter, the Zord was eventually been liberated from evil forces and under the command of the Rangers -- although the Dragonzord would later be used for evil again, by Goldar and by the clone of the Green Ranger. The same idea was reused at the 'culmination' of the first season of Mighty Morphin, when Goldar piloted the Zord Cyclopsis against the Rangers.

Later, Lord Zedd also piloted a terrifyingly powerful Zord called Serpentera, based on a Chinese dragon (similar to the Red Dragon Thunderzord). Massive enough to dwarf standard Megazords, Serpentera possessed nearly unstoppable firepower and impenetrable armor, but it was never able to defeat the Rangers because it was continually running out of fuel. Serpentera reappeared in the Red Ranger team-up episode, Forever Red, where it was finally destroyed by the Red Wild Force Ranger by flying a glider through it (not quite a fitting end for such a titan of a zord).

The idea of "evil Zords" was reused several times in later seasons, for example Power Rangers Turbo, in which Divatox and her minions pilot several machines called DivaZords, and Power Rangers in Space, in which Psycho Yellow takes control of the Mega Voyager while the Rangers are in it.

In Power Rangers Time Force there are several giant robots that are used by the mechanical Frax, some of which actually grow like mutants. They are not addressed as Zords in the show, although in Mirai Sentai Timeranger (the Sentai Show that Power Rangers Time Force came from), one of the giant robots was named the G-Zord. This was the first time that the Zord term was ever used on a Sentai program.

Frax's "Zords" included: Tronicon, a cyclopean golden robot with powerful energy weapons; Dragontron, a reptilian machine only vulnerable in a core on its back (and actually the G-Zord renamed for Power Rangers Time Force); Max Axe, a heavily armed robot unleashed on the Rangers near the end of their mission; and Doomtron, a devastatingly powerful machine piloted by Frax himself. All were destroyed by the various Time Force Zords, with Doomtron's destruction also spelling the end of its creator.

In Power Rangers S.P.D., a large assortment of giant robots are used by the monsters of the series. While not referred to as Zords, these robots are Zord-like in operation, essentially replacing the monsters themselves as opponents for the Megazord.

In Power Rangers Operation Overdrive Moltor and Flurious had some robots among their monster armies, while the Fearcats use a small assortment of giant robots similar to the monsters of Power Rangers S.P.D. While not referred to as Zords, these robots are Zord-like in operation.

There is one villain Zord in the US version which wasn't really a giant robot in the Sentai version; the Zord Lothor piloted at the end of Power Rangers Ninja Storm. This was done in order to use the final battle footage from Ninpuu Sentai Hurricaneger, the Sentai series that Ninja Storm is based on, since Lothor is an American-made Power Ranger villain.