Just The Dumbest PR Foot Soldiers

As a child in the late tens - one of the shows that I held dear (but now an Old Shame) was Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers. I could remember how Lord Zedd became known to be more intimidating than Rita Repulsa but proved to be just as stupid. I mean, it took their marriage (and him becoming less scary) to finally make him an even bigger threat (which still made him scary). I think one of the issues that I had was the rise of the Z-Putties. 

Lord Zedd arrived and bragged that he would do better than Rita Repulsa. Goldar suggested sending putties. Lord Zedd finally created a new brand of putties that he claimed was supposedly stronger. Yes, they appeared stronger as the Power Rangers were worn out from the first encounter. However, the tide was changed when Jason discovered that the Z on their chests was the WEAK SPOT. One punch then POOF - those guys managed to blow out! I kinda find that quite weird really. Sure, they were stronger than Rita's Putties but they were Glass Cannons - high offense power at the cost of defense. What in the world was Lord Zedd thinking?

One needs to watch the unmorphed battles in the second season. It just became pointless when the rangers were capable of destroying the putties by hitting the Z with a strong force OUT OF SUIT. It's really that weird. In Super Sentai, such wasn't the case with out-of-suit battles. The Changemen could only do one-shot kills on the Hidrers if they were MORPHED. The Biomen couldn't break the Mechaclones in one hit if they were unmorphed. What in the world was Lord Zedd thinking of having his Putties (referred to as Z-Putties by the fans) by making them THAT VULNERABLE despite their superior strength?

Maybe, the most infamous moment of Lord Zedd's lack of common sense was in "Rangers Back in Time Part 1". Lord Zedd sends some of the Z-Putties to deal with the Power Rangers who were turned into children. Did the Z-Putties win? It really gets so funny when the Power Kids end up defeating them with a ball? They started throwing the ball at the Z emblems and the whole ambush was useless. Did Lord Zedd fail to create a better bunch and send a weaker bunch? There are times that Lord Zedd's putties require to be beaten to submission before the Z becomes a self-destruct button. It seems Lord Zedd thought he'd win against the "brats" by sending in a weaker bunch. I mean, he should've sent a stronger bunch but he got overconfident. 

The chances are that the Z-Putties were created for one reason - censorship! Lord Zedd was introduced as more intimidating BUT he's still TV-Y7-FV compliant. Early on, a lot of Super Sentai footage often had the Zyurangers fight off the Golems with WEAPONS. There was probably a call for greater censorship. The best solution was probably the Z-Putties. I felt the Cotpotros in Gosei Sentai Dairanger were originally used. However, the Cotpotros looked scary in contrast to the Putties. The Putties were based on Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger footage of the Golems. The Golems can look downright funny in contrast to the Cotpotros. 

What I find funny is that Rita didn't bother to fix these. Lord Zedd and Rita were slowly becoming a power couple. Rita could've suggested to Finster to prepare the old standard putties and have Lord Zedd empower them with his evil energies. Instead, it seemed that the two were indifferent about this weak spot. Eventually, they faded away and only made a cameo in Power Rangers in Space.