 | This article is about a/an villain in Power Rangers Zeo, the second installment in the Zordon Era. |
- "You haven't heard the last of King Mondo and the Machine Empire!"
- ―King Mondo's final words before his death[src]
King Mondo, also known as the Machine King, was the ruler of the Machine Empire and the main antagonist of Power Rangers Zeo.
History
Power Rangers Zeo
Driving Rita Repulsa and Lord Zedd off the moon, Mondo believed the Earth would be an easy conquest, but was shocked when his army of Cogs was repelled by the Zeo Rangers. Intrigued by the idea of being challenged in a conquest, Mondo decided to take his time trying to conquer Earth, as he had gotten bored of the easy takeovers of other galaxies.
However, Mondo soon grew tired of the Rangers, who repeatedly thwarted his plans (some successful, some almost successful, some not). The conquest of Earth was made even more difficult when the Gold Ranger arrived and bolstered the Zeo Rangers' ranks, despite repeated efforts by the Machine King to take the Gold Ranger's powers for himself. Mondo finally tired of fooling around and unearthed the ancient Sword of Damocles, intending to personally destroy the rangers. He grew giant and confronted Earth's defenders, but was vanquished by their new Super Zeo Megazord.
Despite this victory for the Rangers, Queen Machina expressed confidence that Mondo would be rebuilt. During this time, the Royal House of Gadgetry had to deal with potential usurper Louie Kaboom, who tried to woo Machina but eventually placed her and Prince Sprocket under arrest and ruled by decree. Mondo's first son Prince Gasket soon arrived with his wife Archerina, took care of Kaboom, and then took over themselves.
King Mondo returned to the throne shortly after chasing away the two. He clashed with the rangers in battle with his new monster Cog Changer. When Rita and Zedd threw down their gauntlet and sent down their own monster, Mondo asked them for a temporary alliance and merged the two monsters, but this plan failed. After a failed attempt to steal the Gold Ranger Powers again, the Royal House of Gadgetry met with Rita and Zedd on the moon to strike up an alliance. However, they were double crossed as Rita and Zedd's "surrender" gift was actually a bomb. Mondo and his family were blown to bits but Mondo survives, though he is badly damaged and swore vengeance.
Power Rangers in Space
Mysteriously rebuilt once again, King Mondo attended Dark Specter's conference on the Cimmerian Planet with his wife and was present when a mysterious red ranger crashed the party. Months later, he teamed with General Havoc and led the Machine Empire in invading KO-35 and the Phantom Ranger's homeplanet. When Zordon's energy wave struck, King Mondo was reduced to a pile of sand, destroyed forever.
Power Rangers Wild Force
King Mondo's statue
Years later, General Venjix, the leader of the Machine Empire remnants, still looks up to his former king as a living god over creation. Before his destruction, he is sad that he has failed his king years after the Machine Empire fell. King Mondo is mentioned by Venjix, as he shows to his minions a statue of him.
Power Rangers Beast Morphers
Many years later, King Mondo had been mentioned by Robo-Roxy when Lord Zedd betrayed him (with Rita) and destroyed him along with his family.
Personality
True to his name, King Mondo acts very much like a king or an emperor, he is a ruthless entity that will do anything in his power to destroy the Rangers and rule the Earth, despite this, he is loyal to his monster creations (valuing them as his equals) and is good terms with his family, as well as his servants Klank and Orbus (even so, he does occasionally boss them around a little). He loves his wife and second son dearly, but is on shaky terms with his first son due to the fact that he married the daughter of his sworn rival King Aradon.
He loves his second son Sprocket so much that on his birthday he and his wife gave him Wrecking Ball as one of his birthday presents.
Family
- Queen Machina: Wife
- Prince Gasket & Prince Sprocket: Sons
- Princess Archerina: Daughter-in-law
Powers and Abilities
Being the ruler of all machines, King Mondo is one of the most powerful villains in Power Rangers Zeo, he is also shown to be more powerful than Rita herself.
Normal Form
- Strength: King Mondo possesses a great deal of strength.
- Lighting Beam: King Mondo can fire a light blue colored lighting beam from his finger.
- Force Field: King Mondo can conker a force field to prevent the Rangers from teleporting.
- Teleportation: King Mondo can teleport to any location at will.
- Boxing Combat: Humorously, it is shown that King Mondo is excellent at boxing.
Arsenal
- Machine Staff: King Mondo possesses a staff to aid him in combat. It resembles a cogwheel combined with a turbine engine.
- Lighting Wave: King Mondo can fire a light blue colored lighting wave from his staff.
- Lighting Rain: King Mondo can also fire light blue colored lighting beams in the air that will drop down on the enemy.
- Lighting Beam: King Mondo can fire light blue colored lighting beams from his staff.
- Lighting Balls: King Mondo can fire electric bolts from staff.
Super Form
- Enhanced Strength: With the Sword of Damocles in hand, Super King Mondo is now ten times as strong as before.
- Enhanced Durability: Also with the Sword of Damocles, Super King Mondo now gains thicker skin, being able to withstand blows from the Super Zeo Zord 3 and not even get a scratch.
Arsenal
- Sword Of Damocles: A weapon that King Mondo sealed away 1,000 years ago, it aids Super King Mondo in combat, it is shown to be even more powerful then the Machine Staff, being able to destroy the Super Zeo Zord 3's weapon.
- Energy Laser Barrage: An upgraded form of the lighting balls fired from his staff, King Mondo can fire a barrage of red colored energy lasers from his sword.
Behind the Scenes
Portrayal
- King Mondo is portrayed by David Stenstrom.
Notes
- Mondo's title of monarchy is a misnomer, since he's a king, not an emperor like his Sentai counterpart, who rules the Machine Empire. However, this misnomer can be excused, since a similar thing happened in real life, as the historical British Empire was still ruled by kings and queens.
- If one looks closely at King Mondo's face, they can see a molded-in moustache.
- In the Power Rangers Zeo vs The Machine Empire, he is referred to as 'The Emperor.'
- Mondo is notable for being the first main villain in the Power Rangers franchise to be destroyed in direct combat against the Power Rangers, albeit only temporary.
- Also unlike his Ohranger counterpart Bacchus Wrath where after his first defeat, he returns only as a head, Mondo is completly rebuilt when he returns to power. This is depicted using spliced Ohranger footage and newly-shot footage to accomodate Mondo's presence.
- He is the only villainous leader from the Zordon-Era to be destroyed in Countdown to Destruction. The others, namely Rita, Zedd, Divatox, and Astronema/Karone, were all purified from evil and changed into humans.
- King Mondo is the first villainous leader in the Power Rangers franchise to be a robot.
See Also
- Emperor Bacchus Wrath - Super Sentai counterpart in Ohranger. See comparison page.
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