 This article is about a/an source of power in the Power Rangers franchise.
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The Morphing Grid damaged.
TV STORY-Once A Ranger
The universal Morphing Grid is an energy field which gives power to any Power Ranger, even if they are an alien, a little kid or an adult. It was first mentioned by Zordon, then assumed and proven in Once A Ranger that it gives power to every generation of Rangers and each team of Rangers has a specific link to the Morphing Grid. When a Ranger morphs they use their morpher to create an entryway to pass through the Grid and gain their powers. Once a Ranger morphs the powers that came with the morpher are instantaneously entered into their cellular make-up. TV STORY-Welcome to the Jungle
Nature
In Season 2 of MMPR it was mentioned by Lord Zedd that the Grid is maintained by a balance between the major forces of good and evil (i.e. Zordon and Lord Zedd in that time period). The Morphing Grid is mentioned and plays a major role again in Dino Thunder and Operation Overdrive.
In RPM, Doctor K explains that she discovered a Bio-Field of energy from which she was able to draw power for the RPM Ranger Series Operators and their subsequent weapons, morphers and Zords. Though it is never identified as such in the series it is implied and assumed by many fans that what she calls the Bio-Field is meant to be the Morphing Grid.
In the Boom! Studios comics, whose canonicity is disputed, Doctor K mentions that Lord Drakkon's cannons, which were designed to disrupt a Ranger's connection to the Morphin' Grid, could disrupt the Ranger Operators' connection to the Bio Field, indicating that they are one and the same. TV STORY-Mighty Morphin Power Rangers (Boom! Studios) Issue 27
Physical form
The Grid's physical form was only shown once in the Dino Thunder wrap-up special leading into S.P.D. and was a large boulder with a gem on top. This form functions like an absorbing device, allowing Rangers to add memories to the Morphing Grid; it also functions like a psychic's crystal ball allowing Rangers a small glimpse of future Rangers and battles. Once a Ranger's memories have been added to the Grid it will go into a standby mode so only the Rangers of the future themselves can insert their memories. However, certain objects can suppress these memories such as the Rock of Time. TV STORY-Rangers Back in Time
The Beyond the Grid arc of the Boom! Studios Power Rangers comic introduced the Solarix, a golden Morphing Grid fragment that once existed in The Void. This supercharges a Ranger's powers allowing them to utilize the Grid's ability to create constructs such as Ranger suits and expands it to create energy construct duplicates of their respective Zords to use in battle. The fragment also allows them to morph in places that Rangers normally cannot such as areas with no access to the Morphing Grid whatsoever. TV STORY-Beyond the Grid
In Power Rangers Beast Morphers, the organization Grid Battleforce based in Coral Harbor has managed to give the Morphin Grid a physical state, in the form of Morph-X, which can be used as a clean energy source as well as create a new team of Power Rangers. However this type of energy can be infected by computer viruses such as Evox, who generated evil avatars of the Power Rangers. The original hosts' bodies will be rendered comatose until their twin avatar is destroyed completely.
Abilities and limitations
Morphing, Zords and life force connections
The Morphing Grid can only contain a single bearer each of a certain power, meaning that over one of the same Rangers cannot coexist very long and when two or more Rangers of the same color and power type exist will have to go. This is shown when the Grid suffers an imbalance from the existence of Trent Fernandez-Mercer and his evil clone. TV STORY-Strange Relations This was also mentioned when Zordon forbade the use of the second Pink Pterodactyl Power Coin stating "Too much pink energy [was] dangerous". TV STORY-Wild West Rangers Oddly enough, the Grid does not seem to fluctuate power erratically between users when Lauren Shiba is introduced as the true Red Samurai Ranger; this may have been due to Lauren's use of an older model of Samuraizer in comparison to the newer ones the rest of the Samurai Rangers, including her brother Jayden wielded. In Super Megaforce, Gosei warns the Rangers that using the Legendary Ranger Keys for an extended period and in general would challenge their strengths and weaknesses each time they unlocked new powers and would be dangerous. Indeed, a well-placed shot during their first battle forces the team to return back from their Mystic Force Ranger forms, prompting them to do constant switches from then on. TV STORY-Super Megaforce (episode)
Much of the Grid is unknown or not explained in the series. Zordon has mentioned twice that the destruction of the Rangers' Zords would also mean the destruction of their powers, as it happened with the Thunderzords. TV STORY-Ninja Quest This is most likely true only for teams such as the original Power Rangers, however, as many subsequent generations lost their Zords and their powers remained intact, although in some cases this was only temporary.
When Lord Zedd first attempted to destroy the Dinozords the Rangers did not lose their powers due to the loss of the Zords because Alpha 5 rescued whatever he could to recreate them as the Thunderzords (it is assumed what remained of the originals were used to create new Zords again and again since they are components of the Thunderzords). TV STORY-The Mutiny
With some Ranger teams the source of their powers may somehow be tied to their well-being through the Grid and if their energies are spread too far and thin the resulting consequences can be dangerous. Accordingly, when Kimberly Ann Hart had her Pink Ninja Crane Power Coin stolen and presumably replaced with a fake by Katherine Hillard, who was under the control of Rita Repulsa she began to weaken and her life-force slowly faded away, especially when exerting herself in battle and during gymnastics training, the latter of which landed her in the hospital; this was possibly amplified by her energy being drained when she was captured by Katherine and a group of Tenga Warriors after being lured into a trap and both it and the Ninja Falconzord's technology were already in use to simultaneously tap into Ninjor's own powers to energize the Blue Globbor monster. TV STORY-Changing of the Zords TV STORY-A Different Shade of Pink
It should also be noted that Alpha 6 tells Adam Park in his guest appearance in In Space that his use of a damaged morpher (also mentioning the destruction of the Power Coins but it's assumed only the power, not the actual coins themselves were gone since Adam still had his) might kill him and during the episode Adam starts to lose his powers after he morphs which takes a toll on his body. TV STORY-Always a Chance In Dino Thunder, Tommy Oliver mentions that the only way to sever the Dino Gems' bonds with their hosts is to destroy said hosts. TV STORY-Day of the Dino
Earlier in Ninja Storm when the Ninja Rangers and Thunder Rangers faced Madtropolis, who drained their Wind Morphers and Thunder Morphers they were left feeling weak and tired without their ninja energies until Cameron Watanabe helped restore them TV STORY-The Samurai's Journey; later, when Motodrone seemingly siphoned off Hunter Bradley's Crimson Ranger energy he was unable to move whatsoever, although Cam revealed that only an imprint of Hunter's powers had been drained. TV STORY-Brothers In Arms When Lothor used Cam's Samurai Amulet to steal their powers permanently only the Wind Rangers' inner ninja civilian powers remained which they subsequently used to seal Lothor away in the Abyss of Evil TV STORY-Storm Before the Calm; although their Power Disks only had enough energy left for one last battle by the time Lothor escaped. TV STORY-Thunder Storm
In Super Megaforce it is currently unknown how Gosei managed to link the Legendary Ranger Keys to the Morphing Grid to allow the Mega Rangers to transform into past Power Rangers. It is also unknown how past Rangers who lost their powers or had them destroyed were able to regain them for the final battle against the Armada. TV STORY-Legendary Battle
In Shattered Grid, it is theorized by Jen Scotts that the Morphing Grid can also manipulate time/space should something catastrophic happen as she reveals that the former linear timeline is now separated into different universes. She theorizes that the death of Tommy Oliver at the hands of Lord Drakkon caused such heavy damage to the timeline, as Tommy is important to the Ranger timeline, that the Morphing Grid literally separated each era to isolate each Ranger team, so that deaths of members of previous teams would not affect later ones.
In the 2018 Free Comic Book Day special, Zordon travels into the Morphin Grid to speak with mysterious beings he called the Morphing Masters. Little else is known about them aside from the fact that they are very powerful. However, Zordon's attempt to gain an audience with them meant he sacrificed his future in the Morphing Grid, saying that Zordon at minimum would otherwise have joined the Morphin Grid upon his death (similar to what happens in Star Wars episodes 4 and 6 when Obi-Wan, Yoda and Anakin became one with the Force upon their mortal deaths). It is unknown if all beings become one with the Grid when they die or if Zordon would have been a special case.
Matter manipulation
The Grid also has the power to manipulate matter, both organic and non-organic; in The Wedding, Alpha tapped into the Grid to produce flowers outside the Command Center and clothes for Bulk and Skull when the then-evil Alpha teleported them into the Australian outback to torture them. In Alpha's Magical Christmas, Alpha again taps into the Grid, this time to create some Christmas decorations, toys and gifts.
History
In Dino Thunder, it was revealed that Tommy Oliver found the Grid's physical form and used it to create the Ranger Archives with information of every generation of Power Rangers leading up to that point in time.
In the Operation Overdrive team-up episode Once A Ranger, the Grid was damaged by the combined powers of Thrax, Flurious, Moltor, Miratrix, Kamdor, Mig and Benglo. The Grid itself was shown to have massive electrical surges firing off inside. When Sentinel Knight restored the Retro Rangers' powers, it was shown that the only part of the grid that had been damaged was the section that connected to the Overdrive Rangers. Andrew Hartford managed to reinforce the Grid to prevent further damage, but it had to be repaired from the inside, which Alpha 6 did.
The Grid is also presumably where Noah Carver acquired the Legendary Ranger Database from, which would prove invaluable in the fight against the Armada.
In the Beast Morphers series, a substance known as Morph-X that has ties to the Grid, as well as scientists who can tap into its power and an evil, sentient computer virus named Evox that wishes to take over the Grid itself as the main villain.[1]