Anyone who watched Mighty Morphin Power Rangers back in the '90s remembers the Putties. Almost always Rita Repulsa's first move against the Power Rangers, the Putties were often seen being freshly baked in Finster's monster-matic before he crafted the monster of the week. These seemingly mindless minions ran around in body suits over a decade before Charlie Day in It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia popularized the green man suit. They also gobbled like turkeys, which is a whole other story. Needless to say, these characters were pretty bizarre. What you may not remember is that they're actually more bizarre when you delve into the strange goings on that happened over the course of the show.
Do you remember all the ridiculous costumes the Putties would wear? And no, we're not just talking about the Z vests, but we'll get to those too. Or what about the time they lost at dodge ball? Or when they lost against a squash? Rita and Lord Zedd's go-to minions really do not make a dang lick of sense. We put this list together here of 15 examples of how these clay based half-wits just boggle the mind. And trust us, it was pretty darn tough to narrow it down to just 15!
15 DON'T MESS WITH THE Z
When Lord Zedd came crashing into the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers for Season 2 in the episode "The Mutiny," it really seemed like things were going to get worse for the Rangers. Zedd was a more threatening villain than we had seen on the show before, and he was looking to make his mark. He even revamped the Putties claiming they'd be more powerful.
These new Putties commonly referred to as Z-Putty Patrollers had a more shiny silver appearance and wore vests with a big Z on them. At first they were in fact more than a match for the Rangers; until they realized they're instantly destroyed by tapping the Z on their vest. Despite discovering this glaring flaw, Zedd continued to use them without making any modifications. How does that make any sense?
14 MADE FROM SAME MACHINE AS MORE POWERFUL MONSTERS
Finster was the go-to baddie on the moon to create monsters for Rita and Lord Zedd. Most episodes of the show early on portrayed Finster molding a monster out of clay to put through the monster-matic, but first he'd usually make a batch of Putties to send down to fight our intrepid teenagers with attitude.
Something here doesn't really make any sense though. How come the Putties are so weak compared to these other monsters when they're all made from the machine? They're all made from clay too. It doesn't seem to be an issue of resources because the bad guys never run out of clay and call it quits. It really just doesn't make any sense.
13 THEY CAN DRIVE. SERIOUSLY.
In the season one episode "Enter... The Lizzinator," and no that's not one of Liz Lemon's nicknames on 30 Rock, Rita Repulsa sends down Lizzinator to defeat the Power Rangers because what else is she going to do? She also sends down some Putty Patrollers. This time though, one brave Putty does the seemingly impossible.
At one point while Putties are confronting the Red Ranger, one actually gets in a car, drives it, and tries to mow down our hero. This Putty actually comes pretty close, having the Red Ranger hanging on for dear life onto the roof of the car. Eventually, the Putty drives the car off a cliff. Hey, we didn't say they could drive well.
12 THEY CAN'T SPEAK ENGLISH UNLESS (THEY'RE IN DISGUISE)
Sometimes the Putties wear disguises and for absolutely no reason given, they can speak fluent English while in their getup. One of the episodes this takes place in is the season one episode "A Pig Surprise". In this episode, a Putty disguises itself as an old lady to get someone from Angel Grove to adopt a pet Pig, Norman, that turns out to be one of Rita's monsters who is also in disguise.
First off, how are the Putties capable of speaking fluent English like this and passing for human so well that they can even trick the Power Rangers themselves? Secondly, if they are capable of doing this, why doesn't Rita take advantage of this ability and have the Putties doing this like every single time? Either this makes no sense or Rita isn't much brighter than her Putty Patrollers.
11 MADE FROM THE SAME MOLD, LOOK DIFFERENT
We clearly see Finster has a mold that he puts the clay to make the Putty Patrollers in to put through his machine. We also know that when you have a mold to put clay in, the product that comes out of that mold should look nearly identical to everything that has come out before and after it.
For some reason, the Putties vary quite a bit despite being from the same molds. No, we aren't just talking about the actors portraying them being different heights and weights (though we could make that a sticking point if we wanted to), we're talking about their designs. They all have black line designs in the costumes and they all vary from Putty to Putty. It makes no sense!
10 CURSED GLASSES MAKE YOU SEE PUTTIES
In the season two episode "Putty On The Brain" Lord Zedd has a sinister plot to get the Rangers to fight each other by cursing a pair of glasses that, once worn, would make the wearer see the other Rangers as Putties. Fortunately for Zedd, Billy and Zack end up wearing the glasses and now see the other Rangers as Putties, but not each other.
First off, this is a very specific curse. Secondly, it only makes someone see Putties so the people that look like Putties now still talk and act the same as they used to. It would be mildly confusing at best, like when G.O.B. tried swapping the water coolers out in that one episode of Arrested Development. Plus, if Zedd made this curse, why couldn't he pick something more threatening than Putties? It makes zero sense.
9 SUPER PUTTIES HAD ONE WEAKNESS (AND IT WAS PRETTY STUPID)
In the season one episode "Gung Ho!" Rita Repulsa introduces us to the Super Putties. These Putties are nearly indestructible as they only have one weakness, and if they're fought against by normal means rather than being defeated they'll split, thus creating a new Super Putty. This is a considerable upgrade to the original Putties.
The one weakness they have are Thunder Slingers, an oddly specific weapon that requires teamwork to reach, as well as confronting the legendary Titanus Zord. Tommy and Jason are able to go through the obstacles, get the Thunder Slingers, and then easily dispatch the Super Putties. Really anti-climatic.
8 RITA ONLY USED THE SUPER PUTTIES ONCE
Rita Repulsa's Putty Patrollers are used nearly every episode and they do very little other than to tip the Power Rangers off that she's up to something. When Lord Zedd tried to upgrade the Putties he ended up arguably making them even easier to defeat by giving them a very clear target, allowing them to be defeated in one hit.
When it comes to the Super Putties though, despite being dispatched easily in the episode "Gung Ho!" once the Rangers had the Thunder Slingers, they are never used again. These Putties are much more powerful than the Z Putties and yet those get used constantly. Why not at least try to use the Super Putties more or try to get the Thunder Slingers from the Rangers? It just makes no sense.
7 THE 2017 MOVIE PUTTIES WERE ROCK GOLEMS
The 2017 Power Rangers movie hit theaters last year with mixed reactions from fans and casual moviegoers alike (though it was a big hit with Krispy Kreme). Part of this comes from the new origins for characters like Zordon and Rita, and the redesigns of characters like Goldar and yes, the Putty Patrollers.
The Putties in the 2017 movie are created by Rita herself and she creates them out of nearby materials, mostly concrete and rock. The whole reason they're called Putties, though, is because they're made of clay, so this update to them makes no sense for these mindless minions. They might as well have called them something else or not bothered using them.
6 THEY'VE BEEN FOOTBALL PLAYERS
In the season one episode "Football Season," Rita sends down some Putties with another one of her monsters, Rhino Blaster. This time, though, the Putties are going to be a football team because the football tryouts are in full swing at Angel Grove, and Rita needs to terrorize the Power Rangers with a theme. It's really boring on the moon, apparently.
As part of Rita's plan, she gets all the Rangers captured with the exception of Tommy and has Rhino Blaster and the football player Putties challenge Tommy to be better at football in order to save his friends. So basically, Rita sees that Tommy is struggling to be better at football and is kind of helping him out in a way, rather than just defeating the Rangers. It's very confusing, and watching Putties play football doesn't help.
5 PUMPKINS AND SKELETONS
Sometimes, Rita and Zedd like when their minions match with their monsters, because what's the point in beating the Rangers unless you have just the right aesthetic? In the Season 1 episode "Trick Or Treat," the villainous Pumpkin Rapper is able to summon his own Putties, but they have pumpkin heads. It makes sense if you don't think about it, but how can Pumpkin Rapper conjure up his own Putties, anyway?
We also see this in the episode "High Five" where Bones' foot soldiers are Skeleton-themed Putties. Trini takes them out without that much difficulty, but what was the point of changing up the themes of these Putties? Was Rita getting bored? Was she being considerate to the Rangers and wanted to change things up a bit so their fights wouldn't get too repetitive? It's just bizarre.
4 BADGES OF DARKNESS TURN THEM INTO MUTANT RANGERS
In the Season 1 episode "Mighty Morphin Mutants," Goldar gets a hold of the Badges of Darkness, which can transform Putties into mirror images of the Power Rangers. After training them, all but one is good to go. The one that isn't is replaced by Commander Crayfish for no real reason beyond they should probably fight someone in a rubber suit every episode.
The Rangers end up confronting their dark counterparts, who have gray gloves, so it's really obvious they aren't the original Rangers, and also these Putties are able to talk too. The rangers are able to defeat them all before the end of the episode, but why waste these powerful Badges of Darkness on Putties? Why does it let them speak? Why does it make them look identical to the Rangers except for the gloves? We're as confused as you are.
3 THEY WERE ONCE BEATEN BY KIDS WITH DODGEBALLS
Okay, so the kids with dodgeballs are the Power Rangers aged down, but still. In this Season 2 episode "Small But Mighty," Lord Zedd uses a magical item known as the Rock of Time to make them young again, but instead of turning back time to when they are vulnerable babies or before they were even born, Lord Zedd makes sure they're still old enough to be clever and resourceful.
Lord Zedd thinks that his easily-beaten Z Putty Patrollers can take out these kid Rangers, but he didn't consider one thing; dodgeballs. The kids are able to dodge and weave these Z Putties and defeat them by simply throwing a dodgeball at the Z on their vests because these Putties are so weak that a child throwing a dodgeball at them can literally destroy them. How does this make any sense?
2 PUTTIES SOMETIMES APPEAR ON EARTH WITHOUT ORDERS
Over and over throughout the show's early seasons, we see Rita or Zedd giving orders to send their Putties down to take on the Rangers. Every once in a while, we don't see that happening and the Rangers have to fight these dim-witted clay golems as if they sent themselves down just to fight the Rangers without any context.
This is likely either a continuity error or simply cutting scenes for the sake of time so we can watch the Rangers sit around Ernie's Juice Bar getting antagonized by Bulk and Skull. The problem is, because the show spends so much time explaining Rita or Zedd getting Putties ready to send down to earth, when it doesn't happen it seems wrong. Why are they down there without any explanation? We have seen some other monsters like Pumpkin Rapper just summon Putties all on their own after all. This just adds to the confusion.
1 THEY WERE ONCE DEFEATED BY A SINGING SQUASH
In the Season 1 episode "Power Ranger Punks," Kimberly and Billy are turned into punks by a magic potion and only a singing squash can save them. This already makes less than zero sense, but stay with us. The other Rangers had to go deal with Terror Toad leaving Alpha 5 to be the one to go into another dimension to get the singing squash.
Once Alpha gets to the other dimension, he has to fend off against some Putties, who also somehow got there because everyone can just jump around from dimension to dimension apparently. With the help of the singing squash, Alpha is victorious against the Putties and saves the day. Literally nothing that happens in this whole episode makes any sense.