Cog (Power Rangers)

Cogs are the primary foot soldiers of the Machine Empire, an intergalactic empire of mechanical beings. On Earth, they faced the Zeo Rangers during King Mondo's attempted invasions.

Biology
Cogs are entirely mechanical humanoids, bearing reddish or silver bodies with gold armored faceplates. The upper halves of their faceplates, just above their speaker-like grate-covered mouths, are able to lift up to expose their inner eyes and workings. With their faceplates down, Cog faces are relatively humanoid and appear to be perpetually scowling, with their eyes covered by black, circular glass, while their inner eyes are orange and surrounded by gear-like components, overall resembling Greys. Cogs are capable of firing blue energy blasts from their inner eyes, which are powerful enough to knock down multiple morphed Power Rangers, and must lift up their faceplates to do so. While they bear a rigid endoskeleton, said endoskeleton is covered in some sort of metal material that is as flexible as spandex, and overall somewhat puffy, making the overall body shape of the Cogs more Human-like, entirely masculine in design. Additionally, Cogs have black belts with gold circles on the sides of their waists, small gold circles on their shoulders and forearms, and two thick metal rings on their wrists and lower forearms. Cogs move in stiff, mechanical ways.

Being robots, Cogs can be modified, such as being given different materials to make their armor. Cogs bear superhuman strength and durability, able to easily overpower Humans and appear to be on a similar strength level as Tenga Warriors, although multiple Tenga Warriors are capable of destroying Cogs. Additionally, they can create portals with their fingers, which are capable of transporting multiple Cogs. While capable of speaking English, Cogs have robotic, monotone voices. Notably, despite their robotic nature, the workings of Cog CPUs are extremely identical to Human brains, as Cogs have a brainwave frequency, which leaves them vulnerable to sleep-inducing abilities.

Culture and society
Cogs, due to their purpose, are entirely a military organization. They serve the Machine Empire as basic infantry, pilots, and bodyguards. In combat, Cogs primarily utilize their fists and energy blasts, although they also sometimes utilize spears that are capable of shooting energy blasts as well. While sapient, Cogs entirely have unflinching loyalty to the Machine Empire as the result of their programming. Cogs do not develop their own technology, but rather, utilize Machine Empire assets, such as their spears, other equipment, and Quadrafighters. Strangely, Cogs have displayed cynophobia, or a fear of dogs.

History
Cogs were created by the Machine Empire at an unknown point in the past, and served as their foot soldiers. In 1996, after breaking away from the United Alliance of Evil and conquering multiple galaxies, King Mondo, ruler of the Machine Empire, directed the empire's forces to Earth, where they warded off another group of aliens that were already menacing the planet, led by a corrupted Eltarian named Lord Zedd and an alien sorceress named Rita Repulsa. Establishing their command post in Earth orbit, a squad of Cogs were sent to a city called Angel Grove to attack it, only to be met by the Zeo Rangers, a group of Human Power Rangers whose power came from the Zeo Crystal of the M51 Galaxy, led by the disembodied Eltarian wizard Zordon. Despite superior numbers, the Cogs were soon beaten, surviving Cogs running off to a portal. Despite their initial failure, King Modno continued to use them in attacks against the Rangers, often as support to a stronger, uniquely-designed robot. To counter the Rangers, Mondo had Cogs deployed with Quadrafighters, only for the Rangers to develop new zords, large biomechanical robots linked to their powers, that allowed them to overcome the Machine Empire's military vehicles.

After the arrival of the Triforian Gold Ranger Trey, Mondo deployed Cogs in an attempt to capture him, soon joined by alien bounty hunters known as the Varox, but were unable to secure Trey. Eventually, a Varox attack on Trey in space damaged him to the point of demorphing, and he arrived on Earth, narrowly dodging a force field trap set by King Mondo, although he split into his three forms due to the damage he sustained. Now unable to morph, the three Treys and the Zeo Rangers sent out to retrieve him were promptly attacked by Cogs in Quadrafighters, but the Rangers and the Treys were able to escape them and enter the Rangers' command center. The Treys needed to pass on the Gold Ranger powers to someone else, and Tommy Oliver, the red Zeo Ranger, went out to retrieve Jason Lee Scott, a former Power Ranger of Zordon's Mighty Morphin team. However, Mondo discovered what Tommy was doing and sent out Cog attack squads to intercept them. The two Rangers were able to narrowly escape the Cogs, getting into range to be teleported into the Rangers' command center. Knowing that the Rangers would now have the Gold Ranger powers on their side, Mondo began to enhance his robots with neo-plutonium armoring in an attempt to keep an edge.

While the new robots were powerful enough to potentially destroy the Rangers and their zords, Trey left the Rangers with new zords based off of even stronger subcrystals of the Zeo Crystal, which allowed them to destroy both the neo-plutonium armored robots and even King Mondo himself, which left a power vacuum while Mondo was being rebuilt. After a temporary takeover by another robot known as Louie Kaboom, Mondo's estranged eldest son Prince Gasket, alongside his wife Archerina, daughter of another robotic monarch, came to Earth and took command of the Machine Empire and its armies. Gasket managed to brainwash Tommy Oliver into believing he was the king of the Machine Empire, bringing him to the Machine Area, a colosseum on an unknown alien world under Gasket's control, bringing in a garrison of Cogs to guard various gladiators taken from various planets conquered by the Machine Empire, such as a reptilian alien named Tritor. Jason, and two bumbling non-Ranger Humans named Bulk and Skull, were also captured and held prisoner by Cogs. However, the other Rangers managed to enter the arena and snap Tommy out of Gasket's mind control, while Tritor, Bulk, and Skull manage to stage an escape, both groups fighting and defeating many Cogs before escaping.

After some more failed assaults, King Mondo was rebuilt, prompting Gasket and his wife to leave Earth, and later deployed a large battalion of Cogs to Angel Grove, but found that the Zeo Rangers were joined by Aquitian Power Rangers, who managed to easily repel the assault. Afterwards, Jason's Gold Ranger powers began to fade, as they were designed for Triforian physiology. Gasket and Archerina returned to Earth and tried to take the powers while a squad of Cogs held back the other Rangers, although the two and their soldiers were defeated and forced to retreat. However, King Mondo renewed his efforts to acquire the Gold Ranger powers, deploying more Cog battalions after Jason, cornering the weakened Ranger in the woods, only to be met by Rita, Zedd, and a squad of Tenga Warriors, who also desired the Gold Ranger powers. Mondo and the Royal House of Gadgetry arrived on the scene, bickering with the other aliens and becoming increasingly focused on insulting the other side rather than capturing Jason, and soon sent their respective foot soldiers to battle each other. While the Cogs were able to defeat some Tengas, other Cogs were literally ripped apart by the avians, but in their battle, Jason got away, making both sides withdraw.

With Jason gradually losing control of his powers, the three Treys returned to Earth, and despite some interruptions from Cogs, they managed to undergo a ceremony that fused them back into one being and allowed him to reclaim the Gold Ranger powers. However, Mondo, in one last attempt to destroy the Rangers, personally led a squad of Cogs to attack them, and used size-changing technology to convert himself and the Cogs into giants. Just before they could crush the Rangers, who had no time to summon their zords, Trey used his staff to make the Rangers grow to similar sizes, allowing them to combat and overpower the robots. With his forces depleted, Mondo retreated from Earth, but as he tried to leave Earth's moon, a bomb disguised as a peace offering from Rita and Zedd destroyed him and the royal family. Despite that, surviving Machine Empire forces escaped, recovering the pieces of the Royal House of Gadgetry to rebuild them.

In 1998, the Machine Empire was forced to rejoin the United Alliance of Evil due to their need of resources, and Cogs accompanied King Mondo when he met with an alien named Dark Specter, the ruler of the United Alliance of Evil, who had captured Zordon and Eltar. However, the meeting was interrupted by Andros, an alien Power Ranger, who managed to escape. As Andros assembled a new team of Power Rangers from the then-depowered Turbo Rangers, successors of the Zeo Rangers, Machine Empire forces readied for an impending invasion of the known universe. When the invasion was launched months later, battalions of Cogs invaded KO-35, Andros' homeworld, and a planet defended by the robotic Blue Senturion and the mysterious Phantom Ranger. The Cogs nearly overwhelmed the defenses of both worlds, but on Earth, Dark Specter was destroyed, and Zordon was also destroyed, but Zordon's death released an energy wave that washed across galaxies, cleansing them of United Alliance of Evil forces. While some of the invaders, such as Rita and Zedd, were purified into Human-like forms free of evil, Mondo, the Royal House of Gadgetry, and their Cog battalions were instantly disintegrated, destroying the Machine Empire. Despite the loss of its leaders and almost all of the Cog army, at least one battalion of Cogs somehow survived the energy wave, along with a group of Machine Empire generals, led by General Venjix. They remained in hiding until 2002, when they learned of Serpentera, Zedd's old robotic superweapon, was still operational and left buried on Earth's moon. Organizing what Cogs they had left, Venjix and his other generals set up a base on Earth's moon, mining its surface to extract Serpentera. However, their operation was discovered by Rangers Tommy Oliver and Andros, who organized a team of Red Rangers from different Ranger teams to combat the threat. Breaking into the moonbase, the eight red rangers confronted Cog squads to get the robotic generals, easily clearing the Cogs. Venjix, the other Machine Empire generals, and Serpentera were soon destroyed by the combined Ranger force, the final strike to Serpentera delivered by Wild Force Ranger Cole. It is unknown if Venjix' Cogs were the last of their kind, or if other Cogs remained in the universe, operational or otherwise, but they never again threatened Earth.

Appearances

 * Power Rangers Zeo (1996)
 * Power Rangers in Space, s01e01, "From Out of Nowhere" (1998)
 * Power Rangers in Space, s01e16, "Flashes of Darkonda" (1998)
 * Power Rangers in Space, s01e42, "Countdown to Destruction, Part 1" (1998)
 * Power Rangers in Space, s01e43, "Countdown to Destruction, Part 2" (1998)
 * Power Rangers Wild Force, s01e34, "Forever Red" (2002)
 * Power Rangers Dino Thunder, s01e04, "Legacy of Power" (2004)