Tenga Warriors are sapient avian humanoids, purportedly the strongest warriors in the universe, although their repeated defeats at the hands of the Power Rangers strongly suggests otherwise.
Biology[]
Tenga Warriors resemble humanoid crows, with grey skin, hooked grey beaks, sharp talons on their digits, and black feathers covering every part of their body aside from their faces, hands, and feet. They bear several especially long feathers protruding from the underside of their arms, giving the appearance of wings when spread out. When spreading out their arms as wings, Tengas are capable of flying. They are also capable of speaking English, although they commonly squawk. They possess enhanced strength, enough to easily overpower Humans and even war robots such as Machine Empire Cogs, and can take a fair amount of punishment before being defeated. While only male Tengas have been encountered by Humans, they are known to reproduce through eggs, which are buried in the ground and grow before hatching. Tengas hatch fully grown, fully sapient, and able to speak and fly within seconds. Strangely, their distinctive armor emerges with them, implying that it is a form of natural armor and not an article of clothing.
Culture and society[]
Tenga Warriors, as their name states, are warriors, readily and loyally serving powerful masters in campaigns of conquest. Their only clothing, which may be natural parts of their bodies, are dark torso armor covering most of their chests, abdomen, and pelvis, along with kneepads and armor around their lower legs. Tenga Warriors mostly engage enemies in hand-to-hand combat, and have a language identical to English.
History[]
Tenga Warriors gained a repute as the "fiercest warriors in the universe" at some point in time, likely in the ancient past, as they were known to the sorceress Rita Repulsa before she escaped a 10,000-year imprisonment in the late 20th century. While their title ultimately does not line up with their combat record, they still proved to be loyal soldiers capable of fighting Power Rangers. In the late 20th century, Rito Revolto, brother of Rita Repulsa, arrived at Earth's moon with a batch of Tenga eggs as a wedding gift for his sister and her husband Lord Zedd, burying them in the lunar surface to give the Tengas an ideal environment. The Tengas later hatched, glad to be out of their eggs and quickly learning how to fly, circling the moon palace. They quickly replaced the Putty Patrollers, artificially-made humanoid monsters, as the primary foot soldiers of Zedd and Rita in their attempts to conquer Earth. They were first sent to fight Earth's defenders, the Power Rangers, on Rutabaga 6, where they sought to find Ninjor, the legendary creator of the Power Coins that gave the Rangers their powers.
As the Rangers had been previously stripped of their powers, they fled from the Tengas, who also placed the egg of a monster known as Vampirus nearby. The Rangers managed to escape into the Temple of Power to find Ninjor, being granted new powers by Ninjor. With their new ninja powers, the Rangers swiftly defeat the Tengas, forcing them to retreat, and the monster they left was later stopped by the Rangers and Ninjor as well. Despite their initial loss, the Tenga Warriors continued to be used in attempts to destroy the Rangers or otherwise conquer Earth, often fighting alongside a stronger monster, with the Rangers usually defeating them either using their ninja form or their standard morphed forms. One of Rita's later schemes involved corrupting a Human girl named Katherine Hillard, who was lured into a trap by a Tenga disguised as a Human boy. When Katherine was in position, the Tenga's disguise was removed by Rita, frightening Katherine and allowing her to be taken and corrupted. Although the plan with Katherine ultimately failed, with Katherine being freed from Rita's control and even becoming a Power Ranger herself, Tengas remained in the service of Rita and Zedd. Later, Master Vile, the father of Rito and Rita, gave the Tengas magic seeds that enhanced their strength, allowing them to take down the Power Rangers, although the Rangers utilized a metallic armor upgrade to counter and defeat the enhanced Tengas.
When the Rangers were de-aged to children, the Tenga Warriors fought against the Rangers' Aquitian counterparts who arrived on Earth to fill in for them, although they did not fare any better against the Aquitians, with the Human Rangers eventually restored. Rita and Zedd were eventually forced off of the moon palace with the arrival of King Mondo and the Machine Empire, using Tenga Warriors to carry their luggage. Eventually, the Machine Empire's forces were worn down fighting against the Power Rangers, who were now charged by an alien artifact known as the Zeo Crystal. Near the end of the conflict, King Mondo and Rita and Zedd attempted to steal the powers of the Gold Ranger, Jason Lee Scott. Cornering Jason in the woods, both forces ran into each other, King Mondo bringing several robotic soldiers known as Cogs while Rita and Zedd brought a squad of Tengas. Both sides of villains become distracted with insulting each other, the Tengas and Cogs soon being sent to battle each other rather than Jason. Many Tengas overpowered and disemboweled Cogs, while other Tengas were defeated and had several feathers ripped off. Both sides eventually withdrew after Jason got away.
While the Tenga Warriors were still forced off of Earth with Zedd and Rita, they appeared to remain in their service, some present on other planets under the control of the United Alliance of Evil, such as Onyx. While presumably present during the United Alliance of Evil's attack on free worlds of the universe, the effect of Zordon's Energy Wave on them is unknown. It is known that at least one Tenga Warrior survived, and peacefully settled on Earth with other aliens by 2025. This Tenga was present in Newtech City, at a restaurant owned by an alien named Piggy. Like other alien patrons of Piggy's restaurant, the Tenga Warrior appeared to be afraid of Humans, or at least of Human S.P.D. Rangers, running off whenever they came by.
Appearances[]
- Mighty Morphin Power Rangers s03 (1995)
- Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie (1995)
- Power Rangers Zeo (1996)
- Power Rangers in Space (1998)
- Power Rangers S.P.D. s01e12 "Shadow: Part 2" (2005)
- Power Rangers S.P.D. s01e15 "Wired: Part 2" (2005)
Notes[]
- In Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie, the Tenga Warriors were referred to as Tengu Warriors, and created by an alien sorcerer known as Ivan Ooze. However, this origin does not appear canonical to the regular series timeline, where the Tengas are depicted as being brought to Earth's moon by Rito Revolto from an unknown part of space.
- A group their eggs were taken to a "perfect environment" on Earth's moon, implying that their native habitat is sandy and arid. Due to the moon in Power Rangers having Earth-like gravity and a breathable atmosphere, this also means their native environment has the same atmospheric conditions and gravity.
- This species seems to have been inspired by the mythological Tengu.