May the Power Protect You: Chloe Ashford (Hyperforce Pink)

Remember when people were saying this whole expansion was broken? I certainly do. I mean, I thought everyone was wrong and said so, but it's funny how time changes things. Now it's swung back to a bit more of a middle ground, with a lot of dislike being dumped onto Eddie and Chloe. I've already addressed Eddie, but I honestly don't get the dislike for Chloe. No, she's not my favorite ranger, but she's a jack-of-all-trades! We don't have a lot of those! No, she doesn't look like it, but all of Chloe's stuff is support-related. She's there to fill gaps, similar to MMPR White. In fact, each of her cards fills a gap in the five roles we've discussed already. The only real issue with Chloe, far as I can see? She needs a lot of support to really shine. But we'll get to that.

The most obvious gap that Chloe fills? FAST getting the jump on you. Sometimes the effects of FAST can be really devastating. Impulsive is a really powerful ability... and also costs an energy. Yeah, I know, that's a bit of a bummer, but it's either that or go second, which can be really devastating in boss fights. There's not a whole lot more to say about Impulsive than that. You either get to use it or you don't. Swift Strike also much in this same vein about punishing FAST. I like the one for-sure damage! Yeah, some of us are decent rollers, but I'm not one of them, so I'll take flat damage over those evil dice any day of the week. Heck, if you throw Swift Strike at the card that you had canceled out earlier you not only canceled out FAST but you also get your energy back! How about that? Otherwise just throw it at a later FAST card and get the energy back there, since the attack doesn't do that much damage.

Accelerate is a beautiful card. Yeah, it costs an energy. I don't care. That extra dice always seems to roll hot for me. I don't know why it does, but I'm not going to question my singular good fortune with that extra die! I know I know, that's not very objective, but I've never pretended to be, so I'm not sure where you'd be getting that from almost anything I post on this blog. I mean, I don't know why the card says to grant another card, as opposed to just making it an attack (you have better well-rounded options), but Accelerate can help start a chain or keep one going, particularly with the correct support.

Hyperion Bow is a bog-standard 3D ignore GUARD attack. You will probably need it. And should be happy it's in the kit.

Hurricane Kick is a bit tricky. On the one hand, it's a nice sweeping move... on the other hand it's one friggin' dice. This is where Chloe needs a ton of support. All the damage she does on this attack goes to another adjacent enemy card, so load her up with all the bonus dice you can! The attack doesn't do much by itself, but give her Find Weakness from Marv or something else of that nature and you've got someone who's doing good damage acrost multiple targets. Yeah, pump this sucker up and you should have a good explosion of damage.

Hyperion Scythe is the single target equivalent of Hurricane Kick: an attack that needs some support, but can yield some truly spectacular results. Load up your boosting moves and throw it all on Hyperion Scythe! If you can provide flat damage boosts that's even better, 'cause it's just double the damage, as opposed to doubling the damage on the dice or whatever other garbage you can think of.

The Phoenix zord lets you rip a card out of a graveyard and return it to the user. I assume this is not something that needs to be spelled out as to its usefulness. The sheer beauty of being able to grab a card that you really need and use it when you really need it is so gorgeous so simple, so pure...

Yes, I know how inappropriate using this GIF is. No, I really do. 

What, you gonna cry too?

Chloe's a jack-of-all-trades. Each of her cards covers one of the basic roles of the game. She requires a bit more support than most rangers, but certainly not so much that I'd raise an eyebrow at her. She's got something for practically every situation you can run into. As long as you're not expecting someone with the insane energy generation and solo damaging capabilities of most pinks you should be good to go!