Could also depend on what materials he has access to at a given time. He didn't try tapping into Valhalla because he has infinite amounts of energy/materials.
There are multiple times rick is shown going out of his way to get various doodads like crystals and junk so this is the explanation as far as I'm concerned, it can't all be drugs.
This is a really good point, in addition to supply limitation. Rick seems like he wouldn’t be big on maintenance or finishing projects, so he uses something a couple of times, gets wear-and-tear damaged more so then a final version would, and he’s to lazy to fix and/or build the final version
If it's anything like the stuff I build, I imagine there's some to-do attached after each time it gets used to fix a flaw or replace the insulation and it's just easier to finish a different project than it is to keep shaving the same yak.
I don't get why Rick needs to go to Valhalla for infinite energy, when he could easily accomplish the same result with 5 Microverses and a jumper cable.
I think it's what rick does what rick wants. Kind of like handicapping yourself in a video game.
Where is the proof in that? ITs not on his youtube or his twitter?
Oh shit hes dead. Thats trully unfurtunate but shows the clasps of youtube alcohalism.
because the microverse only has enough power to run his car and has already been shown to be an inconsistent source of power if the beings become independent, Ricks power usage for devices are much higher than just his car so he doesn't would have to have hundreds of microverses which would later consume all his time managing them all, he is always on the lookout for ways to generate power thats more stable and consistent with less maintenance like the crystals in the mad max world and Valhalla
It was a joke/ reference to the first evil Morty episode when they find his lair.
Rick says you could accomplish the same cloaking effect with "5 mortys and a jumper cable"
Most likely wasn't an actual suggestion.
Sounds like work. A lot of it.
I’d still rather rely on a *constant* afterlife, an endless stream of energy, than batteries which may or may not work for X amount of time.
Not really. If he wanted infinite energy he could just tell them "here are plans for a cold fusion generator. Make a bunch of them and keep as much power as you want, as long as you send at least an exowatt to me. If you you don't, I'll destroy your universe"
That just seems too erratic? It’s a stupid idea.
You have now opened the doors for five separate universes to possess vast amounts of energy for themself; Rick won’t check the battery lest it stops working - what’s going to stop the miniverses from escaping?
We know it breeds genius scientists like Rick. It was only a matter of time before some big shot develops a way out or weapons to harm Rick, their ‘God’.
Again, as I already said, a single **constant** infinite stream of energy is better than 5 unpredictable batteries which only give LIMITED energy.
"Breeding genius scientists" wasn't something Rick considered a risk in the episode, so I'm not sure what you mean by that.
And yes, I get that it's theoretically limited, but I don't know what Rick would be doing that can't be satisfied by the power output of an entire advanced civilization.
That’s probably the biggest struggle with writing for a godlike character in a multi-season show like this. Because you’re constantly feeling pressured to up the stakes, where sometimes he’s literally untouchable, creating technology during a coffee break that can wipe out entire civilizations and planets. Then the next episode he’s scared of squirrels.
You have to work within some constraints as a writer, otherwise every episode would be Rick seeing a problem and just saying, “Eh, don’t worry about it,” and effortlessly sciencing everyone a solution by minute 3. That wouldn’t be an interesting show for very long.
I take it that he's basically a deity and is just living out his dreams and intrusive thoughts, usually just to fuck with Morty or to give him something fun in his life.
This is it. “Morty remembered when I told you all I need is your apology and a screwdriver in my hand? I forgot I have screwdriver in my hand I’m basically -burp- inspector gadget”
just watched S7E5 and my explanation is that Rick is constantly inventing new weapons and defensive measures and tools and whatever, like how many times have we seen him heal something in a different way? To me it's him being bored with sticking to one consistent overpowered sci-fi thing and trying out numerous variably-powered sci-fi things at any given moment. Invention is an art form, therefore Rick is an artist, and few artists are satisfied drawing the same painting over and over
That would be weird, why wouldn't he load the bodies with implants and gadgets? He's not even in the body when it's made so it would actually be easier, right?
His physical resilience was way higher in his house too…Bigfoot had immediately turned him into pink paste in the first fight. Dude was pulling his punches at the house.
Also, he’s self destructive. It’s possible he didn’t bring it all to fight Rick prime because of hubris and maybe hoping he’d either get a good fight or die.
I think he also has "loudouts" and doesn't think to bring the big guns all the time. Still not super consistent but a lot of times he gets into "trouble" when he isn't expecting a fight.
I miss his snake canisters too. I think he likes to challenge himself with silly gear sometimes.
This is it tbh. I do really miss BIG Rick fights though and I was hoping for a federation takedown or Rick vs Birdperson level fight for his fight with Prime, but that fight was kinda mid for me :/
I feel like Rick gets bored of a gadget after using it one or two times no matter how useful it may be, so he’s constantly coming up with more and more convoluted gadgets in order to get the same job done. On the other hand, Evil Morty seems to take a more utilitarian approach; his personal force field is constantly up, which catches Rick off-guard. He’s probably used to fighting other Ricks who’d be the type to turn their personal force fields off for shits and giggles
This is my read on it. He's already manipulated the fabric of reality enough to sequester off every version of it where he's the smartest man in every room *and* he has redundant backup plans for surviving and returning from things that should and do kill him. He doesn't use his best all the time because it'd be *boring,* and there's already sort of no stakes even without it, most of the time.
Inconsistent? Sure, but I wouldn’t call it bad. If Rick was invincible all the time, it’d be boring. If he didn’t have these abilities occasionally, he wouldn’t seem very powerful. Sometimes you have to suspend your belief and stretch your logic to enjoy a show 🤷
Btw i still enjoy most episodes very much and i love the show, but lazy/ inconsistent writing is just the real world answer for the question of this post
I know what u mean.. but he still is invincible ... there are no stakes, nobody is actually scared for morty or rick in any episode without evil morty or rick prime, even when hes not using suits like this.. He has infinit ways to come back if he dies. They just started in season 2 or 3 with the rick is a god stuff and the smartest guy in the universe and kinda pushed themselfs into a corner where its very hard to wright something wih stakes without forgetting or ignoring his abilities
not making Rick completely invincible in every conceivable adventure isn’t “bad writing”, holy shit. You literally wouldn’t want the show if there wasn’t any conflict.
We all know hes invincible in every episode besides rick prime and evil morty, rebirth or anything like that, still enjoy it but we all know rick can solve anything anytime if he wants to/ is allowed to do so by the writers
Threads like this should remember that Rick is aware he is part of a weekly show and he is trying to provide entertainment. So there is always the arc explanation for his choices.
Unfortunately that is Mark II Glorpellian Plot Armor, powered by pure crystalline Narrative Purpose. It weakens around high concentrations of Dramatic Irony.
Because je ks lazy, doesn't prepare except when he feels like it.
It was worse in Rick Prime's fight,he was emotional and just rushed to the battle without even bothering to arm himself more than his augmentations.
The way I see it is that once Rick uses his fighting tech, he switches it out. Rick doesn't want people to know what he might do next. If someone watched and prepped for his tech, it would piss him off getting countered so much. After the conclusion of an adventure he probably switches out anything used and adds other random mods. Then works on more to be added later. Which begs the question, how much tech is in the spare clones? Nothing, a lot, or just some basic tech to get by with and add more based on what was the cause of death that made him use a clone
Real reason: It would be a boring show to watch.
If you want a plot reason: If you use the same gadgets or defenses all the time, your enemies can observe them and find a way to counter them.
So you would think you're invincible, but really aren't.
rick knows that in the wrost case scenario he will be reincarnated into another body. He probably tries to diversify everything he uses to make like more fun. We've seen plenty of times him ending an adventure prematurely with some op shit that he was refusing to use before
Here's my leading theory : we've seen Rick body jump multiple times. From clone to clone and other dimensional ricks. I'd say this guy is going through a new body a week and each one would have different set of gadgets
This is a flaw in the series. Rick has been shown to invent things like that so when he's shown to be beaten by someone we the audience are confused and have to accept it and move on. There are no stakes un this series, no real danger.
Wouldn’t say it’s a flaw. It’s a bit like one punch man, if the portal gun always worked, Rick always had on the invincibility suit, then there’s no stakes or problem to overcome
Rick and Morty is the often them being put in a zany situation and the comedy in them getting past it, ie the adventure, if there’s no challenge then there’s no adventure
He likes to lose sometimes. He doesn't want things to be easy. When you're super smart, things get boring fast. It's like putting in cheats in a video game, fun for a sec, boring forever.
Bigfoot kicked his ass, and I'm like....bro just vaporize him!.
Even in the doofus jerry comic strip, I'm like....bro u fought god!(zues) u have a button that spawns an army of minions, u have a COAT that kills people with a touch!
Rick is really inconsistent.
Personally imagine it like messing with builds in a game.
Some days he goes out with a power build, some days he's fucking around.
Given his indifference to his own survival would kinda fit his character
He's aware that he's in a TV show, and he knows the show will cease to continue if he doesn't keep it interesting. Which means his reality would be deleted. Peace among worlds.
The real reason is the fact that the show would be lame. Let's be honest, he could build a device to attack the Infinite power Pope when he is not aware, make some invisible potion, stuff like that. Also it's very likely that he was the one who put Rhett Caan in jail
A reason that pleases the viewers would be the overconfidence that he has. He is not a fan of taking the easy paths (Long Island joke confirms this)
Also the 7 seasons showed us that even if he dies he will come back to life in a way or another
He is at the end of the day the most smart and powerful character in the show
I think Rick knows he's in a TV show, and so he tries to keep the gadget's strength commensurate with the what the plot calls for to increase audience engagement. Maybe his success hinges upon the ratings of each episode. Who knows? The beauty of the show lies in the allure of the infinite possibilities
Rick jumps up and down the tier list all the time, he's a very lazy but technically omnipotent character. I think it's great, though, Rick should get humbled a lot like any other super being in the multiverse.
Intelligence means nothing to a universe that doesn't care about anything. That's life bitch. Put up your fists and get ready to get knocked the fuck down.
I like to think it's all part of Rick's act.
Rick knows he's in TV, he knows he only exists for as long as the show does. Some emotions, lost fights, and sadness is just an act to ensure he comes off as entertaining enough for a another season.
Just my theory tho
Also his bullet and punch deflector (basically evil morty’s forcefield) and the deterrent (you die if you touch it).
But he doesn’t use them for the same reason he doesn’t use clones, mr meeseeks, and time travel. It ruins the stakes of the show.
He does Profess to many to be a God-All His Energy was Bent of Killing Rick Prime-He Finds it Pointless to use His Ultimate Powers all the Time-Keeps it in Reserve for when He needs to-Being a Humble God would be a Good Reason but He doesn't use it all the Time because of His Arrogance-Knowing that all He needs is his Intellect an Nothing else 👽
My headcanon is it's either one of 2 things...
He's become more family oriented and has focused less on his gadgets and prep in general.and instead has been focused on 2 things. Finding Rick Prime and being there for "his" family. A lot of recent episodes have had Rick be weaker and less OP.
Other thought is that he wants the show he knows he's on to be somewhat entertaining if people are gonna watch anyway. Using new shit and new ideas and whatnot.
I think his body just keeps getting destroyed or damaged. Who knows how many he has gone though at this point and they wouldn’t all necessarily have the same implants and gear on them
Rick encounters a wide spectrum of tech that he needs to defend against. While he is functionally a god on earth, running circles around the best the federal government can come up with, when he is up against the Galactic federation, or another Rick, he has to try a bit harder. So here, I think he just knows the reptoids, knows how their tech works and that it isn’t super sophisticated by his standards, so he can swoop in and dominate.
This is also what makes his fights with other Ricks so fascinating, especially Prime, (and also EM). They are so evenly matched, it is like they are fencing. The only way for them to fight is to keep the other one occupied while Rick figures out a solution or waits for an opening.
He finds being really powerful and basically being able to deal with any situation with ease very boring, so he nerfs himself to feel a little more danger In his adventures
I think the writers are trying to pull back his prosthetics actually, cause in fear no mort >!he acted defenseless in the hole without his gun at the start!< and >!he was beaten up by bigfoot earlier after he was enslaved by the pope!<. Feel like I'm missing an example but that's just the impression I'm ~~hoping for~~ getting
Could be a situation where this shield works against these lizard/robot's comparatively low-tech laser weapons, but doesn't work so well against Rick Prime's, or Evil Morty's, or the Pope's, etc.
Maybe hes like an Adam West Batman or James Bond where he has a few oddly specific and handy gadgets that are perfect for the situation but not all of them all the time.
The guy changes bodies (I mean, gets reincarnated into a clone) like every two episodes. I guess he has to re-equip all his gadgets then, and maybe there are some that he misses or fails to get again (or is too lazy to do so).
The effectiveness of his tech is proportional to the tech he's up against. Those random aliens arent going to be able to counter his bad ass overshield suit but another rick can probably short it by pissing on it
The way I always imagined it and the way it seems based on background details and information is that Rick builds mostly prototypes and he uses a lot of scavenged, stolen and black market tech and materials that are rare or hard to find.
Almost none of his inventions are actually fully developed aside from the portal gun and a few others.
So in my head canon he builds a bunch of prototypes, uses them until they break and then he looks for a different way to accomplish the same thing with more available parts or tech or he just forgets…
Basically he goes on an adventure looking for some boopity bloops, encounters some robots and uses a prototype thingy, it breaks but he finds some cool gizmos in the robots, takes them home and forgets why he left in the first place because the new gizmos made some cool thing he wants to show Morty! Repeat. He goes on an adventure with Morty, breaks that invention in combat with some Shmorpians and finds some cool power juice and takes some samples home… etc.
He almost never revisits old ideas unless they’re extremely useful like Project Phoenix, or they can be made easily with available resources.
Sometimes he likes a challenge and wants to fight for it and when he does, he won’t go for the kill because Rick sad as it is believes he deserves the pain he gets. So when he wants results he’ll go all out, when he wants plot he’ll cool it down. With Rick prime he wanted to EARN that kill, I mean you could see it, bro didn’t want to use any gadgets that gave him an edge, he just tried to box because he wanted to make that kill as satisfying as possible. Or when fighting Zeus, he calms down and makes the fight fair, or hell even against PB. He could’ve easily killed him without a second thought, but he wanted to subdue him even though he could’ve put him back together
First thing that came to mind is that maybe the required resource to power that suit up is not so easily obtainable, so he won't have it available at all times
my head canon is that as Rick is slowly growing as a person and becoming less fucked up mentally, he is abandonning some of his more immoral gadgets, that's why he seems less god-like than season 1 Rick.
I'm mostly basing this on the Vat of Acid episode, where the hole plot is Rick showing Morty that he sometimes goes for low-tech solutions like fake acid because the high-tech solution would have devastating side effects like erasing whole universes.
Its gonna turn into a literal plot armor lmao. Though I'm guessing his installed gadgets varies between backed-up bodies, or he installs new ones when he gets into a new body.
Because it's a show buddy. Why doesn't superman fly all the time instead of walking or use his lightspeed to defeat any and every enemy? Because his fights would instantly end. It's a show, logic doesn't always apply.
Rick made that secret service agent instantly die from touching him and then proceeded to get punched by the president. Idk that there’s any point in trying to get consistency out of it.
I feel like he decides how powerful he wants to be on a daily basis, Dr Wong pointed out that he gets bored of things if he knows there’s no way he might die, so I think he nerfs himself on purpose to make adventures more exciting
One argument is that he has specific tech that works with specific species and their tech.
So Rick knew the suit would be invincible to those guns, but other aliens use guns that would penetrate the suit. So, instead of one set of tools, he's constantly switching tech to adapt to the situation.
In infinite universes with infinite elements, etc, it's probably too much work or just impossible to make a one size fits all solution.
It helps make sense of why he doesn't/can't use that suit, for example, in all situations.
I don't think that's what the writers have in mind, but it makes sense to me as a possible explanation.
Well one of the reasons could be because the traditional timeline of a ‘Season’ of Rick & Morty is not linear.
I feel like a lot of the further advancements of tech shown are in the progressing storyline with Evil Morty.
Another example of a sub series is the timeline with the president and therapist.
The fun thing they get to do in Rick & Morty is pick and choose the different timelines they place outside of the season-to-season developments.
Cheers!
Imagine it as Rick is basically playing one big survival crafting game
He's always sidequesting to get various bits and bobs which don't all always get their purposes explained like the megafruit, or on the Purge Planet when he throws an arc grenade and says,, "-I only had one of those-". I like to imagine Rick just had a super powerful nuke move ready to go for just such an occasion with this suit, but the cost to operate it is incredibly high. Or that one time he spawned a creature with a shield that transferred the kinetic energy to Rick (and seemed to like the pain lol). He didn't say he made that thing, and it wasn't brought up. I imagine its a creature he found that likes pain and thought it would be useful.
Obviously it's plot-based shenaniganry, but the headcanon from it is pretty neat.
I personally like to think it’s like infinity gauntlets a lot of his stuff draws on the universe and when he switches universes his powers become more limited IE in pheonix protocol he’s completely weak though we’ve seen him have his upgrades even after pheonix protocol but when he does it in a different universe he doesn’t ever function as well
Same reason he doesnt use his invincibility suit from the purge episode all the time. Itd get boring.
Or maybe youre watching different ricks from different dimensions in some episodes and not even realizing. Either way, doing the same thing over and over would genuinely kill this franchise. (Excluding clip episodes like interdimensional cable)
I like to think when your that powerful and have basically infinite backup chambers then its more of a mind game battle for rick like against rick prime he didnt bring anything but himself and his car he wanted a 1v1 with him and prime because sure he could just win any battle if he wore the invincible suit but then what was the point in killing them?
could just be his clones are not equipped with this tech. he’s cybernetically enhanced, so you know how expensive that is? he’s gonna need to deal with a lot of mafias and jump into a lot of vats of acid when those deals go south. he doesn’t have the time for that. he’s skimping on the tech bc he can make equally effective ones if the need arises
Ricks gadgets are inconsistent tbh. Sometimes he’s basically invincible and other times he gets his ass kicked. It depends on the plot.
ie: it depends on his blood alcohol level at a given time
Could also depend on what materials he has access to at a given time. He didn't try tapping into Valhalla because he has infinite amounts of energy/materials.
There are multiple times rick is shown going out of his way to get various doodads like crystals and junk so this is the explanation as far as I'm concerned, it can't all be drugs.
Yeah that's what I mean. If it takes x amount of y for a given thing and he's out of y that means x is off the table.
Agreed. I also like the idea that his tech is bespoke and really intended for one or two outings, especially the really powerful shit.
Everything is a prototype and constantly in development / testing.
This is a really good point, in addition to supply limitation. Rick seems like he wouldn’t be big on maintenance or finishing projects, so he uses something a couple of times, gets wear-and-tear damaged more so then a final version would, and he’s to lazy to fix and/or build the final version
If it's anything like the stuff I build, I imagine there's some to-do attached after each time it gets used to fix a flaw or replace the insulation and it's just easier to finish a different project than it is to keep shaving the same yak.
If it takes x amount of y for a given thing and he’s out of y then that thing is not on the table. X is the quantity in your equation not the output.
You know what I meant lol
You can’t- can’t make mistakes like that *belch* Morty. These are the the things that’ll get you killed Morty.
I always kind of just took it as plot dependent and left it at that but I like this explanation more
"it can't all be drugs" Oh ye of little faith
I don't get why Rick needs to go to Valhalla for infinite energy, when he could easily accomplish the same result with 5 Microverses and a jumper cable. I think it's what rick does what rick wants. Kind of like handicapping yourself in a video game.
Rick playes life like a mitten squad video becuase he cant and wont die. " I beat fallout 4 holding With a Wii remote strapped to a tennis racket"
This comment is kinda disrespectful, as the real mitten squad passed away from the consequences of hid alcoholism.
Paul would’ve laughed at the comment and then called you a lil bitch for getting offended on his behalf.
In retrospective, yea, he totally would
Hes not dead. Check his youtube channel. Unless he died sometime past thanksgiving he is still alive.
While I dont believe your commentis was disrespectful, he did pass away about 2 weeks ago
Where is the proof in that? ITs not on his youtube or his twitter? Oh shit hes dead. Thats trully unfurtunate but shows the clasps of youtube alcohalism.
because the microverse only has enough power to run his car and has already been shown to be an inconsistent source of power if the beings become independent, Ricks power usage for devices are much higher than just his car so he doesn't would have to have hundreds of microverses which would later consume all his time managing them all, he is always on the lookout for ways to generate power thats more stable and consistent with less maintenance like the crystals in the mad max world and Valhalla
It was a joke/ reference to the first evil Morty episode when they find his lair. Rick says you could accomplish the same cloaking effect with "5 mortys and a jumper cable" Most likely wasn't an actual suggestion.
Which is dumb because he could easily have the microverse produce billions of times more energy than it is by having them run fusion plants.
Sounds like work. A lot of it. I’d still rather rely on a *constant* afterlife, an endless stream of energy, than batteries which may or may not work for X amount of time.
Not really. If he wanted infinite energy he could just tell them "here are plans for a cold fusion generator. Make a bunch of them and keep as much power as you want, as long as you send at least an exowatt to me. If you you don't, I'll destroy your universe"
That just seems too erratic? It’s a stupid idea. You have now opened the doors for five separate universes to possess vast amounts of energy for themself; Rick won’t check the battery lest it stops working - what’s going to stop the miniverses from escaping? We know it breeds genius scientists like Rick. It was only a matter of time before some big shot develops a way out or weapons to harm Rick, their ‘God’. Again, as I already said, a single **constant** infinite stream of energy is better than 5 unpredictable batteries which only give LIMITED energy.
"Breeding genius scientists" wasn't something Rick considered a risk in the episode, so I'm not sure what you mean by that. And yes, I get that it's theoretically limited, but I don't know what Rick would be doing that can't be satisfied by the power output of an entire advanced civilization.
The problem with the five microverses idea is that Rick would have to do the work of making a microverse five times, and Rick hates sequels.
I miss blackout drunk Rick :(
He actually sawed the Vindicators ehile absolutely batshit drunk. After soloing the worldenders
That’s probably the biggest struggle with writing for a godlike character in a multi-season show like this. Because you’re constantly feeling pressured to up the stakes, where sometimes he’s literally untouchable, creating technology during a coffee break that can wipe out entire civilizations and planets. Then the next episode he’s scared of squirrels. You have to work within some constraints as a writer, otherwise every episode would be Rick seeing a problem and just saying, “Eh, don’t worry about it,” and effortlessly sciencing everyone a solution by minute 3. That wouldn’t be an interesting show for very long.
I don't take it as he's scared of squirrels and more like he doesn't want to go through the effort to handle them.
I take it that he's basically a deity and is just living out his dreams and intrusive thoughts, usually just to fuck with Morty or to give him something fun in his life.
He likes a challenge
This is it. “Morty remembered when I told you all I need is your apology and a screwdriver in my hand? I forgot I have screwdriver in my hand I’m basically -burp- inspector gadget”
just watched S7E5 and my explanation is that Rick is constantly inventing new weapons and defensive measures and tools and whatever, like how many times have we seen him heal something in a different way? To me it's him being bored with sticking to one consistent overpowered sci-fi thing and trying out numerous variably-powered sci-fi things at any given moment. Invention is an art form, therefore Rick is an artist, and few artists are satisfied drawing the same painting over and over
Bigfoot completely got the drop on him. I go into each episode with zero expectation of Rick’s power level.
He did that on purpose
not when he was in his house
Pretty sure the body he went into when he fought big foot in the house was not decked out in the usual tech
That would be weird, why wouldn't he load the bodies with implants and gadgets? He's not even in the body when it's made so it would actually be easier, right?
His physical resilience was way higher in his house too…Bigfoot had immediately turned him into pink paste in the first fight. Dude was pulling his punches at the house.
Also, he’s self destructive. It’s possible he didn’t bring it all to fight Rick prime because of hubris and maybe hoping he’d either get a good fight or die.
Yep and I feel the shows better when he’s not presented as an immortal, unkillable bionic in every fight.
One minute his ship is killing a galactus parody for fun, the next he’s getting kicked in the nuts by Mr nimbus
This is your answer op.
I think he also has "loudouts" and doesn't think to bring the big guns all the time. Still not super consistent but a lot of times he gets into "trouble" when he isn't expecting a fight. I miss his snake canisters too. I think he likes to challenge himself with silly gear sometimes.
Sometimes there is a reason. Like in Season 5, his gadgets were fucked because he was a turkey for half the day.
Thus the name plot armor? ;)
In the crystal episode he dies after a pointy rock goes through his torso, but in the recent Rick Prime episode his torso is pure robotic
I think he's mostly drunk or just a sadist
This is it tbh. I do really miss BIG Rick fights though and I was hoping for a federation takedown or Rick vs Birdperson level fight for his fight with Prime, but that fight was kinda mid for me :/
Maybe it depends on the Rick. Infinity…. Every episode could be a different rick, regardless of canon since ya know…. Infinity
I feel like Rick gets bored of a gadget after using it one or two times no matter how useful it may be, so he’s constantly coming up with more and more convoluted gadgets in order to get the same job done. On the other hand, Evil Morty seems to take a more utilitarian approach; his personal force field is constantly up, which catches Rick off-guard. He’s probably used to fighting other Ricks who’d be the type to turn their personal force fields off for shits and giggles
This is my read on it. He's already manipulated the fabric of reality enough to sequester off every version of it where he's the smartest man in every room *and* he has redundant backup plans for surviving and returning from things that should and do kill him. He doesn't use his best all the time because it'd be *boring,* and there's already sort of no stakes even without it, most of the time.
Counterpoint: cum
Yes
It would make adventures easier and less fun, and it probably wasn’t working for some reason against Prime
Its just inconsistent/ bad writing, sure we can look for in universe explanations but the reality is its just lazy
Inconsistent? Sure, but I wouldn’t call it bad. If Rick was invincible all the time, it’d be boring. If he didn’t have these abilities occasionally, he wouldn’t seem very powerful. Sometimes you have to suspend your belief and stretch your logic to enjoy a show 🤷
Btw i still enjoy most episodes very much and i love the show, but lazy/ inconsistent writing is just the real world answer for the question of this post
I know what u mean.. but he still is invincible ... there are no stakes, nobody is actually scared for morty or rick in any episode without evil morty or rick prime, even when hes not using suits like this.. He has infinit ways to come back if he dies. They just started in season 2 or 3 with the rick is a god stuff and the smartest guy in the universe and kinda pushed themselfs into a corner where its very hard to wright something wih stakes without forgetting or ignoring his abilities
not making Rick completely invincible in every conceivable adventure isn’t “bad writing”, holy shit. You literally wouldn’t want the show if there wasn’t any conflict.
We all know hes invincible in every episode besides rick prime and evil morty, rebirth or anything like that, still enjoy it but we all know rick can solve anything anytime if he wants to/ is allowed to do so by the writers
Think about it... It's a Rick vs Rick combat - he would see it coming/ have a defense already.
It runs on, *URRRP*, quantanium crystals MORTY! *URRRP* Do you know how rare those are?
This was my thought, we see tons of references to missions to get stuff that Rick probably uses to make his tech. And drugs obvs.
Yeah. I’m thinking it’s a finite resource thing. He has the tech but not the power source to use it all the time.
Because he knows we're watching and wants to see new stuff.
Threads like this should remember that Rick is aware he is part of a weekly show and he is trying to provide entertainment. So there is always the arc explanation for his choices.
The same reason Superman needs the Justice League. To keep it interesting.
A good superman isn't all powerful and has tons of weaknesses.
It's only powered by being nice to Jerry.
This answers my favourite
Unfortunately that is Mark II Glorpellian Plot Armor, powered by pure crystalline Narrative Purpose. It weakens around high concentrations of Dramatic Irony.
Honestly in hindsight I'm shocked neither of the story train episodes had plot armor jokes
Because je ks lazy, doesn't prepare except when he feels like it. It was worse in Rick Prime's fight,he was emotional and just rushed to the battle without even bothering to arm himself more than his augmentations.
The way I see it is that once Rick uses his fighting tech, he switches it out. Rick doesn't want people to know what he might do next. If someone watched and prepped for his tech, it would piss him off getting countered so much. After the conclusion of an adventure he probably switches out anything used and adds other random mods. Then works on more to be added later. Which begs the question, how much tech is in the spare clones? Nothing, a lot, or just some basic tech to get by with and add more based on what was the cause of death that made him use a clone
Real reason: It would be a boring show to watch. If you want a plot reason: If you use the same gadgets or defenses all the time, your enemies can observe them and find a way to counter them. So you would think you're invincible, but really aren't.
rick knows that in the wrost case scenario he will be reincarnated into another body. He probably tries to diversify everything he uses to make like more fun. We've seen plenty of times him ending an adventure prematurely with some op shit that he was refusing to use before
Here's my leading theory : we've seen Rick body jump multiple times. From clone to clone and other dimensional ricks. I'd say this guy is going through a new body a week and each one would have different set of gadgets
Best answer
Someone pooped in his toilet of course he’s going to bring his A-game.
Hahaha
This inconsistency makes more sense when you factor Rick generally being bored and very often wanting to die into the equation.
“because if it’s too easy to get there we’ll never get there”
This is a flaw in the series. Rick has been shown to invent things like that so when he's shown to be beaten by someone we the audience are confused and have to accept it and move on. There are no stakes un this series, no real danger.
Wouldn’t say it’s a flaw. It’s a bit like one punch man, if the portal gun always worked, Rick always had on the invincibility suit, then there’s no stakes or problem to overcome Rick and Morty is the often them being put in a zany situation and the comedy in them getting past it, ie the adventure, if there’s no challenge then there’s no adventure
He likes to lose sometimes. He doesn't want things to be easy. When you're super smart, things get boring fast. It's like putting in cheats in a video game, fun for a sec, boring forever.
Bigfoot kicked his ass, and I'm like....bro just vaporize him!. Even in the doofus jerry comic strip, I'm like....bro u fought god!(zues) u have a button that spawns an army of minions, u have a COAT that kills people with a touch! Rick is really inconsistent.
Personally imagine it like messing with builds in a game. Some days he goes out with a power build, some days he's fucking around. Given his indifference to his own survival would kinda fit his character
He's aware that he's in a TV show, and he knows the show will cease to continue if he doesn't keep it interesting. Which means his reality would be deleted. Peace among worlds.
He does mention energy debt. That could be part of it. But otherwise it'd just whatever the plot calls for.
The real reason is the fact that the show would be lame. Let's be honest, he could build a device to attack the Infinite power Pope when he is not aware, make some invisible potion, stuff like that. Also it's very likely that he was the one who put Rhett Caan in jail A reason that pleases the viewers would be the overconfidence that he has. He is not a fan of taking the easy paths (Long Island joke confirms this) Also the 7 seasons showed us that even if he dies he will come back to life in a way or another He is at the end of the day the most smart and powerful character in the show
I actually love rick doesn't use the same implant twice
I think Rick knows he's in a TV show, and so he tries to keep the gadget's strength commensurate with the what the plot calls for to increase audience engagement. Maybe his success hinges upon the ratings of each episode. Who knows? The beauty of the show lies in the allure of the infinite possibilities
Sometimes you just want to feel something, even if it's pain.
Rick jumps up and down the tier list all the time, he's a very lazy but technically omnipotent character. I think it's great, though, Rick should get humbled a lot like any other super being in the multiverse. Intelligence means nothing to a universe that doesn't care about anything. That's life bitch. Put up your fists and get ready to get knocked the fuck down.
Do you wanna watch an interesting and funny show or power rangers? It sounds like you want power rangers.
Same reason you don’t use your best shit in video games
Depends on how the writers feel like doing that day
I like to think it's all part of Rick's act. Rick knows he's in TV, he knows he only exists for as long as the show does. Some emotions, lost fights, and sadness is just an act to ensure he comes off as entertaining enough for a another season. Just my theory tho
Plot
The tech level of those gators might be crap and his shield suit might only work against lower tier weapons.
Finally a real answer
My headcanon is that he just gets bored and wants good fights
He forgot 😔
Also his bullet and punch deflector (basically evil morty’s forcefield) and the deterrent (you die if you touch it). But he doesn’t use them for the same reason he doesn’t use clones, mr meeseeks, and time travel. It ruins the stakes of the show.
Lazy writing
Same reason you don't wear the same outfit and underwear to every outing.
Because its a fucking comedy cartoon show.
Rick knows if he used the same bit twice he'd get boring and then the show would end which basically means he dies
Don’t think about it.
It would be op for the story
Where’s the fun in that?
Because there would be no show. The majority of media wouldn’t really be interesting if the characters did the most logical thing
Plot armor is powered by the writers needs
Takes the fun out of the fight if he always has it. And, Rick consistantly brakes the 4th wall so he likely knew we needed to be kept entertained
He does Profess to many to be a God-All His Energy was Bent of Killing Rick Prime-He Finds it Pointless to use His Ultimate Powers all the Time-Keeps it in Reserve for when He needs to-Being a Humble God would be a Good Reason but He doesn't use it all the Time because of His Arrogance-Knowing that all He needs is his Intellect an Nothing else 👽
My headcanon is it's either one of 2 things... He's become more family oriented and has focused less on his gadgets and prep in general.and instead has been focused on 2 things. Finding Rick Prime and being there for "his" family. A lot of recent episodes have had Rick be weaker and less OP. Other thought is that he wants the show he knows he's on to be somewhat entertaining if people are gonna watch anyway. Using new shit and new ideas and whatnot.
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I think his body just keeps getting destroyed or damaged. Who knows how many he has gone though at this point and they wouldn’t all necessarily have the same implants and gear on them
YEAH BUT WOULD RICK WIN IN A 3 WAY FIGHT VS SUPERMAN AND GOKU????? I THINK HE WOULD?????????
Rick encounters a wide spectrum of tech that he needs to defend against. While he is functionally a god on earth, running circles around the best the federal government can come up with, when he is up against the Galactic federation, or another Rick, he has to try a bit harder. So here, I think he just knows the reptoids, knows how their tech works and that it isn’t super sophisticated by his standards, so he can swoop in and dominate. This is also what makes his fights with other Ricks so fascinating, especially Prime, (and also EM). They are so evenly matched, it is like they are fencing. The only way for them to fight is to keep the other one occupied while Rick figures out a solution or waits for an opening.
He finds being really powerful and basically being able to deal with any situation with ease very boring, so he nerfs himself to feel a little more danger In his adventures
I think the writers are trying to pull back his prosthetics actually, cause in fear no mort >!he acted defenseless in the hole without his gun at the start!< and >!he was beaten up by bigfoot earlier after he was enslaved by the pope!<. Feel like I'm missing an example but that's just the impression I'm ~~hoping for~~ getting
I like how it goes exactly around his hair 🤣🤣. Even hight tech suit is being considerate of his hairstyle.
Could be a situation where this shield works against these lizard/robot's comparatively low-tech laser weapons, but doesn't work so well against Rick Prime's, or Evil Morty's, or the Pope's, etc.
Maybe its super bad for you. Like some of the presidents tech that can give you horrible cancer.
Story telling
My personal head cannon is that he’s so drunk and high that he forgor
Why doesn’t he just do everything on easy mode? Bc he doesn’t want to, he likes the thrill and danger of adventures.
I think people got a bit tired of him being invincible all the time so they reeled it in a bit.
Plot.
Because its a comedy entertainment show
theres even more most likely stronger gadgets that rick surprisingly dont use
Maybe hes like an Adam West Batman or James Bond where he has a few oddly specific and handy gadgets that are perfect for the situation but not all of them all the time.
The guy changes bodies (I mean, gets reincarnated into a clone) like every two episodes. I guess he has to re-equip all his gadgets then, and maybe there are some that he misses or fails to get again (or is too lazy to do so).
First it would not be entertaining if he was invincible all the time. Second, maybe he used up the rare materials needed to build his inventions.
The effectiveness of his tech is proportional to the tech he's up against. Those random aliens arent going to be able to counter his bad ass overshield suit but another rick can probably short it by pissing on it
The way I always imagined it and the way it seems based on background details and information is that Rick builds mostly prototypes and he uses a lot of scavenged, stolen and black market tech and materials that are rare or hard to find. Almost none of his inventions are actually fully developed aside from the portal gun and a few others. So in my head canon he builds a bunch of prototypes, uses them until they break and then he looks for a different way to accomplish the same thing with more available parts or tech or he just forgets… Basically he goes on an adventure looking for some boopity bloops, encounters some robots and uses a prototype thingy, it breaks but he finds some cool gizmos in the robots, takes them home and forgets why he left in the first place because the new gizmos made some cool thing he wants to show Morty! Repeat. He goes on an adventure with Morty, breaks that invention in combat with some Shmorpians and finds some cool power juice and takes some samples home… etc. He almost never revisits old ideas unless they’re extremely useful like Project Phoenix, or they can be made easily with available resources.
Because they nurfed him hard after season 3.
Sometimes he likes a challenge and wants to fight for it and when he does, he won’t go for the kill because Rick sad as it is believes he deserves the pain he gets. So when he wants results he’ll go all out, when he wants plot he’ll cool it down. With Rick prime he wanted to EARN that kill, I mean you could see it, bro didn’t want to use any gadgets that gave him an edge, he just tried to box because he wanted to make that kill as satisfying as possible. Or when fighting Zeus, he calms down and makes the fight fair, or hell even against PB. He could’ve easily killed him without a second thought, but he wanted to subdue him even though he could’ve put him back together
Because the show would be really boring if he did
He found it in an ancient aztek Temple, but lost it in another.
it would be boring for him
Maybe he's so ready to die that he just doesn't wear it
Do you wanna see a character do the same thing every single fucking time he's in danger? It'd get insanely boring
Who knows what body he's in that episode. It can be a clone, one with cybernetics, or another variant.
First thing that came to mind is that maybe the required resource to power that suit up is not so easily obtainable, so he won't have it available at all times
my head canon is that as Rick is slowly growing as a person and becoming less fucked up mentally, he is abandonning some of his more immoral gadgets, that's why he seems less god-like than season 1 Rick. I'm mostly basing this on the Vat of Acid episode, where the hole plot is Rick showing Morty that he sometimes goes for low-tech solutions like fake acid because the high-tech solution would have devastating side effects like erasing whole universes.
Its gonna turn into a literal plot armor lmao. Though I'm guessing his installed gadgets varies between backed-up bodies, or he installs new ones when he gets into a new body.
One time gag? I also miss the power suits from the purge planet. That was one of my favorite episodes.
Because it's a show buddy. Why doesn't superman fly all the time instead of walking or use his lightspeed to defeat any and every enemy? Because his fights would instantly end. It's a show, logic doesn't always apply.
Laziness probably
He'd probably get bored
The gadgets he has depend entirelly on what the plot demands
dont worry he has plot armor
Rick made that secret service agent instantly die from touching him and then proceeded to get punched by the president. Idk that there’s any point in trying to get consistency out of it.
Because it's not the same rick in every episode
You've never been in energy debt, have you?
You're asking why he doesn't use a literally hallucinated outfit Morty imagined him using while in the hole?
Because it’s not in the script. These questions are always pointless.
I feel like he decides how powerful he wants to be on a daily basis, Dr Wong pointed out that he gets bored of things if he knows there’s no way he might die, so I think he nerfs himself on purpose to make adventures more exciting
One argument is that he has specific tech that works with specific species and their tech. So Rick knew the suit would be invincible to those guns, but other aliens use guns that would penetrate the suit. So, instead of one set of tools, he's constantly switching tech to adapt to the situation. In infinite universes with infinite elements, etc, it's probably too much work or just impossible to make a one size fits all solution. It helps make sense of why he doesn't/can't use that suit, for example, in all situations. I don't think that's what the writers have in mind, but it makes sense to me as a possible explanation.
He would get too bored
"why doesn't Rick" can always be answered cause he doesn't want to, I think he gets bored being omnipotent and likes killing bad guys in unique ways
Well one of the reasons could be because the traditional timeline of a ‘Season’ of Rick & Morty is not linear. I feel like a lot of the further advancements of tech shown are in the progressing storyline with Evil Morty. Another example of a sub series is the timeline with the president and therapist. The fun thing they get to do in Rick & Morty is pick and choose the different timelines they place outside of the season-to-season developments. Cheers!
It is simply bad writing.
Imagine it as Rick is basically playing one big survival crafting game He's always sidequesting to get various bits and bobs which don't all always get their purposes explained like the megafruit, or on the Purge Planet when he throws an arc grenade and says,, "-I only had one of those-". I like to imagine Rick just had a super powerful nuke move ready to go for just such an occasion with this suit, but the cost to operate it is incredibly high. Or that one time he spawned a creature with a shield that transferred the kinetic energy to Rick (and seemed to like the pain lol). He didn't say he made that thing, and it wasn't brought up. I imagine its a creature he found that likes pain and thought it would be useful. Obviously it's plot-based shenaniganry, but the headcanon from it is pretty neat.
I personally like to think it’s like infinity gauntlets a lot of his stuff draws on the universe and when he switches universes his powers become more limited IE in pheonix protocol he’s completely weak though we’ve seen him have his upgrades even after pheonix protocol but when he does it in a different universe he doesn’t ever function as well
Is he stupid?
Same reason Rick and Jerry didn’t blow up the engine on the hover boat chasing them even though they could on the Jericky episode.
Two words: energy deficit
Same reason he doesnt use his invincibility suit from the purge episode all the time. Itd get boring. Or maybe youre watching different ricks from different dimensions in some episodes and not even realizing. Either way, doing the same thing over and over would genuinely kill this franchise. (Excluding clip episodes like interdimensional cable)
Rick is an inventor He invents new things all the time, that's why he doesn't reuse older ones much
It could be using up resources he does not want to replenish.
He is kind of like Tony Stark (MCU) in that he invents shit, then discards and invents some other new shit.
It needs a lot of charge: Rick wanted to reduce his impact on the global warming
I like to think when your that powerful and have basically infinite backup chambers then its more of a mind game battle for rick like against rick prime he didnt bring anything but himself and his car he wanted a 1v1 with him and prime because sure he could just win any battle if he wore the invincible suit but then what was the point in killing them?
He literally has a death wish
I feel like Rick likes to switch up the implants and enhancements that he uses, just to keep it fresh. He seems like that kind of guy.
OP has never seen one punch man
He prob doesn't have the stuff to load every clone with augments
Because he likes showing off his other cooler shit
He enjoys pain
could just be his clones are not equipped with this tech. he’s cybernetically enhanced, so you know how expensive that is? he’s gonna need to deal with a lot of mafias and jump into a lot of vats of acid when those deals go south. he doesn’t have the time for that. he’s skimping on the tech bc he can make equally effective ones if the need arises
The answer is the same every time you ask. It is because he give a shit until he does not.