Earning our parents’ acceptance is a bitch. All we want is to be loved and acknowledged, and that desire is even more pronounced during childhood. Too often we find that we’re comparing ourselves to our siblings, and we have to imagine that our parents are doing the same thing. Sometimes if you don’t perceive yourself as “the favorite,” you might start to doubt yourself a bit.

Now imagine you have to deal with all of that, but you’re also a military brat. And also your older brother is the kickass fighter pilot you want to be. And also your dad is your commanding officer.

This is Scott Truman.

NAME: Scott Truman
RANGER DESIGNATION: Ranger Operator Series Red, Power Rangers RPM
BASE OF OPERATION: Corinth
FIRST APPEARANCE: “The Road to Corinth” – Power Rangers RPM
LAST APPEARANCE: Clash of the Red Rangers: The Movie
PERSONAL WEAPONS/GEAR: Street Saber; Burst Attack; Shark Attack Mode (from Red Samurai Ranger)
ZORDS: Eagle Racer; Paleozord/PaleoMax Megazord
PORTRAYED BY: Eka Darville

PROFILE

The youngest son of Colonel Mason Truman, Scott constantly lived in the shadow of his older brother Marcus, leader of the Eagle Squad during the final Battle for Corinth. Both Marcus and Scott’s fighter jets were shot down during the fight against the rogue computer virus Venjix, but only Scott survived. He was eventually able to make it to the domed city with the help of his rescuer and soon-to-be teammate, Summer Landsdown. Soon after, he was recruited by the enigmatic Doctor K to become Ranger Operator Series Red, the leader of the Power Rangers and – let’s be honest – the Red Ranger with the coolest hair.

Finally recognized as a leader, Scott took his duties very seriously, making sure he had the final call in all decisions that the team made. He also really loved his red muscle car. Like, a lot. One time, one of Venjix’s Grinders scratched the paint and he beat the shit out of it. Don’t mess with the man’s car.

In order to form a new Megazord configuration, Doctor K informed the team that they needed a “flux overthruster,” which is a doohickey that she was incapable of creating. Scott recalled that Marcus enhanced his jet with one of these thingamajiggers. To retrieve it, he confronted Colonel Daddy and asked for the coordinates of his brother’s crash site. Naturally, he refused. And, naturally, Scott didn’t listen. He snatched the required information and made the executive decision to venture into the wastelands outside the city.

This made him an easy target for Venjix’s forces, and he was quickly overpowered. Colonel Truman popped in just in time to save his son’s ass and bring him back into Corinth. Unfortunately, a Venjix Attack Bot followed them inside. The Colonel was able to bring the flux-amacallit to Doctor K and, with the help of the new Megazord combination, the Rangers neutralized the threat.

One of the last things Marcus did was recommend a second squad leader. In a letter to his father, Marcus recommended Scott – and Colonel Truman was the only one to find out.

When the mysterious, cybernetic Dillon became the team’s Black Ranger, Scott was understandably suspicious. These suspicions heightened when Dillon was infected by a virus that caused him to lower the city’s defenses. When he came to, he decided it was in the city’s best interest for him to leave the dome, which required lowering the shields again. Scott would have none of that and chained himself to Dillon, tossing away the key. (Ziggy accidentally ate the spare). Pay no mind to the fact that Dillon was so strong he probably could have broken the chain himself.

The two made a formidable team while chained together. This big-time power move was either because Scott really cared for the welfare of Corinth, or because he secretly liked Dillon and enjoyed their little alpha-rivalry.

Upon joining the team, the explosion-happy and childlike twins Gem and Gemma seemed to be a handful for Scott. Venjix’s troops attempted to suck all of the oxygen out of Corinth, which prompted Scott and the Boom Twins to go on the offensive out in the wasteland – against Colonel Truman’s command, as usual. Scott’s faith in his team paid off, as they were able to intercept the attack proactively.

An attack from one of Venjix’s robots placed a little girl in danger. Colonel Truman attempted to protect her but was quickly overrun by some Grinders. Until, of course, Scott and Gem stepped in to save the day. For once, the Colonel recognized that the Rangers, like, do something, and decided to award a Medal of Valor to… Gem. This brought Scott to the verge of giving up on winning his father’s acceptance. He made one last-ditch effort to impress his daddy the only way he knows how: an impromptu adventure outside of the city.

Lucky for Scott, Gem followed him and together they rescued a band of refugees from Tenaya 7 and some Venjix goons. Just outside the city, Venjix himself showed up in a new, roided-out body. Scott borrowed Gem’s Cloud Hatchet weapon and quickly disposed of the metal tyrant – or at least his version of him. This finally caught the attention of his dad, who awarded him with his own medal. To his surprise, though, Scott denied it, stating that since he selfishly went off-book and endangered a lot of people, he didn’t deserve it yet. This was probably true, but come on, take what you can get, chief.

On a search for Tenaya (now known to be Dillon’s sister) out in the wasteland, the Rangers discovered that Scott had been infected with a body-controlling bug from General Shifter. The devious golden robot boy turned the Red Ranger against his teammates. They were quick to destroy Shifter’s remote control and render his planentirely pointless. Scott took Shifter down once and for all in a pretty badass 1v1 fight in which he Street Saber’d him so viciously that his helmet flew off. And his hair still looked perfect.

This would be the end of our boy’s luck, when Venjix decided to activate hundreds of hybrids throughout the city. This led to Scott duking it out one-on-one with Venjix but he didn’t stand a chance. The big bad started deleting Megazords and, soon enough, Rangers. Gem and Gemma faded away before his eyes. His team slowly began to fall apart. The original trio of Scott, Summer, and Flynn attempted to defeat Venjix once and for all. However, all it took was for Venjix to destroy his own tower and… accidentally drop it on himself. That’s how you get rid of a computer virus, apparently. I think McAfee does something similar.

Following the destruction of Venjix, Colonel Truman offered Scott the position of Commander for the Eagle Squadron, following in his brother’s footsteps. He accepts the position and adds Gem and Gemma to his crew. They flew bird Zords, so okay whatever.

At some point during his tenure as a Ranger, Scott transported to another dimension in pursuit of the evil Professor Cog. He does so by getting off a subway. Cool. This dimension also happens to be the home of the Samurai Rangers, an they agreed to aid him in his pursuit of the monster. During his time in their dimension, Scott didn’t remove his helmet or de-morph, as he was afraid that the air would be toxic to him after spending so much time in Corinth. Sure, Scott. I bet the air outside of Corinth – the place you loved to go so much without a gas mask or any sort of breathing-related apparatus – was fresh as a daisy. Whatever.

During battle, Professor Cog sent five of the Samurai Rangers to Scott’s dimension. He also infected Jayden — the Red Samurai Ranger — and Scott with brainwashing bolts that turned them against each other. Under the presumption that the Red Rangers were in the middle of clashing (as the title of the movie special episode implies), Professor Cog began his invasion of… wherever the hell the Samurai Rangers are. He was tricked, though, as Mentor Ji had noticed the Red Rangers were under a spell and cured them. Scott and Jayden pull a fake-out on Professor Cog and worked together. And by that, I mean Jayden uses his magical samurai summoning powers to give Scott what appeared to be a Ford Mustang to use in battle against minions riding motorcycles. Scott later acquired Jayden’s Shark Attack Mode and used it in the final showdown.

As he said goodbye and prepared to board the Interdimensional Subway, Scott admitted that he ships the one true pairing of the Green and Yellow Samurai Rangers. What a dork.

 

SUGGESTED VIEWING

Ranger Red is pretty good, though it may be the weakest of the “Ranger [Color]” focus episodes. The opening scene is killer, though. Scott fights off a bunch of Grinders using a baby stroller. With a baby inside it. Brother’s Keeper is perhaps my favorite Scott episode. It highlights Scott’s rather… avant-garde method of keeping his team in check under his command, which is where I think his personality shines.

RANKING

Look. Scott’s great and all, but he’s far from my favorite Ranger. Unfortunately, his behavior suffers from repetitiveness (He goes out into the deserted wasteland three times to impress his daddy. Seriously.) and just an overall awkward trajectory. His goal was to become the commander of the Eagle Squad and be just like his brother, but he really wasn’t anything like Marcus. The guy’s rebellious, stubborn, and just doesn’t listen to directions. Leading the Power Rangers doesn’t seem a whole lot like leading the Air Force, but unfortunately, I’m not an Air Force pilot nor a Power Ranger so it’s not like I’m the best guy to judge.

The guy may have daddy issues, but he’s still pretty cool and I dig his leadership style. I’d place him above Chad, but he’s not nearly as memorable as Kimberly. That’s why I’m calling Scott Truman the new number three in the Children of Zordon.

Stay tuned next week when I deliver to you a Super Mega simple explanation for Jake Holling.