Occasionally, Power Rangers will take an animal Zord from Sentai and re-designate it to a similar (or not-so-similar) creature. Sometimes, Beetle Zords will turn into Mantis Zords. Or Dogs will become Wolf Zords. Lost Galaxy took the Green Falcon/Dragon hybrid creature from Gingaman and decided it was a Condor. I always thought that was odd. In what world are condors cooler than dragons? I mean, nothing against condors. I’m sure they’re perfectly nice guys. Some of my best friends are condors.

Anyway, here’s Damon.

NAME: Damon Henderson
RANGER DESIGNATION: Galaxy Green, Power Rangers Lost Galaxy
BASE OF OPERATION: Terra Venture
FIRST APPEARANCE: “Quasar Quest Part II” – Power Rangers Lost Galaxy
LAST APPEARANCE: “Legendary Battle” – Power Rangers Super Megaforce
PERSONAL WEAPONS/GEAR: Transdagger/Trans Blaster; Green Jet Jammer; Green Astro Cycle
ZORDS: Condor Galactabeast
PORTRAYED BY: Reggie Rolle

PROFILE

After the Space Rangers saved the world and stuff, their Astro Megaship was converted into a museum docked on the space colony Terra Venture. Damon Henderson was the mechanic in charge of maintaining the ship, even though it didn’t really move or do anything. Also Alpha 6 was there.

Kai Chen entered the ship and wanted to take it for a casual joyride through a dimensional portal to save his friends on the planet Mirinoi. Damon objected, knowing that the ship wouldn’t survive a trip like that. Kai started messing around with it anyway, so our trusty green mechanic figured if someone was gonna do it, it may as well be the guy who knows the ol’ Megazord inside and out.

To save the people of Mirinoi from the evil Furio, Damon pulled one of the legendary Quasar Sabers from its stone and was chosen to be the Green Galaxy Ranger. Damon took his Ranger duties seriously, but wasn’t afraid to joke around and provide some levity for his friends. He’d often butt heads with Kai and his no-nonsense attitude, but they were also great friends. Damon often acted as second-in-command to Leo and they goofed and gaffed a lot together.

Damon and Kai caught a young homesick boy named Matthew breaking into a control room to try and turn Terra Venture around and head back to Earth. When Galaxy Goatee (I don’t remember the commanding officer’s name and I refuse to learn it) told him there was no way to get him back home, Damon took him under his wing as a little tiny maintenance man. While handling some toxic batteries as a child laborer, as many 13 year-olds do, Matthew realized his hazmat suit left him as the only person on the colony not to be affected by a monster’s sleep gas. He and Damon were instrumental in breaking into the GSA to rescue everyone. Matthew was given a Medal of Honor and sent home to go kiss his mom or whatever.

Our Green and Blue buddies were later placed under the control of the evil Deviot. I know what you’re thinking — “A guy named Deviot is evil?” Crazy, right? Anyhow, he forced the two Rangers to fight each other to the death. The only thing that died, though, was the mind control computer when Damon threw his saber into it at the last minute.

The engine aboard the Scorpion Stinger was busted, so instead of hiring a normal contractor, Trakeena kidnapped High Councilor Renier and offered her back to the GSA in exchange for their best mechanic. Since Damon had failed in saving Renier, he volunteered his services and redeemed himself with the help of Mike and Leo. She gave them medals and high-fives after. Nice.

The Rangers had their morphin juice sucked dry by the monster Magnetox. To give his team a chance to escape, Damon ram-hugged the monster into a wall and probably almost died. It was pretty badass for an unmorphed move.

Damon competed with this dorky bastard named Baxter for the position of Chief Mechanic at the GSA. To get an edge on his opponent, Damon developed an ultrasonic transmitter thingamajig whatchamacallit. Baxter stole the plans and decided they were his own original idea copyright trademark do not steal, but when he built it, the machine failed because the designs weren’t finished.

This was bad news, because the monster Decibat happened to use big subwoofers to mess with the Rangers. Decibat overloaded the transmitter and it went kaboom. Damon set their differences aside and helped Baxter reprogram the thingy and save the day. He was even willing to hand the position to Damon since he learned his lesson not to be a dirty stealer. But Damon found out it involved a lot of paperwork and crap so he gave it back to Baxter. Man needs to keep his hands dirty. Also the whole thing was Karone’s idea anyway, so it’s her fault. Always blame the new Pink Ranger.

Once Trakeena was “destroyed” and the space station made it to the new world – which was actually the old world of Mirinoi – Damon and the other Rangers returned their Quasar Sabers to the stones and… did something else, I guess. Damon would return to help the Lightspeed Rangers when Trakeena came back for Revenge, and once again when some aliens attacked Earth and there had to be a Legendary Battle. He didn’t get to say anything.

He did get to marry (and allegedly divorce?) Trakeena though. Well, in real life.

RANKING

One of the great things about doing this silly list is seeing the good in every Ranger. And Damon is a pretty good dude. I used to think he was completely forgettable, a victim of being part of one of the messier seasons of the show. But Damon is consistent and not afraid of getting his hands dirty. In fact, he prefers getting his hands dirty! That’s why he turned down a boring desk job. I just explained this. Keep up.

Attack-hugging that one monster gets Galaxy Green some serious bonus points. He’s nothing wildly special, but he’s also somewhat underrated. This will put him in the nebulous middle spot as the new number 17 of the Children of Zordon. I just think he’s more entertaining than Leo, even if he doesn’t get as much attention.

Here’s the Twitter – follow me. I’ll give you a kiss. Also I may or may not be doing a giveaway soon. I haven’t decided yet. But if you follow me, you’ll know.

Here’s the List – check it out and debate me in the marketplace of ideas if you disagree.

Check back soon, cuz 29’s a big one: we’ll be having a look at Zack Taylor, the first Black Ranger, 12th President of the United States of America, and the progenitor of Hip-Hop Kido. One of those things may have been a Google mix-up. Seeya then.