For the first few years of its run, the pink warriors of Power Rangers tended toward the more traditional “girly-girl” side of the spectrum. There’s nothing inherently wrong with that, of course. The precedent for the graceful, feminine type was set by Kimberly and Katherine, and given Kimberly’s popularity, it was hard to imagine somebody breaking that mold anytime soon.
But then Cassie Chan showed up.
Disenfranchisement will leave a man with a chip on his shoulder. It can also leave one confused when they see somebody with so many resources not using them to their fullest extent. Also, it can turn you into a bad boy, and everybody loves bad boys.
By the transitive property of bad boyness, everybody loves Eric Myers.
Hasbro has dropped a big ol’ load of toys all over our faces. This first batch of basic figures contains the Red, Blue, and Yellow Beast Morpher Rangers, as well as Cybervillain Blaze and a Tronic. Let’s have a look at ‘em with my amazing photography skills.
Class clowns are hard to take seriously. It may be even more difficult to see them as a superhero. It might be even more difficult for them to gain the affection of their superhero teammate. So goes the tale of Jake Holling, goofball extraordinaire and bi-colorous member of the Super Mega Rangers.
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.
The turn of the 21st century was a weird time. The world was far from the utopian wonderland that optimistic science fiction media had predicted decades before. Instead, the early 2000s saw the rise of the “dude-bro.” The once underground culture of the “skateboarder” had suddenly poked its head into the mainstream. It was finally cool to be a doofus who rode around on a dangerous plank of wood or a dirt bike for fun.
Extreme sports. Dude talk. Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater. X-Treme X-Men. Xtreme Jell-O Sticks. Aside from Rocket Power, nothing seems to embody this bizarre turn-of-the-century more than Waldo – I mean, Dustin – Brooks. Continue reading
Back in the day, the casting direction for Power Rangers seemed to make it a point to prioritize athletic skill over acting experience (in case that wasn’t obvious). The original 6 were all martial artists, dancers, or gymnasts in one form or another. This was presumably to make the unmorphed fight scenes as believable as possible by having the actors do many of their own stunts while showing their faces. Sure, their line delivery may not have been Oscar-worthy most of the time, but they could at least kick some ass. As the show went on, stunt doubles became more heavily utilized. Thus, not as many Rangers got as much unmorphed fighting focus. In that respect, Chad Lee is an exception to the new rule.
The stereotypical “valley girl” is a pretty dumb one, right? All they talk about is shopping and boys and nails. They’re airheads who pepper the word “like” into their speech as if it’s a punctuation mark. They only associate with other valley girls and surround themselves with jocks who will kiss their toes for a chance to take them to the Sock Hop or whatever.
And then there’s Kimberly Hart, a character that – while initially feeding into these preconceived notions of a pretty, upper-middle class teenage Californian – became more than the sum of her parts.
Children of Zordon 