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My All-Star Power Rangers Team

September 13th, 2014 by Todd Black 1 Comment

Recently, Power Rangers Super Megaforce returned to Nickelodeon, with the promise that it won’t stop until the season ends. Meaning, that we’re FINALLY going to get the Legend War, featuring EVERY SINGLE RANGER from every season…at least in costume.

As a long-time Power Rangers fan, this makes me all kinds of giddy. I love Power Rangers, I’ve loved it ever since I was a kid (and to some I still am a kid, so there you go). As I look over the now 20+ years of Power Rangers, I find myself reminiscing about my favorite characters. From the leaders, to the support characters, to the legendary Sixth Rangers, and more. As I thought about it, I wondered…

“If I could make my own personal team of Rangers, featuring anyone from the past incarnations, who would make the cut?”

To a true fan, that’s a hard question. Cause I believe every season you try hard to connect with at least one character, it makes it more fun.  So if you for instance had one favorite character in every season, that’s 20 Rangers for you to narrow down. And that’s only if you have one!

You also have to be careful that you don’t overload your team with certain characters. Like ALL Red Rangers, or all sixth Rangers, and so on. So when I decided to break this down, I put in some rules, I hope you do the same as you hopefully make your own All-Star team.

Here’s my guidelines for this all-star team:

1. There can only be one Red Ranger. One leader per team, that’s the rule. There doesn’t need to be any banging of heads about who’s the leader.

2. There must be a female Ranger on the team. While some may be seen as stereotypes in some seasons, there have been some epic lady Rangers, and to not have one on the team is a crime. Who knows? You might find you want two!

3. One sixth Ranger. As you’ll see if you list the linked page above, there have been some epic sixth Rangers. I would be honored to have a team with all of them, but that wouldn’t be fair. So just like there’s only one Red Ranger/leader, there can only be one sixth Ranger.

4. No two Rangers of one color. “What?” This means you can’t have two blue Rangers, or Yellow, or Black. This may trip some of you up. But I think it’s fair. There have been a variety of colored costumes, so get creative. Remember, some teams didn’t have a black, or pink, or yellow Ranger. So have some fun, and see who you find in your team, and who’s out because of this.

Ok, ready? If not, take your time before scrolling down. There’s no rush. Once you have your All-Star team ready, check out who made mine.

Note: The order is in no way indicative of how I rank them, they’re all awesome in my mind.

Green Ranger: Tommy Oliver, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers

What is there to say? What is there to say that HASN’T been said?!? Tommy Oliver is regarded by numerous, nay, INNUMEROUS Power Rangers fans as the greatest Ranger of all time. He just is.

You can say it’s because of the Green Ranger Saga, or the fact that he has the Dragon Zord, or that he holds the record for the most episode appearances (for a Ranger) in Power Rangers history. He has done it all. Green Ranger, White Ranger, Red Ranger, Black Ranger. Leader, follower, teacher, friend, legend. That’s Tommy Oliver.

Now, why Green Ranger for my All-Star team? Well three reasons. One, Green was just epic. The look, the flute, the Dragon Zord, the episodes, it was all great. The Green Ranger is so iconic that people (including Tommy Oliver himself Jason David Frank) want a Green Ranger movie!

Second, the White Ranger was technically the leader of the Ranger once he was revealed. Zordon said so himself. And per my rule: One team, one leader. True, he’s not Red, but as the White Ranger he led the team. And as you’ll see, I already have a Black Ranger, so Green was the only one left. Which is fine by me!

Third, and finally, Tommy is coming back to Power Rangers one more time for the Legend War, and yes, he’s wearing the Green Ranger outfit. I honestly don’t need another reason than that to have him on my squad.

Black Ranger: Dillon, Power Rangers RPM

You know you’re cool when you don’t even have a last name!

While Power Rangers RPM may not be my favorite season, it did one of my favorite characters. Dillon was cool in every aspect of the word. And boy was he sharp, to the point where he called out a bluff of an apparent stick-up…because he knew the guy was just holding a pipe to his back! That’s cool.

Add to that, he was just a cool guy. He was a loner, but he had a soft spot for Ziggy, and that was pretty awesome.

Dillon was also an epic driver, and a force on the battlefield. He may not have been a team player, but when he was, you were glad he was on the team. Oh yeah! And he wanted nothing more than to be reunited with his sister, what’s more honorable than that? Exactly the kind of guy I need on my All-Star team.

Violet Ranger: R.J., Power Rangers Jungle Fury

For the record, it’s listed as violet on Wikipedia. You’re welcome.

As if to counter the coolness of Dillon, R.J. from Power Rangers Jungle Fury is a laid back master who loves to chill as much as save the world. Case and point? He own a pizza place. There should be no other reason he’s on the list than that, right?

Wrong, cause R.J. is epic on numerous levels. While he may be laid back, he truly is a master, and is able to both kick butt and give out wise advice to his young Ranger padawans. Lest we forget, it was R.J. who was charged with being the new master to Jake, Lily, and Theo when their former master fell. And it was he who made them Power Rangers.

There was no cooler moment in Jungle Fury than when R.J. earned the respect of his father by showing off his wolf spirit skills, and quickly became a Ranger afterwards. R.J. knew his path laid elsewhere than his fathers vision, and he wasn’t afraid to follow it. That, along with everything else (PIZZA PLACE!!!) earns him a spot on my All-Star team!

Yellow Ranger: Kira Ford, Power Rangers Dino Thunder

This was a tough one. Like I said, there have been many epic female Rangers. I could’ve gone with classics like Trini, or Kimberly from Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. Or maybe Z from S.P.D. And who can forget Jen from Time Force?

In the end though, I went for another pick, Kira, from Power Rangers Dino Thunder.

Kira is a rebel, and she’s fine with that. She didn’t want to be seen as just another girl, and insulted because of it, so she made sure that idea never crossed people’s minds. She’s smart, coolly dressed,  and is incredibly gifted, as we see throughout Dino Thunder as she wows many with her voice and guitar skills. It’s actually through her music that we get to see the softer side of Kira, and I think that’s really resonated with me.

Another thing that resonated with me about Kira is her never-give-up attitude when it comes to her music. She wants to be a singer, and she won’t give up until the world hears her voice. It was very cool in the S.P.D. crossover episode to see not only Kira’s perseverance continue, but find out she did indeed the big time. Way to go Kira!

Witty yet caring, creative yet fierce, Kira is the perfect addition to my team. Oh, and her Ptera Scream is pretty awesome too!

Blue Ranger: Sky Tate, Power Rangers S.P.D

Another tough choice for me, and the result may surprise some of you. I could’ve easily gone for Billy from MMPR, Rocky from Zeo, or how about Tori from Ninja Storm? However, when I thought about the Blue Ranger I literally cannot forget, I think of Sky.

When we first meet Sky, he’s anything but a great Ranger. True, he’s a great fighter and was great with weapons, but his personality was something to be desired. Sky was a “follow the rules” type, and he was very audible in that he believed he would be Red Ranger, and when he became the Blue Ranger, he was notably furious.

As S.P.D went on though, we learned why he was that way. His father was a legendary Red Ranger for S.P.D, who sadly fell in the line of duty. Sky swore that he would become the Red Ranger, to honor his father. And thanks to Jack, he was able to bring down the monster who killed his father, as the Red Ranger.

Sky can be noted for having one of the biggest character arcs in Power Rangers history. As he was one who notably changed from beginning to end. Learning that all Rangers, no matter what color their costume, are heroes. And that sometimes it’s just good to have a team that believes in you, rather than be a leader of a team who just follows orders.

The end of S.P.D saw Sky’s dream truly come true, as Jack stepped down as Red Ranger, and after a small test to show what he had learned, Sky was awarded the Red Ranger morpher.

For willing to change, and learning to be a better Ranger, person, and friend, I’m honored to have Sky on my team.

Red Ranger: Carter Grayson, Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescue

I’m sure many will not understand this choice right off the bat. And it’s honestly not hard to see why. Red Rangers are arguably the most remembered of the Ranger teams. Starting with Jason, then Tommy, T.J. Andross, Leo, and on and on and on. You can probably name just about every Red Ranger there’s been.

It would’ve been incredibly easy to have Tommy as my leader, and then have one of my other favorite sixth Rangers take his spot, but to me, there’s more to being a Red Ranger than just the costume and the powers, it’s about the man inside. And to me, there’s no greater Red Ranger to don the mantle of leadership than Carter Grayson.

Why? Simple. He’s a firefighter.

“So?”, you may ask, “Why does that matter?”. It matters a lot, cause when he was recruited by Lightspeed Rescue, Captain Mitchell knew that Carter was willing to serve those in need, protect the innocent, and risk his life to save others if needed. After all, that’s the duty of a firefighter, and Carter Grayson embodied all of that.

When he heard about Demons about to attack (one of which he glimpsed during a firefighting rescue) he instantly accepted being a Ranger, cause he knew it was the right thing to do. He was also the one who defeated Queen Bansheera in the finale, and reunited the Lightspeed Rescue Rangers later on when one of the Demons survived.

Also though, when he was done being a Ranger, he went back to firefighting. Cause he knew there would always be someone in danger, and he was willing to help them.

Carter was a fearless and compassionate leader. If my team was to be truly made, I would want a leader who I knew could unite them under one banner for the right reasons. And fight for the right reasons. I can think of no better leader than Carter, and that’s why he’s my Red Ranger.

So, what do you think? Did any of my team make your lists? Let me know in the comments below! Tell me who made your All-Star Squads.  And be sure to check out my reviews of Power Rangers Super Megaforce, as we countdown to the Legend War!

 

Todd Black is reader of comics, a watch of TV (a LOT of TV), and a writer of many different mediums. He's written teleplays, fan-fictions, and currently writes a comic book called Guardians (guardians-comic.com). He dreams of working at Nintendo, writing a SHAZAM! TV series, and working on Guardians for a very long time!