Apparently the Green Ranger is coming to Austin in November
for Comic Con! I found out a few weeks ago and I have been super excited. I may
actually go. I say this not because I am against going to cons, but because as
my friend Erin has already discussed we keep planning
to go to Dragon Con and failing at it. But I think I’m legit going to make
the Austin Comic Con happen, if for no other reason than the fact that the
Green Ranger will be there.
Now I don’t talk about the Power Rangers as much as other
things (like Vampire Diaries and jazzercise, which you’ve heard about many a
time) but I have certainly mentioned
them before. When the Power Rangers came out all the kids in my
neighborhood fell in love with the show. We jostled over who got to be which
ranger. Luckily this was when I was the alpha of the group (as opposed to later
in the days of the Spice Girls when my friend Bri was alpha and we had to
follow her rulings) so I got dibs on the Pink Ranger.
If you aren’t familiar with the Power Rangers, it was a
group of teenagers that were given special coins that allowed them to “morph”
into ninja warriors that also had “zords” which were basically like giant
machines they used to fight giant monsters. It was rather ingenious that the
teenagers weren’t born special but got their powers from an outside source, so
they could easily switch out characters when necessary.
Initially there were 5 rangers – Red, Pink, Yellow, Blue,
and Black. Pink and Yellow were girls (duh), Red was the leader, and in a
racist twist that was delightfully overlooked the first year the Yellow Ranger
was Asian, and the Black Ranger was African American.
I loved the Pink Ranger, Kimberly. She was pretty, a
gymnast, and of course at the time seemed powerful and in control. Like the
other rangers, she wore her color at all points, so she was always wearing some
wonderful 90s fashion in pink. I fully blame this show for the disaster that
was my pink bedroom. Pink walls, pink carpets… and I was stuck with it for
YEARS.
Anyway, Tommy Oliver, the Green Ranger, showed up in season
1 but was initially a bad guy. He was from a rival school or something, was
just as good as the Red Ranger in martial arts (oh did I forget to mention they
all know martial arts? Power Rangers is also to blame for all the kids that
suddenly decided they needed to do karate, which includes my brother), and so
Rita Repulsa made him her evil minion.
MEANWHILE, there was all sorts of tension between him &
Kimberly despite him being a bad guy. Eventually Tommy became a good guy, and
later he became the White Ranger and was the new leader of the gang. Kimberly
and Tommy were an adorable couple, and all was right in the world.
 |
| Seriously, tell me you didn't want that back in the day |
Tommy Oliver was my first fictional character crush.
Actually now that I think of it, Power Rangers is probably also to blame for my
previously
discussed problem where I habitually prefer bad guys/guys that are kind of
dicks. Huh, apparently Power Rangers is almost solely responsible for all the
problems in life. Don’t let that stop you from watching it though! If I had the
original seasons I’d watch that in a hot second. As it is I frequently turn to
the Power Rangers movie when I need an emotional boost.
But anyway, the Green Ranger was like girl fantasy candy. He
was hot, strong, evil, but seemed to have hints of good because of his feelings
for Kimberly. Even when he became good he was witty, dependable, protective,
and still super sexy.
I didn’t realize how deeply Power Rangers was embedded in my
subconscious until the other day when my friend tried to pull his hair into a
ponytail, reminded me vaguely of the Green Ranger, and all of a sudden I was
like !!!!!!!!!
They say you always remember your first love. Maybe you
always remember your first fictional crush as well. I should probably figure
out if I’ve been unconsciously trying to find a guy like the Green Ranger and
that’s half my problem, but that can wait for another retrospective lazy
weekend.
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