Spandex, Time Travel, and Dinosaurs

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The 90's were a rad time to be a kid. Overalls were in abundance, rainbow suspenders were in, and it was the era of Saturday mornings. Every Saturday, my parents and I would load up in the van and head on down to the University of New Mexico to drop my mom off for her classes. During those hours, my father and I had time to play. If the weather was nice, we would lose frisbees in the duck pond or, in colder weather, huddle in the van to watch VHS tapes on the TV he had installed. Those tapes were filled to the brim with hours of cartoons, lovingly recorded for me by my father.

In my tiny brain, cartoons were superior to live action TV. I couldn't understand how my parents could watch the news, or sitcoms. They were boring and borish to look at. No flare, no colors, just adult issues that I had zero interest in learning about. Why watch some family sitcom instead of The Little Mermaid? How on Earth was Full House cooler than X-Men or The Tick? They weren't. You still can't convince me otherwise.

The only live action show I could get behind was Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. And, whoo boy, did that show blow my tiny little mind. They had powers! They had sass and amazing fashion sense! TRINI HAD A GIANT ROBOT CAT FRIEND.

From then on, anytime my dad took me to the Natural History Museum, I would make a mad dash through the terrifying volcano exhibit just so

I could see the dinosaurs. Every time I got to visit the mighty Tyrannosaurus or dexterous Sabertooth, I felt as if I gained some friendship points with the rangers themselves. Sometimes, when my dad didn't notice, I would spend time talking to the Sabertooth and mammoth skeletons, telling them about my worries and problems at school. I always walked away, feeling that I could handle anything. One of the worst feelings was when I had to tell my dino-friends goodbye one last time before we moved away from Albuquerque.

Fast forward twenty plus years. While I still enjoyed Power Rangers and the subsequent seasons in my teens and twenties, I kind of lost touch with the franchise. More of my attention went to Super Sentai and Kamen Rider, but I felt silly for still enjoying them as much as I did. I mean, I'm a grown ass woman. Wasn't it time to put it all down and focus on, I dunno, golf clubs and saving for retirement? Thankfully, I've recently fallen in love with a new, mind blowing experience. Enter Power Rangers: Hyperforce--the first Rangers team to not have a Sentai counterpart. Even more unique, Hyperforce is the first series to run every episode live because--dun dun dah dun!--it's a live action roleplay! It was show written with older fans in mind and, for the first time, fans could interact directly with the cast and one another during showtime. If you follow me on Twitter, I'm sure you've been bombarded with my live tweeting every Tuesday. Sorry-not-sorry, fam.

To state that Hyperforce got me back into the Ranger fandom is an understatement and a poor use of the English language. It opened up a whole world to me. Suddenly, I was connecting and chatting with Ranger fans on a global scale. Via Twitter, we dished fan theories, shared fan art, and rooted for our beloved rangers in the midst of increasingly dire circumstances. There have been triumphs, failures, and too many feels. And through it all the community has blossomed.

In a lot of respects, Hyperforce is no different from the original Mighty Morphin. In both series, characters face heartbreak and unwinnable battles. Friends turn on one another, lives are at stake, and world seems to grow darker by the day. Sure, these story mechanics are found in all superhero diatribes, but the difference is that Rangers are fueled by compassion and the hope for a better tomorrow.

To expand my point, let's look back at the Saturday Morning line-up. Both X-Men and Batman fought for the greater good and peace, but they did so with the tenderness of an underfed pack of hippos. Teamwork was always a strain, and just as much screen time was spent on the team fighting as fighting the bad guy. Batman wasn't much better, and don't even get me started on Gargoyles. All I'm saying, is that brooding was in fashion.

In an era where every day we face dark and grim news, I'm thankful that we still have stories of hope. Even in darker Power Rangers storylines (I'm looking at you Shattered Grid), fans still have the hope that everything will be okay. Because, if nothing else, that's what Power Rangers really taught us as kids. It's not the strength of your powers or the size of your Zords that keeps the Earth safe; it's the faith we have in one another, it's the love we share as friends and, best of all, it's the hope for a better tomorrow.

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Thank you so much for sticking all the way to the end! If you haven't heard of Hyperforce and want to give it a try, you can catch up on all the episodes on their YouTube channel. I also recommend giving the current comic runs a shot.

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