Summary
When a person accesses the Morphin Grid to become aPower Ranger, chance are they deserve the role - either they’re a teenager with attitude, someone trained to save the world, or a person who just wants to make a difference. Unfortunately, some Rangers are just a cut above the rest… and this also goes the other way around. Some Rangers in aPower Rangersseries have become rather infamous not necessarily for their attitude, but sometimes in the way they act or their role in the story at large.
In fact, some Rangers have become so questionable in character or role in the story that some fans consider them either invisible or sometimes outright undeserving of the role. While these Rangers were indeed cool, sported awesome costumes, and even defeated the bad guy, some can wonder whether these Rangers could have been given a bigger role in the story. Or, worst case, perhaps someone else could have gotten the Ranger status instead.
Character development inPower Rangers Dino Thunderremains a highlight for the season, especially with such a tight cast of five Rangers. Chief among the recipients of quite a deep character arc wasTrent Fernandez-Mercer, the aspiring artist who Anton Mercer is raising as a worthy heir of his empire. However, Anton Mercer being the monstrous Mezogog meant Trent had unfortunate access to the powerful White Dino Gem, turning him into the villainous White Dino Ranger - giving him an arc that pays homage to Tommy Oliver’s own redemption arc.
Trent’s tenure as the White Dino Ranger traced its roots to its originalSuper Sentaimaterial, where AbareKiller of theAbarangersbecame so infamous for being a villain until close to the end of the series. Toy sale woes meant Disney had to turn the White Dino Ranger into an ally early on, forcingDino Thunderto release anEvil Trent clonefor the Dino Rangers to fight. While Trent treated this Evil Trent as a shadow of the past he had to get rid of, there really wasn’t much for Trent to do after joining the Dino Rangers. Although the White Dino Ranger is undoubtedly a badass villain in an equally badass suit, Trent didn’t have much to offer as an actual “formal” Ranger.
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Airing Date
February 5 to June 06, 2025
While one could forgive production woes forPower Rangers SPDnot having an official Sixth Ranger actor, it still felt a disservice to condenseSPD Omega Rangerinto a mere ball of light. Since his first appearance, the Omega Ranger was a badass who showed the B-Squad how awesome the future could get with gear like the Uniforce Cycle and the Omegamax Cycle Zord. And when he reveals his nature as a time traveler, somehow travelling through the time warp had strained his body so much that he’s only a ball of light when demorphing.
This became such a letdown for the character, as the Omega Ranger’s sole existence simply became that of a backup who occasionally helped them fight against Emperor Gruumm’s invasion. It’s only at the end of the series that the Omega Ranger is revealed as the olderSamfrom the present. Considering the uniqueness ofSPD’s stories and itsslate of Zords, it’s a shame the Omega Ranger wasn’t involved as an actual character the cast could interact with. As a result, Omega Ranger simply became somewhat of a background character and a backup with no overarching story arc. In this situation, sheer awesome isn’t enough to remove the Omega Ranger from the series’ worst characters.
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February 26 to June 10, 2025
Make no mistake,Tyzonnhas quite the compelling introduction as a former servant for Moltor saved by the Toru Diamond. Tyzonn’s inner conflict is evident in his monster form, as his contract forces him to be ruthless against the Overdrive Rangers, but he hates what he is doing deep inside. After becoming a Ranger, he becomes theMercury Ranger- wherehis Mercurian physiologyendowed him with fantastic mercury manipulation abilities.
Despite possessing a rather excellent suit and a pleasing personality, those weren’t enough to justify Tyzonn’s inclusion into the team. He seemed like he was just “there” but had no real drive within the story to stay. Norg practically did his backstory for him, and Andrew Hartford’s doubts about his son’s capacity to lead could have been enough insurance to create a sixth Ranger suit. Granted, it’s nice seeing Mack Hartford (Red Overdrive Ranger) and Tyzonn form a friendship, but Tyzonn still feels too “out there” to be fully included into the roster. Not only that, Tyzonn didn’t have that much of a character arc to go on, making him feel more of a Sixth Ranger by necessity.
Despite their status as anniversary seasons,Power Rangers MegaforceandSuper Megaforcesuffered lackluster writing - something viewers can evidently feel throughout the cast, and perhaps especiallyJake Holling. Chosen by Gosei for his enthusiasm (and somehow his athleticism?), Jake is initially introduced as an outgoing fellow with a massive crush on Gia (Megaforce Yellow)… and is unfortunately left stuck in that personality. Despite two seasons of potential character development, Jake’s “best ending” inSuper Megaforceinvolves “getting the girl” - not a good message when it implies persistence is enough to land one in a relationship.
Granted, Jake was also known for his optimism (especially in contrast to his best friend Megaforce Blue Noah and his meek but nerdy personality). However, he’s never got any substantial arcs - leaving Jake rather stuck in this lovestruck persona. Similar to Troy, Jake seems only there to “fill” a part. It’s never even explained why he transitions from Megaforce Black to Super Megaforce Green, as well as the radical change of his suit’s body language - a considerable risk considering the season’sSentaicounterparts fit two drastically different personalities into a single character.
Many considerSamurai Sentai Shinkengeras among the bestSuper Sentaiseries produced, thanks in part to its deep character development - specifically how the stoic, reserved, and independent Takeru Shiba is molded into a more open and friendlier ShinkenRed by his retainers. Sadly, just because the concept worked inShinkengerdoesn’t mean it would work inPower Rangers Samurai- especially when it resulted in aRed Samurai RangerlikeJayden Shiba,among the most stale Red Rangers in aPower Rangersseries.
Bad optics aside (whereSamuraicould have been the perfect place to cast an Asian actor as a lead), Jayden’s characterization just didn’t work with thePower Rangerstradition of a strong-willed and ever-energetic Red in front of a livelier cast. While Jayden’s trauma and upbringing as the “decoy” child certainly explains his hesitation to bring others to harm by being with him (even Antonio Garcia, their eventual Gold Samurai Ranger), Mentor Ji’s persistent lecturing didn’t help Jayden get out of this shell. And when the more charismatic Lauren appears, everyone else somewhat tells each other - in her face - how much they miss Jayden, even though there didn’t seem to be a lot of room to properly develop their individual relationships with him.
WhilePower Rangers Beast Morphersearned the praise of critics for its continuity nods (specifically toPower Rangers RPM) and a tight cast packed with some depth,Nate Silvaisn’t as appreciated for his attitude. Most notable for developing Morph-X as a sustainable energy source, this genius from Grid Battleforce is revealed to have mistakenly turned the superintelligence Venjix into Evox, the main threat of the series. Near the middle of the series, Nate infuses himself with a Ranger DNA capsule to transform into theGold Ranger, while Steel absorbs part of Nate’s DNA to become the Silver Ranger.
Although Nate’s genius and quick thinking have helped the Beast Morpher Rangers get past many tricky situations, being raised as a single child may have turned Nate into an insufferable character. He’s shown creating Steel to fulfill his dream of having an older brother, but he’s often dismissive. Natethe Gold Rangeralso has a habit of being passive-aggressive to other characters, somehow getting upset when they couldn’t understand why he’s feeling that way in the first place.
Being a direct sequel to thePower Rangers Zeothat continued theoriginalMighty Morphinseries, fans of the show clung toPower Rangers Turboas somewhat the “final” series to have a legacy of powers being passed onto a new batch of Rangers. So when an injured Rocky DeSantos passed his powers onto kid geniusJustin Stewart, the child prodigy suddenly became his replacementBlue Turbo Ranger- something that initially didn’t sit well for the other Rangers until they grew used to his energetic presence.
Unfortunately for Justin, fans didn’t immediately like having a kid as a Ranger. Although some fans understood his presence as the “kid who made sense” trope, others felt the “kid growing into a Ranger” concept too off-putting, even in a show where people typically suspend disbelief. Not to mention, Justin fulfilling the dream of kid viewers to “become” an actual Ranger ironically didn’t sit well with kids who watchedTurbo, as this essentially meant Justin’s dreams came true, but theirs didn’t.
It’s not always that aPower Rangersteam has members in ongoing relationships, which madeCalvin Maxwell (Ninja Steel Yellow)andHayley Foster (Ninja Steel White)refreshing sights to see inPower Rangers Ninja Steel. And while other fans look at them as highlights of team dynamics, they’re not exactly the best rolemodels for relationships - to the point where one must wonder why they were chosen as Rangers in the first place.
For starters, Calvin is a textbook abusive boyfriend whose actions are often trivialized as plot points, like forgetting important details, making fun of Hayley, or being generally unsupportive. Meanwhile, Hayley is uncommunicative and extremely forgiving (even when the anniversary is on the line). At the end of the day, their portrayal of their relationship implies one can mistreat a partner as they’ll always be forgiven - somewhat unbecoming of Rangers. Granted, Calvin and Hayley could’ve been split to work on themselves, but the series deciding not to take them to this direction can leave a bad taste to fans.
If “charismatic cool guy” became the one-liner summary forTroy BurrowsofPower Rangers Megaforce, then Andrew Gray certainly did the part. Sadly, there’s not much else - the writing did nothing but make Troy burrow (no pun intended) under his assigned leader role. Besides that, he was a generic “fulfillment” of a Red Ranger, which was a shame considering the sequel series is technically the throwback season to theentirePower Rangerslegacy.
Troy technically ticks everything that needs to be marked asMegaforce Red(eventuallySuper Megaforce Red) - a rough upbringing that instilled a sense of responsibility, decent martial arts skills, loyalty and compassion, and a strong belief in teamwork. The thing is, this all made Troy such a one-dimensional character with less personality than that of heroic Robo Knight. Combined with the fact that Troy had a scrapped personal storyline, the character becomes more of a “shell” of a Red Ranger instead of a Ranger deserving of the leader role.
Almost allPower Rangersteams have a comic relief character, and they often become their most notable team members: Ziggy forRPM, Dustin forNinja Storm, Bridge forSPD, and even Chip forMystic Force.Dax LoofPower Rangers Operation Overdriveattempts to do this for the Overdrive Rangers, and his backstory as a former stuntman-turned-treasure hunter fits his comical tendencies as theBlue Overdrive Ranger. Unfortunately, comparing ex-stuntman Dax to his super-spySentaicounterpart Souta Mogami (BoukenBlue) is where the least of his problems lie.
Unlike theother Overdrive Rangers, Dax is the only one whose motivations don’t seem to “resonate” as much with the others. He inserts jokes almost anywhere, even when it doesn’t seem appropriate. Unlike other comic relief characters whose quips are often tied to a bigger role (like Dustin who frequently united the Ninja Storm Rangers, Bridge whose unique thinking usually solves the case for the B-Squad, or Ziggy whose banter added heart to the Ranger Operators), Dax seems to exist “just because” - making him an overall weaker Ranger in the process.
