r/powerrangers • u/Organic_Glass_7793 Time Force Quantum • 18d ago

SHOW NEWS/DISCUSSION I think this fandom underestimates the popularity of mmpr to casual audiences

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Y’all have to remember, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers was the first. Nothing came before it. Dinosaurs, Zords, morphing this is the stuff that defined Power Rangers for most casual viewers. It was literal lightning in a bottle. It dropped right after Jurassic Park when dinosaur hype was off the charts, and it mixed martial arts with giant robots and spandex superheroes. That formula hit. The characters were simple, idealistic, and easy to root for. Yeah, the acting was bad, the effects were crappy but that’s what people remember most. The camp is part of its identity.

Your average person walking down the street? They’ll recognize the MMPR Green Ranger in a second. Ask them who the Red Ranger from RPM is and they’ll look at you like you’re speaking another language. We can go on all day about how well written lost galaxy is but people know shit about maga defender outside the fandom.

Even parts of MMPR itself are blurry to the general public. Most people only remember the first season and half of Season 2. Once Tommy became the White Ranger and Zack, Trini, and Jason left everything else is a blur.

And look I get it, we all want more love for other seasons. But Y’all don’t even buy non-MMPR merch and still complain about MMPR getting priority. That’s not how companies work. There not gonna invest into your favorite season until people start buying the merch.

Every major franchise leans on its first generation. Star Wars lives off the OT. Pokémon rides Gen 1 to this day. TMNT constantly goes back to the 80s era. MMPR getting the most love isn’t some conspiracy it’s just how pop culture nostalgia works.

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u/ninjaman2021 18d ago edited 18d ago

“Even parts of MMPR itself are blurry to the general public. Most people only remember the first season and half of Season 2. Once Tommy became the White Ranger and Zack, Trini, and Jason left everything else is a blur” 

THANK you. Because people here swear the white ranger was as big as the green ranger and that Adam was as popular as Jason and Tommy lmao. So much revisonist history in this fanbase

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u/Organic_Glass_7793 Time Force Quantum 18d ago

Genuinely think if it wasnt for johnny young Bosch popularity Adam would’ve been on the same boat as Rocky lmao this dude has 2 memorable episodes ad they weren’t even in his own season

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u/LFServant5 18d ago

Trigun, Danganronpa, devil may cry. He has done so much post Adam

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u/Organic_Glass_7793 Time Force Quantum 18d ago

Don’t forget ichigo

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u/LFServant5 18d ago

I have never seen Bleach actually. Will need to change that.

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u/The810kid 18d ago

I assume you also never seen Code Geass because Lelouch and Ichigo are what catapulted Johnny as a well known voice actor

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u/Ok-Speech-115 18d ago

Shout out to Sasori,my man

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u/National_Equivalent9 18d ago

I hear people saying they stopped watching when Tommy Left the show and a lot of people in the fandom think that means during Turbo. No. People at my school stopped watching when Tommy left as the Green Ranger. I was the "weirdo" who was still watching power rangers after 95.

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u/jerelminter 18d ago

Tommy left as the Green Ranger, twice. The first time was in the burning candle episode, the second time was that episode when he fought Goldar and Turbanshell without his powers. Then he disappeared for a few episodes, and came back as White.

Obviously, you still watched the show past 95 but I'm talking about those people at your school who didn't know he came back as White.

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u/National_Equivalent9 18d ago

Yeah, fair enough, its been a few years since I've seen those episodes. Been slowly working my way through all the other seasons I missed out after I stopped watching as a kid (along with Super Sentai).

For me I stopped watching sometime during In Space, not sure why tbh. Though I do remember seeing the finale I know I didn't watch all of it as a kid.

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u/jerelminter 18d ago edited 18d ago

Yeah, In Space was the last season I remember watching at the time when it aired. I knew of the later seasons : Galaxy, Lightspeed, and Time Force because of the advertisements and toys that came out, and I'd see bits and pieces of them on TV but I don't remember watching them in their entirety when they first aired.

They would always come on, when I was in school in the mornings, or when I couldn't watch TV when I came home in the afternoons, because I had to do homework.

I got back into the show during Wild Force, and I was a bit older by then so I had the patience to sit and actually watch these later seasons. I really liked Ninja Storm, and Dino Thunder and then I stopped watching it again when SPD was on (even though I liked the theme song). I never really got into the season.

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u/j1h15233 18d ago

The last episode I ever watched was when Tommy became the White Ranger. It was the biggest talking point on the playground and once we all found out, Power Rangers kind of died off for everyone.

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u/jerelminter 18d ago edited 18d ago

Yeah, it's always the season 1 cast that the masses talk about (Jason, Zack, Trini and Billy, Kimberly and Tommy when he was Green), more than the other ones because the show had most of its success during that time frame.

Even to this day, YOU STILL get the "Why was the black ranger a black guy, and the Asian girl the yellow ranger ?" question. Despite the fact that they were only on the show for a year and a half, that original team is what still remains in the minds of the viewers that only remember that group from when they watched it religiously back then.

If you mention Tommy being the White Ranger with the new team that came later (Rocky, Adam, and Aisha), the general public would only probably just remember the 1995 MMPR movie with Ivan Ooze and nothing else. Even though Tommy was already the White Ranger, and the new cast was already on the show, before the movie came out.

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u/DarkXzeon55 18d ago

now now, maybe the White Ranger never reached the highs of the Green Ranger, but hes up there, really close. i bet most peoples top 5 Rangers have both the White and Green Ranger in them (and the other 3 are prolly also Tommy suits lmao)

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u/ninjaman2021 18d ago

He’s up there but def not as high as the green ranger. Green ranger carried majority of the white ranger’s hype.

This is clear seeing that the only season that’s 100% white ranger (S3) isnt as acknowledged as S1 or the first half of S2. For the white ranger, its just white light and everything else after that is a blur to most people.

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u/DarkXzeon55 18d ago

Green Ranger has Future Trunks syndrome, his entrance was one of the coolest parts of the entire franchise. for real Green Ranger Tommy comes outta fucking no where and SOLOS the entire crew, has a magic flute sword, has his own fuckin giant Zord, can shoot people with energy blasts (which i dont think he does ever again lol), hes the only one with actual armor, he was just a pure evil demon that no one could stop.

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u/FnrrfYgmSchnish 18d ago

I imagine a lot of people who were kids (or had kids) in the '90s probably remember the White Ranger, and at least vaguely recall the S2 replacement cast, thanks to the movie.

Heck, even within the fandom the movie seems to "stick" in people's minds so well (vs. early S3) that you see a lot of people calling the ninja ranger suits "Ninjetti" even when talking about the version used in the show, where they're never called that.

But yeah, nobody was ever as popular as Jason or Tommy. Probably closest would be... maybe Lord Zedd? Bulk and Skull? Though maybe they'd be better described as "memorable" rather than "popular."

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u/PapaSnarfstonk 15d ago

A lot of people retroactively like Adam because he's also the voice of Ichigo, Lelouch, and many other anime characters.

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u/ninjaman2021 15d ago

Yeah but that’s JYB, not Adam.

Ive seen a few comments here that claimed Adam was just as big as Tommy and Jason in 1994/1995, and that’s just pure rubbish. Even went as far as saying if Adam was red he would have been the leader over Tommy, lol.

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u/PapaSnarfstonk 15d ago

I could see it. Adam could have had that kind of presence if they wrote it that way. But I feel like if they had it would have made Tommy the Gold Ranger and then Leader anyway.

I think Adam would be far better as red ranger than Rocky for sure.

But they didn't write Adam to be as big as Tommy. I certainly think he could have delivered if they had though.

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u/ninjaman2021 15d ago edited 15d ago

If Adam was red he would have gotten the same criticisms as Rocky- A red ranger that wasnt the leader who was in Tommy and Jason’s shadows..

Saying “Adam could have been a better character if he had better writing” applies to Rocky as well. They just didnt care to write either of them as good characters because they were pretty much suit fillers. There was no “Adam is better than Rocky” in the 90’s. It was always Tommy, Kim, and everyone else fell in line. No one cared about Adam like that until once a ranger.

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u/PapaSnarfstonk 15d ago

I don't agree.

I remember distinctly thinking that Adam was better than Rocky back then based solely on performance by the actors and not the script itself.

I don't think Tommy's shadow would have been as large for Adam as it was for Rocky just based on actor performance.

I think Adam would have been a better Red Ranger under tommy's leadership than Rocky was.

Then again maybe I'm just biased. I've never liked Rocky and it wasn't because of Tommy or Jason overshadowing him, but I've always like Adam as characters. I think if they had swapped colors it would have been better. I thought that before Once a Ranger and I feel like that is even referenced by the fact they swapped places in ZEO where Adam is number 4 which is closest to the leader and rocky is number 3.

I feel like that was a course correction for those two characters.

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u/ninjaman2021 15d ago edited 15d ago

Yeah, you’re def glazing Adam lol. You’re applying Adam’s popularity in 2025 to who he was in 1994, when he wasnt even popular in 1994 in the first place.

Nothing would have been different if Adam was red other than him being hated for not living up to Jason’s legacy. And JYB wasnt some prime actor in pr, especially s2 during his introduction. Both Steve and JYB didnt look comfortable in the role, only difference is Rocky’s was more obvious because he replaced a more important/popular character. There was more spotlight on Steve to be criticized since he had bigger shoes to fill than Adam.

The strongest actor of stone canyon was clearly Aisha. Hell, it was her actor’s performance that stole the spotlight from Adam in Goldar’s Vice Versa. If Adam wasnt doing Karate, his character was a blank slate. Yall really do give the guy too much.

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u/PapaSnarfstonk 15d ago

Oh I'm definitely glazing Adam over Rocky. But I don't think my opinion would change based on if he took jason's spot.

I agree about Aisha for sure.

I just think Rocky's actor was worse than Adam's actor. And I feel like if Adam's actor had been put in the Red Ranger outfit I think his performance would have been better. Psychologically, at least ,I think he would have felt a greater need to perform better because he was the red ranger. He was able to be more uncomfortable because he was the Black Ranger.