Power Rangers: The WORST Rangers per Color
With almost thirty seasons under its belt, the Power Rangers franchise has seen no shortage of awesome, wholesome, admirable characters wield the spandex. But, there remain those characters who were badly written, acted, directed, or even tarnished by their actor’s behind the scenes antics. These are the absolute bottom of the barrel Rangers per color, and that means Red, Blue, Yellow, Black, Green, Pink, White, Gold, and Silver. Let’s begin, in no particular order…
But before I start, a reminder: barring one, this list is in NO WAY a dig against the actors, all of whom did their best with what they were given!!!
Worst Pink: Rose Ortiz, Pink Overdrive Ranger
Giving the role of “super techy genius” to the Pink Ranger was one of the more daring, progressive ideas that Power Rangers Operation Overdrive had employed. Making her a woman of color was also a BIG plus, and in fact Rose is only the second non-white Pink Ranger of the franchise. Unfortunately, making her arrogant to the point of insufferability took away a lot, a LOT of points from the producers and writers!
Add to that the fact that the writers couldn’t give her a small character arc that could help her grow. Nope, nothing for Rose! She just gets to stay the arrogant, snarky Pink Ranger in a season where nearly EVERY. LAST. RANGER is insufferably shitty!!!
BUT credit where it’s due. At the end of the day, Rose Ortiz is still far and away a mold breaker who proves that the Pink Ranger slot isn’t just for being filled by extremely girly girls; ANYBODY can be pink. Hard-ass future cops, ballerinas, dinosaur enthusiasts, subtextual lesbian DJ’s, paramedics, and yes, insufferable geniuses. This is why Pink Rangers are, usually, among the BEST characters in any given season.
Dishonorable runner ups: Emma Goodall (Super/Megaforce Pink), Dana Mitchell (Lightspeed Pink)
Worst Green: Jake Holling, Super Megaforce Green
One of the major problems with Megaforce/Super Megaforce as a whole is that neither season really spent enough time developing the characters, harking back to the first season of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers where the Rangers themselves were more static Saturday Morning Cartoon archetypes than anything. That means that the Rangers themselves don’t grow as people throughout the show; they end the show pretty much the same way they started it.
Jake Holling started the show having two distinct personality traits: being a soccer player, and having the hots for Gia. That’s it. That’s the extent of Jake’s character. He’s also friends with Noah and Emma, and later becomes friends with Troy.
Jake isn’t a BAD Ranger per se, but he was screwed over by not being given ANYTHING resembling a story arc. Even his crush on Gia doesn’t seem to go anywhere until the last few episodes of Super Megaforce, where she SEEMS to reciprocate his feelings! There’s nothing else more to say…
Dis-honorable runner up: Green Spirit Ranger from Jungle Fury, for being more a prop than a character.
Worst White: Sam, SPD Omega Ranger
Sam is a prop, not a character. Beyond his debut, he gets no characterization, no significant episodes, no arc, NOTHING. We don’t even get unmorphed fight scenes with him!
Nothing more to say, NEXT!
Dis-honorable runner ups: Alyssa Enrile and Haley Foster, but only by virtue of being outshined by every other White Ranger yet.
Worst Gold: Levi Weston, Ninja Steel Gold
Know what? I’m gonna offer a hot take: there are currently no BAD Gold Rangers. When your color consists of such LEGENDS like Daggeron, Gem, and frickin’ JASON, you either don’t gotta look too hard to find the worst, or you gotta go through everyone else with a fine tooth comb. In that regard, I believe Levi Weston to be the worst Gold Ranger only, ONLY by virtue of being outclassed by nearly everyone else.
Another problem is that Gold Rangers are exclusively Sixth Rangers, a position that is often filled by the character almost guaranteed to be a big toy seller, so the pressure to make the Gold Ranger the coolest is high. That’s why, even though Levi Weston is the Worst Gold, it’s not because he sucks; he just can’t compare to what’s come before, or after.
Dis-honorable runner up: Antonio, Samurai Gold.
Worst Silver: Orion, Super Megaforce Silver
I debated to myself whether Orion or Tyzonn deserved this spot, but then I remembered one key detail: Orion is only in the show for thirteen episodes. It is this complete lack of screen time that edges him just a teeny, tiny bit from Tyzonn, who otherwise remains one of the worst Sixth Rangers in the franchise.
Orion’s story was actually very interesting: with his home world destroyed, Orion was focused on getting revenge on the villains. In his debut episode, he was an angry, savage Ranger, one who fought with ferocity!
Then, two episodes later, he’s doing a rendition of Ferris Bueller while living in the school…
OK…
Runner up by a hair: Tyzonn, Overdrive Mercury Ranger.
Worst Black Ranger: Will Aston, Black Overdrive Ranger
Remember what I said about how, sometimes, actors retroactively make their characters so much more insufferable. Well, this is the sad, sad case with Will Aston.
The character of Will himself is kind of so-so, being something of a douche sometimes, but progressively getting slightly better as the season went by. If that were all, he wouldn’t be on this list. No, the reason why he’s on this list is in no small part thanks to Samuel Benta, the actor who played Will.
See, back in 2007, the year of the first Power Morphicon, Samuel Benta was accused of stealing a banner meant to be auctioned off with the proceeds going to a charity for sick kids. It wouldn’t be until the year 2020 when Benta would claim that he only “took” the banner to autograph it in private, left it in a room, and then it got stolen. What a tall tale! And it only took him thirteen years to come out and say it!
So, now I can’t watch Will Aston without thinking “wow, that douche stole from sick kids!” So thanks a lot, Benta!
No runners up, because it’s not even a contest!
Worst Blue: Dax Lo, Blue Overdrive Ranger
On paper, Dax Lo’s story is pretty interesting: a Hollywood stuntman who’s given the chance to be a real hero. He goes on adventures, gets his heart broken, overcomes his insecurities, and becomes a true hero.
Then the script made him the ‘comic relief’ that couldn’t make anyone so much as expel air from their nostrils. Seriously, half of the comedy ‘relief’ that Dax offers is so cringe-inducing, it makes Questionable Content look like Calvin and Hobbes! There’s a reason why “shut up, Dax!” is a meme among the Power Rangers fandom!
Dis-honorable runner ups: Madison Rocca (Blue Mystic Ranger), Max Cooper (Blue Wildforce)
Worst Yellow Ranger: Tideus, Yellow Aquitar Ranger
Mighty Morphin Alien Rangers was a ten episode mini-series that aired during the last third of season 3 of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. Tideus served as the Yellow Ranger of his team, and… yeah, that’s pretty much it.
Tideus is one of that small, small number of Rangers one can claim received absolutely no focus episodes at all. He was a team filler, through and through. Nothing else to say.
Dis-honorable runner ups: Honestly it’s not even a contest because Tideus beats everyone else by ten country miles.
Worst Red Ranger: Nick Russell, Red Mystic Ranger
Jason Lee Scott, the original Mighty Morphin Red Ranger, set the bar for what a Red Ranger should be: honorable, brave, self assured, a true leader. Nick Russell is pretty much the complete opposite of all that.
Nick is someone who gives up on himself all too easily. The finale, which left a permanent sour taste on the fandom’s mouths, shows him GIVING UP when the villain has seemingly won, and his teammates have to give HIM the pep talk needed to LEAD THEM TO VICTORY!
Uh, writers? You got it all backwards: the RED RANGER is the one who should be giving the team he’s LEADING a pep talk!
All throughout the show, Nick Russell was being sold as this ultra-powerful, Messiah-Lite figure called “The Light.” But what we got was the one character all season long who proved to be the LEAST deserving of such a title! Nick is not just the WORST Red Ranger, he’s a DISGRACE to all Red Rangers!
Dis-honorable runner ups: Troy Burrows (Super/Megaforce Red), Jayden Shiba (Red Samurai), but it’s not even close.
