Ranking The Looks Of The Mighty Morphin Power Rangers Era

Even almost thirty years later, fans still care about the Power Rangers.

Thursday morning, EW released the first shot of the team in their new armored threads and die-hard MMPR fans have been more than vocal about how they looked. Some for it, some against it, but Iron Man and Beetleborg jokes aside, this is what’s going down.

There’ve been a few looks that the rangers have been through under the Mighty Morphin’ banner. From the TV show, to the first movie, to now with these new looks, they’re all very distinctively Power Rangers.

We’re going to take a close look as we rank the costumes used, collectively, on Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers. We’re going to stop before they get to Turbo as ranking the entirety of the Power Rangers outfit catalog would take more than an afternoon for sure.

It’s Morphin’ Time!

3. Power Rangers 2017

Coming in third are the soon-to-be theatrical versions of the Power Rangers. I already talked at some length earlier already about the placement of the morphers and theories on how they function. 

That aside, these still are pretty neat and scream alien and that they’re from another world instead of something you made yourself. We haven’t seen them in motion yet, but they look flexible and have a sort of Nolan Dark Knight Batman look to them in a way. The color blocking isn’t perfect, but the glow emanating throughout their suits has an eerie mystical component that makes me very curious. 

Down note though, I understand that the Pink Ranger’s original costume had a skirt attached (which we’ll get to in a second), but the wedged heels and the almost comically large breastplates for both the female Rangers deserves a hefty eye roll. 

The helmets are interesting too because it only looks like Jason and Kimberly’s reflect their Dinozord perfectly, while the rest…not so much. Again, there’s no hi-res photographs available yet to get a better look, but from what we can see, that’s definitely a T-Rex and absolutely a pterodactyl. 

 I’m still eager to see how these things look on screen. 

2. Mighty Morphin Lycra Rangers

True, there’s something special about this iconic look, and while these look goofy in retrospect, there’s still plenty to admire. 

The biggest thing is that these guys look like a team. They’re not just costumes, it’s a uniform. The diamond pattern on their cuffs and boots gives them a playful quality, but still very much in a superhero way. The skirt on the Pink Ranger is a bit too on the noise for a “girl” character, but that was how Kimberly was defined for most of the time there: she was ultra feminine and a bit of a Valley Girl before she evolved into the heroine she eventually became. 

Hardcore fans will remember that the reason that the Yellow Ranger was not given a skirt is because in Japan, it was played by a man. Keeping with most traditional Super Sentai series, the leader wore red and Jason wore it proudly. 

Now, I have the Tommy’s White Ranger in here instead of the Green for a few reasons. One being that he was the White Ranger longer than he was the Green and had a more dominant role, and two they used the White Ranger in the movie so it makes sense to compare the different versions. Savvy? 

The White Ranger looks different than the other Rangers because he came from a different Super Sentai show altogether. The other five Rangers were from the Zyuranger series, while the White Ranger is based from the Dairanger series. So you’ll notice a few things, one being he doesn’t have a Power Morpher or the diamond pattern. He stands out more, but after he was christened the new leader, it made sense for him to. 

1. Mighty Morphin’ Movie Stars

Looking back at the first Power Rangers movie, they touched on a lot of what the spandex and lycra suits had from the series and they truly sung and worthy of the top spot. 

First thing was obviously give them some protection and actually gave the Rangers actual armor. It exaggerated the muscles, but made the Rangers seem larger than life and even more like superheroes. These guys looked like they could fight and dish out some punishment and still be able to take the occasional hit from the bad guys. The removed skirt from Kimberly’s armor was a nice touch, allowing for more flexibility. 

Interesting note though, originally the production crew thought it would be difficult for the Rangers to emote for the movie and so the lenses were removed and you had a very peculiar sight. 

Weird, huh? 

Of course that was later changed back and the lenses and mouth pieces put back on as the Rangers’ identities had to be hidden. These just rock! 

They also changed the shape of Tommy’s body shield and gave him a Power Morpher this time around instead of the block design he has on the show. There were a few other modifications as well. Aisha’s helmet had a pair of eyebeams that could come from her the Sabertooth Tiger’s eyes. Rocky had a mountable scope on his visor as well. These big things made actual little impact to the movie and never transitioned over, which makes me wonder if the new suits for the movie coming out next year will serve more functional purposes. 

The other big different was that they included emblems of their totem Zord. Now, of course, they change in the course of the movie when they switch from Thunderzords to Ninjazords, and speaking of ninjas…

Honorable Mention: Ninja Garb

Personally, I think these are just fun. As with the Rangers costumes are more sci-fi and superhero, these are more mystical in nature. These were loose-fitting and vibrant, but again, the skirts for both the girls is a dated concept, they managed to completely redesign the Rangers costumes, but keep just enough of the initial concepts that make this unmistakably Power Rangers. 

What I love most were the hoods and face mask elements. Instead of having to remove a helmet, it was a simple transition to go from revealed to mysterious with a hand motion. They even kept the diamond pattern, but more subtle and not as noticeable. 

The emblems were kept in tact and I think they’re useful in making sure the costumes weren’t too monotonous throughout. In the show, these acted as an in between look, but covered more of the face so the stunt doubles could do their job without anybody noticing. 

Within these looks, do you have a favorite? Sound off and let us know what you think!