The Red Ranger from 2017’s Power Rangers reboot movie! I saw it in theaters(remember theaters? Wild.) with @Qwuazzi , someone who knows much more about the franchise than I do. He is to Power Rangers what I am to Transformers, shall we say. But we both had a really great time with it! We met up recently to hang out(still socially distancing, of course) and talked about the movie again. We ended up agreeing that the Power Rangers stuff is sadly the weakest part of the movie. Seeing characters bonding and learning helps you get to know them very well, and you want to see more of them. It’s both fitting and incredibly satisfying when Billy is the first one to morph. I think that movie deserved more than it got for being more than what it very easily could’ve been. Give it a look if you ever get the chance!

That being said, the Power Rangers stuff in that movie is still a bit of a letdown, particularly from a design standpoint(at least, to me). Modernizing designs with armor and “realism” is still a common symptom of modern designs, but not always a death sentence. Captain America looks much more tactical than he did when he first came out, but even with muted colors and a more grounded look, he still looks like the character and stands out.

I think one of the best ways to determine good character design in cases like this is asking if a kid could draw this. Like, when a kid draws Mario or Sonic or Batman or Spider-Man, even if the drawing looks nothing like them, you’ll still recognize the character. As much as I like the far-out spacey details and aesthetic of being armor over a flexible suit, the design is too cluttered and the colors too desaturated to be easy or appealing for a kid to draw. I even made the metallic parts of the suit brighter, the armor a shinier red. The original colors are too dull to really grab you. The opposite is true for the original Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. Say whatever you want about them, they’re iconic as hell and instantly recognizable. But the designs for all the Ranger stuff in the movie just isn’t as good. Each of them have roughly the same outfit, just with a differently shaped helmet. The Pink Ranger is the only one who really stands out, with a pterodactyl-like peak on her helmet. Looking at the originals, you see how each helmet has a distinct, recognizable silhouette. The OG Pink Ranger has more white on her on her helmet than the others, for example. This kind of design philosophy extends to the Ranger’s giant animal mechs, the Zords, and their combined form, the Megazord. The new Mammoth Zord in particular looks nothing like a mammoth, or anything at all, really. And the Megazord itself looks less like the Zords combining into one and more like a giant human wearing some parts of the Zords. Rita being an evil Ranger really works, not just because of Elizabeth Banks absolutely killing it, but because her look makes sense. She’s more experienced and combat-ready, her armor having spiked shoulders is just nice visual character design. Goldar is sadly just a giant winged humanoid made of melty gold. It speaks to the common pitfall that you need to understand what makes good designs work before you go in and try to change or modernize them.

I hope that my analysis of the design was interesting, or at the very least not boring! I had a lot of fun thinking about this stuff again as I drew this. Be sure to let me know what you think!

Two different friends of mine have commented on his codpiece. I don’t know if that says more about the codpiece itself or my friends.