TITLE: Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Pink #6
AUTHOR: Brenden Fletcher and Kelly Thompson (story), Tini Howard (script)
PENCILLER: Daniele Di NIcuolo
PUBLISHER: BOOM! Studios
PRICE: $3.99
RELEASED: January 25, 2017
***WARNING: Spoilers lay ahead!***
By Rob Siebert
Editor, Fanboy Wonder
Ah, the letter. Given when this story is set, I didn’t think we’d get to address that. But here it is.
During Power Rangers Zeo, the season that succeeded Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, Tommy gets a letter from Kimberly. It’s essentially a Dear John letter, as she ends their long-distance relationship, saying she’s met someone else. This left a bad taste in the mouths of a lot of fans. Kim was rarely mentioned after actress Amy Jo Johnson left the series. When she returned for the Turbo movie, her relationship with Tommy was barely touched on. Thus, the long-standing relationship between two of the show’s most popular characters ended on a pretty sour note.
That letter turned out to be a piece of what MMPR: Pink is all about. In the end, it became about Kim being her own person and letting go of her old life. About moving on, and becoming a new kind of hero. Fans who’ve dreamt of seeing Kim and Tommy end up together may not be thrilled by that idea. But in the end, it’s pretty damn cool.
The issue starts with Kimberly’s makeshift team of Rangers (Zack, Trini, and two civilians she enlisted in France) arriving to save Tommy and the active Rangers on a faraway planet. They arrive in Typhonis, a giant battle machine Goldar constructed using pieces of the destroyed Thunderzords. They also have Titanus and Tor the Shuttle Zord, which the Rangers have used previously. The use of words from previous seasons is cool fan service, though admittedly a little hokey. There’s an epic feel to seeing those old zords next to the Ninja Megazord in the final battle.
Last issue we learned Zack and Trini have become a couple. That’s completely out of the blue, considering how the characters were on the show. But it’s fine. It’s even intriguing in an opposites-attract sort of way. The only sad thing is I’m not sure we’ll ever see this explored more.
As far as I’m concerned, Daniele Di Nicuolo is welcome back in the Power Rangers sandbox any time. He’s a tremendous fit for the PR universe. His work is clean, dynamic, and compliments what we saw on the show very well. He also got pave some of his own ground with the makeshift Ranger suits, Kim’s Katniss Everdeen wardrobe, and the inner workings of the zords. Mind you, I still don’t understand why Zack’s costume has a hood. He’s already got a helmet! What does he need a damn hood for?
Nagging questions: We’re led to believe that Tommy and the active Rangers don’t know who came to their rescue. But Kim communicates with them through the cockpit of her zord, and there’s no indication that her voice is disguised. How do they not recognize her voice? Also, Zordon obviously sent them Titanus and Tor. Couldn’t they have just asked him who the mystery rescuers were?
There’s been a “life after the Power Rangers” vibe to Pink, which comes full circle at the end. Kim meets Zack and Trini at a cafe, and they talk about their next move, promising to do a better job of staying in touch. When we jump to a year later, we see she’s done just that, including Jason in the mix as well. I like that. Even with as deep a connection as they have, they drift in and out of contact like real people.
There’s obviously a strong feminist angle to Pink, and they hammer that home at the end. A year after the rescue, as Kim is writing the famous letter, she recognizes she and Tommy have very different lives. Not content to “be the woman in pink, at his side,” she sets out to forge her path independently and be her own hero. That ending does a lot of justice to the Kimberly character. It’s really remarkable how, without necessarily intending to, Amy Jo Johnson and the crew on MMPR created this strong female character that resonated with so many viewers. This whole story is essentially a love letter to that character and that performance.
Perhaps the most surprising element of Pink is that Kim and Tommy never speak. He’s never even aware she’s nearby. That’s a hell of a thread to leave hanging, and would make for a hell of a moment in a sequel. Just saying…
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Thanks a lot for you compliments! Just one thing…I’m a man 😛 common mistake with the english language, “Daniele” seems like “Danielle”, but it’s italian version of “Daniel”.
Just one thing about the voice issue: in the original script, there was a phrase where Kim says that she’s activating the voice modifier, but seems that it’s been omitted.
Anyway, thanks a lot and I’m really glad you liked it.
And about the hood…it’s just swag. You can’t control the swag 😉
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Ahhhh. My apologies, sir.
Thank you for reading. You’ve earned a fan in me!
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Thank to you again for the great words, I hope you’ll keep on follow my work (and keep on like it, of course 🙂 ).
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I’m Italian, thanks for this review which made it clear to me this beautiful ending of saga…
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In other words, Power Rangers became a feminist garbage. Another 90′ childhood hero destroyed by feminism? Nothing new here.
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I agree and disagree with your assessment here.
To begin with I didn’t like the Zack/Trini relationship. Lets be honest 98% of fans who shipped Trini with anyone did so with Billy and then the others vaguely did it with her and Jason. I suspect there are people out there who might’ve shipped her and Kimberly together but I’ve never met any (maybe it’ll be in the new movies though?). Trini and Zack seems really kind of forced and like you said out of the blue. Plus I don’t like the original 5 dating each other. It’s just weird and I think male/female strictly platonic friendships) is underepresented.
Yes there is a feminist angle to this series and I liked the way it was played. Kimberly being the leader doubles up as a feminst aspect to the series but also one which utterly makes sense in the context of the story since she is the most veteran Ranger present even if Trini (and maybe Zack) might’ve technically been better fighters than her.
However the whole ‘woman in Pink by your side’ thing is really disengenuous as a story point, let alone something being presented from a feminist angle.
Kimberly was NEVER defined as ‘Tommy’s girlfriend’. Yeah that was an aspect of her character and an important one, just as it was important that Tommy was Kim’s boyfriend, but it wasn’t like there was little to her beyond that. Obviously so given how she predated Tommy as a character and by the end of MMPR had appeared in more episodes than him.
Playing up her break up with him as a means to showcase her independence, or saying that works in the context of a positive feminist message, is therefore nonsense.
Kimberly’s lack of independence could only be said to be true in the context of her operating as part of a team most of the time in the show, at which point pretty much EVERY Power Ranger lacks independence because the whole point of the show is ‘Being friends and working as a team allows you to overcome obstacles like giant monsters’.
As a motivation for her to break up with Tommy it just doesn’t make a lot of sense. It would’ve been more realistic to just say yeah she is young, hasn’t seen her boyfriend in a long time, they live in different countries and live different lives (and it was the 1990s when social media wasn’t a thing) so she really does meet someone else and her feelings change.
The way this ending plays it Kimberly basically lied to Tommy. It doesn’t make her bad. She’s a kid at the end of the day (well she’s supposed to be, Amy Jo Johnson obviously wasn’t).
But it also isn’t believable of Kimberly. Kimberly was brave like all the Rangers and being the goodey two-shoes that they were the Rangers lied about their identities (because Zordon said so) and nothing else.
So I do not buy Kimberly would be unable to be honest with Tommy the way she was in this issue and wouldn’t be able to face him.
At the same time, given all they’ve been through surely Tommy deserves the truth?
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What happen to Jason where is he? Why doesn’t he show up and got separate with Zack & Trini before he showed up in Power Rangers Zeo when Tommy found him some where or some place when he became a Gold Zeo Ranger except Billy? And finally Jason & Kimberly showed up together in Power Rangers Turbo movie. He’s not making any sense a Jason should have stayed with Tommy, Kimberly, & Billy instead of leaving with Trini & Zack so early. Rocky should have wait in season 3 with Kathrine who took Kimberly’s place instead of introduced him early in season 2 to take Jason’s place. Good thing about Adam & Aisha in season 2 but the shield from tommy’s green ranger suit should for Jason in the end of season 1 before season 2 instead of Zack or Kimberly before Adam or Kathrine should wear a golden shield in season 3 that should have make perfect sense. When Tommy felt heartbroken from Kimberly Kathrine may help him with unbreaking his heart from her new romance with him since they got married in the future Kimberly never realize she screwed up with Jason who has been friends for years and she wouldn’t know Tommy & Kat married to each other Kimberly didn’t feel heartbroken to Tommy since she didn’t show up before in Grid Connection & Old Foes without showing her face. Instead of Jason why not Billy being a Gold Ranger in Zeo since he’s been a Blue Ranger permit he was never replaced by any one else it makes sense to him not to Jason. And also Mighty Morphin Power Rangers the movie should have make earlier in 1995 why not waiting in 1996 with Kathrine who took Kim’s place that sucks.
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