Disenfranchisement will leave a man with a chip on his shoulder. It can also leave one confused when they see somebody with so many resources not using them to their fullest extent. Also, it can turn you into a bad boy, and everybody loves bad boys.

By the transitive property of bad boyness, everybody loves Eric Myers.

NAME: Eric Myers

RANGER DESIGNATION: Quantum Ranger, Power Rangers Time Force

BASE OF OPERATION: Silver Hills

FIRST APPEARANCE: “Worlds Apart” – Power Rangers Time Force

LAST APPEARANCE: “Forever Red” – Power Rangers Wild Force

WEAPONS/GEAR: Quantum Morpher; Quantum Defender; TF Eagle

ZORDS: Quantasaurus Rex/Quantasaurus Megazord

PORTRAYED BY: Daniel Southworth

PROFILE

Eric attended the same private school as Wes Collins, but the way Eric perceived it, Wes came from a spoiled rich family and didn’t need to work to get in. He himself, meanwhile, worked his butt off yet got looked down upon for his class status. Though Wes attempted to befriend him, Eric said to hell with the whole thing and ditched the school to pursue… other endeavors.

One of these endeavors was joining the Silver Guardians, a paramilitary organization tasked with protecting Silver Hills from gross mutant baddies. The group was privately owned by Wes’s father, and somehow this form of for-profit vigilantism was completely legal. Upon discovering that Wes was the Red Time Force Ranger, Eric grew jealous. He wanted these powers too. For all of his hard work and determination, he deserved them more than Wes did, right?

So, he got what he deserved. He caught wind of the so-called “Quantum Morpher” and beat the Rangers to it, becoming the Quantum Ranger and kicking their butts. Eric traveled back to the time of the dinosaurs to capture the Quantasaurus Rex, said to be one of the most powerful Zords that Time Force ever developed. Wes wasn’t going to take this lying down and followed him there. They both lost out, though, as one of Ransik’s goons beat them to it. Desperately wanting to prove himself to Mr. Collins and become the leader of the Silver Guardians, Eric eventually gained control of the Q-Rex.

Instead of formally joining up with the Rangers, Eric chose to fly solo, continuing to work with the Silver Guardians as a commander under Mr. Collins. This led to him clashing with Time Force at times and competing to be the defender of Silver Hills. Eric would still team up with the Rangers on occasion, though he was very reluctant.

Trip – the Green Time Force Ranger – fought to protect a mutant named Notacon who was… well, not a con. He was just kinda ugly and innocent. Eric seemed dead-set on making sure Notacon got eliminated. With a little bit of persuasion, Trip was able to convince Eric to not be a racist dick. When the sweet little mutant grew into a giant under Ransik’s control, the Quantum Ranger used the Q-Rex to hold him down while the Green Ranger destroyed the control device.

Enjoying a peaceful morning with his birds, Eric got abducted by some evil mutants and held at the Power Rangers equivalent of gunpoint. They forced him to summon the Q-Rex with his voice activation. The mutant Conwing duplicated Eric’s voice using a weird thing that looks like a duck bill and took control of the Zord. Before the mutants could finish him off for good, Eric leaped into the river below as the Rangers arrived. Jen pulled him from the river and tried to reason with him, but Eric stubbornly denied that he needed friends or allies.

As it turns out, friends and allies were instrumental in helping him retrieve his Morpher from Conwing and gain control of his Megazord once again. When Conwing grew giant, Eric rescued his little bird-loving neighbor girl and used the subsequent power of friendship to activate the Mega Battle power-up mode. He roller-skated his way through some foot soldiers before single-handedly putting Conwing back into containment. When asked about working together with the Rangers, he just kinda walked away like a jerk. But we all know he has a soft spot for his birds and the little girl next door who likes to visit them.

A great change of pace occurred when Eric helped the other Rangers defeat the poisonous Venomark. Together, they were able to cure all of the people that were infected, and the Quantum Ranger truly began to feel like part of a team. However, that all got thrown out the window a bit when Eric wouldn’t let Wes destroy the remaining antidote serum stuff. It wasn’t going to be invented for 1000 years or so, and its existence was kinda messing with the space-time continuum or what have you.

Ransik wound up stealing the remaining serum, as he needed it to prevent him from becoming a bigger freak than he already was. He also injured Mr. Collins as he made his escape. Eric morphed and tried to stop him, but the mutant terrorist was too much for him. Eric made it his personal duty to look after Wes’ father in the hospital. He grew jealous when Wes got to take charge of the company in the meantime, but the feeling goes both ways. Wes envied Eric for being able to continue his Ranger duties. You see, Wes’ distant relative Alex came from the future to take back over as the Red Ranger since he used to be the Red Ranger and – you know what, it doesn’t matter right now.

Feeling defeated, Eric decided to skip town in a taxi cab. He got sidetracked when he saw the Time Force Megazord battling Frax’s Dragontron and jumped in to help with his Q-Rex. He got a bit upset when the Megazord jumped on top of the Q-Rex, but hey, teamwork and all that jazz. Following the battle, Eric gave Wes a ride to the hospital to visit his dying (but not really) father. Aw, he really does care.

Wes sent his other four teammates back to the future as Ransik launched his final attack on Silver Hills, leaving just himself and Eric to stop him. After the Q-Rex got Q-Wrecked, Wes rescued Eric and brought him to safety. In spite of all of this, Eric still insisted on working alone, but a pep talk from Wes about being Power Rangers and teamwork and crap left him questioning his stance on the matter.

One of Ransik’s Cyclobots took a shot at Wes and his father, but the Eric jumped in to take the blast, leaving him badly injured. He handed his Quantum Morpher off to Wes so that he could use his power and weapons to defeat Ransik once and for all.

After Ransik wimped out and turned himself in, the four Time Force Rangers from the future prepared to return to the year 3001, leaving Wes and Eric behind. They grew to become close friends and co-leaders of the Silver Guardians.

Some time later, evil Mut-Orgs appeared in Turtle Cove, bringing together both the Time and Wild Force Rangers. During their brief team-up, Eric took a liking to Taylor, the Yellow Wild Force Ranger. Of course, they mostly expressed this to each other through kindergarten-style arguments and stubbornness (and even a speeding ticket). He does let her use his Quantum Defender, though. There’s a euphemism in there somewhere.

Eric and Wes were called upon once again by Tommy Oliver – along with almost every other Red Ranger – to stop the remnants of the Machine Empire from reviving the evil Serpentera Zord. Here, it is confirmed that Eric can breathe on the moon.

SUGGESTED VIEWING

You should probably give his whole opening arc a watch, but Eric’s standout episodes are the ones where he has no choice but to work with the other Rangers instead of being… well, a lone Ranger. While it’s not focused on him, Trip Takes a Stand is where his true personality begins to peek through his bitter, stubborn, meanieheaded-ness. Quantum Secrets is where you get to see his softer side. And his birds. And his roller skates. God, those roller skates.

RANKING

Eric is the first of his kind for the franchise. Until now, just about every Ranger was a goody two-shoes in one way or another, even the Sixths. The Quantum Ranger is the archetypical anti-hero, the lone wolf who doesn’t play well with others. Best of all, this attitude is all his own volition. He wasn’t misled by alien villains. He wasn’t placed under a spell. He was just kind of a bitter prick who needed to be put in his place, and to learn that life is a little easier when you open yourself up to friendship.

Eric is one of the prime examples of how being a Ranger inherently pushes you to be a better person. I’m going to say I like him more than Kimberly, but not quite as much as Dustin, whose doofy innocence just hits the mark a tiny bit more. This makes the Quantum Ranger the new number two on the Children of Zordon. I’ll bet he’s going to be a tough one to dethrone, too.

Curious where your favorite Rangers stand on the list? Check it out. Make sure you follow Children of Zordon on Twitter so that you don’t miss out on these sweet, sweet write-ups. You could also follow no context power rangers, which often contains screencaps of episodes that I watch to make this quality content. Check back next week when we learn about the spunky pink spandex person, Cassie Chan.