If you live in the east, and I mean the true East of Asia – Japan specifically – you may have been following the Power Rangers (technically Super Sentai) for the last forty years. If you’re American and over the age of 25, you definitely grew up watching the Power Rangers. Though it’s been over twenty years since the series began, it still airs today on Nickelodeon with every season available on your preferred streaming device. The appeal of Power Rangers has probably faded a bit in the last two decades, but still a fanbase exists.

Using the nostalgia factor that is certain to bring in old fans, Lionsgate is working on bring a fresh imagining of the Power Rangers to the big screen. The announcement that the movie would be produced by Lionsgate with the intention of rebooting the series with a bit of a darker tone is something that older fans seem to be pretty excited about. However, with anything dearly beloved, a healthy dose of skepticism is to be expected… and boy is there some skepticism here.

Fanboys the internet over are voicing their opinions on the newly released first looks. Entertainment Weekly has released images of both the rangers in their suits and a look at Elizabeth Banks as Rita Repulsa, this iteration of the rangers nemesis. Let’s take a look at Rita —

Here you can see I have expertly photoshopped the image from the upcoming movie alongside the Rita of old. What a difference. Gone are the dress and pointy bra, replaced with a very green theme. The change is so drastic fans are wondering just how much of the origin story they remember will be kept and how much will be brand new. Some fans are even speculating that Rita may have been the green ranger before and this outfit is a modified ranger suit. That remains to be seen, as we know absolutely no details of the plot lines. Forums are alight with opinions on the new look. Some people are praising the new direction while others are questioning the change. Do you really think the pointy boobs was a look they should have kept?

After EW released the picture of Banks, many started to wonder when we’d get to see the rangers in their suits. Most of the consensus online seemed to be that we wouldn’t see the suits until the first trailer would be released. Lionsgate apparently had other ideas and let EW put out a picture of the new suits. Let’s take a look and try to dissect what is going on with them.

The rangers are robots! No, not quite actually, though they do seem to have a very Stark Tech inspired look to them. On the new design the director had these words to say:

“We switched all of the races around, but we made sure that the essence of each of those characters are who they were in the original show, and this really will be an origin story of those characters… We’ve really pushed ourselves to make them feel different from any other superhero costume that’s out there.”

Interesting choice of words, considering the immediate reaction is to compare these to Iron Man. He went on to say after the release of this image:

“These suits needed to feel like they were catalyzed by these kids and their energy, their spirit… Ours is an alien costume that grows on them, that’s not man-made. You can’t win everyone over, but we are trying to appeal to a more mature audience and gain new fans.”

Oh Dean, you spoil us with details here. The suits are alien! Does this confirm Zordon of Eltar bringing the power across the universe? Will we see a huge head in a tube? Given how drastic the changes we’ve seen so far, I wouldn’t get my hopes up about the floating head.

The look of these characters is more reminiscent of the mid-90s Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers: The Movie designs than the spandex suits the rangers normally don. This alone is a point of contention for fans. Other fans are getting caught up on the fact that the female rangers have wedges on their heels and breast-emphasizing-plates rather than the flat plates worn by the men. Now, good arguments are being delivered for both of these – the wedge could slow someone down, and the breast plates would direct a blade straight through a chest, rather than deflect it. The counter argument to both of these is simple – it’s a fictional movie about an alien suit granting power to rude teenagers.

They really do look like they could be part of the Iron Legion though, don’t they? It’s hard to get passed initially. They also appear to be fully CGI. Whether this is true or just a trick of light and editing, it’s hard to say. Many commenters across the internet fear that the suits will be CGI throughout the entire film, however the new yellow ranger’s actress Becky Gomez was quoted with the following words:

“It’s the coolest costume ever. I’m gonna wear it for Halloween for, like, five years.”

That should put an end to the speculation as to whether we’ll see these suits made in physical form. I’d personally like to see one of these helmets on and off the actor. They just seem a bit oddly proportioned, and I think having them held in someone’s hand or next to the actor’s head would give us a better idea of the shape of them.

Overall the complaints that people are making are either about the resemblance to Iron Man or the divergence from the original characters. However, this author’s main complaint is the following: the accent colors. We can see on the red ranger that there are silver accents, and that appears on the pink ranger also, but the blue ranger has blue accents, the black has balck accents, and the yellow has a darker grey. This inconsistency is driving me crazy. In my opinion, the accents should be plain old white, for all the rangers. White is the main accent color in the original series (and most suits since then too!). It would be a tiny detail that would give a nice connective touch to the rangers, and given the change from the original we’re seeing, it would be a nice little throwback to those versions.

Not everyone is complaining though. This is a drastic change, and one that could indicate a darker tone than we’re used to seeing. With only these few images (and a few leaked ones out there on internet land) to go by, we can’t yet tell how the movie will be, but plenty of fans are excited by this new design and can’t wait to see what comes of this project.

Sound off below or on our Facebook, what do you like about the suits? Are you going to be seeing the movie when it comes out?

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