“Isn’t the smallest chance of victory enough of a reason for us to keep on fighting? The world needs us, Rangers.” – Jason Lee Scott
It was in my original contract with Morphin’ Legacy to do some Ranger Psychological profiles at least once a week. My inability to write much of anything lately has thusly docked my pay by 24%, now contractually unredeemable due to the original agreement. And I have to send back my free t-shirt; it’s a mess.
Nah, everything above is a bunch of nonsense. I write this crap for fun. I doubt anybody on the staff is organized enough to figure out a payroll….if we got money for our articles. Fuck it: here’s the first of many Ranger Psychological Profiles!
Before we begin, let’s cover how I do things and judge characters: I’ve basically assigned myself the task of judging whether or not any particular character is psychologically fit to serve in a suit. This boils down to about 90% normal-life and 10% hero life: how they act in their civilian clothes contrasted to how they act in spandex. All you hater-haters out there are going to say, “Dude, Zordon/Tommy/Captain Mitchell/the fates seemed to have hand-picked [insert subject here] to be Power Rangers! Isn’t that good enough?”
Fuck no. Zordon clearly had Alzheimer’s, or was weary from space radiation, or otherwise had something else going on in that big blue head of his that fucked with his judgment. If I was Zordon, I would’ve gone off to find Titanus from the start, attacked Rita’s moon base, and sent the kids home before episode 5. Tactically, things could have been much simpler in the fight against intergalactic evil, but clearly, Zordon was either willing to let things bend to the brink before unlocking the Rangers’ special gear, forgetful of his own advantages, or just assumed Rita wouldn’t keep pushing the boundaries. Either way, this kind of skewed logic is prevalent in every mentor and leader-figure in the series. Sometimes it makes sense (Dr. K hiding certain elements so she wouldn’t have to explain Alphabet Soup in RPM), but most times, it’s stressfully constant (fuck you, Zordon; would’ve been nice to know about Dragonzord before he tore up our beloved abandoned warehouse district).
That being said, let’s just assume I’m in charge around here. There is no Zordon, no Dr. K, and no Captain Mitchell. I run the Ranger program and I get to decide who gets a morpher and who doesn’t. And I have an EXTENSIVE psychological evaluation that needs to be passed (not to mention miscellaneous unmentionables to be reviewed later). Let’s begin with somebody that everybody knows and loves: Jason Lee Scott.
Before we start, I’m mostly leaving out the relationship between him and Tommy. Yes, it was significant. Yes, it set up several big story arcs. Yes, Tommy is cool. For the most part, however, they just kinda high-fived and stole each other’s roles. The friendship between Jason and Tommy will probably be covered later (if you request it from me), but that has to do with both Jason AND Tommy. This article is just about Jason, and any related situations (mostly in reference to the Green Candle) are thusly included when appropriate for his general psychological review.
Let me begin by explaining a concept I think about quite a bit, and will show up in many more evaluations: courage vs. bravery. Many people on the street would say that there is no difference, if any. In my short life, I’ve made some deductions and will, at least while I’m in my early 20’s, define them this way:
BRAVERY: the ability to complete a task that is considered dangerous, or possessing otherwise dangerous elements to be encountered nearly inevitably, without fear or conscious thought of the danger brought to oneself in completing the task. For example: people who are not afraid of heights and glide right over those ropes courses doing cartwheels along the way; people who eat at sushi restaurants and freely try dishes marked “TNT” and “KRUSTY CRAB”; people who, while employed as firefighters, arrive to a burning building, are informed of babies and pets left inside, and immediately begin preparing their gear, saying “We need to get in there and get the little ones out!”
COURAGE: the ability to put aside the fear of encountering danger in completing a task, despite the risks posed to them in the process of completing it; the people on the ropes course who feel their whole body trembling against the act of putting their foot forward, but make it to the zip-line regardless; the firefighter that has never seen a blaze that big but goes in to chop doors down regardless; Ryan Reynolds as Green Lantern.
Yeah, I know I’ll never make it as an editor of the Miriam-Webster, but if you understand how different they are to me, then you’ll understand where I go with it from here on; believe you me, it’s a significant personality difference. Think of it this way: for one group of people, it’s fight-or-flight. For others, it’s just fight.
And here we have Jason Scott: in not so many words, this dude is brave. He is NOT afraid of anything, if you know what I mean. Time after time after time, he’s given us the cold, hard Tyrannosaurus call. If you want an example of selflessness, you check out how hard he fought to take care of the Green Candle. This brings me to my next point: his understanding of certain situations transcended the tactical and looked at the big picture. Often, when faced with difficult decisions, he had the fortitude to let the lesser of the two evils happen.
Afterward, he let it get to him. He put the blame on himself and no one else; for episodes afterward, he expressed his dismay at the whole event and was often consoled to no avail by the other Rangers. The emotion is understandable, and clearly he manned up and dealt with what needed to be done afterwards, but what if something bigger had happened? What if he had lost more than just Tommy? What if, at any time during this period of depression, Rita had succeeded in ‘destroying’ one of the other Rangers? The team is his most vital link to the job, and it seemed that he was a little too attached. His friends are a MAJOR chink in his armor, and if Rita had gone after his parents the same way she went after Tommy, he’d either completely give up (as he did when he personally handed over his coin to Goldar) or fight to the death. All it takes is one threat to his personal life and he suddenly becomes the team’s greatest liability.
As far as brains go, I wouldn’t say he’s exactly smart (that’s what Billy was for), but he did have a certain tactical aptitude that really shined in his work as leader. This shined mostly in his reliance on the gear issued to him and his team while morphed; this is to be covered in detail later, but the fact remains that once a Ranger has morphed, they act differently than while unmorphed due to the fact that a different set of rules apply to them, and their rules of engagement. We all know Zordon was all about the “never escalate the battle” crap, but once the true colors came out, Jason just about used up everything at his disposal because he knew it was effective.
Power weapons, blade blasters, zords, Tommy, exotic weapon systems of all make and model; if it was applicable to a combat situation, Jason brought it out. This is significant because nobody else did. It always seemed to be a matter of, “Well, shit, there’s a new breed of putty patroller and our shit won’t dent it. What do we do?” This was the cornerstone to his Ranger career: whatever didn’t work required something bigger, which he usually had. He wasn’t some sort of legendary badass that seemed to have all the perfect skills for no particular reason; he was less like Superman and more akin to Chris Costa of Magpul fame. He had superior firepower with application know-how and the will to use it, and that’s what brought victory week after week.
This was probably due to the fact that Jason was brand-new to the job and had no prior Ranger-leader careers to study. He had to use what worked in order to keep his team safe and his enemies at bay. I don’t know if his inexperience was a good thing or a bad thing, but it surely meant something in his time in a suit. This is probably why he acted so quickly so often. It seemed like he SO wanted to do a good job and SO wanted to make Zordon proud and SO wanted to save the city that HE HOPPED RIGHT ON EVERYTHING WHEN IT CAME TO HIM.
“MORPHIN’ TIME”
This is fine; the personality trait of getting right to work and not skipping a beat is something to be commended. It’s my personal opinion, however, that this can result in situations that may or may not be traps. Come on, really, how many times has he sent the team in after somebody said the usual, “It could be a trap.” Jason, much like the majestic honey badger, cared not. He had to get his team suited on and en route as soon as the call came in from Zordon and Alpha. Doesn’t this seem like it’d be an issue at some point? Nobody had the balls to say to him, “Jason, I don’t want to be DIE-stroyed. Let’s think of another way to take down Goldar and save Trini’s cousin-“ “FUCK THAT NOISE, WE NEED DINOZORD POWER.”
This brings me to my original sentence on brains: Jason is dumb. He is literally an unintelligent jock. Would you trust Chris Costa’s opinion on astrophysics or matters of the apothecary? No way. Despite the fact that Chris Costa is probably more intelligent than Jason anyway, Jason has never had any mental ability outside of a fight. If the Command Center broke down and Alpha asked him to fix the morphing grid or some shit, he’d just stand there and not say anything until Billy showed up to fix it himself. I doubt he even had an opinion on Hemingway.
Now, I know these are high-level topics, and surely Jason wasn’t dumb enough to be described as ‘dopey’, but outside of a basic high school education, I don’t think he comprehends much beyond that level. Let’s face it: much of the strategy came from the rest of the team. They were the ones who seemed more often than not to come up with the ideas when brute force wasn’t enough. This would be a bad thing if it wasn’t their purpose in the firstplace; the whole ‘team’ concept requires that they support each other and all serve a function in one unified force. When he was down about losing the Green Candle, they checked up on him and told him it was alright. When he was accepted for the peace conference, they supported him and let him go knowing it was what he wanted to do. Their collective work together in the first season is what I have always considered Basic Teamwork 101.
Despite this, he had it where it counted. He wasn’t perfect, though he often acted like it, and he had enough basic life skills to teach kids about working hard at soccer to be able to function as a human being; this is what separates your typical MMA douche from Jason. As well, he worked within the Power Ranger”S”, not alone. Surely, he wouldn’t have made it as the Green Ranger or a Magna Defender or any other manner of lone-wolves (is that an oxymoron, using the lone-wolf term as a plural in reference to the collective? Is this too far to think on it? What do you think?), but as far as the Rangers are concerned, he is a good fit for not only the team, but as the leader.
LET’S REVIEW
– brave (NOT COURAGEOUS)
– can solve combat situations with precision and immediacy
– dumb regarding anything else
– new to the job; may act rashly
– is willing to do what is absolutely necessary….or what HE considers absolutely necessary
ACHILLES HEEL: his friends; he gives the fuck up any time they are directly threatened, and that is a HUGE issue. As a matter of fact, it WAS a huge issue all the way up to Zeo; this proves that his fear of failing Tommy, or anyone, has always been his biggest crutch.
BEST TRAIT: he leads like a champ. The way he carries himself makes up for the most crippling of cons; when Rita goes to 10, he goes to 11 (“ULTRAZORD BITCH”), and I feel that this inspires the team. Without that hardcore attitude, the rest of the team wouldn’t have been firing their brain cells trying to figure out other solutions. Honestly, he is the most aggressive, right down to his morphing call, and providing that mentality is a clear tactical advantage.
FINAL REMARK: Fit for duty; recommend supervision upon entry to Project Ranger. WILL NOT recommend for Kamen Rider Program without team dynamic.
SUIT ASSIGNMENT: Red
VIRGIN?: I say no. I feel like he would have gotten some in middle school and had a story like all of one-of-those-guys has.
There you have it: my general psychological review of Jason Lee Scott. If you disagree with anything I’ve brought up, please furnish your arguments with a certain grammatical structure and clarity of evidence. I’m also on the way with more Ranger reviews and am totes taking requests. If you want me to deconstruct anybody in particular (villains, leaders, supporting characters, Tommy), leave a comment or drop a note on the facebook page.
Now, this doesn’t mean that my big-time articles aren’t under construction. I’m trying to cover my philosophical and educational bases with some of my bigger topics, so give them a bit of time. But, for now, I got something up before Megaforce premiered, so I’m happy with myself for now.
What article do YOU want to see finished first?
“A History Of Conflict In Power Rangers”
“Rangers In The Fight Of Fate vs. Free Will”
“A Study In The Stability Of A Canonical Continuum: The Wibbly-Wobbly Timey-Wimey Stuff of Power Rangers”
“Why Samurai DOESN’T Suck”
Until the next one: be brave/courageous and press on regardless
