The Origin of the Danger Rangers: A Real-Life Retelling

So, you want to know where our story begins? I wish I could tell you it all started with a shared passion for Super Sentai and Power Rangers at the dawn of the MMO gaming era, but that would only be half true.

Would you believe me if I told you this whole idea started as a joke?

Let me explain…

Before the Danger Rangers

Before the Danger Rangers existed, my roommate and I roamed Paragon City under a number of failed supergroup banners—none of which ever gained traction. From video game-themed supergroups to parodies of Paragon’s early champions, nothing seemed to grab the interest of other players. Frustrated, we settled into casual gaming and eventually took a break from City of Heroes.

A few months passed. Then the City of Villains expansion dropped.

One of our close friends, Andy, bought the game and, out of nowhere, stopped hanging out with us. He had quite literally gone recluse. This went on for months. Until, in November 2005, my roommate, Rick Blazed, got the idea to reactivate our accounts and create heroes specifically to gang up on Andy’s villain in PvP.

The Birth of the Idea

Rick’s idea started after he found out about Andy’s villain character.

See, Andy had made a villain that was basically Ghost Rider meets Power Rangers, a character he called Lord.Dread. Rick, being a lifelong Power Rangers fan, immediately saw the potential.

"Dude, his toon looks like a Power Rangers villain. He even sounds like one! We should make Power Rangers and PVP his @$$!"

While I was intrigued by the idea of hunting Andy’s villain, I wasn’t exactly sold on playing a Power Ranger.

"I’m down to gank Andy’s villain, but I’m not doing this whole Power Ranger thing."

So, I rolled a hero based on a character I used to RP, while Rick stuck to his vision and created Gold Danger Ranger.

For the first couple of weeks on the Victory Server, things were simple. Rick stayed dedicated to Gold Danger Ranger, while I kept leveling Scourge, both of us focused on reaching the PvP level cap to ambush Andy’s villain. But then, one day, Rick called me over to Atlas Park to show me something.

I had no idea what to expect.

The First Ranger Morph

What he showed me blew my mind.

Using a series of emotes and the Haste power, Rick had discovered how to “morph” his character from a teenage punk into the Gold Danger Ranger—years before costume change emotes were a thing.

Now, while I wasn’t a Power Rangers fan, that transformation was one of the coolest things I had ever seen in the game. I literally got up, walked over to his desk, and demanded he show me exactly what the hell he just did.

Grinning, he explained keybinding to me. Then, he did it again:

• He pulled out the broadband radio device and shouted, "It's Danger Time!"
• Next, he called out some riff about his Golden Dragon Sword as the shimmering glow of Haste triggered.
• The effect hid his costume change perfectly.
• Finally, he threw a fist into the air and yelled, "GO GO DANGER RANGERS!!!"

I was stunned.

At that moment, I was finally sold on the idea. I immediately ditched Scourge and rolled Blue Danger Ranger.

Why Blue?

Well, I would have gone Red, but Rick stopped me.

"Everyone’s gonna want that," he said. "Let someone else rock the Red."

Rick didn’t care about color rankings—he just wanted the idea to grow. He made it clear that my Blue Danger Ranger would be the leader of our first Ranger Force. Meanwhile, Gold Danger Ranger would act as a master elite, overseeing all Danger Rangers to come. We were not prepared for our first surge of members, allowing anyone to make a ranger as long as it was some type of color, it was ridiculous. Eventually we had to put a stop to it and try organizing them into themed teams that would become forces with in... 

And that, my friends, is how the Danger Rangers were born—and how they became more than just a joke.

— Lex Icon