Red Sentai Rangers: Why?

On my way to work this morning, a small kid sat beside me on the bus. You know lah kids at that age, they still live in the blissfull world of pretend and imagination. What striked me the most, was what he had on his head - a Red Power Ranger's mask. You know, the ones they sell at small stalls just to keep the children occupied (read:docile, under control).

A fair example of the mask.

And the fact that I saw that mask, brought a smile that took me back to days much simpler. I remember of a time, when I was not much older than that kid, when excited chatterings turned to muted concentration, as my sisters and i stopped bickering, assumed a temporary truce and sat in front of the telly to watch Flashman and Maskman.

Remember them?

Alaaaa, the group of masked superheroes? Usually dressed in colourful tight spandex? Always in odd-numbered groups? Complex body language and gestures to address distress/anger/unity/ouch-you-stepped-on-my-toes?

They would usually be young teenagers from different backgrounds, that unites towards a common cause, fighting the mostly evil monster/robot/mutant/alien villains who usually plotted to end mankind. Remember them now? Good. Cause now, I have a question that's been bugging me since then. Maybe you guys have the answer?

Why is it, the leaders of these posse of so called superheroes (or Super Sentais), are always the ones in RED? Don't believe me? Look at these (arranged in alphabetical order);

Believe me now?

It was so obvious, that even when an extra SPECIAL character (Green Ranger, Silver Ranger, Rainbow Ranger etc) was added in, the guy in Red would still be the leader. If the new guy is so special/powerful/mysterious then he should be the new leader.

Even Wikipedia offered no explanation as to why this had happened;

But somehow, logic fails me everytime I watched these series. So much so, that I've compiled this checklist of;

"How to know if you're a Red Ranger"

1.

In human form, you'll either be:
A: The guy with the most issues. Anti-social. Emo guy with weird hair colour and fashion sense.
B: The politically correct, boy-scout, holier than thou do-gooder.

2.

Sad/angry/confused backstory involving father/mother/girlfriend/insane professor that altered you physically/mentally/emotionally making you somehwat distant from the monster/robot/mutant/alien invading world you're living in.

3.

Some how, when thrown in a team, you would show fortitude and leadership beyond compare. You would always be the one with the pep speeches and motivational body postures that includes standing straight in defiance while pumping fists around as your team mates lie injured after a direct laser blast.

4.

When standing in a group, you would usually stand in the middle, flanked by your teammates. For a more dramatic shot, you can also stand nearest to the camera, while your teammates stand in perspective behind you.

5.

Usually stands infront of impressive backgrounds of:
• explosions
• Japanese mountains
• clear blue sky
• war-torn town areas
• the Japanese train station (make sure it's at rush hour!)
• Tokyo tall building (or any other Japanese metropolitan)

6.

Would usually be the first to charge into enemy's fire (it's the leadership thing, you see).

7.

Would usually be the first injured. And see your teammates get plastered around causing you deep regret and sadness with flashbacks of the nice things they ever did to you.

8.

Would usually be the one to finally stand up, ignore pain and suffering using death defying kung-fu stunts to save his teammates while causing apparent injuries to the monster/robot/mutant/alien and throws it into confusion.

9.

Would initiate the Final Team-Effort attack of BlastRay/SolarStreak/Kungfu-Chi/Animal Spirit/Dinosaur Roar Cannon that would ultimately kill the monster/robot/mutant/alien so easily that it made you wonder why they didn't use that in the first place.

10.

Oh, you would also be wearing the Red Suit (duh!) with a complementary Red Helmet that suits the general concept of the team.

Feel free to add in more to this list.




~sigh




Now, tell me again, why the Red Ranger would always be the leader?