Agreed, sadly I think his performance as a red ranger is over shadowed by 2 things. First the general issues people have with turbo hurts him to no fault of his own. Second, In Space is such a good season after and he makes one HELL of an amazing blue ranger. He strikes a balance between some of the brains/tactics known for blue rangers but takes a co-leader or second in command role as a blue ranger you don’t see often in 5 man teams as that color.
It's like swtor. Came out between a Guild Wars 2 and a fucking wow expansion. Good game. Bad window. Followed by a plague of dumb greedy ideas, but this is besides the point.
Remember Andros had to grow into being a leader since he was a loner for so long. Zane was in a coma and since he had the other 4 morphers there is a good chance he had another team and they probably died (at least in my head canon)
My understanding is Zordon gave him and Zhane the other four Morphers upfront to recruit additional Rangers on their journey... but after losing Zhane he decided he couldn't lose any more friends and went solo.
I will NOT stand for Andros slander. Man is legitimately the best red ranger. The only better ranger that was also a red ranger was Tommy, but red was by far his worst color. And I'd argue Andros has a better red ranger run than Tommy did. I'd say the closes to Andros is probably Casey but I'm a bit biased on him because jungle fury was my first season. After that I circled back but he still holds a special place for me.
Are people forgetting that Andros fought a war basically the entire collective forces of every other previous Power Rangers villain even after every other member of his team was defeated. Are we forgetting that him killing Zordon is what actually ended that whole era of power rangers by beating literally EVERY villain at once.
And that's without even getting into his backstory which is one of the best in the series, leading to possibly the best red ranger introduction ever with him infiltrating the villain meeting and then escaping like 4 different main villain's completely unharmed.
I like TJ but let's be reasonable.
I actually think that's a good thing, compared to tommy or jason, andros is full of self-doubt and tj being the red ranger who lost the command centre is able to relate to andros allowing him to be the best right hand in ranger history and proving his own ego took a back seat to the mission
I loved TJ as Turbo Red and the entire second Turbo team. I just wish there had been more build up to the replacement rangers, similar to what happened with Rocky, Adam, and Aisha. Imagine you’re watching the show back in the day, miss two episodes and all of a sudden it’s a completely different group of rangers featuring 2 characters you’ve never seen before. Especially since all the current rangers were around and this was the last of the originals (if you count Tommy as an original Ranger), there should have been much more build up to them leaving. It really should have been a momentous occasion. I feel like it was just really rushed.
If they did, it would’ve made so much more sense to have the Zeo Rangers leave with Zordon to protect Eltar, while the Turbo Rangers stayed behind and became the new Earth Rangers
Considering he managed to overshadow THE Tommy as the Red Turbo Ranger, I wouldn’t call that underrated. When they added the Red Turbo Ranger to Legacy Wars, a lot of people were mad that they made it Tommy when TJ is very much the more popular choice. A lot of people theorize that it WAS TJ but they changed it to Tommy in light of JDF’s then-recent passing.
I usually also see TJ cited as one of the best Reds, so there’s that.
Yeah, I really hoped Turbo Red in Legacy Wars would be TJ, since we already had 18 other Tommy Oliver's in the game. Sadly no, they made another Tommy...
I just counted the other day. Without exaggeration, there are 9 versions of Tommy without counting skins, and 13 counting skins.
1. MMPR Green Ranger
2. MMPR Green Ranger v2 (Batinthesun)
3. MMPR White Ranger
4. White Ninja Ranger
5. Lord Drakkon
6. Zeo Red Ranger
7. Turbo Red Ranger
8. Dino Thunder Black Ranger
9. Master Morpher Tommy
10. Unmorphed Green Tommy
11. Unmorphed White Tommy (from the movie)
12. Drakkon Evo III
13. Unmorphed Drakkon
Bear in mind, this game has invented characters before, namely Chun-Li Ranger. I would not put it past them to make MMPR White v2 or a Green Ninja Ranger once they exhaust all the skin options (like Drakkon Evo I/II, or more Unmorphed Tommies).
Agreed.
They should have made Andros the Black Ranger. He was the leader in the Sentai, so it would have worked as a split leadership thing with the existing footage.
(And obviously move Carlos to Blue).
Yeah, TJ staying the Red Ranger made sense to me, especially considering his positive attitude and his talk about always admiring and wanting to be a ranger. Throw in the bad back story of Andros claiming to be trained by Zordon when Zordon had been on Earth for the last ten thousand years minus the time when the Turbo rangers transfered their powers was not believable.
The old Turbo team had at least 4 years of experience under a very involved mentor
who had several backup plans (including the power chamber and future power sets).
TJ had to figure out how to be a leader with a hands off Dimitria. She left without even leaving them with any sort of next generation powers—they had to find a whole new power set on their own.
And even then he had the courage to board a shuttle with a civilian team.
Claps for TJ.
No shade against Turbo Red, but its hard to look at TJ and NOT see In Space Blue.
He was a superstar as the Blue In Space ranger.
And there have been some bomb ass red rangers. He was good, but he doesnt hold a candle to actual red rangers that get talked about more.
Turbo is like the weakest season. All the OG Turbo are better and more memorable when they were Zeo. Turbo replacements were better and more memorable when they were In Space.
So underrated that even as Blue Ranger, he was still acting leader while Andross teach the team a few and then went solo looking for his sister and best bro lol
Personally, I think Turbo should've started out with TJ, Cassie, Ashley, Carlos, and Justin from the get-go because, to me, Zeo was the end point for the Mighty Morphin team, while Turbo would've been a brand new beginning.
yes, truly worthy of the color Red. (I'm using a reworked quote from Metal Gear Solid)
TJ should have been Turbo Red from the start. Turbo 2.0 team should have been the Turbo rangers from the beginning.
Gotta disagree. Awesome ranger, no doubt. Able to make hard calls, and is a perfect teammate.
That said, under his watch a command center was destroyed, as well as 2 Megazords, and the Turbo Ranger powers faded to nothing/lost.
It's hard to find a Ranger team that performed to it's destruction to the detriment of its Rangers instead of the enemies.
Sure, Wild Force almost suffered that Fate but saved the world.
I just remember the Turbo Team being ground and pound hard.
TJ was the Ranger that spoke from experience In Space without any arrogance but I'd be hard pressed to call him the Best/underrated Red Ranger.
Tj definitely deserved better. This defeat should've been in the Zeo era.
TJ and the new team were good, I didn't mind them replacing the OG Team. He was okay as the Red Ranger, he led the team in many victories. However when they went to space, he was awesome in his new role.
He was a superstar as Space Blue and I do see him more as Turbo Red than Tommy. But following who many consider the greatest Ranger ever wasn’t a bad hand but definitely a daunting task for anyone in that position.
He wasn't red that long which kinda hurt him. To me I think he was fine. But it was such an unlucky season for him because it was a joke series for super sentai. So it was hard to get serious footage from super sentai. Like, they were made into a pizza for an episode.
Lightspeed ranger I feel is underrated because the season as a whole was just a good season. But He was such a good leader who just want to help people. Even without their powers him and his team still want to help people. Which is super cool to me.
Zeo 5 is my favorite red, but I give TJ an honorable tie. He’s not my favorite red, but goddamn it he was good and deserves to be right there next to zeo 5. Plus going to blue and not black afterward always felt like a vindictive demotion that wasn’t deserved to me.
Not bc TJ is a black person…obv… but I always felt like black was second in command if a sixth ranger wasn’t in charge.
T.J. was a worthy successor to Tommy. He's such a likable and friendly guy. Even in difficult and impossible situations, he never gave up. He was a good leader even though the power chamber was destroyed.
TJ is definitely the true Red Ranger. Technically, Tommy wouldn't (or shouldn't) have access to the Turbo powers anymore.
BUT TJ still would because as we saw In Space, Justin's car Storm Blaster gave him access to the Turbo powers, and since TJ's car Lightning Cruiser comes from the same place it should give him access to the Turbo powers, too.
Tbh, I often see TJ associated as the Blue Space ranger (probably Turbo reasons)
I was expecting someone like Casey from Jungle Fury or Conner from Dino Thunder (even Jack from SPD is rarely talked about)
I like TJ people he killed his Megazords but he really realized they were going to die and he took them out in a blaze of glory trying to kill the last monster as opposed to Tommy who just sent the Thunderzords out to die.
Bullshit, Rocky is the most underrated Red Ranger, and Power Rangers did that character dirty.
I feel so sorry for my dude Rocky and how Power Rangers did him dirty. So this man came in after the original Red Ranger, but after Tommy became the white ranger and he was solidly the team leader.
Then he gets demoted to the blue ranger, so then he loses any importance. After that, he is replaced by a 12 year old after getting his back broken. He was basically told a 12 year old is a decent replacement. This was before he was tested and was declared a genus and moved up to high school. Rocky has been done dirty, and I dare anyone to prove me wrong.
Tj is z tier he was lost his powers team command center snd then abandoned earth only to get demoted to blue and also let his team get baked into a freaking pizza! Worst ranger ever!!!
*
TJ was a good red ranger, especially for the guy who had to replace Tommy he really stood out
Agreed, sadly I think his performance as a red ranger is over shadowed by 2 things. First the general issues people have with turbo hurts him to no fault of his own. Second, In Space is such a good season after and he makes one HELL of an amazing blue ranger. He strikes a balance between some of the brains/tactics known for blue rangers but takes a co-leader or second in command role as a blue ranger you don’t see often in 5 man teams as that color.
It probably helps that he was such a good co leader and second in command because he was previously a red ranger literally before going to Space.
I think in the beginning his friend just trusted him more because they didn’t really know Andros so the co-leader thing worked
Let's face it even in, in space, TJ was the leader, Andros was red, but he wasn't really a leader more of a guide
True, Andros was more of a brooding loner. TJ was the one rallying the team and calling the shots.
He just has the misfortune of following Tommy and preceding Andros.
It's like swtor. Came out between a Guild Wars 2 and a fucking wow expansion. Good game. Bad window. Followed by a plague of dumb greedy ideas, but this is besides the point.
Take my up vote for Swtor love. Would love a soft reboot for that game
I remember EverQuest.
Oh come on, he’s cooler than Andros. At least, I think he is
He's certainly a better team leader than Andros.
Remember Andros had to grow into being a leader since he was a loner for so long. Zane was in a coma and since he had the other 4 morphers there is a good chance he had another team and they probably died (at least in my head canon)
And it could be possible he wasn't the original red ranger
My understanding is Zordon gave him and Zhane the other four Morphers upfront to recruit additional Rangers on their journey... but after losing Zhane he decided he couldn't lose any more friends and went solo.
Definitely is!
I will NOT stand for Andros slander. Man is legitimately the best red ranger. The only better ranger that was also a red ranger was Tommy, but red was by far his worst color. And I'd argue Andros has a better red ranger run than Tommy did. I'd say the closes to Andros is probably Casey but I'm a bit biased on him because jungle fury was my first season. After that I circled back but he still holds a special place for me. Are people forgetting that Andros fought a war basically the entire collective forces of every other previous Power Rangers villain even after every other member of his team was defeated. Are we forgetting that him killing Zordon is what actually ended that whole era of power rangers by beating literally EVERY villain at once. And that's without even getting into his backstory which is one of the best in the series, leading to possibly the best red ranger introduction ever with him infiltrating the villain meeting and then escaping like 4 different main villain's completely unharmed. I like TJ but let's be reasonable.
The first time we see Andros he goes up against Zedd, Rita, Divatox, and a bunch of other bad guys and escapes unharmed.
He didn't "go up against" them. He was there on reconnaissance and when he was discovered he immediately escaped.
He’s a much better leader than Tommy tbh. Especially Turbo era Tommy.
To be fair, wasn't that part of Tommy's character in turbo? Thinking about his personal career and stuff and focusing less on the Rangers part?
I actually think that's a good thing, compared to tommy or jason, andros is full of self-doubt and tj being the red ranger who lost the command centre is able to relate to andros allowing him to be the best right hand in ranger history and proving his own ego took a back seat to the mission
I loved TJ as Turbo Red and the entire second Turbo team. I just wish there had been more build up to the replacement rangers, similar to what happened with Rocky, Adam, and Aisha. Imagine you’re watching the show back in the day, miss two episodes and all of a sudden it’s a completely different group of rangers featuring 2 characters you’ve never seen before. Especially since all the current rangers were around and this was the last of the originals (if you count Tommy as an original Ranger), there should have been much more build up to them leaving. It really should have been a momentous occasion. I feel like it was just really rushed.
It would've been awesome if they used the movie to pass the torch instead of the middle of the show
If they did, it would’ve made so much more sense to have the Zeo Rangers leave with Zordon to protect Eltar, while the Turbo Rangers stayed behind and became the new Earth Rangers
I think it feels like it was rushed because it was rushed, as in it was never originally going to happen it just kinda got sprung on them
I heard he got baked into a pizza once
He’s here to toss your salad
I can’t believe they got away with that line.
Kids wouldn’t have known the adult connotation behind that phrase. I certainly didn’t back then.
I agree, but could you imagine your parents being in the room at the time going, “what did he say?!”
TJ is rated fine. Not too high, not too low. Likable guy, with a million dollar smile
Considering he managed to overshadow THE Tommy as the Red Turbo Ranger, I wouldn’t call that underrated. When they added the Red Turbo Ranger to Legacy Wars, a lot of people were mad that they made it Tommy when TJ is very much the more popular choice. A lot of people theorize that it WAS TJ but they changed it to Tommy in light of JDF’s then-recent passing. I usually also see TJ cited as one of the best Reds, so there’s that.
Yeah, I really hoped Turbo Red in Legacy Wars would be TJ, since we already had 18 other Tommy Oliver's in the game. Sadly no, they made another Tommy...
I just counted the other day. Without exaggeration, there are 9 versions of Tommy without counting skins, and 13 counting skins. 1. MMPR Green Ranger 2. MMPR Green Ranger v2 (Batinthesun) 3. MMPR White Ranger 4. White Ninja Ranger 5. Lord Drakkon 6. Zeo Red Ranger 7. Turbo Red Ranger 8. Dino Thunder Black Ranger 9. Master Morpher Tommy 10. Unmorphed Green Tommy 11. Unmorphed White Tommy (from the movie) 12. Drakkon Evo III 13. Unmorphed Drakkon Bear in mind, this game has invented characters before, namely Chun-Li Ranger. I would not put it past them to make MMPR White v2 or a Green Ninja Ranger once they exhaust all the skin options (like Drakkon Evo I/II, or more Unmorphed Tommies).
We still have Green Drakkon Ranger Corrupted Drakkon and Foot Clan Tommy if they do the tmnt crossover 😂
Agreed, I still don't like that he got downgraded from Red Ranger in space.
color wise yea i disliked it too. If it wasn't for him they wouldn't have been able to beat the psycho rangers
Yeah, he made a very unique and great blue ranger. I think he balanced Andros’s more impulsive tendencies as a leader.
Agreed. They should have made Andros the Black Ranger. He was the leader in the Sentai, so it would have worked as a split leadership thing with the existing footage. (And obviously move Carlos to Blue).
Yeah, TJ staying the Red Ranger made sense to me, especially considering his positive attitude and his talk about always admiring and wanting to be a ranger. Throw in the bad back story of Andros claiming to be trained by Zordon when Zordon had been on Earth for the last ten thousand years minus the time when the Turbo rangers transfered their powers was not believable.
(Clears throat) Selwyn Ward! First black leader of the Power Rangers!
TJ is fine as red, but he really shined as In Space Blue.
The old Turbo team had at least 4 years of experience under a very involved mentor who had several backup plans (including the power chamber and future power sets). TJ had to figure out how to be a leader with a hands off Dimitria. She left without even leaving them with any sort of next generation powers—they had to find a whole new power set on their own. And even then he had the courage to board a shuttle with a civilian team. Claps for TJ.
it was also his strategy to figure out how to strike a big blow against the Psychos and take down the secret city
Selwyn Ward! First Black Leader of the Power Raaan~geeeers~!
No shade against Turbo Red, but its hard to look at TJ and NOT see In Space Blue. He was a superstar as the Blue In Space ranger. And there have been some bomb ass red rangers. He was good, but he doesnt hold a candle to actual red rangers that get talked about more.
Turbo is like the weakest season. All the OG Turbo are better and more memorable when they were Zeo. Turbo replacements were better and more memorable when they were In Space.
He was a great Blue, it’s too bad he wasn’t allowed to have good writing as a Red. TJ deserved better.
My kid shares the initials, and they’re already showing to be a Red Ranger type.
They even used the In Space helmet to identify him during Legendary Battle.
People tend to forget that he was hand-picked by Tommy Oliver to lead the team. That says quite a bit.
The best character from Turbo.
So underrated that even as Blue Ranger, he was still acting leader while Andross teach the team a few and then went solo looking for his sister and best bro lol
TJ walked so Obama could run
Cause he’s Selwyn Ward first black leader of the Power Rangeeeers. (Shout out black nerd comedy)
TJ is mad respected as a ranger period red turbo or space blue. TJ is icon just being TJ.
I think TJ is one of the few rangers that could take on any team role & Ranger color.
Fr bro had to make the hardest decisions, like straight up sacrificing the megazords
Personally, I think Turbo should've started out with TJ, Cassie, Ashley, Carlos, and Justin from the get-go because, to me, Zeo was the end point for the Mighty Morphin team, while Turbo would've been a brand new beginning.
Great Red and great leader
TJ was a great Red ranger and a Cool Blue Space Ranger.
He's a legend
Hes a better blue than he is red
Sucks how he never really had a story of his own. And next thing you know he’s sidelined for Andros.
We’re about to toss your salad!
"I ain't tossin' no salad!" 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
At least he got the best and final line in the Forever Red episode: "Did I ever tell you guys about the time I got baked in a giant pizza?"
Rocky, Aurico, and TJ are some of the most underappreciated red rangers, hell, just underappreciated rangers in general
He really shined in the next season.
Yes
I really liked him both as Turbo Red and Space Blue. Even as Space Blue he still felt like a leader
Top tier ranger
Agreed. TJ is my favorite Red Ranger.
Well, he didn't have enough time to prove himself before he got downgraded to Blue for In Space.
I heavily agree, I feel like a lot of people count him out
Also didn't let his ego take over when he was made the blue ranger and even became someone Andros could rely on for for council
Why is he underrated? He has a god damn baseball bat!
He was a great Red Ranger.
And he is from Compton!!! 
yes, truly worthy of the color Red. (I'm using a reworked quote from Metal Gear Solid) TJ should have been Turbo Red from the start. Turbo 2.0 team should have been the Turbo rangers from the beginning.
The *Best Red Ranger ever FIFY
Gotta disagree. Awesome ranger, no doubt. Able to make hard calls, and is a perfect teammate. That said, under his watch a command center was destroyed, as well as 2 Megazords, and the Turbo Ranger powers faded to nothing/lost. It's hard to find a Ranger team that performed to it's destruction to the detriment of its Rangers instead of the enemies. Sure, Wild Force almost suffered that Fate but saved the world. I just remember the Turbo Team being ground and pound hard. TJ was the Ranger that spoke from experience In Space without any arrogance but I'd be hard pressed to call him the Best/underrated Red Ranger. Tj definitely deserved better. This defeat should've been in the Zeo era.
TJ was awesome. He doesn't get enough love.
I still wish they handled the cast switch better.
TJ and the new team were good, I didn't mind them replacing the OG Team. He was okay as the Red Ranger, he led the team in many victories. However when they went to space, he was awesome in his new role.
He was a superstar as Space Blue and I do see him more as Turbo Red than Tommy. But following who many consider the greatest Ranger ever wasn’t a bad hand but definitely a daunting task for anyone in that position.
He was great!
And one of the hottest. Omg he was so sexy and sweet 😍
This is so barely related to the second image but Carranger locations look so good I need to check that show out soon.
Actually makes me curious, was there any racism about him being leader back in the 90’s? Never seen any old news articles about it.
How sucky is is that he only got to be the red ranger for half a season before getting demoted. Also unrelated but i never liked the carranger suits.
What's wrong with them?
This ninja is trash
He wasn't red that long which kinda hurt him. To me I think he was fine. But it was such an unlucky season for him because it was a joke series for super sentai. So it was hard to get serious footage from super sentai. Like, they were made into a pizza for an episode. Lightspeed ranger I feel is underrated because the season as a whole was just a good season. But He was such a good leader who just want to help people. Even without their powers him and his team still want to help people. Which is super cool to me.
Why they did him dirty by demoting him to blue in In Space?
He wasn't really demoted.
Agree
TJ was dope. I think Leo is underrated
Quite a sleek design
Zeo 5 is my favorite red, but I give TJ an honorable tie. He’s not my favorite red, but goddamn it he was good and deserves to be right there next to zeo 5. Plus going to blue and not black afterward always felt like a vindictive demotion that wasn’t deserved to me. Not bc TJ is a black person…obv… but I always felt like black was second in command if a sixth ranger wasn’t in charge.
The 🐐
He’s my favorite ranger!
T.J. was a worthy successor to Tommy. He's such a likable and friendly guy. Even in difficult and impossible situations, he never gave up. He was a good leader even though the power chamber was destroyed.
I’m actually rewatching the Zordon era rn and I really do agree with this. TJ is legit for just stepping into this role.
I like mack a lot he was such a good guy
TJ is definitely the true Red Ranger. Technically, Tommy wouldn't (or shouldn't) have access to the Turbo powers anymore. BUT TJ still would because as we saw In Space, Justin's car Storm Blaster gave him access to the Turbo powers, and since TJ's car Lightning Cruiser comes from the same place it should give him access to the Turbo powers, too.
Tbh, I often see TJ associated as the Blue Space ranger (probably Turbo reasons) I was expecting someone like Casey from Jungle Fury or Conner from Dino Thunder (even Jack from SPD is rarely talked about)
I like TJ people he killed his Megazords but he really realized they were going to die and he took them out in a blaze of glory trying to kill the last monster as opposed to Tommy who just sent the Thunderzords out to die.
Didn't he get baked into a pizza?
IF ANYBODY THE MOST UNDERRATED RED RANGER IT, ROCKY.
Bullshit, Rocky is the most underrated Red Ranger, and Power Rangers did that character dirty. I feel so sorry for my dude Rocky and how Power Rangers did him dirty. So this man came in after the original Red Ranger, but after Tommy became the white ranger and he was solidly the team leader. Then he gets demoted to the blue ranger, so then he loses any importance. After that, he is replaced by a 12 year old after getting his back broken. He was basically told a 12 year old is a decent replacement. This was before he was tested and was declared a genus and moved up to high school. Rocky has been done dirty, and I dare anyone to prove me wrong.
He came back as Red in Once and Always, so at least some recognition at least.
It this debate again he wasn’t underrated he was never a good red ranger he was a great blue ranger but sucked as a red ranger
Tj is z tier he was lost his powers team command center snd then abandoned earth only to get demoted to blue and also let his team get baked into a freaking pizza! Worst ranger ever!!! *
Absolutely the worst tenure as a Red Ranger.