As most of you know by now Chef Justin is the youngest of five boys. His oldest brother Joey was born n 1988 and is a huge power rangers fan. This morning we woke up to the terrible news of Jason David Frank aka Tommy Olivers death. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family especially his four children.
When the power rangers first debuted in 1993 the green ranger was a bit of a nemesis to the rest of the rangers but then did a complete 180 to become one of the good guys. Ultimately he became the white ranger and the groups leader. He didn’t need a stunt man for his work on the power rangers. He was a professionally trained MMA fighter who knew several different techniques of fighting including Ju jitsu and Taekwondo.
He was a favorite among all the children and the cast for his wonderful personality. Joey who was only four years old when the show debuted in 1993 quickly became a fan and wanted Santa to bring every power ranger toy there was. So began the quest for them.
It wasn’t like buying toys today where you could just hop on line and have forty retailers waiting to show you their entire line and be in a bidding price war for who could be cheaper. Oh no this was hard core 1990s shopping first come first serve with people getting beat up over cabbage patch babies guerrilla warfare shopping. You had to buy the Wednesday paper before Thanksgiving to find out who had what for sale and be first in line. Everyone had one or two rangers but no one had the entire set. It was like looking for Taylor Swift tickets. Finally a friend of a friend knew someone and told me Birmingham was getting a full truckload at 6 am one rainy cold Thursday. So I took myself to Birmingham and waited in line three miserable hours until 9 am only to be told they would not be out for sale until noon.
I spent all morning at toys R us and the moment they became available snagged the entire set and a few for my nieces and nephews once again insuring Christmas was saved and I was the favorite aunt. I wish we still had them they are worth a fortune now and we only have a few. However we do still have the MEGAZORD. Years later Joey went to meet the green ranger in person and said he was as awesome in person as he was on the show. Rest In Peace Tommy thank you for the memories and being a great role model to many including our boys.
