As I type this, I am watching the first episode of Power Rangers Dino Fury. Historically, I have not watched Power Rangers, so much as lived in a house where it was being watched. In fact, my time experiencing Power Rangers passively, like second hand smoke in the “non-smoking” section of a restaurant (a thing I am old enough to remember) dates all the way back to my little brothers and the original Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. It's a children's show, I've seen enough to know the gist.
Or at least, it was enough, until I attended the Power Morphicon convention in Pasadena. Last year I got to go to the inaugural Steamy Lit Con and my family tagged along (so we could go to Disneyland) so this year they got to go to the Power Rangers convention and I tagged along (so I could go outside without wishing to embrace the cool arms of Death).
The thing about Power Rangers is that yes it's a children's show, but the convention is more of a “nostalgic adults with money” thing. I saw maybe two dozen kids the whole weekend, most of them babies. Even fewer kids who were actually fans. Which wasn’t a bad thing, because it seemed like the actors were genuinely delighted to see kids there who were fans. They definitely were very generous with their attention when my kids came to a table.
So now my kids are having me watch this Dino Fury series of Power Rangers because we met a lot of the actors from the show (all of them SO kind) and I at least recognized most of them on sight, but have not seen every episode in order.
Dino Fury opens on Amelia (played by Hunter Deno, who was my kids’ pick for the one professional photo we were going to do [holy heck, cons are expensive]) who works at a Buzzfeed-esque media company called Buzzblast and is trying to convince her boss to let her do a ghost hunting story. I had to laugh, because the book I read while we were in California (and sometimes standing in the convention hall lol) was Love and Other Conspiracies by Mallory Marlowe, which is about a woman who works at a Buzzfeed-esque media company and is producing a series starring a conspiracy theory podcaster…including an episode on ghost hunting.
The other funny thing about reading Love and Other Conspiracies while at a Power Rangers convention is the similarities of being there as a not-fan and being involved with paranormal hunters as a not-believer. There’s a steep learning curve! The vernacular, history, personnel! At one point in the book, Hayden has a full-on PowerPoint presentation on “the basics” of cryptids and conspiracies for Hallie. Meanwhile, I had one of the non-Ranger actresses cheerfully explaining her borg character to me, because while I am generally familiar with the shows in the “morph and fight” sense, I didn’t know anything about the finer details of the plot.
There is something kind of amusing about witnessing people be passionate about the thing they are very into and you are very not. Like, I am happy for you that you’re having such a good time, but I am utterly separate from it. (I feel the same way about pets, actually; they’re cute enough and I’m happy for you, but I receive absolutely no joy from them.) But you get kind of swept up in it when it’s people you care about, because you want them to be happy, and so their joy brings you joy. But still you’re not actually happy about the thing that is bringing them the joy. Especially when you agree to let it take over the hallway in your house:
Ah well. This specific convention is only every other year, so we literally can’t go next year, and I think this means it’s my turn to pick the next vacation. I’m open to suggestions….