What is it about the show that has managed to keep it relevant for over thirty years, even far from its home? And what exactly is the appeal of the show? Is it the lo-fi, retro-ness of it through a nostalgia filter? All this and more on this week's episode!
## Episode Outline
### Fandom Facts
* It is currently in its 26th (ish) season with almost 900 episodes since 1993. It is based on the Super Sentai meta-series in Japan that started in 1975 and has been running over the same timespan.
* Interest in the various Power Rangers series has been [relatively constant since 2004](https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&q=%2Fm%2F017dbx) though it has had some ups and downs and is on a bit of a downward trend right now.
* There are almost 6000 fan works related to Power Rangers [on Archive Of Our Own](https://archiveofourown.org/tags/Power%20Rangers/works) (about ⅓ Gen, ¼ F/F, and ¼ M/M)
* The Power Rangers subreddit [has about 20k followers](https://www.reddit.com/r/powerrangers/).
### First Impressions
#### T:
I couldn't tell you exactly when I started watching the Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers… and I also couldn't tell you exactly when I stopped (though I feel like it was just before Zeo… so not long). I loved it; I think my parents still have a VHS of the first episode that was purchased from somewhere (that's right, legit, and occupying the WHOLE VHS). I imagine it had a lot to do with the general interest in karate, ninjas, martial arts, giant robots, and underneath it all… Japan? Plus, it didn't hurt that I felt I could relate to the Blue ranger, and that the show aired just before (and just after school) at an influential time in my life (middle school). I remember going to the movie (with Ivan Ooze) and enjoying it… but I don't know why I stopped watching it either.
#### Z:
I remember Power Rangers hitting the small screen at the time in my life when I still only had 4 channels at home. As a result, I never really got into it. But, my slightly younger cousins living in the city with their whopping tens of channels were all about the Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers. I remember seeing a few episodes with them, but even as a child of 8, something about the aesthetic pushed me away from the show rather than bringing me into it. The Super Mario Super Show with its Legend of Zelda cartoon (another piece of media exclusive to visits to my city-dwelling relatives) was way more interesting to me then.
### Famous Last Words
What did we have to say about next week's topic, Boku No Hero Academia / My Hero Academia with only our first impressions?
#### **G:**
Is it the new DBZ? Is that ok?
#### **T:**
Are there fans working on the in-universe science of the show?
#### **Z:**
Does anyone like Mineta?
## Where can you find us?
Pretty much everything we do is `something/thenickscast`, but specifically...
* If you're looking for this podcast (Fanthropological), you can find it at [Fanthropological.com](https://fanthropological.com) or on different podcatchers including [Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/show/2IVp8MBIUyCqlKyZn79iHn), [Apple Podcasts](https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/fanthropological/id1163621210?mt=2), [Google Podcasts](https://www.google.com/podcasts?feed=aHR0cDovL2ZlZWRzLnBvZGlhbnQuY28vZmFudGhyb3BvbG9naWNhbC9yc3MueG1s) and many others!
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* We also occasionally create extra content about fandom including convention coverage and interviews on [YouTube.com/thenickscast](https://youtube.com/thenickscast)
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## What is "Fanthropological"?
Every week, Fanthropological delivers about an hour of fandom-related "fanalysis" covering a different fandom every week and giving you hard data, history, special guests, and, of course, speculation!
We cover topics spanning the gamut of anime, manga, comics, video games, comics, movies, books, television, and, in general, geek culture.
## Credits
* All other music and sound for this week's episode were provided by Nick Green!
