The year 2012 marks the 20th anniversary of the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, and we celebrated by morphing into the pink (Pterodactyl!) and yellow (Saber Tooth Tiger! ) Rangers for Halloween. We took these costumes out for a night on the town (in the city, actually), a putty disturbance in the park, and also to the office Halloween party—it’s morphin’ time, anytime, anyplace with these comfy costumes!
This costume is a nice mid-level in accuracy, ease of assembly, comfort and affordability in terms of typical Power Ranger getups. Since the commercially-available complete costume options are currently limited to red and pink (maybe green if you search hard), putting together your own costume allows you to expand your Ranger rainbow and get your entire trick-or-treating team of teenagers with attitude to match each other.
Here are some hints to keep in mind before we get down to it:
– Don’t forget to look at reference images of the real thing as you construct and gather, because getting the small details right makes a big difference.
– Give yourself enough time to get parts of your costume shipped to you and leave time for customizing. EBay is a goldmine for cheap items of clothing to use, don’t be afraid of it. We ordered some of our harder-to-find items from China eBay sellers, and it took anywhere from 10 to 25 days to arrive.
– Make sure you know the name and animal of your character, because if you do a good enough job, you will be called by that name by complete strangers. These costumes are a lot of fun with the right crowd—you’ll get “Power Rangers!” “It’s
Morphin Time!” and your Ranger name shouted at you all night. The Black Ranger will be the easiest costume out of the bunch since there will be less trouble with color matching and you can get away with black boots.
To preface, we’re not good at crafts in general, we don’t own a sewing machine and our knowledge of “how to sew” extends as far as stick thread through fabric and then bring it back out. This Ranger costume is great if you have little to no tailoring skill, as the main strategy is find whatever you can pre-made and make it work. So, observe the viewing globe and let’s get started—we need costume power, now!
Core Costume Components:
– Top/skirt
– Gloves
– Leggings/pants
– Mask/helmet
– Boots
– Belt/holster
– Morpher buckle
– Accessories
Morph into a Power Ranger the Fun, Easy Way!
TOP/SKIRT
Items needed: Power Rangers t-shirt, long-sleeved turtleneck shirt or tunic top
Total cost: $25
For the tops, we wanted to get the “skirt” look the girl rangers had (okay, the Yellow Ranger didn’t get a skirt because a dude played yellow in the Japanese footage). We went with long tunic-length turtlenecks that ran us about $7 each on eBay. We didn’t alter the bottoms, but real Rangers have a white lining on the bottom of the skirts and the hem is shaped in a “v”. The Rangers also had white turtlenecks under their colored tops, so you can go that route if you want.
We then layered on top our licensed Power Rangers t-shirts that included the diamond pattern and a faux-belt (which we covered with real belts anyway). The t-shirt route makes it easier to get the same item if you’re going in a group. This setup was super comfy since everything was stretchy and lightweight!
It’d probably be much cheaper to buy white fabric and sew your own diamonds on, but like I said, we didn’t want to bet on our sewing skills. I’d definitely say go for that route if you can. The main thing you have to be aware of it you’re trying to go a crafty route with the top is the elasticity of your fabrics. It causes problems for gluing or sewing things on and keeping them looking good or adhered for a whole night if there are differences in elasticity.
Where to look: eBay, Ragstock, Hot Topic
Alternatives: You could layer several items to get the whole look together: a white turtleneck plus a skirt plus a t-shirt plus a long-sleeved shirt in matching color. You crafty devils can try attaching fabric white diamonds or using white iron-ons (beware of stretch fabric issues). There are also Power Rangers official “tank dress” style costume tops that could be used with a long sleeve shirt instead of the tunic-style shirt. There is also the full spandex bodysuit option that is a bit less flattering but takes care of the whole thing. For Dudes: Layer a long-sleeved turtleneck with a t-shirt. Skip the skirt/tunic part ;)
Morph into a Power Ranger the Fun, Easy Way!
GLOVES
Items needed: Long/mid-length pleather/leather/polyeuruthane gloves, paint pens,
masking tape
Total cost: $5 – $15
Time investment: 25 minutes
Leather or “pleather” (sometimes called PU (polyurethane) leather or faux leather) will be best because the gloves in the show were leather. Our gloves were PU leather and they came from China via eBay for about $8 apiece. Caution: Chinese sizes are smaller than US sizes! Tiny hands!
We tried a couple different things for the colored diamonds on the gloves. To get the best match to the rest of our outfit colors, we tried to use diamonds cut from fabric. First we attached them with Elmer’s spray adhesive, which held until the gloves stretched, and then the edges peeled up. So, we tried one with sewing clean fabric diamonds on and the other with an acrylic paint pen and diamonds masked off with tape. The fabric diamonds got a little bit of a puffy look, so I’d recommend combining the spray adhesive to hold them flat, then sew the edges down. The paint pen is the better method anyway; it’s faster, easier, and more durable, looks better and didn’t peel or crack. If you’re the Black Ranger, of course you can use a Sharpie.
Practice making fists and shouting “Right!” in unison while wearing your gloves.
Where to look: eBay, Amazon, craft stores
Alternatives: Other white gloves instead of pleather, can be acquired at any costume shop, but paint options will probably bleed on fabric. For Dudes: Other less-girly gloves. Good luck. There are some sweet licensed gloves from the ‘90s that actually sing the theme song. If you can get those, you’re golden, and you deserve many phone numbers.
Morph into a Power Ranger the Fun, Easy Way!
LEGGINGS/PANTS
Items needed: Stretchy ankle-length leggings
Total cost: $3 – $5
This one isn’t terribly difficult—just start looking early to find the best color match. Black Ranger, you’re so lucky on this one. Try to get leggings, not tights, so they are more opaque and thicker. This is assuming you have a skirt or tunic top covering your behind.
Plus, you’ll be able to do your high-kicks and not be exposed—KYAH!
Where to look: eBay, Amazon, Ragstock, any clothing store
Alternatives: You could use any relatively light-colored pants and use fabric dye on them. Or how about colored jeans? They’re pretty prevalent these days. For Dudes: For the love of Zordon, please don’t wear tights unless you’ve got a really good plan for smoothing things out down there. Again, pants and dye will work, too. Or you can do the whole body jumpsuit… but, again, have a plan for that area. May the Power protect you.
Morph into a Power Ranger the Fun, Easy Way!
MASK/HELMET
Items needed: Vacuform Power Rangers Mask, spray paint, paint pens
Total cost: $15
Time investment: 30 minutes
If you want to be the Red Ranger or the Pink Ranger, you’re in luck—there’s a mask for that. Any other Ranger? You’re on your own. You can find some really cool masks from the ‘90s of the other varieties of Ranger if you search eBay at the right time. Otherwise, we crafted a Saber Tooth Tiger Yellow Ranger mask using a Red Ranger Tyrannosaurus mask. I’d imagine it could also be accomplished with other rangers, using an existing mask as a base.
Here’s how we did it. Purchase a mask to work on. Spray paint in the desired color, making sure to tape off any areas you want to keep clear of paint (the black eye visor and the silver mouth area for example). Use Sharpie and paint pens to fill in the details of your mask. Use a reference! It’ll make it a lot easier
Where to look: Hot Topic, eBay, Amazon, costume stores
Alternatives: You can probably use acrylic paint on the mask if you don’t want to spray paint. Or, get one of those crazy expensive professionally crafted whole-head helmets online and good luck selling it when you’re done.
Morph into a Power Ranger the Fun, Easy Way!
BOOTS
Items needed: Flat, white mid-calf boots
Total cost: $25
It’s hard to find good white boots that aren’t go-go style. There aren’t a lot of good alternatives for just buying some flat white boots. We found ours online. We opted not to ruin the boots with the colored diamonds on them, and no one was the wiser. I feel this is a detail you can skip, provided you have the rest of the details together. If you get heels, it will be a lot harder to fight Putties in them, but it’s your call.
Where to look: eBay, Shoes19.com, Amazon, GoJane.com
Alternatives: You could try rain boots, or some sturdy boots of any color and use white spray paint. However, if the boots are too slouchy or flexible, the paint job could crack, flake or easily get damaged. You could also just get white shoes and wear tall white socks. Then you wouldn’t feel bad about putting the color diamonds on them. You could also try attaching white fabric to the bottom of your pants and having short white shoes.
Different option would be those white boot covers.
For Dudes: It’s going to be a bit harder to find white boots made for guys. You might need to go the spray paint or sock route.
Morph into a Power Ranger the Fun, Easy Way!
BELT/HOLSTER
Items needed: White fabric (leather-like is best), hot glue gun
Total cost: $4
Time investment: 30 minutes
It’s cheaper and easier to just make a belt than to try to find a good white belt. Look in the scrap bins at fabric stores and pick out some white canvas or pleathery type material. We got a yard of some sort of white fabric that was supposed to be a liner or something for $4 and we got 3 belts and holsters out of it and had leftovers. We also happened to have a glue gun lying around.
The belt is a long piece of fabric long enough to go around your torso and secure with a clip or safety pins. Velcro would have been awesome, but we didn’t have that. Fold the top and the bottom edges of the belt fabric over so that the edges aren’t rough, and hot glue them down. That’ll be the back of the belt. In the end, the belt should be 2” – 3” wide. Don’t worry about the seam at the front because your Morpher buckle will cover that up.
The holster is one piece of fabric. Make a strip at the top that loops around to hang from the belt and think of the bottom part as a cone-like shape that wraps around. Secure with hot glue and/or sew (depending on fabric type). The bottom can be left open, or you can secure it shut and use it like a purse. Just make sure your holster can securely fit your Power Blaster, if you come packing heat.
Where to look: JoAnn Fabrics, Michaels, craft stores
Alternatives: Buy a white belt, or buy a western/cop costume holster and spray paint it white. Maybe a tool belt painted white would work.
Morph into a Power Ranger the Fun, Easy Way!
MORPHER BUCKLE
Items needed: Paper, printer, scrap cardboard, glue, paint/nail polish
Total cost: $0
Time investment: 20 minutes
There are some sweet, free paper templates for Morphers online. Don’t forget your Power Coins, those are there, too! Google and you shall find! All you need to do is print them out. If you can, use some nicer paper and a laser printer. For extra fortification, glue the printouts to some scrap cardboard. We used flattened frozen pizza boxes. We also fancied them up a bit with some glitter nail polish. That’s extra credit. Cut them out. Attach a loop of the white fabric so you can slide the Morpher onto the belt (staples and/or hot glue to the back). Score the backs to make them easier to fold and glue them together with super glue or hot glue.
Again, double-sided Velcro would be great for a removable Morpher buckle, in case it becomes Morphin Time and you need to hold it out and call out the name of a prehistoric creature.
Where to look: Online templates, search “Power Rangers paper Morpher”
Alternatives: Buy a McDonald’s Happy Meal toy Morpher from the ‘90s. Buy a prop-quality one from eBay. Ask Zordon to make you a Ranger and acquire a real Morpher (that would also solve your entire costume problem).
ACCESSORIES
Items needed: Imagination
Total cost: Varies
Time investment: Varies
What holster would be complete without a Power Blaster? Any fine shopping establishment with “Dollar” in its name, commonly found in strip malls, should have a selection of affordable plastic firearms. We selected the “Ball Shooter”, which, though lacking in resemblance to a Power Blaster, was at least red. Weapons are really up to you. The standard staple is the laser gun type weapon, but you could branch out to your specific Ranger’s specialty weapon.
Red: Power Sword
Yellow: Power Daggers
Pink: Power Bow
Black: Power Axe
Blue: Power Lance
Green: Dragon Dagger/Flute
White: Saba (tiger sword)
You can also go for hair accessories in the color of your ranger. We made our own lightning bolt earrings out of scrap cardboard colored with our acrylic paint pens and old earring parts. You could also wear a big watch as your Ranger communicator and pretend Alpha is calling you if you need an excuse to leave a lame party.
Where to look: Dollar stores, costume stores, eBay, Walmart
Once you get this costume on, you’ll want to wear it every day! Even though you probably shouldn’t. In any case, good luck, have fun, and “It’s MORPHIN’ TIME!”
Morph into a Power Ranger the Fun, Easy Way!
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Heyy! LOVEEE these costumes !!! They seem fairly easy to make and super comfy!! I was just wondering if you could tell me what kind of wording you used on Ebay for the turtleneck shirts. I’ve been looking for something similar to those but i’m finding something completely different. Thanks a bunch :)
Heyy! LOVEEE these costumes !!! They seem fairly easy to make and super comfy!! I was just wondering if you could tell me what kind of wording you used on Ebay for the turtleneck shirts. I’ve been looking for something similar to those but i’m finding something completely different. Thanks a bunch :)