The following article is about the in-series character. For the similarly-named actor that portrayed him, see John Penn.
John is a teen living in the Emoverse version of Chelmsford, where he inexplicably has his own apartment (in spite never being shown having a day job.) He is chosen by Captain Emohead to become the Chronic Stoner Emo Ranger in order to thwart the Evil Empress and her minion Colonel Crusher. This gives him powerful chemical attacks. His last name is presumably "Penn," the same as the actor portraying the character. Though, his last name is never stated in the series proper. In season 2, the side effects of taking too many drugs forces him to have to change his ways and become the StraightxEdge Emo Ranger.
Character series history[]
Season 1[]
John, for the season 2 promo.
When the Evil Empress attacks Chelmsford with her minion Colonel Crusher, John is recruited to become the Chronic Stoner Ranger and help save the city.2005 short film Little is known about him by anyone, apart from the fact that he enjoys doing drugs. He is shown having some of the most powerful attacks of any Ranger, given his weed smoke is very versatile. However, it can also make him weak and lazy. He gains slightly better control in time for Fai's new Zord to be of use to the team.A Fashionable Choice He sleeps through most of Christmas, but wakes in time to deal with a rogue Santa.Emo Rangers vs. Santa
Season 2[]
John's drug use finally gets completely out of control, and his body begins rejecting the drugs - endangering his powers. Considering the possibilities in life that could open up to him if he goes clean, John begins to entertain the idea of adopting the StraightxEdge lifestyle.Weed Better Sober Up Much to his surprise, the Way of the StraightxEdge comes with its own unique Ranger power. Captain Emohead allows John to switch to this different color.
However, the Evil Empress copies the Chronic Stoner powers before Captain Emohead can hide them away in time. She uses this to make Johnny, an evil clone of John's past Chronic Stoner self. John is forced to learn the worth of his new powers and self on the fly, while dealing with his doppelganger. His triumph leads to strength enhancements for his entire team, as kicking the drugs makes all of them healthier. However, he is not happy that the StraightxEdge lifestyle calls for sexual abstinence before marriage.
Like the other Rangers, John's safety (and new abilities) are put to the test when the Evil Empress brings Vicken's favorite teddy bear to life.Bearly Legal / Scare Bear He is not shown doing much of anything significant in the series after this, though he does learn how to combine his StraightxEdge Samurai Sword with the Introspective Emo Shield to help create the Emo Blaster.Top of the Flops
When up against a giant robot shaped like a bucket of fries, John demonstrates how powerful his robot can be in a solo battle.You Want Cries With That? He is among those creeped out by the revelation of identity of Stef's date.Uncle Kuddles and Fiddles the Kid
2015 Special[]
Main article: Emo Rangers 2015 Anniversary Special
John, as he appears in the 2015 special.
After a few more adventures of saving Chelmsford as the StraightxEdge Ranger, John finds that the aliens begin warning each other to avoid Earth. Only one, who takes over Happy Valley High School and turns it into his evil lair while masquerading as a principal to fool emo kids' parents, dares to ignore that warning. Otherwise, the aliens decide to leave Earth alone. The Evil Principal is able to hide his ruse for quite some time, resulting in Captain Emohead's emo sensors failing to trip. By 2011, John has decided to put his Emo Wristband Morpher in storage while he attempts to carry on with his life.
However, Mary Jane's sharp-witted sensing of something being off about Happy Valley High in 2015 results in the Principal feeling threatened that she will expose all of his other evil plans. This leads to him going to some lengths to antagonize her, even forcing her onto prescription drugs he modified in order to eventually turn her into one of his evil minions. Mary Jane is encouraged by the Mysterious Vagrant to reject the Principal's plan, and he gives her a key to the secret locker that Captain Emohead used for storing the old Chronic Stoner powers.
This leads to Mary Jane throwing her remaining prescription pills down a toilet, and heading for the secret locker. As her quest to save the world from the increasingly-unraveling Principal heats up, she triggers the emo sensors and awakens Captain Emohead - who is revealed to have somehow bought back Emo 5 and upgraded him. Emohead also upgrades the Chronic Stoner morpher, allowing Mary Jane to become the much more powerful Neo-Chronic Stoner. However, her upgrade angers the Principal into activating his own giant murder bot - as did her surviving his attempt to murder her via his upgraded Hoodie Patrollers.
The veteran Emo Rangers return for one final battle.
Fearing Mary Jane cannot handle the menace alone, Emohead calls John out of retirement - along with his other five former teammates. Alas, the Rangers don't last very long in battle before the Principal uses a one-time-only option on his robot to generate a time warp. With this, the Principal sends John and the others to the year 2025 - place unspecified. Mary Jane is forced to land a lucky shot and defeat the Principal on her own.
As of the end credits, it is still unknown how Emohead will be able to save the veteran Rangers. John's fate remains an uncertainty. Emo 5, suddenly bored with everything, looks forward to the displacement as an opportunity to witness the Rangers again in the future and use their predicament for his amusement. He jokes of "unending adventures" with them. However, Emohead shoots this down as a "dickheaded idea."
In other media[]
Mighty Moshin' Emo Rangers: The Video Game[]
John, as he appears in the Flash game by StormVideoGames.com.
Main article: Mighty Moshin' Emo Rangers: The Video Game
The game by StormVideoGames.com features a highly-simplified version of John, basing his appearance in the game off of his debut in the 2005 short film. This is in keeping with the fact that the game also reiterates the short film's plot. John's smoke ability is shown in this game as a series of slow-moving bubbles that can poison and kill enemies. While the bubbles are super effective at killing several enemies, they are a quick drain on John's power and take a long time to recharge. John is the third Emo Ranger to be playable, with Ross and Luke preceding him and Vicken being the next one that is unlocked after so much progress. With numeric keys, Rangers can be selected amongst. The final levels require unlocking Stef, though John can still be played at any time by pressing "3." His StraightxEdge form does not feature in the game, as it was made before season 2 and reiterates only the pilot's plot.
The Sims 4[]
Dozerfleet Labs DzMD ad on DeviantArt for mods for The Sims 4 that enable players to import Emo Ranger suits into the game.
On April 24th of 2017, DzMD of Dozerfleet Labs uploaded to DeviantArt and MediaFire a listing of several mods in a few folders which would allow players of The Sims 4 to import Emo Ranger suits into their PC games. The mods base the Rangers' appearances on a mixture of their first and second season looks, with primary emphasis on the first season. (Hence, no collar trims.) The helmets are not 100% show-accurate, but are as close as the custom mesh employed by Grilled-Cheese-Aspiration at Tumblr would allow. While John's Chronic Stoner form is included, the marketing images make very little mention of it. Mary Jane's Neo-Chronic Stoner outfit is nowhere to be found, and neither is the Evil Chronic Stoner variant suit.
Under the EA website and Origin username of "DozerfleetProd," that same brand also uploaded Sims 4-compatible re-creations of the Rangers to the Sims 4 Gallery on TheSims.com. That particular Gallery upload includes the six main series Rangers as a single household, though players who import the Rangers into Create-A-Sim can still choose to delete the other Rangers from the household if they only wish to play with John. Mary Jane was not included with that package.
With the combined character downloads and mods, playing as John in The Sims 4 should not be difficult. Also uploaded to the Gallery under the DozerfleetProd account was an estimated re-creation of Emo Road, allowing players to place John or any other Ranger in bedrooms based on the one used for their bedroom scenes in the show. That same lot includes a shed that is a secret passageway to a crude re-creation of the Emo Command Center, though Captain Emohead and Emo 5 are nowhere to be found.
In 2024, the Emo Rangers mod was consolidated into The Sims 4: Magic of Movies and Memes Stuff.
Known fanfiction[]
While it is a given that fanfics exist of Emo Rangers, most of these consist of artists theorizing new Rangers, rather than doing anything with existing ones. KittyTheGrimm from Australia, for example, proposed an Orange Ranger dubbed the "Sadistic Torture Blood Lust Ranger," though some in her comments have suggested shorter names, including "Citrus Torture Ranger."
Various custom Emo Rangers action figures.
The most prominent fanfic online as of 2017 regarding the Emo Rangers is Dozerfleet Comics' Volkonir Meets the Power Rangers. This Sims 4 fanfic comic sees Ross teaming up with 2017 movie Zack to save the 1993 Power Rangers' world from a monster originating from the world of Volkonir. Zack and Ross mostly focus on fighting highly-modified Putties that prove extra-homicidal. In that same story, Fai teams up with Volkonir and Tommy to take on the main monster. Luke teams up with 2017 Jason to fight the secondary monster. Vicken teams up with 2017 Trini on cleanup detail, so they can rescue 1993 Trini. Stef teams up with 1993 Kimberly. John teams up with 1993 Billy.
One major note about this is the slight alternate timeline for the Emo Rangers places the events in "Weed Better Sober Up" in late November of 2005, meaning that John is already the StraightxEdge Ranger before the Christmas Special in that timeline. Part of this was to avoid the moral dilemma that the 1993 Rangers would otherwise face with having a fellow Ranger be on drugs.
Merchandise[]
In addition to merchandise that was once sold through EmoRangers.com, various fans (especially in the UK) began finding their own ways to cash in on the phenomenon. Ztenzila even went so far as to make custom action figures back in 2008, and spray cans.
Personality[]
John has adopted the StraightxEdge subculture of punk rock musicians, after taking one too many drugs has convinced him that he can no longer sustain the typical emo lifestyle of old that indulged in drugs. His power and fighting skill seem to improve dramatically over time, especially when he accustoms himself to his new StraightxEdge power.
He tends to be very mysterious, even to his fellow Rangers, and not much is known about him other than his most obvious selections of lifestyle choices. The only issue with being StraightxEdge that he seems to have a problem with is the requirement for sexual abstinence.
Ranger form[]
Abilities
Arsenal Zords |
Ranger suit variation from the Dozerfleet Labs mods for The Sims 4. |
Abilities
Arsenal Zords |
Ranger suit variation from the Dozerfleet Labs mods for The Sims 4. |
|
Additional arsenal |
Samurai Mode suit |
See also[]
- Johnny (evil clone)
- Ross
- Stef
- Mary Jane
- John Penn - the actor portraying the character
- "Weed Better Sober Up" - an episode in which John is the main focus
Inspirations[]
- Tommy, the Green (and later White) Power Ranger that inspires John's initial color. John's switch to StraightxEdge is a parody of Tommy's switch from green to white in "White Light." His having to battle Johnny is a parody of "Return of the Green Ranger."
- Billy, the Blue Power Ranger that inspires John's place on the Emo Rangers' team, and also inspires John's new color upon getting a color change.
- Jason, the Red Power Ranger who has a similar sword - albeit, without requiring a battlizer mode.
        CHARACTERS AND EQUIPMENT | |
| RANGERS | Ross • Luke • John • Stef • Vicken • Fai • Mary Jane |
| ALLIES | Captain Emohead • Emo 5 • Mysterious Vagrant |
| ENEMIES | Evil Empress • Colonel Crusher • Funky Monkey • Generic Evil Robot • Evil Show Host • Evil Mall Santa • Santa Bot • Johnny • Mr. Fluffy • Sold Ya Boy • AvrilBot • New Rave Pirates • Burger Klown • Uncle Kuddles and Fiddles the Kid • Evil Principal • Hoodie Patrol |
| OTHER | Miscellaneous characters • Arsenal • Zords / Fight Bots |