I sent them an email after a discussion at MCM Expo regarding working as a Power Ranger through an events company, and being hired to do promotional events (like conventions). This is what I sent him:
Dear Mr Pearce,
My name is Holly McGregor and I had the pleasure of meeting you at London MCM Comic Con last weekend (22-24 May). I attended the convention with my friends Oliver Mansfield, Aiwei Su and my mother Susan McGregor. We came to your stall in our Power Rangers/Zyuranger costumes, and you very kindly let us use your stage when it was not in action, and you provided an awesome soundtrack for us when we performed for the audience. The response we got from you and your team was great, it was an incredibly humbling experience to be regarded in such high regard by both Bandai UK and the audience. I was the Yellow Ranger, Oliver was the Blue Ranger, and Aiwei was the Red Ranger. My mother wore her Rita Repulsa costume.
I (Holly McGregor) and my mother (Susan McGregor) both live in the UK and we are fairly local to London, it being only a train journey away or a short trip down the motorway. We both live in Bury St Edmunds (Suffolk), and it takes approximately an hour and a half to get to central London. Oliver Mansfield is a Danish Native, and with good notice, he is available to most major London Airports with a short hour and and a half flight. Aiwei Su is a Norwegian native, and he stands the same as Oliver, with good notice, he is also available in London at most major airports.
None of us in our team had ever worn our costumes for anything other than attending a convention before, and we got a really good insight into how event booths are ran, especially when paid, costumed actors are needed to promote a product. It was a fantastic and eye opening experience for all of us, and something that we would be interested in following up if the opportunity ever arose. We strive for screen accuracy in our costumes, and it is with great pride that I am able to say that we have invested a lot of time and money into making our suits as accurate and true to the show as possible. We are also fans of the series - something that differentiates us from the actors that are usually hired at these events. We love to practice our poses, and our energy in a ranger suit is super positive, and to help kids and young (and older) fans meet their heroes is something that we fell in love with at MCM Comic Con.
I have attached a folder of images of us in our costumes. Thank you for providing your details as a reference for Rainbow Productions. Please do not hesitate to contact any of us if you would like to ask any questions, or if we can assist you in any way at upcoming events.
Best regards,
Holly McGregor
Along with loads of pictures (I'm proud of my suits):
And I got a response this morning. He seems very keen!
Hi Holly,
Good to hear from you, sorry its taken some time to reply I’ve only just returned to Bandai HQ and wanted to pen a proper response that wasn’t on an iPhone and full of typos!
First of all, it was a pleasure to have you guys on stand and it was great to see such dedication to the costumes. I have to say, being an original Power Rangers fan myself that having cosplayers there who get the poses helps ten fold in getting the experience across. We have fed this back to Rainbow who deal with costume appearances officially in the UK for Saban in regards to past actors but we still have issues from time to time. As I’m sure you’d agree, The actor in the Dino Charge Red Ranger costume was great as he had done it before (which showed) and knew how to pose in character. Unfortunately the first blue ranger actor was incredibly ill and his last minute replacement didn’t have time to get the hang of it to the degree I myself would like to see, which is half the battle as you have to be animated because you can’t speak or you break the illusion! I must congratulate you guys on the attention to detail in your costumes and the group poses, which I think makes all the difference at these sorts of events. Having been the Samurai Red Ranger before, I know how hard it is to survive inside those helmets so well done to you all for your extended periods as Power Rangers, showed great stamina.
Anyway before I over fanboy your outfits and work (I could be here all day) I’d like to help you guys if I can to try and turn this from a bit of fun into something a little more substantial. It benefits everybody having dedicated fans as 'brand ambassadors’ as you just get it which really shows in your performances. Honestly I’m thinking of pitching this as a bit of a PR project if I can get Saban onboard with the idea of ‘fans become the brand’ but to manage expectation, I can’t make any promises… its just an idea I had after seeing you guys in action. That being said I’m pretty good at getting licensors to see the bigger picture so we’ll see, leave it with me.
I hope you’ve contacted Rainbow as well since the event, I saw Johnny gave you guys a card for them so I would encourage you to do so. If they can get you on the books it be great as then we can request you guys ideally as actors in the future for such events, which means you would get to do what you love (paid) and be provided with official costumes so saves wears and tear on your own and as an added bonus means you’ll have stunt visors! Which I can tell you from experience makes life a lot easier. As I mentioned on the Sunday, if you need a reference or want to copy me into any correspondence with Rainbow I will happily help where I can as it benefits us all in having the best actors at these events we can get.
Once again a real pleasure to meet you all and it was fantastic to see a female ranger for a change. Keep up the good work, from one fan to another.
Chris
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