When Lionsgate unveiled the armored suits for Saban’s Power Rangers, fans were divided. Over time, however, the suits grew on them, and I’ll admit: While watching the new movie, I could see the old costumes I loved so much if I squinted. So maybe the filmmakers were on to something because these rejected concepts could have been way, way weirder than the costumes that wound up onscreen.
Mauricio Ruiz, a conceptual artist in Los Angeles, recently uploaded his concept designs for Dean Israelite’s Power Rangers, which accumulated a gross of just $83 million worldwide in its theatrical run. (It’s worth pointing out that the film has yet to open in China and Japan, where it’s estimated to perform well.) And Ruiz, it seems, opted more for a beastly alien design rather than the biomechanical Iron Men the Power Rangers ended up looking like. Few of Ruiz’s costumes resemble the dinosaurs the Power Rangers are meant to represent, though he did have some neat ideas for the Morphing Grid energy flowing through their costumes.
But what Ruiz indisputably nailed were the Dino Zords. Although they still have the organic alien design inspired by Michael Bay’s Transformers, Ruiz’s Mastodon, Triceratops, and Sabretooth Tiger looked like actual Mastodons, Triceratops, and Sabretooth tigers. In the final film, remember, the black Zord had six legs for some reason.
Check out Ruiz’s designs below for a glimpse at what almost was, and visit his Artstation for even more.
