My childhood hero is awesome, but other people are assholes. Part infinity.

[azora_mysta]

So...if anyone's still reading this blog, you probably know that I'm a HUGE fan of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, and that my favorite character of the lot was Billy. Sweet, caring, wise, patient, and handsome Billy

Comments

[meilleurekimiko]

Yeah, its those kind of things that make me realize people aren't as good as they could be. I might have been a bigger fan of Austin St. John, but David Yost was just as inspiring if not more so to some people.

[azora_mysta]

Austin's a class act too. :) I wish he would meet up with the fans again.

[sandamazwich]

I actually never knew he was gay but it honestly doesn't bother me. I don't get why a character or an actor can't be gay when it involves a children's fandom or whatever. Remember Dumbledore when he was "outed" and all the parental reactions from it? Ugh.

In any case, I am definitely a much bigger David Yost fan now and I honestly just want to wish the best of luck.

[azora_mysta]

Well, a lot of people suspected but no one knew for sure until this interview. And the abuse? Completely covered up.

I'm not saying this makes him a saint---what he did to Johnny is still true---but this is making me call into question a lot of the producers' comments that David was a total diva and impossible to work with. If they're the same producers who treated him this way, they probably wanted to say another word instead of 'diva'.

---Yeah, my reaction to Dumbledore was pretty much a shrug too. And a lot of sadness for what he went through with Grindelwald. Those same parents probably already thought the books were Satanic, so I rolled my eyes at them.

I'm wishing him luck too. He's already helping a lot of PR fans who felt ostracized for the same reason, and that's awesome in my book.

[anolinde]

Sorry to be randomly creeping here via your comment at ranger_recaps, but I'm curious - what was the issue with Johnny?

I remember hearing the rumors about David being a diva, and I remember thinking they were true when I saw behind-the-scenes features like blooper reels: he always looked so angry and unhappy to be where he was, and I would think, "Wow, dude, chill out..." And now, knowing the true reason behind his frustration, I feel awful. =(

[azora_mysta]

No worries! It's a public journal for a reason.

Johnny has a story he tells at conventions that goes like this: basically, the original script of the MMPR Movie had a lot more for Rocky, Adam, and Aisha to do. According to Johnny, David complained about them getting too much prominence compared to the old actors. Mostly David felt Billy was being left out, because Tommy got prominence for being the main character and Kim for being Tommy's girlfriend.

So the script was revised and some lines that were originally Adam's went to Billy. Johnny went on to say that David did this (asking for more prominence over the newer characters) during filming of the series too.

If you look up the Power Rangers panel at Zenkaikon 2009 on Youtube, you can hear Johnny say it in his own words. He doesn't mention David by name, but it's clear from context and other things he's said who he means.

I don't think Johnny would lie about that, so yeah, David was probably a bit of a problem on set. But that doesn't make the producers' actions okay.

[linear_flower]

Here via a huge link trail (from lgbtfest to ranger_recaps to here), and I just wanted to point out, cause I didn't see it mentioned yet: If I read correctly, while the crew was being major dicks to him, the cast still respected him and didn't care either way.

[azora_mysta]

Yeah, I understood that part. I didn't mean to say that they didn't, I'll have to edit that out. >.>

I'm just worried about the new Ranger actors because I suspect Saban rehired some of the old people responsible. Hopefully their outlook's improved.

[linear_flower]

Yeah, one can hope.

I heard rumors, though, that Jason Frank gave hom shit, but I refuse to believe it.

[azora_mysta]

Highly doubt it, and if he did, David seems to be over it. They were great friends at AFO---in the Power Rangers panel on Friday, Jason and David were laughing together about something on Jason's cell phone instead of paying attention. They kept playing off each other well during all the panels, and David said repeatedly that Jason is a good friend of his.

Jason was just a...trickster. As David said in Part 2 of the NPS interview, he did things like autograph David's couch, break a brush over David's head, and put a fly in David's sandwich. The pranks could be irritating at times, but it meant Jason accepted him as part of the group. I guess it was a sign that Jason liked you, since he did it to almost everyone.