ooc: Info about Ghost and SPD
At a Glance
Name: Jack Landors
Edensphere name: Ghost
Age: 19 (going by fandom assumptions as its never spelled out in canon)
Born: ??-??-2006
Likes: Sleeping, reading comics, lightball (a type of futuristic dodgeball), pissing off Sky Tate, helping those in need, being his own man, being a huge obvious flirt, being a pain in the ass, shiny weapons he really can’t use well, guns, fishing
Dislikes:Being in charge, disasters, monsters that blow up the city on a weekly basis, strict rules and moody mysterious authority figures, work, school, responsibility, making his brain work early in the morning
Special Powers: Intangibility. Jack can phase himself so he can walk through walls, jump through floors and pass weapons and fists through himself harmlessly. And yet somehow he never falls through the ground into the earth’s core. Whatever, its a kids’ show. His powers are genetic so he classifies as a mutant.
Relationships: Jack’s closest friend is Elizabeth, “Z” Delgado, the Yellow Ranger. Z calls Jack her brother, although canonically he never calls her his sister. Men and their emotions. He has a very strange relationship with Sky Tate (Spike); they are rivals in the beginning of the series but by the end, Jack is willing to give up his life for Sky. <3 He thinks Bridge Carson (Green Ranger) is weird and Sydney Drew (Pink Ranger) is spoiled but sweet.
Excellent Resource Link:Rangerwiki page
The Much Longer Rambling
PERSONALITY:
In order to understand Jack's personality you have to first know that he is the leader of the one of the most misfit, dysfunctional Power Ranger teams in the franchise's history. Jack is the Red Ranger of the "B-Squad" Power Rangers. They are actually the 'second string' team of Rangers in their city; the higher-ranking A-Squad Rangers go missing and are presumed dead within the first five-six episodes of the series. Because of this, Jack is constantly under a lot of pressure to pull his novice team together and he does so through pure stubbornness and a tendency to break the rules. He is a cynical, sarcastic, in your face type of leader. If someone does something he thinks is wrong, he'll call him or her up on it immediately. He is likely to order someone to do something without explanation, assuming that everyone will understand his motives, and he is very much a 'leap before you think' type of person. But when he screws something up, he is humble enough to admit his own mistakes and apologize.
For five years prior to the start of the series, Jack was a homeless thief. He stole clothing, food and other supplies and gave them away to the homeless. Because of this, Jack has a lot of distrust in authority--he cannot seem to function within any sort of hierarchy, especially the type of strict lifestyle required of a spandex clad superhero. He is flippant, sometimes rude, to his superior officers and to his fellow cadets. At the same time, the fact that he is willing to try and lead a team of Rangers shows that at some level he understands the importance of law and order. However at the end of the series, Jack chooses to leave SPD to resume his civilian life rather than stay and continue to be a Ranger. He values his freedom too much to be tied down.
There are times when Jack can be accused of lacking empathy since he is mildly inept when it comes to social interactions. For example, when one of his friends bragged about her upcoming birthday party, Jack chose her to accompany him on a mission, and then sincerely did not understand why she was infuriated at him. At the beginning of his tenure as a Red Ranger, Jack ran his team ragged in training while he sat around reading comic books. He was later very surprised when they voted him off as team leader. At times, Jack is positioned as the Outsider to the rest of his team. He is the only one who does not want to be a Ranger--he is forced by circumstance to assume his leadership role--and his distrust of others means he often runs off in some reckless attempt to save the day by himself. Also, the fact that he was homeless, the fact that his genetic powers make him something of a freak, and the fact that the fandom tends to assume his parents are dead make him a very lonely figure in the show.
Having said that, Jack cares a lot about his teammates even though he tends to fight a lot with them. He is the type of man who would literally give the jacket off his back to someone less well off. He likes to use competition and teasing to bond with someone. Jack is more of a lover, not a fighter, but he can kick ass when threatened. He can be quite lazy if his environment is safe and no one is being threatened. For example, if presented with the option to get a job or be kicked out of his housing, Jack would most likely wait till the last possible moment to chose one (that or sleep in a branch like a hobo). But the moment the tree is threatened, Jack would be the first to volunteer to save everyone, putting his life at stake. He just probably wouldn't understand why he's willing to do so.
BACKGROUND:
In 2001, several years before Jack was born, his parents were among a group of scientists working for Space Patrol Delta. They were involved in a lab accident, in which "prolonged exposure to [...] cellular enhancers" resulted in them having mutant offspring. As a result, Jack has the ability to become intangible--he can 'phase' through objects like walls or doors. Not much is known about Jack's early life. Despite the fact that his parents used to work for SPD, Jack has stated in canon that he was poor growing up--so poor that there was never even money for birthday parties or small celebrations in his life. Jack does not know his own birth date. The series does not explain why Jack is missing this critical piece of information, but as mentioned earlier, its been hypothesized in the fandom that Jack's parents died when he was very young. He also speaks of them in the past tense, saying that he always thought they were missionaries, not scientists.
When the series starts in 2025, Jack and Z are making a living for themselves and their fellow street dwellers by stealing food and clothing. They are known to SPD as the "Parkington Market Thieves", although both fancy themselves as modern day Robin Hoods. Eventually, three SPD cadets, Sky Tate, Bridge Carson and Sydney Drew come to arrest their thieving asses. The head of SPD, Commander Cruger, offers Jack and Z the choice to either serve out their prison time or join SPD and become Power Rangers alongside Sky, Bridge and Syd. Initially, Jack chooses jail over SPD but when he finds out that Z, who has chosen to become a Ranger, is in danger, he accepts Cruger's offer in order to save her. From there, Jack learns how to lead five very different, somewhat alienated young adults in battle. His early attempts at leadership mostly fail because he is unable to see his teammates point of view and understand where they are coming from. He has a particularly hard time with Sky. Sky has spent his whole life trying to become Red so he bitterly resents Jack. But by the end of the series, Jack and Sky develop a gentler relationship built on mutual respect for each other. Jack learns to listen to his teammates and to be less judgmental. He grows from a cynical thief to a more open-minded person, dedicated to finding new (law abiding) ways of helping people. He also eventually runs off with the Babe of the Week in a very rushed season finale but la la la denial! I’m taking Jack from before that happens.
TIMELINE: I'm taking Jack from about six episodes before the finale of the series, from the episode "Impact". Impact is arguably one of the most important episodes in terms of Jack's personal development and his relationship with Sky. In this episode, the Rangers discover that a meteor is hurdling through space, aimed directly at the planet. Both Sky and Jack volunteer for the mission to destroy the meteor before it hits Earth. Commander Cruger chooses Sky, but Jack sneaks aboard at the last minute. When the two of them fail to completely destroy the meteor, Jack takes one of their zords and flies himself into the core of the meteor, taking the suicidal run for Sky.