Trini Kwan

Trini Kwan was the first Yellow Mighty Morphin Power Ranger.

Personality
Trini is a bit of a tomboy, and the second most intelligent of the original Rangers, next to Billy Cranston. She alone was able to understand Billy's technical jargon early on, and assisted Billy in the creation of many of his devices, including the signal-blocker that released the Dinozords from Lord Zedd's control.

Character History
Trini Kwan was working out at Ernie's Juice Bar & Gym along with her friends. Suddenly the ground began to shake and Trini and her friends were transported to the Command Center. There awaited quite the sight, a head floating inside a tube. And even more incredibly, this being called Zordon, had selected them to become Power Rangers. Kimberly and Zack blew Zordon off, but Trini, Billy and Jason lingered. The idea of protecting people from the evil witch Rita Repulsa appealed to the gentle and kind nature of Trini. With the others calling them, Trini, Billy and Jason left the Command Center. Outside the building they were confronted by another strange sight - putties. Trini fought with all her might, but the putties were too strong. Without a second thought, Trini activated her power coin and became the first Yellow Mighty Morphin Power Ranger. Needless to say, after morphing into a Ranger, Trini made quick work of the putties. She also took up the challenge that Zordon placed before her.

A young woman with a calm and composed attitude, no one would ever guess that Trini was fearful of anything. But Trini did have one fear - a fear of heights. But when she saw Billy in trouble, with a tremendous effort, she put aside her fear to help him.

Being a Ranger during this era meant one had to be thrown into some strange places. One of these was the Island of Illusion where, once again, Trini had to face her fear of heights. With the other Ranger's help, she was able to accomplish this. Trini was also placed under a spell where for a time she lost her confidence. Thankfully, she was able to remember previous battles and overcame this spell. Trini fought many battles against Rita and defeated her time and time again.

One of Trini's pet causes was the environment. She was always heading up drives to clean up the environment. Not only did Trini clean-up parks, but she also planted seeds for future trees as well. Trini was also involved in the Big Sister program which she did for her little cousin. Trini loves animals as well, trying to help strays find a home.

Trini enjoyed life and made time to have fun. She had a wonderful doll collection, which Rita actually used one as monster. Trini liked to host food festivals; she enjoyed the picnics, carnival, concerts, masquerade balls, talent contests, dances and the beach. Trini was a big help behind the scenes of any school theatrical production

Trini was very close to her family. Her favorites were her cousin Sylvia and Uncle Howard, the latter whom she invited up to help Billy with his confidence. Of course, Trini was very close to her parents. When Rita whisked away her parents, she was forced to chose between her Power Coin or her parents. With tears in her eyes, Trini gave up her Coin to Goldar. Of course, Rita had no intention of returning her parents. Trini and the others quickly put together a plan to get their parents and Power Coins back by recruiting former teammate Tommy Oliver to reclaim his powers (as Jason had kept his Dragon Coin). The plan worked and Trini was happily reunited with her returning teammate.

Trini was also very close to her fellow Rangers. Her best friends were Kimberly, connected through being the only female team members, and Billy, connected through their scientific intelligence and kind, passive natures. She also helped translate for Billy when his speech got too technical for the others in his group or to help him study for an upcoming test. Trini was always by Billy's side when he was working on various devices to defeat either Rita Repulsa or Lord Zedd. Trini enjoyed Zack's high spirits and was always found supporting Jason in his various matches. When Tommy came on the scene, Trini was quick to make him a friend as well. She was very supportive of him during the two different times he lost his Green Ranger powers. When Trini found out that there was to be a new Ranger, she didn't want Tommy to be replaced. As luck would have it, the new Ranger was Tommy as the White Ranger. Trini made friends easily and had no problem spending a day with her neighbor's little girl Haley.

Trini found herself falling for a new guy by the name of Richie. Although she was always casting loving looks towards him and inviting him to various functions with her, Richie seemed not to notice. He eventually became smitten with Trini, but a relationship was never shown.

Trini enjoyed various athletic venues. Not only did she work on her martial arts, but enjoyed volleyball, scuba diving, mountain motor biking and basketball as well. During a sporting event at school, Trini helped her team win the Noble Lion Trophy. Trini was always up for the challenge of learning new skills. She took on the task of learning the style of the Mantis Kung Fu with her complete concentration.

Ranger Retirement
But there were changes on the horizon for Trini. A world teen summit was coming to Angel Grove and was going to select three teens from Angel Grove to attend the world peace summit in Switzerland. Trini, along with Jason and Zack, was select to attend. Trini had served the Rangers well and, with Zordon's blessing, she transferred her power to Aisha Campbell and left for the world peace summit.

Zords

 * Saber-Toothed Tiger Dinozord
 * Griffin Thunderzord

Arsenal

 * Wrist Communicator
 * Power Morpher
 * Saber-Toothed Tiger Power Coin
 * Blade Blaster
 * Power Daggers

MMPR interactive CD-ROM

 * Trini's birthday was given as August 9, making her a Leo.
 * Trini's birthplace was given as Houston, Texas.
 * Trini's favorite food was supposedly extra-spicy chili dogs.
 * Trini's favorite subject was given as geometry, which disagreed with the Fan Club Video's reply of history.
 * Trini's was described her as having "lightning hands and a peaceful soul," as did numerous other sources published during MMPR, but this phrase was used to describe the alternate Trini in the Pilot Episode; furthermore, the bios described her as taking only a certain amount of pushing before turning her into a razor-sharp fighter with lightning reflexes, which seemed to better describe her Pilot Episode character.

MMPR fan club video

 * Being interviewed, Trini sat at the Juice Bar, fidgeting with her earrings quite a bit; whether she wore a communicator is unknown.
 * Asked about her scariest moment, Trini recalled many scary times but the most memorable one was having to fight the Mantis one-on-one because of honor and fairness despite the Mantis's lacking those virtues; "Thank God," she added, that she'd had her friends supporting her.
 * On the topic of food, Trini laughed that she liked to eat, in general, but then said she loved vanilla ice cream and chili dogs.
 * In her spare time, Trini would collect stuffed animals, going into stores and picking out ones she'd like to add to her collection.
 * Trini said that her favorite subject was history, in which she could learn about what had happened in different eras and how all of those facts and traditions affected the present.
 * Asked whether she had a boyfriend, Trini replied that she didn't, but by having her responsibility as a Power Ranger and having such great friends, she was having so much fun that she didn't feel lonely; if a guy came into her life and they happened to hit it off, it would be great, but for right now, she wasn't looking for one.
 * Trini said her most exciting adventure had been the transition from a normal teenager to a superhero, which she called a rare opportunity and privilege, receiving the special power and saving the world.
 * On the topic of being teleported to the Command Center for the first time, Trini described it as, "a whole rush of energy going through your body, and you can feel it as something different but you really don't know what it is, and you can't really explain it, and then all of a sudden, you've landed into this place and you don't know where it is... it's like out of nowhere."
 * Asked who her superhero was, Trini chose Wonder Woman, since she was a female superhero she could identify with.
 * Asked about friends, Kim said she hung out with all of the teens but that Trini was her girl best friend, and they talked about everything.

Simalarities and Differences between the "Trinis"



 * Pilot Trini is much more tomboyish in comparison to Series Trini.
 * They're both able to translate Billy's "techno speak."
 * Series Trini only fights when provoked or to defend herself. Pilot Trini is much more eager to battle.
 * Both of them are very close friends with Billy.
 * Only Series Trini seems to be close friends with Kimberly. Kimberly and Pilot Trini don't even interact with each other.
 * Pilot Trini was excited and enthusiastic about becoming ranger when she first arrived to the Command Center. Series Trini was more confused and unsure.
 * Series Trini's fighting style is Kung-Fu. Pilot Trini's fighting style is very similar to Jason's.
 * Pilot Trini's hair is very short. Series Trini's hair is long.

Trivia

 * Trini is the first female Asian American Power Ranger character followed by Cassie Chan, Alyssa Enrilé, Rachel Chan (though, technically she is actually a member of an evil (corrupted) group), Vida Rocca, Madison Rocca, Rose Ortiz, Gemma and Mia.
 * There has been some controversy over Trini as a Yellow Ranger because she's Asian and Zack being a Black Ranger because he's African. According to Tony Oliver at Power Morphicon 2007, the producers were unaware of this being racially insensitive, until the 10th episode in.
 * Trini is still featured heavily in Ranger fan fiction, probably due to her actress's untimely death.
 * Trini is the first feline-based Ranger, followed by Tommy Oliver (White Tiger), Aisha Campbell (successor to Trini as Sabertooth Tiger), Leo Corbett (Lion), Kendrix Morgan & Karone (Wildcat), Cole Evans (Lion), Alyssa Enrilé (White Tiger), Dustin Brooks (Lion), Casey Rhodes (Tiger), Lily Chilman (Cheetah), Theo Martin (Jaguar), Jarrod (Lion), Flynn McAllistair (Lion), and Gemma (Tiger).
 * Thuy Trang, the actress who played Trini, died on September 3, 2001 in a car accident. Because of this, she has never been referred to in any other Ranger seasons (although her character was mentioned in the Tommy's video diary in Legacy of Power), though many of her fellow actors returned in subsequent Ranger seasons. It is debatable if Thuy Trang's death also marks the death of Trini. Her death was relatively unknown at the time due to the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. The Time Force episode, Circuit Unsure, features an obituary for Thuy.
 * Unlike Kimberly, Trini does not have a skirt with her Ranger suit and appears flat-chested. This is because most of the morphed battle sequences from Power Rangers are taken and dubbed from the long running Japanese TV show Super Sentai, where in the series MMPR is based on, Kyōryū Sentai Zyuranger, her equivalent, Boi, is male followed by Maya and her equivalent Hikaru from Seijuu Sentai Gingaman, Kelsey Winslow and her equivalent Daimon Tatsumi from Kyuukyuu Sentai GoGo-V, Katie Walker and her equivalent Domon from Mirai Sentai Timeranger & Taylor Earhardt and her equivalent Gaku Washio from Hyakujuu Sentai Gaoranger.
 * She is the only ranger in MMPR to not look directly at the camera during her morphing sequence. Instead her head is tilted over to the side.
 * According to a contest held by ABC Family in 2004, Trini was voted the best Yellow Ranger of all time.
 * "The Yellow Ranger," a Melbourne-based Hardcore band, is named after Trini Kwan's time as the Yellow Ranger.
 * Due to her on-and-off appearances during the second season of MMPR the producers redubbed Trini's voice with a unknown actress referred to only as Judy. (Heard clearly in the episode Beauty and the Beast).