It's morphin time! Mastodon!

Zack is an African-American teenager with dark brown skin, deep brown eyes, and black afro-textured hair. Just pushing past five foot eight in height, he stands taller than Kimberly and Trini, but shorter than Billy, Jason, and Tommy. Being both a seasoned martial artist and trained dancer, Zack has a slim yet muscular body—he’s one hundred and sixty-five pounds of muscle—kept in great shape by his athletic and healthy lifestyle.

His regular activities and practice give him great agility and flexibility, which he uses rhythmically in battle and dance. Like the rest of the Power Rangers, he’s quite good looking and considered handsome by many of his peers, particularly with his winning smile. Curiously, Zack is missing the middle finger on his left hand (how or why was never revealed or even mentioned in the show, but the real reason is that his actor lost said finger in a childhood accident).

Image-wise, Zack is straight out of the 90s in hairstyle, clothing, and fashion. Zack wears his hair in one of the iconic black youth culture styles of the early 90s: the “hi-top” fade. Meaning he keeps his hair on the sides of his head cropped very short and leaves his hair on the top of his head longer (aka: long and “high” on the top while “faded” on the sides). In the later part of the series, Zack grew his hair out long enough to plait it into many tight braids that hung down to his ears. Whatever the style, he obviously wears his hair out and proud around Angel Groove.

Clothing wise, Zack’s fashion reflects the aesthetics coming out of the Hip Hop era and follows the trends that can be found in African-American culture at the time, the quintessential black look of the 90s. He often chooses loose or baggy clothes with Garveyism colors (red, black, and green) and differing-but-flashy patterns.

His upper clothing choices range from loose short-or-long-sleeve t-shirts, wide-collared button-down casual shirts that are comfortably oversized and usually left open to collar or mid-chest, polo shirts with the collars kept open, y-back muscle shirts or tank tops, and the obligatory hoodies and jackets for cooler weather. Zack’s lower clothing choices are simpler, with baggy jeans or khakis, cargo shorts or jean shorts, and a selection of workout shorts including soccer and basketball styles. Belts are the average fare, from leather to thick cloth with the normal metal buckles.

Of course, like many of the athletic youth of the 90s, Zack loves wearing basketball shoes and sneakers, which are—is there any doubt—the Air Jordan brand. Sometimes he’ll pop a cap on, wearing either colorful rastacaps or baseball caps made even cooler by facing backwards. When it comes to jewelry, he tends to favor stud or small hoop earrings and different necklaces, including Africa chains (thin gold chains with small tag pendants) and tribal bead just-shy-of-choker-length collars. His communicator serves as a wristwatch and it’s rare he’s seen without it.

While Zack does keep to the “wear your color” style the other Power Rangers favor—in his case, black—his wardrobe is rarely limited to the colors of his Ranger designation. As he opts for the “wear black somewhere on me and the rest is a color party” version, black is always a part of his ensemble, but red, green, yellow, purple, blue, orange, and other bright vibrant colors all find their way into his clothing, with black usually being the background canvas behind the colors, accentuating outlines to the other hues, or just “the other half” of his outfit (see black pants and colored shirt or black shirt and colored pants).

His tops and jewelry are often emblazoned with the colors of the pan-African flag (yellows, reds, and greens). And not just content to keep with colors, Zack has several patterns on his clothes, from the African kente style to classic pinstripe and plaid to cow-spot patchwork and ‘pops’ amid a single color. Basically, the guy’s clothes reflect his personality: “black, bold, bright, and colorful”.

When his Black Ranger powers are active, Zack is clothed in a form-fitting spandex body suit. Three white diamonds are featured prominently across the chest, upper shoulders, and back of his costume. His hands and forearms are covered by a pair of white gloves with triangular diamonds at the upper end of the gloves. His feet and shins are covered by a pair of white boots with the same diamond design. Situated around the middle of his waist sits a pure white belt that holds Zack’s Power Morpher in the place of a belt buckle. Outside of all of the white, the rest of the costume is dark black.

Zack’s Black Ranger uniform is topped off with a round helmet; the top of which is fashioned in the shape of a Mastodon. The trunk and tusks of the Mastodon surround the helmet’s eye visor and the helmet’s mouthpiece is covered by a grey material molded in the shape of a mouth. The helmet rests on a white spandex collar that connects under his body suit and inside his helmet. When not in use, the Black Ranger uniform exists invisibly and immaterially about his body and only manifest itself in the material world when Zack morphs. After morphing, whatever clothing he was previously wearing likewise becomes immaterial around him until the transformation ends.

“It’s morphin time!” The legendary call of the 90s. Zack is one of the “teenagers with attitude” hand-picked by Zordon to become a member of the Earth-based Power Rangers. An accomplished martial artist and dancer, Zack is no slouch in combat outside of his spandex-clad Ranger ego. However, whenever he needs to use his power to fight monsters beyond his human abilities, Zack calls upon the might of the prehistoric Mastodon and uses his Power Morpher and imbedded Black Mastodon Power Coin to connect to the Morphing Grid and transform into the superpowered Black Ranger. Zack’s signature weapon, the Power Axe, gives him added power and range in combat and he can even wield the legendary Dragon Shield in a pinch. For threats too large or strong for even the transformed teen to handle, he can call forth the mighty Mastodon Dinozord to freeze or crush his enemies no matter the size. While there have been many future rangers to wield the color, there is only one Zack the Black Ranger.

Zack Taylor (Human Abilities)
Outside of his superhero activities, Zack is a normal human boy and high school student from Angel Grove, CA. When not clad in his strength-augmenting uniform, he possesses the normal human strength one would expect to find in a youth of his age, height, and build who engages in athletic activities and regular exercise. Zack is highly athletic and regularly engages in many activities including basketball, football, soccer, gymnastics, surfing, bowling, scuba diving, and others. His passion for dancing equates to his great skill in it, from competitive to impromptu performances, and contributes great grace and style to his various gymnastic feats and parkour actions.

However, don’t underestimate him; Zack is a superb martial artist. He studied martial arts alongside dancing as he grew up and enjoys martial arts just as much as dance. As a result, he combined the two and developed his own signature fighting style, Hip Hop Kido, as a way to defend himself and have fun at the same time. This fusion art consists of dance-like maneuvers flourished with fast and powerful Karate strikes, lots kicks and flips, and different twists and spins, much like the modern-day Capoeira style.

Quick and agile, he strikes opponents at varying heights, reaches body points not normally covered, and almost simultaneously avoids reprisals thanks to his tricky movements and flexible positions. Hip Hop Kido is a very rhythmic and fluid fighting style and effectively combines power and prowess, making Zack an incredibly formidable combatant against his enemies. Additionally, his expertise in martial arts and human prowess still allows him to fight and defeat enemies as resilient as Rita Repulsa and Lord Zedd’s Putties without needing to transform.

Zack is more than just a martial artist and is quite intelligent and resourceful, albeit not to the same heights as Billy or Trini. On several occasions, it was his cunning that led his team to victory. It was Zack who discovered the means to overcome the Knasty Knight, a monster sent to isolate and destroy him on his birthday. The monster possessed the ability to redistribute the Rangers’ power in order to fry the weapons they used against him; it was Zack’s idea to copy the Knight’s technique and send the redistributed energy back at him, turning the tables and securing their victory. When the storm-bringing chimera monster Goatan froze the Megazord, Zack analyzed what little resources the Megazord had left and used it to break the mighty Zord free, regaining dominance in the battle.

In his hand-to-hand fights, Zack sometimes tones down his Hip Hop Kido style and reverts to more traditional Karate in order to mimic and better sync with the attacks of another Ranger to simultaneously strike opponents. His skill at teamwork and cooperative synergy with his allies further builds on his fighting prowess. While human, Zack utilizes a Wrist Communicator to keep in close contact with his fellow Rangers and Zordon in the Command Centre.

The communicator is a watch-like device Zack wears on his left wrist and provides standard cell-phone like features. In addition, the Wrist Communicator can access the Rangers’ Command Center’s Teleportation system remotely, allowing Zack to teleport where ever he needs to go at will. And finally, as a Power Ranger, Zack must follow three rules: 1.) Never use his powers for personal gain 2.) Never escalate a battle unless forced to 3.) Never reveal his identity to anyone.

Black Ranger (Ranger Abilities)
When Zack needs power beyond his human capabilities, he morphs into the Black Ranger. After calling to his guardian beast—“Mastodon!”—he instantaneously transforms and has access to his costume and weapons, as well as enhanced strength, speed, and durability. Once morphed, Zack possesses a number of superhuman powers derived from his mystic augmentation uniform and can fight against monsters capable of taking over and/or destroying an entire planet. Zack’s Power Ranger Costume is a black and white spandex uniform, complete with an impact-resistant helmet, a belt to hold his morpher and power coin, and gloves and boots that provide strong grip, ground traction, and impact absorption. With his strength augmented by his uniform, Zack’s physical abilities reach superhuman levels.

His Super Strength enables him to lift (press) at least 500lbs directly overhead, throw weights ranging from vehicles to large boulders, and send destructive monsters flying with the force of his punches and kicks. His Super Speed enhances his stamina, agility, and reflexes to levels comparable to those possessed by most Olympic athletes and higher, granting him the ability to leap inhuman distances, dodge attacks ranging from lightning bolts to magical energy blasts, and strike enemies faster than they can see. His Super Durability enables him to withstand blows that could potentially break large islands or cleave mountains, effectively rendering his invulnerable to damage from firearms, large impacts, falls, and even massive explosions, be these physical attacks or energy assaults. This durability also converts physical damage into bursts of energy instead of harming Zack’s normal body. Powerful impacts, stabbing blows, and energy blasts all result in showers of sparks exploding from the Ranger’s costume, leaving it scorched but Zack himself unharmed. However, he can still be knocked around and thrown great distances by enemies, even rendered dazed or unconscious from a powerful enough collision.

When transformed, Zack normally fights with hand-to-hand combat, using his martial arts and physical enhancements. For stronger foes, he summons his personal weapon, the Power Axe, a large-and-heavy, black-and-yellow, single-bladed axe used for close combat, blunt damage, and cleaving attacks to deadly effect. When necessary, Zack can slide the base of the axe-head down towards the end of the weapon’s hilt and flip the axe around, converting it into a cannon-like weapon, with the blade serving as the trigger and the handle becoming the barrel, capable of firing strong blasts of energy at his foes. He can combine the Power Axe with the other Rangers’ Power Weapons to form the Power Blaster, a large crossbow-like weapon with the Power Axe forming the main portion of the canon. Zack also possesses the standard Ranger sidearm, the Blade Blaster, a small high-tech dagger-like weapon that can be quickly converted into a high-powered laser gun, capable of doing enough damage to kill lesser monsters and stun stronger ones.

Finally, while clad in his Black Ranger uniform, Zack can summon and pilot his personal Zord to combat enemies or handle situations far outside his abilities as a human-sized Ranger. Zack pilots the Mastodon Dinozord, a mastodon-shaped mecha that sleeps in hiding in the deep Artic when not summoned. Defensively, the Zord focuses on shielding with its head to block impacts and protect targets with its bulky body. Offensively, the Zord fires frigid blasts of cold air and mist from its trunk to temporarily blind and freeze enemies in place. At 24.7 m in length, 15 m in height, and 108 tons in weight, the Mastodon Dinozord is a massive wall of strength, but still moves at 120 km/h and makes use of its trunk, tusks, and size to battle. In the future, Zack pilots the Lion Thunderzord, a lion-based mecha created from the destroyed Mastodon Zord’s template and salvaged parts. While it doesn’t share the same icy offensive abilities as the Mastodon, its greater armor and defenses provide better protection for the Black Ranger’s teammates through sheer bulk. And at 35 m in length, 21 m in width, and 47 tones, it’s still capable of ramming opponents at high speeds.

Despite his fighting talents as a human and his enhanced strength and powers when transformed, Zack depends on his ability to morph to fight beyond a peak human level. Without his Morpher or Power Coin, he cannot transform until he regains hold of them, putting him at a disadvantage against foes able to somehow steal his Morpher or Power Coin. When not in use, the Black Ranger uniform exists invisibly and immaterially about his body. In order to cause the suit to manifest itself in the material world, Zack must hold aloft his Power Morpher, containing his Power Coin, and utter the command “Mastodon!” to morph. Until he does so, Zack is a normal human teenager and is quite vulnerable to conventional injury. Though rare, the Black Ranger can fall out of his transformed state. If he sustains a significant amount of damage during a fight, if his Power Morpher or Power Coin is damaged, or if his connection with the Morphing Grid is severed, Zack’s transformation will wear off and he’ll de-morph. He won’t be able to morph again until he recovers his strength, his morpher or coin is repaired, or his grid connection is restored, depending on whichever happened. Just being knocked unconscious won’t end his transformation, however, and it takes some of the strongest of magics to forcefully de-morph him while conscious. Likewise, removing his costume, particularly his helmet, without his consent is all but impossible while he’s transformed, protecting his secret identity.