Topic Meme: Day 9

[pockysquirrel]

 rivulet027 asked me to ramble about why Rocky is awesome and my headcanon for him.

So, the interesting thing about my love for Rocky is that I haven't always loved him the way I've always loved Billy. Quite the opposite, in fact. When I was a kid, I didn't like Rocky At All. He was actually my least favorite Ranger. And looking back on it, I'm really not sure why I disliked him so much? I'm not even sure there was a real reason? He was just...not my preference.

Oh, the difference a couple decades and a rewatch can make.

Rocky became one of my favorites just as mysteriously as he had been one of my least favorites. So let's belatedly break down why he is so awesome:

- He is so cute. He pulls the best facial expressions ever.
- His endearingly terrible fashion sense. Rocky, honey, vests are not shirts! And stop tearing the arms off all your real shirts! And why all the plaid you are not a lumberjack. And let's not even discuss the mullet/rattail he had as a little kid. Seriously, he's like the only character for whom Zeo's wardrobe was an improvement.
- He is smarter than he acts. Sure, all the MMPR Rangers are squeaky-clean students with top-notch grades, but when do you see anyone else from the team studying advanced math with BILLY? And even though it ended very badly, it took some serious mad science know-how to come up with that metal-eating hybrid plant.
- He has such great enthusiasm. His enthusiasm is so great, the MMPR movie used it as an opening shot.
- He's great with kids, and that's adorable.
- Speaking of being great with kids, how many Rangers manage to finagle their inappropriately young friend into being a Ranger himself? I mean, sure it was a mad shitty way to get Rocky off the team, but still. (Justin's another one I like now but never used to, and their friendship is fuzzy-inspiring).
- And while we're on the subject of early Turbo, how about the fact that Rocky hurt himself because he wanted to help the shelter so damned badly that he pushed himself too hard? I mean seriously, how much selflessness and empathy is that? MY HEART. <3
- And can we talk about the big fat sad he had in Zeo when Jason showed up and he thought he was being replaced? Can I just cuddle with him?
- He is the best bicycle for shipping I have like 4 different people that I ship him with.
- He's an epic fighter and a badass second-in-command as either Red or Blue.  

As for headcanon, as is usually the case with my favorites, I always seem to wind up with multiple different scenarios for Rocky. Depending on what fic I'm in, he either goes on post-Rangerdom to co-own a dojo with Adam the way they always dreamed about when they were kids (not to mention being married to Adam in this scenario), or grows up to be an awesome social worker who spends a bunch of years working with at-risk children and teens and then gets hired on as mental health support for SPD's Earth branch.

Either way, he was totally an RA in college because he just strikes me as the type of guy who would.

There's a common bit of fanon that involves Rocky coming from a big family. And I buy that, to an extent. The way he acts is pretty evocative of the big brother type who's naturally good with younger kids because he's always been around them. I don't know that I buy the idea of Rocky having a ton of siblings, though. It doesn't set well with me simply due to the fact that MMPR almost completely lacks the presence of Ranger parents and siblings. What if, though, Rocky comes from a big and very interconnected EXTENDED family? Like there's this neighborhood in Stone Canyon where a bunch of members of the DeSantos clan have houses down the road or around the block from one another, and people are always letting themselves in to each other's houses and bringing food and all the cousins get together to play after school, and no one minds when Adam shows up because really, what's another kid in all that? If this is the case, I imagine it was a very big deal for Rocky to transfer to AGHS and move away from all that. Thank god he had the rest of the SCT and the other Rangers to help him adjust. 

And relatedly, Rocky really needs to have a kid someday. He would be an awesome dad.

...Someone write me kidfic in which he and Adam have either adopted a kid or gotten one of their female teammates to surrogate for them. And Adam is freaking out because OMG IT'S A BABY AND I HAVE TO TAKE CARE OF IT while Rocky is all changing diapers like a pro and acting like it's no big deal.  

ANYWAY. All self-indulgent fluff aside, I don't often go down the darker road when it comes to Rocky because he's a generally happy dude and deserves all good things, but I do have some angsty headcanon for him as well. He does have some demons; they poke their heads out in canon every once in awhile. Consequently there's a fic near-ready for posting in which I explain Rocky's failure to participate in Forever Red by postulating that after he gave his powers to Justin he managed to let his self-doubt eat him completely and cut himself off from the Rangering world entirely. It's a sad, sad thing. I also keep meaning to write the dark AU for Turbo in which (in addition to several other wrong and bad things happening) Rocky develops an unhealthy relationship with his painkillers after he hurts his back. Alas. Long fic is not my strong point. 

As usual, I feel like I've written a lot of words but still done a poor job of covering the topic. If there's anything else Rocky-related you'd like to see me opine on, that's what comment boxes are for! 

 Tomorrow's post will be about a favorite story or song from my childhood and what it means to me now, as requested by punkpinkpower . And Day 11 will be the best and worst of PR mentors, as requested by thesecondbatgirl .