You never know what will bring a couple together. For nail tech Hope Szymanski and her boyfriend of six years, Ryan Jung, it’s a shared love of Power Rangers collectibles. “I watched the show when I was young, but I didn’t really understand it. As I got older I would enjoy watching now and then, but it wasn’t until I met my boyfriend that I really became interested,” says Szymanski, who works at Nailtique Nail Salon in Whitewater, Wis.

“We watch all the seasons on Netflix and the ones currently airing on TV. During the summer we’ll check Craigslist, go rummaging, and hit up secondhand stores like Goodwill looking for collectibles. Most of the time we find small parts of an even bigger toy. We’ve found some good deals, and the collection has grown quite valuable.”

Hope Szymanski

Hope Szymanski

For the uninitiated, Power Rangers originated in Japan in 1975 and was called Super Sentai. In 1993, the first season premiered in America as Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. “The show is about a group of teenagers who were chosen to protect the world from a group of alien invaders and were given the ability to ‘morph’ into super-powered warriors and to pilot giant robots called Zords,” explains Szymanski.

Szymanski enjoys the collecting aspect of her toys, but admits, “It’s always fun playing with their kid-size weapons or pretending to morph with their morpher. It’s hard to pick a favorite item, but I would have to say I especially like the Zords from Mystic Force,” she says.

“Collecting is quite an adventure and it’s so much fun spending time together. We have quite a large collection and it will just keep growing all the years we are together. It’s always such a thrill digging through piles of stuff to find the gold underneath.”

For reprint and licensing requests for this article, Click here.

Read more about