Ranger Rick Raccoon

Ranger Rick Raccoon
Relatives	See Ranger Rick Raccoon#Biography
Occupation	Forest ranger
Physical description
Species	Raccoon
Gender	Male
Appearances
Portrayed by	Unknown (Ranger Rick and his Merry Band) Unknown (Ranger Rick (PBS special)) Unknown (Ranger Rick Power Pen) Parker Jacobs (2016—2021) Rob Simmons (2023-)
Debut	The Adventures of Rick Raccoon (1959)

Ranger Rick Raccoon is the main protagonist of the magazine series of the same name and the mascot of the National Wildlife Federation. He is a raccoon who is a park ranger and the leader of Deep Green Wood.

Physical appearance

In Edward Bradford's illustrations for The Adventures of Rick Raccoon in 1959, Ranger Rick's fur is brown, and he has 3 black stripes on his tail. He wears a brown campaign hat with his initials "RR". This version also gives Ranger Rick eyelashes, which was only used for this book.

In the 1960 book Ranger Rick and the Great Forest Fire, his design was slightly changed by Lorin Thompson, giving him a little furrier body. This design was used for 22 years. Many of the merchandise created by this time were inspired by this design. In Ranger Rick and his Merry Band, due to the limited animation, he was a darker shade of brown, his hat was colored green, and it covered his ears. The PBS special from the 1980s gave him a more faithful design.

In 1982, Alton Langford became the new illustrator for the Ranger Rick stories. His watercolor art style gave Ranger Rick tawny yellow fur, a rounded oval face, and the mask of his eyes became separated. According to an interview, he was originally going to recolor Ranger Rick gray, but the publishers wanted him to resemble the previous art style to be more recognizable. The gray design would be later used on Radical Raccoon. Also, his trademark brown hat was replaced with a yellow cowboy hat, as a tribute to Langford's late grandfather who wore a similar looking hat. Due to the changing printing processes over the years, Ranger Rick gradually turned into a bright yellow color.

By the 2000s, when the short story segments were transformed into comics, Ranger Rick was given yet another redesign by Robby Gilbert. Gilbert's early designs from 2000 to 2005 looked similar to Langford's style but with gray fur. By 2005, Robby Gilbert gradually shifted to his own art style, by replacing the yellow cowboy hat with a green baseball cap with a raccoon's paw print.

In 2009, TheCharacterShop redesigned Ranger Rick in 3D. His ranger's hat returned now, albeit with the paw print, and he was given a yellow backpack. This design went on until 2016, when Parker Jacobs used a simpler, 2D design which he inspired from Lorin Thompson's artwork.. He is given a more geometric design and simpler shapes, similar to a cartoon. His yellow backpack is colored green now.

He is slightly redesigned for the upcoming Ranger Rick Adventures series by giving him a wider head, a larger hat with his initials on red enclosed in a white circle, whiskers, separated black patches on his eyes, and two pointed teeth.

Biography

Not much is known about Ranger Rick's early life or family. He mentions his mother as "Mrs. Raccoon" in the December 1968 issue. He may have uncles or aunts, who may be the parents of his cousins Ralph Raccoon, Raymond Raccoon, Ruthie Raccoon, Radical Raccoon, and Carla Raccoon. He has a niece named JJ Raccoon, whose parents are unknown.. His other niece and nephew are Rita and Roger Raccoon, who were born to the late Rebecca Raccoon, a relative of Ranger Rick (possibly sister-in-law) who was killed by a pesticide spraying machine.. He has a fourth generation great-grandfather named Roger Raccoon, whose life is told in "The Mystery of the Buffalo."

There are many versions of the story on how Ranger Rick earned the job of a forest ranger. In all versions, Ranger Rick and the animals cleaned up Shady Pond, because of excessive pollution. The most common version of the story told from 1959 to 2005 has them clean the pond for Benny Bass. After the cleanup, Ollie Otter declares Ranger Rick as their official leader, founding the Deep Green Wood Ranger Patrol. The 2016 comic How Rick Became a Ranger has a retconned account of the tale. There, Ranger Rick was originally a newcomer from Deep Green Wood, and Boomer and Scarlett were already residents. This version also reveals that Ranger Rick's hat was a lost park ranger's hat.

Personality

Character bio from 2016

“	RANGER RICK is the leader of a group of animal friends that live in Deep Green Wood. Rick is very cheerful, and he knows- and cares- a lot about wildlife and the natural world. He leads his pals to places across the globe, meeting all kinds of animals and helping them when they get into trouble.	”
	— Official description, 2016

“	Rick is the leader of all the Rangers. He's always trying to make the world safer and cleaner for his animal friends-and for people.	”
	— Official plush toy description, 1992

Ranger Rick is a brave and responsible wildlife expert who knows all about how different species act and are corelated in the ecosystem. Being a forest ranger, he volunteers in cleaning up Deep Green Wood and preventing damage of not only the woods but also the entire earth. His personality is wise, caring, friendly, smart, and formerly talkative. Despite being a raccoon, he dislikes trash, pollution, and the destruction of the environment and natural habitats. A natural leader, he often comes up with ingenious plans to solve problems, and enlists the animals of Deep Green Wood to help carry them out. In older stories, he often asked Ranger Tom for assistance, but as the character was phased out, he relied on his own to solve problems.

Ranger Rick also has his own flaws, such as complaining about having to clean Shady Pond over and over again in the story "The Visitors" (repeated in the December 1988 story).

Ranger Rick also has an adventurous side and loves travel. Most stories involve Ranger Rick and a few characters visiting an exotic location in the United States or another country.

Appearances

Print media

• The Adventures of Rick Raccoon (1959)
• Ranger Rick and the Great Forest Fire (1960)
• Ranger Rick (magazine) (all issues)
• Adventures of Ranger Rick (1992-1993)

Other media

• Ranger Rick and his Merry Band
• Ranger Rick (PBS special)
• Ranger Rick (cancelled movie)
• Ranger Rick (Sapiens Art) (cancelled)
• Ranger Rick (upcoming series)

Trivia

• While the magazine was released in January 1967, his birthday falls on a December in an unknown date.
• In the 2014 movie Guardians of the Galaxy, Star Lord jokingly refers to Rocket Raccoon as “Ranger Rick”.
• His Alton Langford design appears in the Adult Swim series Robot Chicken, where he battles other famous "rangers".
• The November 2015 issue reveals Ranger Rick's address: Hollow Oak Tree, Deep Green Wood, USA.

Gallery

Main article: Ranger Rick Raccoon/gallery