History Main / SixthRanger

* "Fanfic/WhatIfTomWasNeverAController": [[spoiler:After the Animorphs make a mess of retrieving the morphing cube from David's house, [[OlderSidekick Tom]] tells them it's a bad idea to add a stranger to their team... so they offer to make ''Tom'' an Animorph instead.]]

* ''Series/KikaiSentaiZenkaiger'' has Twokaizer as the sixth member, who uses a golden suit based on the red ranger and mech of ''Gokaiger'' and wields Sentai gears with powers based on the Sixth Rangers and other additional Rangers of past teams; he ends up using the powers of anyone from Big One to Abare Killer to Geki Chopper to Koguma Skyblue and even the other Blue Turbo from that one episode of ''Turboranger''. Near the end of the show they are joined by Stacaesar, an EvilKnockoff of Zenkaiger who is based on Battle Japan from ''Series/BattleFeverJ'' after he has a HeelFaceTurn.

* The second season of ''Series/HikoninSentaiAkibaranger'' subverts this trope twice. In one episode Luna suggests that they recruit a famous idol star as their fourth member to be Akiba White but this idea is rejected. In the following battle with the MonsterOfTheWeek in the delusion world, said idol does actually appear to help the rangers but in the form of a magical girl instead of a ranger. Later when it seems the BigBad of the season has become unbeatable a new hero called Prism Ace shows up to save the rangers and at first it seems like they are getting a fourth member but it actually turns out to be a HostileShowTakeover.

** ''Dekaranger'', in fact, went even further. "Deka" is Japanese slang for 'detective,' but since the 'deca-' prefix means ten of something, they went ahead and had ten Rangers total with the aforementioned seven full-time teammates, plus one reserve memeber and two {{One Shot Character}}s: Deka Swan (Normally acts as MissionControl and suits up only during emergencies), Deka Bright (a DistaffCounterpart to Deka Break, one of the regulars, who also is Deka Break's superior), and Deka Gold (a movie-exclusive character who barely gets to do an AssKickingPose before being blasted). ''SPD'' carried over the first two as the Cat Ranger and Nova Ranger, respectively. But it is also implied that there are far more Dekarangers that haven't been seen.

** ''Dekaranger'', in fact, went even further. "Deka" is Japanese slang for 'detective,' but since the 'deca-' prefix means ten of something, they went ahead and had ten Rangers total with the aforementioned seven full-time teammates and three {{One Shot Character}}s: Deka Swan (MissionControl getting to suit up for once), Deka Bright (a DistaffCounterpart to Deka Break, one of the regulars), and Deka Gold (a movie-exclusive character who barely gets to do an AssKickingPose before being blasted). ''SPD'' carried over the first two as the Cat Ranger and Nova Ranger, respectively.

* ''Series/MashinSentaiKiramager'' has the traditional Kiramei Silver and also teases a seventh with SupportPartyMember Muryou becoming Kiramei Gold, only to subvert this to make the point that he does not need to transform to be of value to the team.

* ''Series/AvataroSentaiDonbrothers'' is joined by a sixth member who has both a gold dragon-based form and a silver tiger-based form, which reflects his SplitPersonality. He, like the main team, can also transform into Sixth Rangers from previous seasons like Gokai Silver, but does not use this ability as often. Late in the season, the Nouto QuirkyMinibossSquad also forms an alliance with the Donbrothers and become honorary EleventhHourRanger additions in order to fight even worse enemies.

* ''Super Sentai'''s sibling franchise, ''Franchise/KamenRider'', also carries on the practice of adding a major new Kamen Rider to the cast about a third of the way into the show, often distinguished from the original Riders by new gear (aka a new set of toys to buy). However, ''Kamen Rider'' tends to be less black-and-white than ''Super Sentai'' is; so the new Kamen Rider is usually not immediately presented as the heroes' ally and instead may be introduced as part of a new third faction in the conflict or even as one of the villains. Even ones that are unambiguously good generally start out as HeadbuttingHeroes that clash with the established group to a degree. Sooner or later, however, they will align themselves with the main hero and his supporting cast and become part of their team. (Keep in mind, though, that while "Second Rider" is the ''Rider'' fandom's counterpart term to ''Sentai''[='s=] "Sixth Ranger", it isn't quite the same -- they tend to use it to refer to the show's {{Deuteragonist}}, which often overlaps with "new character" but can just as easily be someone who was a cast member from the beginning.)
** ''Series/KamenRiderAgito'' starts out with the titular Agito, as well as a technological Rider named G3. However, the premise of the show is such that there are many people who have the potential to become an "Agito", resulting in the later appearances of the flawed Gills and Another Agito, who eventually all four Riders ally themselves with one another. Dishonorable mention also goes to resident jerkass Toru Hojo who, mid-way through the series, assumes a pseudo-Rider suit designated V1 for ''Victory'' (essentially a Frankenstein of ''Series/MetalHeroes'' costume parts) in a bid to replace G3, only to fail spectacularly.

** Averted in ''Series/KamenRiderGaim''. Like in ''Ryuki'', there are a bunch of Riders with various levels of "good" and "evil", but in this case there are almost no true allies amongst them. Four "New Generation Riders" appear at the usual time for a Sixth Ranger, but they're antagonists. One of them, Kamen Rider Zangetsu, is a genuinely good person and ''tries'' to join Gaim's side once he realizes they're on the same page, but he's marked for assassination by his treacherous colleagues and blocked from providing any actual aid for most of the series.

** Series/KamenRiderGhost and Specter are later joined by Kamen Rider Necrom, who initially was part of the Gamma forces trying to conquer humanity but gradually gained an understanding and appreciation for humans, switching sides to protect people. Specter himself followed a lot of the usual beats for a Second Rider addition, being a rival-turned-ally, but he arrived as early as episode three and used much of the same equipment as Ghost did; where Necrom came at the usual first-quarter checkpoint and his gear was radically different.

*** The new Rider debuting at the usual time for such things is Para-DX, and Kamen Rider Genm gets a major upgrade complete with a new TransformationTrinket system around that time as well. But they're a BigBadDuumvirate, using their new powers to step out of the shadows and take the fight to the heroes directly.

** ''Series/KamenRiderSaber'': After spending the first arc as a MysteriousWatcher, Kamen Rider Saikou steps in to defend Saber when the other Riders are manipulated into turning against him. He becomes Saber's only ally as the rest of the Riders try to hunt them down. Later on, after Saber is able to get most of his friends back on his side, CoDragons Kamen Riders Sabela and Durendal realize that their boss is a NotSoWellIntentionedExtremist; and when he betrays them with "YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness" they begrudgingly join Saber's group to help stop him.

*** Averted early on, as the show introduces all its main Riders in the first story arc and doesn't add new ones in the second. However, Kamen Rider Demons can be considered an honorary one, as while the rest of the Riders are a SiblingTeam, Demons is instead an outside ally. In fact, it could be considered an inversion, as [[spoiler:instead of adding a new Rider, the show removes one by writing Demons out (he's seemingly killed off, and even when he turns up alive later he's still too frail to return to active duty)]].

*** A little while later, the game's sponsors start inserting themselves into the game as well, with ''their'' own Rider equipment separate from both the players and staff. It starts when one tries to usurp the game for her own ends and another jumps in to stop her.

* ''Anime/DokiDokiPrettyCure'' added a Fifth Cure to the original quartet: Cure Ace, [[spoiler:a completely new character]] who acts as TheMentor. She has overall different powers and a very different transformation.

* ''Fanfic/IzukusProHeroHaremLife'': Or, in this case, ''27th Ranger'', since [[spoiler: Himiko Toga]] will join the harem once the story's chronology returns to the events of the prologue, after not originally being planned to do so. [[spoiler: Lady Nagant, Mount Lady, Thirteen, and Fuyumi Todoroki will join as well, bringing the total to '''''31''''' ''"Rangers"''.]]

* ''Animation/Block13'': After the core 4 is established in Season 1, Season 2 introduces Honey, who quickly becomes part of the boys' misadventures.

* ''Anime/HugttoPrettyCure'' adds two: [[spoiler:Ruru Amour, an enemy android turned good,]] as Cure Amour, and [[spoiler:Emiru Aisaki, a classmate of one of the original three Cures' younger sister,]] as Cure Ma Chérie. The kicker? The two of them form a duo, similar like the very original OddCouple, making a ThreePlusTwo team. Cure Ma Chérie even has the same theme color as the lead Cure: pink. Cure Amour and Cure Ma Chérie transform only as a duo and they attack as a duo.

** ''Series/KamenRiderGeats'' features Riders fighting each other in a DeadlyGame, but eventually some new Riders get involved alongside the normal players:
*** The end of the first quarter sees the introduction of Kamen Rider Glare, another case of the new Rider being an enemy. He's the GameMaster who is tired of Geats' snooping and uses his own Rider gear, completely unlike those of the players', to take care of him for good. [[spoiler:Subverted when he only last three episodes before his boss catches wind of his breaking the rules and fires him. But DoubleSubverted if you take the game's production as a faction overall, as other staff members would continue to suit up from time to time with {{Palette Swap}}s of Glare's suit to keep the game on track.]]
*** A little while later, the game's sponsors start inserting themselves into the game as well, with ''their'' own gear separate from both the players and staff. It starts when one tries to usurp the game for her own ends and another jumps in to stop her.

* ''Series/AvataroSentaiDonbrothers'' is joined by a sixth member who has both a gold dragon-based form and a silver tiger-based form, which reflects his SplitPersonality, with the animal motifs also paying homage to the first two Sixth Rangers or ''Zyuranger'' and ''Dairanger'' respectively. He can also transform into sixth ranger from previous seasons like Gokai Silver, but does not use this ability as often.

* ''Super Sentai'''s sibling franchise, ''Franchise/KamenRider'', also carries on the practice of adding a major new Kamen Rider to the cast about a third of the way into the show. However, ''Kamen Rider'' tends to be less black-and-white than ''Super Sentai'' is; so the new Kamen Rider is usually not immediately presented as the heroes' ally and instead may be introduced as part of a new third faction in the conflict or even as one of the villains. Even ones that are unambiguously good generally start out as HeadbuttingHeroes that clash with the established group to a degree. Sooner or later, however, they will align themselves with the main hero and his supporting cast and become part of their team. (Keep in mind, though, that while "Second Rider" is the ''Rider'' fandom's counterpart term to ''Sentai''[='s=] "Sixth Ranger", it isn't quite the same -- they tend to use it to refer to the show's {{Deuteragonist}}, which often overlaps with "new character" but can just as easily be someone who was a cast member from the beginning.) Beyond the Secondary is the Third or Tertiary Rider, whilst beyond that all are "Extras" according to Toei, though fans do acknowledge certain "Quarternary Riders". The Heisei Phase 2 period solidified the concept of a "2nd Quarter Rider(s)" who would, much like a ''Super Sentai'' Sixth Ranger, come in after the first quarter had concluded (at the start of the New Year for ''Kamen Rider'') and would be distinguished from the protagonist by new gear (aka a new set of toys to buy); initially they were synonymous with the Second Rider but as greater numbers of Riders per show became more common, they could be Third Riders or even beyond that.
** ''Series/KamenRiderKuuga'' was the first show of the Heisei era and the last to feature only one Rider. Though fans like to count supporting character Kaoru Ichijo as the honorary Secondary, he is there from the start and so hardly fits the Sixth Ranger archetype.
** ''Series/KamenRiderAgito'' starts out with the titular Agito who is joined by technological rider G3. G3 in fact appears in the first episode before Agito, his gear having been created to fight the long gone bad guys from ''Kuuga'', thus making him a very early Second Rider for ''Agito'' or an extremely late Second Rider for ''Kuuga'' depending on how you look at it. Additionally, the premise of the show is such that there are many people who have the potential to become an "Agito", resulting in the later appearances of the flawed Gills (#3) and Another Agito (#4). Dishonorable mention also goes to resident jerkass Toru Hojo who, mid-way through the series, assumes a pseudo-Rider suit designated V1 for ''Victory'' (essentially a Frankenstein of ''Series/MetalHeroes'' costume parts) in a bid to replace G3, only to fail spectacularly.

** ''Series/KamenRider555'' starts out with just Faiz before throwing Kaixa into the mix. Later, a 3rd set of gear for Delta appears, and although it is used by several people, eventually one user gets primary use of the armor.

** As Series/KamenRiderDenO and a group of Imagin allies work to protect the timeline, Ryotaro runs into Yuto Sakurai, another Kamen Rider (Zeronos) fighting the villains for personal reasons; as well as Yuto's own Imagin partner Deneb. In contrast to kind-hearted Ryotaro, Yuto is bad-tempered and antisocial, but he does mellow out over time and he and Deneb start to work more closely with the Den-Liner crew. Sieg also qualifies; he's a friendly but arrogant Imagin who is perfectly willing to lend Ryotaro a hand, but the rest of the Imagin hate him and keep him from becoming a permanent member of their team. As such, he is only relegated to his debut which was itself a tie-in to TheMovie ''I'm Born!''; Sieg later appears in the finale and has appearances in a few other movies that feature Den-O and friends.

** The second Rider in ''Series/KamenRiderDouble'' is Kamen Rider Accel. Where the two people behind Double run a private detective agency investigating the Dopant [[MonsterOfTheWeek Monsters of the Week]], Accel is a member of the police newly assigned to Dopant cases. They actually become fast friends almost immediately and start teaming together on those cases.

** ''Series/KamenRiderGhost'' introduces secondary rider Specter a few episodes in. He and Ghost use the same gear though Specter starts as a rival since he needs the 15 Eyecons needed to resurrect Ghost to bring back his sister. They are later joined by Kamen Rider Necrom, who initially was part of the Gamma forces trying to conquer humanity but gradually gained an understanding and appreciation for humans, switching sides to protect people. Functioning as both tertiary rider and "2nd Quarter Rider", Necrom is distinguished in that he uses a wrist-mounted device to transform rather than the traditional belt.

** ''Series/KamenRiderRevice''

* ''Super Sentai'''s sibling franchise, ''Franchise/KamenRider'', also carries on the practice of adding a major new Kamen Rider to the cast about a third of the way into the show. However, ''Kamen Rider'' tends to be less black-and-white than ''Super Sentai'' is; so the new Kamen Rider is usually not immediately presented as the heroes' ally and instead may be introduced as part of a new third faction in the conflict or even as one of the villains. Even ones that are unambiguously good generally start out as HeadbuttingHeroes that clash with the established group to a degree. Sooner or later, however, they will align themselves with the main hero and his supporting cast and become part of their team. (Keep in mind, though, that while "Second Rider" is the ''Rider'' fandom's counterpart term to ''Sentai''[='s=] "Sixth Ranger", it isn't quite the same -- they tend to use it to refer to the show's {{Deuteragonist}}, which often overlaps with "new character" but can just as easily be someone who was a cast member from the beginning.) Beyond the Secondary is the Third or Tertiary Rider, whilst beyond that all are "Extras" according to Toei, though fans do acknowledge certain "Quarternary Riders".
** ''Series/KamenRiderAgito'' starts out with the titular Agito who is joined by G3, but the premise of the show is such that there are many people who have the potential to become an "Agito", resulting in the later appearances of the flawed Gills and Another Agito.

** Series/KamenRiderGhost and Specter are later joined by Kamen Rider Necrom, who initially was part of the Gamma forces trying to conquer humanity but gradually gained an understanding and appreciation for humans, switching sides to protect people.

* ''Series/HyakujuuuSentaiGaoranger'', which was adapted as ''Series/PowerRangersWildForce'', was the first Sentai to feature the Sixth Ranger as a cast member in the opening credits; in comparison, ''Power Rangers'' featured them all the way back to Tommy. Funnily enough, [=GaoSilver=] is also the ''sixth'' 6th Ranger officially acknowledged in ''Gokaiger''. ''Hurricaneger vs. Gaoranger'' is also the first of the {{crossover}} movies to feature both teams' Sixth Rangers, with all subsequent vs. movies following suit.

* ''Series/KaitouSentaiLupinrangerVSKeisatsuSentaiPatranger'' has two rival Ranger teams of three going against each other, and when a Sixth (technically Seventh at this point) shows up he joins ''both'' teams. His entire gimmick is that all his gear has two different modes that each correspond to this dual allegiance - he even has two different super-identities, being the silver Lupin X when fighting with the Lupinrangers and the golden Patren X with the Patrangers.

* ''Series/AvataroSentaiDonbrothers'' is joined by a sixth member who has both a gold dragon-based form and a silver tiger-based form, which reflects his SplitPersonality. He can also transform into sixth ranger from previous seasons like Gokai Silver, but does not use this ability as often.

* ''Super Sentai'''s sibling franchise, ''Franchise/KamenRider'', also carries on the practice of adding a major new Kamen Rider to the cast about a third of the way into the show. However, ''Kamen Rider'' tends to be less black-and-white than ''Super Sentai'' is; so the new Kamen Rider is usually not immediately presented as the heroes' ally and instead may be introduced as part of a new third faction in the conflict or even as one of the villains. Even ones that are unambiguously good generally start out as HeadbuttingHeroes that clash with the established group to a degree. Sooner or later, however, they will align themselves with the main hero and his supporting cast and become part of their team. (Keep in mind, though, that while "Second Rider" is the ''Rider'' fandom's counterpart term to ''Sentai''[='s=] "Sixth Ranger", it isn't quite the same -- they tend to use it to refer to the show's {{Deuteragonist}}, which often overlaps with "new character" but can just as easily be someone who was a cast member from the beginning.)

** Two ''Sentai'' shows prior to ''Zyuranger'' also had their own additional members before it became a regular thing. ''Series/JAKQDengekitai'' started out with a four-man team until the introduction of their new commander Big One (Sokichi Bamba), while the team in ''Series/ChoujuuSentaiLiveman'' originally consisted of [[PowerTrio three members]] before the [[ThreePlusTwo addition of Black Bison and Green Sai]].
** ''Series/HikariSentaiMaskman'' featured a sixth member for [[OneShotCharacter exactly one episode]] in the form of [=X1=] Mask, a warrior in a green prototype suit who volunteered for the Maskman project but ended up quitting before the rest of the team was recruited after the villains killed his girlfriend. Though he manages to regain his will to fight with some encouragement, he doesn't stick around because he loses his powers shortly after as a result of shielding the other rangers from an explosion. Other shows had guest heroes who would assist the team for two or three episodes at most, but none of them ever became recurring characters (most notably ''Series/ChoudenshiBioman'' had a two-part storyline about a man who wanted to become the sixth member of Bioman, but ended up becoming a [[BrainwashedAndCrazy brainwashed]] EvilKnockoff of the rangers and didn't keep his powers after being set free.

** ''Series/HikariSentaiMaskman'' featured a sixth member for [[OneShotCharacter exactly one episode]] in the form of [=X1=] Mask, a warrior in a green prototype suit who volunteered for the Maskman project but ended up quitting before the rest of the team was recruited after the villains killed his girlfriend. Though he manages to regain his will to fight with some encouragement, he doesn't stick around because he loses his powers shortly after as a result of shielding the other rangers from an explosion. Other shows had guest heroes who would assist the team for two or three episodes at most, but none of them ever became recurring characters (most notably ''Series/ChoudenshiBioman'' had a two-part storyline about a man who wanted to become the sixth member of Bioman, but ended up becoming a [[BrainwashedAndCrazy brainwashed]] EvilKnockoff of the rangers and didn't keep his powers after being set free, while ''Series/ChoujinSentaiJetman'' had a trio of ranger-like warriors from another dimension with their own mech join up with the Jetman team only to get killed off in their second episode with two of them never even getting to transform, although their mech survived and became part of the Jetman arsenal).
*** ''Jetman'' also has the distinction of having a sequel manga with a sixth member, Green Eagle, [[spoiler:to replace their dead member Black Condor]].

* ''Series/KikaiSentaiZenkaiger'' has Twokaizer as the sixth member, who uses a golden suit based on the red ranger and mech of ''Gokaiger'' and wields Sentai gears with powers based on the Sixth Rangers of past teams. Near the end of the show they are joined by Stacaesar, an EvilKnockoff of Zenkaiger who is based on Battle Japan from ''Series/BattleFeverJ'' after he has a HeelFaceTurn.

* To make sense of all of this, Japanese fans ended up having to make separate terms to distinguish between their usual term for the most traditional form of SixthRanger (''tsuika senshi'', or "additional warrior") from terms for EleventhHourRanger or semi-regular types (''bangai senshi'', or "extra warrior) and one-shots (guest ''senshi'', or guest warriors). Using the above ''Series/TokusouSentaiDekaranger'' as an example, Deka Master and Swan would be "extra warriors" since they're major recurring characters but not part of the advertised core team[[note]]Deka Swan only appears in one episode, but Swan Shiratori herself is a regular character who appears every episode, and material like ''[[Series/KaizokuSentaiGokaiger Gokaiger]]'' likes to associate Deka Swan with Deka Master, so she's usually lumped in this category]], whereas Bright and Gold appear as one-offs and are thus guest warriors. Of these terms, "additional warrior" is the only one used officially.

* To make sense of all of this, Japanese fans ended up having to make separate terms to distinguish between their usual term for the most traditional form of SixthRanger (''tsuika senshi'', or "additional warrior") from terms for EleventhHourRanger or semi-regular types (''bangai senshi'', or "extra warrior) and one-shots (guest ''senshi'', or guest warriors). Using the above ''Series/TokusouSentaiDekaranger'' as an example, Deka Master and Swan would be "extra warriors" since they're major recurring characters but not part of the advertised core team, whereas Bright and Gold appear as one-offa and are thus guest warriors. Of these terms, "additional warrior" is the only one used officially.