HARLINGEN — Mason and Cris Andrade walked the red carpet with the stars.
They rubbed elbows with celebrities from Elizabeth Banks, who plays a villain in the new Power Rangers movie, to Gene Simmons of legendary rock band Kiss.
And in the midst of it all, they even took a photo with a fan of the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers who was wearing their T-shirt brand “Affirmative,” a clothing line sold by them and the original Blue Ranger, David Yost.
Mason and Cris, 29, are twin brothers from Harlingen who became business partners with Yost.
The three of them have sold more than 30,000 “Affirmative” T-shirts. The shirts are all designed and printed in Harlingen and sold worldwide at comic conventions and online.
Mason and Cris were Yost’s guests in Los Angeles this past week for the world premiere of the Power Rangers movie, which hit the silver screen nationally on Friday.
“The red carpet was amazing,” Mason said over the phone in Los Angeles. “We spent some time with the new cast and they thanked us for the T-shirts we sent them.”
At the star-studded event they did interviews with entertainment reporters and took pictures for the fans watching the movie stars walk into the cinema.
The Harlingen twins eventually made it into the theater and watched the movie with the new and old cast of the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers.
“It was an exclusive showing with the new cast of the movie,” Yost said. “We all saw the movie together at the Regency Village Theater.”
They wouldn’t share too much about the movie other than the Blue Ranger made it fun for everyone watching.
“It’s a really great movie and has a lot of surprises,” Yost said. “And if you’re a Power Ranger fan or if you’re just getting on board, you’re going to love it.”
Yost said he was glad he was able to bring Mason and Cris along to the movie to experience the famous red carpet Hollywood extravaganza and enjoy the movie with the stars.
“It was definitely a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” Mason said “People knew who we were when you stepped on the red carpet.”
Yost, who plays Billy, the Blue Ranger, said the word “affirmative” more than 300 times throughout the original television series and the word became synonymous with the Blue Ranger.
Mason said it was Yost’s idea to create a T-Shirt business. Mason came up with the name and Cris helped make the design concepts on the shirts.
