Hasbro's Power Rangers era and General Tokusatsu discussion

[Christopher]

Zi-O: Kind of a nice dramatic subplot with Quiz and his father. It works better when it's all-new characters rather than returning Riders referencing continuity I don't know. Though I'm getting caught up now, so the Ryuki focus starting next week is one I will be able to follow.

I wonder how long it'll be before Black Woz and White Woz compete to do the same opening recap.

I was surprised that the two halves of the Double Armor were treated like Double's own "halves", and seemed to be semi-sentient. I was also surprised to see the Double armor since the U.S audience hasn't seen Heisei Generations Forever

I was wondering about that.


LvP: Wow. Marvelous drama between Keiichiro and Kairi. The arc between those two characters has just been wonderfully written and well-played. I loved Kairi begging Keiichiro to get angry at him and Keiichiro showing only empathy and understanding.

But I am pretty tired of the tendency of Super Sentai to show a monster blasting the city to rubble clear to the horizon and then showing it completely intact again a few scenes later. It really cheapens the impact.

Odd that Kairi thinks the Global Police arrested Touma and Umiko when Kogure told him that the police brought them to the hospital.

Well, they're sort of the same thing. They'd be under police detention in the hospital and formally arrested once they were conscious to hear it, or something like that.

Also what happened to Noel after Dogranio attacked? Sakuya just briefly talks about him at the hospital.

I gather from Sakuya's words that Noel was conscious and regrouped with the Global Police.

 

[Christopher]

ShoutFactoryTV now has Choujin Sentai Jetman available for free streaming:

http://www.shoutfactorytv.com/series/super-sentai-jetman

This was the season just before the Power Rangers era began, so it's the first one in ShoutFactory's DVD series that doesn't have a PR equivalent. And it's one of the best Sentai seasons, with rich character drama.

 

[DigificWriter]

At the Royal Rumble almost a week ago, Ronda Rousey brought the worlds of Power Rangers and WWE together yet again by rocking White Ranger-inspired ring gear:
https://www.instagram.com/p/BtPbo4XHMPL/?utm_source=ig_embed

 

[Samurai8472]

Suit actor Hideaki Kusaka will officially be retiring at the conclusion of Kaitou Sentai Lupinranger VS Keisatsu Sentai Patranger .

https://twitter.com/rd38z2721d4041/status/1092083079282188289

He's been the man behind nearly all the main mecha suits since Denziman which debuted in the 1980!

https://powerrangers.fandom.com/wiki/Hideaki_Kusaka

He plays LupinKaiser and PatKaiser


Live stream of the Ryuusoulger press conference!

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=289346435048057

Our new team!

We get a giant T-rex mascot! It's like Redbot, but actually done with some thought.


Tyramigo is voiced by Masaki Terasoma (Shadow Moon/Kintaros).

His voice shall make me cry......

First promo

Two minute trailer

https://twitter.com/Leg10nOfBoom/status/1092998421710028800

 

[Samurai8472]

Zi-O 21
https://www.mp4upload.com/925rhzdf0mzz

The mirror world parts were fun. Its going to take some pausing to see what the backwards subbing was.

They really saved up the effects budget for this episode, transformations everywhere. Zi-O used his visor katakana as a weapon, and Kamen Rider Woz had his suit materialize before the helmet.

Just the other week I was talking about how rare it is for the actors to actually wear the Kamen Rider suits unlike Super Sentai with the helmet off scenes.

Another Ryuga is SO well-designed. The DragVisor just being his hand was genius.

Also the Ryuki episode aired on February 3rd. The 17th anniversary of the first episode of Ryuki, 2/3/2002.



Lupinranger VS Patoranger 50

https://www.mp4upload.com/6tqsdb6iypr5

Wow. Penultimate episode

Spoiler: Lvp

A bit of a deus ex machina with the trigger machine feature that would have been helpful to know earlier

I like that this was like lupinrangers finale and the patoranger get the last episode as their own. They finally get the spotlight

 

[Christopher]

Zi-O: It's so refreshing to finally see one of these where I've seen the show being referenced. It made it so much more chilling when I first heard that eerie ringing sound coming from the mirror, because I knew what it signified. Although it's surprising how little use they've made of Shinji so far, and how totally different he seems from the amiable, slightly dimwitted, but aggressively do-gooding Shinji of Ryuki. I mean, that was a hell of a dark season, but Shinji wasn't generally a dark character.

Also, his mirror double Ryuga comes exclusively from the movie and the special, never appearing in the main show. Although the Timejacker did say he came from a lost world, with the movie being one of several alternate timelines within the overall Ryuki narrative.

I was surprised by how much older Shinji and his editor looked, but I guess it's been something like 16 years since Ryuki. It's the earliest show that's been homaged so far, only the third Heisei season.

So should we refer to the mirror Zi-O as O-iZ?


LvP: Some nice character moments here, and some interesting visuals inside Dogranio's safe, but the story was a little underwhelming. Often, my problem with big finales is that they prioritize plot over character, and if the stuff I love about a show is the character work, then all the tying off of plot threads leaves less room for that. But we did get some important resolutions, like Tsukasa and Sakuya choosing to let Tooma and Umika go to rescue Kairi, and T&U finally renouncing that "If one dies" vow they started with.

Zamigo ended up a disappointingly underdeveloped villain. Who was he? Why did he imprison those people? What was he after? Also, I was surprised that his desire to get inside Dogranio's unbreakable safe was nothing more than it appeared on the surface. I mean, if a show establishes one week that the main villain's safe can't possibly be opened unless he chooses to open it, and the next week a character convinces him to open it, then it ought to be a devious plan to solve the problem of its impenetrability. I was expecting Zamigo to be tricking Dogranio into opening his safe so that Zamigo could steal his Collection pieces and destroy him, and then be the ultimate big bad in the finale. What we got instead was kind of random and pointless. It's one of the few times I've been disappointed by the writing in this show.

 

[Samurai8472]

First look at Beast Morpher toys!

https://news.tokunation.com/2019/02...rangers-beast-morphers-beast-x-megazord-58675

DX Megazord. A bit more simplistic than the Go-buster version but better looking that what Bandai America might offer.

Go-busterOh. A bit of a clunky mess

Action figures! 6 inch scale. They don't look all roided out like previous figures do. They have passable human figures

Interestingly the morpher has been modified to include a key

the POWER RANGERS BEAST MORPHERS BEAST-X MORPHER toy. Putting it on the wrist and saying “It’s Morphin Time” activates music, lights, and sound effects. Swinging it around as if battling monsters unleashes special animal-inspired sounds. Insert the included MORPH-X KEY to activate different character sounds and phrases. Look for other POWER RANGERS items that include MORPH-X KEYS to unlock even more sounds and phrases, along with other POWER RANGERS figures and gear to expand the morphinominal action. Each sold separately. Available at most major toy retailers nationwide.

Also we get an action figure of Blaze the American counterpart to Dark Buster

Looks like they're going to use Dark Buster more than what Go-buster did in just their finale.

 

[Christopher]

Here's what io9 claims is an exclusive look at some more of the Beast Morphers toys:

https://io9.gizmodo.com/an-exclusive-look-at-the-amazing-new-zord-toys-coming-w-1832574607

It also shows a Playskool "Dragon Thunderzord" figure that looks nothing like the Red Dragon Thunderzord/RyuuseiOh, but more like a stubby Western dragon.

 

[Samurai8472]

lupinranger vs patoranger 51

https://www.mp4upload.com/q6bmua6hhndw

The cast got the traditional wrapping up flowers last month

An eternal adieu. The show had its problems but it will go down as the flashiest series so far

The Pats get a chance to save the world (with the help of the LupinRangers).

The Lupins get a chance to sacrifice themselves. The hint of Kogure moving on to Kairi's bro, Aya, and Shiho to be the next Lupins is pretty good.

the lupins reuniting with their loved ones was worth it

It was nice to come full circle with the last gangler having the collection piece from the OP

I’m glad the finale didn’t do the generic mecha battle spamming laser beam attack to wipe out dogranio

An emotionally satisfying ending, with just a bit of plot left for the inevitable Returns in a few months.

There are of course a few various oddities (How did any of the thieves carry that book on them?) or little nitpicks (You couldn't flip Siren Striker down this last time!?), but what worked was still great

How did the lupins survive for a year inside dogranio?

I’m excited for the VS with Kyuranger because of the lupins becoming patorangers

Also here’s a 2 minute preview of Ryuusoulger

https://www.mp4upload.com/aehsq48jb648

 

[Christopher]

Wow. That was a great comeback from the disappointing penultimate episode. Very emotional, a potent wrap-up to the character arcs and the resolution of the LupinRangers' main quest. The Lupins' contented resignation about sacrificing their lives so long as their loved ones were safe was striking, and having the people they fought to save turning around and becoming Kaitou to save them was a beautiful touch.

I am surprised that it was left open-ended with the rivalry still continuing, though. I was expecting a happy ending where the Collection was reunited and the Lupins were pardoned for their role in saving the world, or sentenced to time served for the year they spent incarcerated inside Dogranio, and then retired. But keeping the cops-vs.-thieves rivalry going opens the door for reunion movies, and I'm all in favor of that.

An eternal adieu. The show had its problems but it will go down as the flashiest series so far

The main problems I had were with the goofiness and garishness of the weapons and mecha, and how cartoony and cluttered the CGI battles have gotten these days. Although conversely there were some really impressive innovations to the action cinematography, from the use of drone cameras in the stunt sequences to the human-scale POV shots in some of the more important giant battles. I also had an issue with the police defaulting to lethal force with Ganglars rather than arrest, which is problematical if you think about it. It's part of the general formula, of course, but the Timerangers arrested their monsters rather than killing them, and I would've liked to see more of that approach.

From a writing and character standpoint, though, this is one of my favorite Sentai ever, among those I've seen. I've said a lot about how great the character work has been, how the format pitting two teams against each other really allowed for clearly delineating six (later seven) very distinct personalities and putting them into interesting combinations. The Keiichiro-Kairi relationship was magnificently complex and moving, but all the character interplays were impressive, and there was some excellent acting too. Oh, and the music was wonderful. The Sentai and Kamen Rider shows usually have really good instrumental scores, and this was no exception, with some nicely jazzy motifs (the Lupins' henshin sequence cue in particular) and some lovely poignant cues. I'm often not that fond of the theme songs on SS & KR and tend to skip over the opening titles, but LvP's counterpoint-duet theme was really beautiful and I listened to it every week.

I’m glad the finale didn’t do the generic mecha battle spamming laser beam attack to wipe out dogranio

Come to think of it, Dogranio's still alive, isn't he? That's also unexpected.

An emotionally satisfying ending, with just a bit of plot left for the inevitable Returns in a few months.

I hope you're right about that.

There are of course a few various oddities (How did any of the thieves carry that book on them?)

How did they carry those huge clunky henshin devices around with them all year without anyone noticing? And where do their uniforms and weapons come from? It's always been a tokusatsu trope that characters can draw stuff out of hammerspace when it's needed. Not to mention that their vehicle/mecha Collection pieces can enlarge when activated, so there's some kind of size-changing ability established.

How did the lupins survive for a year inside dogranio?

It looked like there was a whole world inside that safe. What we saw was mostly a grassy park, but in one shot there was a Ferris wheel in the background, suggesting the presence of an amusement park. And maybe the world was expansive enough to include restaurants and shops as well. Alternatively, maybe it was one of those time-suspended limbo dimensions where people trapped inside don't need to eat or drink, like the Phantom Zone.

 

[Samurai8472]

Zi-o 22

https://www.mp4upload.com/jzkn9p9c3aas

Using Ryuki's mirror motifs as a way to forward Sougo's development - coming to terms with who he is and will be - is a smart use of past Riders. The debut of Zi-O was sufficiently cool.

It was fun to see Woz giving a speech declaring the King's ascendance once again.

Black Woz looked pretty shook up at Zi-O II debut

Zi-O II's debut must have been expensive. Even his eyes have special powers!

 

[Christopher]

A pretty nice episode. I liked the way it used the mirror theme of Ryuki as a driver of character and theme -- the idea of Shinji and Sougo having to face and accept their dark sides, and the idea of both Sougo and Geiz influencing each other to become more like themselves, reflecting each other. That's very deft writing.

But I think Shinji was being too hard on himself, believing that side of him that resented his ex-readers was his true self. Shinji's defining character trait in Ryuki was that he always impulsively jumped in to help other people in need, without thinking. Which got him in some pretty big trouble, but it shows that his most fundamental reflex is kindness, not bitterness.

So now both this season's Super Hero Time shows have powerups that give the heroes the ability to predict and counter their enemies' moves. LupinRed had an upgrade with that ability too.

 

[Samurai8472]

Hasbros first wave of 6 inch figures. These will be more random than previous waves. They won’t release the MMPR again for the millionth time

We also have a premiere date for beast Morphers

https://news.tokunation.com/2019/02...s-beast-morphers-premiere-date-revealed-58837

Match 2nd. Episode one title is likely “beasts unleashed

 

[Samurai8472]

Aw man I've got to choose wisely. That's the best Dekamaster/Shadow Ranger ever. Bandai of Japan never made a figuart of Dekamaster

Wave 2 is even worst


MMPR Pink Ranger (Kimberly)
Lost Galaxy Magna Defender
Beast Morphers Gold Ranger
Beast Morphers Red Ranger

Argh. Beast Morphers Gold or Magna Defender?

 

[Samurai8472]

Preview of the Beast Morphers morpher. Ranger Command asked Hasbro and they said
The "Are you Ready" part is not in the show.

https://twitter.com/RangerCommandPH/status/1096892206055591940

They found a way to incorporate the "Are You Ready?!" from the Go-busters powered custom


Beast Morphers toys at the 2019 New York toy fair

https://news.tokunation.com/2019/02...y-58910?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

 

[Samurai8472]

Zi-O 23

https://www.mp4upload.com/uojtc3f8828u

So this is what Zamigo's been doing while he's away from lupinranger vs patranger.

Kikai seems to be an homage to early Showa Riders in the premise, having to defend an oppressed individual/group. Good thing no Titans around to break the walls, but not welcoming the robot overlords while being a machine himself is the classic duality.

Super Sentai Strongest Battle Miniseries

https://www.mp4upload.com/p199ntpgdqv9

Part fan services. Part Secret Wars. Part Charlie and and Chocolate factory.

It was funny to think about Yellow Racer and OhYellow being Power Ranger's Tanya VS Tanya.

Nice to see Yamato from Zyouhger being the sensible red and reasoning with Keichiro

There's only four weeks so they kept the backstory/exposition of each team to a minimum to get down to the battles.

Yamato knows Captain Marvelous
Stinger has a tail

Seems like some teams have been pulled from their different realities too. In Kyuranger there is no Super Sentai to protect the universe

At the end of Zyouhger the world was merged with an animal world

Perhaps too much thinking will bog down the enjoyment of these different characters interacting like Keiichiro and Yamato talking it out and bonding.

Rather than "let's fight! Okay! I win! See ya!"

There was some nice little moments like Sion from Timeranger vs Blue Swallow from Jetman


First look at Beast Morphers airing next Saturday on Nick

Same promotional type from Nick but I hope the show is different from Neo Saban.

 

[Christopher]

Zi-O: It's cute that the Another Rider counterpart to the robotic Rider is made entirely of wood. And neither one is human (at least until Heure is taken over), so that's what they have in common. I wonder who or what is behind the parasite thingy, though, and how it connects to the whole Timejacker/Another Rider business.


Strongest Battle: Most of this is lost on me since I don't know any of these characters other than Keiichiro. But I loved how he and Yamato worked out their "battle."

The whole "fight with each other so the winner can get any wish granted" thing is basically lifted from Kamen Rider Ryuki. But that was only 13 Riders, several of whom only appeared in a movie and a special. Here, there are way too many Sentai members to keep track of.

But seriously, guys -- I know English words sometimes get used strangely in Japan, but if some unknown alien force recruits you to compete with each other to feed energy crystals into a gigantic device named the "Nemesis Pulse," you gotta figure it's a bad idea.

Looking at the Wiki page, it looks like the Serious Team also includes Kouichiro/MegaBlack from Megaranger, which works. I even remember remarking a while back that Kouichiro and Keiichiro from LvP had similar personalities. I'm surprised to see that GoGoV's Matsuri is on the Serious Team, though. She was kind and dedicated, but not ultra-serious like her brother Matoi, who was like an even angrier Keiichiro. But it seems Matoi is on the Leader Team, which is kind of generic (all Red Rangers except NinjaWhite).

I also see that the miniseries is directed by Koichi Sakamoto, who was the action choreographer and producer on Power Rangers for some years before going back to Japan to do Kamen Rider and Super Sentai.

 

[Samurai8472]

"All ways two there are. A master and an apprentice....."

https://www.toei.co.jp/tv/ryusoulger/story/1214163_2963.html


The actors playing the masters previously played Kamen Rider The First, Kamen Rider Ibuki/Tuxedo Mask and Sailor Moon.

 

[Samurai8472]

Beast morphers opening credits revealed

 

[Christopher]

Hmm... I looked up the names, and Co-Producer Melissa Flores was apparently a writer-director of the Power Rangers HyperForce web series, which is apparently a livestream of... people playing the RPG of that name. She's also the "Director of Power Rangers Development and Production" for Hasbro, which makes it surprising that she's listed as only a co-producer instead of an executive producer.

Chip (Judd) Lynn and Brian Casentini are returning from the previous several seasons, which is discouraging given how poor Ninja Steel was (although they also worked together on Dino Charge, the only decent series in the Neo-Saban era). Brian Goldner and Stephen Davis are Hasbro execs who've been EPs on various Hasbro TV and film productions.