That Tokusatsu Thread

[crunchy bits are the best]

That was probably it's biggest strength. The PR production department was basically left to their own devices so long as they stayed within budget and the toys kept selling.

I remember the PR toys from the 90's up to 2006 were good and my younger cousins used to own Dino Thunder mecha. Sad that Saban from 2010 dropped the ball overall, story-wise and toy-wise.

 

[XYZpdq Jr.]

Project R.E.D teaser aired

so looks like different hero attacks, some laser swords, beast claw, hueg beam, magic pixy dust, and Thunderbirds lightning

 

[Incecticyder]

That was probably it's biggest strength. The PR production department was basically left to their own devices so long as they stayed within budget and the toys kept selling.

Yeah, I get that but Saban could pull off pragmatic and accurate adaptations before, what changed and made them unable to do either?

 

[King Of Braves]

I truly wonder how did Saban drop the ball so hard though.

Penny-pinching jew faggotry. The first seasons of PR made a bazillion dollars that he funneled straight into his pockets instead of reinvesting in the show and talent. Thankfully for us, we had showrunners by In Space that took it as a challenge to still put out an entertaining product within the confines of an obnoxiously small budget. Then Saban got his grubby mitts on the franchise again and tried to do the same thing again, basically torpedoing the whole thing because he was still trying to operate on a early 2000s budget and nostalgia instead of realizing that that was missing the point entirely. Kids didn't want the goofy shit that we had in the early seasons, they already had shows that were tackling mature themes and mainstream anime with much more visual candy than Saban would pay for. Hasbro fell into the same trap. They leaned hard into the cheese that kids and older fans don't care about rather than make a good show. Beast Morphers shouldn't have missed as hard as it did, but instead of doing the smart thing and mostly remake Go-Busters, they changed as much as they possibly could and the whole product suffered. They tried to come back with Dino Fury, but they were too hesitant to tie the series closer to the new comic book lore and lean harder on nostalgia (which was probably budget related too.) and then Cosmic Fury was whatever, might as well not even exist.

So now we just read the comic books and wonder what could have been with competent ownership.

 

[crunchy bits are the best]

Since people are talking about SPD, did someone tried watching any of the Rescue Police Trilogy from the Metal Hero franchise before?

 

[XYZpdq Jr.]

Since people are talking about SPD, did someone tried watching any of the Rescue Police Trilogy from the Metal Hero franchise before?

HERLP

 

[Incecticyder]

Penny-pinching jew faggotry. The first seasons of PR made a bazillion dollars that he funneled straight into his pockets instead of reinvesting in the show and talent. Thankfully for us, we had showrunners by In Space that took it as a challenge to still put out an entertaining product within the confines of an obnoxiously small budget. Then Saban got his grubby mitts on the franchise again and tried to do the same thing again, basically torpedoing the whole thing because he was still trying to operate on a early 2000s budget and nostalgia instead of realizing that that was missing the point entirely.

Yeah, that would do it. A series such as PR cannot exactly skip script writing or anything else. Hard work has to go into adapting the source material even when you have the suits.

Kids didn't want the goofy shit that we had in the early seasons, they already had shows that were tackling mature themes and mainstream anime with much more visual candy than Saban would pay for.

I disagree a bit, PR had both goofy and serious. The problem with Neo Saban is that it sucked at both with exception of Dino Charge.

Hasbro fell into the same trap. They leaned hard into the cheese that kids and older fans don't care about rather than make a good show. Beast Morphers shouldn't have missed as hard as it did, but instead of doing the smart thing and mostly remake Go-Busters, they changed as much as they possibly could and the whole product suffered.

Beast Morphers did tackle mature stuff (parental approval, hospitalization of a loved one etc etc). My biggest issue was how they talked down on kids "Kids do not know what beetles are and their little brains would explode if they were forced to ask their parents for an explanation". Fucking Hell! I knew what beetles were even at a young age! Were they seriously thinking that a kid would throw a temper tantrum if forced to learn about a new animal? Kids love animals!

They tried to come back with Dino Fury, but they were too hesitant to tie the series closer to the new comic book lore and lean harder on nostalgia (which was probably budget related too.) and then Cosmic Fury was whatever, might as well not even exist.

Do not get me started on this shit! There was miss "I do not need a skirt" girl-boss lesbian and the rest of the knights-in-name-only squad. As for Cosmic Fury, dull, derivative suits and a waste of Kyuranger footage that means there will never be an adaptation of the original. Fuck this!

 

[FatMebius]

Since people are talking about SPD, did someone tried watching any of the Rescue Police Trilogy from the Metal Hero franchise before?

Solbrain and Winspector fucking rock. Kinda. The characters and suits are fun. But they both spend half the series having the heroes just fighting regular dudes until some Toei businessman realizes that's kinda boring. So there's some obvious and awkward retooling halfway through.

 

[Ultraman Orb Dark]

Inspiration. That was some good stuff.

I remember being so confused watching that episode the first time because I thought it would focus on Aibou Hoji.

 

[Incecticyder]

I remember being so confused watching that episode the first time because I thought it would focus on Aibou Hoji.

They had set Sky up for that episode from the beginning. Him remembering his father after he was rejected for Red, his issues with Jack being chosen and the episode ending with Sky being given the Red morpher with the Battlizer for the fight was great. I also liked how they showed Jack and Sky becoming friends.

 

[Ultraman Orb Dark]

They had set Sky up for that episode from the beginning. Him remembering his father after he was rejected for Red, his issues with Jack being chosen and the episode ending with Sky being given the Red morpher with the Battlizer for the fight was great. I also liked how they showed Jack and Sky becoming friends.

Sorry, I meant when I watched the Dekaranger episode after the SPD one.

 

[Incecticyder]

Sorry, I meant when I watched the Dekaranger episode after the SPD one.

That is what I mean. They took time to change the set up to the Blue Ranger from the DekaBreak.

 

[Incecticyder]

Sorry for double posting but here is a video I found:

tl;dr Unlike most videos on the subject, this goes over a supposed leak that Bandai had the option of buy PR but chose not to because they thought it would not last. However, the lack of toy sales from PR might have caused the Super Sentai hiatus we currently see.

Also, do you know what I want? A poll where Japanese fans vote their favourite PR seasons and characters. We had one for Super Sentai but I would like to see Japan's side on PR.

 

[Commander X]

How did they explain her change in appearance? Sumino was deep undercover and had the Tegasword help change her face but now it seems she can't reverse back.

I am amazed they went "Beetleborgs" with the cast change - ie the same character but the new actor is explained by have their appearance altered.

 

[sneedem&feedem]

However, the lack of toy sales from PR might have caused the Super Sentai hiatus we currently see.

While it contributed to its downfall, it's a huge cope to blame Bandai US or Saban or Hasbro. Kamen Rider is far more popular and profitable yet it doesn't rely on a Power Rangers equivalent. Toei went over budget and Bandai wasn't making interesting toys. That's it.

 

[Incecticyder]

While it contributed to its downfall, it's a huge cope to blame Bandai US or Saban or Hasbro. Kamen Rider is far more popular and profitable yet it doesn't rely on a Power Rangers equivalent. Toei went over budget and Bandai wasn't making interesting toys. That's it.

I am not saying it was the only reason, just the straw that broke the camel's back. The biggest reason, not the only. As mentioned in the interviews, PR saved SS with MMPR when it was first about to be canceled and that gave the series a new life. That is why they introduced new stuff such as an extra ranger. PR needed SS and vice versa. Personally, I blame Bandai. If they had bought PR when they had the chance, they might have been in the red for a while but they would still have access to the Western toy market. Now that PR is owned by Hasbro, they lack that and lost a massive part of what made SS profitable. Like it or not, PR was the biggest reason why SS made money as the largest fanbase for that is in the West. Asia is not particularly interested in SS and the West only recently started noticing Tokusatsu series other than PR and Godzilla.

 

[sneedem&feedem]

As mentioned in the interviews, PR saved SS with MMPR when it was first about to be canceled and that gave the series a new life. That is why they introduced new stuff such as an extra ranger. PR needed SS and vice versa.

This is straight up misinformation. What saved Sentai was latter half of Fiveman and then Jetman. Turboranger and Fiveman right afterwards sent TV ratings plummeting along with toy sales. The latter half of Fiveman already saw increasing ratings and toy sales. Jetman being a mega hit actually helped prevent cancelation, so much so Saban was originally gonna adapt it.

Personally, I blame Bandai. If they had bought PR when they had the chance, they might have been in the red for a while but they would still have access to the Western toy market. Now that PR is owned by Hasbro, they lack that and lost a massive part of what made SS profitable. Like it or not, PR was the biggest reason why SS made money as the largest fanbase for that is in the West.

While it was a massive blunder on Bandai's part to sell of US toy rights, the numbers were already in steep decline.



It's been an almost continual downward trend since Kyoryuger, long before Hasbro. And once again look at how KR exploded in sales without the need for western popularity.

 

[Ultraman Orb Dark]

While it was a massive blunder on Bandai's part to sell of US toy rights, the numbers were already in steep decline.



It's been an almost continual downward trend since Kyoryuger, long before Hasbro. And once again look at how KR exploded in sales without the need for western popularity.

To be fair, some of the seasons had pretty shitty toys, like Minecraft animals, Fisher Price cars/planes, knockoff Transformers, and whatever the hell Gozyuger is doing right now.

 

[Incecticyder]

This is straight up misinformation. What saved Sentai was latter half of Fiveman and then Jetman. Turboranger and Fiveman right afterwards sent TV ratings plummeting along with toy sales. The latter half of Fiveman already saw increasing ratings and toy sales. Jetman being a mega hit actually helped prevent cancelation, so much so Saban was originally gonna adapt it.

Here is another video that I am referencing:

I do not know how right those videos are but this one goes into more detail and he seems to know what he is saying.

While it was a massive blunder on Bandai's part to sell of US toy rights, the numbers were already in steep decline.

What I am saying is that even if it put them in the red temporarily, acquiring the rights to PR and ensuring that good seasons were made was the only right way forward. Hell, Japan likes watching the occasional PR season on its own too! SPD for one was dubbed into Japanese (so were other seasons from what I am aware) so why not do that with more seasons? There is a market for this! They would have been getting two seasons for the price of 1.5!

Also, I would like to point out how that graph showcases massive decline after every bad PR season. Look at the rise after Timeranger/Time Force and the decline after Boukenger/OO and Shinkenger/Samurai. In both cases there was a shitty PR adaptation. Of course, after Go-onger/RPM, there was not a good adaptation of PR (Dino Charge started out great but became worse as it went on with the finale being a massive disappointment and Beast Morphers tried to do something interesting but had cracks that went on to become fissures despite giving us crossovers and a payoff to RPM which was nice) and the overall brand suffered for it.

It's been an almost continual downward trend since Kyoryuger, long before Hasbro. And once again look at how KR exploded in sales without the need for western popularity.

While that is true (I am not arguing that keeping the western toy market would have helped it surpass KR but it would not have hurt it), It would have made it so that SS was still worth producing (even if it was second or third fiddle). The western popularity (especially back when PR was good) was a massive boon that helped keep the franchise afloat.

 

[King Of Braves]

This is straight up misinformation. What saved Sentai was latter half of Fiveman and then Jetman. Turboranger and Fiveman right afterwards sent TV ratings plummeting along with toy sales. The latter half of Fiveman already saw increasing ratings and toy sales. Jetman being a mega hit actually helped prevent cancelation, so much so Saban was originally gonna adapt it.


While it was a massive blunder on Bandai's part to sell of US toy rights, the numbers were already in steep decline.

View attachment 8241563

It's been an almost continual downward trend since Kyoryuger, long before Hasbro. And once again look at how KR exploded in sales without the need for western popularity.

The uptick on W is no surprise. It was a big thing in the fansub sphere because Decade gave KR a lot more visibility among people that hadn't watched it before. Plus it was just a really good season, which led into continued growth across OOO and Fourze that were both good themselves. Then you see how Wizard kinda whiffed by having lame toys and weak story. I'm surprised at the drop for Drive, since I thought it was a very good season as well.