That Tokusatsu Thread

[Gazelle_Bro]

This is the reason why Drive is a good show. I couldn't stop laughing at this.

 

[TrippinKahlua]

The Zyuranger DVD set is almost out. I'm so hyped! I generally don't go out and import DVDs on their release day but, God forbid they don't sell well, I MUST have this in my DVD collection.

You honestly don't think that's a legit criticism?

No. As far as I'm concerned, the fandom complained because it was "OH NO! PR AND SENTAI CAN'T SHARE THE SAME UNIVERSE! Boooo hoooooo!"

The average viewer, which is the goal to please, didn't care in the least. Its fascinating for viewers to see Rangers they never knew existed.

Blame Nickelodeon for their 20 episode a Season thing. There were a lot of episodes to remove, and to decide which ones to use. Not to mention, Gokaiger was apparently rewritten on the fly, due to many, many more Sentai veteran actors showing interest in having cameos, than expected.

The localizers needed to do what they had to do, and adapt the most adaptable footage.

 

[ASoulMan]

I've seen fanfiction handle Megaforce much more efficiently, and that's saying something.

Also, StarNinger is probably the wackiest 6th ranger ever thought up.

He's a cowboy space (assuming he's from space) ninja that transforms with a cheeseburger and fights with an electric guitar sword.

 

[Kamen Rider Black RX]

No. As far as I'm concerned, the fandom complained because it was "OH NO! PR AND SENTAI CAN'T SHARE THE SAME UNIVERSE! Boooo hoooooo!"

Then you know nothing about what the fandom was saying.
1) It's the anniversary of Power Rangers and we should be celebrating Power Rangers.
2) If they're going to introduce new teams they should be properly incorporated. A new unnamed team for a 30 second fight? What's the point? At least give us some information in auxiliary materials, like that Ranger database Saban Brands had on the website.
3) Consistency. They remove certain sentai teams but not others. People questioned this until the fight with Levira, where those 4 teams were used. But then, why did they edit out Sun Vulcan for Mighty Morphin' Red? Couldn't they have done so for the other 4 rangers? They also couldn't keep names for these 4 teams straight in only 20 episodes.
4) Lies. Saban Brands told fans from day 1 Dairanger wouldn't be seen. When a promo dropped that featured Ryuranger, we told told it was a mistake and he wouldn't be in Super Megaforce.
5) Power Rangers teams were left unused while some sentai made multiple appearances. Want to see them turn into Time Force? Too fucking bad.

The average viewer, which is the goal to please, didn't care in the least. Its fascinating for viewers to see Rangers they never knew existed.

Please. The average viewer only knows Mighty Morpin' and couldn't name other teams. To say they would be able to pick out sentai exclusive teams is laughable. And that's just the adults. To the kids, it's probably just Samurai and Megaforce that they're that familiar with.

Blame Nickelodeon for their 20 episode a Season thing. There were a lot of episodes to remove, and to decide which ones to use. Not to mention, Gokaiger was apparently rewritten on the fly, due to many, many more Sentai veteran actors showing interest in having cameos, than expected.

Please. Power Rangers does not have to be a beat-by-beat retelling of the source material and has been diverged multiple times in the past. Considering there's almost 30 episodes extra to pluck fight footage from and tell their own story, the 20 episodes are not an excuse. And you think I'm joking? They combined footage from 3 episodes into one this season. It sucked, but proved it can be done.

And really, you want to bring up how Gokaiger was written on the fly? In the past, Power Rangers was planned out before the sentai even finished airing. In Space? They thought the Megarangers would fight in outer space, not that their Zord would descend to Earth. They thought Time Force actually fought in other time periods and that there would be a 6th Abaranger. Megaforce had both of it's sentai finish airing before they even touched it, an unheard of advantage.

The localizers needed to do what they had to do, and adapt the most adaptable footage.

They're also supposed to promote the toyline. Bandai made toys for past seasons, like action figures and Ranger Keys. What they didn't make toys for was unadapted sentai because they're not morons trying to sell something based on non-existent nostalgia.

And again, they had many, many extra episodes. Not to mention supposedly the largest budget in PR history like Saban Brands claims. There's always the idea they could shoot original footage like other seasons did with smaller budgets. Unfortunately, it was all left in the hands of a man who wanted to save as much money as possible and thought kids didn't care about story (The head writer who left has said he had to fight to give the main villain a fucking motivation. Not to mention the Cameron Jebo, who played Silver, has called out the writing, saying "kids aren't vegetables."). They guy then turns around and spends thousands of dollars flying actors to New Zealand for a 30 second cameo with no lines.

Seriously, thank god Tzachor is gone.

 

[Kamen Rider Black RX]

I've seen fanfiction handle Megaforce much more efficiently, and that's saying something.

Also, StarNinger is probably the wackiest 6th ranger ever thought up.

He's a cowboy space (assuming he's from space) ninja that transforms with a cheeseburger and fights with an electric guitar sword.

...It's the most beautiful thing I have ever seen in toku.

 

[Gazelle_Bro]

I've seen fanfiction handle Megaforce much more efficiently, and that's saying something.

Also, StarNinger is probably the wackiest 6th ranger ever thought up.

He's a cowboy space (assuming he's from space) ninja that transforms with a cheeseburger and fights with an electric guitar sword.

Our last star ninja was just a wacky, at least in terms of personality. I wonder how his character will turn out.

 

[Gazelle_Bro]

Drive: Type Formula spotted

 

[TrippinKahlua]

I just see the "Non-PRs in Super Megaforce" complaints to be yet another thing the fandom has been complaining about. Except for the RPM year, there has been nothing but negativity since Bruce Kalish entered the picture with SPD.

Especially with the new-Saban era. Saban taking Power Rangers away from Disney was a good thing. A damn good thing. Yet, there's been complaints about everything. There were complaints they were starting with Shikenger. Too Japanese. Everyone hated it. No good to say from Power Rangers Samurai. Then Megaforce came out and everyone was complaining it was trying to be like the original MMPR so much.

There's been nothing but spite from the fandom ever since the franchise was taken away from Disney's horrible grip. Disney treated the show like trash. No legal way to watch, having to rely on low-quality rips to enjoy our childhood. Now, we have everything. We even have the lost footage known as "Zyu2". For a whole decade, I myself was speculating with the fandom over things supposedly cut out of the footage commissioned by Saban in 1994. I'm sure you've heard of the "Lokar in Bloom of Doom" rumor? I was fucking obsessed with it (yeah, I'm pretty well known in the fandom for it, but I won't say who I am here).

I don't even watch Pokemon anymore. But Power Rangers, I just find too rewatchable to get rid of. Seeing the picture quality warp into shitty-looking Japanese footage is fascinating to me. I admire the monster design and sleek robotic design for the Zords.

The whole point of a Power Rangers series is to make it watchable for its target audience. Children. It was children who watched it in 1993, and they only care about children watching it in the present. Can you find the target audience complaining about Pre-Zyu's appearing in Super Megaforce? Except for the Battle Fever J suits and the preceding ones, every single one of them passes as a "Power Ranger" in the naive eyes of a child. Who's them to know if the suits came before 1992?

 

[Kamen Rider Black RX]

Then why didn't Bandai make toys for the pre-zyu seasons? Huh? If including them is no problem, why didn't Bandai make matching merchandise? After all, according to you kids won't know they aren't Power Rangers. Given how much they were used, it seems like a wasted opportunity to not get Flashman and Changeman toys onto the market.

Again, celebration of Power Rangers. Bandai knew what they were doing. Tzachor did not. Pre-zyu teams, sentai attack names instead of PR ones, Legend War thrown together at the last minute according to Dana's actress, they didn't know.

Sure, it's nice that Saban has made the show more available but the quality is not there. Maybe you should actually listen to what people are complaining about before making yourself look like a whiny fanhater. Talking down to it's audience, ingrained sexism, overuse of sentai footage, non-consistent barebones characterization, expecting payoff without buildup, a show about Japanese culture and bloodlines staring the whitest guy they could find, rangers given new weapons and zords for no reason, aiming for preschoolers according to marketing materials. The last 4 years have the air that the creators (Tzachor) didn't care. Samurai at least had the Shinkenger storyline to act as support, Megaforce didn't even have that.

 

[TrippinKahlua]

Its just pretty strange to see all this hate for Tzachor, who more or less was around since day one.

Haim must've trusted him, but time was not favorable to Tzachor's mood on the franchise. He's said some pretty offending things to my views on the show too, but in my opinion, the fandom just got broken into complaint, complaint, complaint ever since Kalish showed up.

- Whether its the Overuse of direct Sentai to Power Rangers reversioning.
- Too many explosions where they don't need to be.
- Way WAY too many complaints I remember from Jungle Fury.
- Then when Samurai came out, there were complaints that it too closely resembled Shinkenger.

Your basic complaints about sexism and etc. are stuff I have no comment on since I don't actually watch the show (I never said I did, nor am I complaining about it, I'm complaining about the complaints!) so you got me on those.

What little I've seen of Dino Charge basically doesn't matter. Apparently, they have some sort of ET man for a mentor. Huh? Look forward to seeing "Super Dino Charge" in 2016.

 

[Kamen Rider Black RX]

Its just pretty strange to see all this hate for Tzachor, who more or less was around since day one.

Tzachor came in as EP during the second half of Turbo and continued on until Wild Force. Thing is, during that time there were people on staff who could push back against Tzachor. Chief among them was head writer Judd Lynn, who is currently the EP for Dino Charge. Lynn left after Time Force and Tzachor was in complete control of Wild Force. Tzachor then flies the director of Gaoranger to LA to direct Wild Force despite the director not being able to speak English. Disney then moves production to New Zealand and Tzachor was fired.

Tzachor himself has never written an episode of Power Rangers. Despite this, during the Neo-Saban era he's fighting with the head writers. Chief among them, giving the villains motivation. That was something Tzachor was against. Head writers quit and scripts have to be rewritten by the new staff. Scripts are then tweeked on set in NZ while the writers are all in LA. Hell, the actors had to go and ask for unmorphed footage.

Haim must've trusted him, but time was not favorable to Tzachor's mood on the franchise.

Tzachor is a personal friend of Haim Saban. A friend who knows how to save money according to all reports. He wasn't even planning on shooting the Legend War, just using the sentai footage that they've already shown 90% of. According to Dana's actress, the whole thing was set up last minute.

What little I've seen of Dino Charge basically doesn't matter. Apparently, they have some sort of ET man for a mentor. Huh? Look forward to seeing "Super Dino Charge" in 2016.

Better than a Tiki Head who does nothing except hand out new powers at the most convenient times. Still sad they're not using Torin, but people are willing to give it a chance.

For the record, Jungle Fury is considered a hidden jem amongst fans and the complaints about Samurai aren't it's too similar to Shinkenger. It's that it follows the Shinkenger storyline but they things they change don't work. Mia doesn't have a reason for wanting to be a bride other than "it's every girl's dream" whereas it's stated that Mako wanted a normal life that was denied to her because of her training. Mike is nowhere near as rebellious as Chiaki, just easygoing, but the cast treat him like he's always causing trouble. Kevin is as serious as Ryuu and that's all he is. He isn't as wacky as his counterpart, just boring and badly acted. Emily is Kotoha, except the acting makes it sound like she's mentally challenged or stoned. Jayden's probably one of the worst, as he has Takeru's "I have to do this alone so the others won't get hurt" attitude, but then goes on about the virtues of teamwork. Antonio, too many gold puns.

A lot of this comes from mandates from Saban himself, stating what lessons he wants the show to teach. Chief among them is teamwork, which resulted in Tzachor removing all conflict from the characters. This extended into Megaforce, which did not have the sentai to fall back on for characterization. Take the Jungle Fury episode for instance.

They fight a monster who uses alien kung fu and stole their weapons. In Gokaiger, Marvelous said they'll find a new way to fight if their old one didn't work. Troy, on the other hand, said "to hold on tighter, a ranger never lets go of his weapon." The nerdy one, Noah, stays up all night (at the school computer lab) researching past rangers and how they faught. He shows Gia the Jungle Fury rangers and how they used martial arts, but Troy didn't want to hear of it. He wanted them to follow his orders.

Round 2 happens and Troy's plan isn't working. Jake and Emma show up after training with Jungle Fury Red and lead them to victory with the Jungle Fury Powers. Afterwards, Troy says the following:
1) Noah and Gia, good job following my orders.
2) Jake an Emma, good job finding a new way to fight.
3) I guess I have to listen to my teammates more (despite being leader for over a year in-universe at this point).

Never once does he apologize to Noah, who had stayed up all night researching and wanted to use Jungle Fury. Just "good for you listening to my orders."

Then there's the time Emma prioritized baking a pie over fighting a monster, or when she printed a picture Gia didn't want to see in the newspaper (it would ruin Gia's tough girl image). Hell, that last one a friend of mine summed up the lesson of that last episode (where an alien monster makes the girls fight though a lazy, whereas the sentai version had the girls personalities clashed) as "If my friend and I are fighting, they must be under a magic spell."

And I say this all as someone who holds Samurai in his top 5...It's the Plan 9 of Power Rangers.

And it's Dino SuperCharge, not Super Dino Charge. They already have it copyrighted.

 

[HipstrsGonnaHip]

You guys really get passionate over Power Rangers.

 

[Gazelle_Bro]

Okay so I watched the first episode of Ninninger and I'm going to say it was pretty okay. I like the designs of the show so far, but like all Sentai it starts off way too fast. They're transforming in the first ten minutes of the episode with not much in the way of story. Like always they just sort of leap into the series by shoving the transformation devices into the heroes hands while quickly explaining the enemy of the series. This is one of the reasons why I like Kamen Rider a lot more than Sentai, because it focuses on characters, story, and action relatively well whereas Sentai can get very lost in who they want to focus on, like in Kyoryuger they focused way too much on Daigo. I saw that Right really got the spotlight in Toqger near the end too, getting several new forms in the last few episodes. Now I hate Red-Centric shows. If Ninninger starts to go that way I will have no issue dropping the series. Gokaiger could be considered Red-Centric a bit, but they focused on the other characters too for several episodes. I can't say much for the team's personalities, but I am a fan of the family dynamic so it could make for some good comedic and dramatic moments. I also like the fact that an actual parent is in the show. I was hoping he'd be the team mentor, but they introduce the grandfather at the end of the episode so nevermind that. I like the mechs, as they are all very different with a dragon to a train. Overall, I think it's worth watching. The transformation sword is pretty cool and I like the music that accompanies the transformation along with their roll call.

 

[Kamen Rider Black RX]

I didn't like the episode. It just felt like I was watching a bunch of previous sentai with a little Kamen Rider thrown in. I wasn't seeing Ninninger, I was seeing Kakuranger, Kyoryuger, Gaim, Magiranger...you get the idea. If anything, it's making me want to finish Kakuranger.

 

[HipstrsGonnaHip]

I wasn't seeing Ninninger, I was seeing Kakuranger, Kyoryuger, Gaim, Magiranger...you get the idea.

But that happens constantly with the Toei series. It doesn't help that they're constantly rotating the same staff in and out.

 

[TrippinKahlua]

Why are they doing Ninjas again anyway? Shinkenger wasn't that long ago.

I'm still holding out that someday they'll do a Starship themed Sentai reminiscent of Star Wars (like how Magiranger was reminiscent of Harry Potter)

 

[ASoulMan]

Why are they doing Ninjas again anyway? Shinkenger wasn't that long ago.

I'm still holding out that someday they'll do a Starship themed Sentai reminiscent of Star Wars (like how Magiranger was reminiscent of Harry Potter)

Shinkenger was samurai themed. The last ninja themed sentai was Hurricanger.

And a starship theme sounds very amusing!

 

[TrippinKahlua]

Pssh, Hurricanger Ninja themed? Didn't know Ninjas used hang gliders and 1000 ton weights.

Of course, yeah, they ARE Ninja's, but I honestly consider it more "Metric" or "Physical Science" themed.

 

[Gazelle_Bro]

More Drive stuff. Type Formula revealed and Medic's Roidmude form will go up against Drive and Mach.

 

[HipstrsGonnaHip]

It only looks good head on. From the sides it's absolutely garbage.