Henshin Grid: 2008

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Kamen Rider Dragon Knight video pulled on YouTube

I was debating to upload this or not. It takes a while to take off the commercials and edit it together for YouTube and save it and upload it. I had originally recorded it on DVD+RW but I didn't catch the beginning. Luckily I had recorded it on VHS too, so I transfer the VHS to DVD. I had posted it on YouTube but now it got blocked by CW4kids. So I removed them from YouTube not to get in more trouble. Updates soon.

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Go-onger vs. Gekiranger to be in the Theaters

Many the cast members revealed on their blogs that there will be Second Go-Onger Theaterical Movie. On Dec. 7, Toei announced on it's Go-onger website that the film is going to be Go-onger vs. Gekiranger, and that it is to commemorate the 15th of the Super Sentai V-Cinema VS Series, having started initially with J.A.K.Q. Dengekitai vs. Goranger in 1978 and revived annually with Chouriki Sentai Ohranger vs. Kakuranger in 1996. The film is slated for theatrical release on January 24, 2009. The DVD release is scheduled for March as always.

More info here from TV-Nihon
The original source form Kikuchi Mika's blog

This is paraphrasing from the translation:
Go-Onger will have a movie once again!! I can't talk about the details, but this is unprecedented for Sentai to have a second movie. I'm so very happy. The other Go-Onger members are also very excited. Wait for more details! The fact that the second movie is being made is truly thanks to all of you, the fans. All the other Go-Onger members are really feeling loved!! Truly thank you! Bomper is also very happy!!

Monday, December 8, 2008

Shinkenger

These pictures are everywhere but I decided to post them cause they look great. Samuari Sentai Shinkenger is obviously Samuari based. Many say the helmets look Ohranger/Magiranger-esque with hints of Megaranger, while the suits have hints of Kakuranger and Gouraijer.

The OriKami become ShinkenOh. ShishiOrikami (lion), RyuuOriKami (dragon), KumaOriKami (bear), SaruOriKami (monkey), and KameOriKami (turtle). Each OriKami can transform from its "Emblem Form." (top left) Additional OriKami include: Hercules Beetle KabutoOriKami, Swordfish KajikiOriKami, and Tiger ToraOriKami.

The Power Rangers Super Legends Retrofire Megazords come with this questionare, which has very curious entries. A questionare like this is ever rarely done, #6 asks what animal we like best: Lions, Bears, Monkeys, Turtles, Dragons, or Unicorns, which all except Unicorn is in Shinkenger. #9 aks if 'we' think Japanese symbols are strange or confusing. And #10, if 'we' find Ninjas or Samuaris better. Obviously has to do with Shinkenger.

Saturday, December 6, 2008

Kamen Rider Dragon Knight Name Changes

Above are the thirteen riders. Here is the official website. In Downloads, there is cool AIM icons and wallpaper of atleast the Dragon Knight and Wing Knight. For those not familiar with Kamen Rider Ryuki, here is an easy guide. All the Contract Monsters have the same names!

Premieres January 3rd on CW4Kids
Special Sneak Preview this December 13 at 9:30am

Here are thirteen name changes. Kamen Rider Ryuki, Ryuki literally means "Dragon Knight." So there is that translation. Kamen Rider Knight becomes "Wing Knight" because of the bat wing. Kamen Rider Scissors becomes Incisor which is similar. Kamen Rider Zolda's name is derived from the Russian word, "soldat" meaning "soldier" or "mercenary". So 'Torque' comes from left field. For me, is that they wanted a generic name. Kamen Rider Raia, since his contract monster Evildiver is a mantaray, then 'Kamen Rider Sting' makes sense. Since Kamen Rider Gai is based on a rhino, and is all about brute force, 'Thurst' makes sense. Kamen Rider Ohja translates to be Cobra or King Snake, 'Kamen Rider Strike' is sort of generic but also goes along with it. Kamen Rider Tiger becomes Kamen Rider Axe for some reason (well, he does carry an axe) and Kamen Rider Imperer becomes Spear, Imperer is based on Impala, a cousin of the Gazelle. Kamen Rider Femme, where Femme means 'Female', 'Siren' is an interesting choice The Siren is a Greek mythological bird-woman hybrid creature, since her contract monster is a swan, it makes sense. Kamen Rider Verde, where 'Verde' means Green in Spanish, 'Camo' refers to camouflage to chameleon so that makes sense. Kamen Rider Odin, where Odin is the chief god in mythology, Wrath is an interesting choice. Kamen Rider Ruuga became Kamen Rider Onyx. Onyx is a black stone.

Meet them all here
Seems that 9 out of 13 will be Caucasian, while 2 are Asian, 1 Latino and 1 is African-American. Maybe one is Italian or Latino, who knows.

Cate Blanchett and Jay Leno discuss Power Rangers

Cate Blanchett was on the Tonight Show tonight promoting her new movie with Brad Pitt and they were discussing her children's like of the Power Rangers. And that she was 'going' to be one of the Rangers. She wasn't sure which one was female, she said sometimes the female is pink or yellow. Jay, of course, was not sure. So they brought up an old picture of the original MMPR (above) and tried to figure out which one was female. She said the 'yellow one' had 'man boobs.' Jay said he saw no gender in the Power Rangers, that they were all the same. ::sigh:: Cate had mentioned the Black Ranger going to jail but that is very incorrect. Walter Emmauel Jones is in no legal trouble, if that is the one they are talking about. Do your research!

UPDATED
In July of 2009, Walter Emmauel Jones was arrested for driving under the influence in Alabama. Is Cate Blanchett psychic?

Saturday, November 29, 2008

Scott Bailey is Kamen Rider Ohja???

Now in the following weeks, we are getting more and more info on "Kamen Rider Dragon Knight" with pictures and such as it will be premiering on CW4Kids in January. Now I got the shock of my life today to find out Scott Bailey (best known to soap fans as Sandy Foster in "The Guiding Light" and to everyone as the centaur in those Old Spice commercials) will be playing James "JTC"/Kamen Rider Strike, the equivalent of Kamen Rider Ohja. Kamen Rider Ohja was the most dangerous of all the Kamen Riders in Kamen Rider Ryuki. Least to say, he was a serial killer and psychopath, sadistic and homicidal. I highly doubt he will be the same, but perhaps he will just be 'evil.' Oooh, the cast just gets hotter and hotter.

On another note, William O'Leary is also in the cast. He played Tim Taylor's brother Martin 'Marty' Taylor in "Home Improvement," he looks a lot like Doug Stanhope and I thought Doug was William. Hah.

My Scott Bailey Gallery

UPDATED DECEMBER 7, 2008

Friday, November 28, 2008

Kamen Rider Decade: Pink, Magenta or Red?

The upcoming Kamen Rider for 2009 is Kamen Rider Decade, which will be celebrating their 10th anniversary.

Kamen Rider Decade is said to have the power of past Riders from the Heisei era such as Kuuga, Agita, Ryuki, 555, Blade, Hibiki, Kabuto, Den-O, and Kiva. There will be cards he uses with each Rider on it. Heisei refers to the point in time we are now in Japan.

Now there is much debate over what color Kamen Rider Decade is. Many say he is pink. Since culturally in America, pink is currently regarded as a feminine color, American fans don't like the notion that his color is pink. I have said it once and I have said it before, regarding a color to a gender is ridiculous. According to the website "Gender Specific Colors," it would seem that assigning color to gender is mostly a 20th century trait.

Kamen Rider Raia of "Kamen Rider Ryuki," also known as Kamen Rider Sting in the American adaption "Kamen Rider Dragon Knight," has been brought up in the conversation of pink Kamen Riders. He was not be a traditional shade of red. Indeed, he was like a light red, what I like to refer to as 'raspberry red' but some regard as magenta.

Kamen Rider Decade's color scheme is most likely based on the bug above, which I can not find its name.

Pink was once a color associated with masculinity, considered to be a watered down red and held the power associated with that color. Red was related to the color of blood, which was what people wanted in the outcome of their victims in war. In 1914, The Sunday Sentinel, an American newspaper, advised mothers to “use pink for the boy and blue for the girl, if you are a follower of convention.” Blue was related to being the color of the sky and girls at the time were regarded to be close to the sky and angelic, blue was considered a fair and danity color. The change to pink for girls and blue for boys happened in America and elsewhere only after World War II. Since the 1940s, the societal norm apparently inverted so that pink became appropriate for girls and blue appropriate for boys, a practice that has continued into the 21st century. No one knows why exactly happened to cause this or to change it. Today, with the effects of advertising on consumer preferences, these color customs are a worldwide standard.

So to me it doesn't matter if he is indeed pink, I think it is and it is just as fine. He's 'masculine' or 'strong' as ever. (I put those terms in quotations not mockingly, but in quotations to note the notions we attached to such a term.) The thought that red is connected to blood and power for masculinity could be another key to why most Kamen Riders are red and majority of Sentai leaders are red. Other reasons, of course, are because of Japan's country's color is red and red is associated to power, strength, and triumph. I had one art teacher that would refuse to acknowledge Pink as a color, she considered a shade of Red, she said it was just Red. So if she heard this conversation, she wouldn't know what all the fuss was about.

Related Links:
JeongMee Yoon's research
Google Answers on Pink

Friday, November 14, 2008

Kamen Rider Dragon Knight Cutie #4: Tony Moras

He played the spoiled and stuck-up Richy Preston / Kamen Rider Incisor in "Kamen Rider: Dragon Knight." Not much more is known about him.

Richy was manipulated by General Xaviax to 'vent' Kamen Rider Dragon Knight and Wing Knight in order to earn his lost riches once again.

Incisor is based on Kamen Rider Scissors from of course the source of the show: Kamen Rider Ryuki. He only lasted one or more episode, Scissors died at the hands of his contract beast. Richy lasted two episodes and a half as he was 'vented' along with his beast. He was sent into a void where he will trapped for all eternity.

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Toripter is a boy!

It's a boy! Before, I wondered about Toripter's gender and even though he is voiced by a woman, he is male. Evidenced by Episode 38 where the villain's spell (some toxic water) makes all males that come in contact with it, freeze like a mannequin. So Toripter was effected.

Related Topic: Go-Onger: Triptor's Gender?

Friday, October 31, 2008

Why didn't VR Troopers have another season?

VR Troopers is Haim Saban's second series, the one after Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. It ran from 1994 to 1996. It was syndicated, unlike other Saban series that ran on Fox Kids. VR Troopers was adapted from two different series Metalder and Speilban. They used up most of the footage by using one episode from each series for one episode, bascially two episodes. For Season 2, they replaced the Metalder footage with an older series Shaider, so Ryan got a new 'VR suit.' It had ended with season two and had no proper series finale. Most fans liked it because it was a bit more serious than MMPR and because it was syndicated, it was much more violent, very little was edited. Now this hasn't been discussed much but the number one reason it ended was because they had no more footage. There was plenty other Metal Heroes series they could take from. Initally only Metalder was going to be used and it was to be called Cybertron and star Jason David Frank. But because of the Transformers copyright and that Tommy was popular, it was all scrapped.

Gavan (center) and Sharivan (left) were series before Shaider. I think they could have used Sharivan for Ryan and Jaspion (below) for JB. Maybe they didn't want to keep changing costumes for the same reason they didn't for Power Rangers. The first three seasons, they didn't change suits because believed kids wouldn't like the change. Most fans say they gave up by Zeo because of the costume change. But I think changing was wise because many combinations were different and hard to explain and the Japanese series only last one year. Same with Metal Heroes. Saban tried again with Metal Heroes in the form of Beetleborgs. B-Fighter only had one spin-off, so they only had 2 years. There was talk of using their own footage for Bettleborgs but that never happened.

Jaspion really looks like the costume of Speilban and it was the series between Shaider and Metalder. I think they could have used it for JB. But I guess they didn't continue because they had no other suit or footage to replace for Kaitlin. Metal Heroes had no other female in a series other than SolBrain, Blue Swat and B-Fighter. And those series (SolBrain and Blue Swat) didn't have costumes that matched with the ones used in VR Troopers. So I guess the major reason they didn't continue was because they had no more female hero footage. As for the series finale, they really should have had one. There was the reunion between Ryan Steele and his father; but they didn't destroy the main villain of Grimlord.

UPDATED NOVEMBER 1, 2008
Yeah that was 'Battle Grid' space which they wanted to have an equivalent to the rangers fighting putties and also, to have all three troopers together since all footage was derived from two different shows. So they used the Red Ranger's helmets and re-painted them. Above there they are. They did the amazing skill of make the Red Ranger helmet look feminine (right).

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

RangerStrike Cards and Power Rangers Collectible Card Game

Rangers Strike is a Japanese trading card game created by Carddas (remember those Bandai trading card vending machines in Toys R Us back in the 90s?) initially based upon Toei's Super Sentai Series television franchise. It was released in 2006 in commemoration of the Super Sentai series' 30th anniversary. The game was expanded with several expansion packs, such as the The Masked Rider Expansion collection in 2007, featuring characters from the Kamen Rider Series television franchise, and the Special Metal Edition in 2008 featuring characters from the Metal Heroes Series television franchise. Well, now it is coming to the States with Power Rangers Collecting Card Game.

And sure enough, like the show itself that is from the Japanese, they took the beautiful illustrations and put them in English. Reading a couple of the scans, the descriptions are short but pretty accurate. I think they did a good job, I jut wish they didn't use only 60% of the image.

To the left is the only Japanese card and to the right is the American one obviously.

And the most famous image and probably will be the most popular. I think it is a shame that they zoomed in this image because it omits the Green Candle, which is iconic with the Green Ranger.

Of course there will be lots of cards that won't be used, all the other Super Sentai cards of things that were not used in Power Rangers. Most likely these new cards will be sold in Wal-Mart, more updates when they come along. I am glad Power Ranger trading cards are back, I miss them.

The Official RangerStrike Website

Sunday, October 5, 2008

21st Century Colors

UPDATED 8/14/14

The 2009 Super Sentai series is rumored to be called Samurai Sentai Shinkenger and be based on elements like Earth, wood, fire, etc. So their helmets will have the elements on them, much like Ohranger and Magiranger. Their colors are yellow, red, green, pink and blue.

One interesting thing I have noticed in this past decade, none of the team's colors have matched back to back fundlemently. I like it at Toei's effort each team color scheme was different. In the 90's, they used the same color scheme (Red, Yellow, Blue, Green, Pink) about 5 times (Dairanger, Ohranger, Carranger, Gingaman and GoGoV), and two times in a row. Also Pink was used very sparingly in this decade where it was used 8 1/2 times in the nineties (White Swallow of Jetman had hints of Pink).

2000 - Timeranger - Red, Yellow, Blue, Green, Pink, Red
2001 - Gaoranger - Red, Yellow, Blue, Black, White, Silver
2002 - Hurricanger - Red, Yellow, Blue, Crimson, Navy, Green
2003 - Abaranger - Red, Yellow, Blue, Black, White
2004 - Dekaranger - Red, Yellow, Blue, Green, Pink, Black, White, etc.
2005 - Magiranger - Red, Yellow, Blue*, Green, Pink, Gold^, White
2006 - Boukenger - Red, Yellow, Blue, Black, Pink, Silver
2007 - Gekiranger - Red, Yellow, Blue, Violet, White
2008 - Go-Onger - Red, Yellow, Blue, Black, Green, Gold, Silver
2009 - Shinkenger - Red, Yellow, Blue, Green, Pink, Gold
2010 - Goseiger - Red, Yellow, Blue, Black, Pink, Silver
2011 - Gokaiger - Red, Yellow, Blue, Green, Pink, Silver
2012 - Go-Busters - Red, Yellow, Blue, Gold, Silver
2013 - Kyoryuger - Red, Green, Blue, Black, Pink, Cyan, Gray, Gold, Violet, Navy, Silver
2014 - Toqger - Red, Yellow, Blue, Green, Pink, Orange

* - technically MagiBlue is light blue, so Dekaranger and Magiranger have a similar color scheme but fundamentally not the same one.

^ - more than one color but the majority of their suit was this color.

Monday, September 29, 2008

Power Rangers Halloween Costumes

UPDATED JUNE 28, 2015

I covered Halloween costumes before, but not on accuracy of the costumes, if they are show-accurate. When it comes to the Halloween costumes, for SPD, we got all the male rangers and for Ninja Storm and Jungle Fury, one was skipped.

MIGHTY MORPHIN POWER RANGERS (1993-1995)

The Halloween costumes were unique as when the show came out, there were only Red, Blue and Pink. A three-Ranger stable that will continue occurring through the years. Later in 1994 and 1995 for Seasons 2 and 3, there were the other colors (Black, Yellow) including White, but never Green. Green was only available in sewing patterns. All the Rangers, except White were show accurate, they were a middle mix between the toys and the show suits with the 'coin decal' on their chests.

There was the White and Pink Ninja Ranger outfits, that were pretty basic, water-downed versions.

POWER RANGERS ZEO

The costumes, I recall all six Ranger Costumes being available in stores but online, I can only find Red, Pink and Gold. The costumes were show-accurate but the Gold Ranger's shield was flat, not popping out like the White Ranger.

POWER RANGERS TURBO

Turbo, I think this is the first year to only have four Ranger costumes (Red, Blue, Pink and Phantom). The unique part of this one is that Phantom Ranger was used twice, I think the first one-year Ranger to be repeated twice. The Phantom Ranger costume is a simple version of the show version. Funny thing is that they had a generic logo.

POWER RANGERS IN SPACE

The Silver Ranger got no costume. The only Rangers that got costumes was Red and Pink. That's it. It was the first time the Blue Ranger got shafted. The other costume sold with them was Phantom Ranger, who made cameos in the series. I finally found a pic of Red Space Ranger on 10/16/10.

POWER RANGERS LOST GALAXY

As for the costumes, as in Power Rangers in Space, there was only two Rangers and this time we got four--Red, Blue, Pink and Magna Defender. The Rangers were accurate, but the Magna Defender was a dumbed-down version of the costume. As you can tell, the 'muscles' started early on with the Galaxy costumes. This was the first to do so.

POWER RANGERS LIGHTSPEED RESCUE

For Lightspeed, only three were produced (Red, Pink and Titanium). This is the second time the Blue Ranger got no costume. It is the last time to have only 3 Ranger Halloween costumes. The outfits were fairy accurate. As for the Titanium Ranger, there was a yellow line above the 'Y' mark. Also, the yellow is deeper shade in the show.

POWER RANGERS TIME FORCE

For Time Force, we got four: Red, Blue, Pink and the Quantum Ranger. The Quantum Ranger is not accurate at all, it had a split of lines in the helmet and suit. Also, the yellow mark on the helmet and he is a darker shade of red, which on the show, he and the Red ranger were the same shade of red. This 'look' was also in some illustrations of him.

POWER RANGERS WILD FORCE

Wild Force, four again: Red, Blue, White (female), and Silver. The deluxe version were show-accurate, with gloves, boots and weapon.

POWER RANGERS NINJA STORM

Maybe because this was the first Disney series, most of the Rangers got costumes: Red, Blue, Navy, Crimson and Green. Also introduced to the Halloween costumes was the muscle suits, there is the choice between without muscles and with muscles.

Red, Navy, and Crimson got muscle suits. Blue above is the deluxe version.

Yellow Ranger did get a Disney Store exclusive.

The Green costume was very very show accurate.

POWER RANGERS DINO THUNDER

For Halloween, there was Red, Blue, Yellow, Black and Triassic. Black Ranger only came with muscles for boys.

Also unique was Adult costumes for once: Black and Triassic. They are as simple as the kid ones, including 'muscles,' no real gloves or boots, the helmet is a double part mask.

And even the only PR costume ever for dogs! Of course only in Red. I wish there was Pink cause I have girl dogs. There was no White, White was the only one ignored. Other than Black Ranger's gold accents being yellow and the Triassic Ranger being a darker shade of red, the others were show accurate.

The Disney Store exclusive was of Red and Blue in Super Dino mode.

POWER RANGERS S.P.D.

SPD was unique as there was there so many Rangers. 13 in the series and 7 in the toys. In Halloween, all the main Rangers got included... except for the yellow ranger, she didn't even get a Disney Store exclusive. Red Ranger and Blue Ranger got regular, muscle suit and deluxe 'Swat Mode.' Pink Ranger got regular and Swat. Omega got a muscle suit, Shadow got a regular suit, and Green got regular as well. Six is the most ranger costumes we have gotten lately. The costumes were fairly show accurate, but the swat and Shadow Ranger were a bit watered down.

POWER RANGERS MYSTIC FORCE

In costumes, Red, Green, Pink and the Solaris Knight. The female Blue Ranger at least got a Disney Store exclusive. They were all fairly show accurate, except for the Solaris Knight, it was stream-lined. It got some muscles in it, it is the only one. Red and Green got regular and muscle. Pink got regular and shinier 'deluxe' costume. And again, Yellow got shafted. No male Yellow Ranger has gotten a child Halloween costume.

POWER RANGERS OPERATION OVERDRIVE

For PROO, only the male rangers got love and in the costumes, there was 5 costumes (Red, Blue, Black, Pink, and Mercury) but no Yellow. Black, in a loooong time got a costume. All the boys got muscles and regular costumes. All the costumes were show accurate, boots and gloves came separate, but Mercury Ranger's blue color seemed a bit off.

POWER RANGERS JUNGLE FURY

Jungle Fury is a unique creature on its own. Because like Ninja Storm and Dino Thunder, the series started with three rangers (a female yellow ranger), so since there would be no new Rangers until July or so, they made Elephant, Bat, and Shark Rangers. So there is the muscle costumes: Red, Blue, and Rhino; regular: Red, Blue, Yellow and Rhino. Surprisingly, the other Rangers are fairly show accurate. I like the details in the back.

And the Disney Store exclusive is Bat Ranger, which is not show accurate at all! I already covered this, so I won't bore you.

The Rhino Ranger has a Halloween costume and he is being called 'Special Ranger.'

Violet Ranger did get a costume months later in the United Kingdom, I don't think this was released in the U.S.; this costume is fairly accurate.

POWER RANGERS RPM

Brand new revealed in July 2009, we got the main five, which has not happened since Ninja Storm. The suits are fairly suit-accurate except for the boots. Boots are sold seperately and they have in black and green but it has the regular tire-color cuffs. No Gold or Silver, I think that's fair if they have to exclude something. The boy colors all come in regular and in muscle and Yellow comes in regular and shiny like with Mystic Force.

'Classic Power Rangers'

Surprise! For 2009, we get Red and Pink child costumes of MMPR. It doesn't say MMPR in the title in the online stores.

Thre has been Red adult costume, it turns out to be official and they are making Pink one for adult too. The Red one is shiny for some reason.

Since last year, the boys could get muscle Red Ranger suit. And this year, the White Ranger costume was released, with abs and biceps or not, a simple saba sword sold separately.

This year for some reason they don't have the diamonds on the bottom cuffs, maybe the boots are sold separately that come with the diamonds and I don't see them.

And even though the Green Ranger is probably the most popular Ranger of all time, there was no Halloween costume for him until 2012, other than the sewing patterns made in 1994.

POWER RANGERS SAMURAI

Red Ranger Costumes. Regular, Muscle and Toddler muscle suits; Super mode called 'Mega' and available at Wal-Mart. First two 2011-2012 and last two 2012.

Pink Ranger Deluxe and Regular; 2011-2012

Blue Ranger Muscle and Regular; 2011-2012

Gold Ranger Muscle and Regular; 2011

Toddler and Mega Mode (Target); 2012

Green Ranger Muscle Costume available in 2012.

In 2010, a young boy made a Make A Wish request for a Yellow Ranger costume and instead of giving him the Yellow Mystic Ranger costume, they modified a Operation Overdrive costume to be yellow as there is no male Yellow Operation Overdrive costume.

MEGAFORCE