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Saturday, August 22, 2009

Do we really need a male PInk Ranger?

I know I have a poll up asking if you would want a male Pink Ranger or a female with colors never done before, but I have been thinking, do we really need a male Pink Ranger? Females haven't been allowed to be in more colors then the men have. Pink is the only color the girls have over the men. Females haven't been let to be Black, Green, Violet, Crimson, or Navy. I wouldn't mind it either way unless they even the playing field. Above is my rendition of Shinken Pink as a guy. It would be cool to have a male Pink Ranger, because I hate pink being discriminated against. But what I hate the most is discriminating females, so I rather girls get more colors before. It is silly to say one color belongs to one gender, because it is just a color. Pink has existed for years and only until after World War II, pink was assigned to girls. I covered most of this in my Kamen Rider Decade post about him being pink.

Male Yellow Rangers and Female Blue Rangers


I covered this before but I thought it would be nice to web searchers who only see one of my posts to have one simple post on this topic. For those who don't know this or never noticed it as a kid, some Yellow Rangers had no skirts like the Pink Rangers.

[chest to boobs: Zyuranger(1992)/MMPR(1993), Gingaman(1998)/Lost Galaxy(1999), GoGoV(1999)/Lightspeed Rescue(2000), Timeranger(2000)/Time Force(2001), and Gaoranger(2001)/Wild Force (2002).]

In five Super Sentai series that were adapted into Power Rangers, there was just one female in a five-ranger team, so a yellow male ranger became female. So that is the reason why some Yellow Rangers had no skirt. Contrary to popular belief, most Yellow Rangers in Japan are not female but male. Funny Enough, this gender switch was only done during the Saban era and never for Disney. It could be said that Disney was really lucky that Toei didn't have a team with just one female. In the case of Ninja Storm, Dino Thunder and Jungle Fury---the teams started out with 3, so Disney never had reason to gender switch a Ranger. And every other team had two females in the team.

Another funny thing, back when in MMPR, there was special footage made by Toei for Saban that had the Blue Ranger being smart, Pink and Green's relationship, but Yellow was not made female. In one episode using that footage--"Bloom of Doom," you can clearly see the Yellow Ranger's crotch. Also, many of the stunt people for the female Yellow Rangers were male.

The only male Yellow Rangers that got to stay male in Power Rangers were Tideus of the Alien Rangers mini-series during season three in 1996, Dustin in Ninja Storm (2003) and Chip in Mystic Force (2006). So far in Super Sentai, there has been 17 male Yellow Rangers and 13 female Yellow Rangers.

And how many female Blue Rangers? Four in Super Sentai and two in Power Rangers, but you already knew that. This for people unfamiliar with current Power Rangers.

Bandai America's Sales down because of Power Rangers


Namco Bandai Holdings fell 8.6 percent to 978 yen after the toymaker cut its full-year profit forecast, hurt by flagging video game sales in Japan and weak demand for Power Rangers toys in the United States. The company said it now expects operating profit to come in at 15 billion yen for the year ending in March, down 33 percent from the previous estimate.

Source:
Rueters.com - - Japan Hot Stocks -- Mitsui, Tokyo Sugar, Namco Bandai, Toyota.

I have been fearing this. Sales have been declining since Power Rangers Mystic Force. Sales for Operation Overdrive were so bad, there were a lot of toys on clearance in December and there was just a lot of stuff not selling. In fact, Power Rangers Jungle Fury toys are still on sale in stores like Toys R Us and Wal-Mart, they can't seem to get rid of them. The Disney Store has exclusive toys from Bandai but it doesn't seem to be helping. I have been waiting for Gold and Silver to be available here in Miami, Florida since May and even though it the figures have been popping up in other cities, there are many cities that still have not. Many fans are like me, upset that new stuff haven't appeared.

Power Rangers RPM - Episode 21 - "Not So Simple"

"Not So Simple"
Episode Summary:

Gema writes her diary and talks about the Rangers. She says Dillon is brooding because he is slowly becoming a robot and that she would too if she was in the same situation. Dr. K has put a weekly anti-virus on him that is helping reserve it but it is not better. She says Summer is caring, especially when it comes to Dillon. She wonders what uses on her hair. She says Scott and his father are alike but they don't see eye to eye. Then we see Ziggy showing them how to pose after 'winning' and she says he always tries to make them laugh, even when she doesn't get it. She says Flynn is a simple mechanic, he read her diary, accidentally. He is upset and she is upset too. He shows something cool, something not simple for Scott's car.


He shows off a device to clean a car and it is really cool. The alarm sounds, it is a shield breech, the seven go off. The Don Quixote Knight is big and the three robos fight it. The robos go down. Flynn made a new Engine Cell, Dr. K is against it and he blasts the other two robos and there is a system failure. After the commercial break, Dr. K does something and fixes it. The three megazords destroy it. Flynn feels bummed that they were almost destroyed. At the evil lair, Tenaya says the bot was a failure because Shifter designed it. Venjix has a new plan. Tenaya wants to design the next new bot and Shifter has a new on.e Back at the lab, Dr. K scolds the heck out of Flynn. She says they can't make a megazord for now.


Gema keeps writing in her dairy, feeling for him. Saying that he may not be a simple mechanic. Gem goes off to bed, she tells him she will go after him. She finds a wheel and plans in the garbage. Shifter has made a new attack bot, a giant hammer. Tenaya is peeved. She wants to know what her job is and Venjix shouts at her. Meanwhile, Gema plugs in the wheel and does a scan on it. The boys come in and head up to bed. Flynn scolds her for messing with her stuff. She wants to know the name. He says it wasn't sanctioned. She wants to upgrade it, just them. Flynn is surprised, he asks if she is going to complete his sentences. She ants to call it the Road-Attack Zord. They work on it in a montage with a bizarre 80's synth-instrumental background song. They take turns falling asleep.


The Hammer Bot attacks in the morning, the Rangers wake up and ready. Dr. K says she will send them in completely unarmed. After the break, the place is being attacked, the Rangers race out. Gema tells Gem to go off against her. Gema tells Dr. K about the new weapon and they used her system. Dr. K is upset and against not using it. Meanwhile, the others fight the Hammer Bot. Shifter arrives and says to step right up. Dillon fights it and goes down. Venjix asks for Tenaya and she is not there. Elsewhere, Flynn and Gema are in Flynn's jeep and Tenaya attacks them. Tenaya fights them as they roll out of the car. Flynn goes down and the girls go at it. Flynn intervenes and the two of them double-team the she-witch. Flynn and Gema do a lot of him holding her and throwing her in the air while she does a cool move.


Back with the Hammer Bot, the Rangers are having a tough time. The colonel wants to send his men. Flynn pleads to Dr. K and the colonel about the Road Zord. Dr. K sends it in. It goes through the Rangers and heads toward the Hammer Bot. It tries holding it back but gets slammed into a building. It heads towards the Rangers and Gold holds it back and gets hurt in the process. Dr. K says it is uncontrollable. Flynn and Gema hear this as they fight Tenaya. The zord comes towards Gold and the others stop it. Flynn apologizes it. Gema goes awol on Tenaya and picks Flynn up. Flynn says to give it a whack in the middle. Gem does so and the wheel miniaturizies.


Gema says it is her fault because she gave it too much power. They hop into his jeep and tells Dr. K is listen carefully. Hammer Bot grows up and is about to attack the Rangers when Flynn comes in in his zord and Gema attacks with her zord. Shifter backs out. Dr. K diverted the energy from the wheel zord, it was Flynn's idea. They form SkyRev Megazord. Blue has a new energy cell and gives it to Gold. He deploys the Road-Attack Zord. It transforms into a robot. Everyone celebrates. It attacks the heck out of the Hammer Bot. Dr. K tells Colonel Truman that she hopes he is not doubting the competence of her or of her Rangers.


SkyRev and the new zord destroy the foe. Venjix scolds Tenaya, she says it is the human in her, Venjix says she is 100%. Crunch wants to scrap her. Gema writes in her dairy, saying she finds the Blue Ranger more fascinating than the others, it sounds like she has feelings for him. Flynn asks if she is up to making new anti-Venjix stuff this weekend, she is all for it but since Gem is there, he says she can't, she is busy doing stuff with him.


Episode Review:
I loved Gema writing a diary and hearing her opinion on the Rangers. Also, I liked Flynn's passion. It was easy to believe she would get sympathetic to him that quickly. It is so unfair, I don't like how they made Blue's success in making a cell, a non-success. They obviously used new footage of him in the cockpit feeling sorry for himself. I feel as if Venjix is lying to Tenaya that she is 100 percent a robot. It was a cool and different episode, it felt very polished, like the last one. But this one felt very much so completed. Great episode! six out of six!


Friday, August 21, 2009

Hero Profile: Tomica Hero Rescue Force/Fire


Broadcast on Japan's TV Aichi, the Tomica Hero series based on Takara Tomy's Tomica toy car line. Tomica Hero: Rescue Force started out April 2008 and was followed by the sequel Tomica Hero: Rescue Fire. Rescue Force is deployed to protect human lives from various disasters too extreme for normal rescue workers, started with 2 men (blue and silver) and 2 women (red and white). Then joined by another guy in black. The series had 51 episodes and a movie.

The sequel started April 4, 2009 and so far has 21 episodes. Fire-1 is male and orange; Fire-2 is male and silver; and Fire-3 is female and green---a first in any tokusatsu hero series. This series started with three heroes. The others joined later, like Fire-4 in his black suit (male) and Fire-5 in his light blue suit (male).
Check out our galleries at OtakuHero

Thursday, August 20, 2009

Blake Foster on "Is She Really Going Out with Him?"

Maybe this is old, I spotted Blake Foster (Justin in "Power Rangers Turbo") in MTV's "Is She Really Going Out with him?" The show is about 'beautiful' girls breaking up with 'deadbeat guys.' I didn't catch the beginning, dunno if they mentioned if he was a Power Ranger. It was so funny, that he didn't want to be a Babysitter, and he could just tell of them of the experience and win them over. He used to have the helmets, but I think he sold it. I think he is cute. It is so screwed up the show makes it look like he is a loser. He has potential, he can wake up.

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Can you Hear Me? Power Ranger Walkie-Talkies

UPDATED SEPTEMBER 16, 2009 11:30AM EST




I never had these, but I did have the juice, soaps, slushie tumblers and water bottles with the Ranger heads on them. These were interesting. The first such Power Ranger Walkie-talkies were these. The Red ones, inside, were Black and Red, not like in the box. These were not made by Bandai but had similar box art.







And there was girl ones, the only ones ever made for girls, with Pink and Yellow.

In Space
These were the second to be Red and Black. The first made after a while, these are the first to be big figures. These were made by MGA, it had Bandai box art.




Lost Galaxy
There was Red and Blue and correct me if I'm wrong, they also had Green and Red. I am not sure if there was Lightspeed Rescue ones. These were made by MGA, it had Bandai box art. It also came in a box similar to the one below.

Limited Edition
Silver Ranger - Magna Defender
Wow! I didn't even know this one existed! Amazing! How cool. The Silver Ranger and the Magna Defender never met each other or were in the same place in the series nor in Super Sentai.

Lightspeed Rescue
This was the first and only walkie-talkie to have Red and a Megazord. I am surprised how detailed the Lightspeed Megazord was.

Time Force
For Time Force, they had Green and Quantum. I thought it was Red and Quantum, I don't know if Red and Blue were made. As you can tell, the Quantum Ranger was not show-accurate, it was based on drawings in promotional stuff, the Halloween costume also looked like this.




Wild Force
For Wild Force, they went simple. These were made by iMC. These were the second to be Red and Blue.





Ninja Storm
Once again, they were made by MGA but had boxart from Bandai. These were the first to be Red and Yellow. Apparently they also made Thunder Ranger ones.




Dino Thunder
I do not know who made these, but they were the third to be Red and Blue.





SPD
The fourth to be Red and Blue.





Mystic Force
Once again made by iMC, Red and Green.



They also made some like the Wild Force ones, but with bluetooth-like headsets.



These were the only ones to have intercom mask.




Operation Overdrive
The 4th one to be Red and Black, they made walkie talkie with just the helmets like the MMPR ones, but it was Red and Blue. The fifth to have blue and red.




Jungle Fury
The sixth to have Red and Blue. They had five versions, including the ones they made for Mystic Force (simple and mask).




RPM
The seventh and last to have Red and Blue.

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Super Sentai and Kamen Rider scheduling rumor

The latest rumor from Dukemon22:

As far as I know, W is set to be a full length Kamen Rider series, and will continue until next September. There is a rumor out there now that for the 35th anniversary of Sentai (that'd be Sentai 2011), the series will be a short one, like Decade, and this will bring the series back into sync, with September premiers. The rumor stems from Bandai wanting to take advantage of the Christmas season (new toys would be out for Christmas, instead of after.)

So, if this rumor is true, Kamen Rider W will start in September 2009 and all other Kamen Rider series will end in September. The new Sentai 2010 will start on February 2010 and end in August, so the new Super Sentai and Kamen Rider will start September 2010. See, school doesn't start in September in Japan. Super Sentai and Kamen Rider usually premiere in February. While here in America, new shows start in September. Well, they used to. And most children franchises coincide with the school year or summer, in order to ensure sales for Christmas. So, having the two series start in September will be interesting. I like a change. And such an interesting way to start things off. And how will a 6-month Super Sentai series look like? We'll see.


Monday, August 17, 2009

Super Sentai/Power Ranger Origin Powers

I was requested to categorize the origin of the powers of Super Sentai and Power Rangers. And thank god for Rangers Strike (the official trading card game), that they have already separate it up for me. Here is a list of category where the powers come from for Super Sentai and Power Rangers.

Key: * - picture above


Wild Beast
Wild Beast means powers come from nature, animals, or monsters.
  1. Kyōryū Sentai Zyuranger (pre-historic creature gods)
  2. Seijuu Sentai Gingaman (animal beasts)
  3. Hyakujuu Sentai Gaoranger (animals)
  4. Bakuryuu Sentai Abaranger (dinosaurs from another dimension)
  5. Juken Sentai Gekiranger (animal spirits) *

Over-Techonology
Over-Techonology are powers come from extraterrestrial, other-dimensional, or futuristic sources.
  1. Denshi Sentai Denziman (from another planet)
  2. Choudenshi Bioman (from another planet)*
  3. Choushinsei Flashman (from another planet)
  4. Chikyuu Sentai Fiveman-- RangerStrike considers this as 'Earth', but I would say it is a combo of extraterrestrial and Earth.
  5. Gekisou Sentai Carranger (from another planet)
  6. Mirai Sentai Timeranger (from future)
  7. Tokusou Sentai Dekaranger (space-age)
  8. Engine Sentai Go-onger (another dimension)

Mystic Arms
Mystic Arms are powers come from supernatural or paranormal means, and also includes ninjutsu. I would say these all come from a disclipine.
  1. Hikari Sentai Maskman (supernatural)
  2. Kousoku Sentai Turboranger (from nature)--Rangerstrike considers this as 'Earth technology' but it came from a fairy--supernatural!
  3. Gosei Sentai Dairanger (supernatural)*
  4. Ninja Sentai Kakuranger (ninjutsu)
  5. Chouriki Sentai Ohranger (ancient Earth technology)<---this could also go in Over-Technology or Earth Technology
  6. Ninpuu Sentai Hurricanger (ninjutsu)
  7. Mahou Sentai Magiranger (magic)
  8. Samurai Sentai Shinkenger (samurai-disclipine-supernatural)

Earth Technology
Earth Technology are whose powers arise from present-day technology made on the Earth by humans. This is how Rangerstrike has it:
  1. Himitsu Sentai Goranger
  2. J.A.K.Q. Dengekitai
  3. Battle Fever J
  4. Taiyou Sentai Sun Vulcan
  5. Dai Sentai Goggle V
  6. Kagaku Sentai Dynaman
  7. Dengeki Sentai Changeman -- was a combo of nature 'Earth power' and military
  8. Choujuu Sentai Liveman*
  9. Choujin Sentai Jetman
  10. Denji Sentai Megaranger
  11. Kyuukyuu Sentai GoGoFive
  12. GoGo Sentai Boukenger
So according to me, let's split it up:

Private Organization or Science
  1. Taiyou Sentai Sun Vulcan
  2. Dai Sentai Goggle V
  3. Kagaku Sentai Dynaman
  4. Choujuu Sentai Liveman
  5. Denji Sentai Megaranger
  6. Kyuukyuu Sentai GoGoFive
  7. GoGo Sentai Boukenger*

Goverment
  1. Himitsu Sentai Goranger
  2. J.A.K.Q. Dengekitai
  3. Battle Fever J
  4. Choujin Sentai Jetman
  5. Chouriki Sentai Ohranger*


Now... Power Rangers...
The origin of the powers were changed around from their counterparts.

Wild Beast
Wild Beast means powers come from nature, or animals.
  1. Power Rangers Lost Galaxy (came from animals, even though from another planet)*
  2. Power Rangers Wild Force
  3. Power Rangers Dino Thunder (the Dino Gems)--was also a mix of Earth Tech because Tommy made the zords.
  4. Power Rangers Jungle Fury

Over-Techonology
Over-Techonology are powers come from extraterrestrial, other-dimensional, or futuristic sources.
  1. Aquitar Rangers
  2. Power Rangers Zeo (Zeo Crystal came from another planet)
  3. Power Rangers in Space
  4. Power Rangers Time Force*
  5. Power Rangers SPD

Magical
Magical are powers come from supernaturally or magically.
  1. Mighty Morphin Power Rangers (Power Coins & Ninja Coins came from Earthen Ninjor)
  2. Power Rangers Mystic Force

Earth Technology
Earth Technology are whose powers arise from present-day technology made on the Earth by humans.
  1. Power Rangers Turbo (Zordon developed it on Earth)
  2. Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescue*
  3. Power Rangers Ninja Storm
  4. Power Rangers Operation Overdrive
  5. Power Rangers RPM
PRWF, PRDT, PRJF, PRTF, PRSPD, PRMF, PRLR, and PROO are the only ones to stay in the same categories as their origins.