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Saturday, September 5, 2009

What does Disney Owning Marvel have to do with Power Rangers?

What does Disney Owning Marvel have to do with Power Rangers?

In the opinion of this blogger that has been a Power Ranger fan since 1993 and have been in the internet fandom for ten years, I believe Disney wanted to a lock on the boys' market. Marvel is house of go-to boys franchise, the number one being Spider-Man. Many in the media believe Disney is weak in the boys' market and they want to tackle it. Well, they had one powerful pawn in the boys' market which was/is the Power Rangers. Unfortunately, they did not know how to wield it or/and they really couldn't wield it anywhere else. As I have mentioned before, the reason Disney has stop production on Power Rangers is because they no longer wanted to share profits with Toei and Bandai and wanted to do everything on their own and get all the revenue. Now, with Marvel, they have more avenues.

They still have to share with Marvel but it is just not one property. They have Spider-Man, the Hulk, Iron Man, the Avengers, Captain America, Thor, X-Men, The Avengers, and the list goes on and on. They can do animated series, TV movies, big movie features, etc. One non-Power Ranger fan can say Marvel is a bigger fish for Disney to tackle, a more of a sure thing. But Disney hasn't completely given up on Power Rangers, because they still have Super Legends merchandise and still have the copyright.

UPDATED 2/6/11
Now that Disney has returned Power Rangers to Saban and Saban has done a lot of promotion for the new season (Samurai), Disney has said that the reason they dropped PR was because mothers complained about the violence. But I am scratching my head in bewilderment at such a statement because the Marvel heroes are much more violent. I've seen Iron Man merchandise in Disney Store and Iron Man the movies are rated PG-13 and show lots of violence, much more than the play violence of Power Rangers. So again, I'm scratching my head as to why Disney spokespeople would say an obvious and weak excuse for dropping Power Rangers. Like Saban said, they didn't know what to do with it.

Kamen Rider Dragon Knight: Who Has the Decks

We haven't seen Len pick up the decks but in episode "A Rider's Resolve," we seen Len has five Advent Decks. Six Riders have been vented, Len wasn't there when Torque was vented, so it makes sense he doesn't have that deck. The decks he has are Incisor, Camo, Thrust, Sting, and Spear. He vented Incisor, so it makes sense he has that deck. Torque vented Camo but I remember seeing the Camo deck left alone. Strike vented Thrust in front of Len, Kit, and Chris, so it makes sense that Len could have grabbed it. Strike vented Sting instead of Len, so it makes sense Len would grab that deck. And Kit vented Spear, so he must have given the deck to Len.

Power Rangers RPM - Episode 22 - "Dome Dolls"

Episode 22 - "Dome Dolls"

Episode Summary:

It is a hot day, a black robot general walks down the desert. Back in the dome, Flynn gets oil in the face when Dillon starts his jeep. He needs a lot to go on his jeep. Ziggy puts a chef hat on Dr. K's head and she takes it off and shreds it in a blender. Ziggy wants to teach her how to make a good breakfast, but she is not a great pupil. She asks where he learned how to cook and he says prison. She runs away. Gema comes in, beating out Gem and Scott. The black robot comes into the villain's lair. Tenaya has a new robot, full of straws. Kilobyte, Venjix's most feared general is the name of the black robot, he is feared by the others. He takes off his head and takes out dust and wants Tenaya to clean it up. She is insulted and wants to fights him but the others hold her back. Tenaya is commanded to go with her Chemical Bot to the city.


Tenaya is upset that Kilobyte called her sweetheart and blasts a Grinder. The Rangers arrive and fight the Grinders. The Rangers split and the five go after Chemical Bot. Tenaya takes on the twins. The three hold the robot down and the other two its down. He looses his red drink and freaks out. He dirnks the purple drink and sprays it on the Rangers. He disappears. Yellow grabs his red drink that he left behind. Tenaya returns to the base and Kilobyte scoffs at her. Chemical Banki pours a yellow drink in the tubes of the city and a yellow gas goes off. Two soldiers go by it and faint. Then all the men in the city fall asleep.


Summer does a cool move on the billard table when Gem, Scott, and Dillon have fall asleep. Flynn falls asleep. Dr. K says that the gas is specific chromosome, gender-specific. Vasquez tells them that the Colonel is asleep. Ziggy has not be knocked out... until now. Vasquez is worried. Summer tells Gema to work on the upgrades, Dr. K will work on a antidote and Summer will take care of Vasquez. Kilabyte criticizes Tenaya (she asks if because she looks female, that he thinks she is weak, he says it is because she is programmed to be a girl, that she is weak.) and is sexist and holds her up, until Venjix tells him to let her go. Summer gives Vasquez confidence. Meanwhile, Gema upgrades the Road Zord, but now it will only work with Scott's Engine Cell. Dr. K has an antidote and tries it on Ziggy. Ziggy wakes up and says he had a dream where he was with Dr. K. He falls asleep again and Summer arrives.


Tenaya, Chemical Bot and the Grinders come into the city as the guards are asleep. Summer and Gema use Dillon's car, saying it is an emergency. After the break, the girls arrive in Dillon's car. Summer asks Vasquez if she is ready, she says not yet. They fight the Grinders. Tenaya brings the girls down. They then morph--Silver and Yellow share a screen. Sorry, for those hoping for Silver to have the screen on her own. Yellow does an energy burst and takes down some Grinders. Dr. K continues working on the antidote. Tenaya pushes Chemical Bot into the fight and the two fight him. Vasquez initiates a thunder storm and takes out the Grinders. Tenaya attacks the duo. Vasquez creates a tornado, the girls grab on to 'something' and the twister takes in the bot and the grinders.


Tenaya holds on to dear life. Vasquez's base goes haywire and the climate control goes offline. The girls de-morph. Dr. K finally has the antidote and sprays it on the boys. She gives Scott the Road Attack Zord and the boys run off to battle. Tenaya is about to attack the girls when Kilobyte shoots Tenaya down, saying no one likes a cheap shot. Tenaya is clearly upset. The boys arrive, saying stay away from 'our' women and re-tract his statement. Scott and the Road Attack Zord fight the Chemical Bot on the other side of the city. The Rangers reunite. The bot is grown and the other zords except for Red's fight the bot. Because his energy is down. ValveMax and Mach Megazord are formed and take down the monster. Red cheers them on from below.


After the break, the twins and Ziggy pour the antidote in the fan. Ziggy wanted all the girls for himself to date. Dillon is upset that his car hood is gone, Summer and Gema bring it. Dillon is upset. Flynn is for painting it. Dillon doesn't want it like new, he wants it like he had it. Gema and Summer say he understands. Dillon tells her not to drive his car. She says not to fall asleep next time. Dillon asks how driving his car into a tornado a good thing. Scott and Flynn says it is good because at least their cars were not used. Tenaya overhears Kilobyte asking Venjix if she knows the truth about herself. He says she should never find out. Tenaya wants to show Kilobyte who is ruthless.


Review:
It is obvious they used the Straw Banki instead of the Shower Banki because of Shower Banki's obscene nipples. (Her faucet knobs were her nipples) Shower Banki's plot was used in this episode but they switched the bot. Actually, they combined two monster's plots together. Interesting. Also interesting that they brought in Krikezy early on, he is suppose to appear later on. He appeared in the Japanese magazine fans of PRRPM, so that will be interesting if there are some surprises coming up. It is interesting that there is a dynamic between Kilobyte and Tenaya. In the Go-Onger episode, Yellow and Silver initially succumbed to the pressure and were scared, but thank god our women are much braver. Yellow took lead fast. Vasquez sort of reflected the Japanese rangers. But the episode isn't as great as I thought it would be, I would have liked it if the girls would defeat the monster on their own.

Friday, September 4, 2009

Kamen Rider Cutie #10: Carrie Reichenbach

She portrays Kase, Kamen Rider Siren on Kamen Rider Dragon Knight.

She has been on "Monk," "Fashion House," Yes Man, "Rules of Engagement," and "Two and a Half Men."

Next up for her is Mercury Abandoned.










Oops--Missed Kamen Rider Dragon Knight Episode 21 today


For some strange reason, the CW aired Kamen Rider Dragon Knight episode 21 "Strike's Ultimatum" today in the United States on September 4th and won't rerun it any time soon. I am always on top of these things but not this time, I only caught the end. For those who missed it, here is a description:

Kit and Maya go to the place indicated by JTC, looking for his father, who was kidnapped by Strike. Len learns that Kit and Maya could be falling into a trap and goes to help them. Kit begins to fight Strike, who soon receives reinforcement from the Cho brothers, but Kit manages to defeat them and vents Kamen Rider Spear, which leaves Axe furious. At the end of the episode, Kase transforms into Kamen Rider Siren appears and defeats some of Xaviax's soldiers.

Upcoming United States Episode Air Dates:
22 "A Rider's Resolve" Saturday September 5, 2009
23 "Kamen Rider Siren" Saturday September 12, 2009
24 "Dark Temptation" Saturday September 19, 2009
25 "Dropping the Axe" Saturday September 26, 2009
26 "Kamen Rider Wrath" Saturday October 3, 2009
27 "The Attack" Saturday October 10, 2009
28 "The Arrested Dragon" Saturday October 17, 2009

Chris Ramirez/Kamen Rider Sting was vented by Kamen Rider Strike in Episode 19 "Semper Fi." Albert Cho/Kamen Rider Spear was vented by Dragon Knight in Episode 21. Kamen Rider Strike has vented three riders: Sting, Thrust, and Torque. Torque had vented Camo and Wing Knight vented Incisor. Now, the only riders left are Dragon, Wing Knight, Strike, Axe, and Siren. I feel bad for Chris, I don't like putting the mark on his cute little face. Hope he'll be back.

Thursday, September 3, 2009

Check Mate: Super Sentai and Kamen Rider chess pieces

In 2003, chess pieces were made. Chesupisukorekushon DX, which has also done chess pieces for Dragonball Z and Gundam.


Kamen Rider Ryuki (2002)
The first set ever made, there were 14 pieces! All Kamen Riders were used. I cover them below.
Pictures from this Japanese Site

Kamen Rider 555 (2003)
This picture does not show it but they have two Kamen Rider Deltas. There was also two Kamen Rider 555, and two Orphnochs including the female Crane. There was only a set of six.


Dekaranger (2004)
They finally did a Super Sentai one, but only six pieces. I wish they did more though. Deka Master (SPD: Shadow Ranger) was king, Deka Red was Queen, Deka Blue was Bishop, Deka Green was Knight, Deka Yellow was Rook, and Deka Pink was a Pawn. I like how Deka Blue had heads of the grunts. There were ten Dekaranger. I could imagine Break as King, Bright was Queen, Swan as Knight, Deka Gold as a Pawn, Doggie Kruger as Bishop, and Dekaranger Robo as a Rook.

What was made was a special Umeko in her bathtub with duckies. Some people find this disturbing.



KING
In the first set, Kamen Rider Ryuki (KDRK: Kamen Rider Dragon Knight) was King. On the second set, there was two different Kings. One being Kamen Rider Odin (KDRK: Kamen Rider Wrath) and the other being Kamen Rider Ryuga (KDRK: Kamen Rider Oynx).

QUEEN
Kamen Rider Femme (KDRK: Kamen Rider Siren) obviously was a Queen piece for the first group. But who would be an appropriate choice for the Black Queen? Well, Kamen Rider Ohja (KDRK: Kamen Rider Strike) is one of power. I thought him as a King, oh well. It's appropriate.


KNIGHT
Kamen Rider Knight (KDRK: Kamen Rider Wing Knight) obviously has to be Knight. But Kamen Rider Verde (KDRK: Kamen Rider Camo) as Knight? I don't know, I would have gone with Kamen Rider Tiger. But that's just me. Interesting on how Verde's Contract Beast peeping out of the base. Also for the good guys, Kamen Rider Alternative was made a knight.


BISHOP
In the first set, Kamen Rider Zolda (KDRK: Kamen Rider Torque) got to be Bishop and Kamen Rider Tiger (KDRK: Kamen Rider Axe) was the Bishop of the second set.


ROOK
Kamen Rider Raia (KDRK: Kamen Rider Sting) got to be a Rook and Kamen Rider Gai (KDRK: Kamen Rider Thrust) got to be a Rook as well. Kamen Rider Gai was more of an adversary in Kamen Rider Ryuki than in Kamen Rider Dragon Knight.


PAWN
Kamen Rider Scissors (KDRK: Kamen Rider Incisor) makes sense as a Pawn. Kamen Rider Imperer (KDRK: Kamen Rider Spear) was a pawn for the white side because Imperer was more of a 'good guy' than in Kamen Rider Dragon Knight. There were no more made.


2010 Sentai Rumors and Speculations #1

Dukemon22, the number 1 English source of Sentai and Kamen Rider rumors says the latest rumor of the 2010 Super Sentai will most likely center around cards. The rumor is that the arsenal used are Data Cards, that also double as a card game, much like Kamen Rider Decade. He says: "Not sure if the Sentai Data Cards will be compatible with Ganbaride, but Bandai not taking advantage of cross promotion is unlikely. Besides which, if they do another team up (New Sentai and Double, and maybe then Decade too), the cards would be a cool way to unite both shows." No word on colors used or numbers in team. Early rumors indicated on a 5-member team but the last rumor was three. Most likely animals will be used. Past rumors for 2010 have included ghost investigators, monsters used as allies (like Digimon Froniter), and combination of those last two concepts with Youkai.

Other rumor is that this new Sentai series will only last 30 episodes or so like Kamen Rider Decade. One of my personal speculations is that the Rangers will use RangerStrike cards like Decade did with past seasons OR they will use data cards like Kamen Rider Double and have multiple flash-drive-like devices.

More rumors:
"The rumor states that the villains this coming year, at least the first set of villains, will be an evil sentai [of 5 members]. The rumor also makes mention of a third sentai team, possibly extra rangers for the main team. This actually sort of reminds me of the setup of Digimon Frontier a bit, but with a Tamers flavor. Realistically, a card-based hero needs usually fights other card-based heroes, so this was sort of expected. It's like any other card game show."

"Now in my opinion, even though the cards are now pretty much confirmed to be in the style of Ganbaride. I think that the multiple teams, which have been rumored for a while, will take their motif from the different categories of Ranger Strike (Wild Beast, Earth Technology, etc.) Of course, that's assuming the rumor is true. Info from the reliable source from 2ch has provided info that Toei liked the "varied motifs" they used in Shinkenger, and will continue to mix and match in this coming year."

Rumored colors for the evil sentai: Blood, Iron-Blue, Black, Ash, and Tea. Maybe Tea will be close to yellow and Ash will be close to green, so it will be like a darker shade of Red, Blue, Black, Green and Yellow. Those of you that are color-blind, or various color visually impaired, you may not be able to see a difference between the colors I placed for black and ash.

Also rumor is that Shinkenger vs. Go-onger teamup will be released in theaters, like Go-onger vs. Gekiranger, most likely before March, but date not certain right now.


UPDATED SEPTEMBER 8, 2009 8:30 PM EST
"For all those still wondering, the use of cards by the Sentai '10 is pretty much confirmed. Details, of course, are not. However, we do have this latest mecha rumor, which seems to be saying that the rangers' mecha/partners will be very much based on different archetypes of TCG monsters. While Blue and Yellow are non-specific, many of the rumors have been claiming Red to be a dragon, though none of this rumor is anywhere near being confirmed. The card thing on the other hand, is pretty much a closed deal. I'm not sure of the team member count, but this rumor of three, opens up an interesting possibility. Even though the cards that are going to be used are supposed to be Data Cards, there's a chance the rangers themselves are based on the Ranger Strike categories." - Dukemon22

Here we could potentially have:
Red - Dragon (Mystic Arms)
Blue - Mecha Monster (Earth Technology)
Yellow - An Actual Existing Animal (Wild Beast)

The villains, rumored as evil rangers, could be Dark Alliance, and the eventual 2 additional rangers could be Over Technology.

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Chief Differences between Power Rangers and Super Sentai

While six months ago, I had highlighted Why You Should Watch Super Sentai, with concepts that are exclusively present in Super Sentai and are not present in Power Rangers. These concepts (Guns, perversity, writing, blood and death) are differences between Super Sentai and Power Rangers, but I also want to mention things they both share but slight differences within them.

Powers
In Power Rangers, they obviously have 'powers.' Having a morpher, in most cases they are bound by DNA or locked into the morpher, so they need something to transfer the 'powers.' And you could loose 'powers.' While in Super Sentai, the henshin device (morpher) is just a tool to don the uniforms. They can switch the devices if someone leaves or dies. The 'powers' as they are, can never be 'taken away' like they are in Power Rangers. Unless, of course if the Sentai henshin device is broken, but in most cases they are fixed OR recently with Gokaiger, that every team before them did loose their powers. The reason I bring this up, is because there is always a discussion in teamups "Forever Red" and "Once A Ranger" about regaining their powers, since in the veteran Ranger's respective finale, they lost their 'powers.' But in Super Sentai teamups, there is never a question on how they got their 'power' back.

Monsters having two lives
In the majority of episodes of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, monsters were either destroyed by the Power Blaster or Megazord. If they became big, they weren't destroyed firstly by the Power Blaster, in most cases. In Super Sentai, they must be defeated in adult size by the team's cannon and then they grow big and must be destroyed by the robot. Of course, this has been adapted in later on seasons and is now common in Power Rangers. And this concept can divert in both Power Rangers and Super Sentai, in different forms. Also, in earlier seasons of Power Rangers, it was common for monsters to re-appear with no explanation, many times after the monster's destruction. In Super Sentai, a reason is given to the resurrection to a fallen monster.

Villain Groups have names
In the majority of Super Sentai villains have names for their collective groups. Goranger had the Black Cross Army, Dairanger had the Gorma, Kakuranger had the Youkai, and Ohranger had the Baraonia Empire. Ohranger's adaptation Power Rangers Zeo, did have a name for their villain group and it was the Machine Empire, but it was the only one. Carranger had Bowzock, Megaranger had the Nejiregia, Gingaman had the Barban, GoGo Five had the Pysma Family, Timeranger had the Londarz Family, Gaoranger had the Orgs---Wild Force did too, Hurricanger had Jakanja (their logo above), Abaranger had the Evorian, Dekaranger had the Alienizer, Magiranger had the Infreshia, Boukenger had the Negative Syndicate, Gekiranger had the RinJyuDen, Go-Onger had the Gaiarc and the Shinkenger have the Gedoushu. While most of the Power Ranger villain groups were just refer to by their lead villain's name, much like Bandora's gang in Zyuranger.

Monsters have different classes
In most recent series of Super Sentai, monsters have different classes. For example in Magiranger, there are Dark Beasts, Super Dark Beasts, Beastmen, and Beastmen Kings. But in Power Rangers Mystic Force, their counterpart, the monsters were just monsters. In GoGo Five, each general had a different class of monsters, each elemental. But in Lightspeed Rescue, no such thing. Same with Go-Onger, each general was in charge of different class of monster (Bankijyu), if it was water, sky, or land. But in RPM, that is thrown out the window. All monsters have names in Super Sentai, but nowadays, we are lucky if a Power Ranger monster has a name.

Swimsuit Distraction
This hasn't been done lately, even though some Rangers have swimsuits (Abaranger movie and the Boukenger movie), but back from the 70's to 90's, female warriors have donned swimsuits to distract the footsoldiers. In fact, Miku of Megaranger showed Sae of Gaoranger how to do this in Gaoranger vs. Super Sentai. By the way, above is Momo of Ohranger.

Teleportation
Earlier in Power Rangers, teleportation was common. In Super Sentai, teleportation is rarel used. From the 80's and 90's, they did teleport from their robos, like in Zyuranger, Dairanger and Ohranger. The reason I believe Rangers don't teleport in Super Sentai is in order to run, for heightened drama. Yes, the heroes run, in the majority of every season, there is a dramatic scene where they all run to the spot to meet the villain.

Canon
While Power Rangers fans are sticklers for continuity between season and season and want them to exist in their same universe, but in Super Sentai, it was assumed each series existed in their own universe. You can start fresh with each season, each series had their own rules and history. In teamups, they do exist in the same world. But that is only the teamups. Rarely does anything from the past seasons are mentioned on the actual series. In the teamups (Abaranger vs. Hurricanger, Dekaranger vs. Abaranger, and Gekiranger vs. Boukenger), they go to the Abaranger curry shop, but it is never mentioned, for example in Gekiranger.

Related Topic: Greener on the Other Side: Why You Should Watch Super Sentai