Friday, October 21, 2011

MMPR Costume Designs: Show Vs Movie

I realize I do alot of posts on MMPR: The Movie and here is another. Anyway, I never saw anything like this comparing the costumes of Power Rangers from the show and the movie. For the Rangers, Rita and Goldar, I compare the original Zyuranger.
Zordon
A big upgrade, we can see his lips move in sync with what he is saying! Obviously for the show, they blurred his mouth so they could make him say anything and match with how Rita's mouth didn't match what she said. In the movie, it was a new actor and instead of being aqua, he was white. And the effect was pretty good.

Alpha 5
Same voice actor, different suit actress. He was slightly taller, way shiner bulkier helmet with a bubble over his eye visor. His shoulder pads were skinnier and body was boxier with darker lightning bolt on chest. His arms were a darker grittier blue. His glove fingers were more segmented.

Lord Zedd
The silver things around him were boxier, while the original was rounder. Correct me if I wrong but the tube veins are missing. His silver is shiner and his brain is more red than pink. His 'smile' is also more crooked.

Rita Repulsa
Her movie outfit was more similar to the show version because the brown is the same shade as the show one and the neck dress is simpler than the Zyuranger version. The blue things were thicker and pointier in the original. Also the breast plate... it was more put together and black, in the movie you can see the brown. Also, I can't find a picture of this but I swear seeing the TV Guide picture of movie Rita, that she had car seat straps on her breast plate. But since she barely had any screen time, I don't blame them for not working that hard on her outfit.

Goldar
I don't know how to describe the change, they look similar but different. His chest is rounder and simpler, the original version was more detailed. His original shoulder pads had 3 chambers, int he movie it was one part. His face was closer to the American version. The original looked like a dog but the movie version looked like a fatter piece of rock. His horns were rounded and more arc. His wings were triangular.

Red Ranger
I am probably going to say more here, it is the same for Blue and Black, because it is a uniform. There was one diamond in the front versus have a diamond and two triangles since they were to look like teeth. The back had two diamonds, which I didn't like because many people mistake them for diamonds but they were to be teeth. The gloves and boots have ranger-colored arcs. The black buckles of the Power Morphers are ranger-colored in the movie. Their hostlers were ranger colored and black trim versus the original white with red trim. Obviously they had Ranger coins on their chests, here changing from Tyrannosaurus to Ape. The Tyrannosaurus symbol was slightly different from the Zyuranger version. As for the helmet, the mouth piece was boxier, the mouth bottom was more arced and the design was similar but widen.

Pink Ranger
Instead of skirts, Pink just had boobs in the armor. The back did look like she had a skirt but it was a flap. I didn't personally like Pink's helmet, I didn't like the arced wing on the face and the protruding Pterdatyl head. The original had a pink stripe in the back, here it was more white. This helmet design, along with Blue was my least favorite. Her chest had one diamond in the front versus have a diamond and two triangle. The back had two diamonds, the gloves and boots have ranger-colored arcs. The black buckles of the Power Morphers are ranger-colored. Their hostlers were ranger colored and black trim versus the original white with red trim. Her chest coin went from Pterodactyl to Crane.

Blue Ranger
This helmet design, along with Pink was my least favorite. The Triceratops mouth was thinner and more triangular, the horns popped out more and the visor was more narrow. His chest had one diamond in the front versus have a diamond and two triangle. The back had two diamonds, the gloves and boots have ranger-colored arcs. The black buckles of the Power Morphers are ranger-colored. Their hostlers were ranger colored and black trim versus the original white with red trim. His chest coin went from Triceratops to Wolf. We never saw them use the Blade Blasters but they were Ranger-colored.

Black Ranger
To me, the helmet design looks very similar except for the widen-ness and the bigger mouth plate than the original. His chest had one diamond in the front versus have a diamond and two triangle. The back had two diamonds, the gloves and boots have ranger-colored arcs. The black buckles of the Power Morphers are ranger-colored. Their hostlers were ranger colored and black trim versus the original white with red trim. His chest coin went from Mammoth (I mean Mastodon) to Frog. Originally the belts had a ranger-color stripe top and bottom, they probably thought it was over-kill and nixed it.

Yellow Ranger
Her chest had one diamond in the front versus have a diamond and two triangle, also her breasts were part of the armor with three lines on each side under the boob. The back had two diamonds, the gloves and boots have ranger-colored arcs. The black buckles of the Power Morphers are ranger-colored. Their hostlers were ranger colored and black trim versus the original white with red trim. Her chest coin went from Saber-Tooth Tiger to Bear. I like her helmet design and especially the eye lights. The snout was flatter but more triangular and the eyes were wider. Everything was more protruded.

 
White Ranger
Instead of a gold belt, he had a white belt. Instead of the Dairanger buckle, he had a Power Morpher, with white buckle around it. His shield had two triangular parts under it, it was more arched, compared to the straight bottom of the original shield. While the original shield shoulder pads were arced and straight, this one was a straight angle. His back shield was also arced on the bottom. He had the same cuffs as he did in the original. Instead of Ranger-colored designs on his boots and wrists, he had gold. The black parts on the top were wider and bigger. His white tiger eyes were more narrow and 'evil' looking. His mouth piece was more boxier. I like the choices but I wish they went with the gold belt because withe the white, I feel it washes the costume out. Also, they switched the Kibaranger tiger symbol for the Falcon.

Saba
It is hard to tell since he has such a brief and far away appearance. But it looks like his face is boxier. His gold is shiner and seem to have the same basic details, just his face looks more robotic and plastic-y. His snout also doesn't protrude as much as the original.

Related: http://henshingrid.blogspot.com/2010/08/sets-from-show-to-movie-mighty-morphin.html | http://henshingrid.blogspot.com/2009/06/long-line-of-alphas.html | http://henshingrid.blogspot.com/2010/08/mighty-morphin-power-rangers-movie.html | http://henshingrid.blogspot.com/2010/11/movie-zords-vs-show-zords-comparison.html | http://henshingrid.blogspot.com/2010/08/movie-exclusive-weapons.html

Tattooed Teenage Alien Fighters - Mind Games

Thursday, October 20, 2011

Kamen Rider Fourze other modes toy display

I know I am late on this.This was a while ago.





Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Holy S@*% Balls! Goranger, Kamen Rider and Ultraman Underwear!


Bandai is releasing a new selection of adult boxer briefs based on Ultraman, Kamen Rider, and the Super Sentai series for 1365 yen (US$17.78) per pair on October 24.

Left to Right: Aka ranger, Ao Ranger and Ki Ranger; what? No Mido Ranger?
 

 From left: Kamen Rider Fourze, Kamen Rider Amazon, and Kamen Rider Decade.
 

Left to Right: Ultraman Zero, Ultraman (the original 1966 version), and Ultra Seven.

I will probably be getting the Decade underwear! Since they have Fourze, hopefully they will be making Gokaiger underwear!

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers The Movie Review


This movie is sometimes dismissed because it is 'non canon,' but I like to think it has its own merit and can stand on its own. I know there is plenty of reviews out there of this movie, some by fans who saw it as kids and no longer follow Power Rangers. I thought I'd take my crack at it since this past month I've been seeing it endlessly because of grand nephew and my parents ban me from showing it to him because he started throwing toys at us and saying 'Hiyah!' He will be 2 in November and he was enthralled by this movie, especially the skydiving sequence (which still astonishes me because I wonder if the whole thing is green screen. I know the part with the actor's faces is).

Summary
Construction workers unearth a giant egg containing Ivan Ooze, who Zordon trapped years ago and Lord Zedd releases him. Ivan distract the teens with his oozemen and hurts Zordon and take the Rangers' powers. With Zordon dying, the Rangers are sent to another planet to find a fabled 'Great Power' to save Zordon. Ivan hypnotizes the parents of Angel Grove to dig out his Ectomorphicons while master warrior Dulcea helps the Rangers with animal spirits and giving them ninja suits. The Rangers get the Great Power and gain Ninja Zords, which they use against the Ectomorphicons.

The Positives
Here are the positive aspects of the movie, for one the sets, costumes, and all designs, it all very stylized and shiny and very epic in scale. The music was awesome, Gabrielle Fitzgerald's rocking body, and Zordon's acting was great. Fans are still in love with the costumes, some making green ranger versions of the Ninja suit and Ranger suit. The unique weapons and helmet adjustments were cool too. What I am not crazy about the suits is the two triangles in the back as the original Zyuranger were to be teeth, not just diamonds. Oh, these were positives right? Okay, some great one-liners like "This is going to be one messy night" from Aisha, "Where is my Autograph book? Power Rangers huh? So Zordon still has kids doing his dirty work? Well, meet my kids!" from Ivan, "All the things I've missed, the Black Plague... the Spanish Inquisition... The Brady Bunch Reunion" from Ivan Ooze. Also this exchange from Ivan and Goldar: "Here comes that cute little Pink Ranger." "You think she's cute too?"And from Kimberly---"Tommy, get your butt down here!"

Ivan Ooze is the biggest positive. Fans like to call out that Ivan is the first main villain to fight against a Megazord and it is true, it was fun to see. Also, he was the first villain to not be destroyed by a  finisher and by an outside force... a meteor. Paul Freeman really gave a great performance, he didn't take it super serious and had fun with it. Ivan not only had great lines but he came off as an old Jewish man who has been through stuff and didn't want to put up with a couple of kids.

The Negatives
The one-liners were great and the look of the movie was awesome, but there is some story problems. 1) The Rangers' individual personalities that were iconic form the start seem to be no where to be found here. I understand that Aisha, Rocky and Adam were relatively new to the writers and fans, but they could had at least Billy be the Brains. I feel that the Ninja Quest utilized the Rangers' personalities better. I also think that is the reason Season 3 went down in ratings, because fans, even young ones, felt like they were watching the movie again, that the movie wasn't worth anything. Now one could ask how could the movie be canon and look different and be connected to the series? My own idea would be that the movie didn't have the Ninja Zords or Ninja outfits, but the movie Ninja outfits did look a lot better than the TV ones of course.

The Megazord action I feel like its another failing. The Ninja Zords and Etcomorphicons looked great back when and they still hold up, they look shiny and fun. But the Megazord looks really awkward. This was 1995 and Toy Story had recently come out and the computer graphic imagery was still not perfected. Nowadays with the Transformers movies, this could had look a lot better with the right budget. Sentai uses CGI but in a very less-detailed colorful way. Even the graphics in this movie looked to be meant to be more sophisticated than the CGI used for zords from Sentai footage.

 My Take
I loved the night sequence of the Rangers fighting the Oozemen, I think the movie should had been more like that. It reminded me of the first TMNT movie, how gritty it was but still appropriate for kids. Like I said (even though I like the Ninja Zords and costumes), maybe to be in tune with not being canon, it shouldn't had introduced the Ninja Zords. I understand they needed to get rid of the Rangers so Ivan could take out his robots, but it would had been nice for the Rangers to be 'powerless' at home and try using their wits. This could had opened up to more Bulk and Skull and more character work. Also it would had been great to see flashbacks of Ivan Ooze and Zordon. I think this was, in a way, a missed opportunity to delve into the mythology of Power Rangers like Rita and Zordon. There was the PR bible but aspects were never really explored. 

We knew Rita trapped Zordon in his time warp and he trapped her, but how did she get the Green Power Coin? And so on and so forth. With the introduction of Ivan Ooze, it seemed like Zordon's only gimmick was trapping bad guys in containers. What I am basically saying is that it could had been semi-canon, but of course they had to sell toys. In books based on the movie and the original script, Pheabos was the planet Zordon and Ivan fought on. Also there was a lot of scrapped footage: the Rangers originally fought rats, Dulcea had the Rangers actually train, Dulcea had a buddy named Snoogle and their animal spirits visited them at night when they were in their sleeping bags. The Dulcea footage was scrapped because Martiza Hartigay was in them and they couldn't reshoot. I don't know if those elements would had 'helped' the movie, but even with its weaknesses, I still like watching it.

Final Thoughts
All in all, it is a great fun movie any fan can enjoy. Non-fans and adults over 40 don't get it and see it as a mess, but it is a pretty straight-forward movie. Six heroes needed to save their mentor and went on a trip to save him. I, unlike other fans did like Morton, he had his own mystery around him even thought there wasn't much to him, just comic relief. It is also the only Tokusatsu hero movie in epic scale to be longer than an hour. Sentai movies are great (most of them around an hour long) but never made for this much money nor this grand of scale.

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Captain America and Battle Japan

Toei had originally planned for Captain America to star in Battle Fever J with a group of newly created Captain characters from other nations, like Captain France and Captain Japan. However, in 1978, Captain America’s live action film rights were tied up with Universal Television, which was making TV movies starring Reb Brown (which Conan O' Brien used as a joke). The golden-age Marvel heroine Miss America was drafted as his replacement. The rest is history but how much did Battle Japan have in common with Captain America?


 Captain America was a skinny young man who was genetically altered to be an All-American Hitler smashing superhero. Battle Japan was a former National Defense Ministry officer. He is good at judo and karate. He is armed with a spear. He does a kung fu dance. Battle Japan never changed his body and wasn't from the past (well in the contents of the show when it originally aired). The first Miss America in BFJ was an FBI agent who joined the Fever team to avenge her father Bosner, who was slain by Egos. She is armed with throwing knives. After she was wounded by the Dracula Monster, she returned to the United States. The first Marvel Miss America, a teenaged heiress whose uncle was sponsoring a scientist who claimed to have gotten superpowers through a device that had been struck by lightning. Joyce, secretly tampering with the contraption during a thunderstorm, herself gained the ability to fly and great strength after lightning similarly struck (she originally had superhuman strength, as well as other powers, but after her few early appearances they were retconned).

Related: http://maskedmayhem.blogspot.com/2009/09/x-mens-karaoke-cousins.html