Other AmeriToku actors who have passed on

Here is a list of actors from other American Tokusatsu (AmeriToku) who have passed on. Special thanks to Khal F.

Gardner Winston Baldwin
March 22, 1951 – September 7, 2011; 60 years old

Cause of death: heart attack

- Played Karl Ziktor and voiced Grimlord in VR Troopers.

- Voiced monster Mandible in the Masked Rider episode “Pet Nappers”.

Richard L. Rabago 

August 14, 1943 – May 18, 2012; 68 years old

Cause of death: unknown

- Played Tao Chong in VR Troopers.

- Played Master Lee in the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers episode “Plague of the Mantis”.

John Finbar Cassin (a.k.a. Barry Cassin)
November 23, 1924 – January 14, 2017; 92 years old
Cause of death: unknown - Played Cathbad in Mystic Knights of Tir Na Nog.

Vivian Lee Smallwood 
June 18, 1933 – July 22, 2017; 84 years old
Cause of death: natural causes - Played Nano Williams in Big Bad BeetleBorgs and BeetleBorgs Metallix.

Peadar Lamb 
1930 – September 1, 2017; 86-87 years old
 Cause of death: unknown (died in sleep)
Played King Fin Varra in Mystic Knights of Tir Na Nog.

\Verne Jay Troyer 

January 1, 1969 – April 21, 2018; 49 years old

Cause of death: suicide by alcohol

- Played Ferbus in Masked Rider.

Joseph Pilato (a.k.a. Joey Pal) 

March 16, 1949 – March 24, 2019; 70 years old

Cause of death: unknown (died in sleep)

- Voiced Vexor in Big Bad BeetleBorgs.
- Best known for his performance as Captain Rhodes in the 1985 film Day of the Dead.  

Galactic Sentinels MultiPortals Issue 13

https://www.patreon.com/posts/galactic-issue-1980172

What if other Saban tokusatu the movie treatment?

Power Rangers opened beyond expectations in the US and since they are planning six movies which would retell Mighty Morphin Power Rangers saga. One fan mentioned if they brought back one of the old Saban tokusatsu properties back. There is VR Troopers, Big Bad Beetleborgs, Masked Rider and The Mystic Knights of Tira Nog. Mystic Knights is not on Netflix like the other proprieties neither it has been on DVD from Shout Factory, it probably wasn't popular enough for a release. Mystic Knights was an original property without any Japanese footage. Masked Rider has tremendous copyright blocks from Toei and Shotaro Ishinomori family who do not want to give the copyright for any DVDs and any new adaptions.  I highly doubt any of these shows will get the movie treatment as the DVDs did not sell as well as expected. If they did, we would see more products about them like anything from Funko, Loyal Subjects, Welovefine, Bandai, etc.

VR Troopers
Aired: 1994-1996 (2 Seasons)
Source Footage: Shaider, Metalder, and Shaider
Original Premise: Ryan Steele has been missing his father who mysteriously disappeared, he and his two friends get a message from Steele's friend Professor Hart. They become VR Troopers to fight Grimlord from the virtual world, who in reality is an industrialist by the name of Karl Ziktor. Did I mention the Dojo, talking dog and flying car?

Movie Ideas: Bad boy Ryan Steele has been without his father through his teen years and went through foster home to foster home. He bumps into childhood friend and computer hacker JB who he hasn't seen in years. JB is openly gay, Ryan finds him strange, and JB Reese may have a crush on him. Ryan secretly wants to find his father even though he openly says he is a deadbeat for abandoning him. JB helps him track down his father. Kaitlin Star, a budding online investigative journalist is investigating industrialist Karl Viktor who is running for president ala Trump. Viktor is also an interdemensional being bent on conquering the real world. Eventually they find armor and technology from Ryan's father to become VR Troopers and fight Grimlord and his army. Gone would be talking Jeb and Professor Hart.
Appeal: When I thought Virtual Reality would never be back in style but it has come back in style. And the series was already serious to begin with. The movie could concentrate on faith, where Ryan lost his faith in finding his father and then gets hope again. And to never give up.

 Big Bag Beetleborgs
Aired: 1995-1997 (2 Seasons)
Source Footage: B-Fighters, B-Fighters Kabuto
Original Promise: Three average kids enter a seemingly abandoned house and free a genie that makes them their favorite comic book superheroes, unfortunately it frees the comic book villains. The house also has classic monsters like a mummy, werewolf, vampire, etc.

Movie Idea: Lots of fans, even my grandnephew want this to get the movie treatment but I find it way more goofier a premise than Power Rangers. One fan suggested it could be like Spy Kids. I don't see it as serious as Power Rangers with PG-13 rating, cursing, vandalism and sexual exploring. But if it kept the tone of Spy Kids and had edge then maybe we had something. How about the haunted mansion become a whole abandoned amusement park and each attraction had one of these conflicted 'monsters' like the count is a conflicted vampire who doesn't want to suck blood, werewolf keeping it a secret, etc. Flabber can be an actual genie that grants wishes and the kids were the only ones that could free them. They can have common superpowers and not individual ones like on the show. The main villain can be Shadowborg instead of Vexor and his cronies. Or instead of being too close to the source material, they can get rid of Flabber and the monsters and just have the three kids be actual spies and work for the government. The government can give them superpowers and Shadowborg can be a rogue experiment gone wrong.

Masked Rider
Aired: 1995-1996
Source Footage: Kamen Rider Black RX
Original Premise: Orphaned alien is adopted by a multiracial family while he had to fight his uncle Count Dragon as the Masked Rider. Fans of Kamen Rider didn't really like it but lately American Toku fans have taken to Ferbus and started a meme "Hail Ferbus." As I said because of legal ties and failure of Masked Rider twice in America (in 1995 by Saban and in 2009 as Kamen Rider Dragon Knight by Adness Entertainment) Toei have been reluctant to release anything on DVD or even let adaptations happen again (Power Rider). One hope would be if Power Rangers (2017) does extremely well internationally, especially in the Asian market and Toei takes notice and allows for a dark Kamen Rider production.

Movie Idea: My movie idea would do nothing with the Masked Rider premise and be closer to Kamen Rider the First, the Japanese reboot. Kamen Rider The First was about a college student being kidnapped and brainwashed  by a terrorist organization named Shocker to become a cyborg assassin named Hopper. The names could be changed but I think it would be a good premise. Let's say: Heath Henderson, college student gets kidnapped and conditioned by the terrorist group S to be a cyborg assassin called H. H remembers his humanity when attacking Journalist Ana and her fiance Kyle. Kyle is killed by one of the cyborgs, Spider. Heath rebels from S and given a motorcycle called the Cyclone. S creates another cyborg like H called H2 that resembles Ana's fiance. Heath swears to Ana to save her fiance and free whoever he can from the hold of S. 

Villains Week: Non-Power Rangers Ameritoku Main Villain Figures

 

Commanding Count Dregon (Saban's Masked Rider)

Came with Sword

Bandai also did a small collectible figure.

Vexor (Big Bad Beetleborgs)

The main villain of the first season of Big Bad Beetleborgs, one figure was made by Bandai.

 Evil Crustacean Nukus (Beetleborgs Metallix)

The main villain of the second season, it was also repackaged with some other figures in a set.

 Kilokahn (Superhuman Samurai Syber Squad)

Came with a variety of figures. The Superhuman Samurai Syber Squad line came from Playmates, who do Ninja Turtles

Grimlord (VR Troopers)

Apparently there was this bendy figure but I don't remember Grimlord being part dinosaur.

http://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/sabans-vr-troopers-grimlord-bendy-16127289\

 

This is a prototype of a Grimlord figure that never came to be, it is also half dino/lizard.

PMC3: The Aquitar Rangers and I!

 As some of you might remember, I got to interview Alan Palmer a year ago or so and he is so awesome. He's gay and married (3 times to the same guy! Hope it sticks now!) with 2 kids. He has done shows before, he has written and starred in. He is down to Earth and shy about the Con. I had to encourage him and Raija Baroudi (Delphine/White Aquitar Ranger and also voice of Jara in Beetleborgs) into stuff I will explain later. 

 Alan Palmer was there Friday and Saturday and participated in the "Unsung Heroes" panel on Friday. Video on the panel is available on this blog and my Mythical Destiny YouTube channel. Alan said he wished his character would talk more and explained about his mask makeup. Both Raija and Alan liked the makeup. Raija had longer hair at the time and had to spool it through a hole in the mask thingy and she said it was a bit of a bother. 

[Picture above thanks to Jill Sylvan]
Here is Raija Baroudi with my pal Jill. Raija is half Kuwait/half Irish, born in Ireland and has a wonderful accent! She is so much fun and she loves being a female leader, the first! She is also proud of being Jara. She was hanging and talking to Catherine Sutherland. She was there Saturday and Sunday. When the David Yost panel was going on Saturday, Walter Jones dropped in, then Steven Cardenas, Catherine Sutherland, and Nakia Burrise. So I decided to go get Raija and Alan who were in the big room with autographs. So I encouraged them to go on stage with David Yost.

[Picture above thanks to Jay of MorphinLegacy]
So Raija did and hugged him. On Sunday, Raija was late for the AmeriToku panel for Beetleborgs and VR Troopers. I urged her to go, but she had fans waiting. She said she'd go to the restroom and then go, I dunno if she did go, I think she did. She also was present for the 18 and over Scott Page-Pagter Audio Retrospective in the audience with Paul S., and Morrigan Mahan. I will discuss more of that later. Raija and Alan are both a delight!

http://www.facebook.com/mobileprotection#!/rajiaas.delphine

http://www.facebook.com/mobileprotection#!/alan.palmer2

Related: http://henshingrid.blogspot.com/2011/10/interview-with-alan-palmer-corcus-black.html | http://henshingrid.blogspot.com/2011/10/interview-with-alan-palmer-corcus-black.html

Ei Hamura's Home made Ranger Keys

Ei Hamura's Twitter account 

Ei Hamura, the actor who played Shoji of the Heavenly Gravity Star (Tenma Ranger) in Gosei Sentai Dairanger, makes his own Ranger Keys. He posts images of his Ranger Keys, both complete and incomplete, on his Twitter account.

 Black Condor

 White Swan

 Kei Hosogai (Basco) with a homemade Basco Key that Ei Hamura made him.

 

 Blue Beet of B-Fighter / Blue Stinger Beetleborg

 
Demon Hunter of GoGo Five

Dayu

 Kirinranger

 Ryuranger and Tenmaranger

 Tenma Ranger

Shout! Factory to release Power Rangers on DVD

 Above picture from http://www.homemediamagazine.com/tv-dvd/shout-factory-distribute-power-rangers-other-saban-titles-26645
 (Left to Right): Shout! Factory founders Garson Foos and Bob Emmer with Saban Brands President Elie Dekel and VP of Distribution Frederic Soulie.

This posted this on their Power Rangers Facebook, Sabans Power Rangers on Youtube and  Power Rangers News on Twitter:

We are excited to announce that Shout! Factory will be releasing classic episodes and seasons of Power Rangers on DVD starting this year, most of them previously unavailable on home entertainment shelves! Get ready to relive those awesome moments from your past, check out episodes you may have missed, share your love for the show with a new generation of fans, and stay tuned for more info!

We are excited to announce that @ShoutFactory will be releasing classic episodes and seasons of #PowerRangers on DVD starting this year!

Shout! Factory has released My Little Pony: The Power of Friendship and Transformers Prime, which are the newest incarnations of those franchises. As for older shows, they have released Captain N, Rocko's Modern Life, Reboot, Puca, Dinosaur King, Ahh! Real Monsters, G.I.Joe and Jem. They are also releasing Tennessee Tuxedo on DVD, which was highlighted on Entertainment Weekly magazine. I didn't like what they did for the Jem complete series box set because the quality was bad but maybe they will do better because judging by the quality from Netflix and Powerrangers.com, the quality is good.

 The multi-year alliance provides Shout! Factory with exclusive home entertainment packaged media (DVD/Blu-ray) and select digital rights to Saban Brands’ extensive catalog of properties including more than 700 episodes of Power Rangers (1993- 2009), 92 episodes of VR Troopers, 26 episodes of Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation, and 88 episodes of Beetleborgs for home entertainment releases and digital distribution across select entertainment platforms in North America.

 “We are incredibly excited about this new relationship with Saban Brands. Power Rangers continues to stand as a global pop culture phenomenon to this day. We look forward to bringing these highly entertaining series with great packaging and extras to fans and on family home entertainment shelves,” state Shout! Factory’s founding partners in a joint statement. “Our partnership with Shout! Factory is important and exciting news for our fans. Shout! Factory will provide unequaled access to archived content from Saban Brands,” said Elie Dekel, President of Saban Brands. “Fans can enjoy past episodes they haven’t seen, relive some of the exciting entertainment in these episodes, or even share them with a new generation of fans.”
http://www.deadline.com/2012/03/power-rangers-owner-saban-brands-sets-home-entertainment-pact-with-shout-factory/

The deal reportedly does NOT include the current incarnation of the show, Power Rangers Samurai, nor does it include the theatrical films spun off from the program (Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers: The Movie and Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie, whose rights have been retained all along by Fox Home Entertainment).  he HMM story by John Latchem reports that the "Initial rollout plans for the Saban are slated to begin in summer 2012, according to Shout! Factory, with single-season sets to start and potentially complete-series sets in the future."
Taken from: http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/news/Mighty-Morphin-Power-Rangers-DVDs-Planned/16646#ixzz1owji2TGm

Child Heroes in Toku

 2/15/11 UPDATED
Robert Fyle suggested this to do a post on child heroes in Sentai, Power Rangers, Beetleborgs and etc. I am not counting Riki (Kingranger) as some do because he was child-like and like a thousand years old and also played by a teenager, we have had plenty teenage heroes. 

 Kou/Kibaranger

In Dairanger (1993), Kou was the first and if you don't count Riki, the only Super Sentai hero that was under the age of thirteen. I think he was 11 or 12. He previously played a young Burai in Zyuranger. He was only in a few episodes but fondly remembered. His suit actor has shorter than the others and the suit actor only played that role---which many other suit actors have played plenty other roles in Super Sentai.

Justin / Blue Turbo Ranger

In Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie (1997), Justin was introduced as the new Blue ranger and was only in one season. Older fans disliked him, while fans who were under eight at that time loved him. He was a smart kid who got transferred into High School. He guest starred in Power Rnagers in Space.

Beetleborgs

Three kids (once it was four and if you count actors, it was five actors) became their comic book heroes, the Beetleborgs to fight evil from comic books and drawings come to life. The show aired from 1996-1998.

Kotaro/Kamen Rider Mini Den-O 

 Ryotaro's younger self at age 11 that joins the DenLiner group in fighting Gaoh and his Imagin underlings. The Tarōs can also possess him due to their contracts with Ryotaro which extend into the past. Momotaros does so and allows Kotaro to become Mini Den-O Sword Form in Kamen Rider Den-O The Movie: I'm Born! (2007). He is also in other Den-O movies.

Wataru / Kamen Rider Kiva in Decade

In Kamen Rider Decade (2009), Wataru was a kid and Fangire King in the Kiva world.

 Wasaru / Kamen Rider Hibiki in Decade

When Decade (2009) visited Hibiki's World, Asumu is Hibiki's child apprentice, wanting to become a full-fledged Oni just like his master Hibiki in the taiko drum-based Hibiki Style of Ongekido.