Saturday, April 11, 2009

Power Rangers RPM - Episode 7 - "Ranger Red"




Episode Summary:
The episode starts out with Grinders attacking a mother and her baby in a playground. Could the playground be like a homage to MMPR, where they fought Putties in playgrounds? Ziggy and Scott arrive and have a discussion about one-liners and fight. The baby flies in the air and Scott saves it and Ziggy dance-juggles the mother while fighting the Grinders. Ziggy is about to fall just a foot down and everyone freaks out and Scott saves him with the baby's stroller. A new bot has been sent down, Ziggy and Scott morph and Flynn, Summer, and Dillon are fighting Grinders elsewhere. They then morph and meet up, Dr. K sends them coordinates and they stand above where the bot is traveling.


Ziggy tries out the new Croczord but Dr. K made a miscalculation when she down-morphs Croc Carrier and the Croczord becomes huge and hits a tower in the city. People run for cover. Scott has to make a choice: go to the tower to help people or confront the bot that is burrowing underground. Scott has a flashback to himself in a aviator simulation and later his brother Marcus had to make a choice for his team and his dad wanted it on his desk in a red envelope pronto. They were then attacked by Venjix and Scott had to learn hard. So Scott makes a decision and they go to save the people from the tower. The bot escapes in the process.



Back at the base, Ziggy says that he and Dr. K are both sleepy and must sleep, Dr. K is too busy to do so and admits she has made one mistake before. Later, we find Ziggy sleeping on cereal, when K explains they need something for a un-manned Croczord. Summer backs her up. They need a overthruster core reactor. Dillon wants to know where they can get the thruster. Dr. K says only Scott knows. In a flashback, Marcus tells his crew (including Scott) that they need to transfer the core and he doesn't know what it is but he knows what it can do so they must do it. Scott asks about the exist plan and then the place shakes. Scott's dad tells Scott to stay out of his brother's way and it is an order. Back in current time, Scott says he doesn't take orders from him anymore.


Scott needs the coordinates and his dad is sure he will be caught by Venjix. He wants to go alone and his dad is against it. He says that Marcus knows too that he is not ready for 'this kinda thing.' Scott steals the CD with the info. Alarm blares in the base. The Rangers find out that Scott has left 2 hours ago from the dome city to get what they need, Dillon wants to go after him. Dr. K tells them if they do, Venjix will find out. She plays for them the last transmission of the Eagle squadron. Scott was in air and Marcus was hit. Scott was then hit as well. Scott's plane was dropped down and he was alone in the desert and Summer came for him, they met for the first time and she took him on his motorbike to go to the dome city.


Scott gets what they need and destroys a Grinder and finds the red envelope. A bunch of Grinders are destroyed by Scott's dad. He is brought to the city by his father and army crew. Scott gives the overthruster to his dad to give to Dr. K. His dad scolds him for going and saying if Marcus was here... Scott clarifies that Marcus would have done it himself. Scott morphs and fights the bot and the grinders. The trio destroy the bot with their three-weapon blaster and he grows huge. Dr. K has the overthruster (The colonel and his cadet are in the base) and Black and Green call the Croczord (for some reason, Black and Green both have Engine Cells).


They then transform Black, Green and Croczord together to create ValveMax Megazord (sounds like Outback). They destroy the monster. Scott's dad and the other officer find Dr. K sleeping. Back at the Colonel's base, Colonel gives his officer the CD and asks him to do it right this time. He then finds the red envelope on his desk and finds out that Marcus had recommended Scott.


Episode Review:
I believe the show is first doing a "Lost" kind of thing where each episode covers the character's past or backgrounds through flashbacks. This one is done pretty well. In the Japanese footage, the monster could 'rust' thing and rusted up the trio's Engines so they couldn't use them for the next episode. This aspect was not used but the tower in trouble aspect was used. And good continuation by having Scott's hair like it was in the first episode, in cornrows, dreads, whatever its called.

Extra Hero/Ranger-like Ally

There are no official name to these heroes in Power Rangers but fans call them 'Ranger-like Allies.' In Super Sentai, they are called 'Extra Hero.' The Power Ranger names are in italic. The first such of these was NinjaMan/Ninjor, who could transform into SamuraiMan/Samuari mode. Others that would grow big were Ganmajin/Auric who transformed from a relic into a human- and Robo-sized warrior, like Zuuban/Sentintal Knight, who changed as a sword and was used in battle. In Carranger, there were two extra heroes such as SignalMan/Blue Senturion and VRV Master. While VRV Master's American counterpart Phantom Ranger was labeled as a Ranger. The first Bull Black/Magna Defender, not Red's brother, was a ranger-like ally. I consider the second Bull Black/Magna Defender a Ranger. In the 30th Anniversary Encyclopedia, Bull Black and VRV Master were not mentioned in neither the 'Sixth Ranger' segment nor the 'Extra Hero' segment. But in a special Sixth Hero stageshow, Bull Black was included with Dragonranger, Kibaranger, MegaSilver and others. The ones that were included in 'Extra Hero' was NinjaMan, SignalMan, Ganmajin, and Zuuban.

Friday, April 10, 2009

Power Rangers/Super Sentai: Different shades of Colors

UPDATED September 30, 2009 2pm EST
I thought I'd cover which are the colors used so far for auxiliary mecha (or in some cases, warriors) in Sentai. All of them have different shades in their subcategories as well. Many of the auxiliary mecha have debatable colors, is it cyan or aqua or green? I have had a long fascination with colors since I was a child, I had a Rainbow Brite birthday party when I was 5, the only 'girl' party my parents let me have. Power Ranger names are in italics. I guess this post isn't friendly to those who are color blind.

Orange
Gao Giraffe/Giraffe Zord was more like a carrot orange, Gao Jaguar of Gao God/(not given a name) is a pale light orange with tinges of amber color (Crayola's Atomic Tangerine). It is close to peach-orange or coral but it's not. Ankyloveilus/Ankylozord was a yellow-orange or Gamboge, GoGo Drill/Drill Driver was a plain orange, maybe like Home Depot orange, Carrigator/Croczord is a vivid strong shade of orange and Kabuto Origami of Shinkenger (2009) is almost like a orange-red-y color. There has been two heroes, with some orange in their outfit but not completely and they are DekaSwan/Kat Ranger (who had more orange, especially in arms and legs) and GekiChopper/Rhino Ranger (only had orange in trim). DekaSwan and GekiChopper were white, black, and orange. And the one that was completely orange was Battle Cossack from Battle Fever (1979), no other warrior has been completely orange since.

In Power Rangers S.P.D., Boom dreamed to be a ranger and had a fantasy and had a B-Squad uniform and a repainted Power Rangers Space helmet (Yellow) without black visor on top.


Different shades of Green
Gao Gorrilla/Green Gorilla was a regular green, Gao Ligator/Alligator was a dark green, but the toy was just a darker shade that Gorrilla. Gao Deer/Deer was a light paler green. Trance Spider/Spider Power Sphere was a basic green, the same shade as Shurikenger/Green Samuari Ranger. Parasarokkiru/Parazord was lime green. Rin Chameleon/Chameleon was a basic green. GoGoMixer/Cement Driver was like a JohnDeer Green. GekiElephant/Elephant sure does stand out with the other greens doesn't it? I really feel it is part of the teal/cyan ones but EVERYONE, many fans, say it is green. So I put it here to show it is not really that green. I believe it is a dark teal or dark Cerulean.
The Elephant Spirit Ranger from Jungle Fury is no where near the same shade of green as the GekiElephant/Elephant, it is closer to the shade of GoGoMixer/Cement Driver.

Periwinkle / Cyan / Teal
Gao Elephant/Elephant Zord, as I mentioned before was the first to be of this unique combination of the colors blue and green. This color is the most highly debated color, is it green or blue? Gao Elephant is teal or cerulean and Gao Rhino is Colombina Blue or a mix of maya blue with cerulean. Tortuise Hammer/Turtle Mace, one of the Karakuri Balls, was a Cornflower Blue. Dimenokodon/Dimetrozord was like a light teal, Go Go Shovel/Shovel Driver was cyan (brighter than periwinkle), Geki Shark/Shark Zord was aqua, K-Line/(not given a name in RPM) is light periwinkle, very pale, and Marlin Kaijiki (Shinkenger 2009) is a dark cyan, it is more blue than green.
The Shark Spirit Ranger from Jungle Fury is around the same shade as the zord, maybe a little brighter. Many agree it is cyan.


Indigo / Navy
Whatever people might call this color, purple or blue, it is a darker shade of blue. I would consider Squid Attacker/(no name given), GoGo Crane/Crane Driver, and GekiBat/Bat Zord indigo. Gorai Stag/Navy Beetlezord is of course Navy. Jumbo-whale/Whale Zord is Royal Blue, a light navy color if that makes sense. Carnoryutus (Abaranger 2003) is a interesting shade, like a pale Ultramarine and a bit grey-ier.

Kuwagata Raijer / Navy Thunder Ranger is the only warrior with a darker shade of blue than usual.

Purple / Violet
GaoHammer/Hammerhead Shark was the first purple anything in Sentai history, it was a vivid and perky shade of violet. GaoMajiro/Armadillo Zord was a lavender color, light violet. Kabuto Gani/Sting Blaster was a like a Royal Purple. Bakikeonagrus/Cephalazord is a mildly-dark violet with mixes of red or Electric Indigo. Geki Wolf/Wolf Zord was more of a purple than a violet. Violet is tangy, more pink-ish. GekiViolet/Wolf Ranger is that, he has different shades of purple. His suit a tangy violet like Gao Hamma, his boots and gloves are lavender like Gao Majiro, and helmet purple like the wolf zord. Wolzard/Wolf Knight was a purple like wolf zord. Wolkaizer is Wolzard, so I am not covering him. Update 3/11/10: Ika Origami of Shinkenger is white and lavender.

Non-Ranger White
These are auxilary zords that don't belong to White Rangers. Gao Polar/Polar Bear and Gao Panda were silverly-white. (Gao Panda only appeared as a toy and CD exclusive) Gattling Leo/Lion Laser was just plain white. Unikirion/Brightstar was plain white, maybe a bit pearl-y. T-Line/(not given a name in RPM) was like a silver-y or grey-ish white. Tora Origami is white and black.

Crimson / Maroon / Different shades of Red
The Gao Sawshark of Gao God/(not given a name) was a violet-tinged Maroon and so was Kishamoth/Paleozord. Gorai Beetle/Crimson Insectizord was Crimson. Stegsorideon or Stegazord was Burgundy. Stryacosaurus/Mezodon Rover was like a red-orange. The ones that were just plain red was Gao Kong, Gao Falcon/Falcon, The Stamp/Super Stamp, Pitashito Hitode/Star Blazer and GogoJet/Sonic Streaker. Kyoryu Origami is like a dark crimson and the Bull Ushi Origami of Shinkenger is a shade of red like Stryacosaurus. Update 3/11/10: Ushi Origami of Shinkenger is just red. Kyoryu Origami is a scarlet and maroonish color.

Kabuto Raijer / Crimson Thunder Ranger was a darker shade of red, and considered crimson in Power Rangers. Many fans clump him with Red Rangers and others consider him the closest thing to a male Pink Ranger.

Update 3/11/10: I will be posting a new post--update to this post with Shinkenger and Goseiger as soon as the Wind Brothers Set appears on the show and there is good enough pics. So sometime before May.

Related: Orange and Periwinkle... Pattern?

Monday, April 6, 2009

Super Sentai/Power Ranger Team Uniform Comparisons

UPDATED AUGUST 21 2009
I thought I'd do this (covering the uniforms and jackets the teams wore when not transformed), this has been discussed by many many fans for many many years. In Super Sentai, since Goranger, the team always wore the same clothes most of the time, sometimes they would alternate. They started wearing ranger-colors in Denjiman and Dynaman, this continued on for years. They first wore uniforms in Flashman and then in Zyuranger. It was hard finding these pictures!!!!

Zyuranger (1992)
They all wore ranger-color uniforms based on their tribes and carried their Dino Buckles on their belts. As we know, MMPR didn't wear uniforms, just ranger-color clothes. Dairanger had no team jackets, they wore the same clothes for a while but changed every so often.

Kakuranger (1994) / Ninja Rangers and Aquitar Rangers (1995)
The Kakuranger were ninjas and had ninja uniforms, all black except for White, with ranger-colored scarfs and belts. The MMPR had ranger-color uniforms with white belts and arm and leg cuffs that had yellow diamonds. White had a black belt and black diamonds. The Alien Rangers wore black long-sleeve shirts and pants with grey cuffs and their ranger-color shirts underneath. They wore gold belts and White wore a grey sash over her.

Ohranger wore teal uniforms and Carranger just wore the same clothes for the series, they switched half-way. As we know, Zeo and Turbo had no uniforms.

Megaranger (1997) / Power Rangers in Space (1998)
The five Megaranger were high school students, so they wore high school uniforms. Mega Silver wore regular civilian clothes, mostly white. While the Rangers in Space were high school students, they mostly wore special uniforms when they were in the Astro Megaship and other planets. They wore grey jackets and pants and a long-sleeve ranger-color shirt underneath. The Silver Ranger wore black with a silver undershirt. They are the first Power Ranger team to wear uniforms. In one episode, Karone got a similar outfit but it was a dark greenish jumpsuit with a purple shirt underneath.

Gingaman (1998) / Lost Galaxy (1999)
Like Zyuranger, the Gingaman had ranger-color tribe outfits. BullBlack wore red and black. As for Lost Galaxy, Mike, Kai, and Kendrix wore GSA uniforms that were blue and grey for men and rose and grey for women. Domon wore a green mechanic jumpsuit. Maya wore the same yellow tribe outfit and brown go-go boots the whole year and the actress always complained. Leo got to mix it up, but he wore red. This was the year when they started to wear the same clothes always. Karone just wore a black leather outfit.

Go Go Five (1999) / Lightspeed Rescue (2000)
The siblings wore orange jackets with a ranger-color mark with the insignia on their left labels. Lightspeed wore red and black jackets with ranger symbols on their shoulders just like GoGoV. GoGoV got to change their clothes underneath every so often but Lightspeed never did, except for Joel a couple of times. Ryan wore all black and had a jacket just like the others and in the same colors.

Timeranger (2000) / Time Force (2001)
Both teams wore the same clothes through the whole series, regular civilian clothes. But when the Timeranger would transform, they wore don these skin-tight grey suits with ranger-colors. They had their own odd-job company called Tomorrow Research and wore blue vest-jackets with red inside, sometimes. The Time Force uniforms were white, black and grey, they wore them occasionally, mostly in the future. They had no special jackets for their odd-jobs, well except for the occasional white jumpsuit for garbage-picking and painting.


Eric and Naoto and the Silver Guardians and the City Guardians had very similar outfits, just a few slight differences.

Gaoranger (2001) / Wild Force (2002)
The five Gaoranger had black jackets with ranger color, Yellow and Red had black pants, Black had black shorts, Blue had black cargo pants, and White had a black skirt. Silver had a grey and blue jacket and black pants. While Wild Force had ranger-color jackets and Red, Yellow and Black had ranger-color shirts underneath. Blue had a orange shirt underneath and White had a light pink shirt underneath. Lunar Wolf had a similar color jacket to Gao Silver, it was a blue-ish grey with silver. White had black skirt, Yellow and Lunar Wolf had black pants, Blue and Black had khaki pants. They all had their animal and nickname on their jackets.

Hurricanger (2002) / Ninja Storm (2003)
The uniforms were slightly similar but not completely. The Hurricanger outfits had mesh and the jackets looked more like jackets. The Wind Ranger Jackets had belts. Hurricane Blue had a skirt, while Blue Wind Ranger had pants. The Gouraijer had leather jackets and leather black pants. The Thunder Ranger had similar outfits to the Wind Rangers. Green Samurai Ranger had a vest-like jacket top with green trim. Shurikenger had no outfit since he had no one human form. The Hurricanger jackets were the first to be avaliable for sale for both adults and children.

Abaranger (2003)
Dino Thunder, like MMPR, had no uniforms, they just wore ranger-color clothes, different clothes. While in Abaranger, they did wear ranger jackets and the same pants all the time. Abare Killer wore a long white jacket and white pants and a black dress shirt. The four Abaranger's jackets had their dinosaur on it with their Ranger-color and black.

Dekaranger (2004) / Power Rangers SPD (2005)
The stars and ranger-colors on Dekaranger's jackets were on the left of their jackets. The B-Squad's ranger-colors are on the right side of their jackets. The Dekaranger uniforms were dark navy and SPD's uniforms were grey. You can't tell by the picture above but the Dekaranger had pants with three ranger-color lines are each pant and SPD in grey down the left leg. Pink and Yellow had two stripes on their skirts and a little SPD scrolling downward. They wore white shirts underneath. The B-Squad wore ranger-colored shirts under their jackets. The B-Squad girls wore grey skirts over their pants, while the Deka girls wore only skirts. Deka Break wore a white uniform with navy star and stripes. Deka Bright wore a similar uniform, with white and brighter shade of blue and a skirt and black tights underneath. Swan wore her Deka Swan uniform under a white lab coat, Kat wore no uniform, different clothes. DekaGold wore a red, black and white coat-like uniform with black tights and white boots.

Many thought the A-Squad SPD uniforms were like the Dekaranger uniforms but they don't, they have no stars and the ranger-colors are on their right side. They are dark navy color jump-suit a bit similar to the Dekaranger color but not completely. They did wear white shirts underneath like the Dekaranger.

Magiranger (2005) / Power Rangers Mystic Force (2006)
I couldn't find a better picture of the Magiranger uniforms. The main five had ranger-color jackets with flannel-like patches, this is connected with Wicca tradition. The back of their jackets had a swoop wing-like thingy. The boys wore black pants, jeans and leather pants. The girls wore skirts, their symbols were on different parts of the pants and skirt, for example Yellow had his on his pant cuff. As for Magi Shine, his whole outfit was navy and wore a gold dress shirt under his jacket. Their father wore a cloak and special outfit. Their mother wore all white, sometimes different colors, mostly pastels. As for Mystic Force, the main 5 wore capes, black pants and white shirts under leather vests. Their symbols were also in different spots on their uniforms. Solaris Knight wore a patched up vest over a shirt and special pants with the colors bronze, navy, red and yellow. Udonna wore all in white and Leanbow wore a khaki-colored uniform similar to Daggeron's.

Boukenger (2006) / Power Rangers Operaiton Overdrive (2007)
The Boukenger had khaki-colored jackets with ranger-colors and the inside was camouflage in their ranger color. The girls had brown skirts, Red had black pants, Black had blue jeans and Blue had black leather pants. Silver had black jeans and his jacket was completely silver with some black and orange. OO had black jacket and pants with ranger-color trim. Mercury had orange lines and two silver stripes on the front.

Gekiranger (2007) / Jungle Fury (2008)
Red, Blue and Yellow had similar jackets, they were Chinese-inspired. They also had similar shoes. Red and Blue had similar black pants with their ranger-color on their pants cuffs through a triangle. Yellow had a black skirt with yellow triangle cuff. Violet had a black and violet jacket similar to the Gouraijer and black jeans. Chopper had a nylon white/orange/black wind-breaker with hood and white and orange nylon pants. As for Jungle Fury, the main tree had similar jackets, they all wore black pants, Yellow wore a black skirt. Wolf Ranger had a similar jacket but it was a vest and he wore a black long-sleeve shirt underneath and black pants. I was not fond of the sleeveless vest (did not like the pop-out vest sleeve), I would have liked at least a short-sleeve jacket or full-out jacket. Rhino Ranger wore a white/black/orange jacket and black pants.

Go-Onger (2008) / RPM (2009)
The main five Go-Onger had black and ranger-color jackets with Go-Onger on the sides and their nickname, Engine catchphrase and Engine symbol on them. The boys wore ranger-colored shoes and black pants. Yellow wore black boots with yellow shoelaces and a black skirt with yellow trim. The RPM team wear black leather jackets with their ranger-color stripes on their arms and Zord symbol on their backs with Ranger-color shirts underneath. The Go-On Wings wear aviator jackets in their colors and red interior. Gold had black aviator pants and boots; Silver had a black skirt with red belt and black boots. They had their Engine's names on their jackets and an animal representing their Engine: Chicken and Tiger. RPM Gold and Silver got generic tracksuits.

Shinkenger (2009)
Shinkenger is the first show to not have common jackets for all five. Although the boys do have jackets that have their names on it and Shinkenger name on it and avaliable for sale.

Which are my favorite Sentai Jackets? Hmm... Boukenger, Timeranger henshin suits and Deka Bright and Deka Gold's outfit. I also like how Shinkenger are different.
Which are my favorite Power Ranger jackets? Jungle Fury, Space and Mystic Force.
Least Favorite Sentai Jackets? Gingaman.
Least Favorite Power Ranger Jackets? Operation Overdrive.