Friday, June 15, 2012

Tokumei Sentai Go-Busters the Movie: Protect the Tokyo Enetower!

 The Tokyo Tower's mascot character Noppon will also make an appearance in the film. The Go-Busters must protect the Tokyo Enetower from the evil Vaglass organization. However Enter's new creation Steamloid causes the Buddyloids to rust, making them unable to fight or be used in the Buster Machines.











Nozomi Tsuji plays the voice of Ene-tan, the frog. 





Nozomi Tsuji plays the voice of Ene-tan, the frog.

Kamen Rider Fourze the Movie: Everyone, Space Is Here! Press Conference

Kamen Rider Fourze the Movie: Everyone, Space Is Here! is the main theatrical release for Kamen Rider Fourze, set to be released on August 4, 2012, alongside the film for Tokumei Sentai Go-Busters. The film features the evil Kyodain siblings composed of the older brother Grandain and the younger sister Skydain, which are based on the heroes of Space Ironmen Kyodain.
 Space Ironmen Kyodain was produced as a joint effort between manga artist Shotaro Ishinomori and Toei Company producer Hirayama Tôru. It premiered in 1976 and ran for 48 episodes. Actors Yūsuke Natsu and Takeshi Sasaki (who previously portrayed Hayato Ichimonji in Kamen Rider) starred as Skyzel and Grounzel respectively. The plot of the program involves an alien empire from the planet Dada called the Robot Army Corps. When they kidnap a human scientist and 2 of his 3 sons and force him to improve their technology, he has no choice but to go along with them, despite his deep anger, resentment, and guilt.

 The film's main antagonists are the evil Space Ironmen who are Machine Organisms infused with Cosmic Energy created by the Alicia Federation. The Kyodain were the first two Space Ironmen created by the Alicia Federation who suddenly became activated and gained personalities of their own. Groundain is the blue car-like older brother of the Kyodain. He is armed with a powerful cannon built into his chest called the Grounbuster X. Groundain is an homage to Grounzel from Space Ironmen Kyodain. Skydain is the red jet-like younger sister of the Kyodain. She is armed with built-in blades in her arms. Skydain is an homage to Skyzel from Space Ironmen Kyodain.

 Black Knight is the third Space Ironman created by the Alicia Federation who works alongside an agent from the Alicia Federation named Inga Blink. Unlike the Kyodain, Black Knight relies more on more defense than offensive attacks. Black Knight is armed with a machine gun built-in to his chest and a rapier called the Blackest Leaver. Black Knight is an homage to the evil Black Knight of the Robot Army Corps from the Space Ironmen Kyodain series.

























Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Lavender Ranger Editorial: The fandom reactions to Megaforce

 SPOILERS ABOUND
UPDATED 6/14/12 9:14 AM EST
I have been told by fans that I try to calm fanboys and unite together fans that might not agree. Last year when Megaforce was copyrighted and fans saw the 20th anniversary logo at the Toy Fair, fans have been debating over if Gokaiger or Goseiger would be adapted as Megaforce.

The reason is that fans wanted Gokaiger (pirate theme) adapted instead of Goseiger because it had more of an anniversary feel. Gokaiger, for those who don't know, had the power to transform into past rangers and got visits from past heroes, who had lost their powers. And there was a big war featuring many previous heroes, which is referred to as the Legend War. It was reported that Toei would reshoot the Legned War for Saban. Goseiger is just fine for the 20th anniversary because the main five have the same colors as the original MMPR team and have certain elements that resemble Zordon and Alpha, which are referred to as Gosei and Tensou in the press release. I have to admit that I was disappointed when Gokaiger was not picked. I supposed that Goseiger could had been skipped and adapted after Gokaiger. But I have hope Gokaiger will be adapted afterwards, hopefully 2015 because of the unspoken rule that no Sentai season can be skipped.

  [Fury Diamond has since removed this mis-communication off his blog. For who don't know what we are talking about, Fury Diamond spoke to some represenatives and he couldn't get a solid response from why Gokaiger was not used. It is supposed that Gokaiger's pirate theme was more focused for boys and they didn't like the stealing and plundering. The next day, Fury Diamond wrote they officially said that they are unable to skip a Sentai series. But it is officially an mis-communication and let's just scratch that off the record. One might call it 'damage control' but I think it is a good reason (the no-skip rule) and nothing to fight about.]
This has set the fandom on fire in just mere hours overnight. Fans are upset at the notion that Saban representatives believe Pirate theme was not appropriate and that stealing and plundering was not a good (Tell that to Jake and the Neverland Pirates - Updated 6/13/12 4pm EST). My argument is that Gokaiger did not steal or plunder, if they did it was minor and they could be ignored in a PR adaption. The main focus of the Gokaiger was to gain the approval of past teams and earn their powers.

Some fans bring up one Megazord combination for the upcoming Megaforce that looks like a pirate. I beleive they will still show it. But yes, it is a bit hyprotical but I think the executives that spoke to Fury Diamond were not aware of the fact. The other Samurai combination (Beetle, Swordfish and Tiger) appeared on the show but not in merchandise (sans for the individual toys) so I suspect the same would happen next year. This pirate-like Megazord is not the whole theme, so it is understandable to be overlooked. 

My point is that we should all calm down, for us that are outraged and we weren't promised anything (which sounds rough but it is true). While the fandom is going crazy, Saban Brands is just fine, they are going as business as usual. For them it is just, Shinkenger for Samurai for 2 years, the next series being Goseiger and it for another 2 years and then the next Sentai. I am pretty sure there is a rule they can't skip a series. I am sure those comments of Pirates are just some people in the company but Gokaiger will still get adapted. For years, fans have said one series would get skipped for one reason or another but it never did. For example, Go-Onger was thought to be skipped because of the suits and goofiness of the zords but RPM was made; Shinkenger was thought to be skipped because 'it was too Japanese' but we got Samurai for TWO years; and I thought Gosieger was going to be skipped because it didn't fit the 20th anniversary and Gokaiger was a better fit. But Saban Brands saw other wise. Stuff will always going to upset somebody (I remember being upset about Heath Ledger being cast as the Joker---boy, was I wrong) but I am happy to say Saban Brands has appreciated us. Evidence being them making an appearance at the Power Morphicon and Fury Diamond saying that they appreciated that fans told Powerrangers.com of typos and mistakes.

Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Megaforce Megabloks toys show possible modes?

Pictures thanks to FuryDiamond/RangerCrew/SamuraiCast 
  
Rangercrew went to the International Licensing Expo, where they showed off new MegaBloks toys. I am not going to post all the pictures just in case I get in trouble with MegaBloks or Saban Brands. But what was curious was they had three figures with bikes. The figures had different suits than the usual ones. Now this could be just toy only, but with Samurai, they pretty much stayed show-accurate, except for the racers. But these cycles look more specific. And with the Samuria figures, they don't have any modes haven't seen the show (save for the Blue Ranger with the black vest---which is based on Sentai's Gedou Shinken Red).

Could these be like Mega Mode of Power Rangers Samurai? Of course I drew these (above) based on what I can see from the pictures, most likely IF it is in the show, it would have more armor and detail. Now these could just be for the MegaBloks toys. These look a lot like motocross suits. It could be possible that IF these are in the show, they would only wear them when they ride their bikes, like Tiger Ranger in Jungle Fury.