So I have a theory about
Dino Charge, the season of shovels. I think Tyler is Eiji.
Now, while you're scratching your head, let me explain. Back in 2012, Saban had filed a trademark for something called "Power Rider," presumably a third adaptation of
Kamen Rider. However, after two years, the trademark was abandoned and nothing came of it. Presumably because the ghost of Shotaro Ishinomori returned in some bizarre fusion of
Kamen Rider and
Ghost Rider, which probably would have made a better movie than
Core and
Kamen Rider Taisen (but then, so could a lot of things).
Now,
Fourze had just finished by the time we all learned about the trademark, and everyone pretty much figured that Saban would go for that. After all, it was super kid friendly. But at that time, remember, Saban was going back and picking up
Sentai seasons that had been finished for a year already, giving them much more room for adaptation--
Shinkenger,
Goseiger, and
Gokaiger were all already done well before
Samurai and
Megaforce premiered. And
Kamen Rider was beginning a new era, what we call the "Neo-Heisei Era" because of the change in themes beginning in
W and continuing through
OOO and
Fourze and beyond.
W,
OOO, and
Fourze were great gateway series, accessible to new fans by giving a sense of this new era while building on themes that the Heisei Era had been starting with. And
OOO had enough forms and enemies to sell a lot of toys--basically the same reasoning why Adness went with
Ryuki for their adaptation,
Dragon Knight.
"Now, wait, Akino," you say. "Just because Tyler attempted to defeat a monster with his
underwear, it doesn't make him a clone of Eiji." No. But keep in mind that he's a traveler with a very optimistic personality despite personal tragedy (in his case, the disappearance of his father). He's kind of spacey at times, snaps to serious during fights, but still goofy and adorable. Sounds familiar, doesn't it? In fact, you could say that his approach to life is "
anything goes."
My theory is this: Saban wanted to go with
OOO. Really fell in love with
the money they could make the concept and characters. But again, ghosts. So they abandoned the plans. Still, the idea of Eiji, or a slightly less traumatized version of him, was still in the back of their minds. It somehow made its way to Judd Lynn's desk, and with the help of additional writers, we got Tyler--a goofy derpbaby of a Ranger who travels around the country to figure out what happened to his dad, stumbles onto an important artifact that the bad guys are after and helps him transform, meets up with some friends who help him out and even get him a job in a local restaurant...basically transplanted into another franchise, with major tweaks to his backstory but not as much to his personality. Maybe we did get "Power Rider" after all.