akinoame: (Naptime)
I finally tracked down the first mention of the rumored Eddie Guzelian ending of RPM, "Ranger Black."

Late October 2009.

Posted by CmdrCrayfish to Funaroboard, which no longer exists.

When I do the review, I will have something to say about it. But right now, my eyes hurt and I am exhausted.
akinoame: (Hero)
Guys, it's been 27 years.

Can we please stop calling them "Astro Rangers"?

They're in-universe called the "Space Rangers."

You know. Because it's Power Rangers in Space.

And as Andros points out in part 2 of the first episode, they are meant to be space-based. With a spaceship and everything.

Yes, they use "Astro" a lot in their naming scheme, but they also use "Mega" a lot, and you don't see them calling themselves the Mega Rangers.

To be fair, those guys don't either, because they don't put a space in-between.

...That ended up punnier than I intended, and I apologize. It is way too late for me to be up.


Also it was my birthday. I did not do anything, really, so nothing to post. Have a lot of work trying to make sense of disjointed scenes in the chapter I've been avoiding for the last few months.
akinoame: (Never too late)
So it's a good thing for me that Hasbro's Lightning Collection still has shitty looking faces, because I do not want to buy another Astronema and Ecliptor, even though that's my favorite character and her dad.

They gave her a smirk this time and it just looks horrible. Why do Power Rangers toys suck so much?

Edit: Also why are they releasing a Psycho Silver? IT WAS NOT A REAL PSYCHO RANGER. It was just a costume Zhane spray-painted! He stayed in that disguise for less time than he could stay in-morph at the beginning!
akinoame: (Diamond)
So I decided to post some thoughts on three entirely different things I've watched/read lately, and at some point later, I'll do my thoughts on Power Rangers: Once and Always, the 30th anniversary special. I want to hold off on it because, to be perfectly honest, I feel like it may or may not need to be a dual review with another 30th anniversary special, Babylon 5: The Road Home. And that literally just came out this week and I haven't gotten it yet, so...

So anyway, let's discuss the rest.

Ultraman 80: First Impressions )

Ultra Q )

Boom Comics: Power Rangers Hyperforce #1 )
akinoame: Rita Repulsa from Power Rangers emerging from her dumpster (Time to conquer Earth)
In regards to the upcoming Power Rangers 30th anniversary special, some important casting news.

Now, naturally, I'm really happy to see David Yost come back. And Walter Emmanuel Jones since, what? The premiere of the pilot episode some 20-odd years ago?

But please take a moment and see who else is coming back. For the first time since the finale of Power Rangers in Space in 1998, we have Barbara Goodson as Rita Repulsa.

AH! AFTER 25 YEARS, SHE'S FREE! IT'S TIME TO CONQUER EARTH!

yes I went out and made an icon specifically for this, no I regret nothing
akinoame: (Gem)
I swear, right now my brain is all "Rangers."

Power Rangers Beast Morphers.

He-Low with Juggler as a Red Ranger.

And the three words that have changed my life, thanks to the Kamen Rider OOO Final Stage show:

"Yokubou Sentai Greeedman."
akinoame: (Hero)
So I got the Power Rangers 2018 Annual #1 this week, thinking I was actually getting the one with Karone. But this had RPM and PRiS in it, so okay. Didn't mind. Read it.

Had some issues.

Read more... )
akinoame: (Hero)
I really need to edit. I do. I need to figure out titles for the chapters. I also have to do a 5K on Friday and that I'm woefully unprepared for.

But right now, I'm losing my mind for very good reasons. Power Rangers Hyperforce has part 1 of its season finale tonight, where they must go back in time and destroy Zordon. But with some help: according to Karan Ashley, Aisha, Gem, and Andros will be back in action to help them out!

Also,
Toku Nation reports toy information for the next Ultra series: Ultraman R/B, featuring brothers Rosso and Blu, who use eyecons transformation crystals to battle the evil...Ultraman Orb. Orb Dark, at least. So is this a villain with legacy powers accessing Orb's power? Has Gai fallen at long last? Or did Juggler just take the Orb Ring and leave Gai tied to a bed or something? Who knows, and I don't know how I'm going to wait until fall for this.
akinoame: (Default)
I did not know that the NASA logo is known as "the meatball."

I am also allowed to use their still images on my journal (assuming it falls under "personal website") in a non-commercial capacity, so awesome. I will have something to work with when it comes to the review images.
akinoame: (Kaito: Dark)
All right, these are the tentative plans for the next set of reviews, and my goals:

Goal 1: Finish Power Rangers in Space by the end of the year. I know I keep saying it, but I need to actually stick to a schedule. I might have to binge episodes on Saturdays if I want to make sure that I actually make it through the Endpoint Analysis, and I'll try to go simpler on those images; OOO was way too complex. Ultimately, though, this is a really hard season to do because while I like it, there's frustratingly little to analyze that doesn't have to do with Andros, Astronema, or Ecliptor. I have five batches left to do. If I can marathon and take notes, I can put together everything after, like I did with OOO.

Goal 2: After I've rested a little, review Ultraman Orb. Just the original 20-odd episode run first, with a Season Summation instead of an Endpoint Analysis--this because I have to purposely avoid talking about any other installments of the Orb saga.

Goal 3: Kamen Rider Gaim, which I suspect will be just as frustratingly difficult to analyze as PRiS has been--I don't want to say that I hate them now that I have to break them down, but I will say that neither show holds up quite as well as I thought now that I analyze them. Again, I will have to make the images simpler than I wanted, so I'll probably grab from the opening sequence.

Goal 4: Ultraman Orb: The Origin Saga. The plot of this is acually really similar to Gaim's plot, so it'll be fun doing their analyses together. I suspect a lot of it will be compare and contrast.

Goal 5: Orb movie, because I love Sadeath and I will really enjoy talking about him after screaming at Andros and Kaito.
akinoame: (Default)
I know I'm hard on Ninja Steel, but I have to say, I really liked how they handled Mick's backstory in "The Royal Rumble." Yeah, without outright saying slavery, they said that Mick was kidnapped and sold into slavery 20 years ago. It's surprisingly dark for Power Rangers, and the fact that it made him falter in helping Fiyero Viera I can't be the only one who heard that, was I? was really deep. Would I have liked seeing a little extra depth to it? Yes. But Mick has always impressed on the Rangers to behave professionally, and him quickly putting aside his distrust and trauma in order to get the job done feels much more in-character. And Viera still had to earn his forgiveness despite that, helping establish a connection to his family and promising to make things right as a ruler.

Kudos.
akinoame: (Fridge Cannon)
I don't know if even Peter Sudarso can save this show for me anymore.

Spoilers for Ninja Steel 10 and Geed 7 )
akinoame: (Zhane)
So I just finished up South Korea's first original foray in the Power Rangers/Super Sentai franchise: Dino Force Brave. Yes, it has its problems. It goes too fast, and just about every character other than Juyong, Juhyeuk, Deisaurus, and occasionally Torin feels extraneous. Purun and Dohee are probably the worst offenders, since at least Sechang and Hyunjun were beginning to get personalities--those two never really developed.

But the acting is pretty good. I think it's probably the hardest thing to act well in anything that has this number of special effects and people in costumes. There's this inherent sense of "...you know I'm talking to a giant bird with hair coming out of his eyes," and the focus on action makes it hard to develop chemistry between the cast. But I think as far as it went with everyone coming to trust Juhyeuk and how badly he realized he needed their trust and friendship--that was done well.

The final battle does have me wondering if the last battle in any Sentai season should eschew traditional effects and rely heavily on CG. It is thrilling...but at the same time, everything is going by so quickly that it's really hard to see anything. I think if Sentai can figure out a better balance of that, they could make the most boring part of the show, the giant robot vs. monster battle, one of the most exciting.

Also, props to the casts of Dino Force Brave and Zyuohger for one of the best hand-offs in history. The Sentai hand-offs are a tradition, usually between the Reds of each team. As far as Power Rangers is concerned, the only real hand-offs have happened in a meta sense, with one season's cast announcing the next during conventions, and the Sudarso brothers putting together their own Blue Ranger hand-off from Dino Charge to Ninja Steel. But I like how Juyong and Juhyeuk handled theirs to "Animal Force," or the Zyuohgers. It's a good way to get everyone pumped for the next season, and it looks like they tried to have at least Yamato's actor flown out to South Korea for the hand-off. It's cute.

Overall, don't expect anything mesmerizing. A lot of the issues with Sentai and Power Rangers as a whole are still there, but it's still pretty memorable. It's just meant to have fun, and that's sometimes what you want to see most.
akinoame: (Default)
Still the least subtle foreshadowing since...well, you'll see when I get to it in the Power Rangers in Space review.

Juhyuk is still my favorite shitlord. "If you hire me as a mercenary, then MAYBE I'll help." With Dohee like "...fuck this guy. seriously, fuck this guy."

And then add him to the end credits with the Rangers dancing. I'm guessing someone took him up on that offer.

Honestly, it's still a bit The Juyong Show, but now that there's more focus on Juhyuk, the others are getting more to do. Looking forward to Sechang getting some much-needed development.
akinoame: (Coffee break)
So more money does not make Juhyuek stronger? Well, that's a shame. Still, I do like that Juyong pointed out everyone's strengths and had them coordinate them in battle...while Sechang had to insist that his wasn't charisma, but grace. It would have been better if he'd defeated Juhyeuk by flirting or something. Still sorry to see it all coming down to Red as always, but at least up until that point, both the suit and zord battles were great.
akinoame: (Kendrix)
The format of the show makes it really heavy-handed at foreshadowing, but okay. Juhyeuk is quite honestly my favorite shitlord because he made Neo-Deboss pay him in a pyramid of gold ingots PLUS a dish full of gold coins...and he still had the balls to tell them that they only paid enough to contract him to FIGHT the Rangers, not to actually kill them. I love it.

There was also ridiculously obvious CGI...but I'm okay with it for one reason--it made the zord battle more interesting. See, the zord battles have always been the part that bored me the most in Power Rangers and Sentai. All respect to the art and to the stuntmen in those bulky suits, but they need to design them in a way that can move more easily. Look at Ultraman--those are simple suits for the heroes and heavier ones for the monsters. Figure out how to make a detailed suit that will allow the kind of acrobatics we get there. The CGI helped a lot to convey that King Ptera Brave completely outclassed them. You felt every hit. He was too strong, too fast, and altogether too skilled. THIS is how you introduce an evil Ranger. The Dino Force never landed a hit. I don't want to see the suit acting disappear altogether, but if this helps every once in a while to convey a brutal attack, then I'm okay with it.

Also, props to them for trying to think their way out of this bad situation. Purun reasons that if Juhyeuk is a mercenary, then because he's obscenely wealthy, they could try paying him to change sides. But Sechang is hesitant--not because of any moral problem, but because he's worried about how it will look for him if his fans find out that he paid off a mercenary to stop attacking him. Admittedly, these characters need some serious work to get out of their very archetypical personalities, but hey, that debate was good to see.

Profile

akinoame: (Default)
Akino Ame

June 2025

S M T W T F S
1234567
891011121314
15161718192021
22232425262728
2930     

Syndicate

RSS Atom

Most Popular Tags

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags
Powered by Dreamwidth Studios