Metal Heroes Thread! CHOUJAKU!
 

Super Sentai, Kamen Rider, and Ultraman aren't the only long-running tokusatsu franchises; 2012 marks the 30th anniversary of the Metal Heroes series, and the first Metal Heroes series, Uchuu Keiji Gavan (Space Sheriff Gavan). Not to mention that Gavan will be in the first Super Sentai/Metal Heroes crossover movie, Gokaiger Vs. Gavan: The Movie, which will be in theaters January 21st. So with all that said, let's talk about which Metal Heroes shows we liked or disliked, or speculate what will the future hold for the Metal Heroes series. Talk away!

-Uchuu Keiji Gavan
-Uchuu Keiji Sharivan
-Uchuu Keiji Shaider (Ryan Steele action footage, villains, and monsters used for season 2 of VR Troopers)
-Kyojuu Tokusou Juspion
-Jikuu Senshi Spielban (J.B. Reese and Kaitlin Star action footage, villains, and monsters used for seasons 1 and 2 of VR Troopers)
-Choujinki Metalder (Ryan Steele action footage, villains, and monsters used for season 1 of VR Troopers)
-Sekai Ninja Sen Jiraiya
-Kidou Keiji Jiban
-Tokkei Winspector
-Tokkyuu Shirei Solbrain
-Tokusou Exceedraft
-Tokusou Robo Janperson
-Blue SWAT
-Juukou B-Fighter (Footage, monsters, villains, and B-Fighter suits used for Big Bad Beetleborgs)
-B-Fighter Kabuto (Footage, monsters, villains, and B-Fighter suits used for Beetleborgs Metallix)
-B-Robo Kabutack
-Tetsuwan Tantei Robotack

I'm kinda hoping Gavan'a appearance in Gokaiger will lead to some form of revival of the Metal Hero series. From what little I've seen(IE, the last two series designs being used for Bettleborgs), I rather enjoyed the designs.

I have the whole first series on my computer, but I've only managed to watch the first three episodes. Hopefully I'll be able to watch it soon because I listened to it's soundtrack and score and it kicks major ass.

I grew up on Space Sheriff shows, and love Gavan, Sharivan, and Shaider, kinda lost interest with Juspion though.

I've tried watching all three Space Sheriff series, but I really can't get that into them. They all just seem really boring and the writing seems pretty sloppy (some of the episodes I've seen feel like someone took three different episodes and slapped together the beginning of one, middle of another, and end of the other). The suits are okay and I like the cool transforming space ships... well, the ones that aren't Sharivan's, at least. Still, they really don't do much for me.

I have watched a bit of the later stuff, though, and I like it more. I've got a big write-up of how much I love Metalder here, but I've also seen an episode of Juspion and thought it was pretty interesting. I do wish Juspion himself was less of a clown, but the concept behind the show looked pretty cool. I'd like to check out more, but the problem with trying to get into Metal Heroes is that there are very few subtitled episodes out there. There are a few Space Sheriff episodes done, most of Metalder, a few of Juspion, and one or two of Spielban and B-Fighter. I can work with raws if I absolutely have to, but with something like Metal Heroes I'd really need subtitles to be willing to give the shows a chance.

Just thought I'd show off the openings to all the Metal Heroes shows:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1pGi2ok72G4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b5rHl...eature=related

And yes, believe it or not, the last two, Kabutack and Robotack, which were aimed towards younger kids, count as part of the Metal Heroes series.

You know, I may not be a big fan of the Space Sheriffs, but I definitely think that Gavan has one of the best opening themes ever.

There's a guy on YouTube that plays toku theme songs on the piano and I've listened to his cover of Gavan's theme like a bazillion times.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n0DD1yk0pcg

I need more Spielban in my life.

Definitely hoping for a legit Metal Heroes revival.

I'd actually love to watch some Metal Heroes stuff but I literally don't know of anywhere that has decent subs of these. Anyone know of a good place?

Deadfish has about ten episodes of Juspion, four or five of Gavan, 2/3rds of Metalder (watch it, it's awesome), and one episode each of Spielban and B-Fighter. MCS is (slowly) working on Sharivan and has about seven episodes. Bunny Hat is (even more slowly) working on Gavan and has the first four episodes up. A couple groups tried doing Shaider but I don't think either (Hi No Tori and another one that I don't remember) got much past the first two or three episodes.

As far as I know, no one has even attempted Jiraiya, Jiban, the Rescue Heroes trilogy, Janperson, Blue SWAT, B-Fighter Kabuto, or the -tack series (although I'm not sure how many people are all that desperate to see the -tacks).

I've heard that another group is going to finish Metalder now that DFF has shut down, but I don't know which one as it hasn't been officially announced yet.

I should pick up Gavan one of these days.

And like every other Filipino, I grew up watching the Tagalog dub of Uchuu Keiji Shaider. The show itself is on an acid trip, but at least it has Naomi Morinaga in a skimpy cowgirl outfit. :o

:lol I've seen clips of Shaider on Youtube, and I have to say, it's pretty damn trippy. It's shows like these that make me think what drugs the writers were doing at the time.

I am not a fan of the early Space Sheriff shows. I prefer the rescue trilogy of metal heroes.

I really need to get around to watching the few episodes that have been subbed.

I liked VR Troopers as a kid, and would definitely like to see some Space Sheriff type shows. I will have to see if I can grab a few episodes of Gavan and whatnot from the sources mentioned on this thread and check them out. I am very much looking forward to seeing Gavan as the grizzled old badass in the Gokaiger vs Gavan movie!

Personally I want to see Winspector, Janperson, and Blue Swat if I get the chance.

Apologies for the necro-bump, but I'd really like to see this thread get back on it's feet, especially with Jaspon getting subbed

Someone's doing Juspion? I knew GUIS was prepping Spielban, but Juspion would be fantastic, too.

I will have to check this out at some point. I watched the first episode a couple of years ago. It was really, really weird, but looked promising. But weird.

Hey so there was a thread for this all along? I've been wondering for a while where to start with this franchise, I asked a couple of times in the how are you thread but my posts quickly got lost.

There really isn't a fantastic place to start, considering very little of the franchise is subbed. Also the shows' themes and tones will differ wildly from series to series. We've got about 3/4s of Metalder (missing most of the 20s) subbed and that's a really good show; I'd always recommend giving it a chance. I'm not sure how easy those are to find now, though, since DFF is gone. Some of the other shows do have HK subs, but, well, HK subs.

Looks like Juspion is well under way, though, and Spielban will be starting up soon. There are some aborted attempts at the Space Sheriff series floating around, too, but those shows are generally about as exciting as watching paint dry.

So the best place to start is...don't? :lol

There just really aren't many subs available. Certainly no complete series that I'm aware of at all. The Other Toku Fansubs thread will show you there just isn't much out there.

Agreed, it really is a fantastic series that I think showcased that Metal Heroes indeed could have a life beyond the "Space Sheriffs". I think some of the episodes might be up on KRDL, but I can't be sure


I also thought the Blue Swat compilation movie was pretty great as well. It's a shame that Hikari Senshi & Dengaki weren't interested in subbing the series beyond that point because it looked REALLY interesting even though it was one of the low points in the franchise

None of the metal heroes had been fully subbed, but just for information Gavan and Shaider exist in french dvd box sets, with just french subs and french/japanese audio, zone 2.
They costs around 20~25€, really cheap for ~50 episodes. That's no consolation for the one who doesn't understand French, but for some in Canada, Belgium, Switzerland or north Africa... (if one can ignore DVD-zoning, of course).

I saw the recent Gavan movie, hoping to enjoy it more than I found Geki's appearance on Go-Busters to be...it could use some work. It was okay, but if they seriously want to restart this franchise, they're going to have to do something similar to what Kuuga or Zyuranger/Mighty Morphin' did, and add something new. Kuuga had more forms than I have recipes for cooking eggs, and Zyuranger started the (proper) whole 6th ranger craze. It gave their series something new to be toyed with in later seasons. Maybe if Gavan deputized civilian in trouble each adventure so that they could take care of the local problem as well, that be neat. As for the movie, it felt like by the obvious reveal of the former friend as the villain, they were just going through the motions. On the other hand, it was nice to see Kotoha's actress again.

You should watch "Mutant Girls Squad", she's in there too (and much sexy), but prepare mentally before because it's really in the WTF-zone.

Well don't expect to see a lot of fully subbed shows. The Metal Heroes don't get a whole lot of love compared to Sentai, Kamen Rider, Garo, and Ultraman. If you can live without the subs, then I would say the Space Sheriff series, Kikaider, Blue SWAT, and Juukou B-Fighter.

Kikaider is fully (and officially) subbed. The only thing is you have to buy the DVDs for it unless you want to go rooting around for torrents.

It's also not a Metal Heroes series.

Forgive me for bumping this but I've just heard Winspector's theme song a few days ago, one word to describe it: addicting!

Winspector is an INCREDIBLE show. For it's age it's amazingly fun stuff. There are raws of the entire series floating around out there that are massively enjoyable to watch. No subs unfortunately. Guess no one in the subbing community loves it like I do :p

Fire, Walter, & Biker are an awesome trio of heroes. Winsquad is the coolest damn car ever. And dat theme song. Can not praise Winspector enough honestly.

Metal heroes don't get enough love sub wise period :lol

Yeah, I watched a few eps of it and I must say that it's kinda ahead of it's time. Feels a bit like a Metal Hero Sentai of sorts. MAY-DAY! MAY-DAY! SOS!!!

Haha!! Yessss....my favorite scene out of all the eps I've watched thus far! XD

Is truth a new metal hero show will replace sentai in 2017 ?

I see no way that would happen.

That's a little on the impossible side.
However, it's not impossible that a new Metal Hero series could be created by 2017. I'd be down for that~