[C3Gaming]

Changeman 1:

The commander feels like a cult prophet who was running a scam, but happened to be right about the thing he was BSing about. Pointing guns at people is so dumb and irresponsible. I hate him currently, but he's at least interesting (I just hope the future episodes continue his irresponsibility rather than just treating it as one-off weirdness).

Characterization is light so far, I think Black's the playboy, and Red has a sense of justice... other than that, flat. They agreed to be Changeman far too quick, considering they were all leaving beforehand.

On the upside, the mooks are awesome. The special effects are great (eggs!), really a joy to watch. I'm curious about the big boss Bazoo, and the the monster suits in general are cool and represent my favourite design era. I like that another monster is responsible for the growth method. I wonder if the Changeman will try targeting it in the future to reduce the enemies' options, but I'm guessing not.

ChangeRobo is a bit blocky, though no surprise given 80s designs. The sword being in the shield is a nice touch though.

Flashman 1:

The villains have a goal in creating the ultimate lifeform, and are going to use Earth's creatures to do it. Not a unique goal, but a clear and understandable one. I'm noticing there's a similar hierarchy to Changeman here, with a subset of villains with a leader, who answers to a boss in the shadows. I wonder if that'll be a recurring Sentai trope.

In a change of pace, the heroes are veteran space-dwellers already aware of the villains (though the villains aren't aware of them). When they see Mes headed for Earth, they decide to go protect their original home, the place they were born (against the wishes of actual aliens on the planet; makes you wonder if the rangers were abducted?). They apprehend a ship and take down a security robot (rather hilariously, by first trying to explain the morality behind what their doing TO A ROBOT, and then ejecting a CD rom from its stomach, calling it a "floppy disc". Love it, 80s cheese all over).

Again with the mooks have cool special effects. This time it's their insectoid mandibles clenching and unclenching, and shooting silly string from their maws.

The Flashman arrive on Earth, using their ships (which will inevitably combine into FlashRobo, but not in this episode!) to take down enemy ships in aerial and land combat. Lots of cool model effects! The kind you see in the first episode of a series and never again.

The rangers display a variety of civilian powers, from floating, to throwing explosive beads. While it's light on the actual fighting, it's cool to get an untransformed fight.

And even cooler when they transform! Pink, who was shown floating earlier, has crystalline boots, letting her stomp on enemies. Green has crystalline gloves, and Blue fires himself off as a projectile. Red and Yellow get the raw end of the stick with pretty basic weapons, but 3/5 unique ones ain't bad!

Starting the story in medias res was a great idea. Not having to show the heroes getting their powers gave more time to the other parts of the plot. While all the Flashman currently have the same characterization "wanted to go to Earth" with only Red being a bit more proactive and rebellious than them, it at least gave them a clear motivation, and ditto for the villains.

The special effects work isn't as visceral as Changeman, and I'd give overall points to Changeman's aesthetic, but in terms of an enjoyable watch, episode 1 of Flashman is a more engaging hook.

Maskman 1:

Maskman 1

Yup, the enemy organization structure is a recurring trend. *yawn* This one's a bit different though. While the others were almost business-like in nature, this one gives the vibe of a cult.

The hero's opening scene was interesting here. Takeru's a race car driver, his pit stop crew (the other rangers) all like him. There's a fun gag between one of the female rangers stepping on a male ranger's foot. (Although I doubt pit stop workers wear high heels...)

We're back to METAL special effects. The MOTD are beasts that have spent thousands of years in dark caves. They awaken in the dark, dripping in water.

Red's girlfriend has some previous association with the enemy, and warns Red, her boyfriend. They try to run, but his girlfriend is captured by a monster (by its tongue, lovely), handing him something as he tries to save her.

Enemy sends aerial/land troops, and then the Maskman come out of nowhere to take them out using their vehicles. The female Maskman have earrings on their helmets whic his... kinda neat. It's a unique gimmick that makes them stand out.

As it turns out, we've started In Medias Res again, like Flashman, and the Maskman already have their powers. Their origin story is glossed over, but that's fine, more ammunition for later episodes.

The tongue monster returns, and we get a cool sequence of Red Mask being dragged along the ground. Then when the monster's beaten, its severed hand lays on the ground. Awesome!

In the final scene, their mentor states they need to gain more power, setting a hook for next episode.

This is the best opening episode by far. Not only does it set up macro-mysteries (who exactly is red's girlfriend? What's going to happen with her? Who is the Maskman's mentor exactly?), but keeping the rangers in the background worked to their advantage. When the Maskman came along, I actually thought the pit stop crew might've been decoy leads. And yet, the Maskman actually feel like characters! While there hasn't been a wealth of characterization yet, there was some, and their scenes felt more natural.

So far:

Maskman has the best plotting/characterization by far, and gives me the most drive to watch more. Changeman has the worst, but also the best SFX. Flashman is more average all around, but has the most unique premise. I'm seeing writing improvement in every pilot, so I have to assume this is just a result of Soda improving! I've heard good things about Liveman's opening, so I guess we'll see. (And then Turboranger/Fiveman are in his "burn-out phase" and will be awful...? I guess we'll see that too.)