[XW1n5t0nX]

Timeranger Episode 4
Can I just that I find it pretty amusing/love how whenever a new monster appears that they say what crime/s he specializes in?

Ohhh Sion. You're always being happy and helpful brings a smile to my face. Though I must admit I'd probably get annoyed by him after a while. On the other hand it is sorta sad to see him getting tossed around by the others. He just wants to help out after all and make everything easier for the group.

The scene with Domon though, that is some funny shit right there.

Well Sion's backstory is sort of sad. However it's pretty cliche. It's one that a lot of other shows, books, and other forms of fiction have done before. The alien child monitored by scientists until he runs away and makes friends with humans. There's nothing wrong with using old stories, but this time it came off as really cliche and kinda boring to me. Couldn't they have at least added on to it to make not be the standard story?

FALCONNNN PUNCH!

Well that was a fairly nice little fight. It was very much different then most of the Sentai fights I've seen. I don't really recall seeing a fight as focused on punching as it was here. The fight felt a bit slow because of this, but it should be that way I suppose. After all it's just punching, there's no need for it to be as fast paced as the other fights tend to be.

You know I don't get something. The mechs are coming to the rangers from the future. But yet to get there they have to fly through the dinosaur age, ancient Egypt, and medieval Japan. Why do they do that? Did Providus hit them so hard that they overshoot the rangers on the first try?

The mecha fight was you standard one so yeah.

Well 4 was an alright episode. It's story while there was sort of dull, and the fights were short. Character development wise, I'd guess Sion was the main receiver of it, though not by much. The only real development for him was him learning that he isn't a waste of space in the team. But that your typical Sentai episode that you see once a season.

Episode 4 was simply alright. Kinda saddens me in a sense to be kinda critical over Sentai. It's the franchise I like the most. Plus each show does follow a stereotypical pattern. Kamen Rider on the other hand is different every season for the most part, which leads to offering more on a critical platform.

Ehhh screw it. It's Sentai and whether I start nitpicking at it, I still love it.

[Matrixbeast]

Megaranger!

...Not much happened. Delta Mega got taken over for about 10 minutes, then the problem was fixed. Then Miko and Shun got an episode together, but it didn't really amount to much beyond some interesting portal bits and Shun piloting Galaxy Mega. Their characters didn't grow or change, really. They just interacted with each other more in this episode, was all. The next episode also feels rather filler-ish, unfortunately, too, but after that, I get to the introduction of Mega Silver, so I do have something to look forward to.

Anyway, one constant problem that I've noticed over the past 22 episodes is are the prop suits. While the designs are great, it's painfully obvious when they swap from a "Fight" suit (Where the rangers are smacking around enemies) to a "Firework" suit (Where the rangers are getting hit and the firecrackers go off on them). While I will give leeway, there are times where it's too obvious that they're not trying to hide it.
Worst of all is Galaxy Mega. In the normal suit, it's a thing of beauty. Great details, a nice sense of design and such. But then when it has to get hit, suddenly it's chest goes completely flat and the details on it's arms disappear. The suit shifts kills some of the flow in the combat.
That aside, it's pretty fun.

[Matrixbeast]

Does anyone have Megaranger 25 and onward? I can't get those episodes to download. They just stall out on me :S

[XW1n5t0nX]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Matrixbeast

Does anyone have Megaranger 25 and onward? I can't get those episodes to download. They just stall out on me :S

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list...J1GXBN_KHsYbo4

Go nuts.

[Kamen Rider Lucha]

I'm diving back into Hikari Sentai Maskman after a long break. I watched the first 14 episodes last Fall, but got distracted by life. But frankly, fuck life. I’m making time for Maskman.

To recap my feelings on the first 14 episodes:

- The most striking thing about Maskman is its deadly serious tone. I'm so used to the childish bombast of modern Sentai shows that the seriousness of Maskman is somewhat jarring. In a good way. I think.

- Sometimes the tone is so serious that whenever the show tosses out a, "child of the week," episode, it suffers from severe tonal whiplash. Like, one episode we're watching intense, melodramatic political intrigue unfold within the ranks of Underground Empire Tube, and the next we're watching the Maskmen help some annoying alien child return to his home planet (Also, there are aliens now? What???). The show has a tendency to whip from good storytelling to pandering childishness on a dime.

- Similar to Jetman -- which came several years later -- each of the episodes (without the OP and END sequences) runs about 17min. I'm consistently surprised by how much plot they pack into the short runtime. And how much faster I'm able to get through these series.

- Also similar to Jetman is the romance between Takeru (Red Mask) and Mio. This time it's flipped -- Mio was a member of villain group who disguised herself as a human, as opposed to a human who becomes part of the villain group -- but like in Jetman, it's pretty damn effective. In episode one, when Mio gets sucked into the Earth and Takeru can't save her -- I have to say, I had genuine feels. Can't wait to see how this relationship progresses, seeing as Mio is now frozen in a block of magic ice.

- The hero designs for the show are impeccable. I even like – nay, love – the earrings on the women's helmets. Because they're frequently used as bombs.

- Haruka -- aka, YellowMask -- is a badass female character that seems so far ahead of her time. Her struggle with traditional femininity -- and how it doesn't conform to her brutal ninja upbringing -- is a base part of the character. As such, she feels a lot more progressive than even the most modern Sentai heroines.

- Igam might be my favorite female general of any Sentai I've seen so far. She's a lot like Lady Oscar from Rose of Versailles or Utena from, well, Utena -- a girl who was raised to be a boy so she could inherit the throne of the Underground Empire Tube. She -- and those around her -- refers to herself by male pronouns and considers herself Princess Ial’s older brother. Between Haruka and Igram, the gender politics of the series are pretty forward-thinking. Only time will tell whether they amount to anything, but I applaud Hirohisa Soda for at least broaching some potentially interesting topics.

- I’m really into the team’s cover story. They’ve all been assembled to join a secret government (?) facility because of their awesome Aura Power and exceptional martial arts abilities. And how do they keep their secret? By playing pit crew to Takeru’s hotshot Formula One racer. It’s fantastically absurd, but it works – especially when the team has to sacrifice their Grand Prix dreams to upgrade their F1 racecar into a Maskman super car fit for rescuing a kid and his father from some crazy-ass Mobius Strip dimension.

- Last but not least, Emperor Zeba is fucking fabulous. He’s like a monstrous, Victorian David Bowie. I love every jewel in his crazily-proportioned, bedazzled body.

TL;DR

I'll be picking up where I left off – Episode 15, “Carol Love.”

This is the first Momoko (aka Pink Mask)-centric episode. And as such, it’s about flowers. Cause she’s a girl. I didn’t say this series was completely forward thinking in its presentation of gender, did I?

But it’s not just any flower. It’s a magic flower called a, “Carol Love,” and it rescued Momoko from a scary cave when she was a small child. By lighting up and providing a path to the exit.

In debt to the flower, Momoko has cared for it ever since – even though it only blooms for one day every 5 years. The day that it blooms is very special to her because she’s totally in love with that flower. Like a normal human might love a dog or a cat.

Meanwhile, the Underground Empire Tube sends out a MOW who releases Hell Flowers that wreak havoc on everything they touche. And shock of all shocks -- the Carol Love’s pollen (or whatever it is – it’s visualized as tears dripping from the flower. Cause it’s alive and has feelings. Or something.) has the ability to neutralize the Hell Flowers’ evil power. Because that cave Momoko got lost in as a child? It was really an entrance to the Underground Empire Tube.

So Momoko must decide whether to sacrifice the flower or let the world burn. (Hint: She sacrifices that shit. But it’ll live forever in the hearts of all the people it saved. ‘Cause Sentai.)

While this episode sounds really dumb, it’s actually great. It’s the kind of episode that pre-Zyuranger Sentai excels at – one where a character must make a hard, character defining choice… a choice presented in a truly ludicrous package. In this case Momoko’s choice is between saving the Carol Love and saving the city. Are her feelings more important than the safety of dozens of innocents? Ultimately, the greater good is more precious than her sentimentality. And as absurd as it sounds, the episode succeeds at taking us into Momoko’s world, showing us why she cares about the Carol Love, and making us feel for her loss. The loss may be a flower, but the writer skillfully shows us why the flower is important to Momoko. And her sacrifice in the end reveals Momoko as tougher than we expected.

The episode also provides some interesting world-building. It’s revealed that the Empress who preceded Zeba – Igam and Ial’s mother – was a compassionate pacifist, and the Carol Love was her favorite flower. So there’s more to the Tube than we expected. I’m intrigued.

And, as usual, the action was fantastic.

This episode earns 4/5 exploding helmet-earrings.

[Locke]

Man you make that show sound AMAZING.

[Kamen Rider Lucha]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Locke

Man you make that show sound AMAZING.

When it's good it is amazing.

When it's bad... Let's just say I'm not dwelling on the negative cause if I did, I might never finish the series. But when it's bad, it's terrible.

For example:
- I've found some of the child of the week episodes unbearable.
- This being the 80s, the monsters monsters are rubbery trainwrecks more often than not.
- The giant robot fights are almost entirely stock footage (and they're over in the blink of an eye).
- The pacing is wildly inconsistent.

But when you account for the time period in which it was made and the low production values, the show is really impressive so far. Hell, if you compare it to equivalent seasons of '80s Doctor Who, Maskman is more enjoyable on almost every level.

I will say, flaws and all, it is INFINITELY more engaging than Magiranger, which I'm still semi-hate-watching for LWW.

The fan who likes Jetman and can get past its attendant contextual baggage would probably get really into Maskman.

[Locke]

Makes me wanna watch it, but doesn't it only have like ten episodes subbed?

[Kamen Rider Lucha]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Locke

Makes me wanna watch it, but doesn't it only have like ten episodes subbed?

It's fully subbed by GUIS.

[ShockerCon]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Locke

Makes me wanna watch it, but doesn't it only have like ten episodes subbed?

Nah GUIS finished it. Even started on scrubs.