[FairyKing]

It's not unusual for things like tokusatsu, anime or videogames to influence my dreams, but this is the first time I dreamed up a whole new toku show that wasn't part of any existing series.

Gurin is an alien, disguised as a human on modern-day Earth. He just wants a peaceful life, but when a group of villainous aliens (with a connection to his past) arrives to prey on humans, Gurin fights to protect his new home! The dream didn't give me much plot detail except that there were also human antagonists trying to use alien tech for their own sinister goals, and other aliens living on Earth in hiding. And I think the whole thing drew from "real" reported alien encounters, cryptozoology and other related subjects, similar to Kyuranger's villain designs. Gurin himself is inspired by classic "little green men" aliens, with even his name being based on the English word "green."

The thing that most stood out to me was the costume design for Gurin's alien form. To emphasize that this was his true form, the "costume" didn't represent armor or anything, it was his own body! And so it was designed as a skintight suit + helmet combo (similar to sentai or ultraman) that appeared under his civilian clothes, which he kept on over it, usually leaving just his head and hands visible. This also meant his civilian clothes got more visibility, so the designers made sure to give him cool and iconic outfits too.

The writers also emphasized the "alien form is his true form" thing by having his transformation just be deactivating his human disguise (via a toyetic gadget, naturally), sometimes showing him in alien form just relaxing or doing non-fighting tasks in situations where he didn't need the disguise, and reversing the usual toku trope of heroes getting knocked out of their suits when defeated: Certain damage to Gurin in human form would disable his disguise and forcibly reveal his alien form, and getting hurt in alien form wouldn't return him to human, instead they'd show his alien form injured.

I dunno what to really do with this idea, but it seemed cool so I wanted to share it ^_^

[Mesnick]

Quote:

Originally Posted by FairyKing

I dunno what to really do with this idea, but it seemed cool so I wanted to share it ^_^

Very cool idea! I like it.

[Starman]

You really cooked with this one! ^_^ You should consider penning this and posting it on AO3!

[Sunred]

For some reason, this gives me slight Bio Planet Woo vibes in terms of scope, if that makes sense. Sounds like a lot of thought and consideration went into it, good stuff. Maybe try writing a very short story of a snippet of what might happen on a typical day to see where it leads you creatively.

[FairyKing]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mesnick

Very cool idea! I like it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Starman

You really cooked with this one! ^_^ You should consider penning this and posting it on AO3!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sunred

For some reason, this gives me slight Bio Planet Woo vibes in terms of scope, if that makes sense. Sounds like a lot of thought and consideration went into it, good stuff. Maybe try writing a very short story of a snippet of what might happen on a typical day to see where it leads you creatively.

Aww, thanks so much you three! I can't take full credit for the thought put into it, that goes to my subconscious mind I guess XD

I've done a bit of writing, but never tried writing toku before (although I did write something toku-inspired back in college, maybe I'll work up the courage to share it someday). It seems like an interesting challenge, since toku is such a visual medium in ways that I'm not sure how well would translate to text. I definitely want to give it a try!

And if anyone has advice for writing toku fic, like tips that have worked well for you or things you've liked in other people's work, I'd love to hear it ^_^

[Mesnick]

Quote:

Originally Posted by FairyKing

And if anyone has advice for writing toku fic, like tips that have worked well for you or things you've liked in other people's work, I'd love to hear it ^_^

I don't think it's particularly important, but if you're planning on using jingles, I'd recommend write it with a different font. Text doesn't have the same perceptual differences as film, so it's the easiest way to avoid confusing the reader.

[Androzani84]

My advice: Try to have some visual reference. I tried writing an entirely original Sentai and it was a stressful nightmare that I abandoned. But for my PR adaptations, I of course have some source footage to work with, while Fractured Infinity was working with existing characters, so I had some iconic moves for them to pull off.

[Enchilada645]

So while I've only dabbled in writing Toku length fics, one thing I like to do is make a chapter list in a word doc. Then under certain chapters I put either major events or potential hero/form/important item debuts to get an outline. After that I start figuring out vague ideas for episodes and adjust the outline accordingly.

As for announcements, since as far as I'm aware certain sites just do not let you do font changes I go for the simple tactic of

[INSERT: TRANSFORMATION ANNOUNCEMENT HERE]

in regards to how showcase jingles and such.

[Androzani84]

I’m the same, but I don’t use brackets, or all-caps. I tend to have every sentence end in an exclamation point.

[Sh Ranger]

You'd surely need a lot of different places where the fighting happens, so this article is helpful for that.