[Switchblade]

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Originally Posted by Androzani84

As for the episode itself, we?re in a fairly classic Metal Heroes plot, where the villains? scheme is really out there. Kidnapping everyone of any use to society is up there with?

Making mothers abandon their children and become apathetic.

Creating a hit band hated by adults.

Having a scientist whose secrets they?re after suffer from voodoo performed by his daughter.

Opening a department store and selling clothes that turn people who wear them evil.

Giving out computers that allow people to talk to friends and buy things without leaving the house (Jury?s out over whether this one is all that bad)

And that?s (with the exception of the first one) all from one show.

You forgot the best Metal Heroes plot of all: brainwashing children into becoming goblins at a pagan ceremony in front of an upside-down crucified Santa Claus.

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And also, while it was written for the movie, these episodes, by virtue of coming out a month early, debut a new version of Gavan?s opening theme with modernised instrumentals.

Doesn't work as well for me. There's a kind of rawness to the original that just makes it go harder.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fish Sandwich

The funny part is, as much as I didn't vibe with these episodes at all, I did go watch their movie once it got subbed, and actually liked it a fair bit. I gained a decent-sized soft spot for Geki, and pretty eagerly followed the films he was in after that, all of which I had a lot of fun with. So you know, some good things came out of these episodes for me, even if they'll probably never be my favorite episodes of Go-Busters.

I was surprised by how much I liked those movies. It was a fun little pocket of Toei's toku output while it lasted.

[Kamen Rider Die]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sh Ranger

So I guess Morishita is experiencing what Nick did when he wanted to be more than just the Bike Guy.

But, like, the Nick episode is him complaining that he's more than just the Bike Guy; the Morishita episode isn't about how he's more than just the Computer Guy, it's about how he's not even a good Computer Guy.

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Originally Posted by Fish Sandwich

I'm not much of a translator,

Translation Cop came out of retirement to say goodbye to a Space Sheriff! I love it! This was the real team-up I was waiting for!

[Kamen Rider Die]

TOKUMEI SENTAI GO-BUSTERS MISSION 33 - “MORPHIN’! POWERED CUSTOM!”



Pretty much the best possible way for this show to move into a new phase, at least for my money. Super Modes are cool and all, but I really liked how the show decided to incorporate the Buddyroids more into the action going forward.

There’s a neat parity to this episode, how Enter’s usage of humans to upgrade Messiah is met by the Go-Busters merging with their Buddyroids to even the odds. It’s not just MORE POWER or whatever, and it’s not just the same routine as before with a new lieutenant. This is the Vagras – an amalgamation of human data – getting beat by humans because they couldn’t understand Hiromu’s motivations, so they decide to win by gathering more human data. It’s an answer to their previous defeat, rather than a completely new threat, and that makes it more fun to see how the Go-Busters rise to meet that threat.

Including the Buddyroids is such a smart way to evolve the heroes’ side of the story. We’ve had some spotlight episodes where Gorisaki or Usada prove their value as guardians, but the show pretty much says that the Buddyroids aren’t combat units. The most they ever do is help evacuate civilians before a Metaroid murders anyone, and that’s not the same as charging into battle. Having their assistance evolve into additional power for the Busters is the best possible solution for getting them more involved in the Metaroid fights, mostly because I don’t think anyone wants to see the Usada puppet getting flung around every single week against Bugglars. (Once or twice, yeah, totally, but not every week.) Having the Buddyroids buddy up with their Busters is such a neat counterpoint to Messiah kidnapping humans, because it’s the idea that Messiah will always lose because it doesn’t understand teamwork; Messiah gives orders, it doesn’t inspire anyone.

I was really curious how this show would change up post-Messiah, and how it would address the actions of the team in that previous story. After this episode, I am fully onboard with wherever this show wants to go. Excellent choices, all up and down the story.



IT’S TIME FOR Powered Morphin’!

I like the new suits! It’s cool to see how there’s a uniformity to the Powered suits, but you can see a little individuality for each of the Buddyroids: each of the shoulder pads are pulled from the Buddyroid designs, and Hiromu’s got that… I don’t know what it is, on second look. I thought it was part of Nick’s head or breastplate or bike mode, but I guess it’s just a Special Boy piece so that Hiromu’s Super Mode is just that little bit more Super than his teammates. Well, whatever, I still like these suits. They’re just a little bit extra, so they don’t lose the cleanliness and flexibility of the base suit, and they still look more powerful. It’s a fine line, but these suits walk it.

[Androzani84]

So here we come to another reason why I honk there was so,e shaking up behind the scenes. Or rather, two reasons.

1. The introduction of a stronger monster type, with the Messianic Metaloids. While somehing of a tradition in Toku shows, it’s not one Kobayashi is prone to playing straight. She’ll introduce something that seems like it’ll be a stronger threat (the Hells Gate prisoners in Timeranger, the double-animal motif Yummies in OOO, even the Deltas in this series), only for them to start going down no harder than the regular monsters by their second appearance.

2. Our new upgrade item. Not only is it not directly compatible with the Morphin’ Brace (it requires a whole gauntlet that the Brace is clipped into), but it has a notably different voice to the older equipment, performed by the late music legend Ichiro Mizuki. (While shows having multiple VAs for different toys within the same series is common, it tends to be by hero rather than a sudden change to the main VA)

As for the episode? I liked it, especially with the fact we’re moving past abandoned Transformers stock plots in favour of doing the unique move of Enter wanting to analyse the human factor to create the ultimate AI. And they cut out the middle man and made him the big bad, which he basically was already in all but name. But I’m not keen on the new power up, due to my bias against team power ups. Not only do they tend to debut in my least favourite kind of power up stories (which I went into detail about back in, appropriately enough, the Den-O thread), but also rather than having unique designs that emphasise everyone’s strengths, they tend towards a rather bland uniform look.

[Kamen Rider Die]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Androzani84

But I?m not keen on the new power up, due to my bias against team power ups. Not only do they tend to debut in my least favourite kind of power up stories (which I went into detail about back in, appropriately enough, the Den-O thread), but also rather than having unique designs that emphasise everyone?s strengths, they tend towards a rather bland uniform look.

While they aren't necessarily as cool as a singular Kamen Rider power-up, I like that they straddle the line of uniformity (They should! They're on a team!) while still having little touches that speak to their strengths. And the fight sequence definitely played up how they're all more powerful in unique ways, which goes a long way towards giving them some differentiation.

[Switchblade]

Personally, I love a team power up. Might be the Dekaranger fan in me, but I appreciate it when the whole team gets upgraded instead of just the Red. Really drives home that it’s a squad, not one dude with assistants.

[GuardianAngel87]

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Originally Posted by Switchblade

Personally, I love a team power up. Might be the Dekaranger fan in me, but I appreciate it when the whole team gets upgraded instead of just the Red. Really drives home that it?s a squad, not one dude with assistants.

Yeah, I am also more partial to team power-ups myself especially considering that Sentai is supposed to about a team of heroes, not a specific one or two that most people would expect out of Kamen Rider or Ultraman.

[Sunred]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Switchblade

Personally, I love a team power up. Might be the Dekaranger fan in me, but I appreciate it when the whole team gets upgraded instead of just the Red. Really drives home that it’s a squad, not one dude with assistants.

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Originally Posted by GuardianAngel87

Yeah, I am also more partial to team power-ups myself especially considering that Sentai is supposed to about a team of heroes, not a specific one or two that most people would expect out of Kamen Rider or Ultraman.

Props to Fiveman for starting that.

[Fish Sandwich]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

TOKUMEI SENTAI GO-BUSTERS MISSION 33 - “MORPHIN’! POWERED CUSTOM!”

Like quite a few episodes of this show, I have a single particular sort of primal memory of it that sticks in my head, which, for whatever reasons, is seeing Nick sinking into that sand pit.

If I had to guess at those reasons, I think it basically just shows that this a really good starting point for a new chapter of the show. I was probably a little too frazzled from WATCH OUR MOVIE to consciously appreciate that the first time around, but looking back? It's a story that's even more about Saving People than usual, taking great care to emphasize again that the Go-Busters' greatest Mission is in protecting everyone's future now that we've firmly shut the door on them ever reclaiming their past. And, like Die pointed out, both the villains and the heroes get a very clearly delineated new angle to their usual routine. The show's midpoint felt like The End a lot more than I think those sort of "season finale" type episodes in toku shows usually do, so it's no small feat to make this convincing an argument this quickly that this team still has plenty of story left in them.

Similarly, even though I'm honestly not particularly a fan of the visual of the Powered Custom suits... I also struggle to imagine any kind of powerup for the Go-Buster suits I would like more, which is maybe a crucial distinction to draw? I mean, in large part, my apathy is based simply on how perfect I felt the suits were to begin with, so even though my gut reaction is to say anything on top of that is unnecessary... you can tell in the designs they came up with that whoever drew up that idea probably understood exactly that. Like Die said again, they're just a little bit extra. I think it's especially telling they basically don't change the existing color balance at all. The suits get the concept of a powerup across as clearly as possible while also going out of their way to call as little attention to themselves as possible, a contradictory set of goals that shouldn't be possible to pull off at the same time, yet they're pulling it off anyway.

Wait, I think I was trying to say I didn't like the suits, right? I guess one more important thing to consider is that I'm saying I don't like them by the standards of my usual level of affection for Go-Busters. Which I guess means I still like them quite a bit.

All that is just strictly about the visual designs though. In terms of what they bring to the show, all of that, I've always loved. Even with my established apprehension towards basically anything new in this series, the narrative concept of bringing the Buddyroids in more actively was great to see, and I love the upgrades to everyone's existing powerset. I mean, dude, Red Buster's super speed becomes just straight up anime teleporting. How I am *not* gonna love that?

[Kamen Rider Die]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Switchblade

Personally, I love a team power up. Might be the Dekaranger fan in me, but I appreciate it when the whole team gets upgraded instead of just the Red. Really drives home that it?s a squad, not one dude with assistants.

It's a thing I sort of never liked from the periphery of the fandom, seeing just the Red get some awesome new power-up while the rest of the team grinds it out with Day 1 movesets and power levels. I think I'd feel viscerally mad if Hiromu got to have a Messianic Metaroid-demolishing upgrade, while Ryuji and Yoko are demoted to mopping up Bugglars. (I mean, uh... that's actually what ends up happening in this episode, but in a good way?) The only way this power-up works for me is giving Hiromu the debut version, and then giving it to Ryuji and Yoko a beat later.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fish Sandwich

I mean, dude, Red Buster's super speed becomes just straight up anime teleporting. How I am *not* gonna love that?

It's all great! Hiromu transforms into a burning metal cheetah for Volcanick Attack! Yoko floats around with Geats IX's mid-air portals! Ryuji becomes a digital alchemist! It's a very very cool fight scene!