Hi, guys! Sharp-O back again with a look at the multiversal menace from the BOOM! Studios Power Rangers comic books; Lord Drakkon!

Last time I covered Japan’s attempt to adapt a western property but for most of the 90’s, the reverse was much more prevalent. Haim Saban’s adaptation of Super Sentai into the long-lasting Power Rangers franchise but, being the media mogul that he was, he didn’t stop there and others even attempted to steal the formula for themselves. This is going to be a brief history of the rise and fall of tokusatsu adaptations in the west.

Naturally, emboldened by the success of Power Rangers, Saban was quick to rush another series into production. Capitalising on the early 90’s fascination with the emerging VR technology (oh, how times have changed), Saban created a team of teenagers using footage from three separate Metal Hero shows to create VR Troopers.

The show proved successful at the time but pulling footage from Space Sheriff Shaider, Superhuman Machine Metalder and Dimensional Warrior Spielban proved exhaustive and soon they ran out of footage to use. VR Troopers ran for 92 episodes before going offline.

All was not lost on the toku-hero-in-cyberspace front though as Superhuman Samurai Syber-Squad was in development at the same time, a venture between Tsuburaya Productions (the studio behind Ultraman), Playmates Toys and DIC Entertainment to adapt Denkou Choujin Gridman for western audiences.

I’ll be honest; I never even heard of this show growing up, as my entire world was dominated by Saban’s shows, but from finding clips on YouTube I can see that this was a quick and cheap production. Clearly it was born out of the rapidly exploding toku adaptation genre and it only lasted 53 episodes.

The next show to appear spun directly out of Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers and was the truly atrocious Masked Rider. Masked Ri-DURR, an adaptation of Kamen Rider Black RX, appeared in the three-part MMPR Season 3 opener, ‘A Friend in Need’.

As soon as Arnold Rimmer look-a-like Prince Dex made the jump to his own show, however, no further mention of the Rangers are ever made and the show became a bumbling ‘comedic’ mess. Masked Rider ran for 40 episodes and left a legacy that is both depressing and uplifting as no one would attempt bringing another Kamen Rider show to our screens for another 14 years but most of Masked Rider’s background music was later used in Digimon Season 1-3 and Digimon: The Movie.

Once Masked Rider was done, Saban didn’t rest on his laurels for long and put out Big Bad Beetleborgs. Adapted from the Metal Hero series Juukou B-Fighter and B-Fighter Kabuto, Beetleborgs was focused on a younger audience and was heavily merchandise-driven thanks to plot being about kids who becoming popular comic book characters.

Much like VR Troopers, Beetleborgs suffered thanks to a lack of footage and ended after 88 episodes. Out of all the non-PR shows Saban did, I think Beetleborgs was my favourite growing up, even if it was the silliest of the bunch — often having Batman ‘66 comic book effects to cover more violent scenes or having the Jay Leno-esque Flabber as the source of their powers.

After Beetleborgs had ended and with Power Rangers still the juggernaut franchise, Saban went a different route and produced a wholly original tokusatsu for the west based on Irish mythology but that’s a story for another time as it’s not an adaptation.

Earlier I said it would take 14 years for someone other than Saban to bring Kamen Rider to the west but in 2009, Adness Entertainmint adapted Kamen Rider Ryuki for the CW Network as Kamen Rider Dragon Knight.

The reason why the team chose Ryuki was that the series had 13 Riders in total (one of which was the first female Kamen Rider in the franchise’s history) and had lots of marketability. However, due to the Bandai toyline’s failure and flagging ratings, the show was pulled before the final two episodes could air, though CW was nice enough to air them online.

Even though the show had critical success (even winning a Daytime Emmy in 2010) and seeing DVD releases in Europe, South America, Mexico and East Asia (even a Japanese Dub!); Adness did not release it in the US and the plans for a feature length movie, a second season or even an adaptation of another Kamen Rider series have not come to pass.

Hell, 7 years have passed since and Adness Entertainment are more interested in Kpop and Korean fashion if their website is any indication so more Kamen Rider from them is highly unlikely.

As of 2016, Power Rangers is still going strong after 22 years while all the others I’ve talked about above have faded into obscurity and nostalgia so what does that mean for tokusatsu adaptation in the west? Regrettably, it seems that we’re unlikely to see more adaptations in the future and that’s just sad in this humble reviewers opinion. Personally, I have a ton of ideas how some of the newer Heisei-era Kamen Rider shows could be adapted but in the current climate of television production; would they succeed?

A question for the comments, perhaps but for now, thank you for reading this little retrospective and I’ll catch you all next Toku Tuesday!

Might Morphin’ Black Ranger is an import of Mammoth Ranger, with a more western friendly box. No changes were made apart from this but its still a damn impressive release.

The box is actually nothing like the Japanese release, being a window box and being rather generic. Unlike the Kyoryu Red box, this doesn’t really have any outstanding features or aesthetic similarities to Mighty Morphin’ but it still works pretty well.

The Black Ranger’s accessories include the standard assortment of interchangeable hands (one of which is specifically for his roll-call pose), a folded Blade Blaster, a Thunder Slinger, his signature Power Axe and a couple others that you’re probably curious about but I’ll get to later.

Like all S.H. Figuarts, Black Ranger is articulated up the wazoo! Seriously, it has 4 points of wazoo articulation. From pulling off his roll-call pose or beating on baddies, you can pull off all sorts of great poses. If there’s one thing I had to complain about, it’s another leg issue that I don’t think is wide spread. The thigh moulding on the right side is a little off, meaning it’s not quite as uniform as I’d like but I can live with that.

Size-wise, Figuarts are a couple inches taller than Bandai of America’s recent 4″ action figures and look far less ‘roided up, making the Figuart far more accurate to his onscreen appearance.

Coming to the accessories, the Blade Blaster will spend its entire life in the holster on the Ranger’s belt and can’t be held easily. The Thunder Slinger (I had to wiki the name) is a holdover from the Japanese release of a weapon that I don’t recall the Rangers ever using but I’ll let it slide. What I won’t let slide is the fact that the Thunder Slinger doesn’t sit comfortably in any of the provided “holding things” hands. You’re staying in the tray!

Black Ranger’s signature weapon, the Power Axe, is perfectly replicated and looks absolutely fantastic! People have asked why I chose Black instead of the more popular Red, Green or White. The answer is simple, his helmet was always my favourite as a kid and his axe is FREAKIN’ BADASS! Swords, daggers and lances are cool but when you see a big meaty axe coming for your head, you move! It’s also a blaster! Unfortunately, it’s slightly inaccurate but there’s a reason for that.

With the releases of Black, Blue and Yellow, will come with remoulded versions of the Rangers’ signature weapons that can combine into the iconic Power Blaster. Black comes with Red and Blue’s components but I’m not sure which follow up will include Black’s axe in blaster mode.

As with my previous S.H. Figuart review, I am thoroughly impressed with this figure and highly recommend picking it up as either a stand alone, or as part of the Mighty Morphin’ team!

It’s great that Tamashii Nations and Bluefin Distribution are bringing more and more S.H. Figuarts over to the west. You can currently find most of the Mighty Morphin’ S.H. Figuarts over on Amazon UK and through other online retailers.

As part of the 20^th Anniversary celebration, Bandai produced a number of collector-oriented items based on Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers’ first season, the Legacy Power Morpher being a new, updated rendition of the iconic transformation device that would transform five  teenagers with attitude into Earth’s greatest defenders.

Bandai went all out with the Legacy Morpher, even the box is a fantastic throwback to the packaging of old. Not just the colours and general aesthetic, but the thick cardboard material. The green hues and metallic embossed lettering are reminiscent of the ’93 Megazord’s box art.

The Legacy Morpher itself is rendered in die-cast metal and plastic, featuring the original five Power Coins (also die-cast metal) and lights and sounds. As well as the Morpher and Coins, you also get a holster that allows you to clip the Morpher to your belt but due to the weight, tends to droop forward.

The Morpher itself is hefty, robust and ever so shiny! The metal shines, the paint and decals are well applied and even the reverse side has a very nice nod to the original Sentai, Zyuranger, in regards to its ornate design. Underneath the folding handle is the on/off switch to activate the light and sounds. As a fun little extra, when flipping on the switch, the classic Communicator tune from the TV show plays.

This particular release features the five Power Coins representing the first five Rangers and their initial Zords, based on prehistoric animals. There’s also a second version of this Morpher, which is in a Gold scheme with the Power Coins of the Green and White Rangers. Each is replicated to the tiniest detail of the props used in the show and are beautifully cast in die cast metal. The reverse features the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers logo and all very heavy! You can easily swap out the coins with one another by pressing the ‘Z’ on the back.

When pushing the button on the handle, the die cast face plates spring open and four lights flash while a swooshy noise plays. Holding that button down while trigger a flashing light sequence to the tune of “Go, Go, Power Rangers” It’s just the instrumental but it’s fairly lengthy and, just like the communicator sound, is a superb little treat for fans.

The Legacy Power Morpher is an absolutely brilliant collector’s item for fans of Power Rangers, Super Sentai or even pop culture buffs. It looks fantastic on display with my ’93 Dragon Dagger and the MMPR 2010 figures I have but I think they’ll be joined by someone new pretty soon, just wait and see! The Legacy Morpher is a Toys ‘R’ Us exclusive and retails for £49.99 and I feel it’s worth every penny.

First up, the 4-inch figures! You may have seen me review some of the MMPR 2010 and Samurai figures last year but this year we can expect a lot more figures that span the entire franchise! These will be Limited Edition figures with a metallic finish and while I think that’d look pretty goofy alongside the regular figures, it’ll be great to see brand new figures of older Rangers in the 4-inch scale.

Limited Edition Metallic Figures

Tokyo Vinyl are in the business of stylised “chibi” interpretations of pop culture characters, in much the same way Pop! Vinyl are and both will be releasing chibi Ranger figures in the near future. Depending on your fetish, you might go for these or not but personally, they’re not for me but I do find them fun in their own way.

Tokyo Vinyl Red Ranger

Want a Megazord but don’t have space for massive chunks of plastic? Then the Retrofire line is for you! The Retrofire line has been around for a few years but with varying degrees of success. They tend to have a weird asymmetrical articulation thing going on where not all the joints can move like it’s opposite though there are a few figures that have regular articulation (both arms and legs move the same way) but if you’re just planning on putting them on a shelf to display, they are generally designed for poses so it’s not too bad. As well as the Megaforce Megazords, they seem to be re-releasing the Dino Megazord as well.

Retrofire Megazords

Want a Megazord and have a sturdy shelf to place heavy objects on? Then the Die-cast Legacy Megazord is for you! It’s the same old Megazord, but it’s heavy as FFFUUUUUU– A lot of grey plastic has been replaced by shiny die-cast metal, notably on the arms and legs (maybe even the sword) and it even comes in a retro stule package that homages the original. I can see these appealing to both fans and 90’s nostalgia buffs.

Legacy Dino Megazord

Rounding out the Megazords and stepping into the realm of Japanese awesomesauce are the Super Robot Chogokin figures. Taking the idea of Retrofires and dialing up the awesome to 11, the SRC Megazords are Japanese die-cast collector figures and so far, there’s been a fair few released. At NYTF, only the Dino Megazord, SPD Delta Squad Megazord and the Samurai Megazord were on display (Alongside some excellent S.H. Figuarts, highly articulated collector figures which I lust after like you wouldn’t believe) but SRC have also create a figure for the Mystic Force Titan Megazord as well so we can probably expect more down the road. I know the SRC Daizyujin (Dino Megazord) is available for pre-order on the US Toys ‘R’ Us site (Due out on the 15th Feb).

SRC Megazords and S.H. Figuarts

Going to a slightly smaller, but no less awesome scale, are the Mighty Morphin’ Legacy Mask Collection. Based on a similar line the Japanese do for all the Sentai Red Rangers, this set is purely for the original Mighty Morphin’ team and it looks glorious! I don’t know whether the full production run will have the Metallic finish like those in the package or there’ll be two variations but either way, I’ll be glad to have them in my display cabinet.

Mighty Morphin’ Legacy Mask Collection

And now, the crown jewel of this entire line-up, the most requested and desired of anything PR-related… The Legacy Power Morpher.

*Squeeeeeeeee*

Yeah, drink it in, friends. This is flavour country. Coming with 5 coins and chock full of lights, sounds and die-cast, the Legacy Power Morpher is the must-have item of this selection and guaranteed to get any fan or nostalgia buff pumped! I don’t have to say anymore, now do I?

That’s all I really have to show you for now, folks! The images I’ve used were gathered by Tokunation and they have more extensive galleries you can check out. I can say for certainty that the Americans and Canadians amongst you will have little to no trouble finding these out in the wild on your side of the pond but for us UK fans, the availability of ANY of these products is up in the air. I guess the 4-inch figures and Retrofires will make it but as for the high-end collectibles? No clue. No word. Only hope that we will not be forgotten in the coming year. Be on the look-out for more Power Ranger articles coming from the DOOM Towers in the coming months and may the Power protect you, always.