Super Megaforce Spoilers: Stunt actors training for sword and gun use

UPDATED 3/6/13

I just did a post on stunt people and now news from the Power Rangers stunt people. This is from the suit actor and stunt Namihei Koshige, stunt and choreographer with minor details on Super Megaforce. Namihei has played mainly female characters since season 2 or so like the White Aquitar Ranger, Pink Lightspeed Ranger, Pink Time Force Ranger, Yellow Dino Ranger, Pink SPD Ranger, Pink Samurai Ranger and much more. 

.@SilurianRanger on Twitter helped translate the important parts:

"Next week stunt team will be receiving scripts. He states that the stunt team will be using the plot in these scripts to enhance fight scenes, and characterizations. There will be more rehearsals than normal to perfect this, then the cast will join to learn this new fighting style.

The more spoiler filled segment in the final paragraph comes from the segment before the URL, and the video itself. He says, "It will go from ray-guns and colored weapons to a mix of sword and gun fighting." I suspect that this is leading to Gokaiger adaptation. If you then watch the video you can see where I think this is the case. The stunt team will use props for practice next week, as in the past."

http://www.aac-stunts.co.jp/nz/


The training video:

More evidence I think that Gokaiger suits will be used and that Jake will become the Green Ranger is that one of the consoles are green. The above picture is from www.megaforcecast.com and it is from the first episode "Mega Mission." Yes, that is a clip of Jake with Gia's bookbag from Episode 2 used in Episode 1. Some say that maybe green light is better than black, but it could had been purple. They did use purple in the footage when he morphs and the snake attacks and also Black Ranger had purple lights in his Mammoth zord in the first season.

SPOILERS

Dark Wish of Rangercrew found this pic from a crewmember on Instagram and won't say who it is but on the right side, we see a stunt guy in black with green boots. It looks like a Gokaiger set but if you look carefully the crewmembers are more diverse and the majority of Sentai crew are Japanese so this has to be Power Rangers. This has already started controversy among fans because Ciara Hanna (Gia) has posted a pic of her in her Megaforce (Goseiger) costume but it could had just been an early scene from season 2. Season 2 started shooting last week.

Ciara Hana tweets:
don't read into things ranger-peeps! "all shall be revieled in time"

SO many surprises this season, with surprise guests, surprise adventures, so many surprises for you all #secret #heehee

(Above is Jason Smith and Koichi Sakamoto)

She also tweeted one among the lines of "In the jungle, the mighty jungle the tiger sleeps tonight" but she deleted it. She has been seen tweeting to Jason Smith (Casey of Jungle Fury) and people are suspecting he will be a guest star in season two.

Related: http://henshingrid.blogspot.com/2013/02/if-lavender-ranger-adapted-gokaiger.html

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Quality (or lack of) of Power Rangers Show, Merchandise and more

I hear the excuse "it's a kid's show" when a question is asked about something head scratching in Power Rangers. But just because it is aimed towards Children, doesn't mean it has to be lacking in quality or be so obviously cheap. Also included are things that don't match from toys to show. Most kid franchises have mistakes like that, products change from image to actual product but some have been flawless for years. So here is a list and some criticisms of not only Saban era but also Disney era, so it is all twenty years of Power Rangers. This will be one long post, so be sure to press "Read more" for more!

Rita Repulsa

Purple Rita as I've mentioned before, not a lot of people may not know about, was in merchandise (stuff doll, squeeze light) and also the costume in the 1995 Live Tour. Her costume was clearly brown on the show. Going back to the brown costumed Rita, her American costume was clearly not made of the same material as the original Japanese costume Bandora used in Zyuranger. The American costume was used for background shots in the first season and then worn by new actress Carla Perez in season 2, 3 and so on. Even in the movie, which it was worn by Julia Cortez, the costume looked cheap. The original Bandora costume looked mystical and worn in. But the American costume looked very simple and new-looking, not like a thousand old witch wore it. Well who is to complain about quality when it comes to Rita, since the first episode it was Barbara Goodson dubbing over the voice of legendary Japanese actress (the late) Machiko Soga. That set the tone for the whole show that they had to dub over footage and not get a new actress.

Check here for more on Rita.

Tommy's Floppy Shield

I have previously called it 'Fluffy shield' because that is what I called it as a kid. I was 11 when MMPR started and for me it was obvious that his shield changed from large and floppy to tight and foam in the Sentai footage. It is one of the biggest things talked about when it comes to the Green Ranger. In Dino Thunder and recent MMPR box set DVD photos, he has the tight foam shield of Dragonranger but has a silver stripe on his helmet. Most likely Saban Brands inherited the Disney silver stripe helmet and didn't get back the original green one or it got lost way before Disney obtained the franchise. 

Power coins on chest

During the MMPR tenure, they had these Power Coin symbols on their chests in toys, books, clothes and other merchandise, even the recent adult T-shirts. On the show, they clearly do not have them. In the movie, they did get them but they have been an eternal mystery, we never got an explanation as to why that was done. Other things that do not match the show in merchandise was occasional use of a skirt on a Yellow Ranger that did not have one and the Quantum Ranger being a darker shade than Red and having two vectors on his helmet and chest. Also the recent mistake on a PR20th painting mural with Quantum having the Red Ranger's suit instead of his own.

Click here for more on promotional differences like PRLR and PRWF Yellow Rangers with skirts and Quantum Ranger.

What is in a name?

There is a lack of names for zords or arsenal in the Disney Era. In the Disney Era, it was common that certain items got no name at all. This makes it extremely difficult when you have a database website that names each and every little thing. In Jungle Fury, the Rhino Steel Megazord got changed to Rhino Pride Megazord from time to time. But having names incorrect was also done in Saban era. For example, Dragonzord in Battle Mode got changed to Mega Dragonzord from time to time on the show (The current ACG cards calls it "Battle Mode Dragon Megazord" which was never uttered on the show). Also in the episode "A Different Drum," the Power Weapons got called different things: Cosmic Cannon, Mighty Mace, Dino Daggers, and Battle Bow. In Lost Galaxy, the Strataforce Megazord and Centaurus Megazord got their names swapped from time to time. Also names do not quite match from toy to show which is understandable because toy companies and programs might not agree as there is copyright issues and a name might not be ready yet.

Here is a list of items that changed from toy to show:

Turbo - Visceron = Hammeron (toy)

 Wild Force - Ultimus Megazord (never appeared on the show but there was a toy and CCG 2009 card and they varied in appearance)

Mystic Force - Phoenix Unizord = Steerdergon Fury Megazord (toy)

Hidaic = Evil Space Alien (toy)

Operation Overdrive - Chiller = Evil Space Alien (toy)

Jungle Fury - Dai Shi = Evil Space Alien (toy)

Camile = Melle (toy)

RPM - Valvemax Megazord = Velocimax Megazord (toy)

 

Also, there is Sentai names that slip into Power Rangers with the recent Gosei cards which my buddy MorphinLegacy is tired of hearing people gripe about. For more on names that slipped in PR, click here. Also, things that lacked names was the villain toys. Names would be different or just have generic "Evil Space Alien" even if it wasn't an alien like Dai Shi and a Hidac.

This will be one long post, so be sure to press "Read more" for more!

 Lack of quality in products back in the day

Back in the day, MMPR name got slap on any shoddy product like black soap that tinted your skin or yucky juices or anything. And I was the sucker who bought them. I am glad the products like juice and stuff got better. But I didn't like how the Rangers were drawn or illustrated on products, I rather have live photos like in most Sentai products. Some Sentai products do have illustrations but not as much as PR. I do like that in the Valentine cards now with Samurai and Megaforce, it has some live photos.

 Not in Show Toys

Disney had a lot of this. Lots of repaints and repackaging but I probably bored people to death on this. But here is some about that. Elie Dekel has said he has worked with Bandai to make sure there is more show-accurate toys but some do fall through the cracks like cycles, the transtek armor repackaged for Samurai and a recoloring of the Mega Blaster. Also there was the infamous Mammoth, T-Rex and Triceratops Rangers from RPM toy line inspired by the PaleoMax Megazord. Funny enough, two of them have the same names as the MMPR/Zyuranger counterparts.

No toy at all

There is also a long list of items that had toys in Japan but never come to the USA such as the Elephant Zord, Dragon Morpher, Transwarp Megazord, Soul Bird, Spiral Saber, Defender Wheel, Rail Rescue Bay, Celphazord, Brachiozord, Shark Sabers, Jungle Chucks, Mystic Fighters, Laser Lamp, Wolf Centaurus Megazord, Shield of Darkness, White Mystic Ranger and the list goes on and on. Now that is a mixture of both Saban and Disney and some had to do with safety issues, others are a mystery.

http://henshingrid.blogspot.com/2009/06/only-in-japan-toys-not-released-by.html

  Ranger Keys in Megaforce

Biggest bother to me is the Ranger Key props in the Megaforce base. I know they were probably just meant to be glimpse at and not studied vigorously but who else where those figures made for? Sure kid fans but most kids do not know about Gokaiger. For the most part those keys had to be made for adult fans. Adult fans that stop, pause and capture frame by frame. Now in this day and age, it is highly known fans do this. And for them to do this mistake, I feel is lacking. I mean, what can I do? It's not a real crime, there are more horrible things happening in the real world. It is just disappointing. I just hope the props change when they get real Ranger Keys next year.The mistakes as I have mentioned before is the Time Force Red's arrow symbol on all the chests of the Time Force Rangers, skirt-line on male Yellow Rangers, only 8 set of keys repeated twice, and the Mystic Blue Ranger figure is a regular blue instead of light blue. Also fans don't believe them to be actual keys, just figures.

http://henshingrid.blogspot.com/2013/02/ranger-keys-in-power-rangers-megaforce.html

Now I am depressed from listing all these things. There is much much more, like writing in scripts and non-canon in one season within its own continuity. I don't mind not having any continuity through every season but at least in its own season. Some mistakes come from legal stuff and I'll excuse that, but when you got plenty of time and it all falls on ignorance or laziness, that is what riles me up.

Related: http://henshingrid.blogspot.com/2009/08/power-rangers-promotional-differences.html | http://henshingrid.blogspot.com/2010/10/rita-repulsa-merchandise.html | http://henshingrid.blogspot.com/2009/10/power-rangers-suits-vs-super-sentai.html | http://henshingrid.blogspot.com/2013/02/ranger-keys-in-power-rangers-megaforce.html | http://henshingrid.blogspot.com/2013/01/evoultion-of-bandai-power-rangers.html | http://henshingrid.blogspot.com/2009/10/super-sentai-names-spilling-into-power.html 
| http://henshingrid.blogspot.com/2009/06/only-in-japan-toys-not-released-by.html

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Power Rangers Monolopy and Trivial Pursuit (with Questions from members of Power Force!)

Here are press photos of the two new board games from Milton Bradley such as Power Rangers 20 Monopoly and Trivial Pursuit. They will be coming out soon, I do not know the date.

 Power Rangers Monolopy

They had 5 tokens already and wanted fans to pick the 6th and Goldar was chosen.

 

Here is one signed by Haim Saban

 

Trivial Pursuit

Months ago, members of Power Force were requested to come up with questions of selected Power Ranger seasons they gave us. There were 6 styles of questions and they split us 20 into four groups that had 5 or 4 seasons, including the movies and Aquitar Ranger mini series. We were requested too many questions in a very small time frame without promise of pay and only a promise of a free game and credit. This stirred some controversy among Power Force because it was not considered to be fair. Saban Brands then e-mailed us telling us that they made an egregious mistake and assign us less amount than before. I turned in my questions and our names (usernames) will appear in the credits. For those worried about the truth behind the answers, they assured us that they have fact checkers of course. I hope you guys can pick one up and enjoy it!

 From USAopoly's Twitter

For the Press Release and more, check Fury Diamond's Blog:
http://blog.samuraicast.com/power-rangers-monopoly-and-trivial-pursuit-games/

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MMPR: Connections to "Life's a Masquerade," "Gung Ho" and "Island of Illusion"

Re-watching Mighty Morphin Power Rangers again, I knew about this but I decided to do back to back comparison to explain it. I just felt like doing it now since I have time. Basically "Life's A Masquerade," "Gung Ho," and "Island of Illusion" Part 1 and 2 episodes were not connected (well the Island of Illusion were connected) but in the original footage of Zyuranger, they were. They were four episodes as well, Episodes 28-31, Great Upgrade! Clay Monsters, A Mystery!? The Attacking Beast Cavalry God, Satan Comes!!, and Reborn! The Ultimate God. 

 In "Life's A Masquerade," the rangers fight the Frankenstein.

 The Rangers form the MegaDragonzord (Dragonzord in Battle Mode) and put the drill in the monster briefly.

 They do the final attack and the monster breaks up and blows up. But that doesn't happen in the Japanese series.

 The explosion in MMPR

 Tommy talks to the Rangers in the Dragonzord quickly.

 In Zyuranger, the scene is longer with the drill and we see it be pulled out.

 In "Gung Ho," the Rangers fight the Super Putties.

Left is MMPR, right is Zyuranger.

The Thunder Slingers for Zyuranger. Zyuranger name does appear in MMPR episode.

 

The Zyuranger with the Thunder Slinger.

 The Rangers with the Thunder Slingers in the cockpit in Zyuranger but not in MMPR.

 They still fit the Frankenstein monster (DaiFranke) and go out of the 'zords' and shoot with their Thunder Slingers.

 In "Island of Illusion Part 1," we see Mutitis, a monster Rita makes.

 But in Zyuranger, the Dora Franke becomes the 'Mutitis' monster which is ZombieFranke.

 The clothes peeled off, this sequence is a bit gross so understandable why it is not in MMPR.

 In Island of Illusions Part 1, Lokar blew smoke on Mutitis and made it into a few form.

 In Zyuranger, the sequence is longer. ZombieFranke becomes SatanFranke in a much grotesque way. This sequence was shorten for MMPR.

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