WEBVTT

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This is Engine Inspection Reflection, Heart and

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Soul, a series where I'm exploring one big question.

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Can the soul of Tokusatsu survive the toy sales

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cycle? I grew up on Power Rangers, fell in love

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with Super Sentai, and now with rumors of the

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franchise ending after 50 years, I want to look

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back at how we got here, what made these shows

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powerful, and what might be draining that power

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away. I'll be following the history, the heart,

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and the sales behind our favorite heroes, one

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reflection at a time. Rumors have been going

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around lately that Super Sentai is coming to

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an end, and the sources are very conflicting.

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I don't know what's going on. I don't know who

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to trust. And frankly, if Super Sentai comes

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to an end, there's 50 years of it that I can

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watch and enjoy, and I haven't seen quite enough

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of it, so I think I won't take it as hard as

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some other people will. And I felt comfortable

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with Power Rangers coming to an end. because

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well similarly i have the time and energy to

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uh get to it when i have a chance and i don't

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have to keep up to the treadmill of it so here

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we are um but hearing about the coming end of

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super sentai uh made me feel i don't know kind

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of introspective and nostalgic for it and It

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made me think about why it might be ending. And

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there have been rumors for years that Super Sentai

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was ending. Even with GoBusters, I believe, people

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said the toy sales were horrible. And then that

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was a long time ago. almost 15 years ago and

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then at some point within the last couple years

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someone said no the toy sales for go busters

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were actually great i think and they had stats

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and proof and whatnot and i just don't know i

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don't know and i don't know where these people

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get these resources i don't know how they have

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the time to investigate these things but it's

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not something i really concern myself with so

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i decided to not look into it and do not deal

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with it because well frankly i have other things

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to be doing so yeah that's kind of an interesting

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an interesting thing The idea that Super Sentai

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would end after... First of all, the idea that

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Super Sentai would run for 50 years is insane.

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What other thing has run for that long? Will

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The Simpsons run for 50 years? The Simpsons...

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I don't even know how long The Simpsons has been

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running, but that's the longest running animated

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thing, I think, ongoing. Maybe. There could be

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something that Toei's been producing as well

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that outshines it or has outlasted it, but I

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don't think so. I think before then, I think

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like Married With Children, also a Fox show,

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ran for like 11 or 12 years, which was really

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long at the time. And I don't know, you know,

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what else holds records like that. But, you know,

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I also really don't care. Like that's not in

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and of itself an accomplishment to me. It's remarkable.

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It's, you know, worth saying something about.

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But I don't really know what it means. It doesn't

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really carry much personal meaning to me other

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than it's neat that there's been such a long

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time that Super Sentai has been on. And like

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in the Gokaiger movie, I think the 199 Heroes

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movie, which that actually might be the superhero

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time movie, not a Gokaiger one specifically.

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It might be for both Kamen Rider and Super Sentai.

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I don't remember. There is a big deal made about

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how there's these 199 Heroes and what that means

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and parents passing on Super Sentai to children.

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And things like that, because if I'm remembering

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from when I saw this, you know, about 15 years

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ago, there's, like, kids have Super Sentai robot

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toys that end up, like, coming to life or giving

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energy or whatever to Super Sentai robots so

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they can fight some sort of big threat. And,

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you know, that's really cool and touching and

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emotional, the idea that these toys, these cherished

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memories of childhood that are passed from one

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parent to their child, or from a parent to their

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child. can like i don't know save the world sort

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of um it's it's a very fun very nostalgic idea

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it's very sweet but um like personally you know

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and personally i like it but you know i can also

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share a dvd or a blu -ray or a you know uh digital

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version of whatever stories with my kid or i

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can just tell them about it too so you know do

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i really need it to keep airing in order for

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Me to be able to share these things not really

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I don't and there's more important things for

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me to share with my kids But that's you know,

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those are the priorities that I guess that tells

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you something about my priorities. So I think

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that's interesting And Anyway, this is again

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relating to the idea of Super Sentai ending and

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you know all the thoughts and feelings that that's

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giving me and It also made me think about how

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I think there's something natural and good about

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Super Sentai coming to an end because nothing

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lasts forever, or most things don't last forever.

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And I purposely stopped watching Super Sentai

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because it wasn't appealing to me anymore. Not

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because I don't like Japanese children's media,

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because I sure do. But just because it just didn't

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feel like something... that i had the time for

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and it didn't feel like something that i needed

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to do so i didn't do it and that's okay i'm not

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celebrating its end but i'm not surprised that

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it's ending and i'm shocked that it went on for

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so long continuously especially especially when

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things that i enjoyed more like common raider

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have not gone on continuously there's been breaks

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and hiatuses for common raider for years at a

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time and it isn't some spiteful vengeful you

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know my fandom is better than your fandom kind

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of thing that I'm thinking about or feeling.

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It's just, I don't know. It's natural. It's something

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that's okay to happen. But even the things that

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feel natural, they happen for a reason. And that's

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what I want to understand. Why did Super Sentai

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grow and change the way it did? Why does it matter

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enough that I'm even thinking about its end?

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I have some guesses about the business side,

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the toy sales, all of that. Before I start speculating,

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I should probably explain. How I got here in

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the first place. Because before I ever knew what

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a Super Sentai was, I already cared about it.

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Though, or through something a lot of us grew

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up with. Power Rangers. So let's rewind a bit

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and talk about what it was like when I first

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saw those heroes morph for the very first time.

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That's where I'll leave it for now. This episode

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turned out a lot longer than I had expected.

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It actually started as a single 36 minute recording.

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But as I listened back... I realized it makes

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more sense to split it into parts so each one

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can breathe. This first part lays the groundwork

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where my connection to Super Sentai began and

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why it still matters to me. Next time, I'll dig

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deeper into how Power Rangers and Super Sentai

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shaped my idea of what a henshin hero even is.

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Thanks for listening, and if you're following

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along, part two should be up soon. The plan is

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to have a weekly release schedule, and they'll

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be releasing the same day from... Here on out.

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Magical bugs battle monsters in this exciting

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fantasy adventure. Grimlings prey upon children.

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Grow bugs protect them. When a grimling finds

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a hidden grow bug fort, the whole flock makes

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a surprise attack. How will the grow bugs survive?

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Find out in Mockwing Mayhem. Learn more at growbugs

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.com where you can find out more about our mailing

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list, receive behind the scenes information,

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and get all the latest news on the grow bugs.