This is MJ, and welcome back to Henshin Reflection,
Heart and Soul, my ongoing look at whether Tokusatsu
can survive the modern toy sale cycle without
losing its heart. In Episode 2, I talked about
how Power Rangers and Super Sentai hooked me
long before I understood anything about gimmicks,
ratings, or the business behind these shows.
But eventually, I started digging deeper, listening
to podcasts, hearing fans talk about toy sales,
and realizing just how much the industry side
shapes the stories we get. begins. It picks up
right at the moment when I first started noticing
the tension between the stories I loved and the
toy driven structure behind them. And that led
me somewhere I didn't expect. Here's where the
reflection picks up, right in the middle of a
thought, exactly as I spoke it. Anyway, I, uh,
I, you know, continued to find podcasts and things
like that with people talking about tokusatsu
in general. And, uh, I don't remember If I heard
that Power Rangers is just a toy commercial before
I started listening into some of these podcasts
or if I heard it afterwards. But I'll tell you
what, after I watched some more modern Kamen
Rider, a couple seasons of it, I began to feel
like it was just a toy commercial in some ways.
And even for Super Sentai, I could feel when
things were focused, when the episodes were focused
on less telling a story and more on making the
toys look cool. And it was always very frustrating.
The Rangers getting their specific focus episodes
doesn't bother me. It's not something that I
think is bad. It, in fact, plays really well.
And I like that they get to shift their dynamics
to give us a closer look at each character. And
I find that to be really rewarding, really fun.
And while I do prefer Kamen Rider, and I don't
know if I prefer Ultraman to Super Sentai or
not, Kamen Rider to Super Sentai, I still appreciate
getting to spend time with those characters,
with the whole team, and getting to see them
flesh out a little bit and knowing them. It's
a lot of fun, I think, and I think those are
really rewarding, really enjoyable episodes,
and I don't see them as filler as much. There
have been some Super Sentai series where I wasn't
satisfied with how light the plot was, but week
to week, it's great, and the action just seemed
to get better and better as the years went on,
which was really cool. I can appreciate the action
and still dislike the toy selling that's going
on. I know, there's a weird mix of things. I
get that the modern shows have toy sales associated
with them and have quarterly schedules that they
adhere to or utilize to kind of pace the shows.
you know, sales that they need to be concerned
about. So they have toys that come out at certain
times of the year and they want the show airing
to put those toys out in enough time for kids
to see them. And to some extent that kind of
drives things in Super Sentai and Kamen Rider
and Ultraman. And it's really irritating to see
it done when it's not done smoothly or in a way
that makes sense. Like I was thinking about it.
I don't know why the toy sales I understand why
the toy sales matter like Star Wars George Lucas
held on to the rights to make the toys and make
all the money off of them and that's where he
made a ton of his money that he was able to put
back into Empire Strikes Back and you know going
forward different things and then like he independently
funded Star Wars the Clone Wars which is the
3D animated series that ran for five seasons
under his guidance or his stewardship and then
two more eventually came out eked out under Disney
Lucasfilm and I understand the need to make money
off of the toys in order to make money off the
shows, especially because that's, you know, how
do you fund it by making money off of it? But
it struck me as odd that the older shows didn't
have the same kind of toy infrastructure, and
they must have made money off of merchandising,
if not also from having it aired. But or and,
I'm not sure how to actually form the sentence.
while, you know, a Kamen Rider Black or a Jetman
featured... Well, let's say Jetman and Kamen
Rider Black, I believe, aired very close to each
other within a couple years. You know, Jetman
has different robots in it, and it's got, you
know, the Big Zord and the machines and the cool,
like, diamond -shaped changer, if I'm remembering
correctly. Maybe that's Gatchaman, I don't know.
Anyway, like, it has toys that you can sell,
and it has a... It has a whole team. There's
five different characters. You can buy masks,
coloring books, action figures of the five characters,
and then you can buy toys of the enemy characters
to have somebody to fight against. But I don't
know if Super Sentai ever really sold any of
the monsters. I think most of the money, today
anyway, is off of the roleplay toys and the figure
arts, which almost exclusively feature things
from the heroes, not the villains. And if you
go to something like Kamen Rider Black or Kamen
Rider Black RX and you compare it to, let's just
say, Jetman, there are five Rangers in Jetman.
And each of them has a Zord or a Mecha, and their
Mechas combine into a single giant robot. So
that's five, ten, sixteen things total if it's
just the five characters and their robots and
then the combined robot. I'm sorry, that's 11
items right there that you can sell. But you
can also sell, I don't know, the blaster or the
sword. So that's, you know, let's say there's
one or two weapons per jet man. If they're all
uniform, then that's just two more items you
can sell. That's 12, 13. You can sell a mask.
You can sell a coloring book. You can sell whatever.
Versus, like, in Combinator Black, you have Combinator
Black. In Black Rx, you have him and his three
forms. There's a total, or in Black Rx, I mean,
there's a total of four forms. You can't really
make that much money off of them because there's
only so many. You can also have the motorcycle
to buy. So there's a lot less in Kamen Rider,
for instance, than there is in Super Sentai,
you would think. But then Kamen Rider later on,
with Kuga and going on, had the different forms
that they could change into, which kind of makes
it so that one character can carry three to ten
suits and suit designs. And that's different
toys that you can sell. And the belt. integrates
into it everything stems from the belt and the
one belt has different modes or whatever that
it can do and that's kind of interesting because
that again that helps to fund the show and and
the like solution to hey we only have one main
character what do we do with them to get more
suits um seems to be well let's give him different
forms so he can be kind of like his own sentai
uh which i find an interesting approach and kind
of makes a lot of sense But it's not something
that's necessarily satisfying to me. And I think
it's something that gets to be frustrating, especially
when I think is the season, depending on which
season you're in, the different forms of the
writers are more or less enjoyable to see. And
when they break the silhouette of the writer,
then it feels like, am I even watching the same
common writer? lobby that i would love that criticism
at black rx i think while robowriter is very
cool he doesn't really feel like he belongs with
the others biowriter i think is pretty close
um to core black rx and then is it only those
three forms oh yeah i'm sorry it is it is only
those reforms biowriter the prince of uh was
the prince of sorrow and the other one's the
prince of pain him and robowriter i think that's
what the the like lore names are for the for
those forms for black rx um but anyway like I
don't know. Those are kind of weird. But the
fact that he has the rebel cane as Black Rx,
it kind of makes sense that Bio -Rider has the
sword. Sort of. And I don't know. It's kind of
interesting because there's a little bit of a
breakdown. And especially in the last few years
with all of the gimmicks and the anniversary
shenanigans that have been going on with Super
Sentai. It feels weird. I don't know. In the
toy line, you have anniversary stuff that ties
in, like how the memories, the guy memories from
Combinator Double are so popular that they make
them for Ex -Aid and Build and other shows. That's
kind of fine with me. And if you want to go ahead
and make... It's like just make toys for the
sake of making toys that go with the new toy
line that are legacy writer stuff. It makes a
lot of sense to me, but like squeezing them into
movies and things like that seems to be frivolous
and dumb. And like, I don't know, it's not very
exciting. It's just, it detracts. It's, it's
gratuitous, I would say. And therefore for somebody
who's really interested in capturing with stories
in these henshin hero shows, it doesn't really
do it for me. It kind of ruins it for me in some
ways. So, I've said a lot, and I think my point
is that the heart and the spirit of Kamen Rider,
Super Sentai, even Power Rangers, when it's good,
represents something meaningful and inspirational
and aspirational. But I find it more inspiring,
the fact that Kamen Rider Black learned to do
his Rider Punch by saving a puppy. All that affected,
all that was, the way that was done in the show
was that he jumped and they rotoscoped over his
fist to make it glow with energy for him to do
his rider punch. And doing that helped him defeat
whatever the kaijin or the mutant was that he
was fighting at that time from Golgum. And similarly
with Kamen Rider, the original, I believe in
episode like 11 or 12, there's the, I can't remember
his name, Lizardon maybe? Big lizard guy. He
used to be a soccer player, I think. And he's
kicking these. this ball or a bomb or something
at the Kamen Rider and he defeats Hongo, I believe.
And then Hongo has Tachibana Tobe get into a...
machine with a wrecking ball, right? I guess
that would just be a wrecking ball crane. I don't
know. A wrecking ball machine. And swing the
wrecking ball at him again and again and again
and again. And Hongo trains. I think it's Hongo.
It could be Ichimoji, but I think it's Hongo.
He trains and he trains and he trains until he
can finally defeat Lizardon and catch that ball
coming at him. And the older Kamen Riders had
those kind of moments of growth and training.
And there's even... I believe it's the Kamen
Rider ZO manga. There's a lady who's a martial
artist in there, and this is actually echoed
between Shroud and Kamen Rider XL and Kamen Rider
Double. And it's basically the same scene being
described in both. So there's this hard lady,
and she's telling the rider that she's helping
to train that if you fail to destroy your enemy
or whatever... that is in your way with the first
strike, then you should hit it a second time.
And if you fail to destroy it by hitting it a
second time, then you should hit it again and
again and again until you've hit it so many times
that it is destroyed. And doing that in the manga,
Zetto learns how to be powerful enough. I don't
remember if he speeds up or if he gets stronger.
It's one of the two, but in Kamen Rider Double,
Excel learns to be faster. And he does get a
new form. I can't remember what it's called,
but it's the yellow one. It's like his hyper
form. Because he starts off red, then he gets
a blue form and a yellow form. I don't remember
which one it is in the show versus in the special
movie that takes place after the main show. Is
that right? Anyway, whatever. That doesn't matter.
That detail doesn't matter. But he unlocks this
power because he trains really hard and he strives
and really struggles for it. And those things...
stick in my memory i don't even like common raider
double that much but i love that moment for excel
um like i actively dislike a chunk of common
raider double and it's it shocks me that so many
people love it more than so many people love
it when i find it to be lacking in certain ways
but like that part of the story with excel being
trained by shroud and learning how to unlock
this power is meaningful to me and it's deep
and it still resonates with me to this day uh
i believe it was hongo not its emoji having Tachibana
swing that ball at him and him learn how to overcome
through grit and determination not changing forms
but unlocking like a new move and it was a new
you know exciting move that was recorded and
shot in a fun way to show him being able to overcome
this guy totally great totally worth it totally
memorable but and then with combinator black
also saving the puppy the same thing is very
memorable And it didn't bring us a new toy. It
didn't bring us a new form. I mean, with the
exception of Double, sorry, from Double with
Excel, it did bring us a new toy and it did bring
us a new form. But I think it was just like an
attachment onto his belt and then he was able
to do whatever. But still, it worked. And it
was an example of it being done really well in
a really compelling way that made even a person
who doesn't like that show overall still really
like that moment and like what was going on and
like what was being said because of the... The
tone and the message and the inspirational message,
to reuse my word, that was being conveyed and
delivered, and it was done very successfully.
Again, I haven't seen Double in probably over
a decade, and I still remember that, and I still
love that scene, and I still think about that
every now and then and think, man, that was awesome.
And yet, the power -ups in some of the newer
Super Sentai, And all the different forms that
are obligatory forms in Kamen Rider, they bug
me. They bother me. They don't work for me. I'm
not sold on them because they don't have the
heart that these older things do. They don't
have the heart that sometimes they do have. I
think Kamen Rider Ghost, a lot of people don't
like that show. I really like the show. I really
liked how situational the forms were. I like
how it made sense. These different icons that
he had, I like that there were only... Well,
I can't believe I'm saying this. There were only
15, even though there were more than 15. But
I don't know. It worked for me because I think
the storytelling was done in a much better way.
And there was real heart with it. And I really
loved it. I own very few toys, very few items
from the Tokusatsu I've enjoyed. Ghost is something
I really, really love. And I own one icon from
it. I own the Deep Specter icon because I love
Makoto's story. you know, there aren't, it's
not a perfect story, but I still love it. And
just something meaningful about that to me. I
also like moths, so that helps. But like, that's
something I wanted to buy because I love this
character and I love his story and his struggle.
And I love having that little silly toy that
I can grab and push the button on and hear it
say, dive too deep and think about what that
means and how he overcame his struggles and what.
taking on that challenge meant to him. Like,
Makoto used Deep Specter because while it was
supposed to be meant for Takeru, he was worried
that it would hurt Takeru, and instead he decided
to hurt himself to save his friend from hurting
himself. That's beautiful. It's meaningful. And
then in the Deep Specter movie, or the Specter
movie, that gets further, and that gets even
deeper, and I find it to be gorgeous. I've seen
the movie one time, but I have fond memories
of it, and I'd like to watch it again sometime,
but, you know. Time does not allow me to do everything
I want to do whenever I want to do it, so I just
have to live with the memory of enjoying that
and having that toy and seeing my kids play with
it a little bit every now and then. I was worried
they'd break it at first, but now I don't care
because it's just a piece of plastic. But, you
know, it's fun. It's fun to hear them play with
it, and it's fun to have it around and see it
every now and just think about Makoto and Takaru
and Ghost and everything that happened there.
Which now I'm thinking his friend's name wasn't
Makoto. That was actually his sister. No, it
was Makoto and Canon. Canon and his sister. Anyway,
so I got that right. But like, that's a meaningful
toy to me. And, you know, whether that's because
I'm cheap or I don't have enough disposable income
or whatever. Like, I don't know. Like, I think
those things are actually irrelevant to the point
I'm trying to make, which is that I know I've
been talking about Comrader. I wonder if Super
Sentai is going away. I wonder if Power Rangers
is going away because the stories and the storytelling
hasn't been as meaningful and heartfelt as it
could be. And I don't know, Power Rangers is
hampered by following the Super Sentai too closely
and not telling just like the best story they
possibly can tell with the material that they're
getting, which they totally could do. And if
it's a great Super Sentai and you follow it very
closely, then you should have a great series
of Power Rangers, even though it's, you know,
about... two -thirds of the length if not a little
bit less um but uh yeah i don't quite know i
don't quite know how to define everything i'm
saying um and i'm just working this out and i'm
trying to figure out like you know does selling
toys to support your tokusatsu show like sell
the soul of the show and therefore even though
it might be profitable for a time ultimately
it is empty and hollow and Like, you can only
chase the dragon of selling these toys instead
of selling the stories. And if people aren't
buying the stories, I don't think they're going
to buy the toys, no matter how cool they are.
And I wonder if that's what happened with Power
Rangers, and I wonder if that's what happened
with Super Sentai, and why it could be going
away. Or maybe it's not going away, but maybe...
I mean, I think it's a fact that they are losing
money. They're not making as much money as they
used to. I think that the running for a whole
year strategy and the telling, selling all these
toys strategy, like it just doesn't work out.
Ultraman seems to be in contrast doing very well.
It's expanding. I find it very strange that they
haven't released the dub yet for Omega or at
least, yeah, they have not released the dub for
Omega yet, but it's supposedly being worked on.
And that seems odd, but like Ultraman. Rising
was a huge hit. It's a beautiful movie. It's
great. I loved it. My kids loved it. Even I have
a kid who doesn't really like this kind of stuff.
And there were tears on both of our faces by
the end of the movie. And I don't know. Ken sells.
His dad sells. Emmy sells. Because I'm sold on
the characters. and therefore it makes me kind
of interested in, oh, maybe, you know, we will
get an Emmy Plus, or maybe we will buy, you know,
a Ken, you know, Ultraman figure, or whatever.
But, like, I don't really want to, and it's something
I don't really care about. And I think Ultraman
has a lot more heart in it. I think the lower...
uh production run of doing like 26 episodes instead
of 50 or 54 or 50 to 54 helps a lot there's more
energy there's more devotion there's more time
there's more love i think put into it um i think
and i don't know how it's doing toy sales wise
but i think it's expanding and i don't know that
you can say the same for super sentai and ultra
and common writer and No, it's just it's an open
question. I want to keep exploring this and I
want to understand like what happened and like
I don't really know how the shows made money
before other than I guess you know there were
they sold old commoner masks and they saw you
know originally back in the day they sold masks
and they sold little you know costumes and I
believe they had belts back in the day as well
like vintage belts from the 70s, you know 71
72 whatever But like I don't know what the money
making was like at the time. I think there were
less options on TV. So I think you probably made
more money from airing something on TV as well.
But I don't know that for a fact. It's something
I want to research and find out. If you're somebody
who knows about these things, I would love to
have information from you. And in the meantime,
I'm going to keep thinking about this and plugging
away and trying to figure out what the answers
are to some of these questions. But yeah, I just,
I don't know. Is trying to sell the toys as opposed
to trying to sell the, without trying to sell
the characters. or the stories in the shows,
what's killing tokusatsu or henshin hero shows.
I don't know. Maybe it is. Maybe it isn't. Maybe
it's just economic decline. Maybe it's Japan's
low birth rate. There's not as many young people
watching as there used to be because they have,
I think, less and less kids every single year.
And if you roll that back decades, then of course,
children's media will be less profitable because
there aren't enough children to sell it to. So
what do you do? You can't force... Toei's not
going to force... people to increase their birth
rates. So what do you do? Do you change your
audience? I'm not sure. Anyway, I would love
to hear people's thoughts on this. I'd love to
hear people's input. I'd love to have a conversation
and I'd love to find out more and I'm going to
work towards that. So please join me. You can
find how to contact me through Twitter. through
my links here in the show notes. You can contact
me directly through my website, mjmunis .com,
or you can leave a comment wherever you're hearing
this, maybe on YouTube, and we can talk about
this and have a fruitful, interesting conversation.
Until next time, folks, this is MJ with Henshin
Inspection Reflection. Take care and be well.
So that's where I'm left. Wondering whether these
shows are struggling because the heart has slipped
out or because the economics have shifted. Or
because the audience itself is shrinking? Maybe
it's all of the above. Maybe it's something else
entirely. If I want answers, I think I need to
start at the beginning. I need to look at how
tokusatsu made money in its earliest days, before
gimmicks, before quarterly toy cycles, before
the modern merchandising machine took over. How
did Kamen Rider, Super Sentai, and Ultraman first
support themselves? What did Bandai's role look
like then? And how did those early foundations
twist, turn, and transform into the system we
have today? Because if I'm asking whether...
tokusatsu, or henshin heroes more specifically,
can survive the toy sale cycle, I should probably
understand how the cycle even came to be. That's
where the investigation begins. Next time, I'm
starting with the origins. I invite you to join
me. If you know anything about it, please let
me know. You can drop a comment here on YouTube,
or on mjmuneos .com, or on Twitter, where I'm
at mj underscore scribe. And also, you and I
are both here because we enjoy children's media.
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