#new saban era

[skyland2703]

Guys uh

I don’t think Javelia was accidental. Or should I say Jamelia now

[crimson-ace-reviews]

Crimson Ace Reviews: Power Rangers Samurai, a Nostalgic Translation

Let's be honest, if you're a fan of tokusatsu, Power Rangers is most likely one of the franchises that got you hooked in the first place. It's hard to deny the cultural impact the franchise has had in its nearly thirty-year run, in spite of its various ups and downs. Today, we're going to take a dive into one of the entries in the franchise that sparked a new generation of fans of Power Rangers, myself included. But first, let's go into the history of the circumstances behind this installment.

In 2001, Disney bought the rights to the Fox Family Channel, which Power Rangers was airing on at the time, leading to a lot of major changes behind the scenes. Despite the recent acquisition, the higher-ups wanted almost nothing to do with the franchise, and were about to cancel it until they were convinced that they could lower production costs if future installments were filmed in New Zealand as opposed to filming in California like it had been since the original Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers. In addition, Disney decided to make the show non-union, meaning a lot of the old crew was let go.

These changes, in addition to action scenes relying more on pyrotechnics, questionable performances from actors trying their hardest to hide their New Zealand accents, and a lack of strong continuity compared to when Saban Entertainment was running the show, ended up alienating a lot of long-time fans of the franchise, and causing a major divide in the fandom. And don't even get me started on how much of a nightmare production was. However, common consensus has changed over the years, and the Disney Era is looked back with more fondness than when it was first airing, though there's still debate on whether its better than the Saban era overall.

Eventually, after Power Rangers RPM finished airing in December 2009, Disney decided to officially pull the plug for a number of reasons like low toy sales, production costs increasing, and a general lack of interest in working with this franchise. However, in May 2010, Haim Saban, the man behind Power Rangers in the first place, bought back the rights to the franchise. He even managed to hire back one of the older executive producers for the franchise, Jonathan Tzachor, to aid in production.

This all sounds awesome, right? After almost a decade, Power Rangers is back in the hands of its creator, one of the older producers is coming back to work on it, and it can get a fresh start on another network. How can this lead to anything going wrong? Well...

Because Saban wanted the next season to premiere in February like most seasons did, the production team only had about six months to film the whole thing, coupled with Nickelodeon having weird rules for the franchise that would affect the airing schedule until the end of Dino Fury's first half, but I'll get to that later.

For now, let's take a look at Power Rangers Samurai

THE STORY

Centuries ago in Japan, Nighlok monsters invaded our world, but samurai warriors defeated them with power symbols passed down from parent to child. Today, the evil Nighlok have risen once again and plan to flood the Earth with water from the Sanzu River (which hydrates them but is deadly to everything else in the human realm) by causing human misery. Luckily, a new generation of heroes stand in their way. They are the Power Rangers Samurai.

This team consists of Jayden (Played by Alex Heartman), the charismatic, yet quiet Red Ranger with control over fire, Kevin (Played by Najee De-Tiege), the team's stoic Blue Ranger with the most traditionalist mindset and control over water, Mia (Played by Erika Fong), the Pink Ranger who is the most compassionate of the five and has control over wind, Mike (Played by Hector David Jr.), the Green Ranger who is arrogant, but still has a good heart and control over the forest, and Emily (Played by Brittany Anne-Pirtle), the Yellow Ranger who was actually forced to fill in for her sick older sister, and has control over earth. Later on, they're joined by Antonio (Played by Steven Skyler), a childhood friend of Jayden's who forged his own gear and becomes the Gold Ranger, with control over light.

The Rangers main ally comes in the form of Mentor Ji (Played by Rene Naufahu), a stern, but caring man who acts as Jayden's primary confidant and father figure. In addition, while they don't directly interact with the team for most of the season, we occasionally follow the comedic antics of returning Mighty Morphin' character Farkus “Bulk” Bulkmeyer (Played by Paul Schrier), and his young nephew, Spike (Played by Felix Ryan), as the two train to become samurai themselves.

As for the Nighlok, they consist of Master Xandred (Voiced by Jeff Szusterman), an angry warlord who spends most of his time waiting to be free while he drinks alcho—I MEAN MEDICINE, Octoroo (Also voiced by Jeff Szusterman), a more intelligent general who orchestrates a few of the group's schemes, Dayu (Voiced by Kate Elliot), the snarky female general whose music is able to help Master Xandred calm down, Deker (Played by Rick Medina), a human/Nighlok hybrid seeking to break his curse by finding a worthy opponent in battle, and Serrator (Voiced by Derek Judge), a deceptive intellectual with an agenda of his own.

Due to the rushed production, a lack of original Ranger footage, and Jonathan Tzachor generally being a huge fan of the Super Sentai season he was adapting, Samurai Sentai Shinkenger, the writing for the episodes fluctuated in quality. There would be some times where the dialogue didn't match the Sentai footage or story it was adapting, like in the very first episode, where Jayden tells the other Rangers that it's important they work together... right before charging off into battle on his own. The show generally tries to make Jayden out to be a more open leader without really acknowledging the struggles his Sentai counterpart had to go through while accepting the help of his teammates.

Then there are the episodes that try to adapt Shinkenger plots without understanding that there are moments where they tend to fit the Sentai characters more instead of making more of an effort to tweak the writing. “Forest for the Trees” is an episode that is supposed to portray Mike as lazy and not worthy of getting to pilot one of the new Zords on his own, but it doesn't work because in Shinkenger, Mike's counterpart was shown to slack off and didn't take things as serious as his teammates did, which justified the plot of the Shinkenger episode.

There are also times where even without the use of Sentai footage, episodes that adapt stories from Shinkenger tend to be iffy, either with the conflict or dialogue. A particularly glaring example comes from the episode “Jayden's Challenge”. Basically, Jayden runs away to fight the Nighlok on his own because he doesn't want the other Rangers to get hurt for his sake (long story short, only the Red Ranger can use the sacred sealing symbol to defeat Master Xandred for good, so the Nighlok start to target him more when they find out), but once the other Rangers catch up with him during the next Nighlok attack, Jayden says “I don't like putting you in danger, but someone has to stop the Nighlok... and I'm glad it's us.” The teamwork message isn't bad on paper, it's just that it doesn't really resolve the guilt Jayden feels regarding the other Rangers being willing to sacrifice themselves for his sake. I feel like the episode could have worked more if the conclusion he came to was that if he didn't want to endanger the other Rangers, he needed to focus on being a better leader instead of running away from his problems.

That's not to say all of the episodes are bad, as there are a handful of gems like “The Team Unites”, “There Go the Brides”, “Team Spirit”, and a few others in the second half. But before we get there, let's talk about the reason why I need to clarify the second half of this show is different: Nickelodeon.

For some odd reason, not only did the higher-ups at Nickelodeon mandate that that Samurai be split into two different twenty episode seasons, they also mandated the two part pilot episode, “Origins”, aired last in the first half when it's crucial for establishing the conflict of this season and introducing the characters. Seriously, even though the first episode that aired was called “The Team Unites”, the team is already united, and if you watched this as it premiered like I did, you were just thrown in and forced to understand what the hell was going on from the brief narration that plays at the beginning of every episode.

Then there was also how the writers tried to loosely connect the two seasons by extending an arc in Shinkenger and making it continue into the next season. When the battle with the Nighlok intensifies in “The Tengen Gate”, Mentor Ji suggests obtaining a mystical, yet unfinished talisman called the Black Box for Antonio to unlock the powers of. With how the conflict is framed, you would assume that the next episode, “Boxed In”, would focus on that power being on display, wouldn't you? Unfortunately, this concept gets dragged out/abandoned for the next few episodes since Antonio fails to complete the Black Box so it can be saved for the first episode of the second half of Samurai, Super Samurai... Except the one hour special that aired inbetween the two halves, “Clash of the Red Rangers”, not only featured the Black Box in action, but it also revealed another powerup that hadn't been revealed yet either, meaning that all that effort to make the premiere of Super Samurai all the more exciting was once again a case of Power Rangers getting screwed over by the network it airs on.

Thankfully, Super Samurai is a much-needed improvement in the writing department. There's more original footage and deviation from Shinkenger, character dynamics are explored more, and the stakes are higher, leading to more drama and more interesting conflicts. We even get more episodes where Bulk and Spike interact with the Rangers for more than a few seconds like “Runaway Spike” and “The Strange Case of the Munchies”.

The final arc is very hit or miss in my opinion, as while it does have some good moments, there are a lot of problems related to certain characters and how they act that impacts the story, but I won't give anything away. For now, let's tall about...

THE HEROES

In my opinion, Power Rangers Samurai has one of the more underrated casts in the franchise. While I wouldn't call the characters outright phenomenal, there's still a great deal of effort put in by the cast where you can see how strong their chemistry is. Compared to later entries like Megaforce or Ninja Steel, the characters still display a lot of personality, and you can tell the actors are having a good time.

As a Red Ranger, Jayden is a bit of a mixed bag. I like how Alex Heartman gives more of a relaxed performance around the others, showing he can be open, but is more than capable of playing the role of the serious leader. He's somewhat friendly, but when faced with the slightest challenge, he won't hesitate to jump into action, a trait that is put in a new light with a reveal late into the series. “Day Off” is an episode that really shows off his acting chops, as you can really see the struggle Jayden goes through trying to master a new technique.

At the same time, he also doubts his skills more than most Red Rangers, even his predecessor, Scott from RPM. He worries about the good of the team, and will go off on his own if it means they'll be safe... even though he's the one to talk about the importance of working as a team in the first place. This is the biggest problem I have with Jayden as a character. Some episodes, he's the one who tries to rally the team together and does a decent job at it, but other times, he'll abandon them if his ideals are challenged in the slightest.

I feel like making Jayden more friendly also messes with some of the moments where he tries to be more aloof, but I don't mind what this show does with the character. He's nowhere near my favorite Red Ranger, but he's still a serviceable lead.

Kevin is arguably more dedicated to the cause than Jayden is and gets more development as the series goes on. Before the Nighlok attacked, Kevin had dreams of being an Olympic swimmer, and he had to give it all up to fight for the greater good. He's so dedicated that he doesn't hesitate to find ways to keep training. When the Rangers get a day off in “Day Off” (I know, shocking, right?), Kevin's first thought that it was a test of their loyalty because “A samurai never takes a day off”, and while he's bedridden after several injuries in “Jayden's Challenge”, he spends his time coming up with a new Megazord combination instead of just resting. In a way, it's like he wants to put as much effort into this role as possible after giving up his dream, and it's why he has the most traditional views on being a samurai.

Most of Kevin's focus episodes revolve around testing his will as a samurai, whether it be finding a Zord to heal the Rangers with in “A Fish Out of Water”, growing to accept Antonio to the team in spite of his differences in “The Blue and the Gold”, and struggling to accept the fact that he had to abandon his swimming career to fight as a Ranger. Granted, that last example is kind of muddled by how the episode ended with Kevin subbing in for someone on his old swim team, but I digress. He honestly goes through the most development of everyone on the team, still maintaining the high standards he puts on himself, but still finds ways to open up to the others more. Overall, a decent character in my opinion.

I'm probably going to get accusations of copying what Linkara said during his review of this season, but Mia is honestly my least favorite character in the team. While she's compassionate and tries to serve as the heart of the team, more often than not, you can boil her character down to “likes to cook, even though she's bad at it”. So many episodes mention Mia's inability to cook, and even when a Nighlok with the ability to hurt people with his insults points it out, nobody ever flat out tells her how they feel, instead choosing to make quips about how bad she is at cooking behind her back. Because that's a good lesson to teach kids, right? They don't even do anything funny like exaggerate how terrible her food tastes. There could have been a really nice episode where Antonio tries to give her some advice on how to improve her cooking, given that he's no stranger to food himself.

She also has a bit of a rivalry with Dayu, which I'll get to later, but other than that, she arguably gets the least amount of focus out of the cast. Most of her major roles in Super Samurai basically involve her being the target of Spike's affection, but that never goes anywhere. The only episode she gets that really focuses on her is “He Ain't Heavy Metal, He's My Brother”, and even then, it focused more on her relationship with her brother Terry. The conflict of the episode revolved around Terry starting a rock band while his family tried to get him to focus more on getting into medical school. Instead of actually supporting his dreams and being happy he can do what he wants since she's in a different position being forced into life as a Ranger, she decides to tell him to “be realistic” and blows him off for most of the episode. You would think this would be a conflict where Mia helps her brother achieve his dream, but instead, she just repeats what she was taught since she was a child, only instead of being forced to be Ranger, she tells Terry that he has to be a doctor. To be fair, she does come along, but the episode never draws any comparison between their lives, which is a real wasted opportunity.

In general, this season just brushes over the idea of the Rangers being trained for this mission since birth, not really going into how unethical this can be. I wouldn't outright call them child soldiers, but the writers honestly needed to have more moments where the Rangers talked about how their lives have been, especially in comparison to someone like Antonio. A really interesting idea you could have done with the cooking gag was to show how strict the regimen was for the Rangers growing up. Imagine if out of all the Rangers, Mia is the only one who has almost no life skills outside of being a samurai? Show her struggling to cook a basic meal or even drive a car because she was focused so much on training, being a samurai is the only thing she's good at. But no, instead, we got easily one of the most boring Pink Rangers in the history of the franchise.

Mike is another character I have conflicting feelings on. Hector David Jr. gives a good performance showing how easygoing Mike can be at times, making him out to be a really chill guy to hang out with. The problem lies in how the focus episodes highlighting how “lazy” he can be don't really work because Mike is never shown to be behind any of the other Rangers in battle. My best guess is that the reason Mike tries to outsmart his opponents more than the others is because he's aware he isn't the best fighter, and needs to resort to trickery more, sort of like what he did in the cold open to “A Sticky Situation”.

But again, as creative as his fight scenes can be, he isn't really shown to be any less competent than any of the other Rangers. I feel like if you wanted to show Mike as the outlier of the team, maybe the writers could have made him be the one who comes into conflict with Jayden's leadership the most due to having arguably the least amount of dedication to the cause compared to the others. Have him be the one to question why he got roped into a war he never wanted to fight because he happens to be the descendant of a samurai, or call out Mentor Ji for not immediately accepting Antonio into the team because he isn't a descendant of a samurai. Basically, make Mike a cynic who isn't afraid to talk back to Jayden, but at the same time, begrudgingly places his trust in him because he's aware that Jayden is still a good leader for all the problems he has with this whole situation. I'm not saying I hate Mike, as I still enjoy his character. I just feel like out of all the Rangers this season, you could have done so much more with him.

Emily is honestly my favorite Ranger this season. The idea of her not being the first choice for the Yellow Ranger on top of having a lot of self-confidence issues leads to some really interesting focus episodes. Yeah, she can be clumsy and has a habit of needing to be helped, but she isn't really shown to be less capable than the rest of the Rangers. Like Mike, she can be very clever when the situation calls for it, like in (Sticks & Stones, Trading Places, A Strange Case of the Munchies). At the same time, the others tend to act like she's less of a Ranger due to her vulnerability, so she has to prove herself in response. Just because she appears to be harmless, it doesn't mean she's a complete coward or liability in the battlefield.

The one problem I have with Emily is how her backstory is handled. It's a minor nitpick, but I think it would have been a little more interesting if we got to know Emily's sister, Serena, a little more outside of a single flashback. Maybe there could be an episode where Emily goes to visit Serena and tells her about her adventures as a Ranger and see how their relationship could change as a result of years of training for Serena amounting to nothing. There's also a huge plot twist later on that really could have been used in comparison to Emily's backstory, but the show never acknowledged the connection.

Ironically, Antonio gets the silver medal as my second favorite member of the team. He's full of energy, genuinely wants to help people, and his friendship with Jayden is very believable. The fact that he managed to barge into the team by reverse engineering Zord technology and helped them unlock several new upgrades as a result of his skills with technology makes him stand out from the traditional setup we all came to expect for the first half of Samurai. At the same time, his overbearing nature makes it easy for others to underestimate him, like in “Room for One More” and “The Blue and the Gold”.

Generally, Antonio's computer knowledge helps one of the underlying themes of this show, finding new ways to work with tradition. It's because of him that the Rangers gain access to forms and weapons that none of their predecessors had access to. While Kevin and Mentor Ji initially struggle to accept Antonio into the team thanks to his use of technology and unorthodox fighting style, they realize that he is just as much of a samurai as the others are. For a show focused on bloodlines and destiny, Antonio's introduction was surprisingly well-done, and it adds to the appeal of his character.

As for the allies, we only have three: Mentor Ji, Bulk, and Spike.

Mentor Ji is honestly a pretty forgettable mentor, all things considered. The Rangers already spent their entire lives training, so why is he even there? We don't get a lot of scenes where he helps them train, and unlike other mentors like Master Splinter or Sensei Wu, he doesn't get to help the Rangers on the field as much as he should. Yeah, he doesn't have powers, but he's still shown to be a pretty capable fighter regardless. He just doesn't have as commanding of a presence that a mentor has compared to Zordon, Doggie Cruger, or Doctor K.

The most we really know about his past is that he pretty much raised Jayden since he was a kid, and that he has a motorcycle (implying he was a rebel in the past), and that's it. We never see how deep his relationship with Jayden goes despite being the only one to know an important secret the latter has. For the most part, he serves more as a yes-man for Jayden who occasionally scolds the other Rangers. Even Gosei was memorable for how boring he was and how he gave his Rangers power-ups every day, but Mentor Ji? I still can't really tell you much about his personality other than that he's strict.

It's pretty clear that the return of Bulk was meant to be a selling point for older fans who hated the way the Zordon Era had been forgotten by Disney, but the problem I have lies more in how not much is done to draw connections to older seasons, and even the plot for this season. Remember, this was the first season of Power Rangers I ever saw as a kid, and thanks to the incompetence at Nickelodeon preventing me from seeing the actual pilot until the first half was over, I never got a proper introduction to Bulk. Even “Origins” just casually has him mention that has a history with the Power Rangers, but he doesn't say much beyond that.

With Tommy's reintroduction in Dino Thunder, more emphasis was placed on how important of a character he was in the franchise, and how much of a surprise it was for the new team to find this out. With Bulk and Spike, you could easily replace them with any other two characters, and not much would change. You could have had made all kinds of jokes with Bulk having lived through so many monster attacks, like have him note that samurai-themed Power Rangers is a surprise, or that he's not even surprised by monster attacks at this point. I know Linkara made this a joke in his video, but you could have had a funny running gag where Bulk goes off on tangents about things that actually happened to him, like the time he and Skull got turned into monkeys, only for Spike to brush him off due to how ridiculous they sound.

Another thing I don't get is why Bulk suddenly wants to be a samurai. I mean, it's not completely out of the ballpark, considering he and Skull pretty became police officers on a whim, but at least there, it was established that they did it to attract girls. Here, it's never explained what made Bulk want to become a samurai, much less train Spike to be one too. He said that he's watched a lot of samurai movies in “Origins” (meaning that Bulk is canonically an Akira Kurosawa fan), and another line right after that slightly implies that he was inspired by the appearance of the Samurai Rangers, but there's not much of an explanation beyond that. I just think if you wanted to make this the main focus of their plotlines, there should be more of an explanation behind Bulk's sudden interest in samurai culture, and that he and Spike should actually get to spend time with the Rangers. Most of the time, they just do their own thing that's vaguely related to being a samurai or wanting to help people, and it feels like you're watching an entirely different show. Even in Mighty Morphin, Bulk and Skull regularly interacted with the Rangers in their civilian lives like supporting characters should, but they don't start to talk with the Rangers in person until Super Samurai.

That being said, Bulk and Spike's antics are still pretty fun to watch. I like the idea of Bulk being this exasperated uncle to someone like Spike, and while I have some problems with the motivation, it's nice to see Bulk take Spike under his wing and teach him about the code of honor a samurai has. Yeah, he still sees being a samurai in a superficial light at times, but at the same time, he still encourages Spike to do the right thing with no ulterior motive, like attempt to fight the Nighlok themselves in a few episodes (Sticks & Stones, Test of the Leader, Stroke of Fate). You can tell that Bulk wants the best his nephew, and when Skull (once again played by Jason Narvy) makes a cameo in the final episode, he's grateful that Bulk watched over Spike.

Spike himself is a decently written character. He's hyperactive and has a laugh that SpongeBob SquarePants would find annoying, but he very clearly wants to help people. I honestly think the show would have been more interesting if the subplots with Bulk were building up to Spike creating his own Morpher and becoming the Gold Ranger instead of Antonio, because Spike clearly has the heart of a Ranger.

Overall, this was a pretty okay cast. There were some who were more memorable than others, but I never outright hated anyone. The Samurai Rangers in particular are a lot more memorable than future Neo-Saban teams like the Megaforce Rangers or the Ninja Steel Rangers.

THEIR ARSENAL

The Samurai Rangers morph using the Samuraizer, a cellphone capable of utilizing Symbol Power. Since this is the source of their powers, they can do things with it other than transform, like create elemental attacks, access their Megazord, and pretty much do whatever the plot needs them to do. Unlike Shinkenger, the Samuraizer doesn't transform into a brush while in use, which is kind of weird, since it makes the Rangers look stupid waving their flip phones in the air. Even Antonio's Morpher, the Samurai Morpher (real creative name, fellas), doesn't resemble sushi like its Sentai counterpart, and looks like a more modern take on the Samuraizer. Either way, it's still a weird change to make, especially since another character just uses the same kind of Morpher the Shinkengers used anyway.

I really like the design of the Samurai Ranger suits. There's a nice balance of black and their respective colors, and the symbols on their helmets are unique. The way their suits are designed after samurai robes is also a nice touch.

The core five Rangers' primary weapon is the Spin Sword, a standard samurai sword with the ability to use different elemental attacks depending on the use of a Power Disk. The Spin Swords can also transform into each Ranger's signature weapon. Jayden gets the Fire Smasher, a giant sword that can transform into a cannon to fire disks with, Kevin gets the Hydro Bow, a bow that can fire off energy arrows, Mia gets the Sky Fan, a fan that can create gusts of wind, Kevin gets the Forest Spear, a spear capable of extending to serve as a pole vault, Emily gets the Earth Slicer, a giant shuriken that can be thrown like a boomerang.

Instead of a Spin Sword, Antonio gets the Barracuda Blade, a backhanded sword that he can use to attack enemies at high speeds, something none of the other Rangers can do. In Super Samurai, Antonio gets another weapon in the form of the Lightzord, a lantern capable of shooting disks that comes with a sword, and can even form its own Megazord.

Speaking of Super Samurai, once Antonio unlocks the full power of the Black Box, the core five Rangers are able to access Super Samurai Mode, a pretty elegant-looking new form which boosts their elemental powers and gives them the ability to access more Megazord combinations, but can only be used one at a time. Jayden in particular gets a new weapon to go with his Super Samurai Mode, the Bullzooka, a blaster that can be combined with the Spin Sword. They also get one more mode, Shark Attack Mode, which gives the user a red version of the Super Mode and a sword that stretch around like crazy.

Overall, this is a pretty solid arsenal. There's plenty of variety to what the Rangers can do, but it doesn't feel too overwhelming to keep up with. They saved that for the Zords.

The core five Samurai Rangers have a Folding Zord, these tiny shapes that can grow and resemble animals to fight giant Nighlok with. Jayden gets a pentagon/lion, Kevin a hexagon/dragon, Mia a circle/turtle, Mike a square/bear, and Emily a triangle/monkey. These five Zords combine to form the Samurai Megazord.

While it's a little blocky, I really like the design for the Samurai Megazord. The sword and helmet really make it stand out among other base Megazords, and I think the basic finisher, Katana Power is one of the coolest attacks in the entire series.

The rest of the Zords are themed around the various disks the Rangers use. The Beetle Zord is the first auxiliary Zord Jayden unlocks (though he later hands it down to Mike), and it can combine with the Samurai Megarord to form the Beetle Blaster Megazord, with the ability to fire energy blasts from its helmet.

It's a pretty simple looking upgrade, but I dig it. I especially like the finisher, Rotating Beetle Blaster, where the beetle head spins around and shoots a huge fireball.

Kevin's auxiliary Zord is the Swordfish Zord, which can fly around in addition to swimming, be used to cure any poison, and can even shoot torpedoes at enemies. Wow, this is a really solid Zord, so surely, the Megazord combination should be really cool, right? Well...

Because a majority of the Swordfish Zord is on the back, the Swordfish Fencer Megazord doesn't look that impressive, and is one of the combinations that sees the least action. It doesn't help that the finisher where he sticks its sword in its head and swings it down looks ridiculous.

The final member of the original three auxiliary Zords is the Tiger Zord, which Jayden unlocks. It doesn't really get to do a lot on its own, and mainly serves as a centerpiece for the other Megazord combinations.

The Tiger Drill Megazord, a Megazord which can drill through enemies, isn't that impressive, though I feel like it's more because it doesn't get to do much compared to its other combinations.

The Beetle, Swordfish, and Tiger Zords can all combine into the Samurai Battlewing, which in turn, can combine with the Samurai Megazord to form the Battlewing Megazord. All things considered, I think this is one of my favorite combinations in the series, because there's a good balance between all eight Zords combined, and giving it the ability to fly helps it stand out.

Antonio's first Zord is the Octo Zord, which naturally, looks like a giant squid.

What? Octopus, squid, they're the same thing, right? This Zord can combine with the Samurai Megazord to form the Octo Spear Megazord, giving it a freeze ray and an electric lance.

It's simple, but I like the way the Octo Zord forms all these weapons for the Megazord.

One last auxiliary Zord that only really appears twice, but is still worth mentioning, is the Shark Zord, basically a giant version of the Shark Sword in Shark Attack Mode.

It can combine with the Samurai Megazord to form the Samurai Shark Megazord, using the Shark as a giant sword.

Not much else I can say there, other than that it exists.

Antonio's primary Zord is the Claw Zord, a lobster that can transform into the Claw Battlezord. Unlike most Megazords, it has four different modes based off what head it has. East is the default mode that can weaponize the Zord's claws, South uses twin katanas, West has a fan for a weapon, and North is the only mode that can combine with the Octo Zord, using it as a giant spear.

Once the Rangers unlock the power of the Black Box, they can combine the Samurai Megazord and Claw Battlezord to form the Claw Armor Megazord, while the Beetle, Swordfish, Tiger, and Octo Zords can combine to form the Samurai Battle Cannon.

While I think the cannon looks cool, the Claw Armor Megazord is pretty disappointing. It just looks like the Claw Battlezord with the Samurai Megazord's legs with the Turtle and Ape being reduced to sword holders.

The last Zord the Rangers unlock is the Bull Zord, a giant bull armed with cannons, and can transform into the creatively named Bull Megazord.

I really like how the design for this Megazord emphasizes the strength of the animal it’s based on, as well as the focus on ranged attacks. All eleven Zords can combine to form the Samurai Gigazord.

To say I'm not a fan of this combination would be an understatement. So many Zord parts just look like they were stuck on somewhere because the designers didn't know where else to put them, like the Samurai Battlewing on the back, or the Turtle and Ape Zords at the bottom.

Overall, there are a lot of cool Zords in the Rangers' arsenal, and the only real problems I have lie in the last two major combinations. Well, those and the dreaded Megazord cockpit forms, which would be common for most of the Neo-Saban seasons.

In order to access their Megazords, the Rangers transform into Mega Mode, and their Spin Swords become Mega Blades, which can be used to control the Megazord... when it's never explained why they need to use this form in the first place. Yeah, this franchise is no stranger to promoting toys, but why spend this much money on a form that adds nothing to the team's arsenal? This season has already gotten a lot of flak for just copying Shinkenger's story, so a lot of the Mega Mode scenes could have easily been cut to focus more on original fight scenes.

And it gets worse. The super modes have a Mega form too, and they're just as pointless. There's not much I can say other than the Super Mode vest gives them more armor, but I don't see the point of giving them more armor when they're not fighting a Nighlok head on. You could have easily said something like this form is necessary because a lot of Symbol Power is needed to control the Megazords, and this form is the safest way to channel it in a high amount. But instead, there's never any real explanation for this form.

And that's not even getting into Shogun Mode. After Jayden unlocks the Bull Zord, a Ranger in Super Mega Mode can access Shogun Mode right before the Megazord's finisher... and nothing changes. You could at least argue it's necessary for the Bull Megazord and Samurai Gigazord, but then Mia goes Shogun Mode in a later episode to use the Samurai Battle Cannon with no changes. They don't even try to edit the finisher to make Shogun Mode seem more powerful.

The only time any of these forms get action outside of the Megazord cockpit is in the finale, when Jayden can suddenly use Shogun Mode, but it's not explained why he can do that. Later seasons with original Megazord cockpit scenes and Megazord cockpit modes would at least use the footage to get more creative with the setting by involving characters who weren't involved in the Sentai originally, like in Dino Charge and Dino Fury.  As a whole, these forms just don't add much to the arsenal or story compared to later entries.

THE VILLAINS

While I think these villains have an interesting idea behind them as a whole, the Nighlok as characters really leave a lot to be desired.

Coming off the heels of Venjix, arguably one of the scariest and most successful villains in the franchise, to say Master Xandred is a letdown would be an understatement. We're supposed to see him as this unstoppable demon lord, when most of his screentime consists of him sitting around and drinking booze—I MEAN MEDICINE. THIS IS OBVIOUSLY HEADACHE MEDICINE HE IS DRINKING. When he's not slacking off, he's just yelling at his subordinates for breathing wrong, all while it's impossible to take him seriously when he sounds like someone doing the world's worst Alex Jones impression. Yeah, he's shown to be pretty damn strong when he's on the surface, beating up the Rangers with ease while he's weak from Sanzu River dehydration, but there isn't really a lot of emotional drama or connection to him on the Rangers' front. The show doesn't go into detail about how brutal the war has been over the years, and even the idea of Jayden's father being the person who sealed him away originally doesn't really change how he sees Jayden, or any of the other Rangers for that matter.

I just feel like if you wanted to show how strong he was, have him fight the Rangers earlier in the series to give the audience an idea of how deadly he is, long before the Rangers even get the Black Box or any of their other Megazord combinations. It would put more incentive for the Rangers to get more upgrades instead of his growing power doing nothing but occasionally sending out hordes of footsoldiers. There's actually another villain who really should have taken his place as the leader of the Nighlok, but I'll get to him later.

Octoroo is arguably the second most competent of the Nighlok, and the most loyal to Master Xandred. He actually comes up with plans that would benefit his kind in the long term, like targeting Jayden to make sure he doesn't use the sealing symbol (Unexpected Arrival, Fight Fire With Fire), trying to refill an old gate with Sanzu River water for the Nighlok to travel through (The Blue and the Gold), and risking his life to power up a Nighlok to create extra misery before they get sealed away for good (The Great Duel). Of course, all Master Xandred does is, as I mentioned before, yell at the only one of his generals to not betray him in some way because he's a really stupid demon lord. I think it would have been interesting for something to happen that would test Octoroo's loyalty to Master Xandred, or at the very least, expand upon their relationship in some way.

Dayu is honestly a pretty interesting character, mainly due to the way her backstory was handled compared to Shinkenger. Without giving too much away on either side, Dayu is much more sympathetic than her Eastern counterpart, and it also connects her to Deker in an interesting way by making her half-human as well. The way her instrument (it's called a harmonium, but it looks and sounds nothing like one) is connected to her backstory gives her a much more tragic element to her, and when it's broken by Master Xandred, not only is it enough for her to leave the Nighlok out of spite, her desperation to get it fixed is given greater meaning because of how much it means to her past. She's been through so much, and her instrument is the only thing she has that can remind her of her past, when she was far happier, but it's shown to be a very self-destructive lifestyle.

She's so dependent on reliving her past where she was about to start a happy life with her loved one, she's willing to go back to Master Xandred if it means she can get it fixed, and as soon as the reality that her loved one is gone sets in on her, she feels like she has no choice but to give into her Nighlok side and help Master Xandred reach the surface. It's a pretty tragic character arc, all things considered, and I feel like the changes made from the Sentai really help to make her stand out.

Unfortunately, I can't say the same for Deker. Despite being billed as Jayden's main rival, Deker doesn't really have a lot going for him other than his backstory and how often he likes to talk about his sword, Uramasa. And don't worry, he says it all the time so you don't forget the name. Again, without spoiling Shinkenger for newcomers, Deker's Sentai counterpart is arguably more deranged than even Dayu's, and the problem here is that this show wants to have the best of both worlds with Deker as a villain. The writers clearly want him to be held in the same level of disdain as even Master Xandred, but also want him to be a more sympathetic villain. I'm not saying you can't do that, but even with Zen-Aku, he did plenty of evil things before we learned he was cursed.

With Deker, the show spends so much time trying to remind the audience of how tragic of a figure he is, they forget to have him actually do anything evil to balance that out. Yeah, he interrupts a Nighlok fight to duel Jayden (Test of the Leader), but he never really does anything else like that. The closest he comes to being evil is when he temporarily operates under Serrator's faction, and even then, it's so he can get Uramasa fixed. When he fights, all he talks about is how he wants to break his curse, but we never see him go to any extreme measures to break the curse. Instead of a noble demon, show Deker as someone who will threaten Jayden into dueling him so he can break his curse, and resort to dirty tactics so he can find a way, any way to break the curse. He's lived for over a century, but he never really shows any desperation or drive to end his misery like what we see with Dayu. It ultimately makes it hard to get invested in his final duel with Jayden because he's not too big of a threat who needs to be stopped like Jayden claims.

Again, not to parrot Linkara's views on the show, but Serrator really should have been the final villain. He's easily the most deceptive, has a bigger role in the backstories of Deker and Dayu, and he has a bigger plan in general. You'd be forgiven for thinking that Master Xandred was a red herring and that he only existed as a placeholder until Serrator took over. He has a much more unique arsenal of soccer balls, giant bladed gauntlets, and even his own personal footsoldiers, showing how he is able to keep up with the Rangers on his own. The fact that he almost came close to achieving his goal only serves to show how effective of a villain he was.

You could have easily changed the story for Serrator to take over. Show how weak and pathetic Master Xandred has become after generations of battles with the Samurai Rangers, and the first time the current generation of Rangers sees him surface, he isn't this threatening juggernaut they were taught to see him as. Instead, Serrator kills him and asserts himself as the true master of the Nighlok, throwing the Rangers through a loop as he plans to do something worse than flooding the Earth with the Sanzu River. Unfortunately, we’re stuck with Master Xandred instead.

The Nighlok's footsoldiers, the Moogers, have some pretty cool designs. I like the demonic look to them, and they have a pretty cool arsenal. They also get giant variants to fight the Rangers with in their Megazords, alongside the Spitfangs, these walking crocodile heads that can breathe fire.

The standard Nighlok monsters also have some unique designs to them, as well as some really cool powers that show a noticeable flaw in the Rangers' training. Because the Rangers are trained to be samurai, they struggle against Nighlok they can't match in sword combat. There are Nighlok like Rofer, who can extend his arms to punch enemies, Dreadhead, who is immune to sword strikes, Madimot, who can brainwash people, Steeleto, who can manipulate the blades on his body to attack enemies, Armadeevil, who has a near impenetrable shell, and Maldan, who leads a squadron of Moogers armed with laser blasters.

A lot of these Nighloks are pretty intimidating, and thanks to their abilities, prove to be a real challenge to the Rangers, which makes them finding ways to beat them all the more cathartic. If I had to pick my favorite, it would either be Dreadhead for his entertaining cowboy voice, or Robtish for his design.

Overall, these villains can be very hit and miss. While they're far from the worst villain group in the franchise, there was a lot of room for improvement.

HIGHLIGHTS

Top Five Worst Episodes

#5: Boxed In

After being poisoned by Octoroo, Jayden is abducted by Deker while the other Rangers are injured by the treacherous Nighlok, Arachnitor. So not only does Antonio have to continue working on unlocking the power of the Black Box, he also has to find Jayden, while the rest of the Rangers have to fight against Arachnitor, who had recently been mutated by Master Xandred.

This episode isn't necessarily bad, but the problem lies in how it tries to extend the Black Box arc for Super Samurai. With the way its set up, you would think Antonio borrowing the other Rangers' Power Disks would mean he would make more progress on the Black Box, but then it never comes into play during the climax. The Rangers don't even beat Arachnitor, as he just gets away while they say that he did multiple times to make sure the audience knows.

The Megazord fight at the end with the Giant Moogers is just poorly edited, blatantly reusing footage from earlier and future episodes that doesn't even match up with the current events, like Jayden's control panel having the Beetle Zord emblem when he gave it to Mike a while ago, Antonio's cockpit showing the Claw Battlezord is in South mode when it stayed in East for the entire battle, or having Claw Battlezord East's finisher lead to the footage of Giant Moogers being taken down by the Claw Armor Megazord's Double Katana Strike in “Super Samurai”.

As a whole, the episode just feels like padding because nothing is really accomplished other than a little more knowledge on Deker's backstory, and this leads to the fight scenes in the next two episodes being heavily edited thanks to the Rangers not having the Black Box yet. It's at the bottom of the list because its flaws are more in how the writers chose to handle the Black Box in general by dragging out the debut.

#4: The Blue and the Gold

While trying to adjust to his new life with the team, Antonio starts to spy Kevin to find a way to understand him better, the two accidentally uncover a Nighlok plan to refill an old well with Sanzu River water so they can use it as a portal. In addition to Octoroo's barrier blocking their cell signal, his accomplice, Antberry, uses his Sanzu Slime to make it hard for them to actually use their weapons. Kevin and Antonio have to put aside their differences and find a way to deal with the Nighlok without the help of the other Rangers.

Like “Boxed In”, this episode isn't really bad, as it's some good character focus for Kevin and Antonio, and hearing Octoroo say “The Red Ranger's gonna fry your boo-tay!” near the end was pretty funny. The problem lies in how it adapted the Shinkenger plot. In the corresponding Shinkenger episode, the villain's plan was still to use a well as a portal for his kind, but he planned to sacrifice several schoolgirls to do so. How does Saban handle this? Their plan is to break a bunch of stolen toys. I am not making this up.

Okay... first, how would breaking toys cause a lot of sorrow if the kids who owned them aren't around to see them being broken? Second, how does the axe Octoroo gave Antberry work, and why does it need to be used to break toys instead of any old weapon? Third, why does the axe need to be sharpened if it's only being used to break some plastic toys? Fourth, why would Octoroo recruit a Nighlok with the most conspicuous powers for a covert operation? And finally, why was stealing toys from kids to cause sorrow “Plan A”?

The whole story just has so many plotholes, and the idea of stealing toys just makes the Nighlok look inept instead of the fearsome demons the show wants us to see them as.

#3: A Sticky Situation

Epoxar, a Nighlok with glue powers, glues both Mike and Kevin's hands together, making it hard for them to actually fight. When the other Rangers are incapacitated by the Nighlok, it's up to Mike and Kevin to put aside their differences and take down Epoxar.

I'm not a fan of the “two characters get glued together” plot a lot of TV shows do, so as you can imagine, I'm obviously not a fan of this episode, and most of it boils down to how the story is handled. First off, the Rangers only try to get rid of the glue once, by having Jayden swing his sword at the makeshift handcuffs. Nobody tries using their Symbol Power to melt the glue or maybe make it easier to stretch a little. Second, both Mike and Kevin think that they can work together while stuck like this, and the scenes of them trying to train in this state just drag on. Third, even though they know what the Nighlok's powers are, the Rangers don't even think to be careful while chasing him, and fall victim to his glue trap.

This episode is just full of poor decisions, and it isn't even that funny. It doesn't help that this was the last filler episode before the final two arcs, and it was a pretty bad filler episode at that. Also, there was a scene where Kevin had go to the bathroom while he and Mike were still stuck together, and now all I can't get that horrible image out of my head.

#2: The Great Duel

While the Rangers get used to a new addition to their ranks, Jayden faces off against Deker for the final time.

I don't want to give too much away, given that this episode is during the final arc and involves a new character, but a lot of the problems I have with the episode boils down to how this new character is treated by the other Rangers. They don't really do anything wrong, yet all the other Rangers do is judge them for no reason.

Another problem I have lies with Jayden's final duel with Deker. Like I said earlier, there's no real drama between the two that makes you get excited for this fight, and what should be an important moment for Jayden's character arc just comes across as filler.

It's just not a good episode because even though we're this close to the end of the series, nothing really feels important here.

#1: Something Fishy

After he was almost eaten by a cat while he was in the body of a fish in the previous episode (I'll explain later), Antonio develops a crippling fear of fish to the point where he can't even draw his Barracuda Blade. When it seems like the Rangers can't snap him out of his fear, they go to face Serrator for the first time, while Mentor Ji tries to help Antonio find a new weapon to use.

While I like the idea of a Ranger having to deal with the trauma of a monster attack, the way it's handled just doesn't work. It's framed as a standard “face your fears” episode while not really acknowledging what caused Antonio to develop a fear of fish: association with a negative incident. Most of the team's attempts to help Antonio amount to “I'm going to force myself to do something I don't like so you can eat fish and overcome your fear”, and before that, they pretty much tell him to grow a pair and get over it.

In general, Antonio's fear is treated as unreasonable and even the way it's resolved feels like an insult to anyone who struggles to face their fears. Mentor Ji just goes up to Antonio, shoves a piece of sushi in his mouth and tells him to just deal with his crippling fear of fish that he only got after a near-death experience.

This could have been a great character focus episode for Antonio. You could have explored why he chose to follow his father and become a fisherman himself instead of what we got. And the worst part is with the debut of Serrator and the Light Zord, this episode is very relevant to the plot. They seriously made an episode where a major villain debuts at the same time as an annoying subplot that fails to actually explore fear, and that's just one of the reasons why I think this is the worst episode of the season.

Top 5 Best Episodes

#5: Super Samurai

When Arachnitor returns and overwhelms the Rangers, Antonio has to hurry and finish the Black Box as soon as he can and give the team the power boost they need, all while water from the Sanzu River starts to seep into the human world.

While I had a lot of problems with how the Black Box arc was stretched out so it would start in Super Samurai, this episode honestly does a great job showing off the new powers and setting the stage for the second half of this season. The scene where the Rangers see a puddle of Sanzu River water is seen as bad because we know the Nighlok need it, but the simple image of a stick catching on fire as soon as it's dipped in the water is honestly pretty chilling. It pretty much tells the audience, “You thought the Sanzu River flooding the world was bad? Wait until you see what the water does to anything that isn't a Nighlok.”

The stakes are raised even further when the Rangers encounter Arachnitor, and thanks to Octoroo's meddling, can't morph to fight him or the Moogers. We even see some of Mia's hair get singed thanks to touching some Sanzu River water. It's some pretty tense stuff, which is what makes the Rangers getting their powers back in addition to Jayden's first Super Samurai Mode transformation all the more triumphant.

I also really like the ending where Jayden acknowledges that they'll need to use the Black Box more to keep up with the growing threat of the Nighlok, as it really shows how things have gotten more serious. It's a great way to open up the second half of this season.

#4: Trading Places

Switchbeast, a Nighlok under the command of a mysterious benefactor (later revealed to be Serrator), uses his powers to switch the minds of civilians with everyday objects, including Jayden, Kevin, Mia, and Antonio, so it's up to Mike and Emily to stop on their own.

Body swap episodes are a hallmark of TV shows, especially ones aimed at children, and unlike “A Sticky Situation”, which played the cliche plot straight, this episode tries something different with the body swapping. Instead of the standard conflict of the Rangers needing to get used to each other's powers, the swapped Rangers are taken out of the conflict entirely due to being stuck as inanimate objects, leading to a more character-focused conflict with Mike and Emily being the only ones able to stop it, where earlier episodes just left one Ranger out of commission at a time (Team Spirit, The Great Duel).

Another interesting thing is the way the conflict is treated. When you first think about the plan, it's pretty tame by Nighlok standards. It's not stealing and breaking toys dumb, but it's up there. But then the episode reveals Switchbeast's true plan. Why did he place the minds of random people in inanimate objects? Simple, all so the objects could be taken out and disposed of, killing the people inside while their bodies remain emotionless husks, causing all kinds of sorrow. It's honestly a pretty demented plan, and it makes sense when you remember this Nighlok works for Serrator.

This episode also does a good job showing off how far Mike has come as a character. He and Emily have both been underestimated the most out of the team, and even when Emily brings up the events of an earlier episode where Mike tried taking on a Nighlok by himself, Mike is more focused on the fact that Jayden had to save him at the end. Even when Mentor Ji gives him the Black Box to use, Mike isn't sure if he can handle the power. It's pretty interesting to see Mike doubt himself when the stakes are so high, which only makes his and Emily's eventual triumph over Switchbeast all the more satisfying.

I also have to give credit to the actors who were playing the victims this episode, specifically the scenes where Mike and Emily are talking with Mentor Ji while the others are standing there as inanimate objects. It must have been really hard to keep a straight face, especially Najee De-Tiege when Mike put Kevin in a tutu while standing still as a joke.

It's just a really fun episode with really high stakes.

#3: Runaway Spike

When the rent on Bulk's home is overdue, Spike goes out and tries to get a job to help raise money. Meanwhile, the Rangers have to deal with Duplicator, a Nighlok who can create clones of himself.

Despite being billed as important characters in the opening, Bulk and Spike never really got a lot of focus episodes. Thankfully, that changes here. While this is still a rather lighthearted filler episode, it's a good character study for both Bulk and Spike. Spike generally wants to help his uncle out, and while him screwing up on multiple jobs is played for laughs like you'd expect, we see how it affects his self-esteem to the point where he doesn't even notice Duplicator's first attack due to how down he's feeling. After the attack, Spike vents to Mia (who went to make sure he was okay after Duplicator escaped) about how much of a loser he thinks he is, and it's some pretty engaging stuff.

It's also a great episode for Bulk. When he sets out to look for Spike once it gets dark, it really shows how much he cares for his nephew. He doesn't ramble about any ulterior motive like saying Skull will kill him if anything happens to Spike. He chooses to let Spike go out and get a job on his own, but when it gets late, he decides to go looking for him. It's subtle, but it's a great way to show the level of trust Bulk has for Spike, and when it's hinted that Spike got fired from his last job as a security guard, he tries his best to reassure him that he did his best. I really wish we got more episodes like this that explore the relationship between Bulk and Spike, because the two are great here.

Spike's brief interaction with Mia is the highlight of the episode, as not only is a clever follow-up to the running gag about him falling for the Pink Ranger (like father, like son, am I right?), but it's one of the few scenes where Mia can really shine as a character with her, an actual samurai, telling the samurai-in-training to never give up. While I never really shipped Mia and Spike, I can honestly see the two hanging out and becoming close friends after the events of the series. There was also a real missed opportunity to have Spike be one of the few people to actually enjoy Mia's cooking.

The climax here is also one of the more visually stunning fights in the series, using a lot of shadows and clever lighting. Like Duplicator says about himself multiple times in the episode, it's really cool. It's just a great episode that manages to have a fun monster fight while expanding on the characters of Bulk and Spike.

#2: Unexpected Arrival

Octoroo sends Vulpes, a Nighlok with mirror and illusion spells, to spy on Jayden to learn more about the sealing symbol, while the other Rangers try to investigate a mysterious fisherman who sent a message about seeing them soon.

This is the only episode of Samurai's first half on the list, and oh boy, is it a good one. The first half is full of suspense and intrigue as to what the Nighlok's plan is. There's a real sense of uneasiness, especially with how the Nighlok seems to target Jayden specifically. He becomes so paranoid, he actually comes close to accidentally harming Emily in one scene.

The episode also does a great job at introducing Antonio. With how it's structured, you would initially believe that he's connected to the Nighlok's plan, which makes his appearance as the Gold Ranger just as surprising to see as it is for the other Rangers. Granted, Nickelodeon's promo outright spoiled that Antonio was the Gold Ranger, but it's the thought that counts.

After how uneasy the first half felt, Antonio's debut lightens up the tone and makes it incredibly satisfying to see Vulpes get his ass handed to him while showing how eccentric Antonio can be. At the same time, it sets up the next episode where we learn more about Antonio as a character, introducing him but not giving everything about his backstory yet, making the reveal that he and Jayden are old friends intrigue audiences. The episode featuring the debut of the Gold Ranger clearly lived up to its title, as it was clearly a golden one.

#1: The Strange Case of the Munchies

Jayden, Kevin, Mia, Mike, and Antonio are all afflicted with an insatiable hunger thanks to Grinataur, leaving Emily the only one capable of stopping him and keeping the others in order. Meanwhile, Bulk and Spike find Mia's wallet and try to return it by going to the Rangers' home, only to get roped into “Samurai training” by Emily as a diversion.

This is honestly my favorite episode of Samurai just because of how wacky it can get. The sheer amount of energy put in by the actors as they try to eat whatever they can get their hands on is just hilarious, especially Najee De-Tiege, who tries to eat flour from a bag. Even Mentor Ji gets a few good lines in as he tries to keep up with the insanity, seeing how he's the only one besides Emily who wasn't hit by the Nighlok.

The way Bulk and Spike were used was also really funny. When the two come to the Shiba house to give Mia back her wallet while the Rangers are stuffing their faces, Emily pretends to be a drill sergeant to keep Bulk and Spike occupied with a bunch of rigorous training, and she basically channels her inner R. Lee Ermey to scare them away. It's just a riot.

There's not much else I can say about the episode. There's so many funny jokes and slapstick, it's hard to really describe what I like about it. If you watch any episode of Samurai, it should be this one.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Samurai... is a very mixed bag. While its relatively standalone nature makes it a good starting point for newcomers, there are a lot of moments where the writing can be confusing when it comes to what they do and don't change from Shinkenger. At the same time, there are still a lot of good performances from the cast, and some interesting characters that, while not fully used to their full potential, are still enjoyable in their own way. Compared to later Neo-Saban seasons, you could tell there were some growing pains here, and the rushed production didn't help things at all, but honestly? I still think the writers did an okay job with what they had. Yeah, you can probably chalk some of it up to nostalgia, but I still thought this was a pretty decent show. It's nowhere near my favorite in the franchise, but it never reached any of the lows future Neo-Saban entries like Megaforce or Ninja Steel reached.

I'd say if you're someone looking to get into Power Rangers or tokusatsu as a whole, this is a pretty decent starting point. It wouldn't be my first choice for beginners (I'd go more with Lost Galaxy, Wild Force, or Dino Thunder if you were curious), but compared to other Neo-Saban shows, there's still a clear sign of effort here in spite of the rushed production schedule. Even if you've already seen it, or have seen Shinkenger before, I'd also say it would be fun to check out a few episodes of Samurai and see how the source material was handled, either with what was changed, or with the moments blatantly copying scenes from the Sentai.

Although if you were looking to get into Super Sentai, Samurai Sentai Shinkenger is still a great season to start on. It's over ten years old, and it's still considered one of the best entries in the entire franchise. If you grew up with Power Rangers Samurai and want to get into Super Sentai, I highly recommend watching Shinkenger.

[marinnerea89]

Opinión: Bill Belichick y Nick Saban fueron el tipo de entrenadores de los que le hablo a mi terapeuta

Marín Nerea

Hace 25 años, cuando era un joven escritor de béisbol para Sports Illustrated, tenía una pregunta para Jim Fregosi, entonces gerente de los Toronto Blue Jays.

Estábamos parados dentro de la casa club del equipo aproximadamente dos horas antes del inicio del juego de esa noche: el legendario beisbolista vitalicio, un grupo de periodistas, algunos jugadores. Fregosi era ruidoso y atrevido, dueño de un rostro trazado que contaba la historia de demasiados Marlboro mezclados con demasiadas tardes al sol. Y después de apretar mis palmas cubiertas de sudor y respirar profundamente, me volví hacia él y le dije: “Skip, mi nombre es Jeff Pearlman. Escribo la columna Inside Baseball para Sports Illustrated y solo quería…”

Me interrumpió.

“John”, dijo, “no sé qué carajo es eso. Sólo haz tu maldita pregunta”.

Fregosi procedió a disparar un gran fajo de jugo de tabaco en un vaso de poliestireno 7-Eleven y me ignoró.

Mi terapeuta conoce bien la historia. Lo menciono ahora porque, mientras escribo, ha llegado a mi escritorio la noticia de que, después de 24 temporadas y seis campeonatos de Super Bowl,  Bill Belichick  ya no entrenará a los New England Patriots. Esto ocurre menos de 24 horas después de que  Nick Saban , el incomparable entrenador en jefe de Alabama durante 17 magníficos años y múltiples títulos nacionales, anunciara su retiro del deporte.

[liugeaux]

A Definitive Ranking Of Every Incarnation Of The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Seven years ago I was so butt-hurt by an Uproxx article that I wrote a response with my own TMNT incarnation ranking. Was I right to do it? Absolutely. Do I regret it? Not at all. I stand by that ranking and where the TMNT property was in 2017. Read it here.

What HAS happened though is multiple versions (incarnations) of our beloved turtles have been rolled out in the past 7 years and I think it's time to re-rank them. This will be similar to the reposts common in this blog, as it will have a lot of old content, but it will be a full-on refresher with a brand-new definitive ranking. Here we go!

17. Saban’s Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation

The Next Mutation is the worst. While technically a hit TV show, TNM is a reimagining of the Turtles in a similar style to the hyper-popular Power Rangers of the time; and created by that same production house. It was too goofy, too Japanese, and pandered to a completely different audience. Any charm or goodwill the original show still had was flushed right down the drain after the launch of The Next Mutation; not to mention the introduction of the cringe-worthy Venus, the fifth Turtle. The Next Mutation is best forgotten, but sadly never will be. 

16. Japanese OVA - Mutant Turtles: Superman Legend

Not included in the original list because I didn't think it was a substantial enough incarnation to include, Superman Legend is a gem if you like weird 90s anime. If you don't, skip it. When I say skip it, I mean it. It doesn't feel like a Ninja Turtles story and while styled after the Fred Wolf TV show, it drips of cheesy anime tropes and is, at times, hard to watch. I include it here as almost a warning against possibly watching it.

15. Konami’s Video Games 

At the time, Konami’s video games seemed awesome. The arcade games and the classic NES games gave children exactly what they wanted, a way to control their favorite turtles and fight the foot. In actuality, the original arcade games were built as quarter-eating button mashers. There was little nuance to the games themselves and the home console releases were either bad (that first NES) or were trying to recreate a game on a platform for which it wasn't designed (TMNT II, Manhattan Project, Turtles in Time, etc.). If you wipe off the thick film of nostalgia, it's easy to see these games really aren’t that good.  

14. Platinum Dunes’ Movie (Series) 

The two Platinum Dunes movies have a style to them, and it's best we leave that style in the 2010s. Everything from the Incredible Hulk looking over-design of the characters, to the disasters of plots, there is very little to like about what Michael Bay’s production company did to our beloved Turtles. The films have some decent action and comedy, but a lot of the creative directions taken leave the heart of the Turtles unrecognizable. Out of the Shadows was better than the first film and did a good job capturing the feel of the original cartoon, but it still committed a lot of the same sins, despite being the "right kind of dumb".  

13. Fred Wolf’s Original 1987 Animated Show

It’s funny how the most popular of all the incarnations is also one of the worst. The original cartoon is a victim of its era. The animation is bad, the plots are silly and sometimes nonsensical, and many episodes are just thinly veiled advertisements for the mega-successful accompanying toy line. Still, there’s a charm to that old show that made it popular for a reason. Presented as the figurehead of late 80s cartoons that it is, it might be a masterpiece. Presented in a vacuum, apart from the craze, that old show can be unwatchable. This incarnation is another victim of nostalgia and is probably best experienced through t-shirts and merchandise, not through actual experience. 

12. Image’s Vol. 3 Comics

Die-hard Turtles fans love to point at Image’s short-lived run of comics after Mirage’s first hiatus as being “Amazing”. “Volume 3″ to which it is referred, was planned as a continuation of Mirage’s colorized Vol. 2. Sadly, it followed many of the tropes of late 90s comic books. It was more violent than its predecessors and even went as far as having two of the TMNT get deformed. Donny becomes a cyborg and Raph’s face gets disfigured. At the time it was a fresh take on the characters and seen as bold and unpredictable. Because of this, it should hold a legit chunk of respect, but in practicality, it wasn’t great. 

11. Batman Vs. TMNT Crossover Comics and Movie

This is, by far, the hardest incarnation to rank. It's not bad, and in most ways it's great. However, taking a generic version of the TMNT and planting them in a story beside The Dark Knight creates an un-winnable situation. Character development must be spread across two universes and cannot be too in-depth, because you can't stray too far from the core essence of either property. Fans love this version of the Turtles and I don't blame them. It boils the 4 brothers down to their core traits and, through solid writing, creates an entertaining romp that plays into both properties' tropes. Where the Batman/TMNT crossover succeeds in entertainment value, it completely fails in compelling story-telling.

10. Archie’s TMNT: Adventures Comics

More comics from the 90s! Archie’s TMNT Adventures was less an Archie production and more a shadow Mirage title that was created mostly in-house under the eyes of Eastman and Laird. Its origin as a spin-off of the TV show made for a unique niche. Many of the stories and characters resonate to this day and If I were listing my favorite TMNT comic artists, Chris Allen would be in my top three. One of the title’s strengths was the secondary characters. Verminator-X, Armaggon, Ninjara, the Mighty Mutanimals, and Cuddly the Cowlick, are all great additions to the greater mythology of the series and many of them have returned in other media. As much fun as these were to read 30 years ago, a distinct lack of character development in the TMNT, and a heavy handed environmental agenda being pushed make these hard to read today. Those Future Turtles are the bomb though…

9. TMNT: Mutant Mayhem

I have thought long and hard about where Seth Rogan's take on the TMNT belongs in the pantheon of turtle stories. From an entertainment standpoint, it's fantastic. The film is incredibly funny and breathes fresh energy into tried and true character archetypes. Does it represent the legacy of TMNT as a franchise? I don't know. We've been promised a lot more of this incarnation, so our questions will likely get answered as series staples like Shredder and The Foot get introduced, but as it stands, Mutant Meyham is a fantastic anomaly ripe for exploration.

8. New Line’s Original Movie Trilogy

America’s love for the original movie trilogy is justified. They captured a moment in American Pop Culture that was unique and somewhat bizarre. On the surface, a lot of the dialog can be cheesy and eye-roll-inducing, but that’s what the 90′s were. Looking back at them, the only one that holds up as a GREAT movie is the first one. The effort put into bringing the comics to life, while dabbling in the silliness of the cartoon, is visible. There’s more emotion in that first movie than most would care to admit. I’m not going to call it a masterpiece or anything, Actually, I am gonna call TMNT 1990 a masterpiece. The second two movies are what keep this incarnation from being higher on the list. The Secret of the Ooze is embarrassing and TMNT III is boring at best. The care that went into the first film just wasn’t there the second and third times around. 

7. “TMNT” Animated Movie

The Turtle’s franchise timeline can be divided into 3 phases; Phase 1: Eastman and Laird, Phase 2: Laird only, and Phase 3: Nickelodeon. The “TMNT” animated movie was released during Phase 2, and because of that, it has Peter Laird’s influence all over it. During his solo time with the Turtles, Laird had very specific ideas about what he wanted to do with the characters and what stories he wanted to be told. Not goofy, not over-the-top, not too dark, and maintaining the series’ comedic overtones, TMNT is a weird movie that feels like a release that fell out of another dimension. Despite its plot being the most non-TMNT-ish story ever told, there is still a handful of scenes that are quite wonderful. The epic fight scene between Leo and Raph at the close of Act 2 is worth the price of admission. TMNT is a beautiful film that has a charm unique unto itself and it’s really a shame a sequel was never made.   

6. Rise of the TMNT

I'm sure putting Rise in the #6 spot can be seen as a bold move, but I stand behind it completely. Rise is possibly the most controversial version of the Turtles to date. Odd, and unnecessary changes to the lore and characters turned a lot of fans off of the project before it even launched. Taking a more comedic and short-attention-spaned approach to TMNT storytelling alienated many viewers, which means Rise lives on its own little island. Fans of Rise, LOVE IT, with good reason. It's hilarious, irreverent, sharp and stunning. By taking enough influence from anime to make the show look great, but not enough to make the show look ridiculous, Rise succeeds at looking better than ALL of its predecessors. Narratively, it takes some time to get to the significant story beats, but considering most TMNT stories aren't interested in telling a long-form story, Rise's approach to slow-drip-plot, is masterful. The Rise movie is a fantastic exclamation point on a series the creators knew was already dead. I almost understand why someone wouldn't like Rise of the TMNT, but it's hard for me to think someone gave it a fair shake and still didn't see the brilliance of its bizarre take on the TMNT.

5. Nickelodeon’s 2012 Animated Show 

After the Viacom acquisition, the impending TMNT cartoon show was an uncomfortable unknown. How closely would it stick to the lore? Would it go off the rails and break the series? Would it be too kiddy for a classic fan to enjoy? All worries were washed away when the show debuted in the Fall of 2012. Featuring the most fully realized version of the 4 turtles to date, Nick’s show was a breath of fresh air. There’s a spark to its dialog and it’s obvious the creators were proud to be working on TMNT. It's hard not to chuckle at least once or twice during every episode and unlike most kid shows, it's easy to care about the over-arching story. The changes made to the base origin and characters can be confusing, but each one has been interesting in its own way. As my good buddy Jeff often says about, it's a beautiful melting pot of everything TMNT. If you haven’t checked it out yet, Nick’s TMNT reboot is more than worth a watch.  

4. IDW’s TMNT Comics

The first real content to come from the post-Nickelodeon buyout was the IDW-licensed comic line. Not only did they immediately start frantically reprinting the old Mirage books, but they also launched a new ongoing title set in its own TMNT continuity. Without a doubt, this run has been the most exciting thing to happen to TMNT comics since…let’s say Mirage’s Vol.1. By taking a brand new origin and mixing old characters with new characters, Eastman and Waltz have found a way to re-tell a lot of TMNT history without telling any of the exact same stories we already know. My only real complaint about the book is that its a little too obvious that Nickelodeon has placed certain story restrictions on them. I.E. The Turtles don’t ever kill anyone, and death as a whole is kept to a minimum. Consequently, the book sometimes lacks the teeth of the original Mirage book.

3. The Last Ronin

After 9 years of a fantastic ongoing TMNT comic, IDW decided to stretch its legs and pull an idea out of the Eastman and Laird idea archive. The Last Ronin, is a stand-alone TMNT tale originally outlined by both co-creators Eastman and Laird. It's dark, violent, somber and bold. TLR is easily the best TMNT comic to hit the market since 1992's City at War, and it deserves the same reverence. Truth be told, outside of the original conception of the series, Peter Laird had little to do with its story. The volume was such a success, a teaser was written into the last book that introduced a new generation of Turtles into the fold. This birthed the Ronin-verse. As silly as that may sound, the transition to a new quartet of Turtles has been healthy and fun. The Last Ronin 2 starts later this year and I have no worries that the new TMNT will be built with respect to the originals. That's a feat in and of itself.

2. 4Kids’ 2003 Animated Show

The 4Kids Animated show was produced during the Peter Laird years and with a few exceptions it’s a love letter to fans of the Mirage comics. Unlike the original show, which took the loose concept of Ninja Turtles and built its own little silly world, the 4Kids show took many of its stories directly from the comics and carried a tone closer to that comic's run. Sure some things had to be changed because it was still a kid’s show, but the entire run feels like it's what Laird wanted to do the first time around, but not having complete control got in the way. The best part is that it has aged remarkably well. Despite all episodes being 4:3 SD, the characters and stories still pop to this day. Which, in the end, is just a reflection of how good the source material is.

1. Mirage’s Original Comic Series 

Of course, #1 had to go to the Mirage run. Sure, a lot of things can be said about how disjointed the entire experience is, and how bad some of the guest contributors were during the height of the TMNT fad in the early 90′s, but at its core, the Mirage run represented so many different things. It was the start of what would become one of the most successful creator-owned franchises in American history. Mirage was built from nothing (hence the name), and ended up taking over the world on the strength of the characters they created. Vol. 1 of the comics was an instrumental piece of content in the indy comic boom of the 80s and was a flagship, “creators have rights” book. The canonical stories from Vols 1, 2 and 4 are the turtles at their most honest and raw. Eastman and more-so Laird weren’t afraid of taking chances and even the stories that didn’t pan-out HAD to be respected. So, what incarnation is the absolute best? It's the Mirage comics, without a doubt, by a wide margin. Say all the good things you can imagine about the other incarnations on this list, but none of them are "Capital I" Important. Sure, they were great, charming and even dabbled in amazing, but Mirage rewrote the rulebook, and that’s something that will never be usurped. 

Cheers!

Addendum: The following incarnations were omitted because they didn’t make a significant contribution to the greater TMNT story.  

All TMNT Manga, The TMNT Comic Strip, The Action Figures (they aren’t being included because they are just an extension of the shows and movies, but they kinda had a life of their own), Coming Out of Our Shells Live Tour, Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles, The 4kids Based Dreamwave Comics, Later TMNT Video Games (Konami, Ubisoft, and Activision Published), The many other crossover comic book series out there.

[justinsentertainmentcorner]

Lesley Goldberg and Alex Weprin at The Hollywood Reporter:

In a carriage battle about pay TV’s future, one of the original cable channels became an unexpected flashpoint. Freeform, the Disney-owned cable channel that caters to younger women, was dropped from Spectrum channel lineups as part of Disney’s landmark deal with Charter Communications. It was no small decision, with Freeform in some 74 million homes at the end of last year, and with Charter’s nearly 15 million cable TV households no longer having access.

“When we looked across the portfolio to try to identify where the greatest value in this deal was to us, we definitely made some trade-offs,” Disney Entertainment co-chairman Dana Walden told The Hollywood Reporter after the Spectrum deal was announced. She noted that channels like Freeform already served as a pipeline of programming for streaming services like Hulu. And while the deal saw a number of other channels were dropped in the deal, the dropping of Freeform suggests that, as the repercussions of the deal are felt across the pay TV ecosystem, no channel is truly safe. Freeform has a long and winding history that traces back to the earliest days of cable TV. Founded in 1977 by the evangelist Pat Robertson as a spinoff of his Christian Broadcasting Network local TV stations, the channel effectively became “the first satellite basic cable network in America,” Robertson recalled to the Archive of American Television in an interview. HBO was founded a half decade earlier as a premium cable service, and Ted Turner put WTCG’s signal on cable and satellite beginning in 1976, but Robertson’s CBN service was the original basic cable channel.

[...] But the channel that would become Freeform would be bought and sold many times over in the enduing decades, with many brand iterations to boot. In the late 1980s, the channel left Robertson’s ministry and became for-profit, rebranding itself as The Family Channel (the deal was financed, in part, by the cable TV mogul John Malone, who, in a twist of fate, is also the largest outside shareholder in Charter Communications). In 1997, the channel was sold for $1.9 billion to Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. and a company controlled by media mogul Haim Saban, and it was rebranded as the Fox Family Channel. Just a few years later, with Saban seeking an exit, the companies agreed to sell Fox Family to The Walt Disney Co. for $2.9 billion plus the assumption of its debt. Fox Family was renamed ABC Family, with the company trying out a number of brands, identities and target audiences before settling on Freeform and its current target audience in 2016. Despite its many names and iterations over the years, Freeform still has one critical connection to its founding: It still runs The 700 Club, the religious show hosted by Robertson for most of its run, a term of that original sale decades ago that still holds to this day.

With Spectrum dropping Freeform as part of the new carriage agreement with Disney and their networks, could this be the beginning of end of the road for the channel?

Their Halloween and Christmas blocks will see ratings erosions due to this move.

[dreayumei]

Power Rangers Rant

What I am not liking about more recent Power Rangers seasons is the heavy reliance on "Go Go Power Rangers" as the theme song. Originally, they only used that theme in the first 3 seasons (Which were Mighty Morphin' so it makes sense) but then had new theme songs all the way until Samurai. Why make that change? I loved watching the first episode of a new season and listening to the new song. Now we just get 10 versions of "Go Go Power Rangers".

Yes, I know this is a show for children. I shall continue my rant.

When I was a kid, one of the things that kept me coming back to a show was the music. Power Rangers, for all it's silliness (like being baked into a giant pizza), has always had very good music. From the theme song to the fight songs. At least once a year, I pull up a compilation of all of the theme songs and head bang my way into a head-ache. Or I would if the constantly updating compilation stopped at Jungle Fury. Once Saban took back over, the music variety was done. Yeah, the Nick seasons were a mixed bag, but at least the music (except for Overdrive🤮) was interesting.

Yep, she's still going.

One of the many things that has been missing from Power Rangers, especially in the Neo-Saban era, is commitment to the bit. What I mean by that is they both want to have a show that is for children of today, but also some nostalgia that brings in the millennial nerds. You can't have your cake and eat it too, Saban! They took out the most of the serious storytelling from earlier seasons and turned it into this heavily serialized mess that vaguely references the early season for nostalgia bait. Oh, except for those crossover episodes! Gotta sell some more toys!

Anyway, I hope the franchise picks up…because 30 years later, it still means a lot to me and others.

Anyway, I'm done now. Gonna go watch some History of Power Rangers. 😁

[news4usonline]

The solution to amateurism in college sports

(News4usonline) - The world of college sports has officially entered an era where student-athletes will be able to get paid. In the case of Shaqir O’Neal, he has an estimated earning of over a million dollars and has had brand deals with companies like Fortnite and Capital One. O’Neal and many of his athletic peers are ushering in an era where “amateur” athletes will be able to gain financially based on their Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL). Using his name associated with his father’s legacy and his own image, O’Neal will now be able to turn a profit due to NIL laws. Amateurism in the NCAA has a long history of controversy tied to it. The famous case of Reggie Bush having his name removed from Heisman record books shows how seriously the NCAA takes its policy to not pay players.

INDIANAPOLIS, IN - MARCH 20: USC Trojans vs Drake Bulldogs in the first round of the 2021 NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Tournament held at Bankers Life Fieldhouse on March 20, 2021 in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Photo by Jack Dempsey/NCAA Photos via Getty Images) New or recruited athletes were only offered scholarships that cover room and board with no outside compensation for performance in their respective sport, this includes money for winning championships or big tournaments which is reflected in the coaches and schools' pay and the players see no profit. The topic of amateurism has since been argued several times throughout history. In June of 2021, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the NCAA violated the Sherman Act in the case of the NCAA vs. Alston. This case was sparked by Nick Saban’s national college football championship in 2021 where he had a salary of more than $9 million dollars. None of the earnings from this championship was rewarded to the players that he coached. Now players are now able to actively look for outside means of income, whether that be partnering with popular companies like Fortnite or even in some cases, garnering shoe deals. Adidas has made the additions of college basketball players a hot topic of discussion, linking up with Gradey Dick, Trayce Jackson-Davis, Hansel Emmanuel, and Jalen Hood-Schifinio. Alongside Emmanuel’s deal with Adidas, he is also the top-paid college basketball player with around one and a half million in NIL deals. This marks a historical moment in college basketball as players are being paid as an individual while wearing and representing a brand.

SAN ANTONIO, TX - MARCH 30: Charli Collier #35 of the Texas Longhorns takes a shot over Aliyah Boston #4 of the South Carolina Gamecocks in the Elite Eight round of the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament at the Alamodome on March 30, 2021, in San Antonio, Texas. (Photo by Justin Tafoya//NCAA Photos via Getty Images) The NIL benefit has even already reached the high school level with LeBron James’s sons; Bronny James, and Bryce James both having massive NIL deals. The introduction of the NIL and NIL laws is the seed of a wave of change when it comes to college athletes and how they can benefit. Amateurism will forever be a pillar in the NCAA as it was at its conception. However, there are other means for a player to gain notoriety and financial gain. They don’t have to wait four years to get it. The student-athlete of today can get what they want right now. Feature Image Photo Caption: WEST LAFAYETTE, IN - MARCH 18: Marcus Bingham Jr. #30 of the Michigan State Spartans defends Jaime Jaquez Jr. #4 of the UCLA Bruins in the First Four round of the 2021 NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Tournament held at Mackey Arena on March 18, 2021 in West Lafayette, Indiana. (Photo by Andy Hancock/NCAA Photos via Getty Images) Read the full article

[lowder-the-koopa]

Announcements and What Seasons I'm Watching for Rider, PR, and Sentai.

Alright, You already what all of these say so let's go.

The Yo-Kai Watch reviews will, sadly, not be happening because of not being able to find some episodes for the shows and lack of interest in Yo-Kai Watch as a whole after finishing the story for my AU. I will still support Yo-Kai Watch but for now, I will stop making content about it until a new game comes out or something else important happens. Moving on, here is a list of all the series I will be watching.

Sentai Series I will be watching:

Showa Era: Gorenger to Goggle-V, Bioman, Maskman to Liveman.

Heisei Era: Turboranger to Ryusoulger.

Reiwa Era: Kiramager and beyond.

Rider series I will be watching:

Showa Era: Kamen Rider(1971) to Kamen Rider J.

Heisei Phase 1: Kuuga, Ryuki, Blade, Hibiki, Den-O to Decade

Heisei Phase 2: W to Zi-o.

Reiwa: Zero-One and beyond.

PR series I will be watching:

Zordon Era: Mighty Morphin to In Space.

Post-Zordon Era: Lost Galaxy to Time Force.

Disney Era: Wild Force to RPM.

Neo-Saban Era: Samurai to Ninja Steel.

Hasbro Era: Beast Morphers and beyond.

Series I will not be watching because of lack of interest:

Showa Era: Dynaman, Changeman, and Flashman.

Heisei Era: Agito, and Faiz.

[mobox9]

disney xd fue un canal estadounidense

propiedad de the walt disney company el

cual empezó de emisiones en el 2009 y

cuya programación se basaba

principalmente en la transmisión de

caricaturas series la evasión y

películas a pesar de que este canal fue

parte de la infancia de muchas personas

incluyéndome lo cierto es que nada dura

para siempre y en este año 2022 el canal

cesó sus emisiones en latinoamérica

junto con otros canales pertenecientes a

disney con el objetivo de que la

compañía pudiera centrarse en reducir

costos y darle más importancia a su

servicio de streaming disney plus las

formas obsoletas de vencer neutralizar

ya les pasa no soy obsoleto puedo correr

directamente desde una pc laptop o

tablet a la televisión murió y también

sin corazón ahora que al canal ya no

está entre nosotros decidí que sería una

buena idea hablar sobre la historia del

canal en su totalidad y hacer un

recuento de las distintas series que

conformaron su programación es por ello

que en el siguiente vídeo te muestro la

historia de disney xd

para este vídeo no estaré solo ya que

estaré contando con la compañía de

lírico 2.0 jesus tunes y dos comandos

estaré dejando sus canales acá abajo en

la descripción así que sin más

preámbulos comencemos

para aquellos más jóvenes que están

viendo este vídeo deben saber que disney

xd no nació así como así ya que antes de

él por lo menos en el caso de

latinoamérica ya existían otros dos

canales de televisión que ocuparon su

lugar el primero en llegar fue fotos

kids en 1990 en eeuu el cual era un

bloque infantil que se transmitía en

canales asociados con fotos en américa

latina' dicho bloque llegaría en 1994

como parte del canal fox luego en 1996

fotos bajo su filial news corporation y

shabán enterteinment decidieron formar

una empresa llamada fox family war con

el objetivo de expandir sus horizontes y

crear distintas versiones de coches kits

alrededor del mundo fue así que en ese

mismo año en esta parte del continente

foxit se transformó en un canal que

transmitía las 24 horas del día todo fue

felicidad hasta el año 2001 cuando haim

saban presidente de sabán entertainment

decidió poner en venta a fotos familia

worldwide lo cual incluía vender también

a fotos kits las razones de por qué

ocurrió esto fue debido a que tanto el

bloque como los canales internacionales

de fotos kids habían perdido mucha

audiencia en esos últimos años porque

los televidentes preferían alternativas

como cartoon network con nickelodeon en

este momento disney a su modo por

primera vez su cartera y compró la

compañía después de esto fotos kids

desapareció en eeuu en el año 2002 y fue

reemplazado por el bloque de fotos bots

mientras que en latinoamérica el canal

conservó su nombre hasta el primero de

agosto del 2004 fecha en la que desde

traía a la televisión un nuevo canal

llamado jet ins

[Música]

y el manejo que se le dio a jets a nivel

mundial fue parecido al que le dieron a

su hermano mayor mientras que en

latinoamérica y en europa este era un

canal propio en eeuu en un bloque dentro

del canal disney cuya programación como

su nombre lo indica está ocupada

principalmente por caricaturas en el año

2008 disney tenía ganas de hacerle un

lavado de cara al canal a nivel mundial

pero tenía el inconveniente de que no

poseía todas las acciones de jetix en

europa ya que una pequeña parte de ellas

le pertenecían a otros inversionistas

ok solo diré que disney utilizó la

cartera de nuevo y consiguió apoderarse

por completo de jetix en todo el mundo

por lo que anunciaron la creación de un

nuevo canal llamados disney xd en

latinoamérica este anuncio se hizo por

todo lo alto con una serie de

comerciales en los que jay la mascota de

jetix escapado de disney xd porque su

mundo estaba siendo tomado por él y

hasta ahí no llegó la publicidad ya que

antes del estreno del canal ya estaba

disponible en su página web en la que

podías hacer encuestas jugar algunos

minijuegos y diseñar el logo del canal a

tu manera con la esperanza de que

saliera en televisión

estás viendo los comienzos del canal

disney

[Música]

como siempre los gringos fueron los

primeros en tener su propia versión de

disney & spirit

la cual reemplazó a toon disney el 13 de

febrero del año 2009 su transmisión

comenzó con el episodio the wire getting

the bank rbak together éxito de la serie

phineas y ferb que estaba haciendo un

éxito en audiencia para disney chanel en

ese entonces finalmente en latinoamérica

el reemplazo a jets el 3 de julio de ese

año la última cosa transmitida por jetix

fue el estreno de la película open

season mientras que disney xd inició

transmisiones con un anuncio en el que

mencionaban todo el contenido nuevo que

llegaría luego emitieron un detrás de

cámaras con el elenco de aaron stone que

fue su primera serie original y luego

emitieron el primer capítulo de la misma

a pesar de este cambio parte de las

series que pertenecían a la programación

de los canales anteriores fueron

emitidas mientras él se adaptaba al

nuevo contenido aunque fueron

desapareciendo con el paso del tiempo

algunas de estas series y cortos fueron

buque animal locos caótico valle basura

el boom bernard club caza monstruos

wolverine y los sets men jin jiang yu

dave el bárbaro combo niños el cósmico

quantum rey digimon 4 isla de mutantes

las tortugas ninja el 2003 y varias

series de los pavos rangers producidas

por disney dentro de estas series que

hicieron la transición hay otros dos

casos especiales los cuales son los de

vino rey y los padrinos mágicos la

primera porque la serie comenzó en jets

y su final se transmitió en design

street mientras que la segunda es la

única serie que se mantuvo en la

programación de los tres canales pese a

los cambios que tuvieron

[Música]

algo que resalto mucho de diseño ted y

en sus inicios fueron sus bombers

personalizados para cada serie o bloque

y también una identidad gráfica

underground que mostraba cosas que le

parecían cool a su audiencia en esa

época rap rock and roll skateboarding

videojuegos fútbol deportes extremos

entre otras cosas esta era que abarcó

desde el 2009 hasta el 2015 fue conocida

como la era yes debido a que en sus

comerciales tenía este sonido yes

personalmente pienso que esta es la

mejor etapa del canal porque con sus

gráficas y su programación disney logró

convertirse en uno de los canales

favoritos de la audiencia a pesar de ser

el chico nuevo otra curiosidad de disney

xxvi desde sus inicios fue que

transmitían películas de estudios

diferentes a disney mientras que su

hermano disney chanel tenía películas

originales muy exitosas aún así el canal

hizo algunas películas originales como

skyrunners campamentos zombies y

mentirosos jacques pero no tuvieron

éxito algunos bloques de programación

dentro de los bloques más destacados del

canal teníamos los siguientes random

simplemente era la forma de presentar un

maratón de una serie al azar control x

que era una especie de bota túnel que

podías votar por tu serie favorita para

verla en un maratón en los sábados

porque si éste era un blog en que se

transmitían varias de las series más

populares del canal incluyendo algunas

nuevas este bloque presentó a steve la

llama que era la mascota del canal y que

tenía su propia serie de cortos en los

que hacían chistes gameplays e incluso

predicciones de partidos de fútbol

durante el mundial de brasil-2014 además

de esto la frase porque si se

convertiría en el eslogan del canal en

los años siguientes también podríamos

mencionar los cuatro mil trescientos

cincuenta y dos bloques de películas que

había pero no vale la pena además dice y

aprovechó sus más recientes

adquisiciones para poner bloques

temáticos en el canal en el caso de

marvel existieron dos bloques marvel

universe en el que dieron distintas

series animadas y cortos de los

superhéroes de la empresa y poder marvel

en el que se transmitían películas de

estas series y también películas del

universo cinematográfico de marvel

aunque éstas tenían censura si se

pasaban durante horario familiar

mientras tanto en el caso de star wars

existió el bloque may the fourth with

you en el que se transmitieron películas

de la franquicia distintos cortos y la

serie star wars rebels ya teniendo esto

en cuenta las series que se

transmitieron durante esta primera etapa

fueron las siguientes mejor ponte cómoda

esto va a ser muy

aaron stone pese a ser cancelada muy

pronto su trama era interesante chic y

luther estoy en la banda una de mis

favoritas sin duda línea super malvados

par de reyes que se fue a pique en su

tercera temporada

versus cat

kick buttowski

escape de la isla escorpión nets eres

phineas y ferb la cual como dato curioso

en latinoamérica fue la única serie que

se mantuvo en la programación del canal

durante toda su historia los guerreros

guasave ninjago

bondi band randy con esa línea total los

aventureros en busca de gawain power

rangers rpm liberia ver mi amigo es un

gigante crash y bernstein

la honradez

copa disney

mega met el mundo de quest beyblade

gormiti yo recuerdo con un amigo mío

tenía un cuaderno de esta serie digimon

data squad que ayudó los vengadores los

cerros más poderosos del planeta el

escuadrón de superhéroes

ultimate spider-man que tuvo un

crossover raro con jesse de disney

channel ironman aventuras de hierro los

vengadores unidos colqui los agentes de

smart star wars reverse animales en

calzones campamento lec botón

desde suelos jobs kidding a de asombroso

una reverenda porqueria bajo tierra

mi niñera es una vampira lástima que la

cancelaron

peter ponga primera será argentina del

canal que incluso tuvo un crossover con

sick y luther motorcity primera serie

web del canal junto con esta que me

encontré mientras estaba editando y que

fue un fracaso

tron la resistencia como hermanos

pokémon las dos series de zack y cody

los cuales estuvieron en un episodio de

estoy en la banda galaxia wander

y ese es mi fantasma

super estrictas planeta x y spots vil

pueblo sobrenatural dentro de los

cortometrajes pudimos encontrar cosas

como las siguientes

moisés rules la cne y wayne los elfos

navideños cortos de pixar star wars

master de force animals dientes de extra

3 steve

street monsters los cortos de mickey

mouse alien monkeys marvel masoud los

expedientes the fury iron files

escáneres que eran los robots que hacían

chistes y promocionaban varias líneas de

juguetes equipo peligroso la mente gente

sádica veía esos cortos ponys bonnie y

algunos cortos derivados de otras series

como ciclo del dolor bizarro que versus

carbono tomados con fines y ferb y los

cortos de bajo tierra y galaxia wander

estás viendo la tapia intermedia en

disney xd

el año 2015 se considera una etapa de

transición porque es el año el que canal

empezó a sufrir cambios en su imagen y

que se transmitían bumpers con el estilo

antiguo junto con unos nuevos bombers

más minimalistas en los que predominaban

los colores azul violeta verde y rosado

al año siguiente en 2016 estos últimos

separadores fueron los que se quedaron

luego de que el canal empezó a utilizar

su nuevo logo oficialmente en pantalla

este nuevo logo tiene un color verde más

vivo se eliminó el borde azul que tenía

ante sí la palabra disney se colocó más

a la derecha en esta época como parte

del bloque porque si se incluyeron

nuevas series como sigue ser con

juguetito a caco y voy ser el chico

ostra durante el 2017 el canal no tuvo

muchos cambios en su gráfica por lo que

contando las series ya mencionadas

algunas de las series que estrenaron en

esa época fueron las siguientes el peor

año de mi vida

gravity fox siendo la primera vez en

latinoamérica que se transmitió en

disney fdic como dato curioso también

cabe resaltar que gravity force tiene el

récord de ser la transmisión más vista

en la historia de disney xd en eeuu ya

que el estreno del episodio historia de

dos stands tuvo un rating de más de 2

millones de espectadores

civivox

pero casi héroe star versión las fuerzas

del mal

yangón net mini ninjas

el juego

box de regreso a la luna la cual era una

serie de cortes mexicanas boom boom pow

caíste guardianes de la galaxia

dos huevos más

[Música]

ya skin pero la versión que hizo disney

que no era tan buena como la versión

original de canadá las aventuras de los

free maker

jockey was my oxford entre otras ahora

toca hablar de una de las etapas más

controversiales del canal

estás viendo la decadencia del canal

disney xd no me salió como el original

pero por lo menos hice el intento por

favor no se burlen de mí y sea

la razón por la cual es un tema

discutible es porque cada uno de

nosotros puede opinar en qué año el

canal comenzó a decaer algunos pueden

decir que fue entre 2015 y 2016 ya que

en esos años estrenaron series que no

fueron del agrado de la mayoría del

público como gusano del futuro guía de

un gamer para casi todo implicado ni

manía la verdad es que estas series si

merecían ese bajo público ya que su

calidad era muy muy pero muy baja no

podía estar más decepcionado del canal

en estos tiempos pero bueno mientras

tanto la otra alternativa que se puede

decir es que el canal empezó a decaer en

2017 porque ocurrió un caso bastante

curioso en eeuu la segunda temporada de

penn ciro casi héroe fue transmitida de

forma muy regular del 10 al 28 de julio

de ese mismo año como si a disney sólo

le importará deshacerse de la serie lo

más rápido posible de nuevo a ver hace

un tiempo atrás que ya estaba cancelada

una verdad pero casi héroes si fue una

serie muy buena y muy aclamada por la

crítica pero respecto a público nunca le

fue bastante bien además los ratings de

cada episodio estrenado fueron muy

pobres en los que no se pudieron superar

los 200.000 espectadores esto siendo una

cifra de probable este suceso fue una

muestra de que el canal ya tenía cada

vez menos producciones originales y

estaba sufriendo una crisis con su

audiencia y estando en el 2018 se

anunció que la serie original de disney

xd y pato aventura sería transmitida en

disney chanel para su segunda temporada

algo similar ocurriría en eeuu en 2019

buenos anuncios que están versos las

fuerzas del mal también sería

transmitida su última temporada en

exclusiva por disney chanel

para mí

estas dos noticias significaron un golpe

debajo por el canal sin embargo en el

caso de latinoamérica disney xd tuvo la

ventaja de estrenar antes que su canal

de hermano los vecinos green y anfibias

además de que por un tiempo transmitía

primero que nadie el estreno de sus

episodios para el año 2020 con la

llegada de la pandemia cuatro aventuras

regreso al canal para su tercera

temporada y por fin se estrenó teo house

luego de hacer eso primero en disney

channel además anunció el estreno de

varias películas como infinity world y

star wars el ultimo yeray pero nunca

llegaron al canal el motivo real del por

que esto ocurrió es desconocido pero yo

supongo que fue por disney plus que

lleva en latinoamérica en noviembre de

ese año y querían sacarle todo el jugo

posible a la plataforma poniendo

películas exclusivamente ahí y la verdad

me parece una buena estrategia gracias

me gustan y dieron sin contar las series

que mencioné antes las series que se

estrenaron en ese periodo fueron las

siguientes 11 la cual la verdad nunca me

interesó fan bones buena larva la cual

pues para revisión ratico si está buena

la ley de maldon morfín muy buena billy

la cual fue una aberración y sólo tuvo

una temporada gracias a dios' star wars

la resistencia buena grandes héroes la

serie la verdad muy buena poderes

especiales del espacio troll

hunter es muy buena planet drama no me

acuerdo bolis y rufus no me acuerdo

cupcake y no también la ha visto por ahí

pero nunca me llamó la atención y demás

que sé de también marvel

rising y spider-man de marvel estas dos

últimas unas joyitas

estás bien la etapa final

en disney

llegamos al año 2021 en el que vimos

como lentamente el canal se convirtió en

una especie de tu casa ya que se tienen

varias series antiguas que solían

pertenecer a la programación de disney

chanel e incluso regreso dave el bárbaro

que ya había estado en jetix además

volvieron vale hacer es vieja de the

next y a través del bloque llamado

portal existe también se evidenció la

tendencia a hacer especiales de todo un

mes de series que ya llevan mucho tiempo

en canal con pato aventuras phineas y

ferb y gravity force de éstas sólo puedo

decir

disney como fijas hiciste para sacar

jugó 40 puntos episodios en serio como

no existe la transmisión de película se

volvió muy escasa y la poca que se

transmitían en películas no originales

de disney o realmente no le interesaba

mucho a la empresa como para dejarlas

exclusivamente en disney plazas

pobrecito disney éste seguramente dará

miniespías sharkboy y lavagirl las

buenas de robert nada les gana las

series que entre comillas se estrenaron

fueron las siguientes

los sustitutos y englobe el dragón

occidental

lilo y stitch la serie y las nuevas

locuras del emperador también se

transmitieron dos seres de gas que ya

venían de estar en la programación desde

el 2020 y que son la serie de hércules y

timón y pumba cinex y estuvo gozando sus

últimos meses de vida hasta que

tristemente llegó el día

tras varios años de rumores de

información dada por la empresa del

ratón disney xd llegó a su final en

latinoamérica esto se venía anticipando

desde 2021 año en el que él siguió de la

empresa bob chapek anunció el cierre

gradual de distintos canales de disney

alrededor del mundo además en enero de

2022 se filtró una carta enviada a una

operadora en argentina en la que se

avisaba sobre el cierre de varios

canales para el 31 de marzo dichos

canales eran effects movies star live

nadie o wild nadie o kids y por supuesto

disney xd también un indicio de este

cierre fue el anuncio de que el bloque

sa button comenzaría a transmitirse en

disney chanel a partir del mes de abril

durante este cierre que se realizó en

las señales de tv entre el 31 de marzo y

el primero de abril no se realizó ningún

evento especial por parte de disney solo

se siguió transmitiendo la programación

normal hasta que llegara el cese de

transmisiones anteriormente mencioné

estas dos fechas porque según el país y

el cableoperador que distribuyera la

señal disney se determinó sus

transmisiones en horas distintas y con

programas distintos aún así según la

página de disneylatino.com disney había

anunciado una programación

predeterminada hasta las 6 de la mañana

incluso se presentaron casos bastante

raros que fueron documentados por el

canal de set sumisa que estaban

relacionados con la señal de directv go

y expliqué tve en los que se demuestra

que al parecer disney olvidó cerrar la

señal en las aplicaciones de aparatos

móviles el caso de directv go la señal

se congeló con el logo de disney xd y

por varios minutos y empezó una

transmisión de emergencia que consistía

en repetir en bucle la programación del

31 de marzo esto se mantuvo hasta las

horas de la tarde en esta aplicación

cuando la señal se detuvo sin embargo en

la aplicación explique tv la señal se

mantuvo hasta el 4 de abril por lo que

esta puede considerarse como la última

transmisión activa que tuvo el canal en

toda latinoamérica teniendo en cuenta

estos factores la transmisión terminó

con series como galaxia wander phineas y

ferb timón y pumba randy conningham

grandes héroes gravity force como fue en

mi caso o kick buttowski que fue el caso

más famoso este cierre de transmisiones

cortándose la señal con el fotograma de

kick entrando a su garage de espaldas y

haciendo su típica pose

[Música]

luego de que este cierre se produjo

podemos decir que dice nets di fue un

buen canal a pesar de que fue un canal

con altas y bajas a lo largo de su

historia en mi opinión siento que el

canal superó con creces a su predecesor

get it ya que tuvo la confianza de

disney para producir contenido original

cosa que jets hacía muy pocas veces o

hacía series con productoras canadienses

y europeas no puede opinar nada sobre

fotos hits porque nunca alcancé a verlo

además si hablamos de la identidad

gráfica de disney nets de esta siempre

fue interesante y llamativa para los

espectadores sin importar la etapa del

canal de la que estemos hablando

mostrando gráficas interesantes en

épocas especiales del año como halloween

y navidad sin embargo el canal tuvo en

su programación series que nunca

conectaron con su audiencia haciendo

válida la creencia de que disney xd era

sólo un canal experimental para ver qué

series podían ser pasadas a disney

chanel también podríamos resaltar

algunas propuestas arriesgadas que hizo

el canal pero que no fueron exitosas

como algunos espacios de la programación

centrados en los videojuegos teniendo

como ejemplo la transmisión del

campeonato mundial de nintendo en 2015 y

el bloque diet speed en eeuu recuerda

que también puedes dejar tu opinión

sobre el tema en la caja de comentarios

a la fecha que estoy grabando este vídeo

disney xd y todavía está presente en

algunos países del mundo así que habrá

que ver cuál será el futuro de este

canal con todo lo dicho anteriormente

agradezco al canal por haberme brindado

tantas horas de entretenimiento en mi

infancia y por conocer muchas series

fantásticas que siempre estarán en mis

recuerdos definitivamente este es el

final de un ciclo

bueno chicos no se les olvide del amor

este vídeo y visitar los canales de

todos los que participaron en este

encuentro que espero que les haya

gustado

muchas gracias bueno m 17 por haberme

recibido en tu maravilloso canal así que

te deseo un gran futuro a ti y a tu

contenido cuando me 17 y en la

descripción segura encontrarán el link

de mi canal donde encontrarán contenido

igual de interesante que a éste le

encontrarán vídeos de teorías de

información y demás sobre anfibia y

otras series así que espero que todos

tengan un lindo día y todos man se

despide en paz

bueno gente este ha sido mi pequeño

aporte en este hermoso canal de jugada

nm de 17 como siempre recuerda que

puedes pasarte por mi canal llegó 2.0

donde subo contenido relacionado a las

caricaturas y sin nada más que decir

muchas gracias juan por invitarnos a tu

hermoso canal yo soy jericó x y nos

vemos en el siguiente

y bien hasta que llegó el vídeo de hoy

le doy gracias a todos mis colegas que

participaron conmigo en este vídeo y nos

vemos hasta la próxima

[themeatlife]

the Meat Life 2022 College Football Preview Part Two - Season Preview

A little change of plan since the beginning of the season is upon us this weekend in the “Week 0″ portion of the national schedule.  I will do my season preview this entry, and then here in a few weeks I’ll tackle the conference realignment chaos.  In my season preview, we’ll go over the three categories I usually topple: Heisman Hopefuls, Power 5 Conference Predictions, and College Football Playoff Predictions.  And I’ll go through the same format as last year, going over the favorites, the contenders, and the darkhorses.

Heisman Hopefuls

I’m not super successful predicting these, last year the two I had listed as darkhorses were the only two players that turned out to be finalists, with Alabama QB Bryce Young winning the award.  I now have those two darkhorses from last year as my favorites this year.

The Favorites: Bryce Young, QB - Alabama Crimson Tide CJ Stroud, QB - Ohio State Buckeyes

The Contenders: Will Anderson, LB - Alabama Crimson Tide Caleb Williams, QB - USC Trojans Devin Leary, QB - NC State Wolfpack Dillon Gabriel, QB - Oklahoma Sooners

The Darkhorses: DJ Uiagalelei, QB - Clemson Tigers Spencer Rattler, QB - South Carolina Gamecocks

the Meat Life Heisman Prediction: CJ Stroud, QB - Ohio State Buckeyes

Bryce Young will get the opportunity to repeat this year.  Alabama, as always under Nick Saban, has a stacked team that will be in CFP and national championship contention yet again.  Both Young and on the defensive side Will Anderson will get plenty of opportunity to display their superiority over the course of the year.

But my favorite is Ohio State QB CJ Stroud.  Stroud hit the ground running last season, with the Buckeyes offense dominating as it has been in the Ryan Day era.  I believe Stroud’s stock took a hit after losing to Michigan and not getting to compete in the Big Ten Championship.  It will be crucial for his campaign to beat Michigan, which I believe will happen this year. And with Stroud’s main weapon back in WR Jaxon Smith-Njigba, look for the Buckeyes offense to drive Stroud to a Heisman.

As far as the rest of the field, I did included three Oklahoma QBs - two former in Rattler and Williams, and then the current starter Gabriel.  All three are put in new situations that will see some success.  Leary from NC State is exciting and I’m hoping for big things for him.  And Uiagalelei had lots of promise behind Trevor Lawrence but stumbled a bit especially early last season.  Look for him to get back into gear.

There has been some hype and odds put on Texas RB Bijan Robinson and new QB Quinn Ewers.  While both are talented, especially Robinson, Texas in the past decade has not lived up to the expectations of their top tier recruiting class promise.  So I have neither on this list.  And I don’t have any remorse about it whatsoever.

Power 5 Conferences Predictions

ACC

The Favorite: Clemson Tigers The Contenders: Miami Hurricanes, NC State Wolfpack The Darkhorses: Pittsburgh Panthers, Wake Forest Demon Deacons the Meat Life ACC Prediction: NC State Wolfpack

BOLD prediction here picking the Wolf Pack.  Clemson will be back on track, even despite having to replace long-time DC Brent Venables who is now of course the head coach at Oklahoma.  The U won’t quite be the U of old, but with new head man Mario Cristobal on board, the ship is in the right direction.  Pitt and Wake have been improving and consistent the last couple seasons.  But I’m buying NC State and Leary hype.  Their main competition is Clemson in the Atlantic division and then will have to play the winner of the Coastal division which actually seems crowded this year with Miami, Pitt, and Wake.  So yes, let’s go bold for the ACC.

Big Ten

The Favorite: Ohio State Buckeyes The Contenders: Michigan Wolverines, Wisconsin Badgers  The Darkhorses: Michigan State Spartans, Nebraska Cornhuskers the Meat Life Big Ten Prediction: Ohio State Buckeyes

It isn’t as simple in the Big Ten as the winner of Michigan vs Ohio State wins the conference. Or maybe it is that simple.  Wisconsin will always have strong defense and run game.  And the pleasant surprise of Mel Tucker’s Spartans last season is a strong competitor.  Nebraska is interesting, as 8 of their 9 losses last season were within a TD.  They have a rebuilt offense surrounding transfer QB from Texas in Casey Thompson, so that offense should be much improved.  We’ll see.  For now though, it seems the talent disparity goes Ohio State at the very top, then Michigan a tier below, and then the rest of the conference below that.  And since Michigan upset the Buckeyes last season, I think Ohio State exacts revenge on the Wolverines and ultimately wins the conference

Big 12

The Favorite: Baylor Bears The Contenders: Oklahoma State Cowboys, Oklahoma Sooners, Kansas State Wildcats The Darkhorses: Texas Longhorns, TCU Horned Frogs the Meat Life Big 12 Prediction: Oklahoma Sooners

I put Baylor as the favorite since they are the defending champion.  Dave Aranda has things flowing well for the Bears.  And Aranda has so much confidence in QB Blake Shapen that he let the QB that led him to a Big 12 title last year Gerry Bohanon transfer to South Florida.  Their defense will still be stout.  OSU has returning QB enigma Spencer Sanders back and should be as good on defense.  Kansas State is the trendy media pick to win the Big 12, which isn’t a horrible pick - and Nebraska transfer QB Adrian Martinez is a good fit for the Wildcats.  Texas is always in the mix, even though they’ll probably end up 6-6, and I threw TCU in there just because.  But the road to a conference championship always runs through Norman.  And while they have a new staff and they are transfer-heavy in key areas, the Sooners are on the right path and looking to take back the conference, having won a Big 12 title 14 out of the conference’s 25 years.

Pac-12

The Favorite: Utah Utes The Contenders: Oregon Ducks, USC Trojans The Darkhorses: UCLA Bruins, Arizona State the Meat Life Pac-12 Prediction: Utah Utes

The Utes are the real deal.  They have always stumbled early in the season, but they’ve always known how to finish strong.  QB Cameron Rising is growing into his own, and the run game and defense has always been consistent.  Oregon is a consistent challenger in the Pac-12, but Mario Cristobal’s surprise exit will definitely impact them.  Speaking of surprise exits, former Oklahoma head coach and now USC head man Lincoln Riley will try to rebuild the Trojans.  They will probably be entertaining, but they don’t have the offensive line or the defense to stay relevant in the conference race deep into the season.  And I added UCLA and Arizona State as the darkhorses because I like coaches Chip Kelly at UCLA and Herm Edwards at Arizona State.

SEC

The Favorite: Alabama Crimson Tide The Contenders: Georgia Bulldogs, Texas A&M Aggies The Darkhorses: Ole Miss Rebels, Arkansas Razorbacks, LSU Tigers the Meat Life SEC Prediction: Alabama Crimson Tide

It’s a cliche now, but the SEC is deep.  And the defending champion Georgia Bulldogs definitely have a chance to repeat.  Finally the defense and run game guided them to a championship, some may say despite QB Stetson Bennett’s limitations.  Alabama looks stacked though.  And just as my revenge philosophy in the Big Ten predictions, Alabama will have that revenge and balance factor going.  But the rest of the conference will be fun to watch, with Ole Miss and Arkansas both profiling exciting offenses, Texas A&M with that NIL-bought talent, and LSU with new coach Brian Kelly, another surprising exit from Notre Dame.

College Football Playoff Predictions

The Favorite: Alabama Crimson Tide The Contenders: Georgia Bulldogs, Oklahoma Sooners, Ohio State Buckeyes, Notre Dame Fighting Irish  The Darkhorses: Clemson Tigers, NC State Wolfpack, Utah Utes, Oregon Ducks, Baylor Bears, Michigan Wolverines, Miami Hurricanes the Meat Life CFP Four: Alabama Crimson Tide, Georgia Bulldogs, Ohio State Buckeyes, Utah Utes the Meat Life CFP National Championship Game: Alabama Crimson Tide vs Ohio State Buckeyes the Meat Life National Champion Prediction: Alabama Crimson Tide

Is that ultimate result of Alabama and a national title chalk?  Sure.  But who has been more consistent in getting to the CFP and winning titles than Nick Saban and the Crimson Tide? I included defending champion Georgia in the CFP along with frequent CFP visitor Ohio State. I threw in a darkhorse with Utah, they certainly have the defense to make at least a CFP appearance. Also be on the lookout for a team I haven’t talked about yet in Notre Dame. I know I mainly focus on the Power 5 but Notre Dame has some serious talent particularly on the defense. And I’m a big fan of their young first year head coach Marcus Freeman. They’ve got a big matchup against Ohio State to begin their season next week. That game will certainly be telling for they type of season both the Fighting Irish and the Buckeyes will have.

As always, I’ll leave with my prediction for Oklahoma. I think they’ll go 10-2, dropping games in Lincoln to Nebraska and then in Morgantown against West Virginia. They will match up against Baylor in the Big 12 title game and reclaim the conference title.

But, they have the potential to do better than that. We can only hope. Let’s have a great season!

Football is back! BOOMER SOONER!

[atomheartmagazine]

New Post has been published on Atom Heart Magazine

New Post has been published on https://www.atomheartmagazine.com/sailor-moon-spunta-il-pilot-del-remake-americano-anni-90/26704

Sailor Moon: spunta il pilot del remake americano anni ’90

Sailor Moon, l’opera curata da Naoko Takeuchi, era stata utilizzata per un remake americano che non è mai andata in onda.

Siamo nel 1993 e Bandai America decide di realizzare una serie TV ispirata a Sailor Moon. Realizzato l’episodio pilota, però, la serie viene cancellata e non vedrà mai più la luce.

Il titolo sarebbe stato “Saban Moon” e – grazie alla collaborazione con lo studio americano Toon Makers – avrebbe mixato sia animazione che live action. Sarebbe dovuta andare in onda nel 1994 e alla sua realizzazione avevano partecipato Saban Entertainment (la stessa casa di produzione dei Power Rangers) e Renaissance Atlantic. Quando tutto sembrava fatto, Bandai cambiò idea e bocciò la serie tv, preferendo il doppiaggio inglese delle serie animata.

Durante l’Anime Expo, erano già venuti fuori alcuni spezzoni del pilot di Saban Moon, diffusi poi online. Ma grazie al lavoro di Ray Mona (content creator specializzata nella scoperta di prodotti media abbandonati), che ha chiesto e ottenuto il permesso di pubblicare il pilot intero alla Biblioteca del Congresso (la biblioteca nazionale degli Stati Uniti che custodisce anche film e altri media), il video intero è adesso disponibile alla libera visione di tutti.

Il documentario prodotto da Ray Mona, ha anche rivelato che i produttori di Toon Makers avevano già scelto le cinque attrici che avrebbero preso parte alle scene live action della serie tv e il set scelto per girare era quello della sitcom Bayside School.

Stephanie Dicker avrebbe avuto il ruolo di Sailor Moon (Victoria), Melinda “Mindy” Cowan quello di Sailor Mercury (Blue), Danny “Dani” DeLacey avrebbe interpretato Sailor Mars (Dana), Tami-Adrian George avrebbe vestito i panni di Sailor Jupiter (Lita) e Adrienne Barbeau avrebbe interpretato invece Queen Beryl e Queen Serenity.

A seguire trovate il documentario di Ray Mona, che include l’episodio completo del remake americano di Sailor Moon (al minuto 1:43:48).

[northoftheroad]

Up to date with the trends, if you don’t mind!

As opposed to some people, I'm not of the opinion that Dick Grayson is a fashion disaster. I don't imagine I will convince anyone who loves to portray him as the eternal looser... But the thing with fashion is that a lot of it quickly gets dated. Since artists have drawn Dick in contemporary style for decades, it's bound to happen that some outfits get past their best before date.

If we're to put the blame where it belongs, it has to be Greg Land, who drew Dick in a multicoloured polka dot shirt in Nightwing vol 1 # 2. That's the outfit most people reference when they claim that Dick dresses outlandishly. However, in the 90s, polka dot shirts (and long hair on men) were trendy – which is something that we tend to forget some decades later, when another era of fashion surrounds us.

The original Nightwing suit from 1984 also gets a fair amount of flak. Certain artists, like Jim Aparo, drew the collar ridiculously high, unlike how it looked with George Pérez’ art. But on the whole, it's not in a completely different style from other superhero suits that were introduced in the 70s and 80s. High collars and deep v-necks were popular. 

Tales of the Teen Titans # 44, Batman vol 1 # 441.

Tyroc (1976); Black Lightning (1977); Dazzler (1980); Jericho (1984).

Gladiator (1977), Black Cat (1979), Atari Force (1982), Mockingbird (1980), Booster Gold (1986).

Fashion at the time was about crossovers and breaking rules, and using fabrics such as rubber and vinyl. And disco...  Here are some pictures from the 70s and 80s, to remind ourselves what it looked like at the time.

I guess some people might point the finger at the original Robin suit, too? But, seriously, it's a 1940s child superhero costume, designed at a time when the printing process favoured bright primary colours. (Besides, in a fair number of versions, Bruce is the one who designed the Robin suit. Now, if we want to talk ridiculous – take a look at Bob Kane's original sketch of the Bat-Man.)

Without further ado. Let's have a look at some of Dick's outfits over the years, and see what was considered stylish at the time, shall we. 

Dick in civilan garbs in the 1940s and 1950s. The boy's fashion at the time included knitted pullovers and sweaters which were also worn over shirt and tie. Bright solid or patterned sportcoats were worn with dress-shirt and necktie or bowtie. (Knickers, that is short trousers, were, by the way, children's fashion in the 1940s.)

Pictures are fashion illustrations from the 40s and 50s and from Batman # 13 (1942). Star Spangled Comics # 65 (1947), # 75 (1947), # 98 (1949), # 111 (1950).

College teenager Dick in the 1970s dressed in sweaters, vests, long collared shirts. His hair was side-parted. And, you guessed it – vests, long collared shirts and turtleneck sweaters were essential fashion items of the 1970s. Dick-pics from: Batman # 248 (1973). Batman Family # 8 (1976). Detective Comics # 483 (1979). Detective Comics  # 495 (1980).

Dick in a green three piece suit in New Teen Titans Vol 1 # 26 (1982). Picture in Sears Fashion Catalogue 1981. 1980s vintage tweed suit.

Leather jacket, t-shirts and sweaters and jeans were trendy in the 1980s. In Tales of the teen titans 43 (1984), Dick wears jeans and an expensive leather jacket.

"That" outfit in Nightwing vol 1 # 2 (1995). "Seinfeld" from 1991.

Overalls were huge in the 1990s, even when you weren't custom building your own car. Nightwing vol 2 # 16 (1998), and fashion photos from the 1990s.  

In the early 2000s, casual clothing was a big trend. Rugby shirts was a common look, and the leather jacket was still popular. Batman: Gotham Knights # 21 (2001), # 45 (2003), Nightwing vol 2 # 49 (2000), #77 (2003), # 80 (2003).

In the mid-2000s, some trendy things were: Casual, fitted shirt. Casual blazer. Cardigan. V-neck t-shirt. Trucker hat. Tank top. Nightwing vol 2 # 133 (2007), # 141 and # 144 (2008). Fashion photos from 2008, design Diesel, Tony Melillo.

In The New 52 and Rebirth, Dick has mostly dressed casually (unless it's for a funeral, of course). Jeans, t-shirts, shirt without tie, sweaters, hoodie, parka, blazer or leather jacket. Often layer on layer - sweater over shirt, shirt on top of t-shirt...  The 2010s wasn't long ago, and it's not easy to sort through fashion shows and micro-trends and see a bigger picture just yet... But a few of the things that were trendy at least at some time during the 2010s were: the colour grey; one-button suits and blazers; striped sweater; checkered shirt; fitted leather jackets; parka; pastel colours; angular v-neck.  

Nightwing vol 3 # 5 (2012), # 6 (2012), # 10 (2012), # 17 (2013),  # 27 (2014). Nightwing vol 4 # 10 (2017), # 15 (2017). Assorted fashion photos from 2012–2017.  

Today it's 2020, and when it comes to men's hairstyles, crew cut is popular. Nightwing vol 4 # 63, and photo from TheTrendSpotter's post 40 Best Short Hairstyles for Men in 2020.

And hey, superhero apparel were on the catwalk in the 2010s, too. How more fashion forward can Dick Grayson become...? Misel Saban, June 27, 2014 (Batman) and Sarah Dos Santos, December 16, 2013 (Superman); Kyle Towers, February 2, 2013 (Spiderman).

However, I don't see Dick (written) as interested in keeping up with the fashion. But he did live his first years in a small trailer. And since then, he's been accustomed to a life where you never know when your home is going to be obliterated, or your foster father will kick you out. Or when you have to rush away to follow a lead in another city or save the world somewhere. Or the next time you'll be shot and forget that you have a flat to live in... He’s bound to have learned not to have an excessive amount of clothes. 

When he does need to buy something, because his last outfit went up in smoke or something, he'll simply pick from what's in the front inside the shops. Hence, he'll often be dressed up-to-date. New Titans # 76, New Titans # 86, Nightwing vol 2 # 89, Nightwing vol 2 # 20, Nigtwing vol 3 # 19, Nightwing vol 4 # 50 , Robin Year One # 3.

Top pictures from: Batman # 237 (1971), New Teen Titans # 16 (1982), Nightwing vol 2 # 129 (2007), Nightwing vol 4 # 10 (2016).

[kjissexy1994]

Words of Shakespeare Retro Edition: “You Ooze, You Lose!”

Today, I viewed one of my favourite martial arts movies of my childhood to celebrate the final day of 2021 which was “Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie” released in 1995 by 20th Century Fox, Saban Entertainment and Toei Company, directed by Bryan Spicer and starring Amy Jo Johnson as Kimberly Hart (Pink Pterodactyl Ranger), David Yost as Billy Cranston (Blue Triceratops Ranger), Steven Cardenas as Rocky Desantos (Red Tyrannosaurus Ranger), Johnny Yong Bosch as Adam Park (Black Mastodon Ranger), Karan Ashley as Aisha Campbell (Yellow Sabretooth Tiger Ranger) and Jason David Frank as Tommy Oliver (White Tiger Ranger) , the main Power Rangers team from the second half of the second season of Mighty Morphin’ onwards.

The movie also contains appearances from Paul Schrier as Farcus Bulkmeier (aka Bulk), Jason Narvy as Eugene Skullovitch (aka Skull) the latter two cast regulars of the main show being the fan favourite civilian characters of the Power Rangers franchise as a whole and Paul Freeman as Ivan Ooze, An original villain exclusive to this movie as well as voice acting from Richard Steven Horvitz of Invader Zim, Grim Adventures and Helluva Boss fame as Alpha 5, Bob Manahan as Zordon, Barbara Goodson as Rita Repulsa, Robert Axelrod as Lord Zedd, Kerrigan Mahan as Goldar and Martin G Metcalf as Mordant, another original comic relief villain exclusive to the movie in place of Squatt and Baboo from the main show.

MINOR SPOILER ALERT

When the ominous entity known as “Ivan Ooze” (Freeman) awakes from his 2000 year slumber out of a mysterious purple egg found in a construction site at Downtown Angel Grove and destroys the Command Center and the Energy tube containing their mentor Zordon (Manahan) resulting in his life force being rapidly depleted, The Mighty Morphin Power Rangers must venture into a faraway planet known as Phaedos from the inhabitant Dulcea (Gabrielle Fitzpatrick) and obtain the new Ninjetti powers and Zords in order to stop Ooze from unleashing his “Ectomorphicon Titans” deep underground via brainwashing the parents of Angel Grove

and save their beloved guide Zordon before he expires.

“Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers: The Movie “ that will warm the memories of millennials who grew up in the mid nineties watching the canon tv series as the film was released during the “RangerMania” fad of that period with the releases of action figures and various Power Rangers branded merchandise during the first three seasons of Mighty Morphin from 1993 to 1995 being the loose English adaptations of the Japanese superhero tv series Super Sentai with the core five Ranger suits being taken from “Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger,” Tommy the White Tiger Ranger’s suit being taken from the sixth ranger “Kibaranger” from “Gosei Sentai Dairanger” and the Ninjetti Powers, motifs and Zords being loosely taken from “Ninja Sentai Kakuranger,” however this movie is in its own canon, although the third season of the canonical Mighty Morphin would later adapt from the latter “Sentai” season with their ninja animal motifs, Giant mechs and monsters.

What I loved about this movie was going back to my childhood even though I didn’t grow up with the original three seasons of MMPR, although my older brother had the remote controlled Dino Megazord (Daizyujin) from the first season as I mostly grew up with the Later Saban and early Disney era Power Rangers seasons (In Space to Ninja Storm/SPD) via renting VHS and DVDs (I miss those times in the late nineties and early aughts), as well as the movie being filmed in Australia being filmed mostly in Sydney and New South Wales with a plethora of famous locations and landmarks such as Darling Harbour, George Street, The Queen Victoria Building, Centerpoint Tower, White Bay Power Station, Sydney Showgrounds, The Kiama Blowhole at Bombo Quarry and last but not least, the famous Sydney Harbour Bridge and the late Sydney Monorail service that gave Sydneysiders an easy way to explore the harbour city until it was sadly decommissioned In 2013 (still remains a memory for a young kid growing up in those days of the nineties). Additional scenes were filmed in Warner Bros Movie World on the Gold Coast, Queensland and the Northern Territory.

A few nitpicks of this movie were how clunky the ranger suits were (being based on the MMPR Action figures with the animal symbols on their chest as the suits in the real show were directly from the Sentai) as a few of the actors even complained from the back pain they sustained wearing them, the costumes of the four gatekeepers and puppetry of the dinosaur skeleton being laughable, the use of the cartoonish sound effects used during the Rangers’ fight with Ivan’s Oozemen and how extremely primitive the CGI was utilised in a pivotal scene, despite having a bit of a chuckle of the Ranger’s puns such as Tommy’s “I’ve got a bone to pick with you!” to the Dinosaur Skeleton creature and Billy’s “You Ooze, You Loose” after defeating one of Ivan’s Oozemen.

Despite how gratifyingly cheesy this movie was, it came out during the mid nineties and during the height of what seemed to be an unstoppable craze of the period for the young pre-teens at the time. The Power Rangers franchise is still going strong after nearly 30 years of seasons with the most recent season being Dino Fury and with Hasbro taking over the franchise from Saban Brands in 2018.

MMPR: The Movie also contains an impressive soundtrack from rock bands and pop groups such as Red Hot Chilli Peppers, SNAP, Devo, British pop duo Shampoo (for one of the cringeworthy one hit wonders of the nineties decade which is “Trouble” *shudders*) and of course Van Halen and their song “Dreams” coming from their 1986 album “5150” and the first album to feature vocalist Sammy Hagar. This was the first time I ever heard from Van Halen as a young whippersnapper and I’ve been a fan since of both the David Lee Roth and Hagar eras (except for the Gary Cherone period, God rest Eddie’s soul!) The movie also featured a souped up, rock orchestrated rendition of the main opening theme from MMPR To Power Rangers Zeo, “Go Go Power Rangers” originally composed by Ron Wasserman and composed of the “Power Rangers Orchestra” consisting of members from Mr Big, Guns N Roses, Pablo Cruise and sung by Kim Bullard. The latter opening theme would later be infamously rehashed from Power Rangers seasons Samurai to Dino Super Charge during the early years of the “Neo Saban” era when Saban brands bought the franchise back from Disney.

All in all, despite all the nineties cheesiness, “Mighty Morphin Power Rangers The Movie” is such a classic for all nineties kids and millennials, young at heart and one of the most notable movies filmed in Sydney, Australia and with an action figure/superhero franchise that’s still kicking today with a second big budget movie based on the first season being in development by eOne and Hasbro and set to be released on Netflix in 2023.

I was also very glad to meet MMPR actors Johnny Yong Bosch, David Yost and Karan Ashley aka Adam, Billy and Aisha at Supanova in 2017 and 2018 respectively, they were very kind and easy going people who are still acknowledging the popularity of the franchise’s early years.

All I can say about this movie is… “MORPHINOMINAL!”

I give this movie a 7 out of 10!

That’s my review of the movie!

Until then, stay safe, stay amazing and happy trails!!!

K.J

[recentanimenews]

FEATURE: Why Kamen Rider Black Remains Well-Loved After Nearly 35 Years

Image via Toei

    For decades now, fans of Japanese tokusatsu (live-action with heavy special effects) have been getting to know each other with one simple question: “Which Kamen Rider do you like best?” With nearly 130 characters to choose from, each one sporting a distinct theme, setting, and ability, picking your favorite vaguely-grasshopper-themed, armored superpowered character is almost like a personality test that reveals who you are as a person.

  Maybe your favorite Rider is Wataru Kurenai, a hardworking oddball loner who transforms into the Halloween-themed Kamen Rider Kiva. Or maybe your favorite is Gentaro Kisaragi, an optimistic and badass idiot whose dream is to be friends with everyone and who fights evil as the rocket-themed Kamen Rider Fourze. Or how about Oren Pierre Alfonzo, a queer ex-member of the French Foreign Legion, a world-famous pastry chef, and owner of one of the most badass Kamen Rider armors in the entire franchise: Durian Arms?

  Image via Toei

  In a group so diverse, it feels almost impossible to stand out, yet Kamen Rider Black  (1987-1988) seems to have done just that with all the sequels, remakes, and reboots that it spawned. Kamen Rider Black RX was the first direct follow-up to a Kamen Rider show in the history of the franchise and became the basis for Masked Rider, which was Saban’s attempt to bring Kamen Rider to the US like it did with Super Sentai/Power Rangers. In spring of 2022, we will even get a more adult-themed reboot of the original called Kamen Rider Black Sun, directed by Kazuya Shiraishi who’s very much NOT a tokusatsu director. He’s actually more known for gritty dramas that explore the darker side of the human psyche like the excellent but sadly underappreciated Birds Without Names. This might actually be our first clue as to the enduring popularity of Kamen Rider Black.

  A More Serious Tone

  Image via Toei

  Making a “darker” version of Kamen Rider Black will actually be quite easy seeing as the original series was pretty dark to begin with. The show dealt with two foster brothers, Kotaro Minami and Nobuhiko Akizuki, being kidnapped and cybernetically enhanced by the evil cult called Gorgom who want them to become their next leader, the nightmarish Creation King. Most previous Riders also gained their powers against their wills at the hands of one evil organization or another, but what sets Kamen Rider Black apart from them is just how much focus is given to everything the main character lost because of it.

  Through flashbacks and present-day interactions with his friends and family, the show takes its time to let us know the person underneath the (now iconic) Kamen Rider Black armor. Once you start seeing him less as a superhero and more as a human in an unbelievably tragic situation, the show throws more tragedy at you as it lets you know the story is building up to Kotaro and Nobuhiko having to fight each other to the death. Although it’s not terribly complex, the story has an almost Shakespearean quality to it. But that’s not the only place where it excels.

  Creative Fight Scenes and Knowing Its Limitations

  Image via Toei

  The special effects in Kamen Rider Black ... sometimes take you out of the story. But the show tries to make up for it with creative practical effects, especially when it comes to the fights.

  Every Kamen Rider iteration lives or dies through its fights, and among the first eight shows, Kamen Rider Black probably has the best combat scenes. Every punch or kick feels like it really hurts — and there are a lot of them in every episode. The action is lightning fast and incredibly inventive, taking advantage of each set up in its own, original way. For example, in the very first episode, Kamen Rider Black battles spider monsters, with the show taking full advantage of the enemy’s web-shooting ability. There’s swinging, there is binding, and there is a lot of focus on the monsters themselves, which are pure nightmare fuel.

  Now compare it to the second episode where Kotaro battles a leopard mutant. Here, the action is totally different because he’s fighting a monster that uses speed as a weapon. The battle is full of scenes of confusion and speed blurs which not only set the fight apart from what we’ve seen in the earlier episode, it also helps conceal the leopard mutant costume, which was as far from the best as you can get. But it shows that the series is aware of its shortcomings and tries to find creative ways around them, and you have to respect it for that.

  Nailing the Fundamentals

  I

mage via Toei

  Kamen Rider Black doesn’t feature the most tragic backstory ever, nor does it have the best fight scenes in the franchise. Those all came later, primarily from the Heisei era (1989–2019). But Black was the first to truly get that ball rolling with its relatable, human character, fights that were more than just acrobatic punches and kicks, and a story that followed a simple Monster of the Week format but also had something much bigger hanging above it.

  You could tune in to the show at any time and enjoy the creative and often actually scary-looking monsters that Kotaro fought in inventive ways, but all of it was slowly building to the ultimate, tragic confrontation with his brother. It all just made you feel like you were watching something epic in a franchise that, up until now, had more than its share of campy moments. Basically, Kamen Rider Black and Kamen Rider Black RX are remembered today because they did so much with very simple ingredients, taking them as far as they could go. This left the following shows no other choice but to grow and try out new things, ultimately leading to 50 years of Kamen Rider. A lot of people remember what Kamen Rider Black and Kamen Rider Black RX did for the franchise as a whole, and many fans will undoubtedly check out Kamen Rider Black Sun to see if it will have as much dedication and love for the iconic main character as the original did.

  Are you a fan of Kamen Rider Black? What do you love about it? Are you planning to watch the reboot series? Let us know in the comment section!

      Cezary writes words on the internet. You should follow him on Twitter.

  Do you love writing? Do you love anime? If you have an idea for a features story, pitch it to Crunchyroll Features!

By: Cezary Strusiewicz