SD GOKAI OH FINISHED

Again it's been a while. Yours truly has been busy with business (which I hope to reveal one day) so I'm not around the internets most of the time.

But hey, if you know me too well I'm also around tinkering with whatever model kit I have in my hands.

(Very Late) Phil. TOYCON 2012 Report

I've been out of the loop in terms of attending the Philippine Toys and Hobbies Convention, more affectionately known as TOYCON. I think it's been 5 years since I last attended.

I was actually overwhelmed by the most recent one. TOYCON 2012 was HUGE. It ran for 3 days beginning June 15 up until June 17 2012 and was held on not one but three (!!!) convention halls inside SM Megamall. In its earlier incarnations, TOYCON was just a one day affair but time has it evolved into a monster geek event it deserves to be.

Super Sentai Savvy: Jetman

L to R: Yellow Owl (Raita), Blue Swallow(Ako), Red Hawk(Ryu), White Swan(Kaori), Black Condor(Gai)

Several years after Maskman aired on local airwaves came Chojin Sentai Jetman, another well-loved Super Sentai. 

The show, while being standard Super Sentai fare is not without it's quirks and merits. The usual alien conquest plot is present but is overshadowed by the character-centric situations presented, a rarity for Super Sentai. It follows the monster-of-the-week format complete with the requisite team and giant robot battles but then again, Jetman is not primarily about that. it's all about the characters.    

Super Sentai Savvy Part 2: Hikari Sentai Maskman

 After Bioman, the next big thing in Super Sentai here was Hikari Sentai Maskman (Light Taskforce Maskman).

Maskman (1987) was shown about a couple of years after Bioman in the local airwaves, in which case 2 other previous Super Sentai shows Changeman and Flashman were skipped. Most of us thought that  it was a sequel for Bioman but it turned out to be  a different show altogether. Maskman was a huge departure from the usual Super Sentai formula as it is a lot grittier and more grounded than most Super Sentai shows. The plot revolves more on the characters' dilemma and not just on beating the monster-of-the-week, giving it a broader audience than other shows of its type.

Maskman introduced a lot of epic elements not quite found in previous shows. First, it started out with a one hour special episode which established the main plot points: the arrival of the Underground Empire Tube, the Maskman's origins (they started out as a racing team) and the romance between Takeru/Red Mask (Michael Joe in the local version) and Mio/Princess Ial (Rio). It also introduced a number of 'firsts' : the first 'extra' member for a Super Sentai, in the guise of X-1 Mask (which appeared in just one episode),the first team to have two team weapons, and the first to have each member with a personal machine.

The show also stands out because of its plot turns and twists, something unheard of in Super Sentai in a long time. Shows like JAKQ and Goggle V were a bit serious, shying off some of the younger audiences back then. This is the reason why Maskman was hailed as having one of the more 'balanced' plots showing a good mix of action, humor and a love angle for good measure. The fight scenes were more fluid and coordinated that its predecessors for one. The Takeru/Mio love angle is ever present. And humor is supplied by characters like Anagmas and Okerampa, the latter still being the target of vulgar references up to now by fans of the show.

A lot of fans attest to Maskaman's enduring legacy. Much more are even glad that it was not included into the Power Ranger mythos for fear of it being ruined (we're looking at you VR Troopers!). Even today, a fan would just sing the Opening and Ending theme at random and a discussion about it would initiate more often than not. 

And speaking of the Tagalog dubbed OP and ED themes: 

  

Gokaigers, we're waiting for you to meet up with them!

Aura Power!

Super Sentai Savvy Part 1

I'm loving Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger right now. It's that kind of show that brings a fan to tears out of sheer nostalgia. But before them, there were the Super Sentai of old.

I remember watching Bioman when I was in elementary. Our weekends back then comprised of  Saturday morning cartoons, Uncle Bob's Lucky 7 Club and the usual Famicom sessions at a friend's house. And of course prime time Super Sentai and tokusatsu shows with  Bioman, Masked (Kamen) Rider Black and Shaider forming the trinity. Let's leave Kamen Rider and Metal Heroes for another day and talk about Super Sentai first.


Super Sentai are the equvalent of super hero groups of the West. 'Sentai' roughly translated means 'task force'. Bioman was my (and for other people my age) first foray on Super Sentai. I heard Goranger was first aired but never caught steam because there were few TV sets available back then. Bioman was the first to be big in a sense that it was the only Super Sentai show at that time. It was a breathe of fresh air and even though there were other great '80's cartoons back then, Bioman was a world apart.

Typically a super sentai show flows like this: the arch villain hatches a nefarious but often silly plan to conquer the world like building a theme park to enslave children or using pollen to spread some sort of disease.  The heroes respond, change into their color-coordinated suits and battle the villain's minions with their arsenal of personal and team weapons/techniques. The minions get beaten, but it doesn't end there.  The minions are almost always accompanied by a monster-of-the-week which the team beats but then the said monster is transformed into a giant  version of itself.This is when the team summons and boards their giant robot to do battle with the monster-of-the-week. The heroes' robot does its finishing move and the heroes win, leaving the villain cringing and vowing to get the heroes another day.

Bioman follows that formula but has an engaging main plot that many consider to be one of the best fro any Super Sentai series. Up to this day, whenever my friends and other acquaintances reminisce, one way or another, Bioman comes up and it'll be a topic for a while in our conversations. Things like "Hey, remember that episode when Yellow Four died?" or "Remember when Peebo was kidnapped?" were the stuff of nostalgia. There were even times when a not-so-close colleague wouldget involved and eventually get bonded because of Super Sentai.
 
More of old Super Sentai in another installment!