Henshin Grid -- The Blog

This is my brand new blog dedicated to all kinds of Tokusatsu (Live-action special effects children's programming) from around the world. On my blog Spanengrish Ramblings, I covered a couple of things on Super Sentai and Power Rangers. I own the unofficial fan website SuperSentai.com and help Power Rangers Central that my partner inherited. I decided to put all my past posts on this blog, including more insights, rumors, and ramblings (of course). The reason it is called Henshin Blog is because Henshin means 'to change' in Japanese and commonly used by Tokusatsu heroes and Grid is from 'Morphing Grid' as 'Morphing' is the equivalent to Henshin. Above is a picture of the Red and White Rangers and the Masked Riders in a special 1995 episode in the third season of "Mighty Morphin Power Rangers." It is considered non-canon for fans and the only team-up (in a way) between Super Sentai and Kamen Rider.

Henshin Grid -- The Blog

Moonlight Knight's Inspiration was the first TV Tokusatsu Hero?

Remember the Moonlight Knight in Sailor Moon? He was unique to only the Anime, his real name is Japan was 'tsukikage no naito,' which translates to 'Knight of Moon Shadow.' He was not in the original Manga, comic book. Some believe he was inspired by Moonlight Mask, a superhero in Japan.

Gekko Kamen, Moonlight Mask, made his debut on television in 1958 and was the first Tokusatsu hero on television. As you may know, I am very into Tokusatsu and always talk about it on my blog. Tokusatsu specifically are Live-Action Sci-Fi Children programs in Japan. Even though Super Giant is Japan's first tokusatsu superhero, he only had debuted in movies. Moonlight Mask set the standard as Japan's first live-action TV superhero, and was a huge success. Moonlight Mask's identity was always been a mystery. There were various movies, two animes (one being a gag-anime in 1999), and a manga adaptation. Because of the many concerns over children imitating Moonlight Mask's dangerous stunts, the show was unfortunately canceled in July of 1959, after the end of the final story arc, Don't Turn Your Hand to Revenge. Toei's movies, however, continued well into August of that year. The 21st century has yet to see him again.

Meine Kleine Fabrik

Tattooed Teenage Alien Fighters from Beverly Hills

As everyone may know by now, I am a tokusatsu fan. And many might know, when Mighty Morphin Power Rangers first came out, there were plenty of followers and rip-offs. Saban, that started it, did a bunch of them such as VR Troopers, Masked Rider, and Big Bad Beetleborgs, but there were two others that didn't belong to Saban. There was DIC that did Superhuman Samurai Syber-Squad (from Gridman) and the USA network (produced by DIC, they still own the rights) brought their own original show, not made from a Japanese series and it showed. I am talking about Tattooed Teenage Alien Fighters. When I first heard this show was coming out in 1994 on TV Guide, I thought it would be an animated series. I imagined aliens with different colored skin and tattoos on their foreheads.

But alas no, It mostly followed the MMPR plot to a tee. A glob much like Zordon contacted teenagers to fight an alien force. And the teenagers weren't likable, they were annoying. The show had like what felt to be 13 episodes, they had 40. The writers Jim Fisher and Jim Staahl came from Chicago's comedy troop Second City, so it could have been believed that it was a parody. But maybe it was too much on tact to be so. It is notable to have had Zsa Zsa Gabor as a guest star, Michael Bower from Nickelodeon's Salute Your Shorts, and one episode had Kevin Castro (Tanker) of Superhuman Samurai Syber-Squad. I remember that episode very well, he played Orion, a former Alien Fighter--who warns one of them about the blob Nimbar that he will betray them because he betrayed him. I found this interesting because this was not ever covered in Power Rangers, if you could trust your 'mentor.'

Shin-Chan and the New Super Sentai Go-Onger!

This is a promo advertising the new Super Sentai to premiere in February. Of course, it is a man in a suit depicting our favorite adolescent Shin-Chan.

Why make an American Live-Action Sailor Moon?

I refer to Sailor Moon as the 'gateway drug' of Anime, because it was the first show that got many Anime fans hooked into Anime in the 90's. Anime was prominent in the West before then, but not as much as it became by the end of the 20th century. When Sailor Moon was dubbed by DiC in 1995, young Americans were unfamiliar with Anime and I remember it was mostly sneered upon and unpopular. Now, Anime is seen everywhere and common in children's animation. Anime is so respected nowadays, it inspired the style of "The Boondocks" and other animation. And such classics such as "Astro Boy" and "Lupin the 3rd" are shown after midnight on Adult Swim. Unfortunately, Sailor Moon didn't get the porcelain treatment shows have gotten recently. Fans can agree the dubs (even the ones from Cloverway) are a double-edged sword. If it was never made, fans would never be aware of it.

Many professionals (both the show producers and analysts) claim it was difficult to transliterate or adapt the Animated metaseries (the five 'seasons') because of the many taboos and/or controversies. Yes, DiC did edit and censor a whole lot of things like 'inimitable' behavior (spitting, etc.) but of course, as I always cover LGBT issues... I have to focus on LGBT... a whole lot of lesbian, gay, and transgender characters. The most popular being Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune of course. Who, after years between Sailor Moon R and Sailor Moon S got adapted, the fans were already aware of their relationship. So when Cloverway decided to call them 'cousins,' it just wasn't respected. Creator Naoko Takeuchi vouches they are indeed lesbians and always meant to be women. They were controversial as well in Japan. Other LGBT characters include Zoicite and Kunzite who became female Zoycite and Malachite (name change reason unknown). In the Manga, Zoicite and Kunzite were not romantically entangled. Fisheye (gay male to female) and Zirconia (female to male) switched genders as well. And in Sailor Moon Sailor Stars Anime, the Sailor Stars transformed from women to men which surprised Naoko because she meant them to crossdressing women. All Sailors are female. That Anime may never get adapted to English. In Italy, the Sailor Stars and their male counterparts were split.

Okay, I digress! As some might know, in 2003 there was a Live-Action Sailor Moon produced by the Japanese. In fact, the same company that produced the Anime series--Toei. Some fans, or many of the North American fans were not happy that they used Japanese actors for the series. I find this ridiculous. One of my close friends says, "If a movie is based in [Germany], we get [German] actors!" Which I don't find completely true. Sometimes Germans play Russians and Mexicans play Cubans. Anyhoo, it only makes sense a show set in Japan created by a Japanese person targeted toward Japanese children to star Japanese people. Now, yes they might look a bit ridiculous in wigs, but GET OVER IT! I love the Anime, but I love the Manga most of all as the source. The Live-Action series followed the Manga for the most part and then started spinning into its own original stuff. Fans only familiar with the Anime, would sort of get lost when it came to the 2003 series. Rei's grandfather was not present and she wasn't as boy-crazy as in the Anime, Minako was drastically different from both the Anime and Manga in mood and Motoki (Andrew) was more of a nerd. It's called "Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon," the only Japanese series to have an entire English title and the only to be called 'Guardian.' Fans call it PGSM.

PGSM was great because it focused on the girl's lives, relationships and fears. I could just ignore the stuffed doll cats, so-so CGI graphics and wigs, it was great. What was awesome about PGSM storyline was the dualism between Sailor Moon; they made a point of introducing Princess Sailor Moon (above--she never smiled in the series), an absolute power--only concerned in saving her love Endymion (Darien). In one episode, Usagi (Serena) met Princess in her mind and tried to reason with herself. It was Princess Sailor Moon who destroyed the world in the past. Where in the Manga, Usagi killed herself after her Prince was killed. In the Anime, her mother sent everyone to the future to be resurrected to live on. So I felt it was a metaphor for your potential to go over the edge, to the point of no return. Everytime she used her Moon Crystal, it would give the enemy Metalia (Negaverse) more power. Not to mention Dark Mercury or how some fans called her Darkury. Sailor Mercury, being one of the fan favorites, became evil temporarily. Luna became Sailor Luna, a little girl in a wig in place of Sailor Chibi-Moon, being that PGSM was only based on the first arc.

Back when, perhaps 1997 or something (not sure), there were rumblings about a North American Live-Action Sailor Moon movie. Especially since Disney owned DiC for a while, there were expectations Disney would do it. That ultimately fell through. Last year, there was a nasty rumor Lidnsey Lohan would star. Then there was the one Joss Whedon would direct. All has been proven to be untrue. I doubt Lohan is on any casting director's mind right now. As much as I love Joss Whedon, Sailor Moon is a major task to ask someone. I understand why some Whedon/SM fans would want him to direct something like SM, because they know he is dedicated and will do the best job he can do. And he understands super heroines. I think after dealing with big franchises, Sailor Moon would too much of a hassle for Joss. I don't even think he has seen the Anime. I think there would be major expectations from Sailor Moon fans for a project like I am suggesting. And I believe those expectations are justified because we have been hassled so much.

So why do it at all? I don't know. In my own whacked out mind, I think we (fans) deserve a decent representation of why we love Sailor Moon so much. Sailor Moon is the only original superheronie, not based on a male predecessor other than Wonder Woman. I think it would be fun. Sailor Moon can build on the popularity of Disney Princesses and also be the much need superhero role models for girls. Marketing would be great, I already imagine little girls in odangos and princess crowns. I also think it shouldn't be exclusively directed towards children and also portray Sailor Neptune and Uranus' relationship honestly and truthfully. Now you may asking yourself, isn't that crazy? Well, there are plenty of adult movie properties that has been popular with children: Aliens, Predator, Shadowman, Jurassic Park, and Robocop! Now why a movie? I think a live-action series is too much of a hassle for American producers and they wouldn't agree to it (money) as much to as a movie. I think a film company would agree more with a movie because they can test it out to see it is a hit. I believe if they make the research and carter a movie to fans, they can grab big audiences. I think Sailor Moon fans are as great in number as Harry Potter fans. You can not only attract little girls, young women, anime fans, but also many of young males. You won't believe how many Straight males love Sailor Moon. The Manga and Anime came in 5 arcs but some fans imagine 6 movies. Hey, if there is gonna be 8 Harry Potters, why not 6 Sailor Moons? I think if an American movie is made, it should follow in storytelling and mood of the live-action PGSM. Of course, there would be lots of debate over how the cats should be handled.

I brought up Disney before. The interesting thing is that recently Toei and Disney have already been collaborating. As mention before on this blog in posts about the Power Rangers, Disney has been working with Toei—who produces the source of Power Rangers (Super Sentai) since 2002. I heard nothing of Disney talking to Toei about Sailor Moon, but I think it could have been done. Unfortunately, ties between Disney and Toei may strained now that Disney may be not producing live-action Power Rangers by 2009. Besides, Toei has closed any chance of anyone obtaining the rights to Sailor Moon. The broadcast syndication license for the Anime in North America expired in 2003. and it is no longer shown on television in any English-speaking country. Toei currently has a lockdown on all Sailor Moon licenses, but Geneon (who did those big DVDs) may be interested if the situation changes. As for the live-action series, it has not been broadcast in any country outside of Japan and Toei has no plans for it to be adapted. Interestingly enough, Toei has decided to let their American company Cloverway develop Kamen Rider Dragon Knight to re-vamp the Masked Rider franchise that Saban 'ruined.'

Related: My Sailor Moon Dream Cast

About a year and half ago, I made my own dream cast for Sailor Moon. I might make some changes to my own cast choices.

Male to Female Power Ranger Monster Conversions

I am on a roll now. Since writing "Gender Bias in Power Rangers" and "Transgender Characters in Popular Culture" I felt like dealing with female villains in both series and the fact that the Power Rangers change male monsters to female. Also, the diverse male characters in Super Sentai.

In partially all Super Sentai series, there is a main villainess and the same in Power Rangers. But when it comes to the 'Monsters of the Day,' there is a only about three to two female monsters. "Kakuranger" (1994) had eight female monsters, making them the most. I did count the series from 1991 to 2007. In Power Rangers, they convert some feminine-looking male monsters to female. For example, above left male Incubus from "Magiranger" was changed to female Gnatu for "Power Rangers Mystic Force"; male Hanasakkadoshi from "Hurricanger" was changed to female Florabundacus for "Power Rangers Ninja Storm". And these are just a few of the changes. Sometimes, they don't even use the actual female monster from the Japanese series and feel short so they make one guy into a girl. For example, from the 8 female monsters of "Kakuranger," only 4 made it to "Power Rangers." I think they do it to have balance but just have a few female villains is not going to do much.


Most recently, the one above doesn't look female at all but they changed "Boukenger"'s Ouga to Crazar in "Power Rangers Operation Overdrive," the name doesn't even sound feminine. Most of the time the actor inside the suit is male. Even for the female rangers. There are rare times and more often up to recently that actual women don the female suits. And recently in "Gekiranger," a female is the suit actor for their male cat mentor Master ShaFu.


Some cases, they have no choice. Like the monster above left looks very female but was Wedding Dress Org actually male in the original "Gaoranger." In that same series, there was a intersex character Rasetsu that spoke in both female and male voice and surprisingly made it for "Power Rangers Wild Force" as Mandilok. The original American voice of Rita Replusa even voiced Mandilok's female aspect for a while. Strangely enough the female Jin (monster above right) in "GoGo Five" was converted to male in "Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescue."


As for the male characters in Super Sentai, some are allowed to be artistic or hairdressers or look feminine. Some of those include Dairanger's Kazu, Abaranger's Yukito, and Gekiranger's Retsu and Ron (above left). In fact, many of the male heroes these days all look androgynous but that is the 'look' now in Japanese popular youth culture. Many times, ignorant people mistake them for girls. But us used to Anime and Tokusatsu are used to it. Actually the picture above is non-character time, the actors are in their regular clothes.

[Left to Right: Naoki Kawano; Hirofumi Araki; Hiroki Suzuki; and Riki Miura]

Gender Bias in Power Rangers

When the Power Rangers first came out, people were curious to know why the Pink Ranger had a skirt and the female Yellow Ranger didn't have one. One of the many concerns fans have had about the 15-year running series is the increasing gender bias. Through the years, the females have not gotten motorcycles and in the toyline, mostly ignored. Since 2005, there are only two figures of each female ranger in the whole line. While the male rangers, especially the red ranger (which is another issue fans have) gets around 30 or so products. Many would just say this is because it is a Boys toyline and that is the bare truth. Since 2001, Bandai America (that produces the figures) claim the Pink Ranger sells less than all other figures. Since then, the female rangers are spotlighted on eBay because they are hard to find in stores.

[The picture above is Sasha Craig as Kelsey Winslow and Alison MacInnis as Dana Mitchell in 2000's "Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescue."]

The reason that five of twelve odd female Yellow Rangers had no skirts when their female buddy had a skirt is because of the source: the Japanese series Super Sentai. The first series to be adapted to make "Mighty Morphin Power Rangers" was "Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger" (Dinosaur Squadron Beast Ranger), which had only one female. The yellow ranger was male, funny enough his name was Boy. Mostly because he was the youngest. But there are some series (of Super Sentai) that have had two females. They could have add skirts but then there would be a conflict with the footage. I guess they rather dealt with disappearing boobs than disappearing skirts. Now, why did they have to go through all the trouble of adding a female if it is a male-orientated show?

Maybe in the beginning, they did want both boys and girls to be into it. And now, it is probably tradition. Since Disney took over in 2003, it hasn't been an issue because there have been two females in the teams of five. In the cases that the show started with three heroes and eventually get to six or five, there would just be one female and no other was gender changed. Actually there was only one series in Power Rangers that the girls has no skirts... "Power Rangers S.P.D." That one had 6 females (Pink, Yellow, Red, Orange/White, Pink and Silver/Navy), all had no skirts. While in Super Sentai, there are plenty series that the girls had no skirts. Despite common belief, yellow is not always female in Sentai. More males have had that designation.

[The picture above are sketches by the Japanese artists of warriors from various Sentai series, some came before Power Rangers. Top: Phoenix Ranger from Dairanger (1993) and FiveYellow from Fiveman (1990) Bottom: Magiranger's MagiBlue (2005)/Blue Mystic Force Ranger (2006); Gaoranger's Gao White (2001)/White Wild Force Ranger (2002); Gingaman's Ginga Pink (1998)/Pink Lost Galaxy Ranger (1999)]

I think the reason people wish females in Power Rangers got a little more respect is probably because in some choice times, female characters are allowed to cross the line of the traditional roles in both Super Sentai and Power Rangers. For example in Power Rangers, there has been three female leaders. White Alien Ranger in 1995, Pink Time Force Ranger in 2001, and Red S.P.D. A-Squad Ranger in 2005. Funny thing about her (above), she didn't have a Japanese predecessor and producers had to convince Disney to have a female red ranger. It is obvious they hadn't decided on her gender until later in the series since in earlier episodes, the red ranger was heard to have a male voice. Fans sum this up as her disguising her voice to fool the enemy. Ultimately, I think they let it happen because she was not part of the main team, nor where there any toys based on her or her team. Best thing was that particular team was the first 'evil' team that was not under a spell. They actually chose to oppose the forces of good on their own free will. Super Sentai producer Hideaki Tsukada was recently asked about the possibility of having a female red ranger leader and he said it wasn't completely out of the question, "But still unlikely. For example, the fact that Super Sentai is a show for 3 to 5 year old boys, having a female leading character is not supported by the toy shops." It all goes down to toy marketing and sales, both series are aimed to boys.

The same plight that have gone to the females in Power Rangers have come to Super Sentai. Lately female warriors have gotten the shaft in the toy lines. But not so much to storylines. To the current incarnation that will end in February, "Juken Sentai Gekiranger" (Beast-Fist Squadron Fierce Ranger] that will be adapted into "Power Rangers Jungle Fury" that same very month, GekiYellow (above) is the leader. Some fans have complained that even with that, she is not getting very much focus and it could be that she was given the leader position as lip service. The picture above is about the upcoming teamup 'Gekiranger Vs. Boukenger' coming in March. Each year the previous team meets with the current team in a straight to video special. Next to her is Natsuki, Bouken Yellow from 2006's "GoGo Sentai Boukenger" (Rumbling Squadron Adventure Ranger) and she had special focus in the series. People liked her that she was a bubbly and childish. She is a fan favorite.

[The picture above is Mina Fukui as Ran Uzaki and Chise Nakamura as Natsuki Mamiya.]

The Future of the Power Rangers

In 2002, Disney acquired the rights to the Power Rangers and with that, the rights to adapt the source of the series--Super Sentai from the Toei Company in Japan. Since Power Rangers have still been on the air since 1993, fans were not exactly happy with what Disney was doing with the series. One fact is that Disney's contract with Toei is ending this year. There is a rumor circulating that Disney is planning to stop production with the live-action series and might go animated. There is a large possibility this might come true.

Disney (in general) has not had many fans in the past few years for any of their decisions. Thus going animated with the Power Rangers is not a surprise. Along with the rumor, there is another that the animated series will based on the original "Mighty Morphin Power Rangers," supposedly in hopes of capturing old fans. Since 1996, Power Rangers have followed its source Super Sentai in changing theme, title, plot, and cast each year. Super Sentai is an ongoing franchise since 1975 and has recently celebrated its 30th anniversary. If Disney does choose to go animated, then the newest Super Sentai series won't be adapted to English. This week, pictures of the 2008 series have been revealed.

Gouonger or Go-On Ranger has received mix-reviews like 2007's Gekiranger, which is now being adapted into "Power Rangers Jungle Fury." One main reasons the designs of Gekiranger got mix-reviews was that they have no belts, which is a Sentai mainstay. Some fans are happy and some others are calling the costumes and robots of Go-onger goofy and garish. And some joke 'No wonder Disney dropped out.' But this was a long time coming for them to leave because of their contact. Power Ranger fans are notorious for freaking out before anything happens, they have been called worse than Star Trek, and comic book fans all put together. Very often, fans see a new sentai and think it won't get adapted and it does get adopted regardless. I am proudly one of them. hee hee. My family and friends call me obsessed. I for one, I am excited to go what will be the result of all of this.

Updated December 15 2007:
PrometheusUFO reports a 10-minute animated pilot has been produced. It is said to be called "Power Rangers Morphin' Heroes." There are rumors the animaed series will be just a year and it might go back to live-action. Which makes both PrometheusUFO and I happy that they will definitely have more time to plot out the storyline for the 2009 season from the Japanese source. But it could be they skip Gouonger all together and adapt Sentai 2009 for 2010 and end up the same way. Lemme explain, we fans don't like the squeeze PR producers have to go through by adapting the Japanese footage and their whole series feels so squished. It doesn't help that Disney has reduced 40 episodes to 32 episodes. Super Sentai series since 1998 have had 50 episodes and were merely reduced to 49 in 2005.

VR Troopers Unseen 7-minute Pilot presentation w/ Jason David Frank

This needs lots of explanation for non-fans. Back in 1994, at the height of the popularity of "Mighty Morphin Power Rangers", before Tommy the Green Ranger returned to the series, Haim Saban (the creator of the series) decided to make a series with footage of another Japanese action series, namely "Metalder." In this pilot presentation, Jason David Frank portrays Adam Steele, who becomes Cybertron. Even Jamie Kennedy is in it, as a camera-holding surfer dude. Because fan demand was so high for Tommy and copyright infringement towards The Transformers' main planet, Cybertron was recast and changed to "VR Troopers," which had two seasons. The main character's name was changed to Ryan and the role given to Brad Hawkins and two other heroes were added with footage of "Speilban."

After you watch that, the last scene where Jason is in a black A-shirt and red bandanna, well they used that photo for this card below that I've had for 12 years.

For years, the only proof fans had of Jason David Frank being in the pilot was an article on Disney Adventures magazine. Little did I know that my Cardzillion card of the White Ranger was one too. When I got the card, I wondered why I never saw him in that outfit on the MMPR show.

Interview with Super Sentai Producer

As you may or mat not know, I am the webmaster of a Super Sentai fan site (supersentai.com) and also contribute to a Power Ranger fan site (rangercentral.com). Which was down for July 24 because of maintenance.

Here is an interview by Christian Lonsing with Super Sentai producer Hideaki Tsukada. It is an PDF file, Click here to download or view it.

Tsukada reveals in this rare interview that they are keeping hero deaths to a minimum, which is common in Super Sentai. The 'Green Ranger' we know from the original MMPR series--his Japanese counterpart Zyuranger/Burai died. Also he admits there is no communication between the Power Ranger and Super Sentai crews, but surprisingly Bandai America does have some input. Fans have wanted a red female leader and a pink male which has yet to happen, Tsukada doesn't rule it out but being it a show mainly for boys, he doubts stores would want to sell a series with a female lead. Kamen Rider, a series Toei (production company of Sentai) also produces--they only have communication at the beginning to make sure they don't have the same theme. Sequels are rare in Super Sentai, they have never happened. Each story and cast last a year long for the past 32 years. Tsukada says if the companies involved Toei and Bandai are convinced it is worth doing, they may do a sequel. He personally would love to do one on Dekaranger (Power Rangers S.P.D.)

Violet Power Ranger

The picture above is from the latest Super Sentai series 'Gekiranger' in Japan, next year it will become the newest incarnation of the Power Rangers--Power Rangers Jungle Fury. I have been waiting for a Purple Ranger for years. For some time I thought the purple ranger would be female but I guess I was gender bias. This new 'ranger' is GekiViolet, yes that's right Violet. I agree that 'Violet' sounds female but thats just our society, gender assignment. It is silly to think colors have genders. In some cultures, pink and blue don't belong to any particular gender while in others pink is for men. I highly doubt the Disney company (that runs Power Rangers now) will call this ranger Violet but we'll see. [BoukenSilver which I mentioned last year is referred to as the Mercury Ranger.] I am so excited, I think it is so bad ass that a male superhero is violet.

Background on series: Gekiranger means 'Fierce Ranger' and started with three feline-inspired warriors that practice martial art techniques based on animals. GekiViolet obviously has a wolf theme.

In Tokusatsu (Special Effect Live-Action series), most purple warriors have been men:
2005 - Wolzard from "Magiranger" [Koragg from "Power Rangers Mystic Force"]

2002 - Kamen Rider Ouja from "Kamen Rider Ryuki" [If 'Kamen Rider Dragon Knight' gets picked up, he may be in the U.S.]

2003-2004 - Sazer Dali of the Gransezars [Not in the U.S.]

1993 - Tokusou Robo Jansperson [Not in the U.S.; I don't think it had a gender].

The only purple female in Tokusatsu I can think of is B-Fighter Tentou of "B-Fighter Kabuto" in 1996 [Platinum Purple Beetleborg from Beetleborgs Metallix].

Spider-Manno's Leopard Robot

In December, I mentioned that one Japanese blog mentioned my post about the Japanese produced Spider-Man Tokustasu (Children Live-Action Adventure Series) in the 70's. Now I found another blog talking about it and shows the toy of his Leopard robot. Here is her blog. It is in Japanese and you need to install the characters in your computer if you haven't yet. On the bottom comment, she mentions how she was surprised a person from Miami found a photo (it was a video!) of the show and wondered if it was popular in the States.

Well it is not popular per say but it is known throughout Spider-Man fans.

Here is a message for her [Formulated by Japanese Translator friend Danny]:
こんにちは！
私のウエブサイトについてのブログの作成を読んで、びっくりしました！
どうやって日本の東映スパイダマンの事を知ってるのかと思ってるんですね。
実は昔から「スーパー戦隊シリーズ」という特撮番組に凄く興味を持ってるので、それで日本の特撮物は詳しいですよ！

Related Post: My Blog on a Blog

James Maclurcan Eye Candy

Australian model/actor Twenty-one year old James Macluran is the newest Red Ranger in the newest incarnation "Power Rangers Operation Overdrive" based on Boukenger (mentioned before on this blog).

There are a couple of hotties in Power Rangers, most notably remembered Austin St. John and James David Frank but lately they are filming in New Zealand, they have these creamy white hunks. He can actually act or just plain endearing. He is more tolerable than some other Red Rangers Disney has chosen lately.

Ooh, the money shot baby. The actors don't usually wear the suits, moslty just for one scene or two throughout the year without their helmets.

Kamen Rider Cutie #1

This is Matt Smith and he is 18 and has recently filmed a pilot attempting to revamp the American version of the tokusatsu (Live-Action children adventure) series Kamen Rider. It was previously unsuccessfully adapted into Masked Rider by Haim Saban of the Power Rangers fame.

This time they are adapting the most popular series of recent times Kamen Rider Ryuki (2002) into 'Kamen Rider Dragon Knight.' (somewhat rough translation, though they are keeping the word 'Kamen' instead of 'Mask') I believe Ryuki was so popular because the great writing. It centered around one Rider who tried to make peace among a dozen or so Riders who wanted to kill each other to see who was the best meanwhile monsters would come froma mirror world. Trust me, it is much more complicated than that.

He is of German, Irish, Scottish, and English heritage on his Mother's side, and Italian, Hungarian, Polish and German on his father's side. He plays the lead role of Kit/the Dragon Knight, the pilot is being shopped around now and hasn't been picked up yet.

It is being produced by the American Toei company and directed by Steve and Mike Wang. Steve Wang has directed a couple of American Tokusatsu movies like Guyver and has done art direction for Underworld, special effects supervisor for Gremlins 2 and project supervisor for The Devil's Advocate. Steve dropped out of the MMPR: The Movie because of conflicts on production design.

He has previsouly been on "Drake and Josh" and "Hack."
Update July 25, 2008:
He played a mannequin come to life in "Wizards of Waverly Place."

Related Topics: Kamen Rider Cutie #3

Where are they now: Rhett Fisher

Not many may remember or know this guy but he was the Titanium Ranger in the year 2000 incarination of Power Rangers called Lightspeed Rescue. His name is Rhett Fisher and he played Ryan Mitchell, the Pink Ranger's brother and their boss' son.

No muchos pueden recordar o conócer este individuo pero él era el Ranger Titanio en el incarination del año 2000 de los Power Rangers nombrado Lightspeed Rescue. Su nombre es Rhett Fisher y él hiso el papel de Ryan Mitchell, el hermano de la Ranger Rosada y el hijo de el jefe de ellos.

He did a couple of roles including a memorable one as Prince William on the WB's short-lived "Maybe it's Me."

Él hizo un par de papeles incluyendo una memorable como Príncipe Guillermo en programa de breve duración de WB "Maybe it's Me." ("Quizá soy yo.")

He also modeled but now he is dedicated to singing for his band...

Él también modeló pero ahora el se dedica cantar para su banda musical...

Manic Mind, that has performed before Nsync and has JC Chavez as one of their friends on their Myspace page.

Manic Mind (La mente manico), ellos ha llevar a cabo antes de Nsync y tienen JC Chavez como uno de sus amigos en su página de 'Myspace'.

Rhett's look is more of a punk/alt rocker and has sported longer hair. He even sang the opening of the 2000 Special Olympics.

El 'look' de Rhett es más de un balancín de punk rock y tiendo su pelo más largo. Él inclusivo cantó en el esterno de las Olimpiadas Especiales de 2000.

Their MySpace page. Su Pagina de MySpace.