Would like to change his avatar
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I never even felt like the Go-busters failing to save their parents or Jin was even all that "dark." It would be one thing to have the parent characters be supporting characters, like we cut to them stuck in hyperspace all of the time, and THEN they get killed off -- just having that one flashback and references to them made them already feel like something in the past, like they were already dead. (And heck, a lot of characters like Kuroki kept telling them that they were dead.) The way Go-busters went about it wasn't tangible, and I don't think it would really click with kids and didn't have the "OMG, dark, serious, morbid" and supposed weight that Go-busters thought it had.

If Go-busters hadn't wanted to wipe its slate and reboot, the parents-stuck-in-hyperspace thing would have probably dragged out for the entire show and been resolved the way the Ginga Forest situation is in Gingaman. (Spoiler alert: the show pusses out on that.) It wasn't daring storytelling, it wasn't the show being grim and dark -- it was a plot element that the show wanted to shed at any cost.

Gekiranger is a modern show that I'd say is probably goofier than Go-busters, but I thought the scenes of Jan and Rio's parents being killed -- and the senseless ways they were killed -- were more jarring than Go-busters having their pretty much already dead parents stay dead. I think even Shinkenger was more shocking in the way you saw the previous generation's team be butchered, having Shinken Pink's mother becoming paralyzed.

Jin's death doesn't mean much when he was just a copy, essentially a robot. Again, they knew he had a limited amount of time. I don't think his "death" holds the same weight as any other hero death a toku's done, even any number of the fake out deaths these shows like to do. Again, they didn't really kill him, it's a character who was already dead staying dead -- and I'm sure even the kids knew he would pop up again in the VS movie or, at the very least, a live show.

Basically: I can't believe people are sticking with this myth that Go-busters was so "dark, grim, bleak, edgy" that it sent kids running for the hills and THAT'S why it failed. No, it sent kids -- and viewers of all ages -- to Sleepytown because it was so utterly, horribly, godawfully boring.
 
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I think a lot of it is just that the it comes across as a natural evolution of what was possible from decade to decade. People want something that looks more realistic in a superhero design - one of the reasons Hollywood movies go for heavily armored looks these days. Sentai managed to strike a balance of giving that realistic design while still having the unique superhero flare. The suits have this heft to them that you can't get with spandex on its own. This isn't a knock to spandex because, hell, I love that as well in a Sentai design, but each material is each capable of something that the other isn't.

Granted, it seems like hell on the suit actors, but I loved the idea of giving the Sentai aesthetic change that was fresh and felt like just the next evolution in Sentai. The major drawback here is that Go-Busters was the series with the task of carrying that look. When you look at the Go-Busters designs on paper, they are very vanilla and low key. I've always felt it would have been cool to see that material stick around and see what it would look like on a more traditional suit design.

Wow no wonder leather is not used because suit actors dont like wearing them which is why they prefer to wear spandex instead ,and yeah it would been cool to let them wear leather for a while instead of wearing spandex for a change.

I don't get what was "dark" about Go-Busters?? Please anybody tell me what was dark about it. Ok when I was watching the series, I thought they were gonna go the cliche route and Hiromu and Yoko's parents would come back from Hyperspace and they live happily ever after, but they stayed dead. Jin also died too but it wasn't dark and graphic in any way. It was more of a peaceful spiritual death to me. Compared to 80s and 90s Sentai where there actually was on-screen deaths of humans and a bit of bloodshed. I felt that was just an excuse by Bandai and Toei to cover up the failure of the Go-Busters toy sales, which in itself I don't understand. Japanese Kids buy more when there are collectiable items to collect as oppose to just a standard DX toy releases every few months??? Where do parents see this at?? What happen to less is more??

I think the real reason why Bandai told Saban to skip Go-Busters might have to do with the toys themselves. Since none of the Go-Buster Mecha is a Zord Builder esque design (detachable limps etc..) and are basically parts formers where you mostly move around and stick em together. Saban and Bandai America probably felt that was too much to manufacture and reproduce.

The show started out with one personal goal for the main characters, a source of optimism. Not only did they epically fail at achieving that personal goal halfway through, the rest of the way they lived with the idea that when they do manage to fix whatever was left to be fixed, one of them will be gone forever.

wow guess kids aren't ready for the darker material in super sentai series yet unlike the ones in the late 80s and early 90s.

I never even felt like the Go-busters failing to save their parents or Jin was even all that "dark." It would be one thing to have the parent characters be supporting characters, like we cut to them stuck in hyperspace all of the time, and THEN they get killed off -- just having that one flashback and references to them made them already feel like something in the past, like they were already dead. (And heck, a lot of characters like Kuroki kept telling them that they were dead.) The way Go-busters went about it wasn't tangible, and I don't think it would really click with kids and didn't have the "OMG, dark, serious, morbid" and supposed weight that Go-busters thought it had.

If Go-busters hadn't wanted to wipe its slate and reboot, the parents-stuck-in-hyperspace thing would have probably dragged out for the entire show and been resolved the way the Ginga Forest situation is in Gingaman. (Spoiler alert: the show pusses out on that.) It wasn't daring storytelling, it wasn't the show being grim and dark -- it was a plot element that the show wanted to shed at any cost.

Gekiranger is a modern show that I'd say is probably goofier than Go-busters, but I thought the scenes of Jan and Rio's parents being killed -- and the senseless ways they were killed -- were more jarring than Go-busters having their pretty much already dead parents stay dead. I think even Shinkenger was more shocking in the way you saw the previous generation's team be butchered, having Shinken Pink's mother becoming paralyzed.

Jin's death doesn't mean much when he was just a copy, essentially a robot. Again, they knew he had a limited amount of time. I don't think his "death" holds the same weight as any other hero death a toku's done, even any number of the fake out deaths these shows like to do. Again, they didn't really kill him, it's a character who was already dead staying dead -- and I'm sure even the kids knew he would pop up again in the VS movie or, at the very least, a live show.

Basically: I can't believe people are sticking with this myth that Go-busters was so "dark, grim, bleak, edgy" that it sent kids running for the hills and THAT'S why it failed. No, it sent kids -- and viewers of all ages -- to Sleepytown because it was so utterly, horribly, godawfully boring.

Yeah kids feel like they aren't ready for the dark tone in sentai series yet and maybe should have make the plot more exciting ,Also the go-buster production crew should have used the fight against big boss and rescue yellow buster parents (if they should been alive) part in the final set of episodes instead of the middle.
 
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I think a lot of people appreciate what Go-Busters was trying to do. It was deliberately trying to call back to the Super Sentai of the '80s and '90s in terms of aesthetic simplicity and the more tragic overarching story-line. The problem is, Go-Busters failed to reach that standard. The show still had to abide by every last one of Toei and Bandai's whims for more toys, more pandering, etc.

The spy motif ended up not lending itself well enough to a full-length series, and the Buddyroids were an obvious attempt by Bandai/Toei to recapture the success of Kamen Rider Den-O's Imagin. It seems like they were trying to combine Timeranger Yasuko Kobayashi with Den-O Kobayashi, so it always felt like the show was unfocused on what exactly it wanted to be. Now, I don't think Go-Busters is a terrible Sentai by any means. I just felt that it never met its potential.
 
I liked him when he wasn't a god
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Even if not for Toei meddling with the show I'm still not sure it would have performed better. Audiences have moved on since Timeranger (which itself did not do well.) Reportedly, military, tech and space themes haven't been doing well with kids in Japan for some time (might also be a reason why the Kikaider and Gavan movies suffered), but Toei somehow thought it would be a hit ... why? Just because it was promoted as new and shiny?
 
The Extraordinary Fan(boy)
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I have always been of the opinion that Go-Busters did absolutely nothing wrong.

The show was serious but no overly so, the drama and the characters felt real, the whole Energon aspect was very interesting and went a long way into creating a consistent world with rules that both heroes and villains had to play with, and finally the action of the show was superb.

I honestly loved Go-busters, by episode 20 i was 90% convinced that this was going to be my new Favorite sentai, so obviously i was upset when the retool happened and we were left with a hollow show that lacked the edge that made the first half so engaging.

I think that the only real 'sin' commited by Go-Busters was that it dared to call itself a 'Super Sentai' show; while all the basics were there, the show had enough unique things to warrant being its own thing. Heck, if you ask me this show would have been a lot more succesful if it had been called Tomica Hero Rescue Busters.

Really, Go-Busters was not a case of a show that was bad but had a few redeeming qualities; Go-Busters was a great show that merely failed to reach it´s audience. Looking back, older fans rejected Go-Busters because it was so different from your usual Super Sentai, and kinds were indiferent because technological themes have not been popular with kids for a while now. It really shows how much fate Toei had on the quality of the show, they were even willing to try a theme that had proven to be unpopular for years. That´s how much effort went into the show.

But alas, Go-Busters will go down in history as a 'bad sentai', even though his only crime was to try and revitalize the franchise using the fabled 'good ideas' that are so rare nowadays.
 
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Messages
1,091
I think a lot of people appreciate what Go-Busters was trying to do. It was deliberately trying to call back to the Super Sentai of the '80s and '90s in terms of aesthetic simplicity and the more tragic overarching story-line. The problem is, Go-Busters failed to reach that standard. The show still had to abide by every last one of Toei and Bandai's whims for more toys, more pandering, etc.

The spy motif ended up not lending itself well enough to a full-length series, and the Buddyroids were an obvious attempt by Bandai/Toei to recapture the success of Kamen Rider Den-O's Imagin. It seems like they were trying to combine Timeranger Yasuko Kobayashi with Den-O Kobayashi, so it always felt like the show was unfocused on what exactly it wanted to be. Now, I don't think Go-Busters is a terrible Sentai by any means. I just felt that it never met its potential.

Like i said before kids are probably not ready to see darker material in sentai like the 80s and 90s except the ones in kamen rider.
Well I like the spy motif though it feels its going back to the beginning to goranger the first super sentai series when it was one who use the spy motif thing .

Even if not for Toei meddling with the show I'm still not sure it would have performed better. Audiences have moved on since Timeranger (which itself did not do well.) Reportedly, military, tech and space themes haven't been doing well with kids in Japan for some time (might also be a reason why the Kikaider and Gavan movies suffered), but Toei somehow thought it would be a hit ... why? Just because it was promoted as new and shiny?

I wonder what kids in japan are really interested in,it would take some investigative team to find out. (the investigative part is a joke really)

I have always been of the opinion that Go-Busters did absolutely nothing wrong.

The show was serious but no overly so, the drama and the characters felt real, the whole Energon aspect was very interesting and went a long way into creating a consistent world with rules that both heroes and villains had to play with, and finally the action of the show was superb.

I honestly loved Go-busters, by episode 20 i was 90% convinced that this was going to be my new Favorite sentai, so obviously i was upset when the retool happened and we were left with a hollow show that lacked the edge that made the first half so engaging.

I think that the only real 'sin' commited by Go-Busters was that it dared to call itself a 'Super Sentai' show; while all the basics were there, the show had enough unique things to warrant being its own thing. Heck, if you ask me this show would have been a lot more succesful if it had been called Tomica Hero Rescue Busters.

Really, Go-Busters was not a case of a show that was bad but had a few redeeming qualities; Go-Busters was a great show that merely failed to reach it´s audience. Looking back, older fans rejected Go-Busters because it was so different from your usual Super Sentai, and kinds were indiferent because technological themes have not been popular with kids for a while now. It really shows how much fate Toei had on the quality of the show, they were even willing to try a theme that had proven to be unpopular for years. That´s how much effort went into the show.

But alas, Go-Busters will go down in history as a 'bad sentai', even though his only crime was to try and revitalize the franchise using the fabled 'good ideas' that are so rare nowadays.

Yeah I like the gobusters as well they are not so bad But with second half and its retool it doesn’t have the familiarity that we love when we watch it from its very beginning similar like how kamen rider hibiki did.
Go-busters may be different but they are not really that bad, they are just good I guess I mean what’s wrong with a little change in the franchise.
Yeah its too bad go buster ended in the ranking of bad sentai but in a future time they will be vindicated in history as a good super sentai series that almost changed the franchise just like how Kamen rider amazon did.
 
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the whole Energon aspect was very interesting and went a long way into creating a consistent world with rules that both heroes and villains had to play with

You mean Vaglass were Predacons and the Go-Busters Maximals? :p

Heck, if you ask me this show would have been a lot more succesful if it had been called Tomica Hero Rescue Busters.

Nah. Then you would have an organization that claims to handle natural disasters but every case they face involves bad guys causing mischief. And being annoying.
 
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Mar 20, 2012
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wow guess kids aren't ready for the darker material in super sentai series yet unlike the ones in the late 80s and early 90s.
You can get away with try different things depending on your timeslot. When Sentai started it was part of the warm-up before primetime shows aired. It wasn't until part-way through Megaranger that it was sent to the Sunday morning kids TV ghetto after a number of years of "we might be making the very last season" uncertainty.
I wonder what kids in japan are really interested in,it would take some investigative team to find out. (the investigative part is a joke really)
I'm sure Bandai Japan has an army of people running focus groups.
 
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