How to make a good toei tokusatsu show without being treated as a TOY commercial!

[Amon]

Toy gimmick shows can be fine if they are done right. If items are added to sell toys then make sure they are work right with the plot. I feel like W, OOO and Gaim handle their gimmicks well in my opinion. Fourze, Wizard and Drive's gimmicks do feel like that they where poorly put together in my opinion. Wizard felt like he had a new form once every two weeks just to sell WAP and Vinyl figures to kids.

 

[Fox-Chan]

That is to say, I hope Bandai don't meddle much with Ultraman as they did with KR and Sentai. Spark Dolls and cards are ok, not intrusive or anything (don't have the wordings at the moment). But the moment if they decided to use little trinkets like TOYS CARS to make Ultraman transform or power up, then we're going to have a problem.

Given that they own a lot of Tsuburaya, I think it's just a matter of time before it gets that bad with Ultraman.

However, I too would rather have that instead of no Ultraman at all.

 

[PalleteRider]

I hope I don't end up going Jontron when that happens xD

But I do hope Bandai control themselves with Ultraman at least. There's so much they can do with the concept of Ultraman without toyetically intrusive. Like, Ultraman X is one fine example that got me hook on the idea (now it's just the matter of execution).

 

[kamsasdn13213231]

Toy gimmick shows can be fine if they are done right. If items are added to sell toys then make sure they are work right with the plot. I feel like W, OOO and Gaim handle their gimmicks well in my opinion. Fourze, Wizard and Drive's gimmicks do feel like that they where poorly put together in my opinion. Wizard felt like he had a new form once every two weeks just to sell WAP and Vinyl figures to kids.

Yeah me too i was thinking the same thing if items are added to sell toys then they have to make sure if the items are suitable for the plots but both kamen rider and super sentai aren't toy gimmick shows they are tokusatsu shows whose main purpose is to entertain the audience not to sell their toys and if bandai wants a toy gimmick show then i suggest they have no choice but to cancel both kamen rider and super sentai franchise and make a original tokusatsu shows revolve around their toys and let toei film it just like the tomica heroes franchise.

The difference is pretty noticeable when you compare pretty much every pre-2007 Ultraman TV show to Ultraman Ginga and Ginga S, which is where Bandai went a bit nuts.

Good point i hope the toy company won't over do it

Pretty much what Fox-Chan said.

That is to say, I hope Bandai don't meddle much with Ultraman as they did with KR and Sentai. Spark Dolls and cards are ok, not intrusive or anything (don't have the wordings at the moment). But the moment if they decided to use little trinkets like TOYS CARS to make Ultraman transform or power up, then we're going to have a problem.

Yeah me too i hope that toy company doesn't over do it because it should be the tokusatsu company like tsubaraya that should be the one doing the themes not the toy company like bandai itself

Given that they own a lot of Tsuburaya, I think it's just a matter of time before it gets that bad with Ultraman.

However, I too would rather have that instead of no Ultraman at all.

Well i do because i dont want the franchise to end up as a toy commercial show.

I hope I don't end up going Jontron when that happens xD

But I do hope Bandai control themselves with Ultraman at least. There's so much they can do with the concept of Ultraman without toyetically intrusive. Like, Ultraman X is one fine example that got me hook on the idea (now it's just the matter of execution).

Maybe but i don't like toy companies owning every tokusatsu franchise it should be the ones who produce them like tsubaraya only ,Its as if every tokusatsu series aimed for general audience are now owned by toy companies.

Why should they? Kids love the toys. Kamen Rider is one of Bandai's top-selling franchises worldwide. Just because you don't love it doesn't mean a vast majority of the show's viewers/target audience doesn't. So stop speaking for the audience the show is actually trying to bring in, okay? Yes, Bandai is getting ridiculous with their motifs and quantity of toys, but it's clearly working with sales. Why fix what isn't broken?

True but i still think the tokusatsu companies should do the theme choice and designing rather than the toy company and toy companies should be the one merchandising it.

 

[DaikaijuSokogeki!]

Well i do because i dont want the franchise to end up as a toy commercial show.

Man, that is so selfish.

"The Ultraman franchise is potentially going down a direction I don't like, so I don't want us to have ANY ever again because of my close-minded views."

And sorry, but it already kinda was a toy commercial. The form changes in Tiga, Dyna, Cosmos? The multiple Ultramen in Gaia, Nexus, and Mebius? The multiple aircrafts and weapons that each earth defense team uses? Hell, the kaiju themselves are designed with toys in mind, something Toei has never gotten quite right. And if it wasn't advertising toys, it was advertising video games, like with Ultra Galaxy.

Sorry, but the toy companies pay the bills. As long as the toys are integrated naturally, I have no problem with it because it is a necessity in order for tokusatsu to survive. It's when they become obtrusive that things become a problem, but for me that's only been an issue on shows like Kamen Rider Drive and Zyuden Sentai Kyoryuger.

But if you don't like toys in your shows period? Tough luck, bud. This is the wrong genre for you.

 

[PalleteRider]

Well, to put it in better terms with the context: children-targeted toku xD

But yeah, the monster figurines of Ultraman has always been a rage, especially back then during its early days. For crying out loud, they even promote the toys by literally portraying the toys in the show!! Like some child character carrying Ultraman or monster dolls.

And Daikaiju, how exactly Toei didn't get that part right regarding monster toys?

 

[DaikaijuSokogeki!]

W byell, to put it in better terms with the context: children-targeted toku xD

But yeah, the monster figurines of Ultraman has always been a rage, especially back then during its early days. For crying out loud, they even promote the toys by literally portraying the toys in the show!! Like some child character carrying Ultraman or monster dolls.

And Daikaiju, how exactly Toei didn't get that part right regarding monster toys?

Well, think about it. Compared to Ultraman, what SS or KR monsters are truly iconic? You can't do a show like Ultra Galaxy with the latter two franchises because those monsters aren't recognizable enough. That, and because KR and SS usually stick with a motif every year, that usually restricts what kind of monsters they can make while Ultraman just does whatever the hell they want. The former is just not as interesting when it comes to villains and thus not as marketable.

 

[kamsasdn13213231]

Man, that is so selfish.

"The Ultraman franchise is potentially going down a direction I don't like, so I don't want us to have ANY ever again because of my close-minded views."

And sorry, but it already kinda was a toy commercial. The form changes in Tiga, Dyna, Cosmos? The multiple Ultramen in Gaia, Nexus, and Mebius? The multiple aircrafts and weapons that each earth defense team uses? Hell, the kaiju themselves are designed with toys in mind, something Toei has never gotten quite right. And if it wasn't advertising toys, it was advertising video games, like with Ultra Galaxy.

Sorry, but the toy companies pay the bills. As long as the toys are integrated naturally, I have no problem with it because it is a necessity in order for tokusatsu to survive. It's when they become obtrusive that things become a problem, but for me that's only been an issue on shows like Kamen Rider Drive and Zyuden Sentai Kyoryuger.

But if you don't like toys in your shows period? Tough luck, bud. This is the wrong genre for you.

It does! well since modern tokusatsu franchise are fully toy commercials or in your own words "toys in your show" period all i could i say is i feel ashamed of that era because it doesn't have the surroundings the previous era had from the early showa period when they are just shows not fully owned by toy companies but now that today all tokusatsu franchise in japan (except maybe the godzilla franchise) are now owned by toy companies since they will pay for the financial difficulties during the production ,it seems the genre in that country is now the shadow of its former self just like the modern mtv era when they no longer promote music like in the 80s just original shows,game,fictional shows and reality shows like regular networks and less on music.
If i had the power,if i live in japan and i would produce a kamen rider or super sentai show in toei studios i would say to bandai 'No,let me chose my own themes and plots for this season and let it run for sometime until the story ends up to the beginning of next year and you can merchandise it if you like but don't overdo it because tokusatsu is art ' thats what i would say if i live in japan and make a kamen rider or super sentai show in japan.

Well, to put it in better terms with the context: children-targeted toku xD

Exactly it seems tokusatsu series aimed for children and general audience in japan are now considered toy commercial or merchandise driven shows at least garo franchise isn't like that even though it's for older audience but is now considered for some worse than a merchandise driven shows a cash cow franchise.

Well, think about it. Compared to Ultraman, what SS or KR monsters are truly iconic? You can't do a show like Ultra Galaxy with the latter two franchises because those monsters aren't recognizable enough. That, and because KR and SS usually stick with a motif every year, that usually restricts what kind of monsters they can make while Ultraman just does whatever the hell they want. The former is just not as interesting when it comes to villains and thus not as marketable.

Good point.

 

[Amon]

Ultraman made the concept of Monster of the Week popular so that our main hero will defeat a new monster in the new episode and kids will buy toys of that monster. Ultraman always had merchandise going for it since day one in 1966.

 

[Black Fang]

And sorry, but it already kinda was a toy commercial. The form changes in Tiga, Dyna, Cosmos? The multiple Ultramen in Gaia, Nexus, and Mebius? The multiple aircrafts and weapons that each earth defense team uses? Hell, the kaiju themselves are designed with toys in mind, something Toei has never gotten quite right. And if it wasn't advertising toys, it was advertising video games, like with Ultra Galaxy.

The big difference is the way all of those things are written into the show. Ultraman's merchandise never feels intrusive (incidentally, neither did the merchandise-heavy Kuuga or Agito, among others), unlike how Rider and Sentai can be. More importantly though, Ultraman still has "heart and soul" on a consistent basis. The show's main goal is to tell a good story. Granted Ultra's always had more of a general sci-fi aspect to it than the other shows, but heartfelt storytelling is not something I feel Rider and Sentai does much these days. It goes through the motions of a superhero show without really feeling heroic.