A Public Service Announcement from DC...

[Fox-Chan]

Compared to ultraman and rangers, i think rider series are more appealing since their story always has a great plot.

Oh and for the power rangers, yea......they really are made for kids....

Eh, that depends on which series you're talking about. Sometimes the plot is good, but sometimes it is a horrendous trainwreck.

On the subject of Ultraman...it's pretty much the same case. Granted, I think when Ultraman is at its best, it blows most other tokusatsu series out of the water. But that's just my opinion.

At the end of the day though, it's all for the kids. Except when they explicitly state it's not.

 

[KouAidou]

I don't see why it would, unless they're assuming a superhero must as a rule fight mostly ordinary criminals, independent masterminds and only occasionally a large enemy organization. All of this toku has done, even though most of the time it's the third category.

Some people do, though. Or they associate "superheroes" specifically with the baggage Marvel and DC has built up over the last twenty years. Which for some people is a good thing and for some people is a bad thing... but is still a very different animal from what you get out of modern Toku.

Someone who associates superheroes for the idiosyncrasies of Western comics -- the sliding timeline, the battle of wills between hero and mastermind, the emphasis on shared universe, the flamboyant power levels -- might in fact look at the more grounded heroes and one-season-one-story setting of (most) Tokusatsu and find it all somewhat alien.

Now I think that if a person likes superheroes for the core "larger-than-life people fight larger-than-life enemies" aspect, they would have no trouble transitioning over from western superheroes to eastern ones... but I can't imagine why such a person would turn up their nose at Power Rangers, either.

 

[Black Fang]

Some people do, though. Or they associate "superheroes" specifically with the baggage Marvel and DC has built up over the last twenty years. Which for some people is a good thing and for some people is a bad thing... but is still a very different animal from what you get out of modern Toku.

Someone who associates superheroes for the idiosyncrasies of Western comics -- the sliding timeline, the battle of wills between hero and mastermind, the emphasis on shared universe, the flamboyant power levels -- might in fact look at the more grounded heroes and one-season-one-story setting of (most) Tokusatsu and find it all somewhat alien.

Well there are different "continuities" for each Marvel and DC hero, aren't there? (Meaning, different series of comics and TV shows that, while dealing with the same characters, change certain things about the setting. For example with TV, the different Batman, Ironman and Spiderman shows. Or with comics, Marvel's Civil War.) I always thought the yearly entries of the franchise tokus could be equated to that. The only difference being an entirely new cast of characters and themes most of the time.

 

[KouAidou]

Well there are different "continuities" for each Marvel and DC hero, aren't there? (Meaning, different series of comics and TV shows that, while dealing with the same characters, change certain things about the setting. For example with TV, the different Batman, Ironman and Spiderman shows. Or with comics, Marvel's Civil War.) I always thought the yearly entries of the franchise tokus could be equated to that.

I'm pretty sure Civil War is continuity (unless it's been retconned? It was never alt-universe, though) There have been alt-universe comics like Ultimates and All-Star and the Marvel "Mangaverse" (shudder), but to my knowledge, attempts at making ongoing alt-continuities tend not to be sustainable. The reason cited for this is basically that American fans don't want to read about an "alternate" Spidey. They want to read about the "real" Spidey, or it's a waste of their time. (Despite all the problems it would solve if multiple Spideys were just allowed to exist in separate universes!)

As for taking the TV/movie adaptations as equivalent to "this year's model" of KR or Sentai is that in western comics, well, it's an extension of the same problem. Because there's always going to be a "true" version of the character running in the comics, and the fans are incredibly loyal to that version, adaptations simply aren't going to be allowed to stray that far from the character's baseline. Spider-Man will always be Peter Parker, who will always be a geek living in New York, working for J. Jonah Jameson, and hanging out with his Aunt May. He'll wall-climb and web-sling, battle the Green Goblin and Dr. Octopus, and crush on either Mary Jane or Gwen Stacy.

And so there's never going to be a crossover where the Spider-Man of Amazing Spidey meets Ultimates Spidey meets Raimi Spidey meets Spectacular Spidey. The characters and their worlds can be changed and fine-tuned and modernized, but they're just never going to be that distinct.

(At least with A-list heroes. B-list heroes are a different story, but that's a whole other rant.)

Anyway, the point is, there are people who get really really invested in the "real" version being something reliable and permanent and untouchable. They love the shared world/sliding timeline/40+ year continuity aspect of western superheroes. For people like that, I imagine Tokusatsu's yearly reboots could just make it seem hollow and pointless. After all, what's the point of getting invested in this grand epic story if it's just going to... end?

 

[Black Fang]

What I meant was that the comic series don't all pick up where the others left off. It's not a serial. Neither are the TV shows.

 

[ryuuseipro]

Some people do, though. Or they associate "superheroes" specifically with the baggage Marvel and DC has built up over the last twenty years. Which for some people is a good thing and for some people is a bad thing... but is still a very different animal from what you get out of modern Toku.

Someone who associates superheroes for the idiosyncrasies of Western comics -- the sliding timeline, the battle of wills between hero and mastermind, the emphasis on shared universe, the flamboyant power levels -- might in fact look at the more grounded heroes and one-season-one-story setting of (most) Tokusatsu and find it all somewhat alien.

Now I think that if a person likes superheroes for the core "larger-than-life people fight larger-than-life enemies" aspect, they would have no trouble transitioning over from western superheroes to eastern ones... but I can't imagine why such a person would turn up their nose at Power Rangers, either.

Exactly.

Although from years of reading superhero comics (especially the classic ones that people today, of course, will find corny!), I always saw Japanese superhero shows as everything American comic-book superhero adaptations should have been. I mean, Spider-Man fought villains wearing costumes as wild as his! Not to mention some monsters like the Lizard. Then, we have one of Marvel's giant superheroes, Ant-Man, who could be wrestling with giant monsters on a miniature city!

I want live-action superheroes to look just like the comics. Not dark, grim, and muted. I mean, colorful, downright fantastic, and seen in full daylight. (This occasionally means Batman, too!) But let's face it, insulting as it is, people will still call it "Power Rangers!" After the Batman and Wonder Woman TV series, people started taking things a bit too seriously.

If enjoying "Power Ranger" versions of DC and Marvel superheroes is wrong, I don't want to be right.