Gokaiger as their own team?

[monkeyjb1988]

One of the things I enjoyed about Kamen Rider Decade, besides the great characters, awesome fights with past Kamen Riders, and the occasional tip of the hat to the US adaptations (namely Black RX and Ryuki paired together), was that Decade was his own Rider. He was his own character/Rider despite being an anniversary Rider that can turn into previous Riders while teaming up with them; aka a gimmick. Whatever weaknesses Decade wound up having, it can at least count making a Rider like Decade stand on his own.

With a Sentai series on the horizon that is basically about a team of five Decades, with at least one more coming later, what this discussion is obviously going to be about is, do you think the Gokaiger will do what Decade did and stand as their own team?

I think they'll manage. Toei seems to be improving what they did for Decade, so they may work a little harder to make the team special. They're going for a pirate theme for this team, so that's gotta be a good step. Plus, five personalities vs. Decade's one (only counting Decade, since Diend never transformed into past Riders, though he was good too) gotta equal to something different.

I admit, I could be wrong and Gokai will fall on its face and just be glorified cosplayers. No way to know until the premiere. However, I'm optimistic about the show and its star team. What do you guys think about the team?

 

[Kivat]

I hope so, this another thing I've been thinking about. It's one of the things that scares me...the characters can be good, but have no story time do to other seasons taking over. That would leave me dissapointed and wishing they had the series to themselves.

If the characters are bad, then obviously...that's even worse.

 

[Shougo B'Stard]

From what little we know of the characters, it seems to me like they're making the five Goukaiger in-your-face, larger-than-life. (They're arrogant sounding pirates from space, and the head one is named Captain Marvelous, for cryin' out loud.) I think having boisterous characters is their attempt to compensate for the times where a past hero might hog the spotlight -- a way to make the team not go unnoticed.

That is, if past characters even return. The official info at this point indicates the Goukaiger will just be dressing up as old heroes, there's not been confirmation of the rumors about cameos from old characters. From the info known, the show could be handled no differently than a usual Sentai -- instead of upgrades like Legend Magiranger or SWAT, they get the ability of a past Sentai hero. They could just be told about the old teams. Would Aura Power get them out of a jam? Here's the story of Maskman, now try to obtain Aura Power like they did. (That would really suck, IMO. I'd love for a Cameopalooza, but never underestimate Toei's skill at dropping the ball.)

 

[Kivat]

Here's the story of Maskman, now try to obtain Aura Power like they did. (That would really suck, IMO. I'd love for a Cameopalooza, but never underestimate Toei's skill at dropping the ball.)

Oh my gosh. :disappoin That wouldn't be pretty.

 

[NeonZ]

That is, if past characters even return. The official info at this point indicates the Goukaiger will just be dressing up as old heroes, there's not been confirmation of the rumors about cameos from old characters.

Didn't one of the earliest scans mention 200 warriors from past series as one of Gokaiger's features? Or did that turn out to be a mistranslation?

 

[Shougo B'Stard]

Didn't one of the earliest scans mention 200 warriors from past series as one of Gokaiger's features? Or did that turn out to be a mistranslation?

No, it said that. It was kind of vague though. Like "200 heroes gathered" or "200 warriors will be seen," I forget which. That could mean just a random letdown of a gathering like Turboranger's first episode, or even that by Goukaiger transforming into some of the old heroes, that that technically means they'd be "seen."

 

[Medivh]

While being over-the-top would certainly ensure that they don't get overshadowed by any previous team-members or teams, I'm afraid I see little of what that will do for character development for them. I suppose it could work if indeed no other teams showed up, and instead they were using the concept someone else once theorized for a possibility for Decade, of them becoming those teams in their places and having to fight the old villains as if they were the old teams.

That'd probably lead to a bit of identity crisis, and I would expect/hope at least the hothead member to question why are they only becoming other heroes? Don't they get a unique story of their own? Why are they stuck rehashing the past when, I'm guessing, their entire goal is to be a team of Diends and steal treasure and go on adventure like proper stereotypical pirates do?

An entire team of Kaitous.....I think that might get a bit wearing after the first "I stole this!" "HA! Now I stole it from YOU!" "no, now I stole it from YOU!" "*rinse and repeat six or seven times for comedic effect*" bit.

 

[KingRanger]

One of the things I enjoyed about Kamen Rider Decade, besides the great characters, awesome fights with past Kamen Riders, and the occasional tip of the hat to the US adaptations (namely Black RX and Ryuki paired together), was that Decade was his own Rider. He was his own character/Rider despite being an anniversary Rider that can turn into previous Riders while teaming up with them; aka a gimmick. Whatever weaknesses Decade wound up having, it can at least count making a Rider like Decade stand on his own.

With a Sentai series on the horizon that is basically about a team of five Decades, with at least one more coming later, what this discussion is obviously going to be about is, do you think the Gokaiger will do what Decade did and stand as their own team?

I think they'll manage. Toei seems to be improving what they did for Decade, so they may work a little harder to make the team special. They're going for a pirate theme for this team, so that's gotta be a good step. Plus, five personalities vs. Decade's one (only counting Decade, since Diend never transformed into past Riders, though he was good too) gotta equal to something different.

I admit, I could be wrong and Gokai will fall on its face and just be glorified cosplayers. No way to know until the premiere. However, I'm optimistic about the show and its star team. What do you guys think about the team?

DCD was just awful. I hope toei doesn't do Goukaiger anything like DCD.

 

[NeonZ]

No, it said that. It was kind of vague though. Like "200 heroes gathered" or "200 warriors will be seen," I forget which. That could mean just a random letdown of a gathering like Turboranger's first episode, or even that by Goukaiger transforming into some of the old heroes, that that technically means they'd be "seen."

The rumored backstory we've gotten for Gokaiger, that apparently got the name Captain Marvelous right, talked about every previous team sacrificing their powers in an initial battle... which would be a convenient excuse to keep everyone mostly out of the series, even if their existence is acknowledged once in a while through the show.

I'm not sure they'll take that route though. Even Decade didn't take that route, and when they made the All Riders movie, strongly centered on nostalgic appeal, they tried to minimize the whole AU aspect that Decade introduced, only using it for villains and a main cast member, while everyone else was suit only or had the actual original actor around for a cameo. Gokaiger actually used pictures from old Sentais for its first promo clip, so I'll be surprised if they aren't going for a nostalgia angle here.

 

[Pixelphile]

Though that initial promo also talked about their powers being "passed on" to the Goukaigers.

Now I'm worried. :\

I would totally be cool with something like Decade except with a less ambigous set of endings. The one thing I kept saying to myself watching that was "man, I wish they'd done this for sentai since I actually know sentai," so thanks Toei for possibly fulfilling a lifelong dream.

Anyway, to answer the OP's question:
In terms of abilities: By the standalone arsenal that they have (they have their own guns, swords, and basic giant robo, one of whose components is a giant galleon), it's a given that the Goukaigers will be able to hold their own and fight a standalone team a la Decade (who has basic fighting skills plus Slash and Blast) rather than something useless without its form changes like, say, Den-O Plat Form. No word on whether they have a banned-from-tournaments Dimension Kick equivalent, but hey.

From a character/theme perspective, Toei's stated that they're going for the pirates thing specifically because it's proven to be popular with its primary target audience (young boys). So I reckon they'd want to play that up as much as possible rather than robbing them of their identities.