Metal Hero Series: Should it Return?

[Beast King]

The sad thing is as of now reviving the Metal heroes would be pointless, Kamen rider has already taken on too many of its patterns and styles, In order for this to work KR would have to return to its normal self, I.E A normal grasshopper themed hero with a couple of modes, It seems pretty obvious that The whole point of the metal heroes was Advanced technology and metal like suits, so as long as KR has got that covered Toei won't revive the MH franchise.


But I'm still praying for an anniversary revival! :buttrock:

 

[Black Fang]

It's only the Riders who are especially adorned with metallic parts, like G3 and Birth, that can be argued as adopting the Metal Hero style. All Toei would have to do is remove such Riders from their future shows and use those designs for new Metal Heroes (and remove the insect characteristics should there be any).

 

[Aoi Kurenai]

You know, after seeing the newest images of Kamen Rider Birth and that equipment he has, I really get the feeling that Toei wants to make a new Metal Hero show but is afraid to because it doesn't have as much market value as Kamen Rider does. It's a shame too, Metal Hero always had interesting designs that made sense for its franchise while Kamen Rider, which was still mostly tech-based, stuck to a more fantastic style of tech most of the time.

 

[KingRanger]

I had heard this, but thought it was simply a rumor. How did it go from Metal Hero to Kamen Rider?

The success of Agito.

 

[Shougo B'Stard]

Has there ever been proof that Ryuki was going to be a metal hero?

 

[Scissors]

I think Metal Heroes could be reborn, but not in in the childrens category. I am thinking of a more Robocop-esque show like Jiban and Janperson, with much more emphasis on the detective-theme.
I can easily imagine a 12-episode series about a robotic crime fighter. The Japanese people love crime shows. During my stay in Japan, there was barely a TV-channel that didn't show at least one.
Add some futuristic flavor to that, and you have a modern Metal Hero show.

 

[Forever Knight]

I had heard this, but thought it was simply a rumor. How did it go from Metal Hero to Kamen Rider?

The Kamen Rider name is more marketable and already re-established it's fanbase with Kuuga & Agito.

 

[Shougo B'Stard]

I always assumed that they gave Yasuko Kobayashi that one episode of Agito to test her out with a Rider, since she had never seen a Kamen Rider before. That Agito episode was around the time they were probably developing the next Rider series, and Agito had been enough of a success by that point where they were most likely going with another Rider, and not something that would potentially flop like a metal hero, so...

 

[Fantasy Leader]

The only seasons that I found to describe the Metal Heroes were these:

Gavan, Sharivan, Shaider, Juspion, Spielban, Metalder, and B-Fighter.

Basically, the "space sheriff" style shows. Even though Metalder was very different, it still shared many similar elements to the other shows I mentioned.

Then there's Jiraiya which is considered the "deviation of Metal Heroes."

The remaining seasons of the franchise imo share more in common with the Heisei Riders:

Jiban, Winspector, Solbrain, Exceedraft, Janperson, and Blue SWAT.

These shows took on a more drama style approach and used "realistic" hi-tech technology. Plus, there was the whole police, detective, and military aspect of these shows. Many of these elements can be seen in the Heisei Riders. Plus, Tomica Heroes has picked up on the rescue motif that the Rescue Police Trilogy started.

If you ask me, Ryuki's Mirror World concept does kind of remind me of those dimensional Space sheriff battles.

Hibiki is based on Ishinomori's planned Ongeki Hibiki.

Kamen Rider Kabuto does remind me a bit of B-Fighter.

Den-O, Kiva, Double and OOO feel like completely original things to me.

I personally would love to see those "space sheriff" style Metal Heroes return. Especially since I'm a person who doesn't think Toei's toku (with the exception of the last three Sentai) has gone downhill. :loltongue: And I know others would disagree with me, but I always felt like Metal heroes was the most incoherent franchise out of them (and I mean this when the 90s hit).

 

[DSP]

I've never seen any metal heroes, outside of their american adaptations. But you know what I'd like if toei treated metal heroes as a sorta special brand, releasing films every so often, since it's such a risky show to market alongside KR, it'll give it more of an edge being a big budget movie.