Don't Complain About a Show Before You've Seen It. by John Garcia

I woke up Saturday morning, July 7, and logged onto Facebook as I wait for my morning coffee to brew.  I was prepared to see a lot of angry, screaming, disappointed statuses and rants about how “This year, Comic Con sucks at registration even more.”  I was surprised.  There was a ridiculous amount of calm in the SDCC side of things.  In a moment of self-aggrandizement, I thought to myself, “Wow, did people REALLY not worry and are calm and rational for a change?” Well....

                  That was the first surprise of the day.  The second was this.

                  Yup, even before Super Megaforce premieres, there’s a release of news about the NEXT series, and it’s the Kyoryuger adaptation instead of the Go-Busters one, which would have been next in line. Aside from the earlier announcements that there’s an agreement that Saban will not skip a year, I thought a Kryoryuger localization, Power Rangers: Dino Charge is a really smart move, for a couple of reasons, some more reasonable than others. I’m sure all were done for the for the good of the franchise, whether it’s from a fan’s point of view, or a business point of view (which by extension is good for the fans  for letting the franchise keep on going).

                  The first one, is the relative financial boon and success of Kyoryuger versus the relative lack of success of Gobusters.  Kyoryuger's apparently a massive success, and from the various accounts of the numbers, it makes it valuable and easier to sell compared to how poorly Gobusters fared (even though personally, I thought it was amazing and ahead of its time).  It’s much easier to sell this to international buyers, and it’s a great way to show the strength of a brand. 

                  The next reason is nostalgia.  Super Megaforce, on both the show and toy angles, seems to also be tapping into the demographic of older Power Ranger fans.  Super Megaforce is going to hit the fans with a big dollop of nostalgia (even if there weren’t any past actors coing back, but there are!), and the brand will have a lot of momentum.  How else to ride that momentum after Super Megaforce, but to go back to a dinosaur theme again?  Thankfully, Kyoryuger is there. If they are going to localize the Sentais in order, with Go-Busters localization in between Super Megaforce and Dino Charge,  they would not have this strength of the brand’s momentum to ride.                

                  The last main reason is that well, we don’t know.  There was that big question mark when Megaforce was first announced and we thought the anniversary season was gonna be the Goseiger localization.  After that, we found out about the use of the Gokaisilver suit, but not the others, so there’s still a good possibility that we’ll see the Go-Busters in some form or another in the Power Rangers franchise. 

                  There are so many possible ways to work in the Go-Busters.  It could simply just switch the adaptation order with Kyoryuger and come after Dino Charge.  It could be like the Alien Rangers or the Hurricanger/Goraiger (since this year, it’s technically two sets of Rangers with the Hurricangers/ Wind Academy Rangers taking the lead role) treatment, where they appear as another set of rangers, which would fit the Spy/Black-Ops theme of that team.  They can be an alternate group of rangers, perhaps with a different source of powers like human technology as opposed to the alien “prisms.”  They can be the second Black-Ops team that work on the side while the main Dino Charge team is the main team, like the way “The Team” functions in relation to the Justice League in the Young Justice series. 

                   The future holds so many possibilities.  Why be so angry and complain about it now, when it doesn’t do anyone any good?  Super Megaforce has not even premiered yet!  I was so perplexed when the Power Rangers: Dino Charge announcement was made because it was those same people, the same people who the night before were saying ridiculous things like “They’re ruining Gokaiger,” and “I threw up in my mouth a little” about the Super Megaforce preview were saying things like “They messed up again, thanks for skipping Go-Busters, Saban!” and “Where are my Go-Busters?!” 

                  Those comments just floored me.  It does not make sense.  These are the same people who are mad at a show that has not aired yet, for “ruining” a show they watch.  How does it “ruin” something they already watched?  Watching Power Rangers doesn’t make one forget about the Sentai they watched.  While I agree that Sentai has some really good stuff, watching Power Rangers doesn’t “ruin” that experience for me.  If anything, doesn’t watching what one perceives as an “inferior” product (assuming this “inferior” show is Power Rangers), by comparison, make one appreciate the Sentai more? 

                    I shake my head, and ponder about this interesting paradox of THIS TYPE of Sentai and Power Ranger fan.  I’m not saying it’s all of Sentai or Power Rangers fans, but these people seem prevalent enough.   Ultimately, we still don’t know or have seen anything, and it’s a lot of stress and anger for nothing.