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under Kamen Rider, Power Rangers, Super Sentai

If there is one thing that tokusatsu and Power Rangers have shown all of us over 30+ years it is the importance of inclusivity and diversity.  As we celebrate Black History Month we wanted to recognize some of the Black toku content creators that help make this fan community as amazing as it is.

Today we wanted to celebrate Dr. Zeo, a YouTuber who focuses on Power Rangers and tokusatsu content on his channel.  You will find video essays on Power Rangers, unboxings of your favorite tokusatsu media (such as Shout! Factory’s DVDs of Super Sentai and Kamen Rider), and episode reviews on Power Rangers.

Click here to check out Dr. Zeo’s YouTube channel.

Below is just one of the many videos available on his channel.  Check it out and enjoy!

TokuNation receives zero click-thru ad revenue on the website so there is no revenue generated from these stories.  We want to use our platform to elevate Black and other PoC toku content creators throughout 2023.  If you’re interested in having yourself highlighted by us, please reach out via tokunationbiz (at) gmail (dot) com or via our Twitter @TokuNation.

› Views: 1313 › Credit: Dr. Zeo on YouTube

under Power Rangers

Fans of the Power Rangers rejoice – arguably the biggest “Why haven’t they made this yet?” role-play toy is finally getting made and joining the product lineup for this year’s 30th anniversary of the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers.

Originally reported by The Illuminerdi and backed up by a never-before-released exert of an interview with the late Jason David Frank, Hasbro will be releasing the Master Morpher – which made its debut in the 25th anniversary episode of the franchise “Dimensions in Danger” during Power Rangers Ninja Steel – sometime this year.  While there are no official details available (the item hasn’t been officially announced), it is expected to be a GameStop exclusive and available this Fall.  In the show, the item allows Tommy Oliver to change between all five of his previous Power Rangers incarnations.

Toy leaker @LightningFigPR on Twitter has teased that the Master Morpher will come with six total coins – Dragon, Tiger, Falcon, Zeo, Turbo, and Dino Thunder.  The Master Morpher should also come with newly recorded dialogue for each morph as seen in the show.

Stay tuned for more details as they release.

under General Tokusatsu News, Kamen Rider

We are excited to premiere a short, independent fan-film from our friend Gem at Prawnhorn Heroes based on Kamen Rider Geats!  For those who don’t follow Kamen Rider Geats, the show is essentially about a group of individuals competing in a “Squid Games” type game titled the “Desire Grand Prix”.  The winner will have their wish granted.  The losers either have their memories erased or, if they fall in battle during the DGP, they are “eliminated”.  Going in to any more detail than that risks potential spoilers.

Here is the official description of “The Lost Na-Go” along with film credits.

The Lost Na-Go is an independent tokusatsu short fan film about a guy named Ben that has been chosen to enter the Desire Grand Prix. Having the desire to change his future, he sets on the journey to find his buckle to continue participating in the Grand Prix.

After being inspired by projects like Power Rangers Unworthy, Jammingers, & Bloodline of the Grid to name a few, I always wondered what an American indie Kamen Rider project would look like. With that, The Lost Na-Go amongst other unnamed projects were born. While I heavily take influence from the shows proper, I also hope to create original stories that feel more like adaptations. My goal is to keep bringing more stories inspired by my favorite tokusatsu shows for fans who love them just as much as I do. Why not start with some Kamen Rider?

Music by SeventhVampire
VFX by Daniel – HurricaneGold
Art by Ghially
Additional Voiceover Work by Hedge – SpaceKitaaRiSE
Starring as Ben, Written & Directed by Gem of Prawnhorn Heroes 

Check out short film below!

under Power Rangers

For fans of the Power Rangers Lightning Collection, the final piece (at least to the main core 5) of the Power Rangers S.P.D. team is almost here!  Thanks to @shishinigami32 we have our first in-hand images of the upcoming SPD Yellow Ranger.  Of note, this specific item looks to have come with extra accessories.  We assume that is, unfortunately, another quality-control issue as the Power Rangers Lightning Collection continues to be absolutely plagued by them in all recent releases.

We do not have a release date for this figure because as of this posting, Hasbro has yet to announce the item for release despite official images being leaked and now the item releasing outside the United States.

under Kamen Rider

The Showa era continues to thrive on Blu-Ray!  Tonight, Discotek Media finally confirmed their upcoming Blu-Ray release of Kamen Rider Black RX in full English subtitled glory.  The details of the release are as follows:

  • 47 Episodes in HD
  • New Interviews with Tetsuo Kurata and suit actor Jiro Okamoto
  • Release later 2023

This marks the first time anything from Kamen Rider Black RX will be available in the US since the days of Saban’s Masked Rider, which was an English adaptation of the show filled with Ferbus, Power Rangers puns, and more.

under General Tokusatsu News

Hasbro has announced that they will be eliminating 1,000 jobs from their global workforce – or 15% of their entire workforce – within the coming weeks to combat lower-than-expected fiscal results for 2022.  This is all part of a new plan from new CEO Chris Cocks titled “Blueprint 2.0”, which sees the company as a whole transition away from former CEO Brian Goldner‘s vision of Hasbro becoming an entertainment company and more in to Hasbro becoming a gaming company.

The gaming division of Hasbro – specifically Wizards of the Coast – was the only segment of business to see positive revenues in 2022.  That is before the debacle with the changes to their Open Gaming License (OGL) which saw tens of thousands of fans cancel their paid online accounts with Dungeons and Dragons in protest.

Hasbro is also looking to sell off their recently acquired entertainment division, eOne, but maintain control of the intellectual properties that they can exploit in other segments of business (ie: toys, games, cards, etc.).  The company already sold off the music portion of eOne which, coupled with the lack of meaningful IP’s may make selling the rest of eOne harder than expected.

Our thoughts and positive energies are with those effected negatively by these upcoming layoffs.

› Views: 2225 › Credit: Hasbro

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under Power Rangers, Super Sentai

For a very long time now, Power Rangers fans have watched as third party companies in other popular brands (like Transformers) create unlicensed representations of their favorite characters from television, comics, and video games.  It would appear that Power Rangers and Super Sentai fans are finally getting some love.

Chinese company Lucky Cat has revealed the full details on their third release in the Micro Cosmos line and it is none other than “Beast Lord“, or a representation of DaiZyuJin/Dino Megazord.  These are 2″ large figures that fold in to cubes, then come together to form the mighty Beast Lord.

You can pre-order this item from our site sponsor Tokullectibles by clicking here.

Lucky Cat has teased future releases as well but they do not look to include a Dragon Caesar/Dragonzord at this time.