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under Power Rangers

After the shocking announcement yesterday that Saban Brands was parting with long-time manufacturing partner Bandai America many fans were left speculating what would happen to the future of the Power Rangers toy license.

Well, wonder no more!

The toy license for Power Rangers has been given to HASBRO– a giant in the toy industry best known for hit series like Transformers or My Little Pony.

This new agreement, to start in 2019, is described by Hasbro’s CEO Brian Goldner (a long-time friend of Power Rangers mogul Haim Saban) as a “reinvention of the Power Rangers brand.” Furthermore, Goldner states that Hasbro will be “mindful of the franchises’ history and legacy material” when considering releases.

More details about this exciting new partnership are likely to be revealed during this weekends’ New York Toy Fair 2018– so stay tuned to TokuNation as we keep you up to date on this remarkable new moment in Power Rangers history!

Update – full press release after the break!

[Read more…]

under Super Sentai, TokuNation, TokuNation Site Updates, TokuNation Spotlights

“Patrize!”

As Kaitou Sentai Lupinranger VS Keisatsu Sentai Patranger is about to enter it’s second week, much of the Q1 merchandise for this unique series has hit retail. Beginning our coverage of the merch, we’re kicking things off with 3 of the first releases  for the series in the Sentai Hero Collection line of vinyls. Patren 1, Patren 2, & Patren 3!

Following in the footsteps of a long tradition, these new Patranger entries in the Hero Collection series provide cost effective options for you to own your favorite characters. In many cases these vinyls offer 1 of few, if not the only option for you to collect a particular hero. That was what drove me to pick them up myself. The Patranger designs are very solid, and represented well in this line. Vinyls may not do much, but as static display pieces they do just the trick. Which is exactly why I’ll also be picking up Patren Ugo in a few weeks.

We’ve attached the full 40 image gallery to this post, but you can also check out the full review after the jump. Just click “Discuss on the TokuNation Forums” at the bottom of this post. Our next gallery for this special VS series will be focused on the Hero Collection vinyls of the 3 Lupinrangers!

under Kamen Rider

Joining the soon to be released Shocker Combatman, as well as the upcoming Combatman (Black), is yet a third variety of the popular grunts from the original Kamen Rider TV series. This go around we have official images and info regarding the S.H. Figuarts Gel Shocker Combatman! You may recall this figure was revealed just about a month ago.

Succeeding the original Shocker Gel Shocker was formed by Great Leader, and Geldamn’s General Black. The new Gel Shocker Combatmen this pair created would totally supersede the original type for some time. The Gel Shocker Combatman figuarts utilizes the new body engineered for the Renewal Shocker Combatman and includes both the spiked staff & sword these soldiers were known to use.

The Gel Schocker Combatman will be release in June 2018 as a Tamashii Web Exlcusive for 5400 yen. Be sure to get in touch with your preferred middleman or service in order to secure an order in the near future.

under Kamen Rider

“Eeeeee!”

The soon to be released Shocker Combatman renewal mold is about to get a repaint! Or maybe a de-paint? Oh who knows. In either case you’ll soon be able to troop build your own Shocker army with a little bit more variety thanks to S.H. Figuarts Shocker Combatman (Black)!

If you’re unfamiliar with this variant of Combatman, it’s of a variety that did not feature the traditional “Shocker ribs” on the costume & has not appeared nearly as frequently throughout the franchise as that more iconic design. This less common grunt could add little bit of variety to your collection/display though, especially since this release includes 28 Shocker Kaijin insignia’s with which to identify your Combatmen. This release also includes the Shocker Baton/Staff that the standard Combatman does not.

S.H. Figuarts Shocker Combatman (Black) will be released in July 2018 for 5400 yen as a Tamashii Web Exclusive. Be sure to get in touch with your preferred middleman or service in order to secure an order in the near future.

under Power Rangers

We learned two days ago through sources at this year’s New York Toy Fair that the Power Rangers toy license was going to be up for grabs and would be leaving Bandai America after 25 years. We cannot 100% confirm this as fact but we have from multiple sources that the Power Rangers license is now part of Hasbro, or at the very least, will be soon.

Just a few minutes ago, Saban Brands announced that Bandai America will no longer be part of the Power Rangers franchise after April of 2019. Because of that announcement we’ve chosen to move forward with posting these rumors.

We will have more information on this as we move forward.

under Power Rangers

Strap in folks, this one is big.

It was announced in a short press release that Bandai America is no longer going to be the partner for Saban Brands for the Power Rangers toy franchise. The press release is below.

After a successful 25-year partnership building the iconic action franchise, Power Rangers, Saban Brands and Bandai have mutually agreed not to renew their global Power Rangers master toy license agreement, effective April 2019. Bandai will continue to support Power Rangers, including the 2018 commemoration of the Power Rangers 25th anniversary and the current season, Super Ninja Steel. In addition, Bandai, through its partnership with Toei Company Ltd., will continue to exploit toy rights for the Super Sentai series, which has enjoyed over 40 years of success, in Japan and select other Asian territories.

We have more details and will announce them shortly.

under Kamen Rider

Ichigo Arms, Shushutto Spark!

Afrer months of teasing, Bandai is finally gearing up this fresh take on Kamen Rider Gaim’s Ichigo Arms into the S.I.C line, with the pre-order link for this exciting piece has now launched.

Sporting a ninja-esque look, pre-orders for S.I.C Kamen Rider Gaim Ichigo Arms will begin February 16 with a final shipping date of July 2018. This figure can be yours for a total of 9,180 yen before middleman fees and shipping for overseas collectors. 

under Godzilla

2016’s Shin Godzilla brought the King of Monsters back in glorious fashion, and now Bandai Tamashii Nations have revealed a brand new variant of the film’s Godzilla design in figure form! S.H. MonsterArts Shin Godzilla 4th Form Freeze Ver. is based upon the monster’s “defeat” at the end of the movie, where Godzilla is successfully frozen by Japan’s plan to inject gallons of coagulant into its mouth.

Though a primarily a repaint of the original Shin Godzilla, Freeze Ver features a brand new, highly detailed tail piece including the humanoid Godzilla creatures emerging from it in the film’s final scenes. The figure is Tamashii web exclusive release and includes no additional accessories, retailing for 14,040 yen and releasing in July 2018.

Check out the full selection of images and discuss the figure after the jump!

under General Tokusatsu News

A brand-new trailer for the upcoming Legendary Pictures film Pacific Rim: Uprising has been posted online!

This new version is a special IMAX trailer demonstrating the greatest bits of Kaiju and Jaeger action for giant-screen entertainment-

Pacific Rim: Uprising hits theaters on March 23 2018! Stay tuned to TokuNation as we keep you up to date on this Legendary project.

under Power Rangers

Interesting bit of news late tonight – a new logo for Power Rangers has been shared on the Saban Brands Vimeo page. The video shows the logo being used now for “Power Rangers” being transformed in to this new logo that is both similar to the movie logo but different.

As we were typing this story the video has been taken down. However, we do have a copy of the video and of course have copied the screen shot of the logo. Check it out!