We have sadly been informed of the death of tokusatsu actor Masayuki Izumi, who passed on July 28 at the age of 35.
Masayuki Izumi is best know for the role of Yuji Kiba, the Horse Orphonoch from Kamen Rider 555.
Our thoughts are with his family and friends in these difficult times.
It’s time for TokuNation to take a trip back to the 90’s again for this one. We’re revisiting the world of the Kamen Rider 20th Anniversary project Kamen Rider ZO with a new figure gallery! Today’s subject is a companion piece to our ZO gallery from January, the Neo Organism given physical form, S.H. Figuarts Doras!
Doras is cyborg like creature created by the Neo Organism in the film to hunt for the son of it’s creator. Of course like an respectable villain, along the way Doras gets entangled with Kamen Rider ZO. Doras the toy is one of the more magnificent Figuarts on the market. In much the same way we heaped praise on the sculpt of Kamen Rider Shin, Doras is a marvel of detailing and sculpt. An absolutely glorious figure to look at, S.H. Figuarts Doras captures the pure evil of his namesake and reminds us of a time when villain designs weren’t just good, they were amazing. Whether you remember the character fondly from the Kamen Rider ZO film or his later appearance in Decade/W Movie Wars 2010 this figure will not disappoint you.
A selection of images are attached to this post but the full gallery containing over 50 images can be found by clicking “discuss on the TokuNation forums at the bottom of this post. S.H. Figuarts Doras is an incredible companion piece to Kamen Rider ZO and for now at least they look like the only 2 figures we’ll be getting from that film. But you can be certain that when or if more figuarts from ZO are produced, we’ll cover them!
In a rather surprise announcement, Premium Bandai just launched a new web page with a teaser featuring Gokai Red from Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger.
Based on available translations from their tweets this appears to be a “Lost Ranger Key Legend” set. What exactly that means is unclear currently. But it may imply that the various extra heroes and minor one-off rangers of the franchise, who didn’t quite make the cut in this toyline the first time, could be getting the Premium key treatment? Or maybe it’s an artisan rendition of the Mobirates itself? It’s any number of possibilities!
For now that’s all we have to go on but we’ll keep you up to date as more news becomes available. Specifically on August 7th when the reveal of more information on this set will occur!
This is definitely an interesting one. While TokuNation can’t always cover the numerous Local Heroes (gotchi heroes) of Japan, we do on occasion try to bring you as much information on the larger projects as possible. Well this is quite possibly the largest Local Hero project since the ambitious Fire Leon franchise! Announced today is the Nihon Local Hero Daikessen film (Japan Local Hero Great Battle) which was recently crowdfunded into production!
Unlike the annual Super Hero Taisen films produced by Toei, this film seeks to be unify the various Local Heroes of Japan with a theme of friendship. Admittedly there are so many local Japanse heroes I doubt we’d be able to run down the whole list of those appearing in the movie, but it looks like many major and popular regional favorites such as the cast of Yatsurugi, Ibaraiga, Cosmo Flasher, & MANY more will appear!
Nihon Local Hero Daikessen is set for release on November 14th!
In just 1 week this years pairing of summer films, Shuriken Sentai Ninninger The Movie: The Dinosaur Lord’s Splendid Ninja Scroll & Kamen Rider Drive Surprise Future, will be released in Japanese theaters. As such the related toys for each film are set to be released soon, and new official images have given us the best look yet at them.
For Ninninger we have DX Otomonin EX Dinomaru. This remold of Paonmaru is of course the movie exclusive mecha for this year in the same vein as Safari Ga Oh, Tobaspino, FS0O Frog, and a host of other toys. This figure will be released on August 8th to coincide with the film and retails for 4104 yen.
For Kamen Rider Drive we have a bit of a surprise! Not only will this years movie henshin device set include those used by Drive in the film, the DX Shift Next/Special Car & Tridoron Key, but a third item is also in the mix. And it’s the DX Newton Eyecon from Kamen Rider Ghost! This set will be released a bit later this month, August 29th, for 2160 yen.
Is it that time of the year already? Well, sort of kind of! As per tradition, Power Morphicon tickets are going on sale a full year in advance of the show. This allows you to get the registration done and over with and begin saving for all the goodies from the merchandise floor as well as all those delicious autographs from the, what can only be assumed, throngs and throngs of Power Rangers, Super Sentai, and other tokusatsu properties headed to the next Power Morphicon convention.
Power Morphicon 2016 will be taking place on August 12th thru August 14th 2016 at the Pasadena Convention Center in Pasadena, California. As attendees of last year’s show, I can personally tell you that if you’re a fan of Power Rangers, Super Sentai, or anything tokusatsu related – just imagine a large dealer room full of nothing but tokusatsu toys, actors that are happy to see you and chat with you, voice actors yelling at you in their character’s voice as you walk by, and more friends than you ever thought you could have. You do NOT want to miss this year’s show – especially now that there will be a second hall open to show off a number of never before seen artwork, pictures, and so much more that will only be shown once!
Registration goes live at 9am PST/10am MDT/11am CST/12pm EST. How do you register? We’re happy to help you with that. CLICK THIS LINK TO GO STRAIGHT TO EVENT REGISTRATION. That’s your ticket to get your ticket! For those going for the Platinum registration – good luck!
A new full-length trailer for Toei’s upcoming reunion special DekaRanger: 10 Years After is now online!
This gives us an excellent look at the returning team along with a few revived designs-
DekaRanger: 10 Years After will be released on DVD & Blu-Ray October 7, 2015! Be sure to join in our ongoing Discussion Thread for this exciting new adventure!
If there’s one constant in the world it would have to be that the majority of everyone everywhere loves things that are shiny. We here at TokuNation.com are no different – we LOVE everything that shimmers and shines! And if you were at this year’s San Diego Comic Con 2015 then you had a chance to pick up the crystal clear Mighty Morphin Blue Ranger action vinyl figure from The Loyal Subjects!
And don’t worry – if you didn’t have a friend to grab you one there’s still time! The Mighty Morphin Blue Ranger crystal edition action vinyl figure is still available to purchase online at the Loyal Subject’s Online Store for the affordable price of $15.99.
Check out over 25 images of this awesome figure by clicking here and then head on out and order yours today! Go Go Power Rangers!
The TV-Asahi official listings for Kamen Rider Ghost has finally revealed the production team behind this exciting new series-
*Ghosts’ director is Satoshi Morota whose resume includes Timeranger, Gaoranger and Boukenger.
*The main writer for this series is one Takuro Fukuda, a veteran of several J-Drama projects and some episodes of Ultraman Max.
*The head producer for Kamen Rider Ghost is Kazuhiro Takahashi, previously an assistant director on Kamen Rider Fourze.
A mix of new talent and returning experts should make this a very entertaining show!
Kamen Rider Ghost officially premieres October 4 2015. Be sure to join in our Ongoing Rumor Thread to share your thoughts and fears about this new hero!
Surfin’ Washoi!
We’re back with another review of a recent addition to Shuriken Sentai Ninninger’s bizarre toyline! This time we’re taking a look at the ally of the seas, DX Otomonin Surfermaru!
DX Surfermaru is the last of the regular “upgrade” Otomonin aside from the Movie exclusive Dinomaru & the massive new mecha Lion Ha Oh. And while each toy in this line has been unique in it’s own right, Surfermaru is kind of bizarre. A robot that can ride a wheeled surf board or transform into a submarine form with a shark like face. It’s interesting to say the least. Possible combinations to be made with this toy are Shurikenjin Surfer & Bison King Surfer. It should also be noted that so far, Surfermaru is the only extra otomonin documented to have intentional functionality with Bison King.
We’ve got 60 images of DX Surfermaru in the full gallery (with review) which can be viewed by clicking the link at the bottom of this article. Next time for Ninninger we take a look at DX Lion Ha Oh!