I'll warn you ahead of time, the gashapons are kind of flimsy and given to falling over. I do love my set (bought while I was in Japan), but they're not as good as, say, my Gundam ones.
If you can (and it may take some doing), see if you can get "bus" gashapon set - it's totally adorable. I love my DekaGreen bus.
Finding it was the second highlight of my trip, right after going to Toei's sentai/KR museum and getting to play on a replica of Doggy's control panel in SPD.
They don't have a whole fuckton of props? I honestly think that's it, because Toei loves to squeeze as much money out of anything as they can - case in point, said museum was also the Toei theme park, which doubles as a set for all of their cheap historical movies.
And Disney did offer a "meet and greet" with suited Rangers at one of the parks, but it cost out the ass.
This is true- and I bet there aren't even many props left to display. Disney apparently hates PR, so what props they DO have have a tendency to get destroyed or forgotten about and rot, so I hear. Greg Aronowitz saved about 50 old PR monster suits from destruction to use them in S.P.D. (for example, a Tenga warrior from MMPR season 3 is a regular customer at Piggy's restaurant), because otherwise they would've just been thrown away.
The one thing about PR in the US is that there's no sense of history as there is in Japan - there is, admittedly, a great advantage to toku being an enshrined genre which is part of the oeuvre of someone like Ishinomori. It has a cultural currency that extends outside of its camp status in America.
You can bet Disney wouldn't let any of Walt's or Roy's sketches rot, not when there's a buck to be made.
Augh, also true. PR's not part of an enshrined genre by any means- when I start talking about PR, most people are all "... wow, that show's still on?". Disney seems to value it less and less with every passing season- RPM, the Go-On adaptation, is now only going to be shown on ABC affiliates, which have a tendency to pre-empt the hell out of it. PR fans are predicting doom because that's going to kill the ratings. :/ Then they piss and moan when people download their stuff... They also refuse to release full past seasons on DVD when they are sitting on a fucking goldmine. Overseas, MMPR-Turbo and NS-Operation Overdrive have all had season sets released, and U.S. fans have taken to importing them because we know they'll never have anything like that here.
The PR license purchase was an Eisner decision wasn't it? If so, that explains why it's being gradually filtered out - Eisner was behind the broad brand expansion, and it wouldn't surprise me if they've been cutting off some of the less profitable of those arms. PR only dominates in the area of toy sales anymore, and Bandai America likely sees a lot more of the cash there than Disney.
And really, it's hard for anything to become a smash hit anymore. Age of Narrowcasting, the mass of media(s) explosion, and all that jazz.
I'm pretty sure it was, yeah. Disney XD, their new network geared toward young boys, isn't showing PR, so I guess it's just not all that popular any more. Of course, the fact that it's on a premium cable channel DOES NOT HELP MATTERS. *huff, puff*
And honestly, as much as I love PR, I'm frankly surprised it's lasted this long- NOBODY expected it to become big, like, at all, let alone last for 17 seasons.
Yeah, and no doubt the changing environment pretty much choked it. Since the the Saturday Morning Block went out, it's all about branded cable channels which shows built around managed star "personalities," a model in which PR really doesn't fit. With so much competition all concentrated around it, PR can't really get a good foothold. PR is and always has been a show of archetypes and tropes, not a star vehicle, especially not so with the casts changing every year
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Aha, that's OK- I really enjoy reading it, even though I don't always have anything to add. XD
So "Hannah Montana" the person is an easy sell for Disney, a person they can "target" to a demographic. But a "Red Ranger" who changes every season and whose main appeal is to the general but unspecificed group of 'young boys' is much harder in that kind of environment.This is a very good point. Just when you're getting used to one cast, the next season comes out- the older fans don't particularly care about that kind of change, and even drink up finding out about cast changes and whatnot, but I can see how it would be jarring to the target demographic and make it a hard sell in the world of Hannah Montanas, Jonas Brothers and High School Musicals. They may only stick around for a few years til the stars' youth fades, but Disney gets more than their moneys' worth with them
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Just when you're getting used to one cast, the next season comes out- the older fans don't particularly care about that kind of change, and even drink up finding out about cast changes and whatnot, but I can see how it would be jarring to the target demographic and make it a hard sell in the world of Hannah Montanas, Jonas Brothers and High School Musicals. They may only stick around for a few years til the stars' youth fades, but Disney gets more than their moneys' worth with them.
And in part, Saban/Disney were forced to adopt this approach due to the general Japanese style of media production, which focuses a lot more on the short, terminal story than the long-form narrative. Even in long-running works like Ah! My Goddess, there is the assumption the manga will eventually end. Continuous works published more line with the American model of a "canon" like Golgo 13 are the exception, not the rule
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It'd be like trying to adapt Kamen Rider Hibiki by making the heroes members of a failed rock band. That's just ridiculous and totally missing the bloody fucking point.
Not that this ever stopped anyone before!
(Sorry, uhm, arionhunter linked to this convo and I couldn't resist a cheap shot at a franchise I love so much
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If you can (and it may take some doing), see if you can get "bus" gashapon set - it's totally adorable. I love my DekaGreen bus.
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Aww, Deka bus <3
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YOUR ICON. WHERE. NOW.
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Aha, I found it on this post. "Ichi tasu... ichi tasu... ni! :D"
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Finding it was the second highlight of my trip, right after going to Toei's sentai/KR museum and getting to play on a replica of Doggy's control panel in SPD.
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... THERE'S A SENTAI/KR MUSEUM? WHY DOES THE U.S. NOT HAVE A POWER RANGERS MUSEUM
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And Disney did offer a "meet and greet" with suited Rangers at one of the parks, but it cost out the ass.
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You can bet Disney wouldn't let any of Walt's or Roy's sketches rot, not when there's a buck to be made.
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NOT LIKE I AM BITTER OR ANYTHING, CERTAINLY NOT
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And really, it's hard for anything to become a smash hit anymore. Age of Narrowcasting, the mass of media(s) explosion, and all that jazz.
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And honestly, as much as I love PR, I'm frankly surprised it's lasted this long- NOBODY expected it to become big, like, at all, let alone last for 17 seasons.
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So "Hannah Montana" the person is an easy sell for Disney, a person they can "target" to a demographic. But a "Red Ranger" who changes every season and whose main appeal is to the general but unspecificed group of 'young boys' is much harder in that kind of environment.This is a very good point. Just when you're getting used to one cast, the next season comes out- the older fans don't particularly care about that kind of change, and even drink up finding out about cast changes and whatnot, but I can see how it would be jarring to the target demographic and make it a hard sell in the world of Hannah Montanas, Jonas Brothers and High School Musicals. They may only stick around for a few years til the stars' youth fades, but Disney gets more than their moneys' worth with them ( ... )
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And in part, Saban/Disney were forced to adopt this approach due to the general Japanese style of media production, which focuses a lot more on the short, terminal story than the long-form narrative. Even in long-running works like Ah! My Goddess, there is the assumption the manga will eventually end. Continuous works published more line with the American model of a "canon" like Golgo 13 are the exception, not the rule ( ... )
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Not that this ever stopped anyone before!
(Sorry, uhm, arionhunter linked to this convo and I couldn't resist a cheap shot at a franchise I love so much ( ... )
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