#extra heroes

[scienceninjaturtle]

Super Sentai- Extra/Sixth Heroes

[himitsusentaiblog]

I have to dispute your description of Signalman as a Sixth Ranger. He's not a permanent member of the team, he's a visitor. I think he'd more correctly be described as one of the "extra" characters like Smoky from Magiranger or Ninjaman/Samuraiman from Kakuranger. I don't even know if that character type has an accepted term, but they'd make another good list.

Oh, I never described him as a Sixth Ranger, just a Sixth Hero.  There is a difference.  For example, Ninjaman as you mentioned above.  He is a hero added partway through the series but he doesn’t match the theme or look of the other heroes.  He still meets the criteria for the ‘hero who joins partway through’ but he is not a ‘Ranger’ or member of the team proper.

Another good example is Bull Black the Black Knight from Seijyuu Sentai Gingaman.

He has an explicit connection to the team (well the second version of him does) but his look and costume set him completely apart from the others making him an extra hero or sixth hero rather than a sixth Ranger.  He still fulfills to role of the sixth character to be a part of the series in it’s mid-point “doldrums” but he is definitely not a spandex-clad full member of the Sentai.

Perhaps I should do a side list for Extra Heroes as opposed to Sixth Heroes.  There are enough of them at this point (Heck, Carranger had two of them if you count VRV Master) that they should get their own list.

I do try to avoid using the term Sixth Ranger though as not all Sentai teams use that word to describe themselves.

Thanks for the talking point!

[himitsusentaiblog]

The sword and shield combo make him seem awesome. I may like him more as red then Lucky but we will see the extra hero usually starts off badass but after he is apart of the team an odd quirk can take that away but we will see. That metal bracket on his helmet kind of looks like a headset to me. Like it's got headphones and a mic near where his mouth is.

That does tend to be the trend, the new member is an utterly unstoppable force, until he becomes just another part of the team or, like in the case of Burai mentioned before, gets hindered by a flaw that keeps him from being a more constant presence.

The sword and shield works so well, especially as he is supposed to be a warrior from the distant past trapped and revived now (sounds familiar). I do see the headset but it still looks very reminiscent of the Kyutama globes as well, a nice mix of both to give it a functional reason to be on his helmet.

[himitsusentaiblog]

Hello! I've been watching through Gingaman and I've been loving Bull Black. I really wish they'd made a V-Cinema prequel for him or something. How do you feel about Extra Heroes and do you have any favorites or least favorites?

I actually love them, I think the idea of having a hero who isn’t actually a member of the Sentai team, has an outfit totally different from the others (rather than a special variation like sixth heroes) and a different origin and powers is a great thing that adds some spice to the formula.

Bull Black is actually one of the best examples!  Yes, he gives his powers to someone directly connected to the team but he’s still entirely unique in his look and abilities!

As for my personal favorites, I have a massive soft spot for a few of them and some who have only had one or two appearances in the show!  For example:

Shota Yamamori/Magne Warrior from Choudenshi Bioman

A lot of people consider him the forerunner of the sixth hero archetype that would become prevalent in the 1990s but for my money, he counts as an extra hero.  His look is utterly different from the Bioman team’s and his origin is tied into their villains rather than anything heroic (unlike Hikari Sentai Maskman’s X-1 Mask who is wearing the prototype for the Maskman team’s suits). He also really wanted to be a hero and join Bioman but couldn’t because he lacks the Bio Particles needed to do so further divorcing him from their collective origin. I am really sad he only got one appearance before losing his powers but he’s still memorable enough!  Plus, his actor (Seiki Kurosaki) would go on to be the lead in Special Megabeast Investigator Juspion.

Kyoko Hayase/Zeek from KyuKyu Sentai GoGo Five

Portrayed by Yuko Miyamura (the voice actress for Asuka Langely in Neon Genesis Evangelion) Kyoko started out as a space shuttle crew member and friend of the Tatsumi Family.  She wanted to be a hero and got her chance (for one movie only) after inheriting the powers of the interstellar bounty hunter Zeek in the V-Cinema release Kyukyu Sentai GoGoFive: Sudden Shock! A New Warrior. Though she never had the powers in the series proper, I am counting her because I loved that special movie so much!

Moving away from one shot or limited characters we come to:

VRV Master from Gekisou Sentai Carranger

Though he shows up later in the series, VRV Master is an important extra hero in the story of Carranger. After their mentor, Dappu, goes into hibernation and they have their first mecha, the RV Robo, stolen by their enemies, the Carrangers meet VRV Master.  Her gives them the VRV Machines to fight with and take back their original robot. It turns out later that he is actually Dappu’s Father, believed dead after the destruction of their home planet.

As for my least favorite, there are two.  One from a show I like and the other from a show I love.

Signalman from Gekisou Sentai Carranger

and

Ninjaman from Ninja Sentai Kakuranger

I dislike these characters for much the same reason, they come across as more hindrances to the heroes than help. Signalman is overly officious and obsessed with the rules to the point where he is willing to chase down the heroes to give them traffic tickets for speeding when on their way to an emergency and Ninjaman is just a screw up who is so easily manipulated he once almost ruined Christmas by helping the villain’s attempt to deliver poisonous centipedes to all the children of the world.

I don’t hate these characters as they are intended to be comic relief (though adding more comedy to Carranger is kind of gilding the lily if you ask me) but they are my least favorite extra heroes.

[himitsusentaiblog]

On a Related Note...

This is related to the Askbox Answer I just made about Sixth Heroes, this post here X.  In it I mentioned that some of the Non-Sentai ish 6th Heroes meet the basic criteria so I count them as a show’s sixth hero despite their lack of a coherent theme or look to the rest of a team.

Conversely, there are heroes in some shows that feel more like Extra Heroes even though they meet the costume aesthetics that unify them with the rest of the team.  Yes, I am looking at the extra Heroes of 2013′s Zyuden Sentai Kyoryuger.

There is no dispute as to who the core five members of that team are: Red, Blue, Green, Black and Pink. However, there is no doubt that Kyoryu Gold is their sixth man.  He has a complete introductory arc, his cistume is just different enough from the others to stick out and once he gets introduced, he is a fixture of the team for the rest of the series.  He hits all the points for a Sixth Man.

However, there are other characters who have costumes even more similar to the main heroes but are not part of the every episode squad.  These would be Kyoryu Cyan, Kyoryu Gray, Kyoryu Violet and Kyoryu Silver.

Now, Kyoryu Cyan and Kyoryu Gray are both dead and appear as Spirits now and then thus they are called the Spirit Rangers (their term not mine).  They have adopted Kyoryu Violet as their third member despite her protests that she’s not dead and shouldn’t count. 

 They don’t appear in every episode and thus are not a core part of the team despite having uniforms more, um, uniform than Kyoryu Gold’s.  Same with Kyoryu Silver, the last character to show up.

He is actually their mentor and fills a different role first established as the mentor hero by characters like Doggy Kruger/Deka Master in earlier series.  

Let’s not even get into 2017′s Uchuu Sentai Kyuranger and its giant cast of heroes.

On second thought, let’s do a quick look at them.  We once again have a core cast (though it is larger than most) with a few extra characters like Koguma Sky Blue.

He’s not a main cast member and joins them later.  There is also Ryu Commander who, like Deka Master and Kyoryu Silver before him, is the Commander Hero archetype.

Then there is the tropish sixth man.  He may not be the sixth member of the team but Houou Solider meets all the qualification of the trope and thus fills that role for this series.

So, as you can see above, the sixth man isn’t always so easy to define and comes down more to the character who best fits the trope rather than his numerical place in the team especially where the teams with larger than normal rosters are concerned.

[ogaofherotaku]

Extra Heroes - Ninninger Episode 13 & The Villains

Extra Heroes – Ninninger Episode 13 & The Villains

So far, Ninningerseems to be doing something fairly unique with its recurring villains by only having two at a time; for Episodes 1 to 12 we had Kyuemon and Gabi Raizou and from Episode 13 to the present we have Kyuemon and Masakage Tsugomori. It’s an unusual setup for a series because we don’t have a group of four or five villains active at the same time and I honestly haven’t decided how I feel…

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[ogaofherotaku]

Extra Heroes - Ninninger Episode 12 & King Shurikenjin

Extra Heroes – Ninninger Episode 12 & King Shurikenjin

The main outcomes of Episode 12 were, of course, the death of Gabi Raizou and the creation of King Shurikenjin. I’ve been saying for a while that Gabi Raizou should be killed off soon and thankfully that did happen here. Not only was he a good, threatening villain who served his purpose without overstaying his welcome too much. Gabi Raizou went out in spectacular fashion during the first fight…

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[ogaofherotaku]

Extra Heroes - Ninninger Episode 11 & Cliffhangers

Extra Heroes – Ninninger Episode 11 & Cliffhangers

Well then. That was…unexpected. The ending of Episode 10 made me think this instalment would be about StarNinger fighting against the other five Ninningers until Gabi Raizou showed up and forced them to work together to defeat their common enemy. Instead, Episode 11 opens with a really awkward jump forward in time where StarNinger is doing chores for the others and is more or less completely…

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