#sixth hero

[himitsusentaiblog]

King Ranger from 1995's Chouriki Sentai Ohranger

[yesthebatmanme]

I see what you did there Toei.

Crystalla kissed Sayao, did splits like he's Jean-Claude van Damme.  I like him already!    I wonder he'll do  Jean-Claude van Damme's dancing from Kickboxer at some point in the series in a bar?

Yes i know, but it’s a thought though in my head cannon.

[thedarkesthome]

The man at arms shields us!

Name: Barristan Age: 48 Likes: Quiet times, the thrill of battle, passing on knowledge, keep his allies safe, a good drink and food. Dislikes: “Those damn things down below”, cocky youths, noisy crowds,loss of allies. Story: This mighty man at arms is one who has seen life times of battles before hand, quick to act and even quicker to give the proper instructions to others to make sure they stay on their toes on the battlefield while he may not be in his prime this man experience more then makes up for it . Whilst defending the hamlet one day with his unit they had been wiped out which left him of the only one standing, this has brought upon many horrible draw backs but he still stands tall for the hamlet for his old allies and new alike. “Keep your army steady and swing forward like this. No not like that, like THIS! Yes there you go, keep doing that for a solid hour and those living corpses won’t know what hittim” -Barristan training an ally to get a better swing in. ((Artist: BIGGIE YAO))

[himitsusentaiblog]

We all know Goranger has no sixth ranger. It was long before that was a thing. But if they did, what do you think a sixth ranger for the team would be like? Would they be named after their color or would they be called Rokugou Ranger?

All of the Gorangers were named for their colors so my guess would be that a hypothetical 6th would be as well.

Given the limitations of the era as far as costume materials (spandex was still many years off from being THE Sentai material), I would doubt the color would be a metallic one like Gold or Silver.  My guess would be one of the extremes, either ShiroRanger (White Ranger) or KuroRanger (Black Ranger).  Their costume would likely have 6 V-shaped stripes on the chest (or for variety a single V with a Line down the middle to form a VI or Roman numeral 6.  Also, if I was in charge the design, their Visor would be shaped like an X and could produce a Throwing-Star type weapon.

[himitsusentaiblog]

Hey, it’s everyone’s ‘favorite’ sixth Hero, NINJA MAN from 1994′s Ninja Sentai Kakuranger!

[himitsusentaiblog]

Scans of a Hikari Sentai Maskman manga featuring one-episode Sixth Hero X1 Mask from a 1987 issue of Terbi-kun Magazine.

[himitsusentaiblog]

Very interesting to learn who I need to thank for incorporating certain themes I like to see in my TV shows. And when I think sentai has done everything they continue to amaze me by doing something original with a team of space heroes with a constellation theme using orbs to henshin. Also with the largest team of heroes in all of sentai with another coming soon called ho-oh ranger a Phoenix themed hero that starts off as a bad guy and will obviously become apart of the team.

When I first saw his design, I was worried it was just another power up for Shishi Red but then, when it was revealed he would be our extra hero that always gets introduced around the late teens/early 20-something episode of modern Super Sentai, I was way more excited about him.

Also, notice the helmet kind of resembles a Kyutama globe itself, with the metal bracket up the side.  I like it!  The fact that he’s going to start out as an enemy is a great throwback to characters like Burai from Zyuranger who were initially the new, big threat before becoming a hero.

Let’s just hope he doesn’t suffer a similar fate!

[himitsusentaiblog]

I saw your latest top ten and agreed with a lot of it! But I'm curious about two things; A. What do you think about MegaSilver and the Shurikenger? B. What are your thoughts on Extra Rangers suit designs compared to the main team? How alike should they be or how different? Apologies if this has been asked or answered elsewhere!

MegaSilver has a fantastic costume design!  I love it!

Denji Sentai Megaranger in general has a really nice design sense.  The costumes are simple but in a way that says high-tech rather than lazy.  The clear helmet domes displaying their tech specialty is something I really think sells them as digitally powered heroes. 

Megasilver’s designs works on two levels for me. On one, it’s a great variation on the team’s suits just with silver as the main color and gold highlights where the others have white or another color.  It also works as what it is in the story, the prototype suit all the others are based on. The band across his chest doesn’t have the colored squares like the others, which represent the team colors.  There wasn’t a team when his suit was made, it was the testing ground for everything that went into the later Megaranger suits. I love that even its nature as the first is reflected in in its design.

As for Shurikenger, WOW, his design just WORKS for me.  I said in my top ten list how much I like the color Green and his green is a very nice hue.

He still keeps the ninja look of the main team with the mesh arms and such but the gold shoulder pads, gold chest armor and shuriken logo REALLY set him apart in a good way.  Green and Gold have worked since Dragon Ranger and you really can’t go wrong with that color combo on a suit. 

His Fire mode changes things up and I adore the rotating helmet idea to give him two different faces and different powers.  

Yes, he loses the shoulder pads and armor but it puts him more in line with the outfits of the Hurricaneger team in general and I like it.  It’s nice when a sixth hero has more than one mode. I also just have to say that seeing him in Shuriken Sentai Ninninger when his name is Shurikenger was a nice treat.

When it comes to the costume designs of sixth heroes in general I think they need to keep enough traits of the main team to be recognizable as from the same general group or series but with enough differences to stand apart.

For example, look at Bouken Silver here:

His costume is very different from the others with shoulder pads, more colors and a helmet fine with a much, much wider visor but he maintains the main color down the sides with a different one in the middle and the chest logo.  Plus, the style of his boots matches the rest of the team.  He stands apart yet works with the others in costume and function.

When you get TOO different from the rest of the team like in the case of Ninjaman from Ninja Sentai Kakuranger or Signalman from Gekisou Sentai Carranger you stop being a proper sixth hero and become what is called an extra hero.

So, there is a careful balancing act.  A sixth hero needs to stand out but also needs to conform to the general design aesthetic of the team.  You can push it with some unique design elements like shoulder pads, fins or different placement of logos but you can’t take it too far.  A nice example of this is Dekabreak from Tokusou Sentai Dekaranger.

The rest of the team has their number designation down the left side of the costume in black with a white outline separating it from the primary uniform color.  The number is also a modern/arabic numeral.  For Dekabreak, his number designation is done as a gold line down the entire left side with a blue part where the others have black and a gold V on the right center of his chest. This forms a ROMAN Numeral 6 (VI) which is a brilliant way to make him stand out and yet give him a look that matches the rest of the team.