Things In Common Between Judd Lynn And Yasuko Kobayashi As Tokusatsu Writers

After seeing Judd Lynn's return to Power Rangers for the current season Dino Charge and the fact he's a Go-Busters fan (no surprise there, he was after all RPM's replacement writer), I also thought that in some way that he has some similarities with Yasuko Kobayashi. 

Just think one year after Kobayashi was the head writer of Gingaman, he becomes Lost Galaxy's head writer. Kobayashi was also an important secondary writer for GoGoV and the head writer of Timeranger. Lynn was the head writer for Time Force. It might be safe to assume that both of them are beloved writers in their franchises. Lynn was the head writer for Power Rangers in Space while Kobayashi was an important secondary writer for Megaranger. It's time to take a look at some of their similarities.

Taking some ideas from Hirohisa Soda's era

Well almost every writer for Super Sentai and to an extent Power Rangers do take ideas from Hirohisa Soda's era giving it their own twist. Kobayashi and Lynn are no exception to the rule. Kobayashi's had some ideas taken from Soda's era of Super Sentai was seen in Megaranger (then again that whole season is most likely a Soda tribute). Lynn's writing for Lightspeed Rescue had taken some ideas from Dynaman with Chad's relationship with Marina. What's noteworthy to think about is that both of them have been handling Venus and Vypra in the same way Soda's femme fatales would operate. Power Rangers in Space also took some ideas from Changeman like Astronema's story closely resembles Shiima.

Important relatives for the rangers

Both Gingaman and Lost Galaxy had counterparts for the red ranger's older brother. Lightspeed Rescue may have deviated from the sibling plot but you have Dana Mitchell being the commander's daughter and she has an older brother as the first American sixth ranger. Timeranger and Time Force had counterparts for the red ranger's parents and distant descendants. Shinkenger had some important relatives like Mako's parents, Ryunosuke's father, Takeru's supposed biological father, Kotoha's sister and Chiaki's father. RPM had Scott's father Commander Truman. Go-Busters also had Hiromu's sister. I just thought that Lost Galaxy could've just avoided giving Leo an older brother to deviate more from Gingaman but I guess Lynn loves writing important relatives. After all, wasn't Astronema the long lost sister of Andros?

Anti-heroes

Gingaman and Lost Galaxy had both Bullblack and Magna Defender who were obsessed with revenge. In Timeranger, we had Naoto Takizawa while Time Force's Eric Collins is a lighter and softer version (Executive meddling anyone?!) of the former. Naoto might be viewed as somebody similar to Hojo Toru in Kamen Rider Agito which came a year later and I personally prefer Eric's character development over Naoto's. Lost Galaxy also had some other anti-heroes like Kai Chen can be that stuck-up or Gingaman had Hikaru who tends to use his powers for self-profit but both learn anyway. Shinkenger had Chiaki who was the team jerk.

Moral dilemma

Whether it was Timeranger or Time Force, there's really a series of moral dilemmas that were involved in the series. Both series had the red rangers fighting for their destiny or pink rangers who were to choose between duty and revenge. You also had Nadira's moral dilemma of her loyalty towards her father Ransik or her realization all that hatred has done more harm than good. During Alex's return revealing that somehow he's still alive, Jen must choose between Alex (her fiance) or his ancestor Wesley. In Timeranger, there's also the moral dilemma decision on what the Timerangers would do after they discover that Captain Ryuya was manipulating both sides just so he could live.

Cruel villains

Both Captain Zahab and Trakeena are cruel to the bone. Both of them only cared about grabbing power for most of their run, although Trakeena did feel crushed about her father's death. Captain Zahab didn't really care too much about his subordinates nor did he care about the inhabitants of other planets as long as he gets to control the universe. Lynn ended up making Bansheera to be a cruel bitch all the way like Grandienne was in GoGoV. Time Force's Ransik also has a sadistic streak in spite of being hammy for most of the time. What's really funny is how later Kobayashi ended up writing the personality of the Messiah Virus a few years after RPM ended. I felt like if Trakeena met the Gingamen, she'd still give them a hard time and Captain Zahab might barely escape with his life if he ever fought her or even die at her hands.

Femme fatales

Although Nadira and Lila are two different characters (and Nadira IMO was better written with how she started to see the error of her ways) but I can't deny they're both vicious villains for most of their respective series' run. Putting them aside, one can also see how the two made some of their own series of bitches written or how they were assigned to it. Venus and Vypra were really that nasty and cruel. Trakeena ends up as Power Rangers' own version of Queen Ahames while Shelinda is also a cruel field commander. Dayu in Shinkenger still is nasty even for a lighter and softer show. What was amazing later was that Go-Busters ended up having Escape as a fully synthetic version of Tenaya-7. 

Some villains have different ambitions than world domination

While Captain Zahab and Trakeena were crazy about dominating just everything but some of their villains had different ambitions. Timeranger and Time Force aren't very typical to Super Sentai and Power Rangers. In Timeranger, Don Dolnero's villainy was more focused on becoming the richest crook than dominating the world or in extension, Captain Ryuya only wanted to live and still wanted to do so without otherwise changing much of the 30th Century. In Time Force, Ransik's portrayed to be a Magneto-type character, a victim of rejection because he's "different" and he seeks to punish humans for the pain he's felt rather than wanting to take over the world. Go-Busters had Enter wanting to become the "perfect human". 

Finales tend to be similar to Inoue's in some way

After thinking about the way Lynn and Kobayashi write finales, I really think about how their finales tend to go from passable to bad. I felt like Gingaman's finale could've been better and so was Lost Galaxy's. The way Captain Zahab and Trakeena were wrapped up for me were weaker points in their respective series. Timeranger's finale and Time Force's finale also had some "HUH?!" moments like I thought that while Time Force managed to make Mr. Collins more respectable in that area but I thought Ransik's sudden change of heart left me confused or Timeranger's finale tends to make you think whether or not Captain Ryuya still had a plan to defeat a now insane Gien while still wanting to live? I felt both writers may have Inoue's way of concluding stuff. I wasn't all too pleased with how ToQGer ended either with Emperor Zed just getting stuck in a coma similar to how Orphnoch King's now rendered comatose at the end of Kamen Rider Faiz nor with Lynn's giving a hint that Venjix might return someday.