A Random Crazy Rant On Go-Busters VS. Beast Morphers For #ThrowbackThursdays

Beast Morphers has me nostalgic though it also has me bashing Power Rangers with its decision to localize something that was from 2012. So WTF Hasbro or is Hasbro playing it safe? Then I thought about doing a rather random #ThrowbackThursdays rant by recalling the first episodes of Go-Busters and Beast Morphers. Each one has its own strengths and weaknesses. It doesn't matter how I prefer Super Sentai over Power Rangers -- I still want to name everything up and down about them. I decided to rewatch Go-Busters' first two episodes and Beast Morphers' first epsiode. But I doubt it I'd actually write this one weekly because I've got some load of other stuff to do. But here's a bit of throwback to a series that I was afraid to admit I liked -- because some people I knew like Sentai Bandicoot and Shogo B'Stard didn't like it. Then I thought it's better to check it out for myself and I found Go-Busters entertaining though not as good as Timeranger.

The heroes 

There is some differentiation between the heroes here and there during the first episode and how they got their powers.

Go-Busters' three youngsters were injected with some kind of vaccine that was meant only for machines 13 years before the show started. The show's incidents had me wish that the whole power plant years ago caused the Earth to become enslaved by Vaglass and that the heroes 13 years later would swear to take back the planet from the villains. The heroes themselves had their DNA altered way back in the past as the last hope for 13 years later. They have their civilian superpowers which have their limits -- Hiromu gets stuck because of a chicken phobia since childhood, Ryuji does go berserk after some time and Yoko needs to take extra calories for her jumping powers. I wonder will Beast Morphers put special limits as well on the civilian powers aside from the obvious mandatory character flaws?

Beast Morphers had two members who didn't make it to become Go-Busters. Both Blaze and Roxy are the two would've been Go-Busters and Ravi (who is also their mentor Commander Shaw's son) had to settle for two random people. One's Devon and the other is Zoey. They had their DNA altered at the beginning of the show. Their source of power is not a new source of energy (Go-Busters Enetron is NOT linked to some kind of Sentai Morphin' Grid). The relatives also do differ for the Beast Morphers. Hiromu has his missing parents and overprotective older sister. Devon has his father Mayor Daniels of Coral Harbor City. Hmmm I kinda like how they put Devon's father instead of doing Jonathan Tzachor's lazy cut/paste so there's more to compare than none, right?

Energy Management Center and Grid Battleforce

Go-Busters would normally have a good reason to give Commander Takeshi Kuroki two more allies. Miho Nakumura (left) is the team's operator -- think of Dr. K from RPM. I just wish that Miho said, "That's not spandex!" to Hiromu when it came to the Go-Busters suits. Commander Kuroki would be like Commander Truman of RPM. Tohru Morishita also serves as an assistant operator. Hmmm maybe he should be the one who was told that's not spandex!

I wonder what part will both Ben and Betty play. The first episode has them not recognizing the mayor. Will they just be there like that idiot Boom from Power Rangers SPD or will they actualy play a significant role as mechanics and operators? For front desk employees -- they could have been fired for nearly injuring the mayor! I wonder if I'd even drop the series because of these guys aside from that unnecessary two season split!

The villains 

I remembered how Go-Busters started with Enter alone taking orders from the Messiah Virus until Escape was created as a "daughter" of said character. The two worked together more often than not though betrayal was inevitable. Now for the two villains who could be their counterparts...

Roxy (Avatar) and Blaze (Avatar) have their powered-up forms. Evil Roxy's form is a repainted version of the mechanical form of Escape. Evil Blaze is using Enter's power-up as Dark Buster. So I wonder how these two will operate? Not that I intend to hang around either because there's still other new stuff worth checking out!

First episode comparison 

Both episodes have their pros and cons. I could talk all day about how I think that Go-Busters' Hiromu being frozen by a chicken (due to a phobia) is not a good start either. We have the amazing display of Devon's karate skills which he first shows against Blaze. Now I could make a bit of a plot comparison and how both first episodes turned out.

Super Sentai usually has its own rule of self-contained continuities for most of the time. Okay, not always and one can say Gokaiger is a retcon though one can think of it as another Universe. Kyuranger revealed that there's many continuities of Super Sentai through another universe -- proving that there's really a Tokusatsu Multiverse as a fictional writing material. So this is where Go-Busters and Beast Morphers start drawing the line.

In Go-Busters' era of 2012 A.D. -- we see the rise of the Enetron project as a new source of clean energy. Go-Busters' Enetron is not connected to previous powers at all such as the Bio Particles (Bioman), Earth Force (Changeman), Flash Power (Flashman), Fairy Power (Turboranger) or Birdonic Waves (Jetman) or just any show. Beast Morphers treats it totally different where the Morphin' Grid (which is somewhat undefined) and it's said that's where the Power Rangers teams supposedly get their powers from. Somehow, that contradicts itself as some Power Rangers seasons just operate without it or never have it. Super Sentai's tendency to have self-contained continuities actually makes it even more impossible for a Sentai Henshin Grid to exist!

I would admit that I'm biased again as evidenced by how I treat the Power Rangers characters in my old shame. So I'd try not to give too much of my favoritism for Super Sentai even if I still don't like Power Rangers! I would think about the episode where I usually get what I usually expect from most Super Sentai series -- a taste of action of either in the city or any open field against the enemy! Then there's that cool motorcycle stunt attacking the monster!

I remembered how I called Go-Busters a breath of fresh air as soon as the Gokaigers left. I do like Gokaiger but I hate the bandwagon associated with it. I'd enjoy Gokaiger as it is. Go-Busters for me started to deviate from the cute girls (though I never found myself that attracted to Luka and Ahim) and I never found Yoko pretty. Not having a pretty girl can be a good thing for me -- it helps me concentrate on the show instead of the ladies. Remember how I end up burning Megafail beyond its ashes and even mention that I don't want to rewatch Ninninger? Ninninger is only "better" than Ninja Steel because Fuuka and Kasumi are hotter than Sarah and Hayley -- together with the fact that there's no unnecessary split! Some may find Yoko cute but I don't which is a good thing -- it helped me appreciate Go-Busters better for its content.

I don't want to deny Beast Morphers had its own taste of action but not where I wanted it to be. It's a laboratory experiment gone wrong where both Evil Roxy and Evil Blaze were created by the rather cobra-ish Evox (which is a creative spin so they don't use the giant floating skull). The newly formed team teleports them away presumably to avoid destroying the headquarters. I just wonder what will Grid Battleforce do as a security measure now that it's happened? Kicking out both Evil Roxy and Evil Blaze out of the base with limited options is also a good way to start. So I'm just biased right now when I think Go-Busters premiere episode is better because of the way things unfolded. But Beast Morphers' action scene inside the headquarters is still good in its own way.

What is coincidental or not is that Mayor Daniels does mention Rita Repulsa as the first person who wanted the power of the Morphin' Grid. Right now, Super Sentai Strongest Battle has a villain named Rita. Then we have other villains. I do still wish that Beast Morphers would have done what RPM did by trying not to reference too much to previous seasons! I'd probably just simply create a new energy called as Gridion but in no way connected to the Morphin' Grid. I'd probably avoid referencing to early seasons either. But that's just my personal thoughts on the downer side of Beast Morphers.

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What are your thoughts?