Woah... So That's The Upcoming Zenkaiger?

Thinking outside the box with Kikai Sentai Zenkaiger or Machine World Full Throttle Ranger? It turns out that the team has only ONE human member and the rest are robots. They're obviously tributes to Gaoking, Daizyujin, Magiking, and Daibouken. Just seeing the latest news from JEFusion (which I stopped guest writing for some time now) has a new team coming in. The main hero seems to be a Kamen Rider if you ask me! Meanwhile, Kamen Rider Saber is a team of riders. Are Super Sentai and Kamen Rider trying to switch places? 

Thinking outside the box was how Toei had actually created Super Sentai in the first place. Back then, Shotaro Ishinomori was the original founding father of the Super Sentai franchise - back when it wasn't called Super Sentai. I heard the idea was that if one is a hit (the first Kamen Rider) then why not make five? In 1975, the show Himitsu Sentai Goranger was born and it was a success. Two years later, another show called Dengekitai JAKQ was added with a team that started with four and ended with five. Sentai had a one-year hiatus before the Super Sentai franchise was born with Battle Fever J then the standardization of costumes started with Denzi Sentai Denziman. The series underwent some minor to major changes - some for the better and others for the worse. The 1980s Super Sentai series started to introduce change at a conservative pace to see what works and what wouldn't. The five-man team formula wasn't always followed either as shows like Taiyo Sentai Sun Vulcan only had three members, Choju Sentai Liveman started with three and ended with five, and Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger managed to make its true official sixth ranger with Burai. Other stuff added was the extra hero which started with Ninjaman in Ninja Sentai Kakuranger.

The formula did get little change on how to do Super Sentai team formats. Most of the changes introduced (and some don't get ever repeated if they flunk) happened with weapons and robots. Chikyu Sentai Fiveman did try the sibling team which only managed to do better with Kyukyu Sentai GoGoFive and Mahou Sentai Magiranger. Mirai Sentai Timeranger tried a bit of a diversion with the sixth ranger - Naoto Takizawa/Time Fire came quite later and that he wasn't truly part of the team. Later. most sixth rangers came in as official members of the team regardless. Others tried to redo team formats such as how Ninpuu Sentai Hurricanger is really a nod to Liveman in one way or another. Most of them simply still did the five-man team plus a sixth ranger comes in concept. Though, Engine Sentai Go-Onger had a sixth and seventh ranger added with the Go-On Wings. Tokumei Sentai Go-Busters added one obviously android member into the team in J-Stag. Doubotsu Sentai Zyuohger did something a little bit more unthinkable as Yamato (and later Misao) were the only humans and the rest of the team were Zyumen disguised as humans. Ucchu Sentai Kyuranger tried to copy Eto Ranger in some way (while really doing some Star Wars and Spaceballs references) with their huge roster (and it had more than one android team member). Kaito Sentai Lupinranger vs. Keisatsu Sentai Patranger was having two teams battle each other. Then it was back to the typical formula (and back to dinosaurs) with Kishinryu Sentai Ryusoulger - why didn't Toei decide to push with dragons? Lately, we've got another typical team with Mashin Sentai Kiramager though it's been making up for last year. 

The team format almost reminds me of how Tokkei Winspector also works. Remember the main hero Ryoma Kagawa or simply termed as Fire? The hero Fire had Bikel and Walter who are robots helping him in superhero duties. Junko was actually not given a suit to wear for a reason. Junko herself served as a backup in the field but didn't do anything fancy - she was pretty much a throwback to the badass non-powered female assistants of the Space Sheriffs. I wonder if Zenkaiger's main hero will also get some human allies to help him out. Granted, Toei hasn't really released anything labeled as Metal Hero though the franchise seems to live on in Kamen Rider's more metallic suits. Nods to Metal Hero series tend to be made even after the franchise "died" with Robotack. Tokosou Sentai Dekaranger was a huge nod to the Metal Hero franchise. GoGoFive would be best labeled as a merging of Fiveman and Winspector. I wonder is Toei really still having Metal Hero in mind in this new format?