Hello there everyone I’m Justin, and I am here to take you on a strange trip into the world of American/Western Tokusastu productions starting with the first attempt at duplicating the success of Power Rangers, and one of my personal favorites VR Troopers.
I guess I’ll start by saying what I plan on doing with this. I’m going to watch an episode of VR Troopers a day, and review it from Monday to Friday.
I will also watch episodes of Metal Hero but only the ones that the episode of VR Troopers used footage from so I can see for myself what footage they had to work with.
I’ll save official reviews of those episodes when I decide to review the shows themselves.
Anyway I guess I’ll start by talking about the Cybertron pilot. I like seeing Jason David Frank as the main character, Grimlord having a bully son who’s the hero’s main rival. Jamie Kennedy before he was famous as one of the comic relief characters.
My only real gripe is the transformation being just JDF starring at a crystal. I can understand him putting his hand on it, and then saying his transformation phrase to start it but just starting at it no.
Everything else I don’t know I like Tao being a mentor, Two’s daughter Mia, and seeing how the show would have been like with only one Metal Hero show but at the same time I still like the VR Troopers we did get.
It mostly has to do with the fact that only the script for what the first episode would be about, and only about ten minutes of footage with 90% of it being Metalder
And it’s pretty hard to judge a show that doesn’t exist since there’s no way short of a magic what if machine to tell if it would have been better or not.
I will say it’s a pretty good what if though like if Saban was going to make an actual Karato series out of Janperson, or if they were going to take Rescue Hero or Blue Swat and make it something like Mega Patrol.
So on to the first episode of VR Troopers The Battle Begins part 1 written by Douglas Sloan, and directed by Shuki Levy.
So we start with how every episode starts with our main hero Ryan Steele sitting in front of a bell at park going on about his legendary missing daddy issues. Not much else to say since all the really good jokes have been made, and so no real reason to talk about them other than what the moral of the story is.
We then go to Tao dojo where Ryan, and his best friend JB Reese are in the middle of a karate tournament against the generic Crossworld City dojo with Tao dojo down 1 to Crosworld’s 2 while their friend, and sensei Tao, and Ryan’s pet bloodhound Jeb watch and cheer on.
I will say that I always enjoy how much 90’s Saban shows treat karate tournaments like there these big things that everyone in town is obsessed with. The middle aged white guy ref, random judges in business suits, and my personal favorite the audience that has a random guy with a 70’s porn stache.
Ryan fights some random blonde guy in black gi, and they pretty much just kick at each other until they punch each other, Ryan takes him down with a scissor kick winning a point for Tao dojo.
Now for the tie breaker JB vs random Asian guy in black gi. They punch, and karate chop each other, then they kick each other, then random Asian guy jumps, and JB kicks him winning the tournament for Tao dojo, and Ryan, JB, and Tao celebrate.
We then go to the Underground Voice Daily where crazy editor Woody is on the phone giving the five Ws before comically slamming the phone on his own finger calling forth Kaitlin Star Ryan and JB’s other best friend who works as reporter at UVD to tell her that local greedy evil rich corporate asshole type and the shows main villain Karl Ziktor is demolishing an old building to make a power plant.
Ryan, and JB then go on their motorcycles to meet Kaitlin at Occupy Crossworld City. While in his totally not creepy, and evil looking corporate headquarters Ziktor himself grabs his pet lizard Julia so they and his secretaries can watch the old building getting blown up.
Ziktor, and the foreman for the demolition team take turns counting down from five so that we can cut back and forth between Ziktor in his office, and Ryan and his friends at the demolition site, and then we see the old building get blown up.
Ziktor gets up, and tells his secretaries to return to virtual reality to await further instructions, and they turn into Skugs gold robots with weird faces in black tights with capes who are the show’s henchmen, and slide into the floor while Ziktor starts gloating about taking over the city.
There’s something about this part that bugs me but it won’t make sense until I get to my final thoughts so let’s move on.
We then go back to Tao dojo where Ryan is putting up the trophy he, and JB won from the tournament earlier, and straightening up around the dojo while JB is trying to update the dojo books on the computer, and Kaitlin is playing with Jeb.
Just then the computer starts acting weird, and Ryan, and his friends try to see what’s going on, and the image of a middle aged black guy shows up on the screen. The man says he’s Professor Horatio Hart, and that he has a message from Ryan’s father.
Meanwhile Ziktor industries Ziktor’s secretaries inform him of it, and he has them leave while he puts his hand on his crystal ball, and goes “Forces of darkness empower me. Take me back to my virtual reality”, and transforms into Grimlord, and goes to his virtual dungeon to see his army of mutant robots.
Now I would like to make that one joke where you pretend to confuse the Japanese names with the American ones like if I was talking about Power Rangers I would joke “The astronauts open the space dumpster, and accidentally release Band-er I mean Rita Repulsa” but honestly I would be here all day if I did that, and we’ve just seen the Metalder monsters.
Instead I’ll just compare and contrast what I like and what I don’t like about the villains of VR Troopers with regards to the ones on Power Rangers.
For starters I like how they look since they look like how I imagine robots, and mutants would look like if they were real, and I like how they are an actual army as opposed to just a few characters.
And I like General Ivar if I wasn’t such a wimp about needles I would get General Ivar as a Tattoo on my back I think he’s that cool.
On the other hand there’s just so many of them, and it’s always the same amount no matter who gets blown up so it’s hard to care sometimes who’s supposed to be a main minion and who’s just an MOTD.
Especially since it still comes across like Grimlord’s the Zedd/Rita, Ivar, Decimator, and maybe Zelton, Dark Heart, and Blue Boar are the Goldars, Icebot is the Finster, and Toxoid, Air Striker, Fighterbot, and maybe the tankbots are the Squats, and Baboos.
Anyway Grimlord calls up General Ivar, to make sure that the final assault on reality is under way, and to stop Ryan, and his friends from going to Professor Hart’s lab
We then see Ryan, and his friends in Kaitlin’s car driving to the lab while Ryan explains that Professor Hart worked with his dad, they were both close to a major scientific breakthrough his father disappeared.
Just then two of Grimlord’s mutants Air Striker, and Fighterbot appear, and on Grimlord’s orders start trying to blow up Kaitlin’s car with enoug hmissiles, and lasers to turn mount Everest into a gravel pit, and still end up missing it.
And yet our heroes are still smart enough to get out soon as they get the woods to escape to the bridge but Grimlord is also smart enough to have Fighterbot destroy the bridge before they can reach it.
We then see our heroes walking through a field explaining that when we weren’t looking they were able to find a side road.
You know I’m starting to notice a pattern with this episode of just Ziktor/Grimlord screwing over Ryan, and his friends, and then the next scene is like they don’t even care.
Anyway Ryan, and his friends then find some weird triangle thing in the middle of nowhere. The Professor’s voice comes out, and tells them to enter, and they do. we then see Professor Hart’s lab, I’ll admit I like it just because of how futuristic it looks.
Inside our heroes look around, and then the Professor appears on the lab’s screens revealing he only exists as a virtual image, and tell them to put on some VR visors which he makes appear out of thin air.
Our heroes put them on, and are assaulted by a 90’s screen saver that the Professor explains is them looking through the reality barrier. Then Ryan’s father appears which JB explains is a virtual recording like a 3D video.
Ryan’s father shows some Metalder clips, and explains that Grimlord has been making mutant robots so he can attack the reality barrier and take over the world.
He then says that he and Professor Hart need Ryan, and his friends to become superheroes called the VR Troopers, and explains about the skugs but he doesn’t actually show them.
He then explains that if they fail to defeat the slugs in our world they will have to fight them in an outpost next to a virtual black hole called the Battle Grid.
But instead of showing what the Battle Grid looks like he shows them transforming into the Battle Grid suits but doesn’t explain why they have those suits when they go there.
Though I’ll admit I like the insta morph effect with the weird “seizure” lights, and the Troopers glowing as civilians, and being in the suits when it fades.
I will say this just to get it out of the way I do enjoy the Battle Grid suits. I Like how all three of them try to incorporate elements from the Metal Hero suits into them like the padding meant to be the metal plates on their main suits.
And how they make the Troopers look more like they’re part of the same team while still having individual elements to tell who’s who.
Like Ryan’s suit has this half red half blue color scheme with these yellow eyes, and all these various designs that I’m guessing are supposed to look like metal plates.
Kaitlin’s has this white suit with a red stripe, and black visor, and a red design that looks like she’s wearing a one piece swimsuit/leotard, even looks like it has straps, and even has these yellow crystals on her chest, and a belt on there.
Hell JB’s is the most “normal” looking and it still manages to have elements of both Ryan, and Kaitlin’s suits with the solid body suit and armored design like Ryan but with this silver helmet with a black stripe, and red visor, and red, and silver crystal like shapes like a male version of Kaitlin.
We finally get to see the main suits, and I’ll say that I like how they have full body armor, and how they all have unique designs to them, and the various lights on all them.
Ryan’s father then tells them they are Earth’s last hope, and there’s an admittedly touching part where Ryan tries to reach out to his dad, the message ends, and our heroes take off their visors, and Ryan’s still sad about his dad.
The Professor then has these three pendants appear which he explains are the transformation virtualizers that will allow them to become VR Troopers, and travel between realities to stop Grimlord’ and his mutants, and our heroes then put them on.
Meanwhile at the Virtual Dungeon Grimlord has his Tankbots attack the lab, so the Professor tells them to say Trooper Transform, and use their new powers which they do, and we get to see them transform for the first time.
Ryan’s transformation is the Metalder one with Brad Hawkins, and without the part where he grabs his own arms for no reason, and JB, and Kaitlin’s transformations are the Spielban, Dianna Lady ones with Michael Bacon, and Sarah Brown.
We then see JB, and Kaitlin fight an ape like mutant called Kongbot who attacks with huge fists he can launch at opponents, while Ryan fights Grimlord’s second in command Decimator, and the Tankbots who open fire on him.
JB, and Kaitlin jump to attack Kongbot who punches JB, and pins him to the ground, but JB gets out of the way, and Kaitlin tries to kick Kongbot but he just punches her out of the way.
Meanwhile Decimator jumps at Ryan with his sword, and tries to slash him but Ryan keeps getting out the way, then he jumps, and kicks Decimator, blocks him with his arm but Decimator jumps out of the way.
I’ll also add that when they’re in Trooper mode they have what I like to call Trooper vision where you can see what it looks like in the helmets, and in addition to the main visor there’s also a little screen so they can talk to others, and see what’s going on elsewhere.
It’s a small thing but it adds a nice touch to how the Troopers’ powers work, and adds to the techno feel of the show.
Meanwhile JB does a jump kick at Kongbot, and knocks him upside the head, and then tries to slash him with his sword but gets punched aside, so he tries again but still gets punched so he kicks Kongbot and knocks him back again but Kongbot keeps running at him.
So the Professor tells JB to use his Laser Lance against Kongbot, and I’m not gonna lie it’s awesome. Lightsabers are cool, double edged Lightsabers are cool so using a double edged Lightsaber to slash a robot until it blows up is just perfect.
Meanwhile Ryan is still dealing with Decimator kicking him, and trying to dodge his sword slashes but then Decimator rushes at Ryan, and slashes his shoulder, and exposing his circuits, and sending him off a cliff.
At the lab JB, and Kaitlin back in civilian mode return from defeating Kongbot, and wonder where Ryan is. The Professor explains that Ryan’s communication system is down, has JB use the geo thermal scanner to find Ryan.
Meanwhile at the Virtual Dungeon Grimlord, and his mutants celebrate Ryan’s defeat, and plan to continue the invasion of Earth. While at the bottom of the cliff Ryan lies quiet, and motionless as the words To Be Continued flash on the screen.
Now here’s where I would talk about Final Thoughts but I’ll save those for part two as this is a multi parter.
So tune in next time for more Magic Happy American Tokusatsu Reviews.
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