Wednesday 18 July 2012

White Ranger Supremacist Power

I first watched the original Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers back when it originally aired and at the time I was far too young to realise that the decision to make the Black Ranger African American and the Yellow Ranger Asian was a controversial decision.

I didn't grow up in what you'd call a racially diverse area. In my primary school there was maybe two black kids and no Asian kids I can recall. It was largely a white school. Racism wasn't really something I ever came across. I consider myself very lucky in that respect. One of the black kids was in my class and none of us ever saw this as an issue. She was one of us. She was exactly the same as the rest of us. When I got to high school I first came across racism a concept I've never really understood. Maybe I'm far too naive but I always hoped racism was going out of fashion.

Back to Power Rangers and I always hoped that the Black/Yellow Ranger was completely unintentional. I didn't want to think that it had been a racist decision. The second season saw the races switched in these roles and all series have had a racially diverse cast. Was it just tokenism? Was every black actor actually just the token black shoved in to hide a racist hierarchy's true thoughts on racial harmony. There has always been more white actors in the show and I'd always hoped that was just a coincidence. Then we get a story like the one that's been going round this week.

The story is that of actress Sundai Love being told she couldn't win a part on the next season of Power Rangers because they'd already chosen one black actor. That's right. Not a case of you weren't right for the part or you weren't good enough but that one black actor is more than enough for a team of Power Rangers. I can't believe in the 21st century someone would believe that's an acceptable thing to say. Now we don't know who's said this or how far up it goes but it's an incredibly unprofessional and offensive thing to say. For more details on this story check out Rising Sun Tokusatsu who cover this story in a far better way than I have.

I'm hoping this will all turn out to be a massive mistake and that race plays no part in who gets parts. There shouldn't be racial quotas in a modern world. Kids should grow up seeing that all people are equal not that anyone who isn't white is only there to make up the numbers.

Monday 16 July 2012

Power Rangers Samurai Confectionery Review


Today we have a different kind of review for your reading pleasure. On my trip to the supermarket today I came across not one, not two but three Power Rangers Samurai based confectionery items. I am of course dedicated to providing my loyal readers with all the best Power Rangers news and products reviews and I also really like sweets (that's candy to you American chaps and chapettes). So here is my review of the latest Samurai goodies.


The three new treats on offer are the Power Rangers Samurai Surprise Egg, Power Rangers Samurai Roll'ems and Power Rangers Samurai Little Somethings.


First up we have the Surprise Egg which as you've probably gathered from the name has a surprise or two inside. Let's open it up and take a look inside.


Inside each of the Surprise you will a small bag of jelly beans, a small sheet of stickers and a surprise item. In this particular egg I got an eraser which will come in very useful for all the times I do stuff that needs erasing... 


The other egg I purchased had a rather nifty keyring. The jelly beans aren't that impressive as they appear to be the same flavour in each time and there's only two different ones. 


The stickers are pretty cool perhaps even better than those given away with the first issue of the official Power Rangers Samurai Magazine.


According to the handy leaflet inside the egg the other items available in these eggs include notebooks, disk shooters, badges and magnets! I know I'll be trying to collect them all. And at 85p this mystery egg is fairly cheap fun for Power Rangers fans young and old.


Next up we have Roll'ems a box of delightful solid chocolate balls. If you like chocolate and you like balls then this is the perfect treat for you.


Not only can you enjoy the taste of these chocolate balls you can entertain yourself for literally seconds by rolling the balls around. What a treat!


This is the middle of the price range for these three Power Rangers treats and by far the most delicious. At 50p you'll have no complaints with these chocolate balls!




The last of our Power Rangers sweeties is this pyramid of delights known as Little Somethings. Once you've managed to open this cunning package inside you'll find the latest in a long line of Smarties rip offs.


At 25p you can't really complain about these little chocolatey treats. You get a fairly generous portion in the little sachet so if you have more than one obnoxious child in need of a sweet treat this is the way to go.

So there you go! If you have morbidly obese children who love Power Rangers and love tasty treats you've found the perfect gift for them and you can get all for well under £2!

Thursday 12 July 2012

Power Rangers Samurai Episode Commentary #21



Special #1: Party Monsters
Written by: James W. Bates and Amit Bhaumik
Directed by: Akihiro Noguchi

It’s Halloween in Power Rangers land and how will we be celebrating this ghoulish holiday? With a clips show? Oh. Fear not dear reader I will not punish you with a full length commentary on what we’ve already discussed on this blog. Welcome to the first of my mini reviews for pointless clip shows! Following this week’s announcement of Power Rangers Megaforce it looks like this could well become a regular thing. Will this episode show  “The Simpsons” like out of the box thinking to produce something original within the clip show parameters? Can I really string a decent review of a clip show together? Are these questions at the start really necessary when there really aren’t any new answers to be found here? For the answers to these questions and more read on!


Ever wonder what happens to the Monster of the Week after the Power Rangers have defeated them? Well apparently they have secret Halloween parties in spooky castles. They even have secret passwords. Happy Halloween. What a genius password. Apparently this spooky castle is the “Spookeasy Club” which is probably the best name for anything in the history of Power Rangers. People I doubt we will ever see this level of cleverness in Power Rangers again. So what happens in the Spookeasy Club? Well they’re holding their first annual Nighlok Halloween party. Nighloks are literally dying to get in apparently. Oh I see it’s a gathering of all the failed monsters of the week. So it should basically be called the underachiever’s club?


Basically these obnoxious morons hang around talking with their god awful voices about how they were defeated by the Power Rangers. Now if you’re reading this you really don’t need me to cover old ground again. You’re probably stilled bored out of your mind with having to read through it all again so I will spare you that horror this time. Let’s skip to the end and see how it ends. It’s time to catch up with the one and only Captain Half Arsed.  So what’s up with Master Xandred this week? Well the whiney git is disappointed that the dearly departed Nighloks left the Spookeasy club before he got to play a trick on them. Octoroo points out Xandred wouldn’t want to be invited as the guest list is lifted from the obituaries. But he’d be the life of the party quips the idiotic Nighlok king. Octoroo then refers to him as “Big Red” which is rather disturbing. I imagine “Big Red” would be Xandred’s pornstar name if he ever decides on a change of career and they are certainly films I don’t want to see. But let us end on a positive note. Xandred you stupid putz I can almost guarantee you’ll be invited to next year’s Halloween Party!


Next time: A much less mini commentary as I tackle Clash of the Red Rangers.

As ever the pictures what I used are taken from The Samurai Power Rangers Gateway be sure to pay them a visit.