Toqger's not that bad

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Toqger's not that bad

Post by takenoko »

I think it's a decent series. There were definitely points during Goseiger where it felt like they made no effort to tell a story or do anything interesting. But I never feel that way about Toqger. The enemies are super good. The Toqgers are quirky and fun.
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Re: Toqger's not that bad

Post by Catastrophe »

It may be just coming of Kyo though. Like I felt every single episode of that was fantastic, even the 'filler' ones.

ToQ strikes me as lazy. They never even explained how the monsters grow big. The hard hitting episodes are good, but everything else just strikes me as kind of bland.
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Re: Toqger's not that bad

Post by takenoko »

That's the thing, I don't feel like it's as lazy as people say it is. Maybe it is just a bad comparison with Kyou, which had stronger characters and situations? I can see why not everyone would like peevish intellectual Hikari, standoffish Akira, and cute bubbly Kagura, but I like them.

I also don't know if the monsters growing big not having an explanation is a fair complaint. It's a nitpick at best, since it's just a trope. Everyone knows by now that monsters grow big. It's probably fine to assume that the monsters just have that power as part of their traits. That said, in the most recent episode the monster explained that he became bigger using the darkness he gathered, which makes a sort of sense.

Like the most recent episode. It wasn't fantastic, but I enjoyed it. And it was filler, but it also did world building with the investigating people related to Subargahama. Plus we learned Right got 0's frequently on tests. Etc, etc. It's just fun to see the characters learn about the world they're in sometimes.
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Re: Toqger's not that bad

Post by Go-On Macaroni »

Personally, I really feel that either someone on staff was still taking it safe after Go-busters or just hit burnout since... it's Seinfeld man, there's nothing there.
I think a lot of my issues lie with the villains and the pacing, though. Did we really need 10+ episodes of Gritta going "Schwartz-sama! I shall hang onto your tissue hanky forever and stare at you in the hall 'cause my suit actor can barely move!" or Noire repeating "I have to finish her dress!" over and over? They could've cut that down to half the time, maybe done the same plot with Zet being overthrown and had time for other interesting stuff. But no, doing god-awful episodes like the "you die if you laugh" one or "Tokacchi throws a tantrum over Mio" is much more important.... somehow.

It's a shame, though; the basic idea's great on paper with it wanting to rehash Flashman (Five people taken from their home and forced to grow up without their parents) and whatnot but it's unholy fusion with Den-O just waters it down and makes it hard to enjoy what good it can give.
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Re: Toqger's not that bad

Post by dancercotillion »

There's a lot of commotion in a given episode of Toqger, so the episodes move along decently, yet not a lot changes from week to week. This show is really quite ponderous, which is really bizarre considering their battle cry is "full speed ahead!"

I am constantly baffled by how far into the series run we are, and so little has happened outside of snippits of non-impacting character development. There's no appreciable plot progress made by the Toqgers, they've freed what, two Shadow Towns? Maybe three? How big is the Shadow Line? Dozens of towns, at least. And while Zett is just moping in his throne room, the most proactive character in the entire show is Noire, because she's the only one actively doing anything at all.

This show is the Anti-Dekaranger.
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Re: Toqger's not that bad

Post by toni2212 »

Toqger is actually pretty bad IMO. Probably due to having many useless episodes, and failing to use/add any plot to the story, particularly on the heroes side. The villain saved the show a bit by having the so-called internal struggle between each member, but otherwise the heroes member failing to leave a strong impression seems to be the downfall. And having a big block of train robot that isn't well designed can't help you much here.
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Re: Toqger's not that bad

Post by Revorse »

I stopped after episode 10. And based on the comments, it seems I made a decent decision.
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Re: Toqger's not that bad

Post by Catastrophe »

Nah, it does pick up. I will agree that I struggled to watch for the first 10 or so episodes. The characterisation picks up a little and makes it interesting to watch.

For me, I really did enjoy Kyoryuger though, and I will chalk up any negativities I have about ToQ to that.
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Re: Toqger's not that bad

Post by takenoko »

Yeah, at least wait till Zett shows up. As the main antagonist he's pretty interesting since he's interested in something besides taking over the world. And it puts him at odds with his sub commanders.

And TOQ 6 is consistently funny to me.
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Re: Toqger's not that bad

Post by redwhitesentai »

I like ToQger. Kind of bias because I actually like ... train also. The idea of sentai team travelling around to each station is good, that not orthodox like a sentai that always fight in one city. Idea about their memory losing and the quest to find it out is strong imo. As the episodes, they are all watchable and I didn't found anything that really upsetting.
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Re: Toqger's not that bad

Post by FirenOh »

It's a good show on paper, and the writing and action scenes are great, but those are the only two things keep this show afloat. The Togqer's suits, weapons, and mecha are so piss poor and simple that they can't motivate viewers on new stuff, and the villains plans move at such a slow pace, you could skip 15 episodes so far and not miss much characterization or plot. It has some fun moment here and there, but honestly its a struggle to plow through.

Unless you love trains alot.
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Re: Toqger's not that bad

Post by Lunagel »

The problem with Toqger is that although the writing is good and the episodes themselves are fairly well done, it's the basic essentials that are done badly. The suits are super plain and I still think the helmets are ugly. The weapons are nothing new and the power up is a pass-around thing that is unfairly given to Red most of the time. The main gimmick they advertised when the show first came out was the suit switching thing and besides the Shadow Towns, it's never really been *absolutely* necessary. Hell, even in this last episode, 37, they didn't even need to switch, they just all ganged up on Knight and gave him a smackdown that defeated him within 30 seconds. The villains are actually quite well done and it's honestly a pity they are in such a mediocre show.

Overall Toqger isn't *bad*, it just smacks of being a filler show, something they're just farting out so they can get onto the better one next year.
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Re: Toqger's not that bad

Post by KamenRiderRival »

I'm still struggling to make my mind up with this series. I don't hate it, so far I haven't encountered a series I've hated or had to stop watching because I think it's terrible, however I have little motivation to watch it consistently.

My main gripe with the show is the hero's atheistic, which has been said a lot already but here go again. Thought the helmets have warmed to me slightly, the suits in general are bland (though I'm fine with ToQ 6's for some reason) and the weapons do feel a tad more lazy, though I like most of them. Then there's the mechas, which although I do not mind too much in the show, their toys leave a lot to be desired, and considering our first look at these things comes from the toys, this can be a big problem for some. I only really like Diesel-Oh and Build Dai-Oh of the main mechas, the rest look too off or are to much of a "lets have too many trains and then make a stupid mecha with them.". Hyper Ressha Tei-Oh I'm on the fence about... while I like it, it's still a brick. Also, Mr. President is weird. I can handle Ticket-kun, but for some reason not the President. I like their train base though and their civillian identies, as well as the power-up (and considering Sentai almost 100% of the time has a bias on Ranger Red, I'm not fussed that Right uses it the most).

What I do like is the overall characters of pretty much all the main cast (bar Wagon, I find her annoying, and the President, who has none). The Conductor and Ticket play off each other well and the fact the hand glove is the more serious of the too still cracks me up. I like all the ToQgers, but mainly the boys stand out to me tbh - the girls have made little impact with me, which is odd since I thought I would relate well to Kagura's constant imagination. The villians are spot on and their little rivalries and double crosses make their plight sometimes more interesting than the ToQgers, whose story is interesting and I loved it when they finally remembered their full names and home town, but this is only now exploited in certain, important episodes rather than an underlying point throughout the series (like say in Go-Busters).

I think my issue is with the pacing. Though I'm not one to really notice slow or uninteresting pacing in a show, I think shows that I find hard to consistently watch, like ToQger and Wizard, have trouble keeping the pacing to a consistent level, like Kyoryuger, Gaim, Drive and OOOs. And, tbh, my ability to consistently watch and rewatch the episodes in long sittings most of the time contributes largely to the overall enjoyment of the series. While ToQger has the characters, story and (on the villain's side) visual style to keep my interest in the show peaked (enough to make me catch up, at the very least) I don't have the desire to actively seek the next episode or look at fanwork based on the series like I do with Drive or did with OOOs and Go-Busters.

That's my two cents, anyway.
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Re: Toqger's not that bad

Post by Lunagel »

KamenRiderRival wrote:My main gripe with the show is the hero's atheistic
aesthetic?
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Re: Toqger's not that bad

Post by dancercotillion »

No, I also find this show's open preaching on the veracity of religion to be deeply troubling.

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