I've been watching Super Sentai for quite a while now, and I love the ever-holy hell out of it. I'm able to suspend my disbelief about pretty much everything, and can put aside my "realism gripes" most of the time, but after re-watching some series; a thought popped into my mind, one that I can't really get rid of. Just a small annoyance, but applying it to the Super Sentai Series a whole, it seems like somewhat of a problem overall...Now I know that it's mostly aimed at children and its generation of merchandise, so some things just have to be included as part of the design, but it bugs the crap out of me every time I see it, and looking back, it seems to happen a hell of a lot...
When the Mecha/Machine/whatever are summoned, and after the Gattai's formed, a lot of the Robo in either the primary default or secondary upgrade forms (especially the ones relying on swords more) have shields...for a giant, mostly unstoppable robot it's kind of a common thing, and that's not strange...but for me what is strange is that 1 of 2 things ALWAYS seem to happen. With the Robo Gattai itself, it either A) almost never gets used and stays there, limply fused to its back where it originated, or B) Immediately gets equipped with the sword, but just as immediately is lost in the air upon the initial blow from the giant kaijin in the literal first 5 seconds of the fightSHINKENOH-I'M-LOOKING-DIRECTLY-AT-YOU (Seriously, goddamn it happens like every single time!)
SO...My question is--why even design the Robos to have what usually ends up being badass-looking, but ultimately unused, or completely useless shields? I know that I'm probably just thinking about it too much, but seriously--go back and rewatch some of those giant fight scenes. It just seems like such a glaring issue.
A question about the Sentai Robo-tachi
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Re: A question about the Sentai Robo-tachi
You gotta remember Sentai is allllllll about the toys. Toy sales drive the majority of the decisions made for any tokusatsu show, and like you said, the shield looks cool. Even if it's not used in the show that often, stuff that makes the toys appeal to the kids tends to get tacked on.
This is also probably the reason why they keep adding motorcycles to PR show toys and muscle them up all the hell.
This is also probably the reason why they keep adding motorcycles to PR show toys and muscle them up all the hell.
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Re: A question about the Sentai Robo-tachi
I suppose in that context, the shield stops the attacks, but they want the monster to batter the robot around for a bit before it beats him.
But as Luna said, it's mainly to sell toys.
But as Luna said, it's mainly to sell toys.
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Re: A question about the Sentai Robo-tachi
Of all series, Kamen Rider W actually justified this. When a Dopant attacks from behind and there's not enough time to turn without giving the enemy an opening, they use HeatMetal to protect their back with the Metal Shaft.
Now think of how slow a giant robot is in comparison to a kaiju (crazy CG Gokai-Oh shenanigans nonwithstanding.) Not to mention that all the weapons tend to be on the front. If a monster attacks quickly from behind, it could gut the mecha before the Sentai members can react and destroy their combined cockpit. Or at least knock the mech onto its front and leave it defenseless.
By putting the shield on the back, it serves to protect that blind spot. I can't name a single instance where a mecha with a shield mounted on its back was seriously damaged from behind. Being detatchable is just a bonus-the real point of it is to cover the back.
Now think of how slow a giant robot is in comparison to a kaiju (crazy CG Gokai-Oh shenanigans nonwithstanding.) Not to mention that all the weapons tend to be on the front. If a monster attacks quickly from behind, it could gut the mecha before the Sentai members can react and destroy their combined cockpit. Or at least knock the mech onto its front and leave it defenseless.
By putting the shield on the back, it serves to protect that blind spot. I can't name a single instance where a mecha with a shield mounted on its back was seriously damaged from behind. Being detatchable is just a bonus-the real point of it is to cover the back.
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Re: A question about the Sentai Robo-tachi
True, I realize that--all good points everyone...it's just that (especially with Shinken-Oh) I can understand if it was a surprise attack from behind, but a lot of the time it loses the shield is from a direct frontal attack, usually a weak looking fireball or a glancing fist blow. Sure, They need to sell toys, and I can understand that the robot has to be battered around a little bit before the obligatory curbstomp come back, it just really bothersome that the robot can never seem to hold onto the shield--and they've made sword wielding robos without them before, so...hm...maa, iie ka. It is toku after all and there's a hell of a lot more that doesn't make sense. I wonder if I'm just yipping up the wrong tree
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Re: A question about the Sentai Robo-tachi
Gaoranger used a front shield and sword from Gaoelephant. Then they got pwned by Hades org since they couldn't protect their as... *ahem* back. Shinkenger wouldn't want to repeat this loop would they?
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