So Hey Here's A 10,000 Word Review Of The Season Premiere As Examined Through The Lens of Merchandising and Power Rangers · 4:57pm Jun 5th, 2018
We now live in the age of Best Yak. Roll with it.
Greetings, Booksketeers!
Like most people in this fandom, I had hobbies and loves before I came around these parts. You can likely see their influences in the stories I write. To that end, when Henshin Justice Unlimited put out a call for contributors, I decided to throw caution to the wind and apply as a features writer.
For those not old enough to remember, HJU used to be the center for discussion of tokusatsu (heroic and/or special-effects laden) shows a la Kamen Rider, Super Sentai/Power Rangers, Ultraman, and anything that embodies the spirit of the genre during the last decade. It's been supplanted in recent years due to an extended hiatus and the fandom just expanding, but it's now back and doing its best to find its niche in a fandom that already is one big niche. And you know how much I like niches. 
So NATURALLY I decided to pitch a pony article to them. Two and a half months later, it's finally up! That's timely, right?
Some things to know:
- I am never doing this again. This took me way too long. Hasbro bought Power Rangers while I was in the middle of doing this review and I didn't have enough energy in me to address it.
- I have only seen like four episodes this season, so I don't yet know if any of the predictions made in this review have come to pass.
- Fair warning, however, to those who disliked or even despised this premiere: I loved it. Violently so. I've also read all your critiques and rants, because you were all inescapably loud with them. Now that you have that context, clicking the above is your decision.
Also, as a bonus, I wrote a Viewtiful Joe retrospective that kicked off my time there.
Anyways, enjoy! I am now going to spend a bunch of my day trying to wrangle the climax of this Wallflower book into submission aaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrgh
~B
First off: Booksketeers?
Second: I really liked this season's premier so I'll try and remember to read the stuff linked when I get home. If I see you on discord, it would probably not hurt to remind me about it, though.
Third: I need to write me some Wallflower shipping
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I'm still shopping names so if you have better ones I'm all ears, sure thing, and everyone needs to write some Wallflower shipping
I'm glad I'm not the only one who loved the premiere.
I'd recommend getting around to watching the episodes of the season you haven't already seen yet, since I'd say that overall season 8 is the best one yet.
I miss Viewtiful Joe...
"IN NAME OF YAKYAKISTAN, YAK WILL SMASH EVIL!"
And I don't think I've seen anyone contrast the students' and dignitaries' behavior before. Brilliant touch there. Thanks for bringing the review to my attention; I never would've seen it otherwise. And hey, if those possible character arcs for the Student Six don't pan out, they'll make amazing fanfic fodder.
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And I made that dignitaries realization at the eleventh hour, no lie. Blew my mind when I did. This show is, and always will be, an investment in future generations.
It took until this last episode for them to explore it, but guidance counselor Glim-Glam is exactly as awesome as you imagined. So there’s some incentive for you to get caught up.
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Yaaaassssss. Thank you for telling me
I've still got my hangups about the execution of the concept, but the point about the real world parallels is well made and helps take the edge off my cantankerousness.
Thanks for sharing that! Definitely would not have found it otherwise. I really liked the review, will have more to say when I actually get to the episode
I think the part I liked best was describing Ocellus' giant bug form as a kaiju. That got a bit of a giggle out of me. It fell under my general appreciation of consuming media spoken/sung in other languages. Seeing something familiar described in the jargon of this other fandom offers an interesting lens to see things through.
I think we all have seen countless people attempting to assert their own lens onto the show. The difference here is that you're using that lens familiar to the audience you're blogging to, in order to increase their understanding and perhaps raise the appeal of the subject to them. In contrast, many on this site attempt to bring their outside lens and slap it onto ponies to their detriment, and in hostility to those of us who are part of the lens the show is offering us.
So even if Power Rangers is among the least appealing things in existence to me, I can still enjoy seeing MLP content being compared to and/or explained via concepts from that just to get to a different audience. Even if I find the Tirek fight to be among the low points of the series due to the obvious similarity to DBZ, I can appreciate how outside of our fandom that could be seen as an appealing thing, especially since you subtly, later on describe how "combat" in Equestria often plays out.
A place for talking toku, you say? <.< Hmm...
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Not gunna lie, I am completely flabbergasted at just how much of this there isn't right now. How are there not pics and fics centered around her not rolling off the metaphorical shelves??
Still catching up on S7, so I haven't actually seen the premiere yet, which limits how much I can meaningfully comment on this.
As it relates to the episode, anyway.
Ah, but as ever, there's always Bookish The Writer to delight in, and that's something I did from start to finish here. Keen observations, striking parallels, perfectly-placed humor ("Twilight Sparkle, ever the Twilight Sparkle" was a particular favorite)...it was just so much fun to read. I realize you're saying you'll never do these again, and fair's fair, I can't even begin to imagine how time-consuming this was for you, but even so I hope we get something like this again this season, because I would be all about that.
Yona is love. It is known, khaleesi.
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Thanks!
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Unlike last year's villainness du jour, Wallflower actually gets a lot of fanart! It's only the fic department where she's lacking.