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Monday, August 25, 2014

Power Morphicon More Super and Mega Than Two Years Ago

Color costumed clad heroes walked the Pasadena Convention Hall over the weekend. Some were little kids, some were Moms and Dads. Some haven't put their costumes on in years and some were brand new heroes.

New Cast
Brand new heroes like the reveal of the Power Rangers: Dino Charge cast. Saban, maker and adapter of Power Rangers revealed the cast of Power Rangers: Dino Charge at its special panel Saturday, August 23rd. The new cast as is follows: Brennan Mejia as Red Ranger;Yoshi Sudarso as Blue Ranger;Camille Hyde as Pink Ranger;Michael Taber as Green Ranger and James Davies as Black Ranger. Of note, Camille will be the first African-American Pink Ranger. The new series is due out next year.

They new team triumphantly went in front of a frenzied crowd in full costume after the panel of the current rangers, the Super Mega Force. The new team is adapted from the Japanese Jūden Sentai Kyōryūger which theme is dinosaurs and Samba dancing. How this will be adapted to the American market will be anyone's guess. The current team is adapted from a pirate themed version of the team in Japan..

The Power Rangers Super Mega Force were still very much beloved by fans as they sat down to a long-lined Q & A that took up most of their panel. Before they started answering the mad dash of questions from costumed fans they revealed very little about the new season. Red Ranger, Andrew Gray said, "Let's just say these are out favorite episodes, " when talking about the new season coming out Saturday, August 30th on Nickelodeon. Green Ranger, Azim Rizk said, "There's a lot more expectations."

When asked how it felt to be Power Rangers, Silver Ranger, Cameron Jebo said, "We're our own childhood heroes." Looking overjoyed about it to the crowd.

Constantly reminisced over the panel was the "Halloween episode" as a favorite of the current rangers. The Green Ranger wearing a cow suit and being crammed into a small tent brought the cast many fond memories.

They cast was asked about filming in New Zealand for the adaptation of huge crossover of Power Rangers from the past that will come out later this year in the show. It's adapted from a Japanese film where all the former rangers come together. "It's like going to Middle Earth, "said the Silver Ranger. The Red Ranger told of how a scene went in the atmosphere of New Zealand. A villain said, "I will conquer the world, "followed immediately by a sheep going, "bahhhh!"

A tiny ranger, a little kid asked, what goes on in the cast's minds before a scene. Blue Ranger, John Mark answered, "We do it for you." He knew it sounded corny, but wanted to share that he and the rest of the cast think about their fans all the time on set.

Fans filled the convention center in Pasadena this year wearing costumes of their favorite rangers and monsters. Booths from Power Ranger toys, box sets from Shout Factory and Zord toys were everywhere.

Laurel Planas
Laurel Planas, the artist behind Tofu Plus Beast was selling her comic and illustrations at one of the booths, far away from a clown booth that scared us here at TTDILA. She was selling her comic with a Hawaiian based hero, as she comes from Hawaii and the only hero they got on the air was Kikiader. Kikaider was robot superhero show out of Japan along the lines of Power Rangers. "I really like tokusatsu (Japanese live-action) and have friends going too, " she said in her Kamen Rider Fourze mask titled on her head when asked why she was attending the convention.

Fans could also meet some of the original cast including: Red Ranger;Austin St. John, Black Ranger;Walter Emanuel Jones and David Yost the original Blue Ranger.

Bulk wasn't there.

Part of the original cast, Bulk, played by Paul Schrier, had many reasons he wasn't in attendance. Skull, Professor Jason Narvy, explained them: Black Lung, shot in the face, broke his foot, gambled away his ticket, stuck on his cruise to Alaska; stewing in his own juices, crimes against a large manatee, and that he planted a gun on him.

This was Jason Narvy's panel. An insane Q & A where he answered almost no questions with no intent of real answers and his Mom and Dad were in the audience. A young child started the panel with, "You're crazy!" Many would not argue with him as the hour panel achieved nothing more than strange answers to strange questions.

For fans it did provide the meeting of Felix Ryan, aka Skull's son Spike Skullovitch. The too hosted the panel together never answering who Spike's mother was in the series, a question that's been plaguing fans for ages.

"You're a doctor, what are you doing here?, " an unruly fan asked Skull. He answered angrily and with no real answer as he did with most questions getting laughter.

When asked about being a Power Ranger multiple times he answered with, "Y'know August St John (Original Red Ranger) can't pull out a quarter from his pants and put it in his watch and become a dinosaur."

When speculating about if Bulk and Skull would be in the new film adapation of Power Rangers, now with a date of  July 2016, he though Key & Peele would be good for the parts.

With the artistic director's belt's falling down, he was waring two, dropping all his cards and jumping on tables the panel was probably the most energetic of the convention.

It did lack pie.

Coming over from the last convention, where the Bulk and Skull panel featured and infamous pie throwing course, was a "No Pie Policy". A policy that had stickers, t-shirts and posters at this year's convention. Staff carried fake pies around the convention and if you caught them you receive a prize. TTDILA did catch a pie handler and received Dino Charge Pins for their compensation.

At the Shout Factory booth,  Andre of the famous Black Nerd comedy channel of YouTube talked with former and new rangers via live stream for fans who couldn't attend in person.

Power Morphicon size and panels made it more of a "Super" "Mega" outing for fans. Those who grew up with dino zords were happy to see them again and happy to see them return with a new series of dinosaurs themed battles for next year. Power Morhpicon could have only been better if it did allow pies.