Sentai Suits Through The Ages: The 70's

Super Sentai has had a vast number of suits for its heroes. Naturally these suits have changed in style, vibe, and even material throughout the years. I figured a post like this would be a good way to show how much the franchise has changed over the years as far as aesthetics go. What I'm basically going to do for this series of posts is cover every Sentai team's suits by the decades they aired and each decade will have its own post. Due to this, this post is gonna be the shortest since only 3 Sentai series aired in the 70's.

Himitsu Sentai Gorenger:

The first sentai suits ever. They're rather simple overall but they work well. The markings on the chest and the white stripes do a decent job of breaking up the design and keep it from looking too simple. The belts look pretty good. That white gloves and boots work well on Akaranger and Momoranger and compliment their main colors really well. The black ones on Midoranger, Kiranger, and Aoranger work well with their colors as well. The capes are a really nice touch and we need more of those in the franchise. I could picture the suits without them but capes in general on superhero outfits add extra flourishes with how they react to movements so I'm glad they're there.

JAKQ Dengekitai:

These suits look pretty good. The visors help show off the card motif. The white on the four suits works well with their colors. The gloves matching their main colors is a nice touch and they help balance out the white on the helmets in Dia Jack, Clover King, and Heart Queen's cases. The sash going down the front helps break up what would be a simple design. The belts look pretty cool. Big One's suit is pretty good too. The red, blue, green, and yellow going down the helmet, wrapping around the arms and legs, and going down the chest adds a nice bit of color diversity to the suit. It also helps break up all the white which was kinda needed imo. The red belt buckle looks cool. Plus all 5 suits have capes and capes will never not be cool to me. Like with Gorenger, I can picture the suits without them but they're a good add-on that adds more style to their movements.

Battle Fever J:

These helmets look fantastic and because of the way they're molded they look more like western superhero masks and cowls as opposed to simply being helmets. The white on Battle Japan, Battle France, and Miss America works well with their colors. I particularly love the gymnast look Miss America has and how her helmet has sculpted hair. The green on Battle Kenya really compliments the black on the suit and the yellow on his helmet and his emblem works well with his red eyes. The black on Battle Cossack really compliments the orange and the black highlights on the helmet work well with the red eyes. The scarves on each suit really completes their design and brings everything together. Overall these are my favorite suits from this decade and probably some of the best suits the franchise has ever used.

If I had to pick a phrase that described Gorenger and JAKQ's designs overall, it'd be simple yet effective. If there is one big takeaway I have from Gorenger and JAKQ's designs, its that we need more capes in Sentai. Battle Fever J is the clear standout of this decade and like capes, scarves need to make a comeback in the franchise. The 70's are a good start for the franchise as far as designs go. Next up I will probably cover the 80's tho I make no promises on when that will come out.

My Thoughts On Every Pokemon Generation So Far

What can I say to start off other than...its Pokemon? Its something that doesn't need an intro since its so big in the mainstream and in nerd circles. Its a pop culture juggernaut at this point. I've been thinking about all the pokemon games I've played over the years so I thought "Hey, why not give my thoughts on each gen?". So enough stalling, lets get down to business.

Gen 1:

I get this game has a lot of nostalgia value for people and its a really fun game. However, it is also a really broken game. Psychic types are outright broken in these games because bug and ghost are practically useless against them despite being its weaknesses. You're in a for a rough time unless you one-shot them. Even Lance's Dragonites are easier to beat than Sabrina's gym for me. Its broken-ness is understandable since its literally the base for the rest of the franchise. There unfortunately isn't much I can say for the story as its just the player taking on Team Rocket. That being said, its probably my least favorite Gen in the franchise if only for the fact that its the starting point for everything. I much preferred the remakes to the originals.

Gen 2:

The 2nd games in the franchise. This Gen had a lot of improvements over Gen 1. Its better balanced and just as fun. It introduced held items, male/female pokemon, and breeding. It also introduced steel types and a type specifically created to take down psychic types: Dark. This Gen also brought back Team Rocket for the player to finish off. The only frustrating gym in this game is Whitney's. I don't need to say why because its become a meme in the fandom. This was actually the first Gen I played since I got Gold version and Blue version at the same time. Sadly I have never had the chance to play Crystal so I have no idea what thats like. Overall, its a fun gen that built up on what Gen 1 started.

Gen 3:

I have sadly not played Emerald so I'll just be commenting on Ruby and Sapphire. This is honestly were I think the games hit their stride as they add so many things to the franchise. The story is great and there is so much to do. I maxed out my playtime in these games. The contests are by far my fav side-content in the entire franchise. So many new pokemon were added in this Gen and all of them were pretty fun to use. I love Team Aqua and Magma simply because they didn't want to take over the world or just make money. They wanted to improve the world for pokemon and it lead to some really dangerous consequences. Its a nice lesson about not considering the consequences of what you're doing. With that being said, I do find the lore around Kyogre and Groudon kind of lacking. For the most part we just hear a bit about their battle and thats all.

Gen 4:

This Gen is pretty fun. I like the lore and world building as well as the duality of Time and Space between the main legendaries. Cyrus' plan is pretty good especially when you consider that in Diamond and Pearl, he technically wins. The dude actually creates his own universe. The underground is pretty fun and its a really good piece of side content. Platinum is the more complete version that throws Giratina into the mix while expanding the lore of Sinnoh. Platinum is a nice challenge. It was so difficult that on my first two play-throughs, I couldn't get past the bug Elite's Yanmega even with level and type advantage. This thing has haunted my dreams for years. I managed to beat it on my 3rd play-through. However, my main gripe with Gen 4 overall is the Contests. They're way too complicated so I never bothered doing them much. This Gen is also the biggest offender for making you have to use HMs just to get around.

Gen 5:

Gen 5 was ok. The story is fine and I like the variety of Unova's pokemon. The world building with the legendaries was neat and its got some neat lore. I like N as a villain because he legitimately just wants to help pokemon and he is genuinely upset when he finds out the true villain of the game was using him. This Gen was the first to let you fight the Elite 4 in any order you wanted. Honestly, I loved it because it allowed me to test each of them out to make sure I could beat them. If I had a little too much trouble, I'd reset and try taking on a different member. Black and White 2 picks up where the first games left off. It was great to see what the rivals and N were up to. The side-content in all 4 games is ok though I still have not been able to work out what the musicals even do.

Gen 6:

I'm going to be honest, this is my least favorite Gen in the franchise. Sure its a nice graphics upgrade and it made EV training incredibly easy so there are a few pluses to the game. Character customization was also a really good idea. What costs it points with me is simply this: Once you beat the League, there is virtually nothing to do outside the Looker missions. I'm not a competitive player so I really don't care for Super Training. There also aren't many new pokemon so I tended to just use the older ones alongside my Delphox because that was what I was familiar with. Adding fairy types as potential dragon killers was a nice idea. However, thats kind of undercut by the fact that the game introduced a Poison/Dragon type at the same time. That made it the go-to for killing fairy types. The game in general feels unfinished and stripped down. It never expands on the lore after the League outside of fighting the giant guy thats implied to be the ancient king of Kalos.

Gen 7:

This Gen is a major step up from Gen 6. I played Sun and Ultra Sun so if there are any major differences between those and Moon/Ultra Moon, I wouldn't know. I love how Alola as a whole feels. Its the most alive any pokemon game so far has felt. The trials while annoying to some are a nice change of pace for me even if some of the totem pokemon are a pain. The thing I appreciate the most about Gen 7 however, is one simple thing: They finally removed the need for HMs. You have no idea how happy that made me. I was able to build the exact team I wanted and use it throughout the entire story. Admittedly, I do feel a a bit sad since no new pokemon appear Post-League so its kinda lacking in post game content. Its not as lacking as Gen 6 because what post game content thats there is fun. Its great that we get to fight the leaders of older teams.

So...what will Gen 8 hold? Who knows. All I know is I'm pretty excited for it. If I had to comment on the whole thing about most of the roster being cut...meh. I don't really care that most of the mons aren't available. I've treated just about every Gen as a fresh start for the franchise anyway. I'm more concerned what the story and side-content will be. I've tried to keep from seeing a lot of the news so I can go in blind but what I have heard about it has me pretty interested. Also, I will probably cover the remakes at some point in the future.