The 38th season of Super Sentai, Ressha Sentai Tokkyuger, begins on February 16, 2014. With trains as their motif, this team “drawn from imagination” must protect the “Rainbow Line” from the evil “Shadow”!
Let us know what you think of the new team and their costumes in the comments below! 😀
The name “Ressha” means train, but the kanji “re” in the pronunciation, which normally means “line” as in train line, has been replaced with a different kanji with the same sound that actually means “violent/extreme/fierce/intense”. The Tokkyugers are nearly yelling TRAINS!!! at us with this playful twist in their name.
The five-member team (red, blue, yellow, green, pink) are named for their numbers instead of their colors this time around: Tokkyu Ichigo, Tokkyu Niigo, Tokyuu Sango, Tokkyu Yongo, Tokkyu Gogo, and use their arm bracers, Tokkyuchangers, in combination with their Resshas, to transform.
Although the entire phrasing is not quite legible, the Tokkyuchanger will have a voice like that of a train announcer, stating something similar to “Transformation in progress, please step away from the transforming person”, a play on the “please stand clear of the closing doors” of a real train announcement. There are also specific sounds for color-change transformations.
In the most surprising bit of news, this team will be able to swap colors! As shown in the scans, Tokkyu Ichigo, normally red, can also become, instead, Tokkyu Ichigo Green.
The five trains can combine to form the Tokkyu-oh, which can also use other trains as interchangeable arms. In toy form, the robot will be 275 mm tall, and the length of the combined trains will be over 1.2 m long. The full robot (price undecided) will release in the first wave of toys on February 1st, along with the Tokkyuchanger (retail 3900 yen), the Tokkyu buckle (2500 yen), the Tokkyu blaster (4500 yen) and the action figures of Tokkyu Ichigo, Niigo and Sango (3000 yen each), which can swap numbers to perform the color transformations featured in the show. The five vinyl figures (600 yen each) also release February 1st, but can’t switch numbers.
The shared weapon, the Tokkyu Blaster, has two modes: uchimasu mode (shooting mode/Blaster Mode) and kirimasu mode (slashing mode/Sword Mode). The five members also have unique individual weapons: Ichigo has the Rail Slasher ( a sword), Nigo has the Home Trigger (a gun), Sango has the Shingo [traffic light] Hammer, Yongo has the Tunnel Axe and Gogo has the Tekkyou [rail bridge] Claw. These five can combine into the Rentetsu (Wrought Iron) Bazooka that fires the engine Resshas, and will be released as a set (5500 yen). The blaster, the buckle and the bazooka also come with other train cars that can attach to Tokkyu-oh, the Scope Ressha, Shield Ressha, and Energy Ressha, respectively.
A second wave of toys will be released on March 1, beginning with some extra interchangeable train arms, including a light blue train, Tokkyuressha 6, which is a tank Ressha with a boxing fighting style( 1500 yen) and an orange train, Tokkyuressha 7, a car carrier Ressha with a scoop mode that uses car energy (1500 yen).
Special thanks to Ekala for scan translations!
December 6, 2013 @ 1:15 pm
Wow. Well… Here’s to hoping it’s a parody series.
December 7, 2013 @ 6:04 am
like Akibaranger?
December 7, 2013 @ 5:06 pm
Like Carranger
December 7, 2013 @ 10:39 pm
Carranger.
December 6, 2013 @ 1:22 pm
If they’re powered by imagination, then why are designs so… unimaginative?
December 6, 2013 @ 2:01 pm
So agreed.
Even Thomas train mecha are WAAAAAYYYYYYYY much more better than this 🙁
December 6, 2013 @ 1:43 pm
Wow… it’s like they tried to do a throw back to the 90’s with those designs.
December 6, 2013 @ 1:55 pm
well this series looks to be going funny/cheesy route. in a few years wow what will pr do with it.
December 6, 2013 @ 2:08 pm
This is actually the worst suit designs ever! Wow Toei…just wow.
December 6, 2013 @ 2:13 pm
Well…those suit designs….
…is there a nicer way to say ‘butt freaking ugly as sin’? Because…I got nothing. – ~- ;;
December 6, 2013 @ 2:24 pm
The helmets are fine.
The rest of the suits….however….
December 8, 2013 @ 2:51 am
They still can be re-designed before TV series’ release.
You might remember how Battle Fever J and Dynaman did some slight modifications on their suits before the TV series’ release.
December 6, 2013 @ 2:46 pm
These rangers look like they belong on Sesame Street or something. Seriously, I’d think they would look better with big, googly eyes glued to the helmets.
Are there seriously enough train hobbyists in Japan that they became the target audience?
After such nice designs from GoBuster and Kyoryuger, they really took a few steps backwards with this.
December 6, 2013 @ 3:17 pm
Here’s hoping that Power Rangers does an older Super Sentai (pre-Zyuranger) instead of this show.
December 6, 2013 @ 3:56 pm
It’s like Kamen Rider Den-O then the Imagins.
December 6, 2013 @ 4:33 pm
I’ll give it the customary 3 episodes to impress me, but this looks like it’s either going to be fantastically good or complete garbage. The idea of interchangeable colors intrigues me and in Japan, trains ARE enough of a staple of everyday life to make a good theme. On the downside, the helmets just look . . . mean and the chest designs are just kind of there. I’ve grown to love some suit designs I’ve hated upon first viewing (Decade, OOOs, and Shinkenger all spring to mind). I guess it will come down to the characters, plot, and overall writing.
December 6, 2013 @ 5:32 pm
It’s den-o all over again but worse
December 6, 2013 @ 5:35 pm
Whoever fives the green light for suit design should be fired smh
December 6, 2013 @ 5:36 pm
The designs are really ugly, IMHO. I didn’t like Fourze’s design at first, but I finished loving it. But in this case the suit appeals as ugly as Battle Fever J suits.
And the mecha, when he power ups, is going to be a big train clusterfuck. Did anyone remember the 12-mecha-zord from Go-onger???
December 8, 2013 @ 2:49 am
What about Zen Shinken-Oh and Hyper Gosei Great? They’re also had a clusterfuck designs too.
December 9, 2013 @ 4:49 pm
Yeah, your examples are as good as mine…
Train clusterfuck FTW! When Toei adds more trains the robot is going to have more trains to attach and seem worser…
December 6, 2013 @ 6:01 pm
The suits are ugly,the weapons are ok, but the zords are awful…. they all look the same and the megazord looks awful
December 6, 2013 @ 6:08 pm
why did they make a sentai like this..?
December 6, 2013 @ 6:20 pm
u have got to be kidding me it looks like if operation overdrive and the super train megazord from light speed rescue had a baby
December 7, 2013 @ 4:22 am
I don’t know about this one. The suit looks ugly, and the mecha is just a flat-out eyesore (I mean, come on, Victory Liner/Super Train Megazord did a better job being a train-based mecha than this, and that was more than ten years ago). The only thing that can redeem this series is the action and the plot.
December 9, 2013 @ 6:52 am
Good comparison. Looking at the two side by side they actually have very similar designs. But the Grand Liner’s more unified color scheme was what made it work.
December 7, 2013 @ 10:04 am
I wonder how concept/design pasted the guys in charge. This sentai probably will be on the more lighthearted side. Ie carranger, and the one rpm was off. Still can’t see how this woulee be turned into pr series in a few yrs.
December 7, 2013 @ 10:03 pm
No please not another kid friendly sentai.. we need another serious tone sentai
December 8, 2013 @ 2:48 am
You have no power here. Sentai has become most favorite shows watched by most kids since Goranger.
Remember how Ohranger and Go-Busters received a very bad viewer’s rate back then? This shows that Japanese kids can’t accept a very serious-tone story line as Sentai are the heroes that kids always cheering up for, even for decades.
December 8, 2013 @ 11:25 am
Not like ohranger serious..something like dairanger or better yet timeranger those were two pretty good shows
December 9, 2013 @ 1:34 pm
Sorry, but what show do you think you’re watching? This is Super sentai not the young and the restless.
December 7, 2013 @ 11:59 pm
Maybe it will end the collect-them-all aspect of Super Sentai. Maybe no one will buy it and people can be done with it.
December 8, 2013 @ 10:04 am
I bet Sheldon Cooper from “Big Bang Theory” put Toei up to this. If not, then the people from “Lots and Lots of Trains.”
December 8, 2013 @ 1:21 pm
I’ll be fifthteen when Tokkyuger comes out but knowing fans they might pair the pink ranger with the red ranger
December 9, 2013 @ 2:00 pm
The idea of a train sentai is interest but after this, I might just focus more on Gaim, gouraigan, and the next garo season.
December 10, 2013 @ 8:51 pm
I admit the suits are ugly, I need to see the final combination of the megazords before I bad mouth them.