The 20th anniversary of Power Rangers

Today marks the 20th anniversary of when the Power Rangers franchise first began! Back on this day on Saturday, August 28th of 1993 on the Fox Kids Network here in North America with the premiere of "Day of The Dumpster". This was way before the internet as we know it came into existence so we didn't have any idea back then that it was being adapted from the 16th entry in the Super Sentai Series, Kyōryū Sentai Zyuranger, but it was something ahead of it's time that had never been done before which really took the American audiences by surprise.

Teenagers that could also be superheroes and know martial arts was an idea that had never been done before which I think that Mighty Morphin Power Rangers resonated with so many kids back then! And adapting a Japanese show for an American audience was also something that was brand new that had never been done before. Haim Saban was taking a huge gamble and risk when finally getting Power Rangers to come to fruition, and luckily for him and the rest of Saban Entertainment it ended up paying off!

As with all shows from the 80s like Transformers, Thundercats, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Power Rangers has become a very successful franchise because of the merchandise and in my opinion, I think it's the merchandise that helped Power Rangers stay afloat and alive during it's darkest times during the Disney era of the franchise and during the run of Power Rangers Turbo. Here we are, 20 years later, and the franchise is still a huge success because of merchandising alone as well as the fact that Saban Brands has decided to take advantage of social media sites like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Youtube to help promote the most recent incarnation of the franchise, Power Rangers Megaforce and it's previous entry Power Rangers Samurai as well as the previous seasons which are now available on Netflix's "Watch Instantly" streaming service and are being released on DVD which is something that Disney never did back when they owned the franchise!

And whether you like it or not, the Power Rangers franchise has become a intricate part of tokusatsu history. This was proven when Toei Company Limited, the owners and producers of the Super Sentai Series as well as co-creators of the Power Rangers franchise used some terms from Mighty Morphin Power Rangers and Power Rangers in general in the previous entry in the Super Sentai Series, Tokumei Sentai Go-Busters. Mighty Morphin Power Rangers became so successful, that it was even parodied and referenced on shows and video games like American Dad, Animaniacs, Bakugan, Bill Nye: The Science Guy, Doctor Who, Dragon Ball Z, the Suda 51 video game Killer 7, Mega Man Battle Network 3, Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars, Mighty Moshin' Emo Rangers, the Pretty Cure and Sailor Moon franchises, etc. 

Happy 20th anniversary Rangers, and hopefully here's to another 20 more! Sorry for this blog entry not being as focused as my previous blog entries, my mind has been all over the place during the time I was typing this blog entry out so I hope you can forgive me.

Newest info on the PS4 and XBox One

If any of you have been living under a rock, or don't have excellent internet connections and still prefer actual gaming magazines for you to get you're latest gaming news, the Playstation 4 and the XBox One have both been announced. Microsoft had originally intended the Xbox One to be a console version of Valve's Steam platform on the PC, but it was so badly explained as well as marketed that tons of 360 fanboys and fangirls switched to the PS4 because of Microsoft's security concerns and because of this whole public relations nightmare, Don Mattrick resigned from his post as the President of the Interactive Entertainment Business at Microsoft and became the new CEO of Zynga, who's best known for social media games like Farmville and Mafia Wars.

Microsoft has also been doing a lot of back-peddling to try and repair the damage done earlier this year when the Xbox One was announced and the PR nightmare that followed soon after while Sony Computer Entertainment divisions in both America and Japan have unveiled the Playstation 4 as well as announced the price which makes it $100 cheaper than the $500 MSRP that Microsoft is charging for the Xbox One! Fast forward to the present where just recently Sony finally announced the release date for the PS4 at the Gamescom trade fair in Cologne, Germany.

The Playstation 4 will be available to everyone in North America on November 15th and will be released in Europe on November 29th which will also be when the console will be released in Australia and will be available in 32 countries! Unfortunately, Microsoft hasn't released an announce date for the Xbox One, and the release of the console will be delayed in the European countries. A list of launch titles for both consoles have recently been released for both consoles which will be released during the first 3 months of both respected console's release dates.

Both consoles will have Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag, Battlefield 4, and Call of Duty: Ghosts released on them as well as the latest entries in the Madden and NBA franchises. Also, keep in mind that a lot of the games coming for this holiday season will also be coming out for the PS3 as well as the 360 since both Microsoft and Sony will still be supporting these consoles for a few more years. The only real difference that you will see will be the graphics and the visuals because the graphics and visuals are supposed to look much better on these next generation consoles, but as to how much better remains to be seen.

For a full list of launch games that will be available on day one as well as within the launch window, please check out: List of PS4 launch titles and List of XBox One launch titles and take a look at the comparison chart located here at: Playstation 4 Vs. Xbox One Comparison Chart before making you're decision!

Some updates as to what's going on lately

So we are only 2 weeks away from the return of the Nerd Fortress podcast as well as the 20th anniversary of the Power Rangers franchise. It's very hard to believe that it's been 20 years since the Power Rangers franchise began with the premiere episode "Day of The Dumpster". And as far as I know, Nickelodeon isn't going to do anything special for the 20th anniversary which continues to show how much they care about the franchise. As far as the podcast goes, we have been able to snag somebody for a guest appearance which is better than not having anybody as a guest at all.

I know that I've been neglecting this blog for a while, but that doesn't mean I'm going to quit posting on it completely though! I've been so preoccupied with other things and didn't really feel that there was much to post about in my opinion. I would have posted about the newest thing in the AKB48 fandom causing an absolute uproar but felt that it was better to just do a post about it on my twitter.

I'm not going to go over it in full detail, but you can find out about it here and judge for yourselves!

Mayu Watanabe from AKB48 gets kicked in the head on Japanese variety TV show

And I've been trying to catch up on the new Garo series as well as Kamen Rider Wizard and Zyuden Sentai Kyoryuger before I start watching the latest entry in the long running Ultraman franchise, Ultraman Ginga. And Kamen Rider Wizard has 3 episodes left before it's big finale. This is also the first time that an entry in the Neo Heisei Era of the Kamen Rider franchise where there was 51 episodes. This hasn't happened since Kamen Rider Black, the 8th entry in the Kamen Rider franchise which aired from October 4, of 1987 to October 9, of 1988.

Anyways, I'm not sure about how we are going to be releasing the premiere episode of the podcast, but Devin and myself will figure that out once we get around to it. I'm also going to be setting up an email address for the podcast for people to get in contact with us and give us fan feedback. The big show is only 2 weeks away from now! And I'm not going to be sharing anymore details than that. So that's what's been going on lately and why I haven't updated the blog in a while. See you guys in the next 2 weeks!