#even if it reminds me heavily of sentai helmets

[fatedroses]

I know I design him with the intention that he becomes an evasion tank, but there's an irony I find very amusing in making his new magitek armor lighter than his original.

[jacscorner]

Toku-Talk 01.2: Grapplerangers

So who remembers “Toku-Talk”, the segment where I talk about tokusatsu ideas that I have? Nobody? Too bad. 

So on the 1st (of 2) Toku-Talks, I talked about my wrestling-themed Tokusatsu idea that was heavily influenced by Super Sentai. I won’t go over all of it, but I just wanna show that I eventually did do some basic Sentai-ish designs for my seven heroes. I’ll shoot a link to my dA where I eventually did put my Toku-Talk 1 at the end if you REALLY want the full re-cap, but trust me, you won’t need it here.

GrappleRed/GrappleLion: Ambitious young super star, a straight Face. His mask is based off of a Lion. He's a well-rounded fighter, making him a Jack of All Trades, Master of None. This is something that hinders him later on while the rest of the team have a specialty, but he lacks any sort of strength. When fighting, he takes the persona of a superhero, something along the lines of a Superman, high moral character. Under the mask, he's quiet and indecisive, would rather stand in the background instead of the limelight. His Finishing Move is the Lion Pride, where he grabs a foe from behind, jumps into the air-or off of a high spot-and performs a backwards suplex.

GrappleBlue/GrappleLynx: A more technical fighter, an old-school style that focuses more on joint locks. Her mask is based off of a Lynx. When fighting, she comes off as a cold, heartless woman and will verbally confirm to her enemies she enjoys the sound of their bones breaking. Under the mask, she's incredibly shy and a crybaby, she absolutely can't stand the idea of people-well, other than monsters-getting hurt. Her finishing move, the Lynx Lock, is something along the lines of the Boston Crab. Ala anime, the screen goes black and you see blue kanji for 'menacing' or 'death' as a cracking noise is heard.

GrappleGreen/GrappleTiger: The physically strongest fighter, Green specializes in throwing Lariats and throws. His mask is based off of a Tiger. In the ring, he's very boastful of his strength and will make loud declarations of how he will defeat his opponents-a gag of sorts is how his claims, like being able to pick and up and throw mountains will be incorporated in the visuals. Without the masks, he prefers to spend his time in textbooks and is a vivid reader. He has a passion for writing and wants to write a novel. His finishing move is the Tiger Tornado, where he spin like a tornado with his arms extended, either dragging people into his vortex or just knocking them around with his stretched out arms.

GrappleYellow/GrappleCheetah: A total heel and mischievous character, GrappleYellow starts off as the weakest member and will fight dirty, but he's also the slickest and fastest. His mask is based off of a Cheetah. He uses illegal moves, punches, and will grab lots of objects and will bring weapons to fight with. He slowly starts getting better, perfecting kicks and elbow blows, until he makes a complete Heel-Face-Turn and becomes a true wrestler. With the mask on, he acts more like a villain and even talks like one-the villains will even say things like, 'why aren't you on my team' and 'hey, we're on the same side! Stop attacking us'. With the mask off, he's much friendlier, down right cheerful. He does super nice things and you could never picture him as a heel. His finishing move, the Cheetah Charge, is a dropkick with a running start, with both his legs catching fire from how fast he runs.

GrapplePink/GrappleCougar: A high-flying fighter who does lots of aerials and acrobatics-well, more so than the rest of the team. Her mask is based off of a Cougar. She jumps around and bounces of off opponents and teammates to perform aerial moves. With the mask on, she's a very flirty temptress who lures monsters in close before she strikes. Outside of the ring, she's got a bad attitude, with the rest of the team just outright calling her a brat, Her signature move, the Cougar Crush, is her kicking/jumping off something before descending on her target, delivering a high kick atop their heads and a knee kick from below.

The Core 5.

GrappleShadow/GrapplePanther: A reformed villain who becomes a 7th ranger. Wait, 7th? Yeah, 7th. He's introduced as a strong minion early on-think something along the lines of Ikagen from Uchuu Sentai Kyuranger or Goldar/Grifforzor from Mighty Morphin Power Rangers/Kyōryū Sentai Zyuranger. He was once a fresh-faced wrestler who could've become a star, but an accident put him in the hospital indefinitely. Until the Main Villain came around and GrappleShadow made a deal with the devil. Main Villain helped him walk and fight again if they wrestled for him. He's incredibly strong, often requiring the Rangers to retreat or defeating him with some sort of trick before he's eventually reminded the reason he wanted to wrestle; that he wanted to be someone children looked up to, not feared. He's defeated/stripped of his power and is sent back to the hospital. He'll later recover and is able to join the crew later as GrappleShadow, dawning a Panther-themed mask. He specialize choke holds. Both with and without the masks, he appear to be an aloof loner. But in reality, he's guilt ridden for all the things he's done and struggles with his terrible deeds. His special move, Panther Vengeance, is similar to a hangman's choke, wrapping their arms around the opponent and jumps in the air, landing on something and hanging the opponent.

GrapplerSnow/GrappleLeopard: The ACTUAL Sixth Ranger. A mysterious lady wrestler, later to be revealed as the daughter of the coach. She lived with her Mother all this time and, against their wishes, became a famous and popular masked wrestler that gets referenced throughout the show as 'Snow Mask'. When she appears in the show, she dawns her own masks when the monsters appear, only this time, she transforms into a ranger, which is, of course, based off of a Snow Leopard. Her specialty is chops, knee blows, and submission holds. She appears to be the same strong willed, determined women with the mask on and off, but secretly, she's insecure and a try hard who wants the acceptance of others. She comes off as a cool loner when she's introduced because she's so socially awkward, she can't stand being around people, but she warms up later on. Her special move, the Snow Claw, is where she performs a clawhold-grabbing someone's face with her hand-before lifting them up in the air, crushing their head before they go limp, or 'freeze over'.

The Shade Duo

While not crazy about the designs myself, I don’t think they’re too bad. I think what really bothers me is the visor the helmets have and just my inadequacy at drawing helmets in general. Overall, I think they look....pretty okay. Could have been better, but okay.

I guess if I could turn back the clock to yesterday, I’d tell myself not to bother with putting them in Sentai-themed outfits and just made them masked wrestlers. I doubt some executive is gonna see this post and think ‘oh wow, this random guy from America’s onto something’ or anything remotely close. XD But this was a fun little exercise to do. Maybe in the future, I’ll redo this and just make 7 new characters to be the “Grapplerangers”.

https://www.deviantart.com/26qq308/art/Toku-Talk-01-Puroresu-Sentai-Grappleranger-704870961