Meet Japan's Newest Train-Themed Super Sentai Team, 'Ressha Sentai Tokkyūger'

Following the current season of the dance/gun/dinosaur-themed Zyuden Sentai Kyoryuger, Toei will launch its 38th Super Sentai series, Ressha Sentai Tokkyuger. It's all about trains! Train track helmets, railroad crossing chest motifs, a giant combined train mech known as the TokkyuOh, electronic train ticket device morphers called Tokkyu Chargers -- this show looks like it's going to be the right kind off the rails.

Set to debut at 7:30 a.m. on Japan's TV Asahi on February 16, Tokkyuger will follow a new five-colored team consisting of Tokkyū 1 (Red), Tokkyū 2 (Blue), Tokkyū 3 (Yellow), Tokkyū 4 (Green), and Tokkyū 5 (Pink). The news and images come from a Bandai toy catalog that's surfaced online, revealing most of the show's aesthetic, but not much by way of story.

Each of the Tokkyū team members will come armed with TokyuuBlasters that alternate between the usual sword and gun modes, plus character-specific weapons such that can be combined into a big bazooka.

The team's TokkyuOh mech consists of five transforming (TRAINSFORMING!) trains and can be seen brandishing a railroad crossing style sword. It'll also interact with some secondary train mechs for arm power ups, from the looks of things. All in all, it's not unlike the awesome transforming Thomas the Tank Engine bootleg that's been floating around on auction sites since 2009.

Longtime Super Sentai and Power Rangers fans will note that this isn't the first time trains have been employed in the franchise's nearly 40-year history. Train mechs and zords have figured prominently into series such as Mahou Sentai Magiranger/Power Rangers Mystic Force and Engine Sentai Go-onger/Power Rangers RPM, although trains weren't the central motif.

Casting information for the show hasn't been released just yet, but is expected to arrive online in the next month or so. North American fans will probably have to wait a few years before they can see Saban's take on the "Train Rangers," though. Its Power Rangers Super Megaforce localization of Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger, Toei's 35th Super Sentai series, will debut on Nickelodeon in early 2014.

Bandai