Baron Sting Loves Us All

Baron String (Young Boy, Gorma, and giant form) - Gosei Sentai Dairanger EP 1 "Let's Tenshin!" Japan 2/19/1993

Baron String (紐男爵) is a golden string-themed Gorma Minion and the first of his villainous kind to be seen in the series with his human form looking like a young boy wearing comically thick (and equally questionable by today's sensibilities) glasses.

An ancient Chinese sorcerer recently awakened after six thousand years of sleep, Baron String, went around Tokyo and captured various children with his rather nasty snake-like tentacles, temporarily devouring his prisoners, while also attempting to assassinate Ryo, the soon-to-be red leader of the mystical Dairangers.

Despite his efforts, the newly revealed Dairangers get the upper hand over Baron String, forcing him to regurgitate his hostages, all of whom run to safety as their gold captor then uses an Growth Bomb (a common device of The Gorma Tribe) to grow gigantic. Soon afterwards, Baron String was defeated by the dragon-based robotic warrior RyuseiOh.

If you're all wondering what's up with this article's bizarre title, that's because Baron String has a gimmick where he sings a lullaby, something to the effect that he earnestly loves his soon-to-be-slain victims.

While I'm not aware of any cultural significance behind Baron String's song, it gives him an interesting character quirk similar to ones given to colorful assassins seen in certain anime shows.

Baron String was among a team of returning Gorma Minions in the theatrically released Gosei Sentai Dairanger: The Movie (4/17/1993), resurrected from the dead by a deck of card-themed villain named The Duke of Trump (トランプ公爵). 

Baron String was later adapted into the second season of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers as Pipebrain, a monster created from The Golden Pipe Trophy thru Lord Zedd's evil magic. Pipebrain's single appearance was in episode 74, "Missing Green" (10/3/1994).

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Lastly, here's some concept art and magazine scans I found throughout Twitter: apologizes to those who originally uploaded these for I failed to save the source links.

Raijin God = Mecha-Daimajin?!

Raijin God - Sazer X EP 25 "A Recreated History" Japan 3/25/2006

Super Fleet Sazer-X (2005-2006) was a Toho production aping the Super Sentai and Metal Hero genres, though with a bigger emphasis on giant robot action whenever possible, likely due to Koichi Kawakita as the show's special effects director.

Raijin God (雷神ゴード) was the guardian deity of the descendants of the ancient Lighting Clan and was summoned by Lightning Shogun Thundera, the last living modern member of said clan (the cute alien gal in the tight blue pants), from the bottom of a lake.

The robotic giant was a fierce combatant, holding its own in a four-way battle with three other mecha opponents, until Thundera saw reason and sends God Raijin back into the lake, never to be seen again in the series, unfortunately.

As you can tell by God Raijin's appearance, choice of weaponry (The Divine Sword Godius [ 神剣ゴーディウス ]), and overall iconography (the parting of the waves), he is a direct homage to Daimajin and his 1966 trilogy of fantasy films. If you're a fan of Daimajin, be happy to know God Raijin represents the demonic status of divine retribution quite well as, again, he was a real bruiser in the fight and could have won without a scratch had he not been returned to his aquatic sleep.

The character was played by television suit actor Shinya Iwasaki who mostly does work in the 2000s Ultraman franchise based on what I could find.

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Mad Monster Party Commentary?

Today's date, March 8th, was the original release date for MAD MONSTER PARTY? (1967), an animated horror-comedy from Rankin-Bass productions which also features IT, a giant King Kong-inspired gorilla monster who appears in full in the third act.

Unlike the film's other supernatural weirdos, IT was not deliberately villainous, even showing moments of kindness and mercy, but was a destructive menace who ultimately doomed Dr. Frankenstein's Island and almost every soul living there.

While on the subject of Mad Monster Party?: several years ago, me and my friends Wyn, Brayton, and KaijuNoir did a live-watch and Mystery Science Theater 3000-style commentary track for the film, which can be viewed on the following link:

https://archive.org/details/livewatch-mad-monster-party

Enjoy!