Some fun with Ninninger's Rumors, 'Koutairanger'

I guess this can kinda be called a tradition now that I've done it for three years.  These are kinda my idea for Ninninger.  However, since we know basically nothing other than the name and theme, there's really not much to base the designs on.  So in my idea here, it's ninjas/element teams/animals.   Just to make sure, this is only my fan idea based on the name and theme it is NOT an official design.  The only thing that rumors (read as "fan hope") seem to state is that the rangers may have more than one color suit in their repertoire.   
In a secret ninja school train the silent protectors of our future.  Ninja are given new names and identities when they join the school as their ninja comrades are their new families.  Ninja are trained in one of the three elemental spheres that govern our world: sky, land, and sea. 
When *villain monsters* attack, the twelve most senior ninja (these twelve would be a cameo opportunity for the five Kakuranger and five Hurricaneger actors, with two more sentai/toku ninja-esque alums) die stemming the flow of the monsters' invasion.  Their powers are scattered through the nation, waiting to be reawakened by the newest generation of ninja rangers...these six students are...Shuriken Sentai!  Ninninger!  (I know it's stupid and lame, but that's the idea that popped into my head when I started really getting to their designs.  And now that I wrote it down, it sounds like Ninja Storm a bit). 

So the top row is the team's standard colors, most balanced fighting suit, and most adept at using their respective elements.  The second and third rows feature the core six using the power sets of one of the twelve senior ninja who died before the series takes place.  The second row focuses the powers towards defense, strength, and durability.  The third row focuses the powers towards offense, speed, and agility.  As the second and third rows are not the core's main power source, these suits are unbalanced and unable to use their respective elements as efficiently as the main colors.  Further, the second and third row still feature the core's main colors in gems on the belt and headband.  The transformation to the main colors and then to secondary colors is done through a henshin change termed "shurikenge" (portmanteau of shuriken and henge-meaning change). 

The names of our heroes in this story are Feather Red, Claw Green, Fin Blue, Scale Cyan, Horn Yellow, and Wing Magenta. 

Feather Red's shurikenge are Red Hawk, Gray Condor, and Orange Falcon.  Ranked 1st; sky elemental; birds.
Claw Green's shurikenge are Green Lion, Black Bear, and Lime Wolf.  Ranked 2nd; land elemental; carnivorous mammals.
Fin Blue's shurikenge are Blue Dolphin, Navy Shark, and White Stingray.  Ranked 3rd; sea elemental; marine animals (was going to be only fish but I wanted to get dolphin in there somewhere).
Scale Cyan's shurikenge are Cyan Turtle, Teal Crocodile, and Steel Frog.  Ranked 4th; sea elemental; reptiles (and an amphibian, it's close enough).
Horn Yellow's shurkenge are Yellow Bison, Brown Elephant, and Beige Gazelle.  Ranked 5th; land elemental; horned and hoofed mammals.

The idea with their rankings is that each pair's rank has the sum of seven, so each division is balanced among the others.  The idea with their animals was to try and include and categorize the animals we've had in the previous two ninja series.  Now, in my head, there is a seventh ranger (who wouldn't actually be a ninja) who's animal is a monkey/ape.  I'm not sure I'll make him ever, but in the concept, there is the inclusion of that type of animal. 

The elements are termed sky, land, and sea but it's really just wind, earth, and water.  The seventh ranger would ultimately have dominion over fire, lightning, metal, ice, wood, and sound.  Again, not sure if I'll ever make him. 

The divisions/pairs share similarities in their suits.  My idea for the divisions obviously comes from Goseiger, because I love the idea of a team made up of smaller pairs.  The chest all feature a shuriken, kinda imagine the shuriken being thrown across the chest, from (their) bottom right to upper left, followed by the elemental representation.  Sky's shuriken is followed by gusts of wind.  Land's shuriken is followed by chunks of earth.  Sea's shuriken is followed by drops of water.  Sky's suits and helmets are a bit triangular and sharp; Land's are blocky and squared; Sea's are more round and circular.  Their animal type is only featured on their belts with a symbol relating to the first bit of their names: feathers (really just bird wings), claws, fins, scales, horns, and wings. 

The colors are based on RGB/YCM colors because I know that won't be the case in the actual show so it allowed me to have more fun.  Feather Red, Claw Green, and Fin Blue are the top three ranked ninja and therefore all have a completely desaturated color to shurikenge into: gray, black, and gray, respectively.  Other than that, colors were kinda chosen to give the second row darker tones and the third row brighter tones.  It worked out that this meant no crimson, which I like.  Because there are way too many red extra mecha in the last two series.  The colors the core shurikenge into are based on the power source of the twelve who died, but not necessarily tied to their gender.  So I like to think that it could mean the original teal was possibly female or original pink was male.  No, the colors among divisions do not get shared among the core team.  This means Feather Red can only shurikenge into Feather Gray Or Feather Orange, there is no such thing as Feather Violet or Feather Pink (same applies for everyone else).

I tired to make the design harken back to both previous series.  I think this is most noticeable in the helmets.  I went the Kakuranger route of having the same general headband shape for each helmet (though some details within are different for each elemental division).  Then I did take a page out of Hurricaneger's design book with the gold bits covering the sides of the helmets.  The helmets don't really have mouth plates and I wanted them all pointing down, so the visors just kinda end at the helmet with no defining line.  I knew at the beginning I wanted white to be a color somebody would change into, so I really didn't use it as an accent color.  I did for black though, it felt better with black as an accent color than silver or white.    



Everything here is my hard work. Please don't touch anything without permission. Thanks.