Technic Heroes

Technic Heroes is the name given to the long-running El Kadsreian tokusatsu film series created and distributed by El TV Kadsre and the Toei Company along with Ryu Hamasaki Releasing. Technic Heroes is the one of the film series with the most entries, having 61 films released in its total during its 41-year-long run.

It was planned from the late 1950s as Heroes of EKTV. When Technic and El TV Kadsre established their relationship, it was renamed to Technic Heroes in 1974 and the first film in the franchise, Robotman was released only in the Vlokozu Union in 1976 (Nova Orbis was the first film to be released internationally, it was released in Vlokozu Union, Soviet Union and Brazil in 1978 and the rest of the world in 1979.) It is supposed to be El TV Kadsre's belated answer to Kamen Rider. A couple of years later, it became Super Sentai-themed franchise, with advanced armor.

Quest for the Masks is the most popular film in the Technic Heroes franchise, with the box office of $1,025,782,904 ($2,748,996,620 in 2017 dollars).

Overview
In every Technic Heroes film, the protagonist are the team of people and sometimes, a person, who transform into superheroes known as "Technic heroes" (also known as "Toa" in the Bionicle franchise) and gain superpowers - color-coded armor, signature weapons such as tools like a hammer, sword, claws and others and fighting skills, in order to battle a group of evil beings that threaten to take over El Kadsre and sometimes, the entire world.

Concept and development (1955-1976)
Elkan Boukough came up with the idea of Technic Heores as early as 1955 while he was reading some pulp fiction magazines like Startling Stories. He contacted El Kadsreian Films (now El TV Kadsre Films) to request to make a movie about a robot as founded on Startling Stories. In 1957, the development of the which now known as the "1957 Robotman draft" was cancelled and the film was never filmed likely because the suits, at the time was extremely difficult to make.

In 1971, during the time El TV Kadsre was suffering the 10-year-long downturn, Elkan rediscovered the draft, where it laying here in his bedroom closet while he was moving to the new house. He decided to rework the entire film from scratch by redesigning the characters and rewrite the plot. He requested Ryu Hamasaki to write the film for him. Elkan wanted to make the film series of it. When he found that El TV Kadsre and Technic, the energy drink has relationships, he and El TV Kadsre named the series Technic Heroes.

The MCA Era (1987-1996)
In 1994, Technic Heroes takes hiatus.

The Dark Era (1996-2000)
In 1996, El TV Kadsre left the MCA because of the El TV Kexit campaign. On July 29 of the same year, due to the negative reception of the 1996 film Bionicle: The Next Generation, El TV Kadsre announced that Bionicle is officially cancelled again which marked the start of the Dark Era. In September 1996, Technic Heroes created a new franchise, called Lana X, a female robot that sparks with butterflies and glitters. It was first released starting with a comic/manga in 1997, then with a TV show in 2000, and a movie in 2003.

In 1997, El TV Kadsre launched the series of online flash animations on the Technic Heores' official website.

The Silver Era (2010-present)
Fred Abrams is replaced by Matt Lee in 2011.

References in popular culture

 * Y2K - In one episode, Dave and Tanaka finds a room filled with Technic Heroes memorabilia which is left untouched for 28 years. The plot of Bionicle VIII: The Final Battle is also discussed.
 * The Drillimation Series has plenty of references to the Technic Heroes franchise.