Form Changing is one of the elements of superhero tokusatsu. During a superhero toku shows run, some of the monsters of the week may be stronger or faster than the main protagonist and overpower them. The hero will receive special equipment from allies to gain a new form with new abilities to defeat them. In certain cases, the hero has these abilities already but needs to practice using them to achieve their full potential. This particular staple traces back to the Showa era as one of the many experimental concepts used by writers to increase viewers or add an interesting twist to the show. In the Heisei era, form changing has become a standard of a Toku hero show primarily for merchandising the show's main characters in role-play toys and action figures.