Kamen Rider: General Thread

I'm Disappointed that Dread doesn't have a kid form.

You and me both.

Yeah, I'm disappointed too, I guess they couldn't get the short female suit actor for Pretty Den-O on the set for some reason?

They've been using the same suit actor for Dread regardless of who's transforming. Incidentally, the suit actor for Pretty Den-O is currently the pink in the newest Sentai, BoonBoomger.

Dread's suit actors is really good, so I don't mind. Plus it fits with how the drivers work in the fluff. The Kamen Rider suits aren't the users' bodies, but artificial bodies created by the driver that user controls from the ouroboros dimension. Or something.

Except Valvarad. Thats just him. Also his blood is fire or something.

Episode 27 I think that Gotchard is able to somehow make me lose investment and return investment in the same episode a lot. We got in this episode, Dread types 2 & 3, Minato's Heel–Face Turn, Platinum Gotchard defeating Geryon, Geryon being taken by something named after a legend El Dorado I don't think exists, and we got all the cards back from the bad guys. I'm reasonably sure the clipshow was about 3-4 episodes ago so having clips showing character development and what our heroes have done is a bit like saying stuff got fast forwarded to get the arc through. The Imagine Spot of Geryon in a world of gold popping a child's bubble feels like that's the evil he amounts to. Everyone being trapped forever in a world of gold is scary, but him popping a child's bubble is a petty kind of evil. I have never watched Austin Powers, but I think Geryon might be able to out do Goldmember on unreasonable love of Gold. Because IMO, that's what Geryon's motivation comes off as. The Goldmember meme I don't even need to link or type out. I think maybe if anyone on the villains' side was a bit hammy, it would convince me they are as invested in their evil as I should be. Sorry I if I sound rant-y, I just think parts of this arc were not well balanced.

Just watched it.

Wondering if Lachesis might actually be back with her sisters now that Geryon seems to be gone. Her statement to Kyoka seemed rather ominous. That and we're not really sure if Geryon is really gone or if something worse is coming. maybe the sisters were the ones playing him all along.

Edited by HandsomeRob on Mar 17th 2024 at 2:13:22 AM

Double post. Finally saw Paradise Regained.

Best part was Takumi being back in the old suit. It's still one of the better designs.

And he won without using either Accel or Blaster.

The new version did kinda make sense, combining his base form, Accel and a bit of Blaster form as well. It's certainly useful in terms of quickly accessing those powers.

So Smart Brain is now Androids then? Are we dealing with Mutants who evolved from humanity vs Corporate Androids? Would this count as Cool vs. Awesome, or is it just a bit too weird?

Recently I learned of the existence of Kamen Rider Outsiders, a web series featuring the return of various villainous and anti-heroic Riders and several other characters whose arcs in their parent series ended inconclusively, like the Orphnoch King from 555 and Foundation X from Double. That sounds interesting; what's going on there?

Not sure. Haven't checked out Outsiders myself.

I did just watch the latest episode of Gotchard.

So apparently, Fox spirits exist.

Outsiders... exists. It is the spinoff-iest of spinoffs. Long story short, it brings back a weird assortment of characters, most notably edgy ones and/or fan-favourites and gives several new forms. The main villain is an original character, Zein, and the plot very much centers around him. There's a lot of characters about so most don't get much focus, but there's certainly some cool moments.

In a way, the real-world story begins on April 1st 2018 (timely); Toei did an April fool's joke of Kamen Rider Gemns: The Presidents. Three years later, they just actually made it for real as a TTFC short, specifically it features Genm and Cronus from Ex-Aid and Thouser from Zero-One and among other things, Kuroto is resurrected as a Humagear. They also announced this with another April Fools joke, this one being Kamen Rider Thouser: THE PRESIDENT.

A year later they did another April Fools for Kamen Rider Lovelica, which was actually Kamen Rider Genms -Smart Brain and the 1000% Crisis-, a follow-up to the previous one and also Smart Queen (essentially a new Faiz character, a version of Smart Lady played by Mari's actor) is there. This is where we first learn about Zein: an AI in the Zero-One style like Ark, who was supposed to be trained on all positive data but ended up becoming evil anyway.

Then Outsiders as a series actually started, although for some reason they did have an episode 0 too. Episode 4 is most recent, episode 5 is coming in May.

For extra April Fools relevance, another time Toei initially did something as an April Fools joke but then later made it for real was Kamen Rider Brain and Brain is indeed one of the assorted characters who shows up in Outsiders.

It's pretty much an evil AI named Zein posing as a Benevolent AI (and possessing Sakurai Yuto) and tricking heroic Riders like Horobi and Garren into fighting evil Riders resurrected by Foundation X opposed to it. While the series did show Kamen Rider Garren getting his King Form, Desast becoming a Kamen Rider, Nico and Horobi returning, it does get hampered by the story itself not making sense when you take each individual season into account (w/c shows why crossovers are not Tokusatsu's strong suit), other returning characters like the Orphenoch King being glorified cameos, and the sad state of Kamen Rider Ouja Survive Mode being played in-suit by an out-of-shape Jiro Okamoto.

Edited by KRider on Mar 31st 2024 at 5:20:04 AM

Thank you x2! The April Fool's connection is a funny coincidence.

Yeah, some things are quite "????" since they are there without much explanation, let alone real connection for each episode. It can make the series kinda feel like it is a bunch of separate specials that are forced into a single story.....

(Also, you forgot to mention Genm for whatever reason getting not just one, but two new forms)

Edited by ShiningStardust on Apr 2nd 2024 at 5:16:43 PM

I think that's mostly just because Genm is a very popular character. I don't really like him myself but a portion of the fanbase really took to him, and the actor seems to be willing to return whenever they want him to.

I completely forgot about Dan Kuroto being there and his latest form looking like Sephiroth. While he is the Largest Ham in the entire superhero genre, he also doesn't wear out his welcome like Thouser did in his own season.

Helps that Dan wasn't an invincible villain who just won out of the blue for no real good goddamn reason.

I mean, he was kinda an invincible villain...

I think that Motorcycle dude got him in the end, so while he was literally invincible at points (Dangerous Zombie reviving him, then giving himself extra lives), he did eventually get his.

Kuroto on the other hand, ends the series not in prison or executed for basically causing the Robot Apocalypse.

Every event in Zero-One was his fault, and while he got his ass kicked quite a lot, he still didn't get everything he truly deserved.

You mean Horobi or Thouser?

I mean Thouser.

Horobi pulled a dick move, and that was his choice to do so, but the only reason he had even reached the point to make that choice was because of what Gai did.

A fan favorite character written by Toei's current golden boy and played by an actor who really relishes the role.

God dammit Rin.

Being jealous of someone isn't the same as wanting them dead. Why the hell are you letting Atropos play you so easily. Just kick her ass.

Yeah, Genm/Kuroto is really a fan favorite, and the guy playing him is a great guy too, but....sometimes it makes me wonder if he isn't getting too much, lol.

Because after all, in the end, he is the villain of Ex-Aid series, and it makes no sense for the villain to be "better" than the MC.


And yeah, Thouser/Gai really didn't get enough punishment for everything he did. Which, to be fair, makes all his losses all more satisfying to watch

Like when he gave Aruto the Metal Rising upgrade to smear Aruto's name as Aruto goes berserk from it, but then the moron himself is unable to even comes close to beating it, when "berserk" means he will become Aruto's attack target too. Heck, even Vulcan and Valkyrie helped Aruto instead, by training to stop him. And then Aruto obtained a way to control it anyway, so now he basically gave Aruto an upgrade for free with nothing good for Gai that comes out of it.

And when he asked Ark's help to fight Genm? Genm just essentially turns him into a toy, despite him being backed by Ark's power

Also, worthy to note that his signature weapon just keeps getting used by another rider. Horobi as Ark Scorpion used it for a moment iirc, Eden even used it as his own primary weapon, and now 03 will use it too

And his idea behind his Rider system, is that it's 1000% perfect. Which means it doesn't need any further upgrade. Which bites him in the ass when he just keeps getting beaten, which means his system needs an upgrade, but then that means it isn't 1000% perfect as he claimed it to be. Due to his pride, he prefers to not admit that he needs an upgrade, as a result, his Thouser form is now stuck at the bottom of the power scale of all Zero-One series riders

Edited by ShiningStardust on Apr 10th 2024 at 12:32:42 AM

I remember the overwhelming hate that Gai got. And I knew that he would get left behind eventually. It didn't change how powerful he was then and how much of a Hate Sink he was. I'm also glad that Beroba didn't end up with animosity. But Iwanaga got popular from Genm, so I don't think I mind seeing Kuroto reappear for a while.