[Mesnick]

I'll also post a hypothesis. A common plot trope for this shows is for the heroine to become incredibly important and powerful at some point, only to have it later fade away and the protagonist take over. Geats is the most recent and striking example. What if something similar happens here? What if the entire show is Baku's dream, where he realizes his dream and casts his beloved Nem in the lead role? In this episode, his dream scenario has reached a dead end, so he'll have to start a new one. So Baku will ultimately end up being a deity of sorts, albeit a dream-world one. And I imagine there will be something else that poses a real threat, but it's hard to say for now.

[Fish Sandwich]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mesnick

Well, I can't agree with that. Show production is a collaborative effort, and it's common knowledge that scripts change both before and during filming.

Well then I apologize for not choosing my own words more carefully when this whole conversation began with me taking something DreamSword said too literally. The argument I'm trying to make isn't that everything is perfectly set in stone from the exact instant the series is conceived (which, as you point out, is simply not how a TV show ever comes together); I'm trying to get at the how and why of these decisions being made, even though I sort of get the feeling now it was presumptuous of me to assume anyone needs this explained to them.

But if I might attempt to qualify my phrasing a little more, I'm trying to emphasize that I don't think the creative process is something that only flows the one way. The creators try to dictate the direction of the work, but the reason I think it can still be accurate enough to say the direction hasn't changed is because I also believe that the work kinda picks its own direction, and simply drags the creators along with it, even if it leads them down paths they didn't expect when they set out.

Even in an extreme case like Hibiki, where the people originally in charge of the story were replaced by executives who wanted everything changed overnight, the new producer still felt it was important to try and respect what had already been established anyway. Even when a show like Saber suddenly becomes something totally different because a global pandemic happens in pre-production, you can still trace how a lot of the initial ideas the staff had influenced the final product. And it's like that even in the less extreme cases, too. They plan ahead as much as they can without committing too hard, because they need to be flexible to deal with unexpected setbacks, and also simply because they don't always see where they need to go next until they get there sometimes. So yeah, of course, I don't want to deny that a lot of decisions when making a Rider show -- the majority of decisions, even -- are not fully planned out in advance. I only want to argue that part of the purpose of that flexibility is to have room to stay as true as possible to the overall vision of the series, even when that vision turns out not to be the one anyone working on the series had during the planning phase.

...Which, again, I'm not actually sure was ever in question here, but just, like, for the record, you know?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sh Ranger

I mean, I think Zeztz could've at least changed from Impact to Plasma after realizing Three had the advantage.

Now this, I will allow and even agree with. Sometimes I wish Sakamoto could just be hovering over the action crew's shoulder on every Rider episode, yelling at them to include more than one suit per fight scene when the hero has like 14 suits they could be showing off.

(ZEZTZ even did a solid example of that in 15, but again, it's just not something that turned out to be a rhythm the show got into at all?)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sh Ranger

The way I see it, the Cool Seven we know and love is the purest representation of Baku's identity, with his conscious and subconscious in alignment thanks to the power of lucid dreaming, where "kokoro" may as well mean both heart and mind as he uses them in sync. This is a person Baku could become, with enough experience and wisdom.

Huh. That's actually a really good way to put it. Like, I wouldn't be surprised if the show itself tries to make exactly this point later.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Enchilada645

Actually, Booster was a campaign item (similar to Tycoon's ID Core and Zangetsu's face plate)

It's probably also worth mentioning the most direct comparison would be with Bushel from Gavv last year, which was another seasonal form change the hero used exactly once.

(Also, to "well actually" your "well actually", there *is* the sound version of the Booster Capsem being sold on P-Bandai right now, so that's technically not wrong to say, even if the campaign item part is the one that clearly seems to influence how the show uses it.)

[Enchilada645]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fish Sandwich

It's probably also worth mentioning the most direct comparison would be with Bushel from Gavv last year, which was another seasonal form change the hero used exactly once.

(Also, to "well actually" your "well actually", there *is* the sound version of the Booster Capsem being sold on P-Bandai right now, so that's technically not wrong to say, even if the campaign item part is the one that clearly seems to influence how the show uses it.)

Honestly, I was legit trying to figure out what Gavv did but blanked on it. So my mind just went to examples of different campaign items to give the sort of difference between them. That would explain why Gavv only used Bushel in one episode and then it was just exclusively Valen for a bit just to be nice to him since Gavv had Caking at that point.

That said, yeah the sound versions are things. Which reminds me it's interesting how they decided to switch-up how the voice-line stuff works since that used to be memorial gimmicks released at the end of the year for shows. Though Gavv decided to do it different and just pepper sound Gochizo releases throughout the year which Zeztz is following up on.