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12-26-2019, 05:22 PM | #161 |
Kamen Ride Or Die
Join Date: Aug 2019
Location: Chicago, IL
Posts: 6,159
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I've definitely started to cut down my collecting habits, especially as it pertains to Figuarts. I've told myself -only- Build, Seihou OOO, some older cheaper ones; and maybe Valkyrie and a potential Seihou Fourze. Otherwise, I'm very happy turning to Figure-Rise and gimmick figures for my main rider needs
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Kamen Rider is an especially potent Plastic Addiction, I find. It probably has something to do with being one of the most toyetic properties in existence. I'm much stricter about my figure buying in general these days, but I still own 5 Zero-One figures and I haven't seen a single episode, so there's that.
It's nice to know I'm not the only one who struggles with this kind of thing sometimes.
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12-26-2019, 06:03 PM | #162 |
Showa Girl
Join Date: Jun 2018
Posts: 9,064
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Keeping your collecting to just the shows you like sounds good to me, but then it's like, They're All Good Shows? And now my decision-making matrix flags every potential purchase as Yes Of Course. I need to be more angry about my fandoms, like the (non-TokuNation) rest of the internet. It sucks liking so much stuff!
But OOO and Build are -the- shows that really resonated with me. So if I have to choose any characters to get the high-end treatment, then yeah, I'm sure as heck saving up for Seihou Tajador.
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12-26-2019, 06:09 PM | #163 |
Showa Girl
Join Date: Jun 2018
Posts: 9,064
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Quote:
Kamen Rider is an especially potent Plastic Addiction, I find. It probably has something to do with being one of the most toyetic properties in existence. I'm much stricter about my figure buying in general these days, but I still own 5 Zero-One figures and I haven't seen a single episode, so there's that.
It's nice to know I'm not the only one who struggles with this kind of thing sometimes. Like to draw on another extremely addictive toy franchise, Transformers. Just looking at the most recent Generations figures, I'm really into wanting the likes of Apeface and Cliffjumper and Ironworks. All of them look like a lot of fun! ... but they also, for the most part, don't really have that much of a character to them. Even the most prolific and developed of that bunch, Cliffjumper? I can't really point to any great character arcs or journeys for him. Maybe Shattered Glass but I never read that. There's very few Transformers outside of the IDW comics and a couple of the cartoons that I really like for their characters, and Transformers is a franchise made up of a majority of 'characters' that never done anything. But with Kamen Rider. EVERY figure has some sort of defined character. Even looking at some of the most disliked characters out there that I can think of -- Kaixa, Ryugen, Specter. All of them had SOME sort of personality to them; some sort of role in the story; some sort of place in these events. There's no equivalent to some random Micromaster or Ultra Pretender or Combiner limb in Kamen Rider. Even Power Rangers sometimes dabbled in toy-only rangers, but with Kamen Rider; no matter who you get, you're getting -someone-. And that can make it really addictive. I can find some random old Figuart on Mandarake for my collection just because they look cool, like Orga or Wizard Hurricane or Hercus, and they are still, technically, someone that appeared in media and I can draw on. It's kinda great.
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12-26-2019, 07:32 PM | #164 |
Kamen Ride Or Die
Join Date: Aug 2019
Location: Chicago, IL
Posts: 6,159
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(And, my two cents, I don't think Apeface is a great figure. The modes are kind-of half-assed, I don't think it pegs together real well, and I just did not have a great time fiddling around with it. New figures usually spend a few days of Pick Up And Play time on a table, that one went into a bin real quick.)
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12-26-2019, 07:37 PM | #165 |
Kamen Ride Or Die
Join Date: Aug 2019
Location: Chicago, IL
Posts: 6,159
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MASKED RIDER KUUGA EPISODES 44 - 46
Okay, so, yes, the Grongi stuff in this story is pretty great. Not only do we get a brand new Kuuga form in Black Repaint Kuuga, but we get a couple thrilling action sequences, a for-the-ages beatdown of Godai, a lot of great Ichijou badassery, the exquisite tension of everyone on Team Kuuga pulling together to save the day, the deaths of every Grongi (seemingly) but Rose Grongi and Daguva... It's a very full story on a Grongi Plot level. A lot to talk about, anyway. I don't want to talk about any of that. I want to talk about Enokida and (I might throw up a little typing this) Jean. In the midst of the 11th hour of Kuuga's year-long story, the show takes some time to resolve the long-addressed but rarely-emphasized Is Enokida A Bad Mother question. It could feel weird, shoehorned in where it could not feel less relevant to the life-or-death struggles of the main story, but... I thought it kind-of worked? There's a very Kuuga theme of "do your best” working through these episodes, with everyone trusting in each other to give it their all, and things will work out. It typically reads a little simplistic to me, a way of ignoring the consequences of choices or the dangers of a course of action. It certainly makes positive outcomes feel more lucky than wise, anyway. I don't think it's weird to bring up how much of a given plan can devolve into failure! The Enokida version of that theme, on the other hand, feels more grounded, more kind. It's less about just powering through, trusting in the rightness of your actions, and more about making connections, gaining forgiveness through an earnest attempt to do better. She's been a shitty mom, not because she's been putting work ahead of her kid, but because she hasn't communicated her need to do her job to her kid. She's ashamed of her inability to be all things to all people, so she takes on the role of Bad Mom to spend even more time at work. She avoids her family to feel less bad about avoiding her family. It's to the show's credit that it never seems to judge Enokida for putting saving lives ahead of being a mom. I was so, so scared that the Kamen Rider franchise's generally regressive gender roles would have her need to surrender her job and non-maternal identity in a way that would never be asked of Ichijou or Tsubaki or any man. But, thankfully, that's not how it went. It was (and I cannot believe it either) Jean who was the key character, reminding Enokida that her job has a purpose, that she's saving countless lives, and that she doesn't need to be the best mom, just Sayuru's mom. The theme of doing your best, it's a liberation to Enokida, a relief from the fear of failure. She's allowed to maybe be a shitty mom, since she's trying her best, and that means wanting to do better. It's a heartfelt, mature view of parenting. I sort-of can't believe it was not only on this show, but maybe the best part of a truly great three-episode story. Please don't tell Jean I said that.
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12-26-2019, 07:41 PM | #166 |
Ex-Weather Three leader
Join Date: Jan 2012
Posts: 10,508
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Ohhhhh snap, are we nearing the end of Kamen Rider Die reviews Kuuga? KEEP IT UP!
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12-26-2019, 07:59 PM | #167 |
The Immortal King Tasty
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Every diner you've ever been to.
Posts: 3,833
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Quote:
What I'm way less happy to report is that the conversation at the end is indeed completely borked. The gist of what's actually going down is that Mika was scared seeing Ichijou being so aggressive, all the more so because she had just seen him so happy right beforehand. She found it hard to believe that the guy violently restraining a criminal in the street was the same guy who was just chatting it up with her about their taste in sweets, but what Yuusuke is reassuring her of is that both of those sides of Ichijou are equally real, and that the side of him Mika was scared of doesn't invalidate or erase the part of him that's a kind person. It's part of a larger theme in Kuuga, that I'm going to have to yell at you about when you finish the show, about violence, and the effect it has on people, something that connects directly to Yuusuke's current situation with his growing powers, the motives of the Grongi, and even the fact that the main villain in 43 isn't even a monster. So needless to say, I think these episodes were actually pretty tight, to a level I wish I could articulate properly off the top of my head. But since I can't do that, I'll just mention one other translation error that really bugged me, which is in 42, during the conversation immediately proceeding this screenshot: Quote:
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12-26-2019, 08:27 PM | #168 |
I have a problematic type
Join Date: Jan 2012
Posts: 10,410
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I'm not going to spoil anything, but oh boy am I looking forward to your thoughts on 47.
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12-26-2019, 08:30 PM | #169 |
Kamen Ride Or Die
Join Date: Aug 2019
Location: Chicago, IL
Posts: 6,159
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Quote:
I figured this open invitation was the perfect opportunity to go watch these episodes again and I'm happy to report that... Kuuga is a really awesome show!
What I'm way less happy to report is that the conversation at the end is indeed completely borked. The gist of what's actually going down is that Mika was scared seeing Ichijou being so aggressive, all the more so because she had just seen him so happy right beforehand. She found it hard to believe that the guy violently restraining a criminal in the street was the same guy who was just chatting it up with her about their taste in sweets, but what Yuusuke is reassuring her of is that both of those sides of Ichijou are equally real, and that the side of him Mika was scared of doesn't invalidate or erase the part of him that's a kind person. It's part of a larger theme in Kuuga, that I'm going to have to yell at you about when you finish the show, about violence, and the effect it has on people, something that connects directly to Yuusuke's current situation with his growing powers, the motives of the Grongi, and even the fact that the main villain in 43 isn't even a monster. It definitely doesn't help that these last 15 episodes or so are subbed by what looks like a different team. (MCS? Is that a thing? The font's different, anyway.) It feels a lot more truncated, with less descriptive language and more blunt statements. I'm having to intuit a bit more than normal, and it obviously is not going super great. Thanks for your feedback! And, yeah, probably going to need someone to argue for a thematic read of this series. I'm kind-of barely seeing the edges of a theme maybe, but nothing with the forcefulness of other Kamen Rider shows. It's all a lot more purely procedural than I was hoping for, but it ain't over yet.
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12-26-2019, 08:31 PM | #170 |
Kamen Ride Or Die
Join Date: Aug 2019
Location: Chicago, IL
Posts: 6,159
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Quote:
Probably tomorrow!
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