If I had to explain how it works, I'd say they're closer to like temporal snippets whose personalities only mimic whatever they're caught doing whenever the picture was taken of the original.

I dunno.

Alternate universes. In some other timeline they are villains.

The closest thing to an explanation we're given is already recorded in the Kamen Rider Wiki in the Diendriver page. Uh, something about two-dimensional energies sealed in the Rider Cards becoming three-dimensional entities and stuff. It's quite vague.

I assume he summons the versions that appear in crossover movies - the ones that never un-transform and usually only speak in short generic statements or catch phrases from their original series.

So I actually kinda forgot what Another Build really looked like, and after going to look at him again following that discussion just a bit back in the thread, I'm a little shocked. I remember thinking that dude was so cool back when Zi-O started, and I mean, he is, don't get me wrong, but it really is true that the design does practically nothing clever with the concept.

I think in my brain I started assuming he had some cool shtick where like, the organic/inorganic split between Rabbit and Tank would be extra pronounced or something, with more freakish organic shapes on the red parts and then maybe some dangerously jagged looking blue bits for contrast... but instead the whole design is just the freakish organic shapes. Which, again, still looks cool and all, but man, what a missed opportunity to do something interesting while still being a simple introduction to the whole monster Rider idea.

The fact that Another Build is so plain for an Another Rider is more or less one of the reasons they are my favorite Rider Kaijin. Even at their weakest, they are some of the best suits to come out of the franchise ever! They are unmistakably their respective Rider, but wonderfully twisted.

For the worst, I have to go with the Makamou, both big and small. They just don't look good in my opinion. I was never a fan of the Kaiju bid of Hibiki and I absolutely hate the small ones from the first half. Letting us see the eyes of the suit actor is just butt ugly for me. And even when the second half ones are vastly superior, they end up as absolutely generic. Yeah... Hibiki just did not convince me with its monster design in the slightest, with a few expectations.

Honestly I respect the Another Riders because there was some worry that we might not get all of them, especially when we started getting non traditional ones like the Another Future Riders or Another Ryuga.

But then we managed to get them all and I'm glad.

I love the Another Riders. They're like SIC designs on crack.

The most hilarious and awesome moment ever in Zi-O was when they just had Another Agito as... Another Agito. :lolol

Probably one of my favorite bits of fridge logic in ZI-O.

Another Riders are corrupt versions of the Main Rider. Another Agito is a failed Agito Seed, in essence, a Seed that has become corrupted. Aka, he is a corrupted Agito. Just like an Another Rider. And the ability to turn others into it just ties in wonderfully with Agito's world-building that Agito is the next step in human evolution.

Props to Toei for quickly ending what could have been the debate of the era. :lolol

I'm still a little disappointed we didn't get Another Another Agito.

I'd be so on-brand if that was just Agito. I'd find it hilarious anyway.

Toei has been uploading Kuuga episodes on their YouTube channel to celebrate the 20th anniversary, and, when they aren't region-blocked anyway, I've occasionally found it fun to pop in and browse the comments, having learned from watching so much Ultraman on that site that the Japanese commenters are often shockingly well-informed and thoughtful.

They recently posted episodes 25 and 26, the really really great two-parter where Yuusuke cheers up Hiraku, a kid who cut class to mope about his uncertain future. They're some of the most definitive episodes of the series, and there were two particular observations I saw that blew my mind so much I just had to share them. One is that in 25, when Hiraku is going to buy a train ticket, he hesitates on whether or not to push the button for a child ticket, subtly reflecting the confusion he feels about his own identity.

The other might actually be the single most Yuusuke thing Yuusuke ever did.

When he goes to sit down on a staircase for a chat with Hiraku in the climax of 26, he initially sits on the step Hiraku is on. But then after a second of thinking, he moves down exactly one step.

https://i.imgur.com/ssHceB8l.png
https://i.imgur.com/ccEQI9Ol.png

Why does he do this? Because it puts him at eye-level with Hiraku. The guy is so considerate he goes out of his way to readjust his seating position to avoid literally talking down to a child.

Absolutely amazing how deliberate and purposeful such a small detail like this can be. Did Arakawa write that in the script? Is Ishida's blocking just that good? Maybe Odagiri even adlibbed it himself? Not a clue, but I know I have even more respect for these episodes now than I already did.

Dang, that's some amazing attention to detail.

F***ing right? I swear I'm still going to be finding out new things like this about Kuuga episodes decades from now. :lol

did you know that the toy that hiraku looks at in the shop window was actually from a show called gundam

they didn't just create it for this episode

um excuse you ive seen gundam and he looks like this

http://www.anime-planet.com/images/c...g?t=1429317959

not like that toy in the show you cant fool me die

It's stuff like this why Kuuga is and always will be my all-time favorite tokusatsu series.

Its comments like these that are the reason why i really love these boards and keep me coming back.

I see there are more ppl who don't think oo is trash.

Also, good job Toei, shilling your other hyper successful franchises with an in-universe cameo in another hyper succesful franchise. Clever.

Ore Wa Gundam!!!!

Aww, thanks! I don't really consider myself much of a funnyman, so I appreciate the compliment.

Its well deserved. It was pretty funny since you caught it so fast. I laughed harder than i should have.

I've always wondered if the dragon knight figmas are any good since they did pretty much all riders except alternative and the survive forms. And that ouja looks cheaper and nocer than the figuarts

Going solely by reviews I've seen, they all have their ups and downs when compared to the SHFs. So just go with whatever's cheaper unless you REALLY want the Advent Beasts.

You mean the contract monsters are bundled with the figuarts? Or that they don't scale with Figma?

And i mean the proportions look more modern and the silhouttes look more natural, plus that great figma articulation.

SHF made many contract riders, so that's what Sword's getting at.

Fun fact about that, actually -- SHF made Ryuki at the time specifically because of Figma Dragon Knight; and they seriously brought their A-game, making them far superior than any other SHF at the time, doing way more stuff than Figma including Contract Monsters and Survive purely to compete and try to one-up Figma.

Interesting time. Really shows what a bit of healthy competition can do for a company's motivation.

Huh, didn't know that actually. Kinda makes me wish Figma would do alot more stuff that SHF tends to go after so we'd get better quality stuff. I remember when everyone said the Figma Iron Man was THE Iron Man figure.

Though speaking solely in terms of MCU stuff, we are seeing that again, as SHF and MAFEX are constantly going back and forth in trying to one-up one another.

Glad to hear that! MCU isn't my thing but I'm glad fans of it are getting increasingly better options from multiple places

In case anyone is interested, Mafex is part of Medicom, the same folks who brought us Japan's answer to funko pops, bearbricks.

Another random thought, but for those Riders whose bikes could fold into phones and other stuff, why not just throw them at opponents and have the bikes unfold midair and smoosh them upon impact? Or at least serve as a decent distraction?

I mean, yeah that's not ever gonna happen onscreen because those poor suit actors would get their organs ruptured and the bikes would become fancy wreckage, but in-fiction I don't see why not.

Because Dragon Ball Evolution did it and they don't want to sink any lower by copying it. :o
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nrSg9l7D-24

I mean there was that one time Ex-aid just ran one of the motws over. Which is close but not quite.

Hey so this just crossed my mind thanks to something Die said in his Kabuto thread.
Are there any season of kamen rider that’s more focused on story and setting then character drama?

It feels like to me the characters are what make kamen rider kamen rider.

I'm not sure there's a single Kamen Rider that knowingly puts setting or story ahead of character. Some of that is because there probably isn't a TV writer who wouldn't prefer to write dramatic dialogue than craft a story; and some of it is because characters sell toys, but story doesn't.

That said!

Of the ones I've seen, I'd say that Gaim and Build have some of the most epic stories of any Kamen Riders. They've got season-long stories with multiple discrete phases, and little in the way of disposable one-offs. (Give or take Sentai crossovers with weird train kids or the random appearance of a blue and red robot man.) Other seasons may have huge villain plots, but Build and Gaim really foreground those elements in a way that, say, Wizard doesn't.

Definitely Gaim. It was very short on character compared to its plotting. Saber's sort of starting to look that way, too

Maybe the Showa era? The show was a lot more about episodic fights against the current bad guy of the week back then. Character development was pretty minimal.

Do the shf contract monsters scale ok-ish with the dragon knight figma?

The figma and shfs are basically the same scale, so...

https://irsyadsway.files.wordpress.c...gma1.jpg?w=584

https://i.imgur.com/oSzrS4T.png

I am sad Zero-One didn't have something so we could have this specific gimmick happen for the fourth year in a row.

The mobage game, Kamen Rider City Wars, looks like it'll be shutting down servers in a month or so. I've been playing this game on and off for a bit (I started I think sometime around Zero-One episode 40 was airing), and its been a mindless but enjoyable-enough little app where I can make rider 3D models (the ones that are playable anyway) punch things on my phone. Before it fades away forever soon, I felt like putting out some random screenshots I took over my time playing.

https://i.imgur.com/g29qNds.png

Purple is the most dangerous colour.

https://i.imgur.com/OhBZKxZ.png

Golden boys! Please pretend they are shinier than they appear.

https://i.imgur.com/GSUReqD.png

This image is how I feel about the Ark.

https://i.imgur.com/ktKbJA7.png

Decade lying down on the job. (Although it looks like Diend just threw him!)

https://i.imgur.com/vQrILv4.png

A classic trio of Riders! Nothing strange here!