The whole idea of Alchemist and what I'm hearing it sounds more akin to Gaim

In my opinion, there are much more similarities with Blade, OOO, Fourze and Drive. Even the Wizard is easier to bind because the monsters are called phantoms and the riders are shiny.

Alright!

Considering that Houtarou's an alchemist, a talent which requires aptitude in math and science, he has to be more intelligent than Gentarou, who once struggled to figure out the square root of a double digit number while testing the Hand Switch.

The problem here is that for Zi-O to maintain a high school setting throughout the show, Sougo would need to fail his exams and repeat the grade, which is presumably what happened to Inamori Mayu and Igarashi Sakura, while Nogami Ryoutarou is never seen in high school despite having turned 18 only a month before his show started. Weird how these inconsistencies never get brought up.

I mean, they're both blue with orange accents. Other than that, I'm not sure what you think they have in common.

I could be late to notice this, but there are some pieces on Gold Dash (the bike) that look a lot like hands. It seems like we have an Auto Vajin 2.0 on our hands.

Alright guys here's a list of some toys that are allegedly in the Q1 toy catalogue for Gotchard and as always remember grain of salt & all that + the posting of leaks/rumors (at least for me) regardless of how ridiculous or likely they sound is for the sake of discussion purposes. so without further ado:
Gotchard's Toy List (1)

. Henshin Belt

. Card holder

Transformation belt + card holder set

.GUN WEAPONS

. Bow Weapon

. ( rival rider's transformation weapon

. ( rival rider's card holder

Accessory 1 (Gatchard)

Accessory 2 (Rival Rider)

Legend Rider (Decade) New Transformation Belt

New Weapon of Legend Rider (Decade)

. Gotchard Power Up Weapon

. Card storage box

. smartphone

Card Monster Figure Series: Hopper 1

Figures: Gotchard, Rival Rider, Legend Rider

September

Transformation Belt DX Gotcher Driver ?7,200

Arm card holder ?2,300

Gotcher Driver & Arm Card Holder Set ?9,500

Gatchard Gun Weapon ?5,200

Rival Transformation Weapon ?5,000

Figure 01 ?4,500

If they do embrace the school more I would like to see a rider be a teacher who treats Hotaro like a nuisance but goes on to gradually accept him as a fellow rider. Kinda like Moroboshi from the ULTRAMAN manga aka Netflix Ultraman.

I wonder what his personality would be like then. If Toei doesn't mind having another suave protagonist like Ace fine by me, but if not I can see them giving us a quirky genius type protagonist, a cross between Sento and Philip maybe?

Now we don't actually know to what extent Houtarou is an Alchemist yet I want to point out... It's possible he's an Alchemist just in the sense that he uses the RideChemy Cards

The TV-Asahi website says this about him

"By chance, the protagonist, high school student Houtarou Ichinose, gets involved in this incident. He is entrusted with the transformation belt of Kamen Rider Gotchard, the "Gotchard Driver," and assigned the mission to retrieve the unleashed Chemi."

To me this reads as rhe belt system and Chemi being created not by our protagonist but by a third party, and Houtarou getting involved like it says "by chance"

He could be a smart guy still, maybe that's what makes hima good rider candidate. But my current theory is that maybe he's just such a nice well meaning guy that some Chemi just befriend him on sight in the first episode and that's why he's given a belt, maybe he's the first person they find who can befriend Chemi instead of being corrupted by them.

Then it's literally an inverted Kamen Teacher with monsters:
https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/i...ngksU&usqp=CAU



It seems to be indicated that he is brave and energetic. More is not needed. In principle, in school stories, social roles are quite typical, so I bet that he is an ordinary student with a strange hobby. Not a school idol or the president of the student council (although perhaps he is a member of it and it is on his basis that they decide to build Kamen Rider Club 2.0), but not an outsider either. He studies most likely medium-well, but due to the activity of the rider, at some point he will sag in his studies.

Yes, I think that he will simply be at the center of the incident and the history of the Wizard will be repeated. But since they call him an alchemist, then perhaps he will somehow begin to comprehend the science (pseudo-science!), Which made him a rider. Trite to quickly catch the 101st monster. I mean, he has to seal two or three enemies per episode.

Also, I think it's worth paying attention to the fact that the show is clearly targeting new and returning fans attracted by Shin Kamen Rider, and therefore wants to show that Kamen Rider is not only a name. That is, Gotchard literally looks like an updated blue suit of Ichigo + gimmicks, so that there is something to earn on. Yes, and the name Hotaro Ichinose brings to mind both Shotaro Ishinomori, and Hongo and Ichimonji.

Good idea. They could have a dynamic like Kenzaki and Tachibana.

Based on the description of how the shiny blue suit reflects Houtarou's personality, yeah, sounds like he'll be pretty similar to Sento. A hyper, boastful, kindhearted smart guy.

Whenever I hear "by chance" in these synopses, I always assume there's something deeper they don't want to spoil yet. For example, Touma claimed Kaenken Rekka "by chance", but he was secretly destined to obtain power.

Even if he is a dunce, well, Gentarou's open mind allowed him to prove Kengo wrong about the Hopping Switch and Ryuuga determined the Best Matches by reading the labels while Sento was overthinking everything. Sometimes idiots are geniuses at common sense.

Also reminds me of Ichinose Hayate, the actor of Koh/Ryusoul Red.

Maybe it's because of Hasegawa but I wonder if Hotaru will be like Hikaru/Ultraman Ginga.

Hey, you're right. :rock:
With this in mind it would be neat to see Hotaro's school uniform be a nod to one of Hongo's outfit, specifically the one Fujioka's son wore when he played Hongo in that Rider movie.

Gotchard July scans. Looks like that red raise buckle was for reading Ridechemy cards (and it does have a Geats card in it so that rumor ended up being true) also it looks like their will be variant cards.

https://www.tokunation.com/forums/at...8&d=1690294446
He looks fun! To me, these photos partly confirm the "Gottchard is the Fourze of the Reiwa era" theory.
I wonder if the fight with Jamato is from the movie or will he get a chance to shine in the last episode of Geats? If it's from a movie, then I'm all for allowing the next rider to deal with one of the movie bosses, and not feeding him faceless foot soldiers.

This is honestly the first base form kamen rider in the longest time that I actually am not feeling. It feels super generic to me.

I am digging the driver and gun though, can't go wrong with cards.

It feels like anime Ichigo.

His poses are really giving me Keiichi Hasegawa vibes, though i wonder if i'm only saying that bc I know he's writing it lol

still the energy he's giving me is exactly what i thought he'd have, which is main character of dyna + main character of ginga
which to elaborate for people who haven't seen those shows, basically just means "(charming?) cocky airhead showoff + generic anime goof boy (who loves his friends)" that's the vibe he's giving me, though maybe i'm imagining things

my wife says he's giving her Aruto from Zero-One energy, which makes sense too

For anybody wondering, the gun's name is Gotcharge Gun.

Or as Bleach fans call him, Ichigo. :p

Is Hasegawa known for writing characters with specific poses? I'm not familiar with his work outside of Rider. Houtarou sure does love V signs though and it's even on brand, as a V is shaped like an arrow.

Wouldn't say Hasegawa is known for specific poses per se (though in Ultra the "thumbs up" gesture is quite iconic to Dyna bc of Hasegawa)

more so I mean that certain character poses are usually chosen to match personality for promotional material, and the vibe of these poses gives me the same energy as some lead character's of his

How well these poses actually reflect the chatacter in reality though, well we'll have to see

I really love all the V signs though, it's very fun

If I had to bet money on any personality trait for Hiutarou from just these poses it would be "energetic" I think lol

Yep, possible goofball rider. Love the suit.

I guess I'll post it here too since it's somewhat related to Gotchard but the Geats movie form is accessed through the Oneness buckle which uses the Geats EX Ridechemy card.

So in the movie, Geats will only win because of Gotchard? This is arguably the biggest influence a future rider has had on an ongoing show in the history of the franchise. Not sure yet if I like it or not.

Color scheme reminds me of Drive.

Also I forgot to mention but the DX Oneness buckle is campaign item that you get for buying the DX Gotchard Driver.

More Gotchard scans, this time with a better look at the suit itself at a standstill + a look at how the Driver works.

So the backs of the cards make the face.

The simple action of pulling the belt apart and closing it again is very Decade.

Ridechemy booster pack 00. There's pool of 9 possible cards and it looks like you only get 3 cards per pack (or at least just for this one), releases August 11th.

These cards are very cool! I hope that the monsters will also not let you down and look stylish.

Wow, there's actually more than the rumored 4 types of Ride Chemy Card! So far, we got orange bugs, purple vehicles, blue humanoids, green "plants", red animals and white consumables. It's starting to get like Zenkaiger with the different categories.

Somehow Toei managed to get poison associated with scorpion and zombie, but something actually poisonous like a mushroom with venom and also "plant". How are they so consistently wrong about this! :lol

Gosh I really love this suit more and more as time goes on... I feel like it's been a bit of a polarizing suit with a lot of people loving it while other's aren't feeling it... But I'm totally enamoured lol, so excited to see it in motion during the press conference and trailer!!

Them hyping up how shiny it is a couple times now does make me curious if we might get some more night battles in this show to show off that twinkly shiny look...

Might make sense, like a "high school student by day, kamen rider by night" kinda vibe maybe?

I'm feeling the belt a bit more now seeing some visuals on how it works... but I need hear the sounds before I make any full judgement, that's always a major factor in how I feel about a belt

I do like how simple geats' sounds have been overall, but I won't lie I've been kind of missing the more over the top jingles this year, so I wouldn't mind something a bit more energetic

Huh, so now knowing his default form is a grasshopper and a locomotive his chest armor must be the firebox, or the place you put fuel in a locomotive to be specific. It has to be, right?

Gotchard's Red form.

The only thing that throws me off about the suit is the chest piece.
Feels very Gaim.

WHOA

Maybe this is a weird thing to say, and maybe I'm wrong.... but i think this is the first time we've had a "basic" form change (that isn't for a mix-and-match rider), where like 90% of the armour is distinct pieces since like Den-O? Right?

Like....

Geats is mix and match rider (which I'm basically just not counting since it's harder to measure what constitutuses a "full" but basic form change), generally Geats just has minimal "full" form changes, and basically has no "basic" but "full" form changes at all

Revice has more distinct forms than normal, but still a lot of armor re-use, and it all uses the same colour scheme so they don't feel as "distinct" as this Gotchard form change...

Saber is mix-and-match

Zero-One's "basic form changes" reuse pieces from his base suit just shifted around, it's a very cool aesthetic but it still means in most cases the majority of the armor is still just the main form armour, it's not quite mix-and-match, but it's still very heavy on armour re-use [Paragraph added as an edit bc i forgot originally lol]

Zi-O resuses massive chunks for his rider-time forms

Build is mix-and-match... but bc of how the best matches are treated more or less like basic form changes, i think you could make a decent argument this actually does qualify as what I mean, but since the distinction between best matches and non best matches sort of doesn't have a clear distinction outside of "the story says so" i think this is sort of a grey area... but certainly this is more effort and more "distinct" forms than other mix-and-match, but imo mix-and-match is just a whole different beast lol

Ex-Aid is over-suit-armour

Ghost just slots on a new hoodie and face plate, so i'd say it also fits into "over-suit-armour"

Drive's basic form just changes wheels... if he only had his 4 "major forms" that would be the sort of thing i mean, but since he doesn't those are "major form changes" and not "basic form changes" yea?

Gaim started over-suit-armour so nope

Wizard...... hmmmmm, these are technichally distinct forms that aren't mix-and-match, or over-suit-armour.... but like 90% of each suit is identical so they're not distinct..... I don't think this counts

Fourze... same exact situation as drive, minor suit changes for "basic forms", with select "major forms"

OOO, split rider so doesn't qualify

W, same as above

Decade... I mean I guess but they're just old rider suits so that's like cheating lol

Kiva... Even these just replace an arm, the chest plate and eye colour so each basic form change is just a quick swap out

So yeah, i think Den-O was the last time I can firmly with complete confidence say the "basic" form changes were as dramatically different as we're seeing here, where it isn't just swapping a little

What about Zero One?

oops skipped over it before ig, but all of zero-one's "basic form changes" reuse pieces from his base suit just shifted around, it's a very cool aesthetic but it still means in most cases the majority of the armor is still just the main form armour, it's not quite mix-and-match, but it's still very heavy on armour re-use, kinda similar to smth like the Zi-O forms imo, tho more creative in the piece re-use

also the base colour scheme stays the same, just with a splash of new colour, so kinda similar "samey" vibes as revice though not nearly as severe lol

I'll edit my previous post to add that point in so it makes more sense for any future readers lol, i had it written up at one point i think, but i guess i deleted it to rewrite it then never did or smth :p

I think I actually prefer Gotchard's red skateboard/samurai form more than his teal grasshopper/steam train form. Like when I first saw that his normal form was another "animal + [insert other thing]" like previous Riders all the way to Zero-One, I was immediately disappointed. I think this will be a consistent thing for me this season, that I prefer the look of the ones that aren't "animal + [insert other thing]".

I wouldn't count Zero-One, since his thing was that his Rising Hopper form's armor was still an integral part of the other forms via changing shape to match the new parts (like how his armor turned into fin blades for Biting Shark).

Actually I don't even think Den-O fulfills that require actually, since the armor is all just the parts being placed differently or opening up. Sword Form has Axe Form's chest as its back, Gun Form opens up Sword Form's chest, Axe Form flips Sword Form, and Rod Form opens up Axe Form's chest. The most original parts of Den-O are the visors since they're all different. And they all share the same gauntlets and boots, with the thigh armor changing color based on what form it is.

Actually now that I think about it, none of the Riders actually pass this sort of thing.

Kabuto, all of the Riders have a Rider Form that the armored Masked Form goes over.

Hibiki, only Hibiki had form changes, and he only went from purple to red with his non-final form.

Blade, the only change between Ace and Jack forms are that the silver armor turns gold, and they gain wings, while their Rouzers get additional blades (or a longer one in Blade's case).

555, Faiz's chest armor just opens up for Accel Form.

Ryuki, Blank Form just lacks the animal attributes and color.

Agito, they just change the shoulder armor and color, and add some new armor on the arm depending on the form. And they all have the same head.

Even Kuuga sort of doesn't get away with this, the helmet is still the same, just with different colored eyes, and the gauntlets and knee armor just change color.

The only one where all of the base forms are drastically different is like, Black RX.

Lol maybe ur right, maybe this is nearly just a total first for such different "basic" form changes

A better look at the red form from the belt ad, as well as confirmation of NINE basic form changes it seems