It's got a very Fourze Driver look to it in general. The slots, right hand lever, and hologram projection of Ex-Aid's suit in the center don't help. I personally think the design is okay; the colors are what kills it for me.

I can get past the colors, it just has too much going on. It has a toaster on the left side, a huge ass display in the middle, a lever that seems too large for it's own good...It just really seems like it's twice as large as it actually needs to be.

Because Ghost has historical theme as one of main motif, maybe Iguana Ghost Striker homage to Galapagos Iguana because Galapagos Island visited by Charles Darwin.

Anyway....really interesting about Emu as genius character. Hmmm.....the virus thing is really similar to Messiah from Go-Busters.

I imagine there's some lightshow effects going on inside there that require the space. Mirrors and whatnot to project through/from the Gashacons and into the central display. That's my guess.

Do those guys feel anime-like? Cause the chibis feel like an anime versions of themselves. Maybe the level 1s will be CGI and later in level 2 their live selves.

I certainly hope not, but Ex-Aid's Level 1 looks like a suit to me. I do wonder what the point of Level 1 even is though. Like, why bother inventing a Driver that turns you into something like THAT just when it's then going to turn you into a proper superhero a moment later? For what purpose?

That's a very good question and i really hope all these disparate crazy ideas come together into something good.

I'm more excited than worried, but a lot about the series so far seems like it'd be easy to make a crappy show out of.

I think the first trailer or two will have to air before I even have any clue what to expect. Right now, going by that summary and the designs I'm expecting something stylistically and tonally like Fourze, which could be good, because I love Fourze, but that love has to do a lot with things that weren't apparent until the show started airing, so I don't know.

Assuming that summary is even accurate? None of that info is in the pictures here, and it wouldn't be since it's just a toy catalog, so I'm curious where that's coming from.

Unfortunately, until we get to the series, the answer will be "Because that's what they did with the retail action figure line." I guess a similar argument could've been made for Kamen Rider Kabuto or Den-O. I suspect the connective tissue will be an associated video game that affects an 8- or 16-bit style.

I hope you're wrong and that the chibi suits are CGI, largely because I'd prefer that the suit budget go more unique Riders and enemies. (I don't necessarily think you're wrong; that looks like a physical object to me, too.)

A few people have mentioned that the helmet doesn't look (enough) like a Rider helmet. One of the things I love most about seeing a new Rider design is imagining the process and intention that went into it.

The Heisei Kamen Rider suits - mostly the helmets - seem to always contain some reference to the original Kamen Rider. The most frequently-riffed elements seem to be the eyes, antennae, jewel, and mandible-faceplate. In the designs with bug eyes, it's easiest to see the lineage, but sometimes, they get creative. Gaim re-imagined the compound eyes as the meat of an orange. There was an obvious jewel and reference to the mandible. I'd also argue that the blade on the helmet is a riff on antennae. Drive took the same idea of eyes, but this time, saw them as a headlight, and imagined the mandibles as a car's interior. Wizard crossed the jewel with the compound eyes. The helmets aren't the only points of reference: W riffed on the scarf, and Drive had the piping on the arms and legs.

I'd also argue that Hibiki deliberately contains elements, specifically re-imagining the antennae as horns and the jewel as the oni face, but the design went so far afield, people still tend to suspect it wasn't originally a Kamen Rider show. (As I understand it, that got debunked.)

Ex-Aid's got the jewel, and I can't decide whether the molded hair is supposed to be a re-imagining of the antenna. It's SUCH a stretch, I find it just as likely that visor is an antennae reference, or that they didn't do an antennae reference at all in this iteration. As clear as most of these scans are, I still can't quite make out whether there's a compound-eye texture to the orange part of the eyes. Maybe the green on the jaw is a mandible reference?

All of it is arguable, of course, much like the number thing. After all, I'm just guessing at the intentions of the designers. I do find it interesting that Ex-Aid's Gekitotsu Robots level-up adds something clearly more antenna-like.

Am I squinting too hard? Anything I've missed?

Hold on partners! What about Brave, Snip, Laser and Genmu?! How come we hasn't talk about them?! I bet Laser will be Ex-Aid's Motorcycle since the description of his motorcycle would be YELLOW!

Who are Brave, Snip and Genmu?! Are they're non-virus Bugsters or what?!

The name is super clever. Everything else is just sort of cliche.