Yeah, the Wiki (which is terrible about spoilers!) mentioned this was the first appearance of Gentoku's leather jacket, so I figured it'd be a part of the show going forward. That makes both HBVs having a little bit of business for the main series, with the Crows dog tags getting a backstory in the earlier one. They are using every part of the franchise to tell the Build story!

And, no, I wouldn't consider the knowledge that Prime Rogue will be in a movie to be a spoiler. Sento mentions it'll take a month to fix, and he might as well have said, "It'll be ready in time for the summer movie, IN THEATERS NEXT MONTH, ASK YOUR PARENTS TO TAKE YOU." It's not as egregious as the Kikaider promotion from Gaim, but it's a little tacky?

Ghost did it first, actually. I mean, the users weren't the same, but Dark Ghost pulled out the two special forms in the summer movie.

But yeah, it's impressive just how much the writer was able to use literally every side-story and special and tie it into the show in some way. Some of it may be tenuous or technically unnecessary, but there's a continuity and attention to detail there that is appreciated. The way even Build's obligatory Ex-Aid appearances were used for foreshadowing (and then how the writer went out of his way to smooth over some continuity foibles with it in the show) is really cool. With modern Rider shows having like half a dozen extraneous media scattered all over the place it can feel haphazard, but it's neat when they really try to make everything count for something even a little. Ex-Aid did that ok, but I think Build has probably handled all that stuff the best.

Huh - I always understood that part as a joke, that the form wouldn’t be usable for the rest of the show and Gentoku knows it, hence his freak-out. But it can work either way really.

There's this fine line the Build HBVs walk, where it's just connected enough to feel like it's all still in-continuity (never guaranteed with HBVs!), while still feeling optional. Like, if you skipped the HBVs, you'd miss the origin of the Crows dog tags and Gentoku's jacket, but none of that is going to keep fans up at night, puzzling out the details and putting forward their theories on the boards. But knowing it adds a little color, some fun backstory.

And, yeah, it's great that even the Ex-Aid appearances got some retcon love in the series to make everything line up.

Oh! Yeah, you're right, it could be that, too. Dude just got a power-up WITH A CAPE and now it's back to the capeless wilderness. That's worth a freak-out, for sure. I just thought the "one month" thing was so specific that it was referring to the movie.

KAMEN RIDER BUILD EPISODES 42 - 43

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/build/build42.png

I, hmm.

I don't think these episodes worked.

They didn't work because they're largely retreading things we already know, with an enemy that I'm just not that invested in. Blowing up the Touto headquarters is a big move, but it's not like there was anyone there that we cared about. It symbolized Evol(t)'s victory, but it didn't really evoke any feelings. And while the Riders feel frustrated by being called renegades by the new Seito government, it doesn't have a huge bearing on the feel of the show. They're still holed up in the cafe, hiding from Evol(t) and Seito, but now people we don't know don't like them? I guess? And the final fight against Mad Rogue, sheesh. I cannot believe they'd try to pull a heroic Riders Never Say Die moment out of a fight with the snivelling henchman. He's not that menacing anymore! His taunting, while sort-of reasonable against Gentoku (dude just saw the physical manifestation of his dead father's hopes and dreams get atomized in a black hole), the Build stuff I just don't get. Cannot for the life of me see why Build needs to shout his feelings like that. I can sort-of see how the show's trying to link their daddy issues together, Sento and Gentoku, but those traits are night and day. Gentoku's entire story is built around his relationship with his father, while Sento's dad is a fairly recent concern that the show hasn't begun to do the work on for me to care about it. They are betting so much of the show's finale on how much I care about Sento and his dad, and it feels like a massive miscalculation. (Science!)

The second episode just drives that point home. Sento attacks Banjou to save his OBVIOUSLY EVIL dad, splitting Team Build up and causing everyone in the story (except Banjou) to make terrible decisions. Like, not just "these distraught characters are acting rashly", but "why in the name of anything would this character decide to do that". A lot of head-scratching moments in this episode, the kind of dumb To Move The Plot Forward developments that I honestly can't remember this show ever needing to stoop to. Misora decides to go back to Hipster Dad why?! Rogue and Grease just utterly can't trust Sento so they race to the hidden villain base all by themselves why?! It's dumb. It's dumb dumb dumb. I could not follow why anyone was doing anything, and the actors couldn't sell me on it because I don't think they knew why they were doing it, either. There's a middle section of episode 43 that might be the worst this series has ever been.

It ends sort-of well, though, with Banjou giving his version of Sento's rebuke to Blood Stalk back around the end of the first act. (More retreading! More characters forgetting lessons they already learned!) Build's defeat of Buildad was clever, which forgives a bit of how they got there, but, man. These episodes were weak in so many ways that Build is never weak: cheesy speeches, bad storytelling logic, and worst of all, a villain that I don't care about. Buildad is like Specter's dad from the (horrible) Ghost summer movie. He's a guy that abandoned his family a decade ago, shows back up as a total asshole, but for some reason we're supposed to feel conflicted about this guy? Supposed to want to see the best in him? I thought it was a dumb idea then, and I think it's a dumb idea now. When you've got maybe the most cunning, charismatic villain in Kamen Rider history with Evol(t), why would you ever give that up to focus on a boring asshole like Buildad? Why?!

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/build/build43.png

It was more like "ASK YOUR PARENTS TO RENT THE BLU-RAY.", considering Prime Rogue came out after the series was already over. Actually, the summer movie is completely irrelevant to this. The real point of that dialogue is simply to provide a feasible explanation why Gentoku wasn't rocking that cape in the last stretch of the show (and the movie).

It definitely was nice how Build tried so hard to keep its continuity in order like that. It still slipped up a lot, mind you, but there was clearly a bigger effort than usual being made to fit everything together, and Build gets pretty convoluted.

"Build gets pretty convoluted" could be the synopsis of nearly every episode past 12.

I'd argue past 1. :lol

I'd swear the Prime Rouge HBV didn't come out till after the show had ended. I might be misrembering though.
Nevermind, I see someone else already mentioned that. I've gotta be sure I've read the whole page before replying to something

Yep! You (and Fish Sandwich) are exactly right. Looking at the Wiki now, it came out the December after the series ended. I'm just watching it in continuity, where it takes place four episodes before the movie. Totally my mistake!