On the plus side, the movie did have a slightly less bastardised take on Poitrine (probably helped by the fact the original writer wrote the segment)

Same. That's my biggest issue with Fourze, being that we have these classic Heroes who haven't been seen in ages, only to return as Villains (Though these versions of Skyzel and Groundzel were "good guys" in Super Hero Taisen Z, but only slightly) and I loved Fourze, but the treatment they gave some of these Heroes is kind of disrespectful.

I dunno... I do agree that I would have much preferred them as one-off heroic allies, but it never actually felt disrespectful or like a bastardization to me? It felt just like a fun little reference. It's not that bad.

I think casting the Akumaizers in particular as cool demonic looking bad guys is wildly missing the point, but, to spin it a more positive way – I think that the brief trend of digging up dormant Ishinomori heroes to use as villains only stuck out as disappointing specifically because we had movies around the same time like MegaMax, those cameos in Let's Go, and even other parts of Ultimatum that were treating the Showa Era with such clear respect to begin with?

So it doesn't bum me out that much at the end of the day. Even the guys who got brought back just as largely unrelated antagonists probably drew some new fans and attention to those series, you know?

You make a good point. I mean, that Kikaider movie didn’t generate interest on its own merits.

I'll be real I keep forgetting that the Kikaider Reboot movie is a thing.

Especially since the Gaim crossover is insanely memorable in it's own right. Which is something I'm suddenly realizing that Gaim had quite a lot of promotions/specials for shows/movies from the mid 20's to the late 30's.

Ryouma Sengoku: "Aight I'm just gonna remove my own brain and put it in the robot."

The difference though is that Kikaider is still portrayed as a hero, and that his character was kept mostly intact when it came to the Gaim crossover.

Meanwhile, the Fourze crossovers come across as pretty mean-spirited to me. Almost as if saying "Check out how much better Kamen Rider is compared to these older properties!" Like, the line "The Akumaizer show is still going!" as the villain dies in the Fourze/Wizard crossover is so incredibly blatant I can't help but sigh.

You all have a fair point. For instance Skyzel is female, which probably means these are alternate versions or something. But I'm not saying it's the worst thing ever, I just think that there could have been better ways of doing it, like in Ultraman Zero the Revenge of Belial where Fireman, Mirrorman, and Jeanborg Ace were a part of the crew, or just something that doesn't just feel like "Mwahaha! I'm evil!" like in this case.

But on positive notes, the suits look great, it's always nice to see old characters like this get updated, modernized designs, and for all we know, they might have been testing the waters for rebooting these Heroes as well.

On the topic of old Ishinomori heroes, I feel like while you can argue some of them are more 'aligned' with the originals than others. New!Inazuman, for example, ends up as a hero with his own origin story and motivation, and I'm honestly a little disappointed he never came back after his second appearance, and Poitrine gets a good showing that's quite faithful to her classic stories. But then, as Fish says, you have the Akumazier 3, who are design only and pretty unmemorable villains besides those designs, and the Space Ironmen, who are more re-imagined for a new situation.

I don't feel any of the camos I'd seen were mean-spirited; I've seen those before, and these come off wth at least some love for the originals. It's an intent to reimagine them for a new situation and provide a little treat for those who are familiar with the originals (I'd need access to far more Japanese promo material to argue how much the advertising played up the connections to the original).