Suitchubradu ja naito.

Humagears being turned into Magia would have their personality re-written into a wholly new monstrous one, and Mashiro-chan previously was called The Angel in White (her name also means "pure white"), and later she'd display the opposite in ironic way, has demonic reaction of anyone. And Mashiro-chan displayed again some humane trait by offering to brain scan Isamu out of her own volition, and neurology isn't her expertise. Now the term is dropped here by Izu of how Humagears would be fully human if they reach Singularity, of which of course is twisted negatively by Fuwa as something wrong, but Singularity isn't being hacked by MetsubouJinrai.net that overwrites their personality like that.

Kinda ironic that, Aruto/Fuwa's arguments here would actually show about how... Humagears are really human-like. Just for what it sounds like regarding this, it sounds similar to how someone can get varying and different experience to various humans. There are humans who are good to you like giving affection or support to you, there are those who are neutral, who would leave you alone for your business, there are humans who antagonize you like putting you down or hurting you in some way. And from what they're arguing, it sounds like something similar for Humagear experiences. Being misantrophic and blaming all humans for their entirety for some who are bad to them would be an unhealthy response, but so does if one that has good experience would be blind to their shortcomings. Of which humanity should be acknowledged humanity for what it is truly like, with all of their beauty and ugliness, which'd mean, Humagears seems to be should treated not that differently, outside of MetsubouJinrai.net. And even Fuwa had some opposing stance to Yua, who due to viewing Humagears as tools, it'd mean she'd make use of it if she can.

And in the battle, Izu displays her special capabilities that she can assist Aruto in battle to give him patterns. As you said, Horobi's the one that is icy and sinister, he's the Ark fanatic that would unquestionably do everything for it, but not in mindless/brainwashed way, while his underlings are more zany.... but.... don't know why you'd assume that this'd turn into superheroes beating genocidal supervillains, as, those previous stories about how humane Humagears are, actually all also apply to those villains, like Jin learning about him being Horobi's son as well as reacting to it; freezing and later almost being redeemed of learning about a real parent's love, in Seiji, albeit misguided. It doesn't know if you'd change your mind on Horobi, but he won't be something similar to Time Jackers actually. The Humagears being human aspect is applied on most MetsubouJinrai.net members too.

Probably Horobi would be my favorite design among the base form of the Riders (Jin'd get something later, but probably it'd not be a base). About his power being Scorpion Sting, there's some relation of it to his personality, that he has toxic relationship with his "son" Jin, is uncaring who he hurts to reach his goals, and operates as a cyber-terrorist who poisons HumaGear society, and that means he'd get poison as his powerset from Sting Scorpion Progrisekey. And in fighting, Horobi's at least a villain who relies on his skills and wits, not someone who throws power around like some previous CEOs.

It'd be shuicchibureedo, actually.

スイッチブレイド Suitchibureido

Haven't commented much, mostly cause I'm not sure what to comment on. Will say though I still enjoy the forms we've been getting.

But uh... Horobi, Horobi's really cool! And I'm glad we've gotten Seiji Takaiwa in like a sort of non-lead role to where he can just do whatever he wants really? And by whatever he wants I mean he doesn't have to act all spry and young and flip all over. Horobi's fighting style is very much akin to a tank with heavy countering, kinda like Kabuto from what I recall briefly with those fights.

Also we finally get to see a Forceriser finisher and I love just how different the Finisher Splashes are for each type of Rider. Makes it really cool.

Yeah, that's basically their story. Everyone processes the world through the lens of their own experiences, so Aruto can't help but be optimistic, while Fuwa can't help but be pessimistic. The slight problem in the episode is that an argument like that, one so grounded in childhood trauma, can't really do more than be two people shouting past each other in a Uh Huh/Nuh Uh way.

He's a very imposing fighter! Definitely helps fill out Horobi's character.

KAMEN RIDER ZERO-ONE EPISODE 9 - “PUT THAT LIFE IN THEIR HANDS”

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/.../zeroone9a.png

So many smart ideas in this episode!

The big question at the center of this episode – are the self-aware Humagears inherently good or inherently evil – gets the best possible answer: Neither. No one’s inherently anything, and if we’re going to treat AIs with the same level of respect as people, we have to concede that their choices are their own. Some are going to go bad, like Jin and Horobi. Some are going to go good, like the surgeon in this episode. Humanity just has to have faith that the overall choice is going to be good, and that we can try and create a framework of mutual respect to foster that outcome.

That idea of multiple conflicting inputs creating options to alter destinies, we even get that in the resolution to Fuwa’s front-to-back, top-to-bottom ass-whupping from last episode. Fuwa was nearly killed by Humagears twelve years ago, but he was saved by a Humagear today. He can’t lean on the All Humagears Are Evil thing anymore, because he’s proof that they aren’t. He gets to choose which input – Evil or Good – he gives the most weight to. And, yeah, he might still pick Evil! One good robot doesn’t outweigh an army of killer ones, and that’s his choice to make. But now he’ll have to reckon with the possibility of Humagears being worth protecting, and that’s a step in the right direction.

Too bad Yua’s brief change-of-heart blew up in her face, however. She has a neat little scene with Izu about how Humagears will treat humanity if/when they become self-aware, and when she returns to Izu with some Not All Robots epiphany, Izu’s there to ask why Yua faked a Humagear rampage and (maybe?) leaked it to the press. There’s some shame to Yua in this scene, but it mostly seems to set up A.I.M.S.’ Mysterious Benefactor from ZAIA Enterprises as a potential new rival for Aruto and Hiden Intelligence. It’s left open-ended, and I don’t really want to waste a thousand words trying to guess what happens next. Suffice to say that Yua’s dirty work in the background is now very clearly in the foreground, much to her dismay.

The whole episode’s great for exploring morality as not some ingrained thing, but a choice that both people and Humagears can make for themselves. The surgeon can choose to save Fuwa, or kill him. Fuwa can choose to forgive the Humagears, or destroy them. Yua can lie about her culpability, or atone for it. Just like Izu and Aruto, the only thing we can do is have faith that the people we believe in will make the right choice.

–

KAMEN RIDER ZERO-ONE SO-DO AI 02: KAMEN RIDER VULCAN - PUNCHING KONG

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/.../zeroone9b.jpg

And the right choice for me was not buying the Breaking Mammoth SO-DO!

I don’t like the mechs or Zords or whatever for tokusatsu. Just zero percent my interest. (This episode’s action-packed finale was, probably, my least favorite finale to date. I don’t care about two CGI robots punching each other! And I probably never will!) I didn’t feel like ordering the Breaking Mammoth and Rise Hopper set back when I was ordering every Zero-One SO-DO set, and I sure don’t regret it now. Very okay not having that thing on my shelf.

But what I do have on my shelf is a Punching Kong figure, and it cracks me up to talk about this suit/figure in the Fuwa Is Dying episode, so let’s finally take a look at this guy.

I built this one way back, because I love suits with big ol’ mitts on them. (So psyched about yesterday’s Kangaroo Genome SO-DO figure! Build? Big ol’ mitts?? A tiny Vice in the pouch??? Sign me up!) Any suit design improves as the size of its fists expands, and that’s just science. The fact that they’re big ol’ mitts that become rocket punches is just… it’s genius, and I’m sorry I waited this long to gush about this suit.

It’s Fuwa’s first form change, and I like how it denotes its power. It’s bulky and dark on top, slim and white on the bottom. It’s not the slight vertical asymmetry of Shooting Wolf, it’s a massively powerful upper-half and nothing else. The red lines help break up the blocks of black, and reinforce the raw power of the design. It looks like it’s going to hurt you, even more than Shooting Wolf’s barely-restrained fury.

Like I said, I built this one way back (couple years, at least), so I don’t really remember how the build went. Looking at it now, I’d say the only stickers are the bits of red, the silver of the belt, and the Shotriser. Everything else is molded or painted. Seems like it’d’ve been an easy one to do? Easy or not, I think the figure nails every aspect of Punching Kong. Simple and effective design, with a simple but effective toy. Sorry I didn’t talk about it sooner!

Yeah, I can’t say much about this episode. I do prefer the Time Mazine to Breaking Mammoth (I don’t know why) and I took notice of the poses that Horobi and Jin’s Rider Models do with them, but the people I shared it with didn’t see much point to pointing it out, since they’re not really sentient.

But we did get the Progrisekey I was waiting for a video of since the Zetsumeriser came out. You know why.

Thirteen Dragon Knights! FinalVenting Ryuki! One who can’t survive without fighting.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=5LUF3V1r0LU

I can't really go into why without going into spoilers, so I'll just say that episode 9 is currently in the running for my favorite Zero-One episode.

(Kinda spoiled for choice when it comes to that though.)

Nothing more validating than a doctor Humagear fighting the Metsuboujinrai hacking to be what he was meant to be, a doctor, and saving a human who hates Humagears. And while you knew on some level it was going to happen, the episode did a great job ratcheting up the tension so it would genuinely feel touch-and-go there.

It's nice seeing beneath all their bickering how much Yua cares about Fuwa.

I like seeing some of the prototype "naked" Humagears in Aruto's Zero-One headquarters. I never really thought of it before but a secret place in his office gives me kind of Batman vibes.

Breaking Mammoth! I guess your feelings on it probably depend on your feelings of Mecha in Rider, especially when obviously CG entity is obvious, but I thought this was a pretty cool sequence and to be honest I find mecha Zero-One kind of cute.

"Zero-One...you do seem to defy our calculations" Man I love it when the bad guys start recognizing the hero wrecking their plans. I mean, that whole scene of Aruto showing up and making a one-man stand with the Opening is such an epic climax.

Yua thought she and Is were building a good rapport and relationship and then Is is like "I know you screwed us over." Kind of a shame, although Yua brought it on herself.

That was a nice Aruto and Fuwa moment to close this arc up.

Ah, production details I know enough to talk about! As I'm sure some of you know, the prototype Humagears in Aruto's office are pretty familiar. First, Hiden presumably bought out Nanba Inc at some point, because one model is based off the Guardians from Build. Incidentally, following Kikai, this makes the 3rd series in a row where the Guardian suit is around and available in SO-DO form.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EM0Td1TX...g&name=900x900

Second brings us a touch of delusion, as it's based on Deluknight, from Akibaranger's Season 1.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EM0TeZ9W...pg&name=medium

And third, the one I actually forgot the origins of, may be proof of how AI and robotics got so advanced in such a short time scale. As the History Channel would say - Aliens. Anyway, it's a reworking of the Megahex suit from the Gaim/Drive Movie Wars.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EM0TdDTW...pg&name=medium

But yeah, this first arc is a good turning point for the show, moving out of the initial rush of merch which is a staple now, and making signs of the Arcs beyond that. Fuwa gets his near death experience to start prodding him into a slightly less irrationally-angry gorilla-man-hybrid, Aruto gets his giant robot and some respect from the villains, and Yua begins her journey into plot hook. I joke, but early Zero-One is pretty good in how it uses the episodic format to flesh out the world, and setting the stage better for MBJR's big push against it, while giving Aruto an ideal of something to fight for.

Also also, Punching Kong is one of my favourite 01 suits and it dosn't deserve to be a forgotten upgrade form, it's tragic.