It was a pretty fun episode!

Honestly, I'm surprised you didn't use a screencap of Beetbuster carrying Redbuster like a mannequin.

J being simple to understand like a beetle is probably part of why Yoko admires him. His confidence and independence are both traits that Yoko wants to improve in herself and he's not noisy like Usada. His dual existence as a Gobuster and Buddyroid kind of limits his interactions with anybody besides his partner and fellow Buddyroids, so I enjoy seeing him and Yoko team up here, two youngest Gobusters accustomed to being bossed around by their partners, given the freedom to execute a mission their own way for once. J's like a cool hip uncle, but at the end, Yoko still loves her father Usada the most. I think the best part about J, other than being humorous as hell, is how he inadvertently brings out the desires of others.

The implication that Yoko is dumb at everything except Latin is humorous to think about. People were harsh on TV-N, but this is proof that OT have also made some derpy choices.

Subterranean mecha fight scenes are a novelty for sure. Also reveals some lore about Enertron, that there's a motherlode of them Kryptonite-looking crystals underground waiting to be excavated. How mysterious.

While Nick may lack sense of direction, his moral compass is accurate. He's the heart of the Buddyroids, a trait common in some other Red Rangers and Kobayashi's Rider protagonists, using his strong belief to nurture his friends' values while failing to see the value in himself. Of course it's futile to rely on Hiromu for volunteering unprompted praise, but it's clear in his blunt honesty that he appreciates Nick's help, even if that's mostly transportation now that Hiromu is an adult. J probably didn't even mean "bike guy" in a diminishing way, just clearly stating something cool that only Nick can do for the team.

I like Buster Heracles. SJ-05 merely becoming some weapons and a chestpiece for Gobuster Beet is a lot cleaner than Gobuster Oh, although it's a little weird how the name is just Buster Heracles, rather than Gobuster Heracles which would've been consistent. Anyway, the Heracles part is of course referring to the beetle. When the three horns cross, the golden and silver soldier Buster Heracles is born!

Thought about it! I think that whole segment is just better as a moving image, though, and a single screencap doesn't sell the obviously fake nature of the mannequin.

Maybe, but also: Nick totally is the Bike Guy on the team, and I say that as someone who enjoys what Nick brings to the team and show. He turns into a bike! It's in the credits! It's something no one else on the team can do! He is the Bike Guy!

The show that I would think of back in 2012 whenever I saw Jin and J:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LNGgiJq236Q

I've always found it a little interesting that Go-Busters episode titles run the gamut all the way from nicely poetic ones to stuff like this where it's just "Exciting New Toy! In Stores This Week!?" Broadly, most of them just kind of describe what the mission part of that week's Mission is, which makes sense, but there's nothing consistent enough about them to really have any particular formula. Although usually, the ones just named after a robot are at least a little more about the robot than I think this one was. Like, no wonder Nick is so self-conscious when even the name of the story about him is actually about J!

Neat! Thanks!

J stepped in front of Shimoyama just as he was naming this episode.

TOKUMEI SENTAI GO-BUSTERS MISSION 20 - “5-WAY FUSION! GREAT GO-BUSTER!”

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/sen...busters20a.png

I gotta leave in, like, 30 minutes, so let’s pretend this post has a Megazord countdown attached to it and spring into action!

Much like last time, I mostly didn’t care about the grand debut of a new toy. Great Go-Buster has all the problems of Go-Buster Oh that I’ve grown to tolerate, but now with the added flaws of being far too bulky to actually move its limbs effectively. Regardless of your thoughts on the suit's appearance, I think we can all agree that making a suit more cumbersome on the performer wearing it is probably a negative.

Beyond that, I just thought the main Hiromu story had more on it than the background plot of Jin and the Go-Busters building a new toy? Taking a minute to make the threat of hyperspace more present (*wink*) on Hiromu is a nice way of escalating a tension that previously existed as more of an idea. We knew his parents were trapped in hyperspace, but this is the first episode to really define the physical toll it might be taking on them, in addition to the psychological toll of separation. Making Hiromu grapple with that while trying to be the unflappable hero is a fun story to tell near the midpoint of the series.

And the show deals with it well! It’s another story where Hiromu has to learn to stop trying to take everything on by himself and let others help him – the Buster Machine Combination Story specialty – but the little sequence of Hiromu directly confronting what he’s missing made this one eventually work for me. It’s got that specificity that I think can elevate the more trope-y elements (again, very similar to the Go-Buster Oh lesson!) and create something that feels unique enough for the character.

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/sen...busters20b.png

IT’S TIME FOR a movie!

I assume it’s just a coincidence, but I feel like Enter’s comments about the joy of cinema are at least a little bit shaped by the then-upcoming Go-Busters film…

This is probably the episode of Go-Busters I think about more than any other.

There are some other strong contenders out there, but in terms of just, the sheer volume of specific scenes and moments and all that, that I can recall as if I watched the episode yesterday, I can't think of any episodes that pull ahead, if there are even any that could tie in that race.

It's a smartly considered story all around, doing all that good work on a series-structure level by digging into hyperspace more and all that, while also telling a really touching and well-executed standalone story in its own right.

And again, on so many levels, it sticks in my head.

There's the more superficial cool stuff like how Great Go-Buster is assembled in the hangar, instead of combining in the field, so you get that great sense of scale seeing the team riding the lift up to board it and all that, selling the imposing scale of the combination. (It's not the kind of suit that needs to move to look like it can mess a monster up!)

There's how Filmroid is voiced by Kenicihi Suzumura, who's always been the Japanese voice actor I'm most happy to see in anything for any reason. Plus, moving out of the superficial stuff, there's how that vocal performance aids that whole court jester vibe he's got that ends up making him really easy to hate when he ends up torturing Hiromu emotionally in a way that's a lot more vile than the typical Metaroid antics.

And then, crucially, there's all that stuff about Hiromu being trapped by that fantasy, and all the other things that go along with it to elevate it. It'd be good drama anyway. But when the episode highlights how easily Ryuuji and Yoko don't fall for it, what that says about Hiromu makes it even better. When it's chiefly Yoko who gets to reach out to Hiromu, what that says about those particular two characters and how far we've come from those first couple episode makes it even better. When you get that perfectly shot moment of the smoke clearing, revealing Red Buster defending his family with his arm dramatically outstretched in the most heroic fashion possible, it's even better. And when this show about imperfection has Red Buster making the choice to give up that vision of his ideal world to return to the flawed reality he'd give anything to protect, well, it's about as Go-Busters as an episode of Go-Busters could ever be.

So yeah, needless to say, this one is a favorite for me. Just to further emphasize how much, back when Kamen Rider Zi-O was airing the Quiz two-parter with Hiromu's actor, and I did the whole obvious joke where the pictures I chose for those episode threads were just Red Buster screencaps, guess what episode I grabbed the one for the back half from? Doesn't matter if it's 2019, 2024, or whenever else; This one will always be on my mind.

So fun fact, the Metaloid of the week is literally Ryutaros. He has the same VA and suit actor. This mostly came about because said voice actor is part of the group performing the ED (3 of the other 6 members appeared prior as Tubaloid, Soujikiloid and Parabolaloid).

And aside from that trivia, we have the debut of our Ultimate Formation for the series.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=BHxAYzSo...jVcKem0cO8hAgI

To clarify how progression of Robot combinations works in comparison to Rider form progressions: Sentai robots start off with a main robot, sometimes with a few support Mecha that form weapons or alternate limbs. Then comes the super formation, in which a second robot comes in to combine with the first one. And finally, the ultimate formation, which is a combination of all the important Mecha from the season. In cases where the ultimate debuts in the summer episodes (which happens fairly often, despite what a few people would try to tell you about King-Ohger last year), another robot will show up in the 30s that can take the place of one component in the main or ultimate formations.

Me when I first saw it: THOSE EYES

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fenQiLhYPzg