Well, it's Ryuki's 20th anniversary (according to the SO-DO blog), so the subbed releases are maybe part of an overall attempt to boost Ryuki's visibility. I can see Toei "suggesting" that Ryuki get a subtitled release on Shout Factory's platform.

If anything, I'd hope that it'll finally mean Ryuki Seihou figures, but that's a comment for a different thread.

The twitter posts from Bandai gave me the impression that it was indeed related to the upcoming sub release. This SO-DO is also falling into the same year we are getting the Figure-Rise Standard kit as well. So it wouldn't be crazy to think some of these things are related.

If they do Chronicle Ex-Aid after I already bought the Shodo I don't know whether I would jump in joy or into the river.

Just watching the trailer I’m realising they straight up said “13 Kamen Riders. 13 Contract Monsters.” despite the blog specifying the TV show riders, so... interesting!

I imagine the three special riders would be PB with Ryuki Blank, then a second PB wave with Alternatives, Abyss and Ouja Blank. That rounds out perfectly!

I loaded up the blodg twenty minutes ago expecting, like, Gaim Apple Riders or Kuuga Rising Ultimate. And what I got... I'm as happy as all you are. All 13 Riders, all Contract Monsters (even if it's PB)? Amazing. Scissors the meme man himself in Wave 1? Outstanding.

Alright, this Ryuki stuff might've finally convinced me of how dang cool this SO-DO stuff has become. That all looks incredible.

Just wish I liked the scale more...

Just had a thought -- for Riders that are likely going to be relegated to PB waves like the movie guys and the alternatives, do you think they'd just bundle those with their contract monsters since they're going to be PB anyway rather than split between retail and PB like the first wave? So a Ryuga/Dragblacker set, a Femme/Blancwing set, etc

Huh! I wonder.

I can definitely see the benefit in them doing it that way. A Ryuga/Dragblacker and a Femme/Blancwing set is probably more... reliably profitable (?) than a Ryuga/Femme set and a Dragblacker/Blancwing set. Like, two equally-priced sets seems easier to design for than one 4000 yen set and one 6500 yen set.

But it seems like it'd run counter to the previous marketing, where the Riders are one channel and the Contract Monsters are another channel, and folks can mostly decide for themselves how much Ryuki they want. There's got to be a not-small part of the international fandom that is okay with just getting Riders, and would maybe resent having to pay for 3 of 13 Contract Monsters just to get all of the Riders. Feels like there'd be some fan discontent there.

I'm calling it now, Volcancer and Scissors SO-DO Of The Year. :lolol

Complete 21 already took that title, unfortunately!

But there's always a second place. My moneys on Imperer.