Love this design. I get a weird Egyptian feel from it due to the piece across the chest. And then there's that weird little Egyptian sounding music that plays once in a while....connection? Lol!

Come to think of it Zi-O always have a subtle middle eastern theme to it.

Like Os, there's the music and design, but budget and kids side prevent them going deep in to that lore and mythology. Even yugioh went with the Egypt culture. Apex a bit more western sterotype version.

I was more commenting on the design of the new form itself. I wasn't saying it was better than Grand(which is the design I prefer)just the way new form looks like it would be Zi-O's final form if you took out the anniversay aspect of the show.

so there may be something ELSE familiar on that new Zi-O design...

This just in, DX Oma Zi-O Ridewatch coming from PBandai.
It's inevitable.

Now that's what Zi-O's final form should've looked like.

Much better than the shitty Grand Zi-O.

This is... really intriguing to me.

Like I know Zi-O's form is front and center but it's just more interesting to see the glass shard riders.

Like okay, you've got the three exclusive Movie Riders, those make sense. Then there's several Riders in their final forms, okay that makes sense too.

Then you start getting into the rest with Secondary Riders, but then you get extra's like Zolda, Poppy and Grease. Then it just gets weirder with movie riders like Skull, Sangou, Orga, Caucasus, etc.

Like... what were the reasoning behind the choices here and are they intentional?

Hm... Maybe the tv Riders there, aside from the main Riders, will actually have their actors in the movie? The movie Riders though might be more tied into a plot about alternate or erased timelines even if only making suit-only appearances.

Ryuga
Orga
Caucasus
Eternal
3
Dark Drive

Aside from Eternal (and Skull if you count him as a movie character), they would fit that pattern, while the selection of tv Riders seems completely random (like Grease but no Cross-Z) unless it's tied to actor availability in some way.

3 is the most surprising one to me, given how he's essentially a Showa rider.

Then again, this movie does seem to be about the technically-debuted-in-Heisei Riders...