Watermelon Arms creates a nearly all-powerful suit of armor that saves the young hero who's in over his head.

I shall now refer to that one as the "Gundam Seed." :D

Maybe because he's not just a one track character?

Not every character in the show has to be ONE thing. Bravo's an intimidating fighter, but he's still aloof because that's who he is. The only reason he didn't beat them up was because he had to leave for something.

And people are so bloodthirsty. "I hate this character I wish he would die." It's Bravo's second appearence. Just because he's not dead serious doesn't mean he can't be a threat. Sometimes the "goofy" guys are the most dangerous. They're unpredictable.

I'm totally cool with him not being a one-track character, it's just that it seems like there's no distinction between when he's on one of the two very obvious poles he has. I totally like him when he's creepy and psychotic, and it works for him well. I start to have a problem when he becomes uncharacteristically childish. His address to the viewers of Beat Rider Hotline was good psychopathy; him stopping in the middle of the fight to clap his hands at the giant watermelon was completely out of character for an ex-soldier that complains about the beat rider game being kiddy.
Not only that, but in those moments that he's overly childish, he's a ridiculous caricature. I appreciate that he's supposed to have a silly and a psychotic side but they just seem to be thrown together too haphazardly for him to be at all believable. I know, it's a show about a fruity-armor war, but I just can't bring myself to appreciate his mood swings when he varies without any reason. The potential is all there, but the execution is a little weak, which is the reason I'd rather him get written off as a one-off character than to come back. That, and the ending they gave him here was awful. A formidable, indestructible fighter warded off by upbeat music and a cheap joke about pies. It's impossible for me to take him seriously when scenes like that happen.

For those who were waiting for Aesir's subs, they're up and ready to go!

Another great episode!

It's creepy to realize that everything "Beat Rider" wise is set up by Ygdrassil, from Sid to the announcer.

Baron is awesome, reminds me a LITTLE bit of Basco from Gokaiger.

We got our first group henshin!

Just loving this series, and to see what happens between Mai and Baron next week, and with Melon Arms debuting, I cannot wait! Love this show.

I am loving this series so far, I haven't so thoroughly enjoy a KR series so much since OOO's they were telling the truth when they said it would be a return to form.

I think you might mean Mango Arms

While I agree that it feels weird, remember that this is not without precedent in other shows. The Joker in Batman TAS ranged from harmless, buffoonish clown to frightening psychopath. And the writers were smart to make this two extremes blend into an extremely unstable character.

Besides, he showed his buffoonish side in the previous episode two, with that first meeting with Kouta.

This is easily the best episode of the show so far.

I love the way Bravo defies his own conventions, I like just how quickly the world of Gaim is opening up and that the action seems to have finally found its feet - Watermelon Arms especially was just awesome. But I'm kinda confused, why didn't it do that for Zangetsu?