Unfortunately, no toys=no Toei toku show. Remember when KR Drive was getting really good ? When it was done introducing gimmick tires equipment.

Now I don't feel the story in KR Ghost is dragging, it's just 10 episodes in and a lot has already happened, we have 4 sides each with their own goal (or 3 if you count Ghost-Specter already in the same team), and quite some plot points in progress :
Alan doesn't seem human but he has family, that mean is not a Ganma either ? Is he related to the old mysterious man ? Is Gekichopper double-crossing him ?
There's something more to the eyecons power ?
How is the world behind the monolith ?
Who/what kills Takaharu's father ?
What that creepy dude in black really wants ?
How Kanon became an eyecon ? Does she have a limit like Takaharu ? Who told Specter he needed 15 eyecons to save her ?

I don’t think toys themselves are what make the shows horrible. Gaim had the Lockseeds and the AC-line, the only thing Ghost has over Gaim toy-wise are the Ghost Gadgets.

And Gaim was a fantastic show, so I refuse to believe that the gimmicks are responsible for the shows being bland. Drive still introduced new weapons and Shift Cars in the better half too.

Sure, shows which didn’t had collectable toys had a lot more time to focus on characters and the story, but that didn’t help all of them. I just think it needs creative people in the production team and/or a good director/writer who can incorporate toys without making the show boring as hell.

I liked this episode quite a bit. We're getting some good plot advancement and, hopefully, starting towards a reconciliation between Takeru and Makoto. I really liked the fight between Benkei Ghost and Dragon Beard Guy - I always thought the story of Benkei was pretty awesome so I like seeing him used here.

Biggest takeaway of the episode, though: I used to have a set of sheets with the same design pattern as Akari's jacket. Only thing I could think about when we saw close-ups of her during the first part of the episode. :lol

Is it just me or does the Benkei mask design look a hell of a lot like Hibiki? Lol.

Iguana Ghostriker using the Ride Boosters as wings from that Movie War: Genesis preview actually looks pretty awesome.

the issue i have with gimmicks is how they are written in the show, they show it once and it's never used again. what they could do better is just for example with wizard is just use one form in every episode without changing into different forms at a fast pace because it's just confusing and very repetitive like flame form in episode 1, land form in episode 2, hurricane form in episode 3 and water form in episode 4. at least it show some idea what these forms can do in every episode sort of like kuuga.

like i said i dont a problem with bandai making alot of toys, it's just how they are written. with drive they spam tire changes in every episode and it's not the way to write it. if they introduce every tire/car in every episode and using it only once and not using multiple cars at a time in the fight that's the way to write it.

ghost is doing the same thing that drive is doing, changing into this form and that form and not sticking with primarily form to finish the monster, it's like the writers arent making up their minds on what form they want to use to finish the monster.

This was a fantastic episode. Akari is so much better than when she was in the first episode, and just with her wanting to save Takeru and try to talk to Makoto was awesome. I loved Kanon's parts too with not wanting to come back to life because Makoto is going to far. Makoto's story has been really intriguing and he just adds a lot more to the show. I love Takeru too and that he's willing to sacrifice himself for Kanon was noble and awesome, I like that he can't choose because both lives are very important. I also enjoyed that he learned that his life is more important to other people than just himself too. Javel is pretty cool right now, insanely powerful it'll interesting to see what happens with him. I can't wait to see the next episode to see what Saionji does with the Eyecons. Oh also the Benkei form is so badass probably one of my favorites. The action is so awesome in this show. I can't wait for more.