I imagine just to make them more visually distinct? The Legend Rider medals are exactly like any other OOO medal (particular colour with a logo in the same colour), and that might have looked too similar to the animal medals in their heads. There's also that these were exclusive to monthly Gashapon and Candy Toy lines, so they were hardly beholden to selling products currently on shelves

https://i.imgur.com/QPmpJCP.png

Interesting! They certainly don't look as polished and professional a product as a well-funded organization like Foundation X would use to keep Riders entombed. Thanks for the info!

Man, I really went on a bunch about toys rather than talking about one of my favourite Rider movies ever, huh?? Even next to the last two this is my favourite of all the movies on this thread so far and it's not exactly hard to tell why -- a perfect encapsulation of Fourze where Gentarou's force of character has him embracing a new form of life so deeply he doesn't stop wanting to love them; the most perfect epilogue to OOO ever that I daresay it's the most important OOO movie and required watching; the simple but extremely appropriate and thematically lovely arc of Aqua and Poseidon; and then on top of all that, even if the return of W and the Showa Riders are essentially just fanservice; it's fanservice of W and the Showa Riders, that improves any movie!

You've also got, like, a scene of Aqua fighting a bunch of Undead costumes in the dark?? Which is obviously just Toei rooting through their kaijin kupboard for whatever they can use, but I'll take any excuse I can get for Blade to be roped into this absolutely appealing-entirely-to-me movie that this is. I love this movie! It's awesome!

I love that the main conflict for about half of the Fourze segment is Kengo saying You Can't Be Friends With It 'Cause It's Not Alive, and Gentaro saying Me Being Friends With It Makes It Alive... and Gentaro ends up being 100% right! Gentaro doesn't let anything put a label on his friendships, and that includes both science and the universe.

It's so so so good; and looking back on Fourze just something I'm realising I loved so much about it. It is unflinchingly, unstoppably about embracing each other despite any differences; so really the perfect movie thing for it is to have "differences" reach the new level of "space goo most people don't believe is sentient". Just so good

Also, just... I really love how Fourze's storytelling boiled down to its basics is just Teen Dramedy Tropes But Monsters. This whole Nadeshiko story is just, like, a foreign exchange student comes to Amanogawa High, Gentaro gets a crush, their cultural differences cause friction between Gentaro and his friends, eventually Gentaro gets everyone to see his girlfriend for what they all have in common, she goes back home. The twist is that she's non-sentient girl-shaped space goo, but the bones of the story are, like, Teen Dramedy 101.

I love that Fourze's approach to teen storytelling with monsters is just straight-up teen storytelling, with monsters.

I'mma just leave my review of this movie from the end of my little Kobayashi-thon right here, because anything new I could write probably won't match that level of enthusiasm.

Suffice it to say, I still think this movie is pretty much the greatest thing ever. And since, exactly like I joked about in that post, I'm currently rewatching Fourze, I'll probably be watching it yet again soon! Lucky me! (The director's cut, too. I'm not sure I've ever seen the theatrical cut either? How much did they gut from this thing to make it half an hour shorter?)

Also! I unironically like Super TaToBa. that is my contrarian opinion for movie war mega max

Joke's on you; it seems over time most people have warmed to it! I saw a bunch of people excited for the new Seihou SHF, and I haven't seen many bring it up as an 'ugly suit' or anything in a while.

Now, if you want to keep up your contrarian streak; just feel free to throw in the words 'final form' anywhere and double this thread's length instantly

As someone who doesn't even slightly follow the merchandising side of Kamen Rider, do they still do these? I expect that something like Zi-O or Revice would have legacy items, but were there legacy Wonderide Books or Progrise Keys?

Well they cut out half of Aqua's' scenes and the way the story links to the ending of OOO for starters.

Yeah, I don't hate it. I think it works well in the context of Rocket States and the finale's brightly-colored aesthetic. It's a bunch of flat colors, and Fourze's bright orange, so they look like they're in the same narrative space. And also literal space, so the suits are more legible.

I don't think Super TaToBa is my favorite OOO suit or anything, but it's exactly right for the end of this movie.

Tons of Legend Rider collectibles for both Saber and Zero-One, YES!

Had to reread the whole post and man this was funny. Did you plan this?

Yup! After they took a bit of a strange break after Gaim into will-they-or-won't-they Premium Bandai territory, Zi-O being the bestselling Kamen Rider toyline ever - with possibly a side of Ultraman Z being the bestselling New Gen Ultra - seems to have convinced Bandai that, yeah, maybe they should just put this stuff into retail again. As such both Saber and 01 provided most of the Heisei Riders as normal retail DX releases, with only a few relegated to SG and GP

Neat! Now I just gotta wait for everyone else to realize that Cross-Z Charge is secretly the best Cross-Z...

That doesn't sound great!

I mean, calling it a "plan" makes it sound like something that required conscious effort on my part, but seeing that pogo stick again definitely played a legitimate role in making me realize that, exactly like I said there, I'd been away from Fourze far too long. (Episodes 3 and 4 were fantastic, by the way, but then, so were all the rest so far.)

Oh boy, Movie War Mega Max! I actually really enjoyed this- *Director's Cut* Well, jokes on me. Looks like I'll just talk about the normal version.

The OOO portion: For context, when I first watched this movie, I had never seen OOO, yet that didn't prevent me from enjoying this section. Kamen Rider Poseidon is one of my favorite Movie Rider designs, and the fact that he follows OOO aesthetic was a really neat detail, given that Kougami gave him those (what a guy), of course, Aqua being a souped up, water-themed Ichigo is also great (Jet Ski Rider!). I did rewatch this when Toei Tokusatsu World uploaded this during their 50th anniversary celebration, so I was able to appreciate this so much more. I really should get around to the OOO movies...

The Fourze Portion: I can't dislike Gentarou. Ever. Heck, the whole cast is impossible for me to hate, especially after having seen Fourze so long ago. I was watching Fourze at this point right when the movie would air during the show's run, so that was fun. After learning the cast is reference to the Showa Riders, the whole Kamen Rider club performance made so much sense to me now (I still love Gentarou doing Stronger's transformation pose when they noticed JK was missing). Nadashiko was a fun addition, despite how simple the plot was, but when it comes to Fourze, all of this just fits so well. I still love the scene where they're all pursuing Foundation X trying to recover Nadashiko, seeing the supporting cast stand alongside the main Rider is just golden.

The W portion: I also never saw W at this point in my first watch, and I still can't get used to short-haired Phillip. But I wasn't too taken aback by Joker, since I saw the W and Decade movie with Skull.

Mega Max: I know it was at the beginning, but seeing the Showa Riders is always something I enjoy, despite having never completed any of the Showa shows. Maybe it's because I like their goofy designs as the Showa nutcase I am, or maybe it's just seeing such classic designs continue to have a presence all this way (Imagine if Marvel stayed with their original designs for the MCU :p).

Getting back on track, the final boss looks dumb, even during my first watch, I've tried figuring out if his design was based on any previous Toei work or something, since many of Fourze's opponents seem to be, but never got around to it. Anyway, seeing W, OOO, and Fourze together getting to know each other will always be some of my favorite interactions in Toku (amazing how a Highschool boy is taller than a self-proclaimed Hard Boiled Detective). But boy is the action tons of fun, from seeing the three Heisei Phase 2 Riders using all of their forms to blast at hordes of enemies, to the Showa Riders showing the new kids they can still take out the villains, and of course, the obligatory Movie forms. I'm going to be that guy and say that I love Super TaTo Ba, which might have been the inspiration for the first Power-Up forms used by some of the later seasons (like RabbitTank Sparkling), and Rocket States is a fun form, whose color scheme I actually really like.

Overall, it's a fun movie, maybe it's not the best, maybe the Showa Riders are just shoe-horned in because it's the 40th Anniversary (Which they are), but I enjoyed this, even as one of my early Rider movie experiences.

You would be right in it being a previous Toei reuse. There's a reason his name is specifically Super GingaOh because GingaOh already existed. He's from the Showa Film, Eight Riders vs. GingaOh. Funnily enough, Skyrider gets left out of Megamax despite GingaOh pretty much being his movie villain.

https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/i...HJ2tQ&usqp=CAU

Wow, so it is! Funny enough, his old design looks better. While I know Skyrider isn't part of the Seven Showa Flagship Riders, it is still interesting they decided to use a character from a season whose Rider is absent from the action.

Who knows? Maybe one day we'll get the Skyrider Reboot we never knew we wanted.:lol

Yo I love this design!

Movie War Megamax is usually seen as the best Movie War film, and for good reason. It's probably one of my favorite Rider films, and one of my favorite crossover films. I also could never get enough of "Samurai Strong Style" which I feel like summed the movie up quite well.

Aqua and Poseidon were never actually named? That makes me wonder how many Kamen Riders are never actually referred to by their Rider names in-universe. Kind of giving me MCU vibes with how sometimes your lucky if a characters' codename even gets said out loud.

I forgot about the Kamen Rider Club dressing up as the Riders they're named after, just as I constantly forget the KRC were actually named after Showa Riders. Showa Riders who are actually in the movie!

I remember when Rocket States first showed up in the actual show how unexpected and exciting that was. Like you see Gentaro look at the Switch and solemnly say "Nadeshiko..."and then transform, and it's surprising because of how rare it was for movie forms to show up outside the movie. Now the Mid-Season Upgrade tended to show up first in the Movie War, which didn't happen here, but it was really cool for me when I was watching Fourze for the first time.

(Super TaToBa is still my preferred OOO Final Form).

Fun fact; the homage to "8 Riders vs GingaOh" continues by having Aqua join the Showa Riders in the fight montage at the end!

Yeah, for whatever its faults, this is an incredibly fun movie. Its fairly bursting at the seams with action, heroes, villains, forms... pretty much all of the Fun elements you could ask for!

Characters not getting named was epidemic in Phase 1 Heisei. It's less common in Phase 2 (mostly because nearly every driver shouts the Rider's name during the Henshin), so it was a surprise that the two new OOO Riders and (I think) the villain's monster form never get officially named in the movie.

Super GingaOh did name himself, but just in passing and the subs translate the name

KAMEN RIDER FOURZE: ROCKET DRILL STATES OF FRIENDSHIP

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/...fourzehbv1.png

I’m not crazy about the Interactive era of HBVs, but this one keeps it relatively unobtrusive. It’s just, the consequences of the choices -- the difficulty of choosing the correct choices -- were weirdly distracting to me.

Like, the first choice is Which Switch Should Fourze Use On The Monster: Rocket, Drill, Launcher, or Radar? All of the offensive ones fail, and the correct choice is Radar. Except, all Radar does is intercept an incoming Ryuusei call, directing Team Fourze to go find Kamen Rider Amazon and pick up an HBV-exclusive collectible. That’s not predictable from the choices and setup provided! That’s like having the correct choice be the Hammer Switch, because the monster had an unpleasant encounter with MC Hammer at a Burger King in 1993. There is no way to have known that when you’re making the choice!

The ending choice is sort of the same thing: Choose between Amazon’s friendship sign and Fourze’s. Seems like a little bit of fluff; can’t possibly affect the outcome of the fight. Except it does, because Fourze’s friendship sign causes Amazon to cough up the Clear Drill Switch -- the thing that actually defeats the villain -- early enough to keep the villain from escaping. You go with Amazon’s friendship sign, the villain escapes and you don’t get to see the (presumably bundled with the magazine) brand-new Switch in action. Again, how could anyone intuit that from the story being told? This is presented like an innocuous choice, but it’s potentially depriving you of the better, longer ending.

Besides me yelling at a nearly decade-old piece of entertainment made to sell toys to children for being too difficult (THEY CHEAT), I really enjoyed this special. This was the first place I got to know Amazon, and he’s still one of my favorite Riders I Don’t Truck With. He’s an adorably innocent Rider, and his baseline belief in making friends is perfectly in tune with Fourze’s excitability. Just two Riders who want to be friends. To quote Keanu Reeves, “It’s always nice, when it’s nice.” Sure, he was talking about people reprogramming a video game to have sex with his digital avatar, but I think the same thing applies to two superheroes teaching each other unique handshakes. It’s always nice, when it’s nice.

It’s also nice to see a writer hit a minor roadblock, and then drive through it with such lunatic gusto that you can’t imagine why people drive around things. Ryuusei has told Team Fourze (for this special, that’s just Gentaro, Kengo, and Yuki) that they’ll need to travel all the way to South America to find the crucial Astro Switch and gain Kamen Rider Amazon's help. But, like, Fourze’s barely holding on against the monster in Japan. Going to South America, finding Amazon, and getting back to Japan would take almost two weeks.

So what if Fourze fought the monster for twelve straight days? Twelve days of increasingly exhausted combat? Days and nights of increasingly delirious fighting? A final few hours where both combatants are basically gently slapping each other, because all strength has left their bodies and they long for the calming embrace of death?

It would be amazing, and it’s such a terrific middle section that I can forgive it for BLATANTLY CHEATING on the interactive sections. It’s a bonkers conceit, coupled with Yuki and Kengo searching for Kamen Rider Amazon by going to the largest rainforest on the planet and just shouting out AMAZON until they eventually (almost literally!) stumble upon him. It is deliciously stupid, which is exactly what I want every HBV to be.

This was a ton of fun. Amazon and Fourze teaming up is incredibly charming (the little “Chun!” Fourze does when he performs Amazon’s friendship sign!), and the weirdly tortuous journey the other kids go on is like a fever dream. Perfectly ridiculous, and ridiculously perfect.

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/...fourzehbv2.png

I'm always tempted to say "this is one of my favourite HBVs", because... I'm pretty sure it's true! It features two of my favourite Riders in a fun little crossover that's downright perfect and needed to happen (I would argue Fourze and Amazon are cross-generation equivalents just for how hard both push the friendship angle!), and it's a bunch of fun!

It's just. Like. My favourite HBV? When the competition is so strong? That's a bit of a tough one! I just keep thinking of Agito's or Build's or Ryuki's or, of course, the absolutely unbeatable 555 HBV that it's difficult to definitively call this one my fav. It probably is, but boy if it doesn't have a bunch of strong contenders around it.

Who cares about arbitrarily assigning a #1 label to any particular one though? I'm just glad this thing exists and is as good as it is!

(I'd totally be down for a more in-depth choose-your-own-adventurer Kamen Rider story).

I think I remember Hiroaki Hirata voicing the Mutamid in the special, which was pretty fun.

This one's definitely in my Top 3, alongside Build's and 555's. Build is my easy #1. I love that tiny lady who lives in Build's shoulder and helps him teach men to not overvalue male role-models at the expense of nurturing female influences!

(Drive is just outside my Top 3, for how insanely cool the HBV-exclusive form ended up being. Probably Decade after that, what with the Decade Bazooka and all.)

It's always frustrating to me that official Kamen Rider video games stick to mass combat and one-on-one fighting. Where's my narrative? Where's the gameplay that lets me feel like I'm helping tell a Kamen Rider story? Gimme a Mass Effect-style game that lets me feel heroic while hitting on every single cast member! Gimme a visual novel that makes me feel the weight of a Kamen Rider's responsibility while hitting on every single cast member! Gimme a Persona-esque life simulator that makes me balance my emotional health with my need to avert the apocalypse while hitting on every single cast member!

Bandai's got options, is all I'm saying.

I remember Kabuto's where I think Kagami is trying to be like Tendo and the only good thing he gets out of it is Hyper Gatack.

Or like Blade where there's evil Blade with scarf and everyone attacks Kenzaki thinking he's the fake.

It's been such a long time since I've seen this that I barely remember it (which should change soon enough!), but I recall being super excited at the time that it simply existed, and enjoying the end product... well, just like I enjoy pretty much everything Fourze ? a whole lot. It was great that they used the freedom an HBV has to do whatever wacky thing, and made it into a chance for Fourze to do something with such a straightforward 40th anniversary feel to it by shoving some old guy into a guest-star spot. And not just any old guy, either! It's Amazon, the inspiration for the best Fourze character, and the Showa Rider *so* inherently lovable even Die will admit he's got his charms. He really is the perfect choice for a Fourze team-up. Like, how weird would this thing have been if Yuuki and Kengo had to arbitrarily fetch Riderman or something instead, you know? Although Stronger might've been good too, though... And then, I suppose Riderman's arms are kinda like Fourze's Switches?

Actually, you know what? I think Fourze can probably team up with any other Rider and have it work out, right? His whole shtick IS befriending literally everyone, after all.

There's also the very excellent Hibiki HBV, where googly-eyed disc animals help Asumu become a tiny Hibiki.

It'd work out, but it wouldn't be as absurdly fun as this. Like, Amazon is so on Fourze's wavelength that it never feels like either character is dumbing down to make it a comedy. It's not like (and I love these) the Wizard cop show Net-Movies, where all the old Showa guys are slightly deranged. Here, it just feels like Kamen Rider Amazon showed up to help the cast of Kamen Rider Fourze... and all of those characters are slightly deranged.

KAMEN RIDER X SUPER SENTAI: SUPER HERO TAISEN

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/.../shtaisen1.png
https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/.../shtaisen2.png

An exciting movie, with terrific action and a million characters… that I utterly despise if I think about what it’s saying for more than a minute.

Well, maybe not “utterly despise”. That’s overly harsh. I do genuinely hate what this movie ends up saying at its conclusion, though. After an entire film of Tsukasa and Marvelous putting lives in jeopardy and humiliating their friends, we get a Tsukasa speech that, hand to god, is just him going A Real Hero Knows The Ends Justify The Means. Like, look at this garbage:

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/.../futsukasa.png
https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/...efutsukasa.png

I literally had to get up and walk away after that triumphantly-scored (!!!) moment. Yonemura had the goddamn anniversary-level balls to have a superhero tell a villain that any action is justified if the end result is a defeated villain. OH MAN! No! No no no no no! I hate that lesson so much that I will always resent this movie for having it as a moral.

The path to get to that moral is equally insulting. Decade and Gokai Red’s plan to gaslight both friends and enemies alike is riddled with logical problems. Like, the gimmick is that both Tsukasa and Marvelous are hiding other heroes in a pocket dimension, so the villains will think they’re dead. Tsukasa and Marvelous do this personally, with a purple-colored attack. And then they rain fire down on their friends. And then they send other villains after the heroes that only they can protect. What if General Shadow just murders, like, a Magiranger? Or if DaiZangyack’s ship obliterated Fourze? The entire plan falls apart if anyone other than Decade or Gokai Red attack the heroes… and step one of the plan is to take over armies of villains and send them against the heroes.

(Also, best part is Rider Hunter Silva going No Riders Detected as the villains make their move... while Gokai Green is about twelve feet away. Is... is that all that was necessary to hide the various heroes?! Keeping them behind rubble? In a robot's blindspot? Amazing. So dumb!)

It’s a shockingly cruel plan, even if I can sort of see Tsukasa trying it. (I don’t know Marvelous, so maybe it’s similarly believable that he’d shit all over his friends and team-up with the very villains he spent a season eliminating?) Tsukasa deciding all on his own to enact a plan with a hero he just met that might piss off all of his friends… it sort of tracks? It’s reckless, and that’s very much Tsukasa’s M.O. when it comes to plans. It’s dangerous and insulting, and then the end result is all of the Sentais and all of the Riders being in one place to stop the villains from completing a scheme they only attempted because they thought Marvelous and Tsukasa got rid of the other heroes. It’s like dousing your best friend’s home in gasoline, and then leaving a book of matches on their front doorstep, all so you can catch any would-be arsonists. Worse, it’s like trying to catch a known arsonist in the act. Like, why don’t the Riders and Sentai just, like, fight the villains from the start? Why all the subterfuge, when the only things that were gained were a) terrorized friends, and b) an army that didn’t need to be tricked into showing up? It’s a long way to go for an ending that’s just All Of The Heroes Fight At The Quarry, a thing they do more-or-less every season anyway.

The most frustrating part of the story to me is that Diend actually calls Tsukasa out on it, and he’s right, and then the movie throws it all away.

Again, can’t speak to the Sentai part, but it’s way more interesting to watch this movie after watching Decade. The real throughline of the movie (for me, at least) is how Kaitou and Tsukasa navigate their toxic relationship. There’s plenty of stuff about putting aside differences or reaching out to people or how The Greatest Treasure Is Friendship (gross), but I love how this movie really drills into how much Kaitou and Tsukasa need each other. Even in the midst of trying to make everyone in the universe think he’s a bad guy, Tsukasa sort of breaks character to try and recruit Kaitou. The real climax of the film for me isn’t the bullshit We Fooled You/We Fooled You Into Thinking You Fooled Us stuff that Marvelous and Tsukasa smirk at the villains with. It’s when Kaitou is furious that Tsukasa would consider their friendship/”friendship” collateral damage; acceptable losses.

He’s 100% right, Kaitou. It was a lazy plan by our “heroes”, and it presumes that they can be forgiven as long as no one dies. It’s nearly sociopathic in its disregard for people’s feelings. Tsukasa could’ve easily told Kaitou what was going on, just like Marvelous could’ve told the Gokaigers. All of this villainous subterfuge is just cruelty dressed up in nobility, and it’s disgusting. Kaitou’s dead right to tell Tsukasa that he was worse than a supervillain; he was an asshole.

But then Kaitou tilts into Psycho Ex territory, and the movie loses its thread.

I mean, I sort of like how Kaitou’s reaction to Tsukasa valuing all of these Riders and Sentais over what he had with Kaitou is Okay Fine Die With Them Then. Kaitou doesn’t really care about Riders or Sentais in the aggregate. He might care about Gokai Blue as a person, but he doesn’t particularly value other superheroes for any innate reasons. The idea that Tsukasa would destroy their relationship for the sake of strangers would naturally (for a toxic version of “naturally”) make Kaitou want to put those strangers in some sort of jeopardy. I don’t know that Kaitou forming a giant robot and trying to murder decades worth of superheroes works for me, though. It’s like Tsukasa’s plan: it’s too much, too fatal. It treats the safety of everyone else as obligatory, ensured. Like, this is just Kaitou throwing a tantrum at being ignored, don’t worry about it, let him get it out of his system. It’s less fun if the movie can’t treat it seriously?

But, I don’t know, the rest of the movie is pretty fun. The plot is really nothing. It’s just a ragtag group of survivors (two Gokaigers, Diend, and Hina from OOO) running around and watching cool Sentai and Rider fights. That’s it. They don’t really have a plan to stop their ex-friends from slaughtering other superheroes. It’s just Marvelous and Tsukasa’s weird scheme, front to back, which works out basically 100% correctly. (Even the Kaitou stuff just puts them back where they started.)

Still, y’know, a million superheroes! A fun cameo from the Den-O Imagin! Eiji’s in this about as much as Gentaro is! Great fights! (Best one for me was the early Gokai Red/Decade fight, where they kept using similar-themed suits, like Blade versus Spade Ace. I love when the match-ups get clever like that!) A massive battle at Kamen Rider Quarry! A finale that depends on continuity from the Fourze HBV! The story in this one is alternately illogical and offensive, but the fan-service and action are so good that I find myself working to forget the story.

Weird, weird movie. Incredibly successful as a celebration of tokusatsu; practically criminal in its stupidity and abhorrent morality.

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/.../shtaisen3.png

I can just feel the chagrin seeping through this post. :lol

Honestly, I never take the Taisen movies too seriously because of how inconsistent a lot of them are. They exist just to make cheap money at the box office and provide kids on vacation some mindless entertainment to fill up time.

I remember a few things about this movie

Diend decided to be the final boss

The part where all the Card Riders get to use Goseiger Cards is hilarious and really inventive in terms of borrowing powers.

Narutaki is there and is still an enigma like always.

The final attack involving the Go-Busters and Fourze is like one of my favorite combo attacks of all time.

Uh other than that, not really a fan of the Taisen style of films honestly.

Hey, I didn't spend a single second taking pot-shots at things like the return of Tsukasa's hilarious Shocker Hair (hysterical!) or how Marvelous ends the movie shaking the hand of a character he never really interacted with, rather than the dude he concocted this whole crazy scheme with. I'd say I was pretty restrained!

Sure, but I feel like you could similarly dismiss criticisms of all tokusatsu with It's Only There To Sell Toys. I think it's okay to ask for a smarter film than this.

Yyyeah, kinda? In the same way you could 'see' Tsukasa doing it anyway; you know deep down the guy's a hero, but he's always been just a bit ~ambiguous~ and less than squeaky-clean where if he does something like this, you do question if maybe he is being legit. The Gokaigers are very much that in Sentai and I could name a few times in post-series adventures where I've had a will-they-won't-they thing with their flirtation with villainy.

This movie! Bad! Like, really bad! Phenomenally bad! The posterchild for every single little wrong with All Riders movies (which sometimes have Sentai in them) with plenty of character assassination to go around. It's undeniably one of the worst projects Toei put out in the Heisei Era.

I'll always have a soft spot for it, though?

For whatever bizarre reason, this was my introduction to Tokusatsu; Sentai and Rider as a whole. Before Gokaiger was my first actual series, I for whatever reason in my infinite wisdom found this movie on youtube and decided to watch it for the hell of it, and I'm pretty sure it was unsubbed; and naturally it was sort of making my mind do loops. It was bad then and I didn't have much to say for it, and I'm a little shocked in retrospect I decided "yeah let's check out Gokaiger" after such a ~wonderful~ outing for them. But I dunno. You'll always like your first, I guess, and this melts your brain so much it's hard to have the processing power to actually articulate reasoning for its objective quality; and also there's so much insane bullshit going on like Tsukasa and Kaitou's ongoing baffling divorce marriage, an absolutely brazen bold speedrun of Black and Shadow Moon's conflict out of nowhere that's so stupid you can't even be offended by it, and the wild decision to show Kiva and Go-Onger as one of the specific team-ups everyone wanted to see. Also, Doras and Daguva and Mezool standing next to each other on a spaceship as if they've got a banner behind them saying "GUYS WHO ABSOLUTELY SHOULD NOT BE HERE CLUB".

Stupid movie! I love it! I hate it! It's the best! It's the worst! I will watch it at least once every year

The bit where Narutaki curses Decade, and Tsukasa's all tense about Narutaki's whole deal, like literally anyone in the world is still expecting payoff on that plot point! I don't even know what Yonemura thought people got out of Decade.

When I first watched this movie, I thought Decade was the currently ongoing series; and that this was some kind of lead-in to his mysteries to be resolved in the finale. I was so young and naive

Joker from Blade was my guy for that. Every time I see him in the Villain Suits lineup for a movie, I want to grab a producer by the shoulders and go DID YOU NOT WATCH BLADE AT ALL. THIS HAS A MEANING!

do you know how close i was to having this be my post for this movie

I'm so glad that Senki ditched this formula and just had Riders and Sentai teaming up to save the world without any of the compliacted hero vs hero stuff that Taisen love to do.

Sounds like it's written entirely in line with Tsukasa and Decade to me!

RIGHT?? THAT'S LIKE ONE OF THE BIGGEST ONES!!!! You can have General Shadow and Apollo Geist and, like, a bunch of Fangires and even shit like Ouja and Caucasus if you want; they're either all evil fascist empires or just fuckin awful enough to go along with whatever domination plot is going on this time. But you canNOT put Joker Undead there, are you insane???