Yeah, that was a nice touch for sure. Although it basically cements that Ray has certainly had a shift since his early heroing days. Given that this training session amount to "I need to keep getting stabbed until I learn better!"

Like many redesigns in BIMA-X, I think Iron Mask's' new looks is inferior to his original design. However, I do rather like it for what it is, so I'm not that broken up about it.

Oh yeah, the design philosophy is certainly there: The other stones being augments slapped ontop of a pre-existing core. Just like, in terms of pure aesthetics it clashes, ya know?

Oh yeah, that jingle is good stuff and I await more of 'em.

I'd be surprised if it turned out that BIMA-X somehow didn't have a bump in budget compared to its predecessor, given just how much shiny new stuff we've been seeing at such a rapid pace.

Welp, sorta off topic, but I just remembered Bandai did the action figures for this series.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7fMMyP_hVqI

I think they used the same template they use for their non-figuarts Ultraman action figures, or a variation of it maybe. Just wanted to share this with y'all while the Bima hype is strong over here. :rock:

Oh man, I might have to hunt those down unless one day the stars align and we get BIMA SHFs.

This... was almost Ryukendo levels of shitpost.

And I mean that in the most endearing way possible, mind you. I seriously was not expecting these two episodes to be as laugh out loud funny as they were!

It's like the minds behind this show saw the Pudgey Pig episode of Power Rangers and decided to just run as long as far with that idea as they possibly could. And really, bless them for it.

Possibly even more surprising is that the episodes actually managed to have a theme about legacy. The cookbook made by Rena's' mom plays an important part in all of this, and tying into that is the mysterious portal device that's left to Rena and Randy in a nice callback to the old show.

It really has been impressing me just how much BIMA-X is following up on when it comes to BIMA. Some might see it as a bit of detriment, as you basically have to have seen the first show to get the full effect, but given that this is a direct sequel, I am here for it and really digging it so far. Really hoping the show is able to keep up this momentum.

Anyway, yeah, this was just a really fun two episodes all around. No complaints.

Okay yeah, this was a fun set of episodes. The comedy was on point and we got some amusing action scenes as a result. My favorite bit is Ray confronting the monster in the grocery store, cue the opening credits, and then when we come back we find they're now in the forest with the monster still having the cart he was shopping with.

We also get some minor plot/callback stuff with Rena and Randy's parents, but it's nice to just have a normal set of episodes that isn't either setting up the status quo or obtaining a new form.

Didn't even return it to the holding area. Truly, he was a monster.

Technically a two-parter, but also not?

The two episodes aren't directly connected, but the second episode does come about as a result of the first, if that makes any sense.

In the first, Zacros is at work giving everyone nightmares, and it's a fun episode that has a nice bit of callbacks to the stuff he did in the first show. I did so enjoy the newspaper coming back. They knew how iconic that was.

And for the second, Ricca's' actions in the first episode result in Iron Mask wanting to uncover just who the heck Ricca is and who she's working for, given that's helped Bima-X out twice now while clearly knowing alot more than any normal person would.

Both episodes excel in different areas, with episode 9 doing great in terms of comedy and some insight into the psychology of the core cast with their nightmares. Whereas episode 10 is much more action oriented. Both do feature some fun fight choreography though, and episode 10 is another episode that has a great musical score to it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qdy-neVlAIk

And speaking of great music, given the dream-like nature of the song itself, I suppose now would be as good a time as any to highlight BIMA-X's' ending credits theme, "Let Tomorrow Be" by flumpool. Just like I think of "Seperti Bintang" whenever I think of BIMA, I feel the same goes for this song and BIMA-X. It absolutely blew me away when it first played during the end credits of The Beginning, and its overall melody and atmosphere are just wonderful to experience. Big fan of songs like this.

Anyway, yeah, these were solid enough episodes. And while the show for sure wants us to be just as invested in Ricca as Iron Mask is, what with her healing pod and secret organization ties, I feel as though there is currently a much bigger mystery at hand that I demand an answer to.

Who the heck is Chris Ruslan? For those who don't know who I'm talking about, he's the news reporter who's shown up in almost every episode so far, and notably, he's one of the few people unaffected by Zacros' sleep spell this time around. I'm starting to think that the dude is secretly Rexor in disguise or something, what with his constantly wearing sunglasses and all.

Oh, and I guess knowing what Randy's' nightmare was would've been nice too, even if ignoring it did make for a funny bit.

Yeah, these two episodes were fairly separate from each other in regards to the plots. Though they are connected so I suppose it works in covering them together.

Zacros continues to be fairly entertaining and considering the bit at the end with his staff I can only assume he's not as done as Bima-X thinks he is. I also loved the bit at the start of 9 where Ray is just so tired he can barely transform and fight. Even though it's part of his plan, even Iron Mask can't help but groan at how pathetic that whole sequences is lol. Though in regards to him, yeah, he just needs to keep his cloak on the whole time. I feel like it just completes his look way too well so when he took it off in his debut, he looked really weird.

Speaking of villains though I was surprised to see that our trio of dinosaur masked Vudo Generals do indeed have full monster costumes. I was curious ever since it looked like Lady Mossa was about to get serious against Azellot. But not only do we get to see Draconer's we even get a little glimpse at Rexor's too. Very cool.

That said, yeah while Ricca is intriguing you do bring up a good point about Chris Ruslan. While I wouldn't say he's entirely suspicious it is odd that a reoccurring character like him is actually alright, especially when his crew is also falling asleep on the job.

Also that sky battle at the end of Episode 10 was insane.

I recall Zoik was popular as a meme at the time, due to his comedic selfish personality and how he can hold up a sign for any situation. Even though he's also kind of a creep to Rena, I welcome isopod representation in Tokusatsu. Seems that Indonesia has more respect than Japan for this underrated species, as it took another 8 years to see one in King-Ohger.

That explains why I don't remember too much about this pair, similar to 16-17 of Bima. I totally remember that cool Zacros moment though and Ray trying his best to Berubah while fighting his drowsiness.

Well, the last reporter George got brutally murdered by Valcus in Bima Episode 11, so Chris should be careful not to suffer the same occupational hazard of journalism. He's pretty good at showing up whenever the action starts though. Hmm....

So you combined the thread for Bima-X too.

Topeng Besi already mentioned Black Priest in Bima's final episode anyway. And I do get grateful that Reino Barack made the sequel, as he'd only make the sequel if the reception is good enough, and I doubt if the Indonesian folks would give this a good reception, as they're easy to label anything as a ripoff (tbf, Indonesia does have a lot of blatant ripoff cases), like calling this a Power Rangers ripoff.

Different tastes, but I like the Bima-X suit better than Bima's previous suit.

Ricca too, was portrayed by another JKT48 member, Thalia.

Of course, the local involvement must continue, as the Indonesian folks tend to have an inlander mentality and mock anything about their country compared to the developed countries. Though the Indonesian opening song and Japanese ending song may balance those that want only one of them, the Indonesian stuff must stand on equal ground with the Japanese stuff. The writer for this show is the current Kamen Rider, Gavv's writer, Junko Komura. This time I do feel that Seperti Bintang is better than Kembali Bertahan.

World's' biggest isopod fan: Sh Ranger!

https://i.imgur.com/r01bthU.png

It's more convenient that way, yeah.

Given her work on this and Wizard, I'm sure I'll like Gavv well enough whenever I managed to watch it.

Lady Mossa's' plan here really was pretty smart when you get down to it.

Which makes it kinda ironic that the very thing she exploited(human greed and vanity), is what ultimately did her plan in, in the end.

But really, despite being the primary plot device of these two episodes, the Scarlet Bintang(nice callback there, guys), was maybe the most minor of things that stood out to me during this chunk?

No, what stood out to me most was just how much character development we got out of Ricca. Even moreso than the two-parter that was advertised as being all about her! Her family having died during the Grand Gator attack made for a really great follow up to the previous show, to say the least.

There's also her bonding with Rena and, by extension, the rest of the family. The scenes between the two girls were rather nice, especially since they helped to showcase that despite some Akiko-isms early on(thanks, Riku Sanjo), Rena is still the same girl we've continued to know. Oh and uh, Ricca might have the White Power Stone, but don't worry about that part.

The last thing I can think to note is that I could very easily see this monster of week getting on people's' nerves, what with its constant vocal tick as if it's meant to be a parody of Pokemon or something. But ignoring that aspect, it did have a pretty neat gimmick and the way that the family ultimately bands together to take it down was fun to see play out.

Oh, and Azazel's' new Dark Meteor attack is frikken sweet. That certainly helps!

This was a nice two episodes.

We get a fairly competent villain plot, and a pretty cool and fun solution to it as well. Not to mention it's nice to get to know more about Ricca after we've started putting more focus on her. Plus Reza comes back for some Azazel action which is always appreciated.

Given Ricca also has an R name, I wonder if she'll be a long lost cousin or something.

Episode 13 was really weird. Especially in terms of pacing.

It's an episode where the story is told mostly via offhand remarks to past events and flashbacks, and it honestly made me think I'd skipped an episode.

But jarring narrative aside, there was still solid stuff in it. Ati was a likable character who wasn't just the standard Idol Bait you see in alot of other shows, and I was so, so close when it came to Chris' real identity.

Episode 14, however, was alot more my speed. Ati and Rena's' friendship gets showcased alot more, and it really worked for me. The stunt work is as good as always, even in terms of the unmorphed fights. And of course, there's the grand debut of Bima-X Earth. Or as I like to call it, Christmas Bima-X.

Throughout these latest string of episodes, I also noticed a bit of an oddity when it comes to the writing of BIMA-X in general. Namely in that whether or not characters care about secret identities largely depends on the writer. One blatant example in these episodes being how Ricca here very casually mentions that she has the White Power Stone after having kept it secret in the last two-parter.

Still, minor gripes aside, I did overall like these two episodes. The ways things continued to escalate felt like an action movie, and Earth Mode's' debut IS really cool, featuring highlights like the ground quaking with each step Bima-X makes, Helios transforming into an axe, Bima-X straight up punching a hole through the Armadillo Monster... it was just so cool, all around. Black Lord not punishing Draconer for failure was a shock, too.

Also, you know I'm way too used to modern Kamen Rider when I'm mentally noting just how much space was between the acquiring of the Blue and Green Power Stones. It's very refreshing to see by comparison. A shame Reza didn't show up though, given that the Power Stone Hunt was his assigned mission. But eh, whatever.

Anyway, yeah, fun time, these two.

I think what makes Bima-X Earth work for me more than Storm did is that all the Earth additions are Green and very prominent/consistent.

Meanwhile with Storm I get what they were going for but it feels like there's too much silver and the wind blade motif isn't hitting as fully as it could for the limbs that aren't the right arm.

Anyway this was a pretty neat two-parter though I do have to agree that the 13s pacing felt odd in that it felt like I was missing an episode or something when it came to how the dialogue and interactions were handled.

I agree with this notion. The shade of green they chose for Earth also clashes with the red alot less than the shade of blue they went with for Storm.

Like, do I still wish the undersuit got changed to match? Yeah, but for the general design philosophy that the show is going with, I think that Earth Mode pulls it off pretty well.

In this you are more insightful than me. When I watched Bima-X, I also noted the frequent appearance of Chris Ruslan, but considered him a constant background character, like teachers or the same journalists in MMPR.

Hey, that's a valid take, because really, Chris hadn't actually done anything up to this point, you know? I just found him being unaffected by the monster stuff to be a bit suspicious. Which, really, could've easily just been a minor thing the audience wasn't meant to think about.

Look at how good that color scheme is!

The climax of the two-parter involved a farmland that's poisoned and on fire, and the filter they use to signify that results in Bima-X Earth looking even better.

Speaking of which, I was impressed at how the writers immediately addressed something some audience members might be thinking after Earth Mode's' debut: With how powerful the form is, why use the other two at all?

Both episodes almost go out of their way to show the inherent advantages and disadvantages of each form, and having Ray switch between all three when appropriate made for a very fun final fight. And I really hope this sort of thing is kept in mind as we get more Stones going forward.

And speaking of that, sad to say that the ending of this kinda annoyed me. Ricca gives Bima-X the White Power Stone, and yet, for whatever reason, he can't transform with it, and he gives it back after the fight with Rexor is over. I get that we don't want too many forms too fast, but given that half the objective of the adventure is to gather all the Stones, it made me groan.

But the episodes are more than just a showcase of the Stones. The emotional core of the episode is about Ray helping out a local farmland, and through both them and who I'm assuming is Bima Legend from the first show, learning how to adapt and the reasons why people might hold certain places precious. I wonder if the line about "Let those who you save help you" will come into play later, since it didn't seem like it directly connected to the farm lady.

Oh, also, it was no surprise at all that the Minister was Rexor, given that the voice filter does very little in actually disguising his voice. The villains in general were cool during these episodes though. Not just in terms of the Komodo Monster from The Beginning coming back, or even Draconer and Iron Mask's' continued fight, but I really dug how Draconer doesn't trust Black Lord worth anything, given how the Lord already betrayed Iron Mask. It made for a very quick but very cool character moment.

So yeah, flubbed ending aside, I liked these ones. And the orchestral mix of "Let Tomorrow Be" was nice to listen to too.

I also wanted to note how the three generals of the Dark Lord wisely approached the selection of human faces. They took over politics, business and the press, which are very important positions for taking over the world.

15 and 16 were a pretty interesting two-parter. Was not expecting the thing that Rexor was looking for to be a Power Spot though! Ryukendo crossover when? ha ha.

I do like how despite how advantageous Bima-X Earth is in terms of defense, it can't do everything. So Ray needing to learn a balance on how to use his forms was pretty neat since this is still a rather fresh concept for him compared to his time as normal Bima.

But hey, looks like Iron Mask is continuing to lurk and do things, which makes me curious as to what his next big move will be.

Though admittedly I was fine with the ending in regards to the White Power Stone. Given how fickle they can be at times I'm not too surprised we didn't get a new Bima-X Form. Plus giving it back to Ricca works given the trust they've kind of been building up with her as of late.

Granted, given we've got a new Satria on the horizon from what they teased and we didn't get a new Bima-X form, that might be a clue for where exactly White's going to end up when all's said and done.

The stakes felt high here as the Bee Monster evolved into something that can give Grand Gator a run of his money, size and destruction-wise.

Kamen Rider's Fourze's Astroswitches (mostly) giving only weapons compared to OOO granting new forms (body parts) for different weapons making OOO the Rider with the most form combinations (120+).

A dark reminder that the Satrias can't save everybody. The tragedy of losing family is something the Bramasakti-Iskandar family can relate to and Ricca shows courage for supporting the Satrias to save as many lives as possible.

Good to see Azazel still getting new moves to keep up with Bima-X.

Ati's such a caring idol that she would rather wear a seemingly cursed bracelet and complain about it making her career more difficult than offend Rena by removing it. That's crazy sentimental! Even more humorous that Rena just happened to give away Power Stone Hijau without realizing. Glad that Ati and Rena were able to make up in the end.

Flame Mode is the reliable type, Storm Mode is the speed type and Earth Mode is the strong type, just like Wizard. But since there's no water-elemental Power Stone, makes you curious to see what the wildcard type form will do, huh.

The quest for the Power Stones is a significant part of the show after all, so it makes sense to put some distance between them and give the new forms a generous amount of focus. Power Stone Hijau is the first new Stone that Ray has used in this show, since Merah and Biru were his main 2 as Bima. This is a sign of how Bima-X can synchronize with more Stones than before.

At first, I thought he was just a comic relief, but eventually I started to suspect he was up to something. I was still surprised to find out he was actually Draconer though.

Absolutely. I imagine they got alot of intel based on Rasputin's' first siege and acted accordingly.

It does make me wonder if the Stones are going to be evenly divided up, or if both Satria will be able to use all of them eventually. Either way, poor Azazel is stuck with Black only by the looks of things. Which is a shame since he also used two Power Stones in BIMA proper.

I mean, he didn't turn into the battleship, he just built it.

Kinda, but not really? OOO's' Medals swapped body parts, whereas the Power Stones in BIMA-X grant new forms entirely.

Yeah, it's another reason I was surprised that Ray didn't keep the White Stone, since Ice is the closest this show has to Water.

True, and I did like how much these two episodes did highlight how the form swapping gimmick was brand new territory for Ray. It's been neat, how Ray has to learn something new with each Stone that he claims.

This one was... alright.

The main crux of the episode is that Ricca ends up absorbing the White Power Stone, and Ray needs to find a way to get it out of her while fighting Mossa.

And that's kinda all there is to it in terms of plot. We get a tease about how Ricca's' boss is soon to become the new Satria, and since he's apparently Tiger themed I suppose his makes sense he gets Orange and White.

Sure, there's a small message about empathy and meeting people where they're at thrown in there, but it's not really a primary focus nor is it a major issue to be overcome. Heck, the whole emotional climax, wherein Ray tells Ricca that she's like family now, kinda comes way too easy? But it's whatever.

I think the biggest takeaway for me in all of this was actually Lady Mossa; She has a rather good showing here! Her plan is direct, but proven to be effective, and she quickly shows that she's one of the Death Phantoms for a reason. I especially liked how she took advantage of the fact that none of the heroes knew what her civilian identity was. And her monster form is cool too.

The action itself isn't anything super stellar, but we do get a new finishing attack for Azazel, who also gets a surprising amount of screen time throughout this thing. First fighting Iron Mask in episode 17(with his previous identity of Mikhail getting mentioned) and then doing a great job holding off Mossa in 18. And of course, you know, the shirtless scene that I'm sure many a viewer was happy to see. I guess this was all to make up for him being a bit absent recently.

In the end though, yeah, there's some solid stuff in these two episodes, but as an overall I just felt they were fine. Nothing bad, but nothing incredible either.

Pretty solid two episodes this time.

A lot of Azazel love what with all the screen time he got in these two episodes. Iron Mask continues to intrigue me, Lady Mossa actually stepped up in a pretty neat way this time, and we got some cool Bima-X and Azazel tag-team action.

Not much else to say though but I'm curious as to how much longer they'll be teasing this new Satria. With the way he's coming in he seems like our "Secondary Rider" type of hero in comparison to Azazel.

Topeng Besi has shown up in the end of the OG Bima, revived by the Black Priest, and finished off Rasputin. So it's there. Not that it was revealed where did those monsters come from, so should be just the same for Zacros and Karax. It's an achievement that they managed to create something memorable and thus are brought back, Zacros is one of the more unique type of monsters I've seen in toku in his mannerisms and fighting style.

She's described as mysterious in the character descriptions in the promotions so yes.

Really hoping they don't replace my boy Azazel as the secondary.

Yeah, but he was also seemingly killed off in "The Beginning", hence the surprise of him coming back after that.

Considering how Power Stone Putih is ice-elemental, the opposite of fire, it would probably be difficult for Ray to synchronize with it. Even as Bima-X, he needs experience to master the Stones, which is exactly what these episodes show with him getting used to optimizing his 3 forms. So I think that him returning Putih to Ricca was a practical choice, while also strengthening the trust between them.

Hard to miss with orchestral mixes!

This Stone kind of came out of nowhere. Remember, when Shadow Crisis had Stones, Velifer used the metal-elemental Power Stone Kuning, which for some reason is now Power Stone Oranye. I dislike how they suddenly changed the color, so for future reference, if I continue to mention Kuning, I'm actually talking about Oranye.

Good to see that despite Topeng Besi's recent focus on Bima-X, he hasn't forgotten about his other rivalry with Azazel. Especially since there's a new Satria on the way, who will surely become another target of his hatred.

Nope, Azazel is still the "Secondary Rider" of the Satrias. The new guy is just your typical "Q2 Rider" like Necrom, Woz or Saikou.

I was curious about that, actually. At first I thought that they'd added an 8th Stone out of nowhere, but it's a shame that they just retconned one of them. Which also means poor Azazel loses his secondary Stone. Man...

Azazel still has thunder-elemental power with Taranis at least, but yeah, he won't be able to call himself a specialist in that power for much longer. So the change is annoying for Azazel fans as well.

Recap episode.

What? You want more out of me? Well luckily for you, there is actually some extra stuff to talk about when it comes to this one!

First off, this episode is both written and directed by Hideki Oka, who's not only been one of the directors working on BIMA-X(most notably The Beginning), but he also helped out with the second half of BIMA and even did episodes of Ryukendo!

That last one is notable in that this episode is a total gag episode too. The episode is very self-aware in how it's simply catching the audience up to speed, and as such spares no expense in just being goofy for the sake of it. Like Ryukendo.

The "premise" is that Draconer gets the idea to release the souls of the monsters defeated so far in an attempt to ambush Bima-X and steal his Power Stones, only he didn't quite account for the fact that ghosts can't interact much with the living world, if at all. And hilarity ensues because of it. Although weirdly the Ice Stone is able to make them all physical? I don't get it.

Even the obligatory fight at the end is a joke, with all six monsters getting defeated quite easily. And while it might at first seem like they all got nerfed just for the sake of a joke, there is a logical explanation in that none of them have Synthetic Power Stones this time around, and thus would actually be alot weaker. It's a small thing, and it's not even really explained in the episode itself, but it works out and I appreciate it.

Oh, and this episode also confirms that the Yellow Power Stones has been retconned into an Orange one. Tis a shame, that. Heck, BIMA-X is full of little retcons like that, I've noticed. Like how the family now works for Suzuki instead of Satria Motors. It's nothing that totally breaks the story or anything, but still, they're there.

In the end though, yeah, it is just a silly one-off recap episode. And it made for a decently fun time.

Normally I'm not too fond of returning monster suits, mainly because most of the time it's just the suit and it's kind of just used for fodder. There are a few exceptions though.

This is one of those exceptions as just like when Proteus returned, it was very much the monster getting a new life and continuing like usual. The personalities remain intact and as a result it ends up making some really fun interactions between the six this episode. It's also interesting and kind of morbid that despite dying, these monsters souls still exist to be used when necessary.

Anyway finding out that someone from Ryukendo had a hand in this definitely explains the unhinged nature this recap had when I watched it. Pretty enjoyable overall.

A very funny episode. As for the retcon in the case of Suzuki, it?s most likely a matter of sponsorship.

And the current MOTW, Zoik, is another one deemed as memorable. While it's presented as funny, it's also quite terrifying for Iwan to be eaten alive, though fortunately he's not automatically dead inside. Bima defeats Zoik by getting eaten alive, but he obviously can fight back, while becoming the most delicious food ever for Zoik in the process.

Well you do for the surface, about seeing it as a detriment, like Bima-X's suit and the theme song. Indonesia has further made their own toku recently, like Bardion and a total parody in Kapten Justice.

Vudo is so evil that you don't even get to die, your soul gets held prisoner.

Damn.

Oh it absolutely is, given how much product placement for them is in practically every episode.

Interesting. I'll be sure to look into those should they ever get subs.

Tom Malkis saves the world.

But before we get to that, is it fair to say that this two-parter is the mid-season finale? Because it has all the makings of one.

You've got one of the Death Phantoms gaining final boss status, a repeat move of the finale of BIMA with the townsfolk giving the Satrias their energy, the stakes being higher than ever, and one of the best theme tune powerups!

To say I was very happy with "Seperti Bintang" returning during the final bout with Draconer would be an understatement. But really, I was just overall really impressed with how this two-parter flowed in general. It did alot of very fun and cool things that I didn't expect.

I actually wasn't expecting Draconer to be the super boss here, given his rivalry with Iron Mask. I was actually expecting Mossa to be the first of the Phantoms to go. Let alone that he'd subject the Garuda Strias to 12 hours of torture via giant drills of light through their chests. And it's in Draconer becoming the first to fall that we're introduced to his replacement in the news: Tom Malkis.

While not the primary focus of these two episodes, I rather dug how Tom's' arc played out, with him learning to come into his own while being the one to rally the people to Jakarta to offer their prayers to Bima-X and Azazel. That entire sequence with him and the rest of the main family jumping in to help was really emotionally powerful stuff for me and I really dug it. I guess I'm just a sucker for this kinda stuff.

Adding to that, despite what the title of the second part might suggest, Torga isn't actually the big hero in all of this. Oh sure, he shows up, and he's super cool, but he's there as support to our heroes, not to overshadow them. He gets his own time to shine via styling on some mooks and offering a piece of his power to Bima-X and Azazel. The only complaint I have in his arrival is how his suit is primarily Yellow, which calls into question why exactly his main Power Stone was made Orange.

But really, the whole thing saves the best for last, with Iron Mask at long last getting his revenge on Draconer, and via using Draconer's' own sword against him, too.

Friggen satisfying, man.

Yeah, these were two crazy episodes.

The villains continue to intrigue me the most. What with Rexor and Black Lord clearly banking on Draconer being the one to win the contest of the Phantom Weapon and end up biting it because of his hubris.

Not to mention Iron Mask who while getting some great payback on Draconer at the end... intrigues me to no end. It's mostly his scene with Ray during the first part of these episodes. I get that he probably has eyes on the situation, but he felt suspicious as all hell when he started talking about the Phantom Weapon and how they have to join forces. Something's up with him, and that's not counting that sudden burst of strength from a few episodes back.

As for our new hero Torga, I enjoyed his introduction. He's got a lightning arm cannon that's a tiger, has a fun fighting style, and I dig his suit a lot. I'm also thankful that they did not go the route I thought they'd go. Where he'd arrive and stop Draconer single-handedly while saving Bima-X and Azazel. Thankfully while he did get to show off, he was mostly just support for Bima-X and Azazel getting to finally finish off one of the Death Phantoms.

I love that we got a redux of the original series endgame, where the people pray to give our heroes strength and then Seperti Bintang plays as they make their comeback against the villain.

Overall, solid set of episodes.

Oh yeah, the exact specifics of what is up with Iron Mask is definitely a big point of intrigue. Like, even he seems surprised by himself half the time. It's a reveal I'm definitely looking forward to seeing play out.