I mean. I think technically he makes his first appearance in episode 3.

What does the "R" on all of the Drive stuff mean?

It stands for rider, but since it's a stylized "R", it contains the letters "K" and "D" in it, so all together it stands for Kamen Rider Drive.

Thanks Helios.

Though it should really be noted that while the R most logically stands for "Rider," that doesn't really make sense, since it was the Roidmudes who gave Drive the "Kamen Rider" title. Which is to say, after they first saw Proto-Drive, who from the get go was emblazoned with that symbol. So who knows really.

See, this is exactly what confuses me about the symbol...

So what's the deal with ZO and J? They look almost identical. But yet you usually only see one during the Taisen Movies.

They were intended by their creators to be the new "Double Riders," like Ichigou and Nigou. That's why they look similar. Obviously they didn't really take off though.

I've only seen a couple of Taisens, but I don't think either was missing from either. J is usually more notable and easier to see (even though mistreated) because of his whole growing thing, though. I imagine that's the main reason he has the spotlight (however briefly) more often than ZO.

I only ever see J because he's big. But when I don't see him around being all tall and stuff, I thought it was him while being small, not ZO. My bad.

The best way to sort them out is to watch the short Kamen Rider World movie where they team up. Seeing them in action together really helps highlight their differences. I've never gotten them confused since then. ZO has lots of thin gold piping on his suit; J has a few thick green stripes.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...pszlcsqnhs.png

ZO is on your left, J on your right.

I don't think Shoji Yonemura remembers that J isn't always a giant.

Oh, yeah, I don't really have a problem telling them apart personally. I just remember "ZO is the one with the figuarts, that's the gold one" if thinking about the suits. Though, like I said, I've only seen them twice (in the Taisens) so I haven't had much occasion to get them mixed up in the first place since J has been huge both of those times.

I, for one, can understand the confusion. They might have differences but they do look awefully similar.

I found this quite interesting.


http://kamenrider.wikia.com/wiki/Hei...Series_Phase_2

Sometimes I really like wikias. Like in that page where pretty much every 'common trend' is preceded or followed by an "except for this." Then again I've always found it amusing how unhealthily obsessed wikia can be trying to spot patterns. "This Rider is the 4th of 7 to have [random trait], preceded by x, y, and z and followed later by b, c, and d." Like, every time.

Nothing like having Baron's entire character arc spoiled by Kaixa's page, because that totally makes sense as a thing to do. Ah, wikias...

Wait, what was the question again?

There wasn't a question. I just found that one page interesting. Did you click the tab "from Wizard onward"?

The tabs are new, in general, but I'm still not too impressed. It is an interesting look at a whole lot of facts, even though as trends I think they're largely meaningless.

*shrugs* I just thought it was kind of funny how everyone is talking about Super Sentai being formulaic and then for me to turn around and find this. So now I can say that Kamen Rider is being rather formulaic as well.

Well, I don't really know about Sentai, but Kamen Rider certainly follows a lot of patterns, especially lately. Patterns in certain random (non)details like when a form debuts or what color something is don't really a formulaic series make though.

On the other hand, the only newer series I've seen are the notoriously different Gaim, and Drive, so maybe everything before that would give me a better outlook. From what I understand that actually plays into common complaints about Wizard, though. (even if it itself started a lot of 'trends')

Yeah, Rider has been havily following the basic Den-O pattern for most of the shows from W onwards, barring Gaim.This is why I called Koyomi dying at the end of Wizard from about week 3.

Speaking of formulas, any ideas as to how Ghost is going to get his powerups?

If his base form is his own soul, maybe he gets his powerups simply through becoming stronger or something.

Maybe he'll get them from defeating his monster of the week.

Depends on where they wanna go with it. His Power Ups could simply be Souls based on other persons. Those he could just find at one point in the story since they are searching for the remaining Eyecons.

I wonder if Ghost's base under suit will change at all until his final form. Assuming his final isn't just another parka.

It should be noted, Ghost's Eyecons so far go up to number 7. Spectre's start at 11. This implies that Ghost will get another 3 Eyecons from the "great men" group at least. That would be enough to account for his early-series, mid-series, and final upgrade. But I think it would be kinda weird for some eyecons to randomly be more powerful than the initial ones. So....who knows.

Spectre will also probably (not definitely) get an upgrade at some point, so that's another thing. Either he gets Eyecon 13 or it's some other thing (and if it is some other thing, it's likely something Ghost will also have). We're almost definitely getting at least a third Rider, and it would make sense if they got at least 14 and 15...

Personally, I'd love it if Kamen Rider turns out to be exactly the same in Ghost's universe as it is in ours: a kids show created by acclaimed late manga artist Ishinomori Shotaro. That way, when Takeru dies and gets the Driver, he thinks to himself "Huh, I look like one of those Kamen Riders." thus taking that as a mantle. Then, when its Final Form time, Takeru aquires the ultimate Eyecon: the Ishinomori Tamashii.

That'd be pretty freakin' awesome. Would screw with continuity immensely though lol

Kamen Rider has a continuity?

I’d love that! :D

Yeah, but it means we'd get a Rider with a crazy fro.

It would be harder to do crossovers if they have a Kamen Rider show set in our world. Seeing that Toei has made the rider shows set in the same world as each other since W.

I wonder in Ghost, will Takeru pass his powers to someone else in the final episode? Then later, the new user becomes the new Ghost when using the Ore Soul (which is Takeru's guiding him).

Like in The Crow when Eric Draven finally avenges his beloved Shelly's death and his.

Well, ostensibly. The fact that no one in Drive makes any reference to that time plant aliens tried to conquer the world kinda throws some doubt on that idea. So I'm pretty sure Kamen Rider shows are mostly in a quantum state of not being and being in continuity with each other at the same time.

They're only canon when observed being canon, basically...

edit: also this whole discussion is kind of ignoring that Ghost is already confirmed to be in Drive's universe by virtue of the crossover.

Well in OOO, we had half of a city destroyed and yet no one talked about it in Fourze despite being in the same world as each other. I guess the writers don't care too much about continuity in Kamen Rider to avoid confusion for casual TV watchers that didn't see the last few seasons.

Yeah. We can also reasonably assume no one in Ghost will talk about the Global Freezes or anything.

Again, quantum canonicity.

"Hey Takeru, remember that time when machines tried to take over the world? Or the time when plants tried the same thing?"

"I have absolutely no clue what you're talking about."

Although I guess if it all does take place in the same universe, the civilians are probably desensitized to it at this point. Hell half of Tokyo was destroyed in Kabuto anyway.

"Huh. A world ending threat taking place in Japan. Must be a tuesday."

Occasionally.

I kind of hope they don't call Ghost or Specter "Kamen Riders" in this series. I've always liked it better when the title is dropped. Although I feel like "Armored Rider" was a nice balance in Gaim that actually made sense.

When you say power ups, do you mean forms? If that's what you mean, the he's going to collect them throughout the series.

Schrodinger's Canon, if you will.

I like to think Ghost's final form could be an Eyecon based on himself. The Takeru (what is his last name?) All his other forms have him being possessed by a spirit, let his final form be him fighting on his own.

Maybe "Ghost: Live Form."