something something Game World something something Bad Coding something something It's A Clue Maybe

So now we come to the special with the group I like to call “Team Dead”. And notably, the red of this group (Baron) is played by someone who famously unsuccessfully auditioned for the role of Gokai Red.

And this time, the one writing it is Kento Shimoyama. A guy with little prior Rider experience (his one credit before this was the Wizard movie’s net movies) but he has a lot of experience with Sentai (having done the Super Video for Shinkenger, which is basically Sentai’s answer to HBVs, been a staff writer for Goseiger, Gokaiger and Zyuohger, the secondary writer for Go-Busters and Kyuranger and the main writer for Ninninger). You’ll be seeing a lot more of his style after this thread is over.

Oh hey! Die finally started getting into Super Sentai! :p

I think I'll probably save my actual thoughts on this miniseries for the end, but I do want to pop in here right now to talk about one minor thing that drives me completely insane.

This is the assumption I see a lot of people make, but I'll remind everyone that this is Blade Jack Form's helmet:

https://i.imgur.com/xV25ZbE.png

...complete with different colored tear lines and a front horn that is completely gold, even on the back where the transparent part isn't covering it. This is unlike Blade's helmet in modern appearances, which looks like this:

https://i.imgur.com/2mDTAI1.png

...with the normal tears and a horn that's still silver on the back, which combined with how dull the "gold" look on the front can be, suggests that's just Blade's regular helmet, except something about that transparent part caused it to age really poorly in some weirdly particular ways. Because of course, back in the day, it did look silver:

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

...but on the other hand, depending on the lighting, the contrast between the face and the jaw could be somewhat pronounced even back then:

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

I've never heard a proper official explanation for what exactly the deal with Blade's mysterious color-changing face is, so while I have my own assumptions, this might actually be the TRUE mystery regarding Kenzaki in this series. :lol

(Also, I'll say ahead of time there are no Ondul memes that come from GoRider to my knowledge. This too could be considred a hint towards the true nature of Blade's role in the plot, I guess.)

Exposure to sunlight has caused the clear plastic to yellow over time. This issue is only limited to Blade and Garren however. You can see it on Garren during his appearance in SHT GP. Or even all the way back during Decade's Net Movies. Leangle might have it too but because his face it's already gold it's not noticeable.

The real mystery is why that and his purple stomach hasn't been fixed yet.

WHAT OTHER CREDIT COULD A WRITER NEED?!

So, on the one hand, I super don't care about the changes a tokusatsu suit goes through on the long road to Legend Rider status. I don't retain a lot of that stuff (you could give Blade a neon green head and I'd probably go Nice To See Blade Again without any additional comment), and I also am not crazy invested in that sort of continuity. As long as everyone is dressed, I basically don't care how they're dressed.

But on the other hand, the fact that it a) makes people angry if you attribute the change incorrectly, and b) makes people frustrated that the change is hard to attribute... that honestly makes me real invested in this weird trivia?

I didn't care until I found out other people cared, and now I mostly care about them caring.

Here the thing I think Blade suit might have been fixed. Because both Shin(remember Shin suit has deterorated so badly they har to use a mannequin for Super Hero Senki) and Blade costumes where clean and usable in this commercial filmed with Revice.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=yxAkmY...ature=youtu.be
And in this scan for the Beyond Generation movie it seems they fixed Blade suit and helmet
https://i.ibb.co/T14Hw0S/163974703516114541986.jpg

However when you see the Blade suit running in the trailer

https://i.ibb.co/5M1HtxG/20211219140452331.jpg
Well at least they fixed stomach

Haven't seen this miniseries since it aired, but I remember really loving it. The first episode did a really good job of setting up the mystery and I definitely remember wanting to find out what was really going on.

Good choice of guest stars, too. I'm always happy to see Kenzaki and having Kino back was a big surprise; honestly never thought we'd see him again. Also, even when relatively underused, I am always down for more Minami Tsukui in my tokusatsu. I'm amazed that Sakamoto hasn't worked with her more than he has.

The biggest compliment I can pay Gorider is that it feels like every character was the first and only choice for this special. No one in here feels haphazardly explained, or tangential to the plot. Everyone feels like... like you couldn't do this story without them, which is not at all how most Group Legend Rider projects feel.

ll this talk of Blade's helmet reminds me of how Ex-Aid's hair was noticeably damaged by sunlight throughout the series and was only fixed during the last episode in the final battle against Cronus.

Yeah, this story would have been really different if the ghosts were, say, Kitaoka, Kusaka, and Tsurugi. Not worse, but definitely different.

Also, I kind of want to see that version now.