I feel a little bad now. I kept thinking about volunteering for the Kiva episodes - which I love on such a deeply ironic level that it swings around to being unironic - but I kept forgetting. Zi-O as a show just isn't one that inspires a lot of passion in me, I'm afraid. I still have opinion - oh boy, do I have opinions - but it's not a show that's anywhere near and dear to me as Decade.

As far as this movie goes? Didn't watch it. I tend to skip the films unless I'm really into the parent show these days.

Please don't feel bad! I'd never want anyone to volunteer out of, like, misplaced guilt or anything. If it's not a series you feel passionately about (pro or con), it's totally cool to pass. No hard feelings!

Fair! The movies are rarely as good as the series, and if you don't even like the series...

I really only remember a few things about this movie, and I may have unconsciously tuned out the rest leading me to liking this movie fine.

-The absolute gorgeous suits that were Cross-Z Build and Blood (I don't know wh I don't have the former's SHF yet). The metallic gloss that decorated Cross-Z Build was so cool coupled with the fuuto wind effect. Only a bit disappointed that Sento went for a different "RabbitDragon" for the final episode.

-I like that little scene of Sento being rescued by Evolt after being beaten by Blood. I've no idea if that's in-character for him or not, it's just neat to see the main villain saving the main hero from the new villain. It comes off to me as some sort of pettiness that Evolt wouldn't let Sento be killed off by some rando and he has to be the one to do it.

-The final shot of Sento and Banjou walking off, with Banjou slinging the coat on his back. The best of bros, they are.

-The beverly insert song that I love.

Evol(t) is one of my favorite villains, because his actual feelings are so difficult to pin down. Like, Kuroto is dead easy to understand, because he's VERY LOUD, but Evol(t)? Hipster Dad? There's a lot going on with that dude!

Case in point, one of my favorite Hipster Dad moments:

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/build/build13b.png

Ostensibly, this is Evol(t) manipulating Sento even further, taunting him into fulfilling Evol(t)'s villainous scheme. But it's also Hipster Dad, giving a frustrated young man some helpful advice after a difficult patch. It's disingenuous and insulting and sweet and productive and funny and cruel and empathetic and sociopathic. Some of it's in the writing and plotting, but a TON of it is in the actor's choices. Just a great, complex character.

Long story short, I will totally accept that Evol(t) saved Sento to piss off The Blood. (He basically says as much, after they're all killed.) But you could just as easily read it as Hipster Dad being disappointed in Sento's pessimism, when he expects so much more from his main adversary. There's a lot of levels!

One thing I recall reading was that when this movie was announced, it was mentioned that it would take place after the war ended. And since everyone assumed the war ending was the finale to the series, they assumed that Ex-Aid had started a trend of movies being the “real” finale. But no-one expected Shogo Muto to have had a DIFFERENT ending in mind for the series since the start, nor did the expect the war to end in the early 40s with Evolt murdering all three sides? leaders.

Anyway, I don?t recall much about this movie, beyond the Cross-ZBuild fusion (“No, I’m not ready at all”) and the ending scene cameo with Zi-O just blowing everyone up with the BuildArmor (Don’t worry, he?s not that OP until he get his upgrades).

And speaking of Zi-O, it’s time to begin my feature for HIS thread.

Ridewatch Playlist

Zi-O

https://youtube.com/watch?v=qTIoMDpwdM4

“Fighting with Ridewatches, the clock Rider is… Zi-O”

And the song I’m going with for this watch is Zi-O’s OP Over Quartzer, by Shouta Sueyoshi of Triple-AAA (the group that did Den-O’s OP) and Issa of DA PUMP (the guy who did Faiz’s OP)

https://youtube.com/watch?v=dhXvMa8egDk

And as for the other one in the video…

“Fighting with Ridewatches, the future Rider is… Geiz”

And the song I’m going with for him is his own image song, Future Guardian, sung by the actor who plays him.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=mlWQo1XdIW0

I do wonder what was the reception on Geiz as a whole, I know ZI-O isn't commonly looked upon positively, but I gotta wonder about the characters since I only ever hear about Woz when it comes favorite ZI-O characters.

I myself do like Geiz tho. The tsundere red secondary, he's a nice partner/straight man to Sougo and I love his suits. So much so I have more Geiz SHFs than I do ZI-O, but it's more so a case of having only base ZI-O lol. His V-cinema was pretty fun too and I'd still kinda want a SHF Geiz Majesty.

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/450.jpg

It's fine you don't have to feel bad about not getting enough people to participate. You keep doing you.

Well, looks like it's a Build double feature!

Heisei Generations Final: This moive's great! It's incredibly fun, has some of the best Rider Protagonists return (Gentarou!), and some really good dynamic overall. It is pretty par-for-the-course when it comes to the usual crossover movies, but with how many returning characters and over-the-top action scenes, I can't dislike this movie, or any of the Heisei Generation movies for that matter, since they are a celebration of all things Heisei.

Be The One: I'll be honest, this movie is a little weak in some places. Like how the villains show up being all "hey, remember that thing that happened earlier in the series? That was my idea." to the old mind-control routine (well I guess it makes sense for Ryuga, foreshadowing that he's part Evol in a way), it's not bad, but maybe a little redundant.

But of course, this movie's finale makes this worth it for me, and with a sick movie form to boot, CrossZ Build. It has a great intro, where Sento and Ryuga literally become W, then getting the usual shenanigans between the two, then going wild on that final fight with Kamen Rider Blood (which is also a great suit) on a giant drill speeding towards the center of the Earth, it's just that much fun. Which is what sells this movie to me, and I can't say no to the Build cast.

The only mistake the director made was admitting that he made a "mistake". I never once questioned why Gentarou suddenly has the Fourze Driver back, cause like you, I also believed wholeheartedly in Kengo's prediction. It's a miracle and I neither need nor want any further explanation. It's just an awesome payoff for the magic of friendship! Thanks for the "mistake", director!

This is actually my third favorite Heisei Phase 2 summer movie after Surprise Future and one you'll watching in a few months. I agree that the villains aren't memorable at all, but the emotional crux of the movie with Sento overcoming his loneliness to reunite with Ryuuga was the thing that sold it to me. Well, there's that and also the awesome climax where Cross-ZBuild fight Blood in a descending pit of hell!

Yeah, I expected that this wouldn't take off, especially after you removed the counter from your sig. But I volunteered anyway, in case it encouraged anyone else. Oh well. It's still impressive that you tried something so ambitious!

Same here. What's entertaining about Evolt is how he manages to be two opposite things simultaneously. He's lovable but also despicable. He's one of the strongest villains ever but makes terrible coffee and has a fear of octopus. He's an arch enemy to both Sento and Ryuuga but often acts like he's their father. He's emotional, despite not having human emotions. He's sentimental, despite wanting to destroy the planet. He's so many things!

How has nobody mentioned the part where Build stops mid-chase to take pictures of cute dogs? :lol

Since the TN Watches project is confirmed to be not going ahead anymore, I guess I may as well reveal now that my second choice after the Shinobi arc was the Kiva arc. Nevertheless, I look forward to laughing about that with you when the time comes.

I remember that the Golden Rabbit and Silver Dragon Full Bottles were all the hype at the time. So seeing them merge with Genius to create Cross-ZBuild makes it one of my favorite Extra Final Forms for sure. It looks cool and it's symbolic of Sento's and Ryuuga's unbreakable bond. To paraphrase Sento, it's a winning formula!

As for Build RabbitDragon, which is exclusively CGI, it's definitely less cool by comparison. But it's grown on me after I started to consider what it means to Sento. After a scene where all his friends call him their hero, Sento shows that it's just as much the other way around. They're the people who made Sento who he is, who allowed him to become his own person, who made Build a real Kamen Rider. They're his heroes as well. I feel like it's only fitting that Build defeated Evolt using the power of Cross-Z, since it's a power that Evolt never had or understood.

Without mentioning any spoilers, I think Geiz got some good development in the 20s episode range. I like him more than Tsukuyomi at least, but not as much as Sougo and definitely not as much as IWAE man Woz.

Very cool! Thanks!

It was worth a shot, but I'm going to be fine. I'm still looking forward to Zi-O!

Yeah, they're fun films. Sure, the amount of characters can make the storytelling and pacing a little weird (Ghost just disappears from HGF after the first act, more or less), but they tend to balance their different objectives better than the Movie War films. Both crossover shows get meaty material, the Legend Riders are well-integrated (except for Kouta), and the action sequences are next level.

They're fantastic! Maybe the best cast!

Also, literally the last thing this movie needed was another Foundation X Rebuilt This MacGuffin reveal. Oh, the villain casts from both OOO and Fourze? Yeah, Foundation X resurrected all of them, nbd.

He's so contradictory -- at an almost atomic level -- that it's to the actor's credit that not only does Evol(t) work as a character, but he's one of the best Heisei villains? It's a real balancing act, and I don't know if I ever stopped being entertained by him. A real gift to Build's series arc, that actor.