Desast needs to become the next Momotaros.

Gold Drive and Proto-Drive maybe?

I assume he will be preoccupied with Mei's custom friendship badge.
Off topic, I find it funny how two former rangers are villains in a kamen rider. One was the cool brainy firefighter and the other a mediocre sushi chef with a knack for digitizing the mystic arts via feature phone. :lolol

Proto-Drive became Chase, so I'd say he doesn0t count for this.

Ark-Zero, maybe?

Been wracking my brain over Xross Saber for a while. All opinions about how good it looks or how it'll be implemented in the show aside (I've come around to thinking it is pretty neat), its a money-saving measure if there ever was one, and maybe not one that's entirely unprecedented.

I always thought the reason why 'final form weapons' stopped being made was easy to infer. Releasing a big, uniquely-molded DX weapon toy at the very tailend of the timeline ultimately proved to not be ideally profitible (to be fair, a big company like Toei/Bandai would be quick to call anything thats not a big hit to be 'underperforming'. : P). After all, that late into the yearly toyline's lifespan, a significant number of casual buyers would have tapered off, and production would already be working on next year's toyline.

So as time passed, the final form toys is restricted to a new suit and a very straightforward collectible. I think the Zero-Two Driver add-on piece was the first in a while to experiment with that? Anyway, I think Xross Saber is like, the next step in that money-saving process, with its repainted everythings and collectible which gets its play value from previous toys.

As for why this is happening here and now... Well, despite the hilarity with Solomon being a kitbash from head to toe, I very much doubt the Kamen Rider budget is actually in trouble or anything. There's any number of reasons I could think of why Xross Saber is what it is. Off the top of my head, maybe the delayed sales of Zero-Two's merch last year made production want to play it extra safe with the end of Saber's toyline. Or they really want to save expenses for whatever they're planning for Revice/Rider's big 50th.

One thing I’m looking forward to hearing… well not physically, but roughly on those lines… is the “three Legend Ridebooks” announcement.

ghost’s ghost rider team good at all talk no show or just show and no explanations.

Eh we still don't know how they give the sword to Desast in term of writing as of now, because it can just be a simple Bacht get killed by Desast scenario, if anything this just give Bacht a death flag more than a potential plot hole.

Beside what is your beef with the Ghost rider team anyway? Because while the show is rough, i think they did pretty alright so far in term of making a good show and writting and Saber is overal a massive improvement over Ghost (which i appreciate) granted there's some plot holes, but the plot holes are overal not really show breaking.

(Plus that's a weird way to spell Kabuto)

The thing with Xross Saber's new sword is that it's not just a new weapon, it's a new Driver with how this show and toyline works! It's essentially taking the same place as the White Wizardriver or the Evol Driver; the very late-game driver release that does new things with all your old items.

I've legitimately forgotten that the Evol Driver can read all the bottles! And I think there are some unused sounds as well like a Dino sound?

Yeah, Tank and Lock have Evol Bottle Sounds and so does Dinosaur too if you mix them with the Rider System bottle.

Never forget GoldScorpion

That still hurts to this day.

TFW you think you see Mei wielding a scimitar but then you look closer and realize it's actually just a stick: :(

https://i.imgur.com/PV5TmRs.jpg

Plot twist: it's actually a magical stick and Mei gets a non-Rider magical girl transformation.

That's a pretty decent idea, actually.

I love how Yuri is standing in the corner, arms crossed like "My job is done", when this is probably right after he gets taken away from Solomon. :lol

they had poitrine, so i don't see why they can't have a new magical girl appear in kamen rider

they even had magical girl beast : P

I mean... we don't have a seiken of wood yet. I hereby knight Mei as (honorary) Kamen Rider Bokken!

Failing that, seeing her just wack a monster in the head with a stick would be really funny, even more so if it actually did damage XD

I get the feeling that is Mei were to ever be a Rider, I think she'd inherit Yuri's sword should he ever give up the ghost.

Xross Saber demo
https://youtu.be/RVOm7B4noZc

What are the chances we'd get Xross Saber Elemental Dragon.

It depends on how much blue and purple spray paint does Toei have stockpiled. :lolol

Something that is kind of interesting about Xross Saber's forms is that they only use the normal, non-upgrade Ridebooks -- they literally stop right before Dragonic Knight; only using Brave, Crimson, Arthur and then going so far as to make an entirely new combo (Dragon Lion Alangina).

I do like that! I've long resented the fact that modern Kamen Rider introduces a fun, unique variety of forms and powers early on, especially when they can be mixed and matched; only for it to be dropped for The Big Powerup Items, with Saber being perhaps the biggest offender so far. So it's nice to see those earlier books actually returned to! But... I'm not sure why it's suddenly locked to them, and there doesn't seem to be much mix and matching going on, so. Hm?

I think some of that is just down to toy mechanics, honestly! Most of the Big Books carry all their transformation sounds within them rather than within the blade, and I think some even have the "rekka battou" coming from the book too, so it'd just be tricky for the toy designers to work round those sounds fro a Xross version.

Oh yeah, lord, I forgot that Dragonic and Elemental said Rekka Battou themselves. Why did they do that??

so ... final form confirmed ?

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/E26zoWcV...g&name=900x900

Not until I see Pine Arms!

It very much is, since it fits the toy scheduling.

However, I won't be surprised if we see more variations of Xross Saber down the line, whether movie form or a final episode form.

Why? Memorial sets and the Showa-Heisei-Reiwa sound for the sword.

I'm glad Tategami is as dramatic a tansformation for Blades because Xross Saber looks too much like Blades' base form to me.
The Main Rider getting one last form in the finale has been a trend since I think Build, so I definitely wouldn't rule it out.

I mean lots of people said that Zero One's final form should've just been like Faiz Blaster if Toei was trying to keep it minimal (a color change with small upgrades).

And then now thats exactly what Cross Saber is.

And now there are people who are upset that Xross Saber is just a color change with small upgrades.

No one can ever be satisfied in the toku fandom it seems.

Wow, if Xross Saber's finishers in the show are going to be ANYTHING like they are in Ganbarizing, I'll lose my mind.

Exactly.

Why do you think this happens every year? lol

In the meantime, I'm sitting here going "ooh pretty star suit and OMFG final form weapon aaaaaaaa" :P

I think Xross Saber is an excellent suit. And I love this trend of the upgrades being more armored, but the final form sheds that armor and looks like the base form with some color changes. It feels really nice. I hope to see it continue.

Listen, there's no fandom in the world where everyone is satisfied.

Personally I'm indifferent to the Xross Saber suit. I think it's neat. Not the best, but I do appreciate its, um, simplicity. I love the jingle though, and I do understand that's not to everyone's taste. Agree to disagree and move on in life.

Honestly, after spending years in the Pokémon fandom; this is nothing :lol

I'm pretty indifferent too. More surprised that this is the direction they decided to take, more than anything? Like on a toy marketing level I'm trying to work out why they thought this was the best choice as the big ultimate final thing to sell to kids. Still, if it works... it works

I was kind of hoping for a Rider Kick that made him look like a shooting star, but if that's close to how it is in the show I'll be pretty satisfied.

I mean, I've long since accepted that. I'm just tired of the constant overreactions I see from people who criticize something which often obscures the ones that can be reasonable.

Wouldn't bet on it. Zero-Two's Rider kick in Gambarizing was getting beamed up to Zea and getting shot down again like a cannonball.

wth That rules so much and its a crime that it never happened in the show