Originally Posted by Kurona (Post 746124)

Putting aside the Cross-Z Charge stuff - because, well, we agree; It's ugly and it's difficult to derive anything from it in a thematic sense. Not much more to say there - I can see where you're coming from about Banjou in general tossing the theme away in his normal design as well, but I kinda disagree on... what is honestly kind of a simple ground.

Sento himself has a lot of duality to him in how he thinks things through; if not more. He constantly has so many things on his mind that's weighing him down and he tries to balance it out as best he can. It's natural that his rider form would be made up of two different sides, and that he'd be the one with the gimmick of finding out which sides are best for which situation and which ones work well together at any given time beyond even the general Best Matches.

Banjou though? He's a bit more simple. He punches things. He's a one-track mind, and so having his design be a derivation of Build where it's just two of the same thing but enhanced works really well to me.


That's not to say that Banjou Kazoouie doesn't have layers or complexities to him, of course; he's one of my favourite Rider characters for a reason (full disclosure? The three biggest reasons Build is my second favourite show is pretty much Sento, Banjou and their relationship), but looking at how he is consciously and how different he and Sento are in how they present themselves, yeah, I feel base Cross-Z makes a lot of sense. Of course he wouldn't bother with using a ton of different bottles and finding which ones go well with what and which one to use at which time; he just needs to know which one's the most powerful, which one lets him punch things, and how he can get two of them!



... also, given the gimmick; you naturally just kinda want to see a what-if scenario of if someone just used one bottle and how they'd do that. So that's cool as well. Going beyond thematic stuff for a second as well; there's actually some really nice touches where the 'inorganic' Dragon side has a few flames on it where the normal organic Dragon side doesn't. And going back to thematic stuff for a second, actually, that works even more with Banjou's differences to Sento. Sento's slightly more reserved side with Banjou's all out I'M GONNA PUT FLAMES ON EVERYTHING side.

Sorry I just love this design a lot lol

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die (Post 746125)

I was hoping someone would give an impassioned defense of Cross-Z's design so I could see what people liked about it, so, thanks!

Originally Posted by Kurona (Post 746126)

Well, I'll fully admit: a big part of it is that it looks really, really cool.

Now that you've put it into terms of design consistency I do kind of get it, but I think once again I'll just have to disagree on terms of subjectivity. Cross-Z instantly looks like a Build design to me with the black undersuit, the style of the legs and lower body; and then especially the eyes adding in that little touch of crazy in what is otherwise a relatively reserved suit design.

Compared to the likes of Specter and Brave I can kind of get it though; especially when Cross-Z is like an 'enhanced' version of a Build suit rather than just a different style of the suit like Baron or just being a completely different thing that still clearly has the same thing like Meteor and Beast screaming Space and Mage respectively -- and that extends to Banjou's Henshin item, being an 'enhancer' of the gimmick item rather than just being a Different gimmick item or a new belt entirely. It still works for me though, so I'll mildly agree to disagree :p


(though, also: Birth?)

Originally Posted by AkibaSilver (Post 746127)

And yeah, Cross-Z Charge isn't the prettiest of suits, but it grew on me. It's kinda ugly, and sleek, with none of the build-y-ness of the early Build and Cross-Z suit, but that partially feels like the point. Its a different system, especially given what I've just realised about future developments, so to me it makes sense it looks incomplete. Add to that the Sclash Driver's origins, and how the suit is a base layer with additions, and it even seems much like a mass-produced thing today. I was reading a thing on the 2010 redesign of the Daleks a couple of weeks ago, and it mentions how they wanted to get away from the "industrial" look of the 2005 era, and more towards a sleek, plastic aesthetic to seem more futuristic. And while the jelly gunk kinda disrupts that (and is definitely the weirdest part of the design), the Cross-Z (going off the toy and how similar their designs are) and Grease suits share that kind of design philosophy.

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die (Post 746129)

I mean, I've got no complaints about the Sclash Driver as a concept. The henshin is cool and sells the idea of a layer of goo on top of a suit, it feels in a line with the bottle/can "drink" aesthetic, and Grease totally delivers on the premise. (Gunk = Grease!) It's just, jelly dragon, you know? Jelly dragon. I can't fault anyone who digs that, but I don't know if I'm ever gonna fly the flag for Jelly Dragon.

Originally Posted by AkibaSilver (Post 746133)

Oh, I won't argue Jelly Dragon is still weird. It feels like the Beat Sabre, built for toy designs so it doesn't really "go" with Banjou's personality.

Originally Posted by AkibaSilver (Post 746136)

Honestly, something of that level is probably developed by the merch team with the initial concepts and stuff, and given to the writers to work in. So there's some universe where Sento uses the Beat Crosser with some form, while Banjou uses that Anchor Bow thing. And I, for one, want to visit that universe.

(I can half imagine Sento being "Eh, I already designed a sword, but I already made myself a sword, so Banjou can have it. He probably knows how to use a sword, right?)

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die (Post 746137)

the Akihabazooka (shoots limited edition merchandise guaranteed to district enemies)