Favorite Seiken in Kamen Rider Saber?
 

We'll definitely need another, much bigger one of these polls by the time the show is over (there's already a movie Rider not on the list), but now that Saber's initial batch of Riders have all had some moments in the spotlight, I figure it's the perfect time to take a second and see how everyone on the site feels about a topic pretty central to the show. Swords and toku heroes go hand-in-hand, and Saber is leaving us spoiled for choice in that department. So like it says up above, what's your sacred blade of choice? To be clear, this is strictly about the swords themselves, not the characters, even though I'm sure there's a ton of overlap there. But if, for example, your ideal sword has a lightning bolt for a crossguard, but you also have a passionate distaste for lamps and thus hate Espada, don't feel guilty about voting for Ikazuchi.

For my part, I'm of the mind there's no wrong answer, so my opinion is liable to shift with time, but after thinking about it, it's gotta be Suzune for me right now. It hits all the notes, so to speak. I like Slash. I like toku weapons that are overtly weird and unafraid to look like the toys they are, which means I like the edible-looking shade of pink and the arguing voices during the transformation. And above all else, I love swords that turn into guns in tokusatsu. You simply can't beat that. I might as well not have even mentioned the other reasons Suzune is so cool, because this is the one that immediately gives it the edge (so to speak) over every other sword in the series.

So yeah, there you have it. Looking forward to seeing everybody else's choices!

It would have been Buster's Gekido, quite easily; like... it's simple, but it's hard to beat a Buster Sword, y'know?

... ooooor rather it would be if the prop didn't flop around like paper. And I can take a bit of fakeness in Toku - like, come on, do I have to explain why I can take it in this genre - and when a similar thing happened in Geed with Laiha's sword I mostly found it funny there, but for some reason this passes that and just looks kinda pathetic really. It's a very serious big deal weighty weapon wielded by a very serious big deal weighty guy, so every time I see it flop and bend it just kinda makes me cringe. It's a shame because otherwise, despite the holes, it's damn awesome!

So let's put that behind us and go for Calibur's Kurayami, because dude, this thing's cool. It's like Rising Titan's sword if it was fucked up and evil which kinda fits the gimmick of what it does to the ridebooks! It's so wonderfully silly to hear an attack called "dark journey to the west". What does that mean? Did you find Wu Cheng'en's early drafts and make a knock off of it??

So that's my vote. It's cool, it's wonderfully simple and evil, it's really stupid, and also it's a modern Kamen Rider toy that has a Shocker sound effect built in. Can't get better than this!

I honestly had to pick Onjuuken Suzune

There's just something magical about having a gun that is essentially a fully gimmick/DX realized version of the Axel Ray Gun from Faiz and its subsequent retools.

Nagare for me. I like that the guard is one-sided and almost encapsulates the grip so that it has more chance to protect the hand compared to Rekka and Ikazuchi.

Hayate. It gives me dem Kill la kill vibes.

It's still early but I love how almost everyone has a different answer so far? This is great

Gah this is hard! I find myself agreeing with everyone's reasons for why a sword is your favorite. Special shout-out to Suzune, personally I'd gotten pretty bored of swords that turn into handguns but Suzune's splitting blade and arguing voices give it that extra bit of flare that gets me interested again.

But for my overall favorite, I have to say it's the Fuusouken Hayate. Being stored as one sword and then splitting into two is already pretty cool, and that it can also turn into an oversized shuriken puts it over the top! It would be impractical in real life but it doesn't care, it looks awesome and that's all that matters. And as a bonus, I don't think I've seen anything quite like it in toku before.
Now if only the Ride Book slot on the prop wasn't so huge...

Probably Buster's. I just think it looks cool. It has a good combination of looking both really awesome and really weird in a cool way. It also looks relatively less like a plastic roleplay toy than most of the other swords, which is pretty rare these days.

Ikazuchi has a lightning bolt for a crossbar, and it uses lightning power. That's pretty neat in my book.

You know, I haven't noticed this happening yet, and I feel like one of these days I'm going to see it and never be able to unsee it. Which would be a shame, because Gekido is real cool! I'll even stick up for those holes in the blade, since I think they're there for the very practical purpose of keeping the weight of both the prop and the toy down to make it more manageable to hold.

I will note that Kurayami probably would've been my answer prior to the whole "thinking about it" thing.

Nagare is also a good choice though; a classy looking sword for a classy Rider.

I can barely even agree with myself! :p

I was really hoping there'd be some wide-ranging opinions on this. A huge part of the fun of a multi-Rider show is the idea that everybody is somebody's favorite, and in the case of Saber, it just kinda made sense to me that would apply to the swords, too. It's interesting to have a Rider series that has so far limited itself to finding as many spins as possible on a single type of weapon. Although Suzune honestly feels kinda like it's cheating on that front. :lol

It especially makes me happy to see some love for Hayate already, because I've realized Kenzan doesn't get me excited for some reason even though I should be all over him. The big shuriken gimmick especially is very awesome! It's just no musical handgun to me, apparently.

This is a good point. I have to say, I think the three SworDriver ones are also pretty remarkably non-toyetic by the standards of Rider nowadays. Like, yeah, there's very obviously the good side/bad side thing going on, which a real sword probably won't have, but in terms of style and detail, they keep it remarkably simple all things considered.

Ironically it was mostly when Touma was using it and it fell out of his hands down the stairs where it was most noticeable, but I noticed it a few more times afterwards on Buster (in the vanishingly small amount of appearances he had). So yeah, think you're right; when you see it you always see it!

As soon as someone pointed out how really flimsy and cheaply made the fight prop looks I can no longer see it as a sword when Buster swings it around.

Because man, does it really show once you notice it the first time.

How Gekido and Kurayami looks as stunt props really look weird since we've seen other big swords as stunt props and they don't look as flat as them. Namely, King Rouzer, Full Bottle Buster, Denliner Sword(?), and DJ Gun.

If it wasn't for the huge gimmick slot on the Fuusouken Hayate, that would be my favorite as well.

As it is, Buster definitely takes the cake.

I am also a fan of the Kingexcalibur.

Relatively, yeah. Slash and Kenzan's are the only ones that really go all-in on the "This is a toy!" factor.

Yep, that curve on the guard is just a good design. :rock:

Onjuuken Suzune gets my vote. It's very flashy. And it can turn into a gun.

Hayate has the "Ninjas are awesome!" factor and three configurations.

Suzune is a musical candy gunblade with two henshin jingles.

I'm conflicted!

Fuusouken Hayate for me. I hate Kenzan, but damn it if his sword isn't badass. I'm a sucker for swiss knife weapons, and the fact that it's a sword that can turn into a shuriken is even more badass.

All this talk of swords I want to bring attention to a Kamen Rider sword I fear may have gotten overlooked.

Barlckxs' sword.

https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/ka...Long_Sword.png

It's beautiful.

Not part of this category, but I agree, it is a beautiful sword. :lolol

I don't know guys. Don't you find his sword rather... unsightly?

...I should be upset this conversation is getting off-topic, but man, I've just been waiting so long to have a good chance to quote/paraphrase that line. :lol

Getting back to Saber, the results of the poll so far are about what I expected; the "special" swords are distinctly more popular, with Gekido and Suzune being clear frontrunners while Hayate holds its own in the background. Nagare is in dead last, but perhaps that's merely because ordinary homo sapiens are simply incapable of grasping the true elegance of its straightforward design. :p

Obviously none of this is particularly comprehensive data, but this has proven pretty interesting so far. Thanks to everyone who's kicked in a vote!

VIVA LA NAGARE! :rock: