Who's the true secondary rider of Saber?
 

Things in Saber right now aren't doing so well for Touma. I blame Reika for this!!!!

My vote is literally the equivalent of that guy sitting at the table with his coffee and the "change my mind" sign meme.

Well let's see, depending on the amount of toys and stuff... it's Rintaro.

I mean unless the next upcoming non-saber upgrade is Saikou but I doubt it.

Blades.

Chalice

Part of me thinks it’s gonna be for either kento (back as a good guy caliber) or tetsuo/slash (just cause he’s part of Touma’s posse)

Also who knows maybe ren will get one too.

Definitely not Ren.

This thread isn't really necessary since it can be discussed on the discussion thread. But I'll humor it.

It's Blades. We can make all the jokes how Saikou is the secondary because of he's always with Touma and gets to transform more often than Blades for now, however, he is for all intents and purposes taking up Espada's slot as tertiary rider. I think there might also be scheduling issues since I believe it wasn't Eitoku who played King Lion on ep 18, you notice how lower the chest plate sits. I am not also 1000% sure, but I do recall Eitoku being part of Zenkaiger or something and he also got an injury as well? That might be some connection Blades' disappearance.

Now, on the topic of "Secondary rider", we joke that Saikou is the secondary since he is always partnering with Touma instead of Rintarou. Now, I'm not sure if this was a conscious decision by Toei, but since Fuwa, secondary riders are no longer completely treated as "Main Rider's partner" and is instead somewhat having their own journey. Fuwa, for most of Zero-One is mostly either partnered with Yaiba or on his own doing stuff. He only occasionally teamed up with Zero-One but had his own kind of separate story.

This is true for Rintarou. He had his small share of team-ups with Touma, but was sooner eclipsed by Kento who had a stronger connection and relationship to Touma. I'm confident he'll get his screentime back, he is due for an upgrade after all on April and he shows up this week in Fantastic Lion for some reason.

Anyone voting Blades or even Saikou is booooooring. I want to see people go on about how like, Kenzan is the true foil with how he's been antagonising Saber, or how they're totally setting up Desast with a long term goal of making him a rider ala Gattack ;P

It's totally the Eclair Man. He uses the same Driver as Saber, he was the first to team up with him, he's the most reliable friend you could ask for, he has a rivalry with a general and his cool water element is a good contrast to Saber's hot fire element.

My hot take is that in seasons where a lot of riders are introduced early on (Saber, Zero-One, Ex-Aid, Gaim) the distinction of "secondary rider" is just a question of marketing and merch, since the one Toei designates as second tends to be about equal in plot focus with at least one other.

C
 

Firstly I’m gonna agree with this.

Secondly I’m gonna agree that it’s blade, but I hope that the next upgrade goes to someone who isn’t blades. I know making upgrades for the buster/kenzan/slash would actually be pretty tough since their weapons are pre-programmed, and swordriver doesn’t have a non- saber/blades/espada mode. I still would like to see em get an upgrade, I could see em using the caliber/saikou belt though (has anyone tried the king lion, or dragonic knights on that buckle yet? If they fit I feel like that opens a lot of v-cinema options).

One thing I could see happening is ren/kenzan getting an upgrade themed around desast in like the last 4 episodes alla gemedius chronos, grease blizzard, or orthoros Vulcan (not counting tsukuyomi cause that was a whole new suit).

Blades is most likely set for an upgrade, that much is true. I'd be surprised if he actually did stay in King Lion Daisenki. Bit appreciated too since that suit needs some screentime.

The next one in-line is Espada/Calibur and possibly Kenzan. Unlikely for Buster and Slash to get upgrades since they don't look the type to really need it. The Espada/Calibur upgrade is most likely a P-bandai item ala Burning Falcon. Kenzan can get one, too, but not as a straight upgrade, but more so a newer belt/weapon entirely.

Since day 1, it's been Blades. He has a Seiken SwordDriver, his element is opposite to Saber's, he was the first SOL Rider introduced into the show, he's apparently getting another powerup, yep, sounds like a secondary Rider to me.

As much as Saikou has been filling in that slot, as of now, I don't see any of the other members getting any noteworthy powerups, outside of maybe Espada, should Kento likely return. Though that doesn't exclude the possibility, of the getting new forms come the possible V-Cinemas, or last minute upgrades like Grease Blizzard.

Curious: were people questioning Brave's identity as the secondary and wondering if it was actually Para-DX back in 2017?

I distinctly recall that yeah, EX-Aid's secondary was also a topic of debate back then with Lazer as another candidate. I've always believed it was Brave though. My favorite episode of that show is 19 which happens to be a Brave focus.