[SPLIT LIP]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Locke

That is why I love Xaviax. Most toku villains sit in the background and send down monsters one at a time, granted, but it never feels like it's part of some master plan, it never feels like they're actually achieving anything.

It's also really clever that the show is smart enough to sidestep a lot of the common pitfalls of these kinds of things. For example, the Decks are DNA locked meaning the mirror double is the ONLY person other than the original Venteran who can use the decks. This allows Dragon Knight the freedom to have a huge variation of characters because just because they were a knight on Ventera doesn't mean their mirror double is, they could literally be ANYTHING.

I'm often watching toku and wondering what a skinny market stall salesman or whatever has over a trained military professional in being chosen but here Xaviax has no choice, he has to go with whoever the Deck is DNA is locked to, whether it be conman, dirtbike racer or frat boy douchebag. He has to work with what he is given.

Keeping this in mind also, it means that any times Xaviax's plans go wrong...it isn't really his fault. He has such a flavour of people under him, pretty much ALL of which you'd never actually pick for an evil army that a lot of them are so unpredictable he can't physically predict all of the outcomes. Which means Xaviax can fail, but when he does it doesn't feel like it's out of utter incompetence like the majority of toku villains.

That reminds me of Beast Wars Megatron.

The best villains are ones that have to work under restrictions, because it also makes them better characters. Megatron was a great villain, but he's pretty limited with his options. He has artifacts he hasn't yet discovered the meaning of, a crew of random riff-raff hastily flung together, and he's stuck on a primitive prehistoric planet. He's got a lot of restrictions out of his control, so seeing him succeed under these circumstances makes him endearing. He's not all-powerful, all-seeing or all-knowing. He's just smarter than everyone and does a lot with what he has.

If he didn't have evil intentions, he'd be an awesome protagonist.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Lucha

Welp, just had the one of the big twists in Ryuki ruined for me on another forum. I don't really want to talk about it for fear of spoiling even more, but I'll throw this out there: The Rider War is an inescapable time loop, eh? No wonder everyone calls **ANIME TITLE REDACTED FOR FEAR OF SPOILING THAT SHOW** a Ryuki rip off.

I'd love to know that this spoiler won't hinder my enjoyment of the show.

Originally posted this in the Batton-Line thread! Doh! Silly, Lucha.

Ryuki is like five hundred years old. Unless someone's actively watching it, I don't think avoiding spoilers is super necesary in conversation.

But holy shit, Ryuki is NOT STUCK IN A TIME LOOP. Time does reset at the end, but it's only once. There are only TWO instance of time reset in the entire show. The show takes place in regular time.