[Zolda]

Now it's clear that Rinne's Rider debut, story-wise, was also 2 days ago in the winter collab film. Time to go to theater. So, she's actually a Christmas Rider, not a New Year Rider, haha. The New Year Rider could be KR Fire Gotchard or KR Valvarad.

It seems like Glion has the ability to boost any Malgam's power with his version of golden/Rising power similar to Kuuga's, haha. It also looks like he can hijack/control any Malgam, an ability similar to Atropos'. The question regarding his onscreen debut in this episode is why he was missing for 16 episodes and assigned the Sisters to do his bidding. It should be properly explained or it will look like his disappearance was a mere a convenient way for the writers to start the story in low tension.

Kyouka is the one who has been giving orders to Spanner, including the retrieval of the Dreadriver and Rinne's surveillance. She says @ 06:33 that Fuga is still alive. Is this merely her conjecture, or is he actually still alive in the winter collab film and dies while giving his power to Rinne (which enabled her to transform into KR Majade) like shown @ 05:13? Soooooo... He dies twice? Haha. She's not merely Spanner's direct superior, but also the AU's Driver developer. She says @ 10:15 that she participated in the development of the Gotchardriver. She shows @ 06:45 the Gotchardriver that is being developed by the AU, along with something that looks like an expansion unit (the Gotchar Igniter?).

Aaaannnddd... A new Rider appears out of nowhere! He's a Gotchard repaint called KR Fire Gotchard Daybreak, probably a form granted by a prototype version of the Gotchar Igniter Driver Unit. And his identity is still mysterious. His voice doesn't sound like any existing male character so far, so he's very probably a brand new character who has been working behind the scene all this time. Is he someone from the AU? Or, is he Houtarou's dad? Gasp! This episode is a Christmas episode, so he probably intends to go home for Christmas, like what Houtarou's mom hoped in the previous episode. Oh, and he uses a new batch of RCC's. What's the name? Ignite Chemy Cards? There you go, collectors. Another new batch of cards to collect.

The Orochi Malgam is created from the Jamata no Orochi RCC (Occult 8).

I wrote three hypotheses here, with the first being that the Gotchardriver that Rinne used was probably made by the AU due to the inclusion of the Alchemis Driver Unit that's obviously made by the AU. With the sudden appearance of many DX Gotchar Igniter toys at stores, it's shown that Spanner will also use it with the Gotchardriver to transform into KR Valvarad. So, my first hypothesis is probably correct.

And with another sudden appearance courtesy of KR Fire Gotchard Daybreak in this episode, it makes a total of 3 new copies of the Gotchardriver that debut at almost the same time. This could mean that my first hypothesis is correct (that these 3 new copies of the Gotchardriver were/have been recently made by the AU), but my second hypothesis (that the Gotchardriver was created in several copies by whoever the creator was in the first place) is still possible. This is due to the reason I mentioned above in paragraph 2.

And, so far, in 16 episodes and 1 film, it's still unknown who and where Fuga stole the Gotchardriver from. If I infer from Kyouka's statements in this episode, then the most logical conclusion I can draw is that the development/creation of the Gotchardriver was/has been the result of a joint effort between several organizations that formed some kind of global consortium/association similar to the United Nations. So, there's probably a higher organization in hierarchy above the AU, and this consortium probably also includes or at least illegally connected to Glion's/The Sisters' death club.

So, my conclusions regarding the Gotchardriver so far are:
- Creator/funder = The global consortium that consists of the AU and Glion's death club, and probably several other alchemy organizations.
- Designer(s)/developer(s) = Kyouka & other scientists from those member organizations, and probably also included Fuga, Glion, and Houtarou's dad.
- Manufacturing location (the place Fuga stole the Gotchardriver from in the beginning of episode 1) = The consortium's lab or manufacturing plant.
- Expansion unit(s) (Alchemis Driver Unit, Gotchar Igniter, etc) = Designed, developed, and created individually by each member organization.
- Chemy Cards (Ride/Repli/Ignite(?)) = Probably also a technology jointly developed by the consortium.
- Main goal(s) = Opening the Door of Darkness, which probably means an absolute access and total control of the Ouroboros world.

Gotchard is probably the first KR season where the creator and basic nature of the main Rider's Driver is still mysterious, even until episode 16. It's similar to the Fourze Driver where it was later revealed that it was actually sent to Kengo by Emoto/Tachibana/Virgo Zodiarts. My hypothesis is that the Gotchardriver is very closely connected with the Ouroboros world. It's interesting to see how the mysteries surrounding the Gotchardriver unfold.

What does Minato mean by "the time has finally come" @ 22:30? Does it mean that he can sense Glion's appearance? Or does it mean that it's the time for him to make his move as another spy from Glion's death club?

Next week:

Glion will visit the AA. Is he a former student of AA? Or was he one of the founders of the AU/AA or the consortium? Or is he meeting Minato which could be another one of his spies? This will also mark the first appearance of a golden Malgam that uses the Moon RCC from the Cosmic category, which is probably another experiment by Glion.

Bring it on, Mr. Kamen Writers! Haha.