[Ridersen]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MaskedRiderAsakura

Eh, I don't get this. Ever since Kuuga, Agito and Ryuki, the entire Heisei Era has been redefining the concept of Kamen Rider and what that actually entails.

Yes, to an extent that is true. Kuuga definitely changed a lot of aspects of Kamen Rider, such as Rider's relation with authority and the use of violence. Of which then Agito went to deconstruct in its own show, and then had its own conclusion deconstructed in Ryuki, and etc.

But one thing Rider has been for the longest time has been the idea of it being 1. One against the majority 2. ruling authority system being flawed at best, adversaries at worst.

Whether it be the original with Shocker being direct results of oppressive system, or symbolically being implicitly and/or explicitly coded with that of a dominant ruling structures (such as G.O.D, Gorgom, ZECT, or Smart Brain), or in Agito's case, literally positioning God, the ultimate authority figure, as being an oppressive presence.

Sure, some Riders vary in their setups. In Wizard, the enemy are symbols of depression and self-destruction, or Kuuga where its the ugly parts of humanity, etc. Nevertheless, these all still fulfill the idea of an adversary bigger than the Rider, or anyone else for that matter.

Drive however, is the first time where Rider is now very explicitly part of the authority. Kuuga was allied with them, which Agito later implicitly frowned upon with its negative light on police authority in general, but Drive literally is a police officer and does not attempt to really do much to disassociate him from the rest of the authority he represents.
Roidmutes themselves too, are also not depicted the same as the others Rider villains.
Powerful than normal humans in-universe, sure, but in their thematic position they as of yet have not turned out to be representative of any larger-than-us power. And unlike for example Dopants or Zodiarts, their source is also not any kind of ruling power (Dopants being run by an aristocracy and amoral weapons traders, and Zodiarts essentially Baby Boomers). They are simply put, not enemies bigger than the Rider is in any thematic sense. They are subversives, which is the position that Rider represented before, being the rebel that escaped from the villainous organization.

And there's the fact that Drive predominantly rides a car. So there's the visual element as well