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Quote:

Originally Posted by SPLIT LIP

Yeah, Ex-Aid is boring. It is Gaim-ish but lacking the charm and creativity. The video game theme is just... eyeroll inducing. Thing is, games don't work as a theme because games are a medium. They are something that is themed, not a very good theme themselves. So that's why you end up with really cringey fake video game titles that are generic and half-assed. Plus, video games becoming real is a pretty old concept and nothing is really done with it that's very original, and having your rider theme based around something ficticious and harmless as games, where everything is fake by their nature, kinda sucks any sense of conflict out of it. At least Gaim had them based on actual warriors of different eras and not just the fruit thing. Plus the costumes themselves are so awful.

And yeah, the main guy is a total flatline acting-wise. It's pretty hard to watch.

As someone who's a big fan of videogames, I find the aesthetic to be fine. While games are a medium, they are certain elements to lots of games that do certainly unify different aesthetics, genres and tones that the Riders do have. Such as the chest plate health bar, the Gashats, the weapons.

The fake videogame titles are cheesy, but really, is it anymore cheesy then something from a Rider show that's aired on TV since Kuuga? Ryuki's powerup weapon had to eat his Survive card. OOO had a singing belt that mashed together parts of animal names to make Combo names. Gaim had fruit fall on their heads.

While the videogames becoming real concept is old, Rider hasn't tackled it before though, just to give the show a little trust/merit.

Regarding the videogame theme even ruining the whole tension of the show, I disagree. If Ex-aid can ramp up throughout the series, I think the idea can work. In fact, I feel like the opposite could happen to create tension. That because the Bugsters and Riders being based on fictitious and fake things, that bringing that same sort of exercise of capabilities of a game into the real world, a place with consequences and impact, could create tension. I mean, look at Snipe in episode 3, taking away Emu's Gashat. Already we see how gaming mentality that causes no one harm in game or online can profoundly impact people's lives in the real world.