[AkibaSilver]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fish Sandwich

Yeah, I honestly get exhausted seeing these debates whenever they come up because it's always people arguing the semantics without realizing it, which means the conversations tend not to go anywhere. Hearing the back and forth early on when Gaim was airing between the camps of "Baron is the secondary Rider because he's like, the rival!" and "Ryugen is the secondary Rider because he's, like, Kouta's buddy!" basically permanently put me off ever investing myself too much in this topic.

For the record, my opinions are always the same as Toei and Bandai's. Secondary/Tertiary Riders are defined to me less strictly by how their role in the story plays out, and more by how their concepts and designs compare to the main hero. The opposite is true for shows like Double and OOO that only had two Riders, but usually what this means is that the secondary is the guy who looks closest in design to the protagonist while also being some kind of mirror. Kabuto and Gattack have the beetle shtick, for example. Ditto for Blade and Garren. Gaim and Baron have a similar classic Red/Blue combo going on, and are respectively based on a samurai and a knight, two feudal warriors relatively similar in concept.

Tertiaries are generally pretty easy to define going by that logic, even in the big multi-Rider shows. Zolda has the colored undersuit like Ryuki and Knight. TheBee has a much closer design to Kabuto and Gattack than anyone else, especially comparing Masked Forms, and Zangetsu being such a straight copy of Gaim has the opposite effect of disqualifying him for being in more of an "evil counterpart" position, whereas Ryugen's unique design complements Gaim and Baron better, letting them each stick out, and completing a Ryuki-esque primary color motif.

You'll note the key here is that going by my way, which I think is the way Bandai especially would see it, the characters are more objects than people. This is why it's completely irrelevant that TheBee was two different dudes who went on to become two other Riders completely. The realities of the show's narrative as it plays out matter less to me than the intent behind the Rider's creation.

But my buddy, would you like to hear my theory on why Build's secondary is actually Mad Rogue? I promise, I have evidence, I swear.