[Kurona]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fish Sandwich

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This is seriously the most interesting thing that's ever happened in this thread. Please continue to go on about this!

Well, I've gotta admit; it's not exactly something I've thought about a lot and more just "yeah, I could generally see all these aspects representing parts of him", especially when Kuuga is just kind of that smart a show.

Buuut, if you want me to get into it...


Pegasus I'll get out the way quickly because, well, I just went over it. He's initially overwhelmed with sensitivity to his surroundings around him, but while he needs help; he's pretty quick to overcome it. I think that alone speaks volumes, especially when Pegasus does debut in the episode he's taking on a LOT of another person's trauma.

The Rising forms I'll also pretty quickly brush over because that's mostly pretty simple and in the context of this thread and its spoiler warnings, we haven't... quite seen everything yet. Including something pretty damn significant. But as I said, it's simple: it's in the name. He's rising, his new powerful forms are basically just better versions of what he had before. He's kept intact everything great about him and he's gotten better at it.

And just to make this a trio, I don't think there's too much to go into about Growing either; which like the Rising forms is what it says on the tin. It's Godai at his weakest -- he can still do something, and Episode 1 as well as the recent Triple Rider Kick lays out just how much he can do when he puts in the effort even when he really doesn't have much of anything to go on. Maybe it'd be more apt to call it his 'Trying' form, but that probably wouldn't look as nice on the toy box.

Mighty Form I think is pretty interesting because even compared to other main Rider forms, most of which have some sort of weapon (admittedly, I think before Kuuga it was only really Black RX and X that had significant signature weapons? I guess Super-1 had his power glove), but he relies purely on his punches and kicks. Like him, it's very simple... but it's very good at that simplicity and you get a lot more out of it than you might expect when the other aspects on the surface look like they have a lot more going for them. Yet it's what he goes with the most, and it always works out. You just spent a good few paragraphs going over how Godai helped Hiraku -- which I would say looks pretty simple and basic, yet is in fact probably the most sophisticated and smartest way of helping someone like Hiraku. Need I say more with how that parallels Mighty's effectiveness?

Titan Form I'm going to say is a restrained ruthlessness. Once again because of the spoiler embargo I'm going to hold back on the particulars of a certain later episode in the mid 30s, but if you know you know. It's even the form Godai ends up taking in the latter part of that episode's fight, which I think says a lot. It's maybe a bit kitschy, but Titan Form is Godai when Godai is not happy in the slightest. It's Godai when he's acknowledging the pain and suffering his enemies have wrought; it's Godai when he's rightfully angered at everything that's been going on; it's Godai when he's gritting his teeth. ... but it's Godai. So he doesn't show it. He doesn't have an outburst. He doesn't go mad. He just takes all his power, he takes one slow step at a time, and ends it with one stab. Titan Form is honestly pretty heavy, and not just because of all the armour.

Dragon Form... is a really big hole in my theory, or at least the one I haven't thought about in earnest yet. I'd have to give this a bit more thought; I could maybe say something about him giving up his go-to (his incredible strength) to go for a completely different method he doesn't usually employ (his agility and his staff movements), and... I think I'm on the right track there honestly, but I can't lie, this isn't a completely developed thought. Call back in a week, I guess!

I also have thoughts about his last two forms, but I think they're pretty predictable and obvious and I'd rather wait until we get to them honestly.

I'll also say that his ease of switching between his forms speaks volumes as well -- he's the man of 2000 skills, and so switching between very different forms of not just fighting, but also quite explicitly different ways of thinking? I think it goes to show just how well-adjusted and balanced he is, and how that feeds into how he's very good at acting the psychiatrist. Of course he's able to help with your problems, of course you can trust him to be there for you -- he's probably been somewhere similar with how multi-faceted he is! This comes across a lot in his different forms to me, and while it's not exactly unique to him; the actual movements and attributes of each suit you physically see and how they're used make it a lot easier for me to buy into, say, Pegasus' awareness than... Drive Technic being 'cool'.

(disclaimer: I like Drive Technic, but I swear Shinnosuke only had a 'cool head' in its debut. The different states of mind for Drive's forms really felt shoehorned in and really quickly dropped and I kinda feel like they shouldn't have bothered with it.)


So, yeah! A lot of this is probably obvious, but like I said towards the end; even if it's not something you think too deeply on, each form of Kuuga moves and acts and is used so differently that it's very very easy to read into these different forms representing different parts of Godai. Even if you don't agree with my specific interpretations typed up at 3AM when I should really be getting to bed for work tomorrow (though I mean, my shift starts at 4:30PM so, eh?), I think it's undeniable that there's some complexity and variance to Godai's state of mind in his different forms.