[Kamen Rider Die]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fish Sandwich

See, that's so crazy to me as someone deeply into both toku heroes and super robots. Big beetle horns = heroic is such a part of the "language" of those kinds of designs that I'm entirely conditioned to see it that way. It's like slapping a lion mane or a pair of wings on a dude; I see it and I instantly understand they're meant to be cool and important. It just reads as larger than life to me. I'm tempted to use the word "divine", even, but that's not quite right. It's just like, what I've been taught, you know? It's genuinely fascinating simply hearing you say "nah, not really my style", because that is an unthinkable thought to me.

I think a lot of it comes from how much my brain is wired for American Superheroes, and all of that visual language. As much as I love Kamen Rider for the ways it comes at superhero stories from a completely different cultural place, and its trying to speak to a completely different audience... visually, I still gravitate towards designs that feel like they come from that Superman > Batman > Spider-Man > Wolverine gene-pool. Round heads, slim suits, some small ornamentation, that's it. Wizard's one of my all-time favorite suits, and a ton of that (subconsciously) is because I could see him teaming up with the Justice League or something. The cultural signifiers that exist for a Japanese audience, all of the insect motifs and whatnot... I get it, but I don't have an emotional connection to it. Like, Build, though, with his blue/red suit and acrobatic quickness... that hits a button in my brain that says Superhero.

Anyway, yeah, suber-subjective. I'm still learning to love all of the design choices Kamen Rider makes. I came in through Ex-Aid, so I'm not at all opposed to unique or outlandish designs, but Big Thing On Forehead is just a weird pet peeve of mine.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Switchblade

Personally, I've seen Stronger, so even Hyper Kabuto's horn doesn't seem that ostentatious to me.

Sure, but I don't truck with Showa, so I'm already Thumbs Down on that stuff.