[DreadBringer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

Just... just look at the last year of threads! A lot of people intensely dislike Inoue's work on Kamen Rider, and even his most successful work comes with a bunch of caveats. Liking Inoue means having to constantly defend him, and that's work that most people - reasonable people - would prefer to avoid.

I don't know if I'm not reading into it enough, but I don't feel like, if talking about your threads, a lot of people intensely dislike it (there's someone like Kurona yeah, but dunno if 'a lot' fits). Like I said long ago, you and your opinions may (CMIIW) have a lot of weight in Tokunation board here as someone regarded as a KR expert, though by that I may underestimate your struggle in doing that, as I think difficulty of possessing an "unpopular opinion" is when you outright get bashed and ostracized by the community members, where you're the opposite. I mean, in the Kiva thread, even dreamcastegirl claims criticizing Inoue would mean trampling against everyone's feelings (dunno if that's probably joking, but I feel that part can be true even if it's joking, as mob mentality exists). T̶h̶o̶u̶g̶h̶ a̶l̶l̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶f̶o̶l̶l̶o̶w̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶a̶r̶e̶ ̶p̶r̶o̶b̶a̶b̶l̶y̶ ̶j̶o̶k̶e̶s̶,̶ ̶I̶ ̶d̶o̶ ̶t̶h̶i̶n̶k̶ ̶t̶h̶a̶t̶ ̶"̶I̶n̶o̶u̶e̶ ̶F̶o̶r̶e̶v̶e̶r̶"̶ ̶c̶l̶a̶i̶m̶s̶ ̶c̶a̶n̶ ̶f̶e̶e̶l̶ ̶l̶i̶k̶e̶ ̶f̶o̶r̶c̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶o̶p̶i̶n̶i̶o̶n̶s̶,̶ ̶o̶r̶ ̶t̶h̶i̶s̶'̶d̶ ̶i̶m̶p̶l̶y̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶t̶h̶a̶t̶ ̶h̶e̶'̶s̶ ̶a̶b̶o̶v̶e̶ ̶c̶r̶i̶t̶i̶c̶i̶s̶m̶,̶ ̶i̶n̶c̶l̶u̶d̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶o̶u̶t̶r̶i̶g̶h̶t̶ ̶i̶g̶n̶o̶r̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶T̶s̶u̶r̶u̶g̶i̶'̶s̶ ̶d̶e̶m̶i̶s̶e̶ ̶t̶h̶a̶t̶ ̶i̶t̶ ̶c̶a̶n̶ ̶s̶e̶e̶m̶ ̶l̶i̶k̶e̶ ̶a̶ ̶w̶r̶o̶n̶g̶ ̶e̶x̶c̶u̶s̶e̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶I̶n̶o̶u̶e̶ ̶w̶i̶l̶l̶ ̶n̶e̶v̶e̶r̶ ̶d̶o̶ ̶w̶r̶o̶n̶g̶ ̶(̶I̶'̶m̶ ̶f̶e̶a̶r̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶t̶h̶a̶t̶ ̶a̶ ̶t̶a̶l̶k̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶"̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶p̶r̶o̶d̶u̶c̶t̶i̶o̶n̶ ̶t̶e̶a̶m̶ ̶m̶u̶s̶t̶'̶v̶e̶ ̶s̶a̶b̶o̶t̶a̶g̶e̶d̶ ̶I̶n̶o̶u̶e̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶c̶r̶e̶a̶t̶e̶ ̶l̶e̶s̶s̶ ̶t̶h̶a̶n̶ ̶s̶a̶t̶i̶s̶f̶a̶c̶t̶o̶r̶y̶ ̶w̶o̶r̶k̶"̶ ̶o̶r̶ ̶a̶n̶y̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶t̶h̶a̶t̶ ̶k̶i̶n̶d̶ ̶c̶a̶n̶ ̶h̶a̶p̶p̶e̶n̶,̶ ̶e̶v̶e̶n̶ ̶i̶f̶ ̶i̶t̶'̶s̶ ̶a̶ ̶j̶o̶k̶e̶)̶. Not about KR, but I also have my personal attachment to something that I grew up with, but I won't give second thoughts criticizing them if they make a weird, utterly boneheaded decisions.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

KAMEN RIDER DECADE EPISODE 21 - “GOING THROUGH THE COMPLETE RIDER ALBUM”

I mean, I love the powers. Seeing Decade call up a bunch of Final Forms, and watching those Forms mimic his movements as they bust out cataclysmic finishers? Very cool. It’s an incredibly fan-servicey sequence at the end of this episode, to see Decade so massively overpowered.

I didn’t really love how Tsukasa gets the Complete Form, though. He doesn’t really go on much of a journey, if you’ll pardon the expression. He’s skeptical of this world from the first scene, and he treats all of its temptations as minor distractions. He doesn’t really learn any lessons, because he wasn’t really ever going to make his home here. He was always going to keep journeying, once he figured out how to leave.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

I hate those cards. I hate that Decade is wearing a suit of not only other Riders’ faces, but he’s wearing a picture of his own helmet on his helmet. He looks like Kamen Rider Ben Cooper, and I hate it. He looks like he glued his card collection to his shirt. His stupid PDA is the opposite of how cool the Decadriver is, and I hate it. It’s all belabored button-presses rather than the fluid swoosh and chunk of the Decadriver’s manual mechanism. I hate that he’s ruined his gorgeous magenta/pink suit with a ton of grey. I hate it so much that I audibly groaned when Negative Natsumi gave him back his new upgrade instead of burying it in the ground where it belonged.

Yeah, you're not alone of not liking Complete Form, and for others iirc it's primarily the design compared to the base Decade. But power is what matters (for now)! The ability belies the appearence. There's also an particularly stand out example much later, but talking about that will be spoiler. I think I'd also even criticize the powers? Firstly, I'd say that calling out other Riders is something similar to Diend. But the particular resaon to me is how bland some of the finishers like Ryuki's one here. Not a Final Vent, not even a Shoot Vent, just an attack that is unrelated and significantly more lowkey, though it'd be practical for that situation against Ryuga (still Shoot vent also can work). The Hyper Kick is the same attack as the original, but... there were no Hyper Clock Up involved like Mishima's final battle in Kabuto. My personal artwork for Complete Form's finisher (that I wanted, ofc others can disagree for various reasons too):

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

In this story, though? Eh. He’s outside of Natsumi’s storyline, not counting him telling her This Isn’t Your World, and her going But It Looks The Same, like they hadn’t been on a multiversal journey through alternate Earths for the last five months. (Natsumi’s aggressive dismissal of all evidence that this is a world of monsters is unbelievably frustrating. It’s just her going NUH UH for a few minutes, and it makes her seem like an idiot. I get that she wants to feel like she’s at home, but I think the minute you meet your battle-damaged doppelganger, it’s time to stop lying to yourself.) There’s a move Tsukasa makes, where he’s trying to get Natsumi to realize that it’s okay to keep trying to find yourself, even if the path is uncertain, but it’s a scene that doesn’t really connect to this story so much as it connects to the series. Tsukasa immediately felt uneasy in this world of success and flattery, so it’s not like this was a hard-fought realization he had. Trying to impart it to Natsumi, it’s just not how Tsukasa does things? I feel like he needed to hit some rock bottom before he’d be so vulnerable. Like, I don’t mind Tsukasa making that speech - I really liked it! - but I don’t think this particular story did enough to validate it emotionally.

The TG Clubs in the world is murdered by the Dark Riders who assume their identity... Decade likes to revisit older part of the series, like using the character's powers, but this one's Worm's ability instead of anything the Dark Riders have? (I guess Ryuga and Dark Kabuto are evil counterparts of the main protagonists of the respective series, but this one's implementation is really the Worm's way of impersonating dead person). I guess Natsumi is, sentimental here that she found her true companions from back in the day, but I guess she's not 100% at fault here, others also can give better argument for her like to convince her that there are may be TG Club members in other, better world, but the Negative World Natsumi is... well... negative, just being mostly edgy.