[Byg42]

So, with Zeztz recently revealed, wanted to rank the aesthetics of all the Reiwa Riders so far.

1. Gotchard: Gotchard's designs hit a very specific sweetspot for me of being both cool and fun. The forms often have these sleek, metallic sheens to them, but they also aren't afraid to get silly, like plopping a whole UFO or T-Rex onto a body. One thing that stands out for me is how Gotchard utilizes its motifs, from obvious ones like how the forms embody their chemy characteristics, to more subtle choices like how all the Gotchard Riders have some sort of solar furnace on their chest. I like pretty much all the designs, even the ones that are heavy retools cause I find that they are pretty smart about how they're reused.

2. Saber: What I like about Saber aesthetics is that all the Riders are fairly distinct from each other while still feeling cohesive. For example, they all share the same "head with a sword sticking out" design motif but each of them utilize and present it in their own unique way. It makes the designs feel varied while still looking like they come from the same show.

3. Zero-One: As the first Reiwa Rider show, Zero-One feels like it's going back to a simpler, animal based aesthetic but with a modern edge, and I think it pulls it off pretty well. I also like how each Rider system for the most part has their own specific aesthetic to them. The Zero-One forms have a sleek bodysuit like look, the Shotriser Riders have more armored designs, and the Forceriser Riders have a more thrown together, patchwork look.

4. Gavv: For having a theme as silly as food and snacks, I think my chief issue with Gavv designs is that they aren't silly enough. Like the food motif is an inherently ridiculous concept, so I feel it's much better for the designs to completely lean into that. However, forms like base Gavv and Vram feel like they're trying to ground the designs by adding this element of tacticool with the silver undersuits and such, which just feels off in my opinion. That said, I do like a lot of the latter designs, in particular I think all of Gavv's upgrade forms do a better job at invoking the food motif and embodying that inherent silliness.

5. Geats: This will probably be my most contentious placement so let me explain. There was a quote by Shirakura where he said that a design being a little weird and strange makes it more memorable than if it were generically cool. I feel Geats designs are that latter example for me. Geats designs are for the most part "cool" and because of that, none of them are all that memorable to me. There's nothing particularly wrong with them, but there's not anything that really stands out for me. I also have hang ups on certain choices, like Geats being the only one who has a full body for his base form among the main riders.

6. Revice: While I don't hate any of Revice designs, my issue is just that they are largely very hit or miss. Most of the base forms are excellent but the further you go after that, it can be a bit of a toss up. Like Demons for example has a great base design, but the further Demons designs have somewhat diminishing returns. I think the core issue is mostly just the colour schemes. The designs most of the time are fine, they just sometimes have weird and perplexing colour choices. Like Revice Thunder Gale's colour scheme is an acquired taste to put it nicely, so I think most people prefer the Shin Revice colours from the stage show.

[Mesnick]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Byg42

Gavv: For having a theme as silly as food and snacks, I think my chief issue with Gavv designs is that they aren't silly enough.

Thanks for that phrase! I was starting to think I was the only one who thought that way, because Gavv's designs are either praised or hated.

[Sh Ranger]

1) Gotchard
2) Gavv
3) Saber
4) Revice
5) Zero One
6) Geats

Quote:

Originally Posted by Byg42

Gotchard's designs hit a very specific sweetspot for me of being both cool and fun.

Agreed! It's cool and versatile how Gotchard has so many forms in so many shapes and sizes. All the Riders generally look cool. My main complaint is that Valvarad Kurogane doesn't look Kurogane enough.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Byg42

What I like about Saber aesthetics is that all the Riders are fairly distinct from each other while still feeling cohesive. For example, they all share the same "head with a sword sticking out" design motif but each of them utilize and present it in their own unique way. It makes the designs feel varied while still looking like they come from the same show.

Some of the Seiken Swords are much more interesting than others though. Like, Hayate has 3 modes, while Gekido only has 1. The Seiken SworDriver looks clunky to me. Functionally though, the Swordsmen's aesthetics have grown on me a lot and Xross Saber is Fantastic (since Fantastic means "blue" )!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Byg42

As the first Reiwa Rider show, Zero-One feels like it's going back to a simpler, animal based aesthetic but with a modern edge, and I think it pulls it off pretty well.

While the upgrades cook, the Q1 forms bother me. Rising Hopper is too simple, Wolf and Cheetah are too asymmetrical, Gorilla has no pants and I dislike Jin Flying Falcon on principle for stealing the Key from Aruto. I don't like Thouzer either, even though I admit the tackiness of it is appropriate for the user.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Byg42

However, forms like base Gavv and Vram feel like they're trying to ground the designs by adding this element of tacticool with the silver undersuits and such, which just feels off in my opinion.

Snacks are often sold in aluminum packages though, so I imagine the silver accents represent that.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Byg42

I also have hang ups on certain choices, like Geats being the only one who has a full body for his base form among the main riders.

And poor Na-Go not even getting pants to complete her Final Form.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Byg42

I think the core issue is mostly just the colour schemes. The designs most of the time are fine, they just sometimes have weird and perplexing colour choices. Like Revice Thunder Gale's colour scheme is an acquired taste to put it nicely, so I think most people prefer the Shin Revice colours from the stage show.

Personally, I love the pink/blue/purple for Revi's forms, but I dislike Kamen Rider Revice for basically vomiting over the cool Jack Revice. Doesn't help that its debut marks the major decline for the story. Evilytylive is not bad, but I think it's a visual downgrade from the cleanness of Holy.

[gashatfreak]

I'm not sure how to rank Reiwa's aesthetics so far but Saber is definitely number one for me. I love how colorful and unique each of the suit are, and even the Swrodriver users are diffrenitated with small details despite using a similar undersuit pattern. The only weak one for me is Slash because of the top-heavy looking collar (would have been nice to have the collar armor be open in the front), but even then I think he looks great.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Byg42

4. Gavv: For having a theme as silly as food and snacks, I think my chief issue with Gavv designs is that they aren't silly enough. Like the food motif is an inherently ridiculous concept, so I feel it's much better for the designs to completely lean into that. However, forms like base Gavv and Vram feel like they're trying to ground the designs by adding this element of tacticool with the silver undersuits and such, which just feels off in my opinion. That said, I do like a lot of the latter designs, in particular I think all of Gavv's upgrade forms do a better job at invoking the food motif and embodying that inherent silliness.

You know what, as a huge fan of Gavv's designs, I can se where you're coming from. While Vram has grown on me, I remember finding his design a little weird when I first saw him. Like, the contrast between the military style and the pudding motif was a bit of a tone whiplash. Again, it has grown on me, but yeah I understand where you're coming from.

[Enchilada645]

Okay so going in order on series since I don't really think I can rank them.

Zero-One: Overall solid throughout and I do love the distinct styles of Kamen Riders between the various factions. You kind of start to lose that with the Ark later, but overall solid technological designs. Don't have much to say on this one.

Saber: Probably my favorite aesthetic so far if only because you have so many different flavors of sword wielding Kamen Rider, yet they all manage to stick together through different design quirks. I never really had a problem with the Swordriver either, and the design philosophy is somehow so good that Falchion manages to fit nicely despite his suit being a Ghost body retool.

Revice: Alright, time for people to burn me at the stake because I probably have the most volatile take on this. Revice was when I realized a lot of the Rider Fandom has the most boring taste in aesthetics and I shouldn't take anyone who says something about a Rider's looks seriously after that. Revi's alt forms are mostly at fault here. While I like Revi's colors, the issue is they blend in too well with each other, so when you get the minor armor changes the base alt-forms give you kind of just... don't get anything unique. Like I cannot remember any Revi form specifically, they're all just a blob that blends together. That includes most of Shin-Revice, in which I scoff at the idea of it being any better than Thunder Gale which has a unique color style I recognize instantly in comparison.

That said for Revice I do think the design differences between the suits is a bit too drastic. I think the main three kind of work, but Demons kind of just throws everything off with its aesthetic in general.

Geats: Uh... it's baby's first create-a-rider pretty much and I think it's cool for that. It's also the one series where I realize Base Form is an inaccurate title for Riders now, Image Form would probably be better. Because while Geats has an iconic Image Form in Magnum Boost, it is by no means the basic form that Geats or any other Rider starts off with. That said, I think the Armors are cool and I like the gimmick of them being either upper or lower armor, even if some work better in both regards than others.

Gotchard: Probably my second favorite aesthetic in which you get three distinct styles of Riders for the main trio and a lot of fun derivatives with later entrants. Also I just love the way some of Gotchard's forms look aesthetically, Platina being a standout. I don't think they're all standout though, Valvarad Kurogane comes to mind. That said, I don't think I've made it known but I do like Twilight Majade actually. But I think they could have added some black and gold stickers to her legs to make it match a bit better. It's a solid suit, I just think a couple of decals on the legs would make it come together just a bit more.

Gavv: Honestly real fun design wise and while I get complaints about the bodysuits... I also think it fits well story-wise. Like Shoma's Gavv is modified so him gaining a kind of rough but still material styled bodysuit below his candy armor works. And in that same line of thought, Vram's makes perfect sense when you consider his Gochizo are artificial and made by Nyelv trying to replicate the Rider powers that Gavv had shown off by that point.

My own main real complaint is just any Bitter Gavv (and by extension Bake) form that isn't BakiBaki Sticks. They're all just flat prints on jagged armor that change the pattern. At least BakiBaki added further to the armor in a creative way. And continuing on with that, the fact that Bake is just the Bitter Gavv armor slapped onto a Valen style bodysuit feels lazy, especially when it hardly makes a difference when the first cookie Bitter Gavv shows up and looks 50% the same aside from the bodysuit.

[DreamSword]

[Kiwami]

Main Riders only I guess? In that case:

1 – Zero One. The perfect update to the classic formula, I like all the side- and upgrade-forms. Especially Ark-One. But Zero-Two is a genius final form as well. Not one bad looking suit in his wardrobe.

2 – Gavv. It took a short time to get used to the style, but I very much enjoy the candy theme and the designs are appropriately crazy and fun.

3 – Geats. Just for the rule of cool, the design is great and the upgrades are awesome, Geats IX is my favorite final form of this era. What I don’t like are the barebones Entry-forms and the revolve-stuff, although it makes sense thematically.

4 – Revice. Not a fan of the color-schemes and legacy Rider inspirations myself, but some design cues are a very enjoyable and it’s cool to always get double forms with the crazy combination gimmick. Super forms are neat too, the action scenes really made those shine.

5 – Saber. While places 1-4 have positive qualities that outweigh the negatives, that has to end somewhere, so here we are. I have little to no love for the Saber suits. I find their aesthetics visually unattractive and just generally bad. In concept it all sound quite endearing, suits based on literature that evolve the more books are collected like a story that completes itself as more volumes are uncovered, that can even mix and match, but I just dislike the suit design too much for it to have any effect on me. But the upgrades are kind of neat; I have to give Saber that.

6 – Gotchard. Saber but somehow even worse. The base form is fine, great even, it has that over Saber. Clear grasshopper motive with a fun steam engine twist and a really cool, shiny color. But man, every other suit is just complete garbage. And unlike Saber there is no idea behind them I find worth appreciating. And, also unlike Saber, all the upgrade forms suck royally.

[Excellionus99]

For me, Geats is in first. I love the exhaust on the legs from boost and the arm mounted guns not to mention the white and red go so well together
Second is Zero-One, I like the simplicity of it, just sticking with the basics.
Saber is in third, I normally hate asymmetrical Rider suits but with Saber, it just works well for me, not to mention the visor being shaped like fire.
Gotchard is in 4th, I love the design of SteamHopper, I just wish it wasnt in chrome. Revice in fifth because of Vice mainly. There just wasn't enough going on for him, Revi is fine. Gavv is in last because while the base suit is fine, every other suit and form just is horrendous. Seriously, the Over mode for the gochipod looks like nacho cheese mixed with pepto bismol and Werthers Caramels, just absolutely atrocious. All the designs are too busy, but in the case of FuwaMallow, not busy enough, too little detail. But if I was including Zeztz, he would go straight at the top. It's absolutely perfect. The shade of green, the hexagonal texturing on the bodysuit, the red lining, all works so well together.

[Switchblade]

1. Zero-One. The show's suits hit a lot of the right notes for me with no major exceptions. Love the designs of the armor, love the color palettes, love the way the upgrade forms iterate on the base versions.

2. Geats. Had to think about this one because I don't like rating Geats highly on anything, but the helmet designs were really solid and I liked how the base suits combined with the armor upgrades.

3. Revice. Okay, so I do not like the Revi and Vice suits with the bulky padding and the Easter Egg color schemes. All of the other Rider suits, though, are fantastic. If the main suits were as good as Jeanne, Aguilera, Demons, and Evil/Live, this would probably be at #1.

4. Gotchard. There are some good suits in here and I like the use of shiny materials, but nothing really stands out to me and I have trouble remembering a lot of the different Gotchard forms.

5. Saber. Not down here because I don't like the suits, but because I find them very inconsistent. There are some absolutely phenomenal suits on the show (Sabela), some that just do not work for me at all (Slash), and a whole lot that are somewhere in the middle of those two extremes.

6. Gavv. The Ex-Aid of the Reiwa shows. I like some of the execution, but I just really don't like the whole baseline concept behind the show's designs. Doesn't stop the show from being an absolute banger, though.

[Sunred]

Ignoring all other aspects and strictly ranking by aesthetics, here's mine for now:

1. Gavv
2. Zero-One
3. Geats
4. Gotchard
5. Saber
6. Revice