[barnstenchfartface]

The Kamen Rider series now spans over 45 years and 27 series, and with every new one comes a slew of new designs and ideas and little things, here and there and everywhere. Sometimes there's something, part of a design or a reference you don't get, just staring you right in the face for ages, but you don't realize until later. Maybe it's some obscure cultural reference you only discover through chance.

Maybe it's something really dumb and then you feel dumb for not noticing before.

This is a thread to talk about those things.

(There was a thread like this in a certain forum I frequented based on a long and complicated story with lots of little details, and I found it pretty useful. Maybe it won't be as useful for Kamen Rider. I dunno. But I sure know I wish a thread like this had existed on several occasions, because wow do I have a lot of these. So I'm making one)

To start off with, here are some of my best worst ones:

-Ryuki has a dragon on his helmet. I never noticed Ryuki had a dragon on his helmet until like, a month or two ago. And I watched Ryuki in 2014! I mean, obviously he has a dragon on top of his head, I just never noticed it continued to the brow, that that was a nose and the gold stuff was the whiskers. I'm telling you, Ryuki's design makes a lot more sense when you're not being super dense like I was.

-Also would you believe I didn't make the connection that the Drag in Dragredder/Dragblacker stood for dragon until like...embarrassingly late? Drag is an actual English word, so I thought it was just some Engrish. I mean, ok, it's still pretty Engrishy, I just didn't give it any thought. But man: me and the dragons in Ryuki just don't get along.

Like I said: super dumb, I felt dumb, I still feel dumb. Dumb.

-Kuuga is Kuuga because he's a kuwaga...

There are definitely others, but I can't remember what they were at the moment.

Anyway, share your own, if applicable!

[IXRollOutIX]

I think I posted this in another thread some time ago, but it's been ages since I watched Den-O and within like the last few months I only just realized that "Plat Form" was called that because it's like a train PLATFORM that the Imagin arrive at.

I thought it had something to do with the fact that it was silver and "plat" was short for platinum or something. I don't know, lol. It's a whole lot more clever once you realize the pun.

[GoldenXtreme]

Quote:

Originally Posted by barnstenchfartface

-Kuuga is Kuuga because he's a kuwaga...

...Oh. Well I only just realized it when I read it, so you're not alone on that one.
Similarly, it also took me forever to realize that Gatack is also a pun on kuwagata, I just have problems with this!

[Matrixbeast]

If it helps you feel better, Gatack is a portmanteau of Kuwagata and Attack, so that could throw you off.

[GreenPsychoRanger]

On what Barnstench said, I always looked at the Riders in Ryuki and I could see the animal motifs. Except for Scissor. I always looked at Scissor and was like "Why does he wear goggles on his helmet?" It made abso-fucking-lutely no sense to me. Then I took a long hard look at the symbol on his deck. And then I realized that the goggles were actually the crab's pincers. *face/palm*

[Switchblade]

Only a little Rider-related, but it took me about three episodes to realize that the science police chief in the original Ultraman series was Tobei Tachibana. In my defense, I hadn't seen nearly as much early Showa Rider back then.

[Sunred]

While on the subject of Ryuki, the three riders in that show, specifically Ryuki, Knight, and Zolda each have one iconic element of a generic Kamen Rider helmet.
Ryuki has the eyes, Knight has the crusher(jaw/mouth piece), Zolda the antennas/horns.

Stronger's bike Kabutolaw is a portmanteau of Kabutomushi and Outlaw.

Agito and G3 together can be a nod to V3 and Riderman in a way considering Agito and V3 are both the second show of their respective era and G3 and Riderman do not transform in the typical way. The two also rely heavily on their tools.

Blade and Gaim both are indigo and have swords as the default weapon.

Leangle and Ryugen are both green and have dabbled in the ways of the evildoer at some point in their career as a rider.
They are both teenagers.

Zeronos and Airi(Ryotaro's sister)'s story in Den-O is that of the Hikoboshi and Orihime lore, a popular one in Asia that tells the story of how the Altair, Deneb, and Vega stars came to be. Zeronos' position as Hikoboshi is further solidified in his bull motif.

Kiva takes a lot of cues from Kuuga.
Kiva and Kuuga Mighty are both red and defaults.
Kiva Garuru and Kuuga dragon are blue and swift forms.
Kiva Bassha and Kuuga Pegasus are green and the marksman forms.
Kiva Dogga and Kuuga Titan are both purple and the strongman forms.

OOO Tatoba combo's color scheme seems like a reference to Pan-African colors, in this case red, green, yellow.
OOO Putotyra seems like a reference to Evangelion 1 in its choice of color and the fact that it goes berserk.

Gaim's Movie Taisen opponent is voiced by Shinichiro Miki the voice of Sieg in Den-O and the Genesis Driver in Gaim.

[MaskedRiderAsakura]

I was looking at Faiz's suit and thinking "I can see where the Chi motif is for Kaixa, and the Delta motif for...err, Delta. But where the hell is Phi?"


Then I realized that his entire helmet is literally the Phi symbol. I felt pretty stupid when I found out.

[Jkin62]

I only found out recently that Fourze being the 40th anniversary was a play on words.

Four-ze. Sounds like Four-tay.

Considering how big a fan I am of Fourze, I am disappointed in myself. XD

[Kiwami]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jkin62

I only found out recently that Fourze being the 40th anniversary was a play on words.

Four-ze. Sounds like Four-tay.

Considering how big a fan I am of Fourze, I am disappointed in myself. XD

Eh...

Fourze -> Four Zero = 4 0 = 40

Now you should be even more disappointed in yourself