[Mesnick]

I also wanted to note how the three generals of the Dark Lord wisely approached the selection of human faces. They took over politics, business and the press, which are very important positions for taking over the world.

[Enchilada645]

15 and 16 were a pretty interesting two-parter. Was not expecting the thing that Rexor was looking for to be a Power Spot though! Ryukendo crossover when? ha ha.

I do like how despite how advantageous Bima-X Earth is in terms of defense, it can't do everything. So Ray needing to learn a balance on how to use his forms was pretty neat since this is still a rather fresh concept for him compared to his time as normal Bima.

But hey, looks like Iron Mask is continuing to lurk and do things, which makes me curious as to what his next big move will be.

Though admittedly I was fine with the ending in regards to the White Power Stone. Given how fickle they can be at times I'm not too surprised we didn't get a new Bima-X Form. Plus giving it back to Ricca works given the trust they've kind of been building up with her as of late.

Granted, given we've got a new Satria on the horizon from what they teased and we didn't get a new Bima-X form, that might be a clue for where exactly White's going to end up when all's said and done.

[DreadBringer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DreamSword

Episode 3: The Search for the Blue Power Stone

Episode 4: The Advent of Bima-X Storm

Firstly, someone obtaining the Stone doesn't take both episodes. And it's also not the de-facto way that Bima-X claims victory in the end either. Rather, the Blue Stone is Ray's' reward not just for beating the Bee Monster, but also for sticking true to his virtues. While I feel the execution of the moral is a little messy, it overall worked for me, since I got the core of what they were getting at.

The stakes felt high here as the Bee Monster evolved into something that can give Grand Gator a run of his money, size and destruction-wise.

Quote:

Originally Posted by DreamSword

On that note, the Blue Power Stone. I do like that now when Ray modifies the stones to match his new Red one, the design on the silver trim is unique to each stone. And while I do love me some form changes, I feel like the way it's pulled off here isn't ideal in terms of my aesthetic tastes. I wish that the undersuit also changed color at the very least. And that's not even getting into how much I liked/preferred how the stones would grant different weapons and augments in the original BIMA.

Kamen Rider's Fourze's Astroswitches (mostly) giving only weapons compared to OOO granting new forms (body parts) for different weapons making OOO the Rider with the most form combinations (120+).

[Sh Ranger]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DreamSword

Episode 11: Star Scarlet's Mission

Episode 12: Trimming the Intruding Flower

No, what stood out to me most was just how much character development we got out of Ricca. Even moreso than the two-parter that was advertised as being all about her! Her family having died during the Grand Gator attack made for a really great follow up to the previous show, to say the least.

A dark reminder that the Satrias can't save everybody. The tragedy of losing family is something the Bramasakti-Iskandar family can relate to and Ricca shows courage for supporting the Satrias to save as many lives as possible.

Quote:

Originally Posted by DreamSword

Oh, and Azazel's' new Dark Meteor attack is frikken sweet. That certainly helps!

Good to see Azazel still getting new moves to keep up with Bima-X.

Quote:

Originally Posted by DreamSword

Episode 13: Television Star's Secret

Episode 14: Echo! Earth Power Stone

Ati and Rena's' friendship gets showcased alot more, and it really worked for me.

Ati's such a caring idol that she would rather wear a seemingly cursed bracelet and complain about it making her career more difficult than offend Rena by removing it. That's crazy sentimental! Even more humorous that Rena just happened to give away Power Stone Hijau without realizing. Glad that Ati and Rena were able to make up in the end.

Quote:

Originally Posted by DreamSword

Still, minor gripes aside, I did overall like these two episodes. The ways things continued to escalate felt like an action movie, and Earth Mode's' debut IS really cool, featuring highlights like the ground quaking with each step Bima-X makes, Helios transforming into an axe, Bima-X straight up punching a hole through the Armadillo Monster... it was just so cool, all around. Black Lord not punishing Draconer for failure was a shock, too.

Flame Mode is the reliable type, Storm Mode is the speed type and Earth Mode is the strong type, just like Wizard. But since there's no water-elemental Power Stone, makes you curious to see what the wildcard type form will do, huh.

Quote:

Originally Posted by DreamSword

Also, you know I'm way too used to modern Kamen Rider when I'm mentally noting just how much space was between the acquiring of the Blue and Green Power Stones. It's very refreshing to see by comparison. A shame Reza didn't show up though, given that the Power Stone Hunt was his assigned mission. But eh, whatever.

The quest for the Power Stones is a significant part of the show after all, so it makes sense to put some distance between them and give the new forms a generous amount of focus. Power Stone Hijau is the first new Stone that Ray has used in this show, since Merah and Biru were his main 2 as Bima. This is a sign of how Bima-X can synchronize with more Stones than before.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mesnick

In this you are more insightful than me. When I watched Bima-X, I also noted the frequent appearance of Chris Ruslan, but considered him a constant background character, like teachers or the same journalists in MMPR.

At first, I thought he was just a comic relief, but eventually I started to suspect he was up to something. I was still surprised to find out he was actually Draconer though.

[DreamSword]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mesnick

I also wanted to note how the three generals of the Dark Lord wisely approached the selection of human faces. They took over politics, business and the press, which are very important positions for taking over the world.

Absolutely. I imagine they got alot of intel based on Rasputin's' first siege and acted accordingly.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Enchilada645

Granted, given we've got a new Satria on the horizon from what they teased and we didn't get a new Bima-X form, that might be a clue for where exactly White's going to end up when all's said and done.

It does make me wonder if the Stones are going to be evenly divided up, or if both Satria will be able to use all of them eventually. Either way, poor Azazel is stuck with Black only by the looks of things. Which is a shame since he also used two Power Stones in BIMA proper.

Quote:

Originally Posted by DreadBringer

The stakes felt high here as the Bee Monster evolved into something that can give Grand Gator a run of his money, size and destruction-wise.

I mean, he didn't turn into the battleship, he just built it.

Quote:

Kamen Rider's Fourze's Astroswitches (mostly) giving only weapons compared to OOO granting new forms (body parts) for different weapons making OOO the Rider with the most form combinations (120+).

Kinda, but not really? OOO's' Medals swapped body parts, whereas the Power Stones in BIMA-X grant new forms entirely.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sh Ranger

Flame Mode is the reliable type, Storm Mode is the speed type and Earth Mode is the strong type, just like Wizard. But since there's no water-elemental Power Stone, makes you curious to see what the wildcard type form will do, huh.

Yeah, it's another reason I was surprised that Ray didn't keep the White Stone, since Ice is the closest this show has to Water.

Quote:

The quest for the Power Stones is a significant part of the show after all, so it makes sense to put some distance between them and give the new forms a generous amount of focus. Power Stone Hijau is the first new Stone that Ray has used in this show, since Merah and Biru were his main 2 as Bima. This is a sign of how Bima-X can synchronize with more Stones than before.

True, and I did like how much these two episodes did highlight how the form swapping gimmick was brand new territory for Ray. It's been neat, how Ray has to learn something new with each Stone that he claims.

[DreamSword]

Episode 17: The Order to Kill Ricca!

Episode 18: Thawing a Cold Heart

This one was... alright.

The main crux of the episode is that Ricca ends up absorbing the White Power Stone, and Ray needs to find a way to get it out of her while fighting Mossa.

And that's kinda all there is to it in terms of plot. We get a tease about how Ricca's' boss is soon to become the new Satria, and since he's apparently Tiger themed I suppose his makes sense he gets Orange and White.

Sure, there's a small message about empathy and meeting people where they're at thrown in there, but it's not really a primary focus nor is it a major issue to be overcome. Heck, the whole emotional climax, wherein Ray tells Ricca that she's like family now, kinda comes way too easy? But it's whatever.

I think the biggest takeaway for me in all of this was actually Lady Mossa; She has a rather good showing here! Her plan is direct, but proven to be effective, and she quickly shows that she's one of the Death Phantoms for a reason. I especially liked how she took advantage of the fact that none of the heroes knew what her civilian identity was. And her monster form is cool too.

The action itself isn't anything super stellar, but we do get a new finishing attack for Azazel, who also gets a surprising amount of screen time throughout this thing. First fighting Iron Mask in episode 17(with his previous identity of Mikhail getting mentioned) and then doing a great job holding off Mossa in 18. And of course, you know, the shirtless scene that I'm sure many a viewer was happy to see. I guess this was all to make up for him being a bit absent recently.

In the end though, yeah, there's some solid stuff in these two episodes, but as an overall I just felt they were fine. Nothing bad, but nothing incredible either.

[Enchilada645]

Pretty solid two episodes this time.

A lot of Azazel love what with all the screen time he got in these two episodes. Iron Mask continues to intrigue me, Lady Mossa actually stepped up in a pretty neat way this time, and we got some cool Bima-X and Azazel tag-team action.

Not much else to say though but I'm curious as to how much longer they'll be teasing this new Satria. With the way he's coming in he seems like our "Secondary Rider" type of hero in comparison to Azazel.

[DreadBringer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DreamSword

Episode 5: The Ghost Ship Appears!

Episode 6: Shadow Crisis' Plan Starts!

And I gotta tell you, it made me so happy to see Iron Mask and half the crew of Shadow Crisis come back. It really showed how much I enjoyed the cast of the original show that I don't even care about a proper explanation and I just loved seeing them in action again. Heck, I even liked seeing the two Combatmen mooks show up on screen for all of four seconds before mysteriously disappearing!

Topeng Besi has shown up in the end of the OG Bima, revived by the Black Priest, and finished off Rasputin. So it's there. Not that it was revealed where did those monsters come from, so should be just the same for Zacros and Karax. It's an achievement that they managed to create something memorable and thus are brought back, Zacros is one of the more unique type of monsters I've seen in toku in his mannerisms and fighting style.

Quote:

Originally Posted by DreamSword

Ricca(the camera lady) also shows that she's got alot more intel than anyone should have: Having a map of the building connected to the Ghost Ship. And Ray's' line makes me wonder: Did she ever tell Ray her name? Because I don't think she did. Well whatever, it lead to a nice save from Randy and Rena, and it's always nice to have the family be involved in these things. Now we just gotta wait for Uncle to be the hero at some point.

She's described as mysterious in the character descriptions in the promotions so yes.

[DreamSword]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Enchilada645

Not much else to say though but I'm curious as to how much longer they'll be teasing this new Satria. With the way he's coming in he seems like our "Secondary Rider" type of hero in comparison to Azazel.

Really hoping they don't replace my boy Azazel as the secondary.

Quote:

Originally Posted by DreadBringer

Topeng Besi has shown up in the end of the OG Bima, revived by the Black Priest, and finished off Rasputin. So it's there.

Yeah, but he was also seemingly killed off in "The Beginning", hence the surprise of him coming back after that.

[Sh Ranger]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DreamSword

Episode 15: Saving the Green Earth

Episode 16: Power Stones' Counterattack

And speaking of that, sad to say that the ending of this kinda annoyed me. Ricca gives Bima-X the White Power Stone, and yet, for whatever reason, he can't transform with it, and he gives it back after the fight with Rexor is over. I get that we don't want too many forms too fast, but given that half the objective of the adventure is to gather all the Stones, it made me groan.

Considering how Power Stone Putih is ice-elemental, the opposite of fire, it would probably be difficult for Ray to synchronize with it. Even as Bima-X, he needs experience to master the Stones, which is exactly what these episodes show with him getting used to optimizing his 3 forms. So I think that him returning Putih to Ricca was a practical choice, while also strengthening the trust between them.

Quote:

Originally Posted by DreamSword

So yeah, flubbed ending aside, I liked these ones. And the orchestral mix of "Let Tomorrow Be" was nice to listen to too.

Hard to miss with orchestral mixes!

Quote:

Originally Posted by DreamSword

Episode 17: The Order to Kill Ricca!

Episode 18: Thawing a Cold Heart

And that's kinda all there is to it in terms of plot. We get a tease about how Ricca's' boss is soon to become the new Satria, and since he's apparently Tiger themed I suppose his makes sense he gets Orange and White.

This Stone kind of came out of nowhere. Remember, when Shadow Crisis had Stones, Velifer used the metal-elemental Power Stone Kuning, which for some reason is now Power Stone Oranye. I dislike how they suddenly changed the color, so for future reference, if I continue to mention Kuning, I'm actually talking about Oranye.

Quote:

Originally Posted by DreamSword

The action itself isn't anything super stellar, but we do get a new finishing attack for Azazel, who also gets a surprising amount of screen time throughout this thing. First fighting Iron Mask in episode 17(with his previous identity of Mikhail getting mentioned) and then doing a great job holding off Mossa in 18.

Good to see that despite Topeng Besi's recent focus on Bima-X, he hasn't forgotten about his other rivalry with Azazel. Especially since there's a new Satria on the way, who will surely become another target of his hatred.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Enchilada645

Not much else to say though but I'm curious as to how much longer they'll be teasing this new Satria. With the way he's coming in he seems like our "Secondary Rider" type of hero in comparison to Azazel.

Nope, Azazel is still the "Secondary Rider" of the Satrias. The new guy is just your typical "Q2 Rider" like Necrom, Woz or Saikou.