[Snowflakian]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ninjinister

The only thing I have to say about Ex-Aid is he just doesn't look like a Rider. I don't hate the design, but I wouldn't have known he was a KR unless someone told me. In fact I *didn't* when I first saw a picture of him whilst scrolling through Facebook.

To be fair, that's what they said about Hibiki too. Many said it about Faiz as well. Even Kuuga when it first started as this era of Riders, same to Ryuki. Much of what we've come to expect from rider suits didn't come to be expected until a series did it. The only universal aspect is the lead is usually a belt henshin device and even that varies(again, with Hibiki it was a tuning fork held to his head). Even some of the alleged staples like the bug motif are common to other metal heroes like B-Fighter and Sentai too. And even an only bug motif isn't exactly true either, as classic amazon himself is gecko inspired more than an insect. Literally a classic design that eats insects.

And now this iteration, a doctor that turns into a game sprite with a whack-a-mole hammer that's out to squash "game" bugs. Okay oversimplified the concept, but I hope you see my point. The only main staple for Kamen Rider is that they are a masked armored hero that rides in to save the day. Even the bike is optional as early as Black RX had shown us.

But like I said, when a series does diverge more than normal from the usually more common aesthetics audiences are used to, expect a classic throwback to follow. Faiz was followed with Blade that had a more blatant insect design theme besides the playing cards. Hibiki was followed by Kabuto that brought more direct corporate machinations and city life.

Even over with ultraman the same is true. Nexus was very dark and adult oriented, but it was followed by the more light hearted and friendly classic campy throwbacks Max and Mebius.

The life blood of these series is growth and evolution. Change and testing. This series may not be to your taste, but then the next might. This series may become your taste simply from being that good. I used to loathe the Faiz designs when I first saw them though I loved the henshin gimmick, but the show's implementation of it, how they portrayed it and the attitude it evoked. The in suit mannerisms, and the epicness of Faiz Accel Mode, it's now one of my favorite designs.

Though blade will always hold a special place in my heart too. I goofed when I first watched it, saw episode 2 before episode 1, and because of that, the show always carried a more Tarantino like cold start beginning to me that had me hooked. That immediate "Garren is evil" and then seeing episode 1 of how it started, leading into that transition and reveals of character growth and hidden altruistic motives, that show had me hooked weekly. Literally it's how I got into Faiz even. I was wanting to skip Faiz, but the wait between weeks for blade episodes meant I needed something to watch to bide my time and I became hooked on it too. So I expect great things from Ex-Aid. The designs might be jarring now, but in the end, I'm sure they'll become as beloved as any other rider suit was for how it's conveyed in the series.