I'm David, welcome to my brain. Here I write to not only show that I can but to share my opinions on various topics. Mostly Video Games, Anime, Movies and Tokusatsu. Though I am open to suggestions and never afraid to admit when I'm wrong. Have a good time in here and be sure not to mess with my memory, it's bad enough as it is.
Happy Holidays everybody here's more Lets Play footage from a game perfectly made for Halloween; on the first night of Hanukkah, just two days before X-Mas. I'm very timely. Regardless of my inept scheduling now that I've braved the asylum and saved the Mayor I'm back on the trail of Zarok and his Shadow Demons. While walking down the remains of the original battle against Zarok I get harassed by an army of Demonic Peter Pans, because of course. Then I have to wonder around Dionysus Park apparently to get to the ruins of Gallowmere castle.
MediEvil (2019) is owned by Sony Interactive Entertainment and Other Ocean Emeryville.
Sorry for the lack of God of War this week, Christmas shenanigans and whatnot, but we still have the normal V-Logs. Zero One finally gets us the death of the Dodo Magear but thanks to Horobi his legacy lives on. Ryusoulger has gone back to dumb filler, joy. Last but certainly not least Beast Morphers is approaching the end of the first half of the show. Now the big question is, what happens next since we no longer have Roxy and thus can't fully use the Messiahroid arc since both Escape and the Karateroid were destroyed this episode?
With the Pumpkin pie shared to all the people Sir Daniel now continues his quest. But to progress he has to free Zarock's Shadow Demons for some reason. To do this he needs the key to the Shadow Demon tomb from the Mayor of the nearby village. I mean he gets it but apparently the guy was abducted by Zarock to learn where he hid it. So after I free the Demons Sir Danial figures that he needs to save the guy to balance out his hero to numbskull ratio.
MediEvil (2019) is owned by Sony Interactive Entertainment and Other Ocean Emeryville.
Today we venture through Dr Weird's corn fields. Thankfully there the corn itself isn't lethal but apparently Dr Weird just let some unstoppable demon hide there and kill anyone who puts their toe inside the field. Afterwords we have to kill several demonic pumpkins and their leader; a giant evil Pumpkin. But sadly there's no pies to be had; 0/10 not enough pumpkin pies! Oh and we help out a Pumpkin Witch who could have helped dealing with it but I guess wanted to finish her Sudoku puzzle first and we just took care of the beast before she was done.
MediEvil (2019) is owned by Sony Interactive Entertainment and Other Ocean Emeryville.
I'm slowly catching up with the Toku V-logs at long last. We're closing in on the ending of the 1st half of Beast Morphers so once that's done the schedule should be back to normal. Though speaking of Normal I will not be lowering the difficulty of Dad of BOY! Especially since I finally found Bork and F**king Gratitude which means I can get some upgrades and new Armor which undoubtedly gives me more of a leg to stand on. Though I did get some more goodies off-screen including knocking off some side quests just FYI.
God Of War (PS4) is owned by SIC Santa Monica Studios, Sony Interactive Entertainment and Cory Barlog
Now that we're back on track we smack the ever-loving corpse dust off of some Wolves and get Mjolnir as a pretty sweet reward. Though not even that can prepare me for the unholy horror that is; the anthill! Oh you think I'm joking and being cute no, no no man these things are savages who will kick your boney backside back to the bone man's bungalow (god I love alliteration.) Even after I get past her horde I still have to kill Cody 3 to end that nightmare and get rewarded with Fried Chicken. But I can't even get on with the main story because apparently I have to free Zarok's Shadow Demons with some silly artifact, just great.
MediEvil (2019) is owned by Sony Interactive Entertainment and Other Ocean Emeryville.
Christmas is almost here and that means it's time to take a wee bit of a break around here. Though I have my old buddy Kratos coming around and boy has he changed since I last saw him. Though one thing is still the same, his life is hard as hell!!! Let me tell ya, if your game is giving me Kingdom Hearts 3 Critical mode PTSD you know you're in for some actual frustration, entertainment and a decent into madness, almost like I was a real Video Game personality or something! Also the three toku show catch up, Zero one is still good, Ryusoulger is trying to make up for lost bullshit and Beast Morphers is warping up the first half of the show.
God Of War (PS4) is owned by SIC Santa Monica Studios, Sony Interactive Entertainment and Cory Barlog
Yes there is an Another Grand Zi-o Another Watch, no it didn't appear in the show proper; just in a stage show. Wasted potential is indeed wasted.
Time to wrap this list up and get ready for the winter fun. Here's where the other Another Riders ranked up for those who haven't been following the countdown.
Kicking off the last part of this list is the first of the three Future Another Riders to debut, Another Shinobi.
You know, it's sometimes the simplest things that are the most remembered. I mean how can the words evil, skeleton and Ninja not be cool when put together? From the Tekkō-kagito the skeleton face it may be a simpledesign off of a kit bash Kamen Rider but when it works it works. And the contract holder being the man who eventually does become Shinobi does make for a nice bit of irony. Though whether the original Kamen Rider Shinobi will actually be a rider in 2022 is still up in the air but if Another Time: Kamen Rider Shinobi is anything to go by; I hope not.
Sound the drums for #8 Another Hibiki.
Honestly I shouldn’t be giving this Another Rider such a high spot on this list considering that this lead to that narcissistic, lying, arrogant, undeserving wank toad Kirya Kyosuke to become the new Hibiki. Because on top of how he behaved in the original Hibiki series; Kyosuke was responsible for Another Hibiki’s contract holder to make the deal with his blatant lying to a naive child just to stroke his own ego when we all know that Asumu is the true, rightful successor to the title of Hibiki. But putting that aside I have to give credit that the design of this Another Rider is just plain awesome. The Hibiki Riders were referred to as Oni and Another Hibiki's design truly brings to mind statues of Shinto gods to where I could defenitly see Another Hibiki riding on a thunder cloud. Sometimes you just have to give credit where it's due and Another Hibiki is a top tier designed Another Rider, despite the show it came from and the guy that beat him.
Next is one of the two most reoccurring Another Riders, one that honestly should have been the big bad given his powers but was knocked down because he was just a complete wenis, #7 Another Zi-O.
Now if Oma Zi-O wasn't going to be the final boss (and spoilers he wasn't but we'll get to that later) than that honor should have gone to the Another Rider of the protagonist. Hell; of the Another Riders Another Zi-O is the second most reoccurring in the show. Though his powers were a little weird, now his precognitive powers are understandable considering that that was the main power of Zi-O II which debuted only a few episodes prior to his introduction but him switching between previous Another Riders sounds like something that should be Another Decade's wheelhouse. Though the design works pretty well as just a more armored Zi-O with a monstrous face. Also giving him an actual Rider belt with his Another RideWatch on there was a decent way to make him stand out among his contemporaries.
Though sadly the Contract holder Hiryu should have been more of a threat, but with how he was portrayed (and not actually seeing how his life was screwed over with his parents being indirectly killed; just that nobody was there to get him at the hospital) he just comes off as a whiny, stupid, spiteful, narrow-minded, insane, tool. Now say what you will about Superboy Prime turning evil in Infinite Crisis but we can at least understand why and how he got to that point, Hiryu on the other hand has nothing. Also it took until Schwartz was telling him to his face that he was a pawn in his poorly constructed game and creating an alternate timeline where he rules the world as king Dickhead the 1st with his army of Another Riders to get the idea that Sougo might not be responsible for his life getting screwed over? Though according to the stage show even that wasn't enough to convince this asshole if the Another Oma Zi-O watch at the top of this review wasn't enough of a tipoff. So yes while the Another Zi-O powers themselves and the design works, Hiryu himself is just not compelling enough to get him any higher on the list.
#6 goes to the last regular Another Rider, Another Drive.
Hopefully after the double barrels I wasted on the last guy we can keep this short and sweet. This brings us to Another Drive; the last of the non General Another Riders. Now I just love the asymmetry of its design, it looks like the regular Drive after a Blues Brothers esq Car crash. From the twisted metal, the driver that looks like it has a brain in it (since that's where Krim's consciousness was stored) and the Two Face like helmet it's like the Jackson Pollok of monster designs. Also it reminds me of the Monsters from Carranger/ Power Rangers Turbo; specifically when Rv Robo/ The Turbo Megazord got highjacked by the villains; just that Stallone sneer sells it for me.
Also the Contractor being Roidmude 108 aka Kamen Rider Dark Drive/Paradox Roidmude disguised as Ora admittedly had me fooled. And since Another Drive is a Roidmude it can use the Heaviness to freeze opponents so Another Drive can just wail on them as well as shapeshifter into anyone they want to avoid detection. Speaking of wailing the way Sougo just beat Another Drive into the dirt after it killed Heure was chilling. So while the last of the rank and file Another Riders it certainly was one of the better ones. Now for the top 5, here we go.
#5 heralds the return of the meme God Dan Kuroto as Another OOO.
Now as an Another Rider Another OOO is pretty standard, not really much in terms of twisting OOO's powers we don't see him switch to any forms or anything like that, but he can make Waste Yummies, so there's that. The basic design is still good highlighting the animal aspects of OOO'S Tatoba default form with the spikes on the grasshopper legs and the tiger claws, though the Hawk wings are a little silly looking, they look like big, floppy bunny ears. No, the real reason this is so high is cause the contractor is the God Dan Kuroto!!! Now while that is blatant fanboyism this series gives us very little actual entertainment so we have to take what we can get. So while the God Dan Kuroto might not make it to the very top we can at least remember the time he created Japanese Kickassia.
#4 is claimed by the twisted parody of the first (technically 4th) Heisei Rider; Another Kuuga.
As the Another Rider of Kuuga a certain degree of importance comes with this one. Now while I would give it more credit for this being the only Another Rider that's a natural giant and that this thing is legitimately terrifying I have to keep that honor off due to Tiddlywinks being a bit of a mess as a character. I mean we know nothing about him, Schwartz doesn't mention him; what was even the point of this guy? Again I'm not counting Another Rider upgraded forms so Another Ultimate Kuuga is not being mentioned but if I was I'd actually rate him lower since he just gets the traditional Shirakura one-sided villain curb stomp. So I'll just give this CGI nightmare a rather respectable place on the list.
#3 goes to the poorly motivated final boss of Kamen Rider Zi-O; Another Decade.
Let me get this out of the way, this thing looks like a badass. You know how all throughout Decade everyone was saying how he was the destroyer of worlds, the Devil and the unholy god of destruction? This is what I would have expected from that kind of hype instead of the smug, pink putz that we got instead. But his powers are a little weird, now opening up Tears to summon Evil Kamen Riders from universes where they won is a nice subversion of Tsukasa's World traveling powers and Diend's Rider summoning (though this begs the question of what Another Diend is going to to do since Diend's gimmick was stollen by this guy) but like I said when talking about Another Zi-O shouldn't Another Decade's powers include being able to switch between the other Another Riders' powers as well as the summon A.R Riders thing? Now since he's the final villain of Zi-O I tried not to put him at the #1 Spot by default because that would be lazy, thankfully there's other reasons why he only gets the bronze medal.
Namely that Schwartz' plan makes no sense. So he wants to save his timeline from being destroyed, easy so far, so how he goes about this is creating Oma Zi-O. So Schwartz does this was well as recruiting the Timejackers to create Another Riders as part of a big misdirection to just let Sougo get stronger, and even then he needed the power of Kamen Rider Decade to make his plan work. He becomes Another Decade, summons Dark Riders, lets the multiverse get recked more than a D.C Comics Crisis event and when Sougo does finally become Oma Zi-O he thinks that now that he's only just shown up without the decades of experience the future monster has he could claim those powers and rule as the king of time. But in the end since all of this was actually just to spite his little sister who was chosen to inherit the Timejacker lineage and not him, he just gets curb stomped and Sougo decides to use Made in Heaven to rewrite the timeline so that he and the rest get to live out a normal life without Kamen Rider Zi-O except Woz who survives the world alteration because reasons.
Jesus Christ and people think that Master Xehanort from Kingdom Hearts and Revolver Ocelot from Metal Gear Solid had overly long, complicated and convoluted plans. I mean yeah in terms of dumb villain plans this goes way beyond making Twin Clones of Hitler, making Nightcrawler the Pope or Dr Doom's plan from Ultimatum this is just, ugh. Back to the positives his design once again highlights the only good thing about Zi-O, with the Devil horns, the batwing where the Decade name is and the belt looking like a demonic mouth; this thing looks damn cool. So while Schwartz' plan is absolutely moronic at least Another Decade is as powerful and intimidating as a final Boss should be. But you can have the nicest looking car with a super up engine, but without a solid frame you'll have something that'll fall apart the moment you try to step on the gas. Now I know my analogy is off since I'm not a car person but you know what I'm getting at right?
The #2 slot goes to the tragic Another Blade.
Once again the design of Another Blade is top tier. Since Kamen Rider Blade was based off a Rhinoceros battle the designers decided to highlight the Rhinoceros part of that name with the much bulkier armor and the horn that looks more like a drill. The perverted Blay Rouzer is a wondrous little treat with the buzzsaw in place of where the Rouze Cards would be on the original, though speaking of sadly we don't see Another Blade using the powers of the Spade suit Undead mostly relying on brute strength since she's being forced into becoming Another Blade. Oh and the cherry on top, the contract holder is Amane from the original series, being forced to cause havoc in the blind pursuit of her father figure Hajime just to lure out Kenzaki. Though her absorbing the powers of both the Jokers, becoming the winner of the Battle Fight and unleashing an army of Joker Undead was kind of dumb in my opinion so that slight bump had Amane settle with the silver medal.
Finally this leads us to my #1 favorite Another Rider, Another Kabuto.
If you couldn't tell from my list I tend to list Another Riders in terms of design, contractor, powers and story execution, by that criteria Another Kabuto is what I consider to be the best Another Rider. In terms of Design the organic Worm design of Another Kabuto makes for a perfect perversion of the technological, man made original. The Contractor is another great choice, Sou Yaguruma AKA the first Kamen Rider TheBee and Kamen Rider KickHopper being one of Souji's original rivals getting the powers of Kabuto and working with a Worm Copy of his dead partner Kageyama (Worms don't work like that) to destroy all of humanity with another Asteroid full of Worms that was summoned as a side effect of Ginga knowing full well that the Worm was using him. This makes for a rather substantial threat if you ask me. As for the powers, get this in addition to Another Kabuto he still has the powers of Kickhopper so if one rider set get beat he can just switch to the other to continue the fight and since both can still clock up only another ZECT designed Rider or Worm could stand a chance against him.
Story-wise when we're not focusing on Woz playing around with Ginga Finally we have Kagami trying to stop him while slowly but surely getting what he wanted back in the first episode of Kabuto and become worthy of the Kabuto Zecter which he uses to put the nihilistic fake in his place once and for all. Honestly the Kabuto Arc of Zi-O was the best of the bunch and is all the more frustrating since it shows that the creators of the show could have done instead of what we got instead. But with that I'm done with reviews for 2019, it's been a long year, a long decade actually and with the holidays coming up I need a bit of a break. So with that, check back in at 2020 were I kick off the new decade with a few top lists. The top Movies, Anime, Video Games, Kamen Rider series; whatever of each year from 2010 to 2019.
And with the break for the month that should give me plenty of time to mull those choices over. Though I will be getting back to the V-Logs and posting Lets Plays of course I'm not ready to close up shop all together here. Though I will still be doing the streams on Saturday of God of War on PS4. Though I do have a new Switch Lite and Pokemon Sword to work on so there's that. But in any case I would like to thank everyone for sticking with me for all this time and have a happy holiday.
Kamen Rider is owned by Ishinomori Productions, Toei Productions, and Bandai. Spaceballs is owned by Mel Brooks, Brooksfilms and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc.
Happy Thanksgiving to everybody in the US. Here's a little gift to you, the remake of MediEvil. This is my first exposure to the MediEvil franchise and from how much I enjoyed the remake of the original I hope that MediEvil 2 remastered is in the cards soon. But for now we have Sir Danial back in action and poised to live up to his own hype of being a great hero. Now let's just hope his old hero pals aren't too pissed that Danny boy got all the credit for being a hero just because he was the King's best bro.
MediEvil (2019) is owned by Sony Interactive Entertainment and Other Ocean Emeryville.
I'm back from a forced hiatus with a hat to experiment with and some comments. Zero One has some movie schenanigans with a Humagear that can't do improv and Krombopulos Michael has his first fanboy moment. Ryusoulger officially jumps the shark when they kill of not only a potentially badass new General but also the saved extra Ranger in the same episode. Why? To just promote a new toy. Whereas Beast Morphers introduces Vargoyle and does the unthinkable and has a hero admit that he was wrong when he erased his friend's memory to keep his hobby secret, I know right?
Here we are at the end of the original Psychonauts. After climbing the top of the tower, saving the kids and introducing them to Mr Pokeylope; we're ready to deal with Oleander and his evil plan. Though of course there's a reason behind everything so no Raz has to deal with the manifestation of Oleander's childhood trauma, thus he's no longer evil because that's how that's totally how that works. Now we have only a few months to wait until Psychonauts 2 finally comes out. And no I don't have a VR headset and most likely never will so I won't be covering Rhombus of Ruin.
Psychonauts is owned by Double Fine Productions, Tim Schaffer and Majesco Entertainment
Kicking off part 2 of the list is #16 Another Wizard.
While not reflective of a dragon design Another Wizard’s design is more reflective of a demon. From the tattered cape, the organic looking helmet that looks like skeletal hands clasped around a bloody boil to the bone hand on the Wizardriver make this Another Rider look truly horrifying. Though his contract holder is more tragic then most of the Another Riders with him just being a stage magician that wanted to help his theatre stay open with his magic. Before Sougo showed up and shook his tree he was just content to being an expert stage magician stewing in his jealousy over the theatre owner loving someone else when he never had the nerve to tell her how he feels.
Admittedly now that I say it out loud he might have gone nuts at some point but still. Sure the contract holder may have been suffering from a massive case of the Shinji’s but at least he looked cool and was a decent match for Zi-O and Geiz.
Now to clear the skies for #15 Another W.
It's no surprise to that all three of Riku Sanjo’s series got shat on hard by Zi-O with his most popular Kamen Rider series W being the first sign. Now the problem isn’t that he was a movie exclusive villain it’s that we know nothing about him before he/they became this monster. We hear two voices talking when he speaks but even when Another W gets beaten we don’t see who contracted with Tiddlywinks to create him. Though there are some things this Another Rider has going for it. Particularly the helmetwhich has the Another Rider's face breaking out from W's original face with it still hanging off the sides of his face as an inversion of Cyclone Joker Xtreme. Along with the tattered bandages on the Cyclone side of Another W paralleling the scarf on W's side.
But then there's the fact that Another W's appearance is non cannon. Apparently according to Shirakura; Heisei Forever is non cannon because he's a coward who plays that card when the fans get uppity. That leaves how Sougo got the W Ridewatch and the creation of Another W more than a bit questionable. I'd say maybe they'll fix it with a V-Cinema but that's being far too optimistic when it comes to Shirakura. So despite Another W getting no respect I at least think the two in one demon does look cool.
The next player is #14 Another Ex-Aid.
Now given that Ex-Aid is one of my favorite Riders seeing the goofy pink cartoony platformer like hero turned into the Predator was quite the jarring experience. From the spiked shoulder pads, the reptilian paint patterns on the green segments of the suit to the Predator dreadlocks and the sadistic smile; this Another Rider design is all kinds of creepy and twisted. The inversion of Ex-Aid's powers is a nice touch too. Instead of curing people of the Bugster virus Another Ex-Aid created a video game to track down kids who are compatible heart donors with his son, so instead of curing people of the Bugster virus he chose to endanger and potentially kill hundreds of people just to save one person. Now that may be reducing the whole situation to a numbers game but the fact still stands that this mad glitch was willing to subject innocent kids to a slow, painful death just to save one person is about as far from the gaming doctor as you can get, in summation a pretty good Another Rider.
Arriving on platform 13 is Another Den-o.
Since Den-O will forever be doomed to be Toei's biggest cash cow we got not one, but two versions of this Another Rider. The first one I covered back in Heisei Generations Forever but both seem to follow similar patterns, though the first Another Den-O was under Tiddlywinks' control. As for the design instead of the Peach like visor for the helmet it instead protrudes like an Oni's horns to reflect Momotaros. Though speaking of Momotaros a major drawback to this Another Rider is that since Ryotaro is a Singularity Point and therefore unaffected by changes to the timeline Den-o himself can show up to deal with his Another Rider counterpart with no problem. So in combination of the show double-dipping on this Another Rider and the aforementioned weakness with his main self still being active I can't place this one higher on the list, not a bad spot mind you but still.
Ready to crash down to earth is #12 Another Fourze
Now to pick off where I left off with Another Faiz since this is the power set that overlapped that monster to keep his contractor's power. Knowing what his deal is explains the similarities between the two with the under suit still having traces of Another Faiz' design but has the Fourze elements overlapping it. Though the most notable parts are the twisted Fourze driver that lets Another Fourze use the powers of the Astroswitches and the bat like wings on the sides of Another Fourze's normally rocket helmet. Aside from that what should have been a tribute arc to Fourze got superseded by Faiz and that show's cast including the sentient pile of garbage Masato Kusaka in yet another example of Riku Sanjo getting shat on by Shirakura. But hey at least Another Fourze gets some degree of respect from me.
Next, Another Quiz is #11, X or O?
Next is the second of the future Another Riders and personally is the most outright scary of the three. If his ability to steal people's intelligence wasn't enough the general brain design of him can make anyone more than a bit squeamish. At bit of a cliche but the overall design with the brains as the central motif sells the this thing as wanting to go on a binge with his old pal Venom. Also this is one of the cases where the Another Rider is better designed than the rider he's based on since Quiz proper is a bit more of an obvious kit bash of previous suits. Also with Another Quiz being the jealous father of Quiz before he died leads to a nice sense of irony and leads to Quiz getting some closure regarding his father.
Also the reason why his father acted the way he did was more than a little sad since he was so desperate to save his wife, yet ironically she died before he could make his breakthrough. But as a constellation prize this Another Rider got the #11 spot on the list.
Get down on your knees for #10 Another Kiva.
We'll wrap this part up with the Another Rider that got shafted the most (and considering how Drive, W and Fourze were treated that's saying something) Another Kiva. First from a design perspective I do love how Another Kiva is designed, she almost looks like a proper Fangire with the stain-glass face to her torso and the giant horn like bat ears. Now how she's able to control the Arms Monsters when they're supposed to be loyal to Wataru and he's still Kiva since she was made in the present day and not 2008 is never explained but her having the three gives her a nice versatility in her attacks. But unfortunately the Kiva tribute arc got highjacked by the paradox asshole Kamen Rider Ginga.
Who I'm not joking was never supposed to exist, according to Tsukasa; Ginga was the result of the space time continuum getting flushed down the toilet thus never meant to exist. So, by that logic Kiva's arc was highjacked for no reason! Though at least her prolific use of Manholes at least granted her meme status in the Japanese fandom. (Just plug this into twitter and off you go. マンホールクソコラグランプリ) Even though her entire arc got devoted to an overpowered Gary Stu gargoyle and continues the trend of Toshiki Inoue's tendency to shove women into refrigerators I'm still going to give this Yandere Fangire Queen the 10 spot on my list. Now there's only the remaining 9 or so Another Riders to cover next time.
Kamen Rider is owned by Ishinomori Productions, Toei Productions, and Bandai.
Yeah no stream this time and again, maybe taking a break from that due to the holidays. But in the mean time Zero One gets a Megazord, like we didn't have that last season. Ryusoulger has the team saving Nada from the Gaizorg armor at long last. Beast Morphers actually does something interesting with the Battleizer this time where the power it gives Devon is analogous with substance abuse. Fury Cells are a hell of a drug.
Now for the most popular level in the entire game, Black Velvetopia. As much as everyone including myself loves this level for its art direction, music and story this is sadly one of those levels that tends to be a nightmare for those who want to 100% the game. The reasons being that like Mila's Dance Party the art direction makes the transparent figments pretty hard to differentiate from the background. Though this is tempered by the lack of figments to collect compared to Mila's level. That and El Odio; the stage hazard being a major problem if you're not careful when navigating the level.
Psychonauts is owned by Double Fine Productions, Tim Schaffer and Majesco Entertainment
With this I'll be taking a break from the streaming thing for a bit since there's holidays and birthdays and what not to deal with. But in the meantime I'll still be doing the tokusatsu V-logs. Speaking of Zero One reveals that the Ark is Sigma, the Ryusoulgers have saved Nada from the Gaizorg armor and we see that Nate and Zoe are starting to develop a relationship. Though we also see the Commander put her foot down on a downright despicable racketeer.
After our time on stage we move onto a Shadow Game with Fred Bonaparte and his ancestral memories of Napoleon. But the game is rather one sided as Fred is a constant Debbie Downer and refuses to go with the whole "winning" thing. But thanks to Raz' help Fred managed to reclaim control and chase Napoleon out. But does the guy actually help me deal with Crispin and get me to Loboto? Nope he just decides to go and take a little nap, thanks Fred you really came through pal.
Psychonauts is owned by Double Fine Productions, Tim Schaffer and Majesco Entertainment
Your favorite heroes made into hellish freaks by some of the least interesting villains in the franchise, woooo.
The time of monsters and madness is here once again everyone and this time I’m about to do something truly terrifying, complement a Shinichiro Shirakura production! Of course given the time of year and year in question I’ll be talking about Kamen Rider Zi-O. Though I’ll only complement the one part of this production that he wasn’t involved with, thus being the only salvageable part, the Another Riders. It’s seemingly universally agreed upon that the designs of the main monsters of Zi-O were the only thing that everyone can agree was competently executed for the most part. With an anniversary and capstone of the Heiden era of Kamen Rider the previous 20 had to get represented in someway. Now while the idea of taking the heroes' designs and making them into monsters isn't not original as seen in the monsters of Boukenger it is still a good one. (Before you @ me I know that the Boukenger monsters were based off of the previous Sentai teams mechs and not the teams themselves.) So from the bottom of the barrel to the top of the heap here is my personal countdown of the best Another Riders. Now this list will only include the base forms so Another Ulitnate Kuuga and Another Zi-O II are not going to be on the list, also Another Ryuki and Ryuga are sharing the same spot due to them basically being a re-skin of the suit. Plus Ryuga was originally the Dark Rider counterpart of Ryuki so there, also no, Another Zero One isn’t on the list since it was only announced recently and hasn’t debuted in the Zi-O Zero One crossover movie.
Let’s get the laziest one out of the way for #23 Another Agito.
From the moment we learned what the Another Riders were we were all thinking of how they were going to handle this one the most. For those who don’t know, there’s already a Kamen Rider Another Agito in Agito. So out of laziness Shirakura just had the Another Agito suit for this Another Rider but just added Agito and 2019 to the suit and changed the helmet. Though his power is an interesting inversion of the main concept of Agito. Just like how the Overlord of Light spread the Seeds of Agito to people who had the potential to evolve into an Agito; Another Agito behaves more like a vampire by turning its victims into more Another Agitos. But aside from that the design of this Another Rider is the worst of the bunch and has the least character as well. We never even see the person that made the contract to become Another Agito in the first place. Though if I had to guess it was most likely the biggest asshole character from Agito given how his main targets were members of the G3 team.
HOOOOOOOJOOOOOOO!!!
So unsurprisingly the laziest Another Rider gets placed dead last on the list.
Though speaking of lazy designs we have #22 Another Ryuki/Ryuga.
Yes, like I said they both get the same spot on the list due to them just basically being a color swap of the same suit. Now the suit itself isn’t why this is so low on the list as it is really well designed. But it’s for one very simple thing, Ryuki should not exist anymore due to the events of its series. Now when Another Ryuga showed up and it being the original Ryuga; Dark Shinji most people believed that the events of Ryuki’s movie Episode Final was the cannon ending of that series. Which made sense considering Ryuga and Dark Shinji were the movie exclusive villain Rider of that movie. But then Rider time Kamen Rider Ryuki popped up and threw that idea under the bus. Since apparently the events of the show was the cannon ending even though those events caused Ryuki to never exist. For that matter where did Another Ryuki even come from? We know that none of the main three Time Jackers made him and it’s heavily implied that Shiro Kanzaki, the main villain of Ryuki (who was erased from existence I might add) was the one who created Another Ryuki. But how did Shiro even create the AnotherRideWatch in the first place?!
So yes while the suit isn’t bad the story behind these Another Riders just make my brain and balls hurt and I can’t let that slide. Also its Rider deck was stacked with too many copies Mirror Force to be tournament legal!
Speaking of Riders that came out of literally nowhere #21 goes to Another Kikai.
The last of the three Future Riders and quite frankly the worst explained. Hell the Kamen Rider he’s based off of; Kamen Rider Kikai might not even exist anymore since both Kikai and this Another Rider were apparently figments of Sougo’s imagination about the future that somehow came to life. The Time Jackers never even knew Another Kikai existed until everyone else encountered it, yes just like Another Ryuki Another Kikai was apparently made by fairy farts and Chaos contrivances! There wasn’t even a AnotherRide watch of it before Schwartz made it and forced Heure into becoming Another Kikai. Though the suit itself works as an inversion of Kikai. Since the Rider is a robot with a mechanical design his Another Rider is a tree monster. Basically he’s Bender from Futurama when he downgraded himself into a wooden robot. Speaking of as he once said this Another Rider can bite my splintery, wooden ass!
Moving on to #20 we have the very first Another Rider; Another Build.
Now as the defining example of how the Another Riders worked I can forgive how forgettable the random basketball player that became Another Build was since he was just an example of how the Time Jackers worked. He also perfectly demonstrated what these false riders are, twisted perversions of past heroes in both design and powers while superseding their history. His design also demonstrated this with the mutated flesh like design of him, with the driver looking like some kind of ulcer. But I’m knocking down major points because of the other precedents that he established and how misused he was. Like I said in the Heisei Generations forever reviews I think Another Build should have swapped debuts with Another W, but I’m not going over that again so here’s the link to true part of that review that explains my stance. https://ondavidsbrain.blogspot.com/2019/07/tokusatsu-review-kamen-rider-heisei.html Not to mention the absolute disaster Another Build’s utilization caused to the timeline regarding Build’s place in it. So in short what should have been the debut of an interesting monster faction was mishandled due to Shirakura’s carelessness, as usual.
Speaking of carelessness we have #19 Another Faiz.
Putting aside the fact that this Another Rider was literally overlapped by Another Fourze; Another Faiz demonstrated another discarded concept. With this instance we learn that the Another Rider powers can expire after a certain amount of time has past. So for the contractor to retain his power his had to have Another Rider’s powers overlap and supplement it. But apparently the Time Jackers can just make Another Riders from Kuuga to Decade no problem by just making them in the present day. So why did they even bother creating Another Faiz in 2003 in the first place if they knew that was an option?! Oh yeah because Shirakura stopped giving a crap. Also the design of Another Faiz isn’t all that attention grabbing but then again Faiz himself wasn’t all that much of a “extra thrills” type of Rider design, very streamlined, technological with the Tron esq Lazer patterns on the suits. So it’s not surprising that Another Faiz can only go for the “fleshy mockery” design of him. All in all this was a Faizing waste of a suit. Now that I’m done with the ones I have the most grievances about we can move on to the actual good ones, though some will still draw my ire so heads up.
Starting with the second paranormal parody Rider we have #18, Another Ghost.
One point in this Another Rider’s favor is the design, looking less like a slick, specter and more like a sentient Halloween costume, in a good way. The wraith like face, the torn leather jacket and him pulling a Shang Tsung and stealing souls made this beast pretty damn terrifying. That’s on top of the original contractor being a hairs breath from death with the powers of Another Ghost keeping him alive while enslaved to the Time Jackers making more than a bit of a problem for Zi-O. At least until they remembered the fact that they’re time travelers and fixed the past to destroy Another Ghost while saving the contract holder. But no matter your views of Ghost or his Another Rider Dan Ackroyd said it best about busting this ghost.
Taking the stage is #17 Another Gaim
Setting aside the fact that Another Gaim can summon Inves and open cracks to Helheim even though he was created in the way that removes Gaim's history I do like this Another Rider. The contract holder was a decent pick with him being a Team Baron member that was kicked out using his new powers to trap Kaito and anyone else he didn't like in Helheim. He was also the second of a new type of Another Rider candidate, one who actually wants to conquer and rule as the new King of Time, though in his own way, by dancing, sure ok. Once again the design helps sell this guy. The armor looks like it's rotting with tree branches sticking out, the bone like designs on the boots and gauntlets make you think that the armor is being worn by a rotting corpse while the armor itself looks like it was covered in dried gore.
Ignoring the logistics of how both Kouta and Fruit Jesus Kouta both existed when Another Gaim should have erased Fruit Jesus because he's a God LOL this is at least a mid tier Another Rider in my books. With that we'll cut off here for now. I mean lets face it we still have 16 more Another Riders to cover and most of this article was me throwing shade at the show (not undeserved mind you but still.) Come on back next time as we discuss #16 and onwards. And be sure to have a Happy Halloween.
Kamen Rider is owned by Ishinomori Productions, Toei Productions, and Bandai. Dragon Ball, Dragonball Z, Dragonball GT and Dragonball Super is owned by Funnimation, Toei animation, Fuji TV and Akira Toriyama. Dragon ball Z Abridged is owned by Team Four Star. Casper (1995) is owned by Amblin Entertainment, the Harvey Entertainment Company and Universal Studios. Final Fantasy 7 Machinabridged is owned by Team Four Star.
Taking a bit of a break from the three video format for this post. Considering that each of the three residents of Thorny Towers lasted at least two videos I might as well make it self contained. Starting off we have the under-appreciated Gloria's Theatre where we start delving into the true ills that plague the human mind. Basically we have to stop an Angry critic and a Phantom of the Opera tribute act to get Dr Girlfriend to restore sanity to an actress. It makes sense once you see it in motion I swear.
Psychonauts is owned by Double Fine Productions, Tim Schaffer and Majesco Entertainment
So another week of Toku and to be honest there's not much to go on about aside from how pointless Power Rangers Halloween episodes still are even under Hasbro's regime. But the more pressing matter is the demo for the rerelease of MediEvil. Now this being my first proper introduction to the game it had a bit to live up too. And in all honesty, this is a fun game for the Halloween season. Though you might want to wait for a price drop or a sale.
In the Toku recap today we have the debut of Kamen Rider Jin, aka Kamen Rider Pinky, NARF! Aside form that we have Nada revealed to be the bearer of the Gaizorg armor, so now he's actually relevant tot he show, finally! Also there was a filler episode for Beast Morphers moving on. Now we're at the end of Fist of the North Star Lost Paradise. All I'll say is Nadai is a badass and at least it wasn't a Refrigerator
Fist of the North Star: Lost Paradise is owned by Sega, Nobuhiro Suzuki and Jun Orihara based off of the Manga Fist of the North Star written by Buronson.
Here we are for the (delayed) 2nd part of this review of the crossover between the largest Sentai to date and their successors. Yet I'm not frothing at the mouth with rage due to Dumbluck, I know I'm as shocked as you all are and am currently seeking treatment for my lack of rage at him. Though this review has barely gotten started so there's plenty of potential anger and disappointment around the corner. Or this could be one of those very rare; good crossovers that I've heard so much about.
Where we last left off the Lupinrangers and a contingent of the Kyuurangers dealt with the Pig Ganglar and DonArkage is powering himself up with the Hyper Planesium. Dumbluck is having none of that though and charges at the Space Demon while he's bathing in the new power and grabs on for dear life despite Keichiro's protests. But it's too late as Don Arkage reveals his new terrible power!
Which manifests as a big, red stupid iron halo on his back, lame!
So Don Lameass gets away leaving Dumbluck clinging to life. It's been a while since I've seen a Sentai villain I can get behind. Back at Global Police HQ Dumbluck whispers something to Keichiro before he passes out from his injuries.
Tell... Garu....I always..... loved him. Yiff!
Nah nah, what he actually does tell him is that when he was bear hugging Don Lameass it created a weak spot on his Hyper Planesium coating. Well, what do you know, a moment of competence from Dumbluck. Well, you know what they say about broken clocks. After some convincing from the Kyuurangers the Patrangers and Kyuurangers confront Don Lameass at Abandoned field #125. Lameass nearly whips them out even with the imperfect power boost but are saved by the last 5 Kyuurangers; Spyro the Dumbass Dragon, Leman Russ, Robo Bison, Kurumi and Pine Tree.
The rest of the Kyuurangers and the Lupinragners get in to back them up and so all 20 Sentai are assembled. Wait, 20?!
Yeah that's Misao Mondo aka Zyuoh Jojo Meme. Why's he here? Cause the Kyuurangers never had a crossover with the Zyuohgers and Toei's rectifying that now.
There's no in universe explanation as to why Miaso's here, he just is though I'm not really complaining. So after the 20 man transformation and Don Lameass summoning the even lamer Generals of Jark Matter the big brawl is on. Nothing much else of note to comment on aside from when Misao runs off in the middle of the fight. Not because he was afraid or anything I'm just guessing that his paycheck for his cameo was cleared.
So the ground forces get crushed by the remaining 19, Don Lameass grows and gets his ass kicked by Good Cool Kaiser VSX (which still looks as hideous as its name), the teams congratulate each other on a job well done and that's that. So that was Lupinrangers Vs Patranger Vs Kyuuranger and I have to say, this was actually a pretty decent crossover. Yes I'm as shocked as you are. My biggest problem going into this was the character balance between the three teams. Now the Lupinrangers and Patrangers weren't my main concern as seven characters split between two teams isn't too much of a challenge, but of course the Kyuurangers and their 12 man team was the main factor.
Thankfully the writer knew that all of the Kyuurangers would devour the screen time as they each competed for attention, as was the main problem with that season. But thankfully several of the Kyuurangers were costumed so if they couldn't get the unsuited actors back they could have just gotten the VA's back to voice the costumed characters and not have to resort to the BS that Clash of the Red Rangers pulled. Though that didn't happen at least it was an option on the table so they just decided to pick which ones would interact better with which team and hid the rest until the big brawl at the end. Other then that the dynamics between the three groups worked and a fair chunk of the Kyuurangers got decent time to interact with the two teams. What really took me by surprise was how Dumbluck wasn't an over glorified asshole throughout the movie with Keichiro being the prefect foil to the Dumbass Red's antics.
Though there are some flaws such as the villain and why the Kyuurangers even crossed over to the main universe in the first place. Though I know that the Kyuurangers have interacted with the main Sentai Earth before like in Vs Space Squad and in the main show. But I'm getting at is that the ultimate power in their universe just happened to be inside some random celebrities guitar? Which just happened to go through a Tear. Because reasons.
Also Don Lameass is not very impressive as a villain, but that's sadly what I tend to expect with these Sentai Crossover movies. Now normally we see the remnants of the previous villain faction be the major focus. But the Ganglar flunky that he recruited was the one causing the most damage while everyone else was building Lameass up, only just be an overall disappointment. Basicly I believe that this suffered from Early MCU syndrome, the main focus was on the character interactions while the villains got sidelined and suffered as a result. There's situations where that type of storytelling works and sadly this was not one of those times.
But over all this was a surprisingly decent crossover. Which means a lot considering how much I despise Kyuuranger. Now since Halloween is fast approaching I have to do something seasonal, aka monster related. And I can think of nothing more horrifying than what I'm about to do. What is it, wait till next week to find out.
Super Sentai is owned by Ishinomori Productions, Toei Productions, and Bandai. Looney Toons is owned by Warner Brothers and the Vitaphone Corporation.
