Personal Post: Worst to best Another Riders: Part 2 #16-10

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The Another Riders are gonna have their wayyyy, toniiiight!!!

 Now that some of the more problematic (and downright worst) Another Riders are out of the way it’s time to get to the good stuff.

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 helmet which 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.