#metalder

Topgunder my goat Topgunder +some bucketheads

Choujinki Metalder Wallpaper

Like to use Zeztz as a recent example, (though I haven’t watched it past like episode seven) the concept of pseudo riders rub me the wrong way. Lord Three, Five, Six and Knight Nox all use the same trinkets as Zeztz and use them the same way, (with a fanny pack) but they are put on a lower tier. It’s not rebelling against CODE, or Knight Nox would have counted. If it’s power level, which seems possible, then it makes being a Rider less an act of choosing to do good and more being special. It reminds me of the Tackle situation, like you don’t get to count as a real hero even if you are heroic.

Part of my fondness of Metalder’s lack of prestige is because of Amazon Rider and Mole Beastman, but like, the premise of the original Kamen Rider was that the evil organization tried to make him a MotW, but he was rescued before he could be brainwashed. In a darker world, he was a servant of Shocker. He got lucky. But even before he’s freed, he still looks like a stylish hero, while MotW like BatMan and SpiderMan look like monsters. (I know about the Shocker Riders, but they feel different) There’s a disconnect in visual language from the first moment. He’s supposed to be the same as them, using the power of evil to fight evil, but his design clashes with that. And while Gavv is currently my favorite season, I am aware Gavv’s design does not look like other Granutes, despite sometimes humans thinking he looks like just another monster.

Metalder is also special (he’s basically the prototype Emperor God Neros based all their robots on, and unlike most of them, he can assume human form) but his design as a robot could easily have been used as a member of the Battle Robot Army. There are blue robots, there are red robots, there are asymmetrical robots. There’s less of a disconnect, especially since we see multiple MotW defect, either retiring or joining the fight against Neros. There isn’t as much “well they are pseudo Metalder, but they don’t really count.” Their stories differ, but they are not jobbers the same way. He’s not like in a higher caste.

I know plenty of Kamen Rider seasons don’t venture into this, I don’t recall any riders who didn’t count as riders in Gavv for instance (though I am not exactly sure what defines a rider in Gavv. Just transforming?) and every rider has different themes (the focus on using the power of evil to fight evil isn’t really in Fourze, J, or og Amazon) but like, view ZO next to his enemies compared to like og Shin. The designs of Kuuga and the Grongi I feel are often compatible, but it’s true Kuuga is much more “plastic”

レッドパンサー

Official art of VR Trooper Ryan Steele, AKA Choujinki Metalder from BOOM studios' Power Rangers Prime.