Am I the Only One that Misses Many Riders vs. Multi-Form Riders?

[Glamador]

So much Kabuto hate.

Tendou's unpopular it seems. Ah well, Glam loves his attitude. Overblown confidence without remorse AND the skills to back it up while all the while not being an outright horrible person? That's rare.

It's noblesse oblige. He's bad ass as hell and he uses that power to spread good food and protect people. It's hard for Glam to hate that. The similar-but-different story arc with Sasword served to illustrate that the show creators understood this idea when they made Tendou. Plus Glam didn't find Tendou particularly annoying. As said before, Glam likes arrogance. Kinda like how President Kougami thinks about greed, it's all a matter of perspective.

Anyway the fact that Kabuto seems to be so unpopular BECAUSE of its characters partly serves to support Glamador and other's impressions on this topic. It's not quantity, it's quality.

 

[rising7]

I think the current trend in the franchise has been a winning formula with having 2 riders as the focal points, both in highly differentiated designs and character definition.

My impression is that if some Neo-Heisei shows were developed in the previous decade, a lot of the villain roles would be evil Riders instead. I think it works best when the fight between Riders is the main plot (Ryuki), but not so much when the monster group is left kind of meandering (Kabuto).

 

[Sentaifan'07 Xman]

Well for me....Besides W & OOO, I actually do missed the good ol' days in which there were more than just two or three riders. I mean, yeah there may have been less-development in the characters, but at least it brought in some originality in the process of sending nostalgia in each episode and the plot itself.

 

[kokowaks]

i kinda preferred having atleast 3 core riders. the trend right now is starting to get stale on me. it might be good in perspective to toys as the second rider gears won't be competing with the main ones, but it does make the series kinda predictable. it would be interesting to see if they tried to introduce the second rider earlier to the series as it could provide some contrasting personality with the main guy. the beauty of this franchise is that the riders don't really work as a team like sentai, the riders pretty much has their own motivations with them

 

[lazycoconut]

In Wizard, the White Wizard is a Rider (he's not referred to as such, but he has everything Haruto has). It's likely he'll reappear in the show later, and then we'll have three Riders, even if temporarily.

Wizard is obviously making an effort to break away from the mould of W - OOO - Fourze, so Toei may be more relaxed about allowing more Riders in the shows in future. We haven't had a new movie-only Rider in a year now because Toei is trying to cram past Ishinomori heroes into the movies instead ...

 

[LawWind]

I would like a kamen rider with a evil rider as the main. showing us how they live what, is their next move. This would bring something interesting don't you think?

 

[Shynilyte]

It would be interesting, but Kamen Rider is a hero franchise, so even if we get an evil rider as a major character again, it's unlikely there would be one as the main character.

 

[Fantasy Leader]

Like some people have already said in this thread, it doesn't matter how many forms or Riders are in the show. It's how they are used is what matters. Good storytelling is what should be the top priority.

 

[Ziginz Zegell]

I really, really like multiform riders as opposed to **** tons of riders. Not to say many riders can't work (Faiz and Kabuto were great) but I like my main character to have versatility. Even the Showa riders introduced new fighting techniques on a regular basis from what I have read, and many riders had **** tons of options (Riderman and Super-1 had so many arms!).

That being said I really love that Kiva had four riders with some limited belt swaping. Belt swaping may get a bad wrap on occasion (Faiz...) but if done correctly it can add quite alot of interest to a series and give characters a chance to shine in battle that they would otherwise never get. If Beast and Birth are any indication, we may even be entering into the area of Multiform/Multipowered secondary riders who have just as many options as the main rider. This could lead to a three person rider team, all with unique abilities that can function well independantly or in a group dynamic.

So for me, Multirider or Multiform can work well, but I perfer elements of both in my toku. Of course, the story has to be good as well and utilize both in a sensible manner.

 

[Solari]

I agree with what other posters have written that the way the creators(producers, directors, writers) use the characters is quite important.

With only around two main multiform riders in recent series, I think they both get more plot and character development. It's harder to develop many core characters as compared to a smaller group.

Kamen Rider Blade's 4 riders. Blade had two main writers so there was some change of pace in the middle. I personally feel the second half was more interesting than the first half.
Kenzaki/Blade is the straight on hero type, but we never really learn much about him except his parents died in some fire. However, my favourite scene in the whole series is where he

Spoiler

subdues King and then obtains King form.

Tachibana/Garren has an interesting character at first, a mentor character who guides Kenzaki but has his own flaws. However, later on, he then flip-and-flops sides and gets manipulated too much.

Spoiler

the part where we all thought he died was quite emotional though. but then, he survives...o_o

Hajime/Chalice was the most intriguing character. I feel that Blade seems to be, a lot of the time, about Hajime's struggle with

Spoiler

his humanity and his Joker self..

Mutsuki/Leangle's arc seem to drag on for too long, but I thought the concluding part where he becomes a 'true kamen rider' was great...

Spoiler

overcoming Spider Undead's possession and influence..only for him to give up his belt...:shakefist