Honestly, would you be able to handle the life as a Rider?

[virsago_mk2]

i know i would abuse my powers...

QFT.

 

[musashi03]

I'll probably be more like a hero who enjoys the spotlight. Much like Tony Stark.

 

[Khaiden]

I'll probably be more like a hero who enjoys the spotlight. Much like Tony Stark.

 

[Igadevil]

Being a Rider sucks. There's no way around it. Unfortunately it's hard to justify a statement like that now because of how broad the "Kamen Rider" name has become to include more than just the heroes. But let's ignore all that and just talk about the heroic Riders.

I remember a while ago someone bringing up the point of how many Riders are orphans. I think that's a crucial part of the story: I would only want to be a Rider if I had as few worldly attachments as possible. You'll notice with pretty much all the old Riders, they're orphans or their family's death is what puts them on the path to becoming a Rider. Because let's face it: if you're up against a secret organization where assassination, kidnapping, extortion and murder are regular features, then your own family would be a huge target. Look at V3!

With them gone, there's still the hero's surrogate family: the friends. Fortunately, they're usually either 1) not seen as being enough of a threat, 2) mostly capable of taking care of themselves if a bunch of guys jump down from the ceiling, or 3) they're Taki, who has got to be superhuman considering he can get frozen alive and drained of blood in back-to-back episodes and still be okay at the end. I suppose a darker-minded fan might imagine he goes back to the US at the end and has a nervous breakdown, becomes an alcoholic, and has delusions of singing crows and Amamoto's spinning face... but we all know he just goes on to play Skullman for a while and eventually settles down with his wife from those two episodes, and has a daughter. Right? RIGHT? Good.

With the newer Riders, they can keep more family around, but that's the nature of the villains. I always thought it was one of Kuuga's greatest missed opportunities that they didn't bring the fight into the cafe or to the preschool, but then that's the whole point: those are the havens from the madness of the outside world. Well, not so much the preschool because those kids had issues, but the idea is that Godai's sister and Oyassan (his surrogate dad) wouldn't be in any danger unless they were out in harsh reality, in the wrong place at the wrong time. They still feel the gravity though, which is important.

Most of the Heisei villains are not actively targeting the heroes' friends/family aside from specific times. It's probably a good thing for the heroes: can you imagine Tendô coming down in the morning, making breakfast, going and finding the Hoppers with their feet up on the table? Or Hibiki gets back to the tea house only to find it smashed in by a giant banana-cat? Or Shôtarô gets back to find Akiko missing and Philip burning the place down because he wants to better understand fire?

Not enough Riders have been in serious romantic relationships, but I think that would be another huge target, so that probably explains itself. Shin!

But still, I don't think it even matters if you're a cyborg or human. As tough as it is being a cyborg, at least you're already there. Secretly, you've become the very evil you're fighting, with the difference being you still get to keep things like compassion, love, humanity, etc. I think it's almost worse if you are human, because then there's the potential of it dragging you down. With Shinji, it kills you, with Kenzaki, it consumes you (albeit in one version of each of those stories.)

Godai gets to walk away, but not without the ultimate sacrifice. Most of the others who come out in the end okay still have to go through hell. I wouldn't want to be Wataru for those few episodes where he's basically barricaded himself in because he doesn't even want to risk stepping outside. Hibiki doesn't suffer a whole lot for being who he is, but he's also caught up in a never-ending war until he bows out or dies in battle.

Of all the Riders, Ryôtarô gets by fairly well, but even he's being worn around by a bunch of other guys, and there's a whole lot of of ethical questions you could bring up there. I thought about this in the Decade episodes: When Momo possessed Yuusuke and eats all that pudding, who's actually eating it? And we see the physical strain it eventually puts on him in the series proper. I'd have liked to see the more mental side too (hey, there's still time!) Ryôtarô's personality gets overwritten so many times, he ends up acting more like the Imagin even when they aren't directly controlling him at the moment, stuff like that.

Of course because these are family-friendly programs, they're more interested in showing us the action rather than the small details, and rightly so. People in Den-O get thrown miles and live. We don't really need to understand how the whole 'cyborg' thing works in nitty-gritty detail. For all the death and destruction in Kamen Rider, there is a level of certainty and safety among the main cast, most of the time. In controlled TV land, being a Rider doesn't seem all that bad. In the real world? Gah, I don't even want to think about it.

On the other hand?

There's definitely an appeal to it. Which again, goes along with what we've seen on TV. Riders are often people who are already alone in the world, or close to it. They might have their whole life ahead of them, but they don't know what they want to do with it. Suddenly their life changes, and as bad as things get... it changes for the better in the long run. Take any Rider series, do a "what-if" situation where they didn't become the Rider, and how often do things really end up better for them? I return to the great hypocrisy of Kamen Rider: Forever alone, but surrounded by friends. Granted, the main Riders tend to be very good, kind people as well, so that helps. But becoming a Rider awakens something greater within them.

I think once you were in that world you'd never want to leave. Missing Ace pretty much summed up exactly that. Once the battle is over, these people have no idea what to do with themselves. They try to get regular jobs and live normally and even get married, but as soon as they're given a chance to get back into it, they jump. It's understandably a high. It's that "fantasy is more exciting than reality" thing, except the fantasy was/is real. And terrifying, dangerous, but also so alive.

But me? I don't think I could hack the Rider thing. I'd make a good Oyassan though.

 

[musashi03]

Hence, Stronger Mark 3...



:castlerock:

 

[Kamen Rider Oni]

Being a Rider sounds like my kind of work. Putting myself in harms way everyday isn't so bad, compared to ordinary life for me. At least I'd be able to do something and feel like I'm justified for existing. Maybe I could even make a solid difference in the world if I were a Rider.

Pain and loneliness aren't foreign to me, that's for sure. So that's one less thing to deal with.

 

[musashi03]

I've actually saved a girl once when she was being beat-up by her boyfriend in the mall near my office while my girlfriend and I were on a date, I didn't actually fight the guy, just blocked his way since I'm taller than him and told him that it wasn't right to hit anyone, let alone a girl. I was actually expecting him to fight me, but adrenaline and years at the gym tells me I can handle the situation (plus I wanted to impress my girlfriend). Fortunately the security guys apprehended him by placing him in a head-lock by the tallest of them sercurity guys, and they told me I was right that I didn't fight since I might end up being sent in for questioning as well which is a real hassle here in my country.

The point was, I got a high being heroic (just like what Iga said), and I wouldn't mind risking it all for the greater good, but after reading Iga's post, I came to realize that I kinda placed my girlfriend in the line of fire with what I did, even though she was behind me trying to attend to the victim, but still, being a hero (a hero fighting the bad guys specifically) does tend to put your loved-ones at risk, which I think anyone should think about first before jumping into a "Kamen Rider's" boots.

 

[Captain Chrome]

I think once you were in that world you'd never want to leave. Missing Ace pretty much summed up exactly that. Once the battle is over, these people have no idea what to do with themselves. They try to get regular jobs and live normally and even get married, but as soon as they're given a chance to get back into it, they jump. It's understandably a high. It's that "fantasy is more exciting than reality" thing, except the fantasy was/is real. And terrifying, dangerous, but also so alive.

That's a really interesting point, and one that actually shows up frequently in adventure fiction, or things relating to it. For instance, the Alfred, Lord Tennyson poem "Ulysses" (if I may get pretentious for a moment) is told from the point of view of Homer's Odysseus (the Latin name for whom is Ulysses) as he mulls over how much less he enjoys domestic life than he did the adventures he had on his way home. At the end of the poem, he abandons his kingdom and family so he can go back out to the open sea and have more adventures. The idea also shows up in the recent movie The Hurt Locker (which is really good, by the way), The Dark Knight Returns, and - if I'm remembering it right - the episode of the new Doctor Who series where Sarah Jane comes back. Not to mention all those movies and novels about a thief or a spy or whatever who's retired, but comes back for one last job.

As regards the actual question at hand, I'm not really sure what I'd do. I guess what I'd have to do is just man up and live with it, since there's not really any other alternative (yes, there's always the option of suicide, but I don't really consider that to be a viable alternative to anything). I don't think I'd be very good at it, though; I'm lazy, so I'd probably just be the Kamen Rider who plays a lot of video games and reads a lot of comics.

 

[DeMize]

hmmm.. saving the world...

meh, ill go on a rampage. :laugh:

 

[PyroturtleZX]

I have to say that personally I wouldn't be able to do it. There's the matter of loneliness and endangering loved ones and such but my main concern is the physical punishment. The question is that would I be able to take the same punishment, increasing with every new enemy? Wouldn't injury slow me down every now and then? That and there's those key abilities needed to be that kind of savior. Endurance, intelligence, intuitiveness, sanity. I might hesitate or I may charge in without properly assessing the situation. To be a Kamen Rider I would have to face both strains, both physical and emotional. Either the physical strain would run me into the ground or the emotional strain would drive me insane.

One more thing...how the hell do I make a living?