Better yet, since when does it fucking matter?
No, just the terrible ones.
But seriously, why does it matter who's a rider? They wear masks? They ride? (mostly) whats the point?
Who are we to say "This person who wears a bug helmet and armor is better than this person who wears a bug helmet and armor"
That's actually been a bone of contention for me since Ryuki. I deal with it of course but ideally at least it has an actual meaning that goes beyond being descriptive of the mask, the belt, the bike, the toys etc.
It's an assertion of the heroes humanity despite their situation. One of the best examples of this is how the Gorgom refered to Minami Kotaro as "Black Sun" and he basically says **** that noise by calling himself Kamen Rider Black. Hongo Takeshi is not Hopper Kaijin, he's Kamen Rider.
He's taking the power of a kaizo ningen, a power created for death and using it to protect life. ..and in one way or another that is what all the protagonist Riders basically do even ones who aren't kaizo ningen. Circumstance gave Shinji that deck and he could have just played the game, won it and wished for beer and hookers but he said no this wrong! I'll do this but I'm going to do it to keep the monsters from hurting people and to stop this whole stupid thing!
So for me on principle the name shouldn't be used for just any bozo with a henshin belt or any random idea for a henshin hero show that comes across the desk at Toei. Yet at the same time I can at least understand it where you have it in the premise that there is a Rider System that various characters are using. But when you have the Kamen Rider name attached to blatantly evil character or anti-heroic pricks I think to some extent at least it dilutes it.
That is why I now think one thing Ryuki could have done was not call the Riders 'Riders' but something else. Shinji, upon making his choice to rebel against Kanzaki, declares himself a Kamen Rider, a name he alone comes up with. That would have been a further homage to what already was a new twist on an old formula.
Well, if one of them is a cold-blooded murderer who's killed a shitload of people and the other is a gentle, kind-hearted guy who puts his own life on the line to save someone he doesn't even know, there is kind of a difference there.
I think most people are smart enough to know that no matter what they say here, it changes nothing. Toei does what Toei wants.
Like I said, I'm personally split over the whole thing. I don't particularly like that someone like Arc gets to be in the same boat as the heroic Riders, because now the exclusive club o' justice is suddenly something else. Maybe it's harder to understand if you're coming into it the opposite way, but as someone who grew up with Riders = Heroes, it's a jolt to the system.
But on the other hand, I do like that as a result of that, it reminds me of just *how* good those heroic Riders truly are, because of what they did and what they were, not just because they're a Kamen Riders. I actually like being challenged like that.
Of course none of that means jack ****. I can understand that. But I see no harm in just talking about it and sharing views. If you think my opinion is terrible, that's kind of disheartening to read, but I'll live.
Well, if one of them is a cold-blooded murderer who's killed a shitload of people and the other is a gentle, kind-hearted guy who puts his own life on the line to save someone he doesn't even know, there is kind of a difference there.
I think most people are smart enough to know that no matter what they say here, it changes nothing. Toei does what Toei wants.
Like I said, I'm personally split over the whole thing. I don't particularly like that someone like Arc gets to be in the same boat as the heroic Riders, because now the exclusive club o' justice is suddenly something else. Maybe it's harder to understand if you're coming into it the opposite way, but as someone who grew up with Riders = Heroes, it's a jolt to the system.
But on the other hand, I do like that as a result of that, it reminds me of just *how* good those heroic Riders truly are, because of what they did and what they were, not just because they're a Kamen Riders. I actually like being challenged like that.
Of course none of that means jack ****. I can understand that. But I see no harm in just talking about it and sharing views. If you think my opinion is terrible, that's kind of disheartening to read, but I'll live.
I was watching Ryuki and Faiz the other day when I pondered; Why isn't Apollo Geist considered a rider? He rides a motorcycle and henshins...
To get even broader, why is everybody in the new gen shows a rider? Wasn't there once a definition of what a KR was?
Better yet, since when does it fucking matter?