To start things off I will look at Ghost's design as of right now. For the default form, I really love it! I was surprised by the use of orange for the suit, but it works very well. I also did some little research about the Ghost Moth and some do have a hint of an orange stripe on them, so maybe Ghost is based on that type of moth. The mask is an Oni mask which helps his theme out and the belt is nice. The only part I don't like is the big lever on it, but at least the middle part looks like an eye and gives it an eerie feel to it. Finally, I am a fan of that hoodie it may not work for all of the designs, but I do like this touch for his suit. I just hope the hood won't get in the way of fights. Overall I am a fan of the default form for Ghost, the use of orange and black is great, the belt, mask, and chest give off this ghostly feel, and the hood is a nice ribbion to this package.
Some other forms have been revealed as the gimmick of his forms is going to be based on famous people. So Ghost is using ghosts... Sadly for me this is where the ghost theme starts to die here. I understand the concept, but the execution is sloppy here. Be honest here folks, if you didn't see the default form and just look at these three, can you really say he is a ghost? I mean we got a boxer design here how does that show off a ghost? Personally this concept would work better if they used people that has connections to some darker themes. Maybe like Poe or to the extent of people like that. I won't lie, I like the concept, it is silly and can lead to some great creativity, but this creativity really gets away from the idea of a ghost. I bet there will be some other forms that could work with this better like I feel this Beethoven form can work out because of the grey color scheme, but who knows they could mess it up. One more thing then, why is a form with an apple motif BLUE?!
For Ghost's weapon of choice is can be different weapons and again I like that concept and since Ghost will be switching to forms with different powers this should work... sadly the execution drops again here. Look at this sword, does this look like a weapon that a ghost will use? Why couldn't the default form of the weapon be a scythe, you know like a Grim Reaper. Hell while I am on that, why couldn't Ghost's forms just be based on other spirits like the reaper and such? I would think that easily could have done better with a ghost themed rider. There could also be other famous ghosts from both ficiton and real life stories. How many times has Davy Jones been talked about? I know that is more of a place and not a character, but you can work with that and make it a pirate ghost form. The weapon for that form could have been chains or an anchor. There is so much that can be done here and the weapon we get is pretty generic looking. I mean really if you change the icon and put other hero icons on it I bet it wouldn't look that strange. The sword just has generic all over it, while the design for it could have had a candle look to it and have bits of fire and such.
Some final things to say then would be what the hell is that thing above the text?! This is supposed to be a ghost rider, correct? First off the ghost ship is nice, but what it transforms into is terrible. I think it is supposed to be a chameleon, but what does that have to do with Ghost? I guess the connection is that since Ghost is changing colors that could mean that this beast will change along with him. That is my only guess for why this creature is used. Also the story of the series so far is odd because it just sounds like an adventure and then Ghost is just going to stumble into something else. Hopefully this does not mean the first batch of episodes will be Ghost just getting new icons to use for form changes and then we will just jump to the plot. Sadly, I bet this will happen because toy sales and all of that. Bandai wants to get more stuff out as soon as possible for the kids.
Overall, I don't hate Ghost, I am just disappointed right now. When I heard the name I was happy because I love the idea of gothic or haunting themes for superheroes. It can lead to tons of creativity because they are areas where people don't tend to explore into too much, except for vampires... When I heard of Ghost I was expecting things to be more like his default form and his other forms could have been other famous ghosts. All I have to say is that one of the other riders needs to be a Ghostbuster.
Please let the main villian be Stay Puft!
I'm super hyped because Drive has slowly became a colossal brick to the you know whats(shows a pic of Chaser where everything started going wrong IMO)
ReplyDeleteI haven't catched up on Drive at all, but I have heard what happened and yea doesn't sound all that good. Personally though Toku hasn't been the strongest in a while for me. Sentai has been in a odd state lately and now all I can hope is that Kamen Rider doesn't go down that path as well. All I have to say is blame Bandai.
DeleteWhat do u mean by bad state? i agree the latest sentai haven't been great ( don't watch it in general) drive was okay... if u mean the last few years i say it was iffy but i did enjoy gaim alot because it went from something cheery someone happy to something fairly dark.
DeleteGaim still had some issues that I overlooked originally. Mostly with the beginning of the show and how Bandai altered that beginning. Drive I heard is a mixed bag and I have seen some of the action it's better than Go-busters through Toqger (I can't even say Nin because I didn't even bother with it.).
DeleteThe transforming weapon in general bugs me because now that I've seen the other forms, it makes me wish Bandai would've just made separate weapons for each one. I understand its to only use one mold but they could've designed it better. Why does Robin Soul use a bowgun? I could understand if it was a crossbow but it looks more like a rifle.
ReplyDeleteWhile I understand your problems with Ghosts, I personally love everything I see. The of-the-wallness of the designs I think are creative and have enough elements about them that you vaguely get the idea about who they are representing. Personally I think the GanGan Sabre is awesome, if not for the sheer variety of modes it has. Plus you know they'll probably gonna use the grim reaper as the basis for his final form. Also since you didn't talk about, what are your thoughts on what little we know about Kamen Rider Spectre?
ReplyDeleteThe thing is that I love a lot of over the top things, but to me the idea just gets odd. Also since the dead people motif seems to be everywhere, the final form could be a very big figure in Japanese history. Maybe this show will try to be a history lesson for kids (joking of course). Well for Kamen Rider Spectre so far the only problem I see is that he may look different, but there are many design choices that doesn't make him stand out compared to Ghost's designs. I remember hearing about a 3rd rider as well, but who knows. Personally I just have to wonder what these other riders mean for the show since they use icons and Ghost needs to collect them.
ReplyDeleteyeah the over the topness is the other reason why I'm excited part of the reason why I got into Den-o my first Rider series was because it had an alright concpet with over the topness and likable characters everywhere, W(Double) only did that better(yeah W is my 2nd favorite(from what little I've seen) next to Gaim) so hopefully the story and characters will be good hopefully this will be Wizard done right IMO and my prayers are answered(Wizard is to me that one movie you went into like THIS IS GONNA BE AWESOME then you walked out like WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT) (before anyone gets mad at me while Wizard is my least favorite Rider series his design is AMAZING IMO)
DeleteI feel that Wizard for the most part kept his concept with designs, but things did get a bit messy with the Dragon forms. I have some problems with Den-o because some of the jokes are overused. Double had a great sense of humor and that is thanks by keeping things fresh and surprising. We will see what Ghost has to offer, but sadly I'm a bit pessimistic with how current Sentai has been. Also Gaim does have some weird choices for designs and Bandai has been really pushing toys a little too much. I can easily say my view on some recent rider shows like Gaim and Wizard have changed. I still like the shows, but I feel like that Fourze deserves way more credit that I gave it originally.
DeleteGaim is probably my favorite rider series though
DeleteI do wish they went with Poe looking back but I think the reason why it isn't just straight up ghosts is because it would be like a horror theme like Kiva and I know Kiva has it's fans but out of all the true 2nd half Heisei we shall call it Den-o- (when they got cartoonish and tried to be funny) Kiva is the least talked about(I think there were things I liked and disliked it's a hit and miss one IMO)
ReplyDeleteI watched the first episode it was good but I'm worried as sh*t though most of my favorite shows from the last few years had a bad first few episodes but when sh*t hit the fan it hit the fan BIG TIME (Yugioh Arc-V is the only exception which had a great first few episodes and while it has a hard time maintaining the flow every now and then it's still a good show) and most of the bad ones had a great first few episodes but Dropped the momentum HARD
ReplyDeletethere is a third rider he has a Grimm Tamashi I really hope they do a Grim Reaper themed one
ReplyDelete