As of this writing, the most recent iteration of my favorite toy commercials is called Kamen Rider Build. It's a series where an mysterious object called Pandora's Box is brought back to Earth from Mars. During the press conference that followed, someone triggered an event that caused a giant wall to split Japan into three nations: Hokuto, Touto, and Seito. Now, as these strange monsters known as the Smash begin to cause chaos in the city of Touto, our hero - a brilliant physicist named Kiryuu Sento - has to transform (henshin) into Kamen Rider Build using organic and inorganic materials. Pictured below is his standard form, RabbitTank:
You can see some cool details about the suit. Each eye represents the element he's using, one being a blue tank, the other being a rabbit facing him. Neat. This article isn't about him. (He's the main character. Trust me, he'll get some crazy suit later on and I'll be gushing about that.)
This article is about the prizefighter-turned-alleged-murderer he's friends with. His name is Banjou Ryuuga. He was framed for the murder of a scientist. He and Sento meet in Episode 1 and Sento helps him escape from the authorities. Over time, through differences in philosophies, they gain a respect for each other. Eventually, Sento gives him a Driver (transformation belt) of his own and he transforms with the help of a dragon automaton. Normally, side characters don't excite me in this series but, this one has such a cool suit design. I gushed about it a little in the Writers' Block but I wanted to talk about it here, too. There's a video of the first transformation below:
This pointy individual is Kamen Rider Cross-Z (pronounced with flair, 'Claws'). Immediately, the suit embodies his character. Every sharp point and edge represents his spirit and how wild and uncompromising it is. His shoulders and legs are accented with flames which move the eyes to the head piece, an ornate visage of a dragon head atop blue flames accented with jagged lines (possibly sound waves).
His main weapon is a sword called the Beat Closer, capable of various sound-based attacks like the Smash Hit and Million Hit. You can see some inspiration from things like the Dragon Dagger from Zyuranger (also known as Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers) on the side. You can also see a slot for the bottle he puts in the dragon adapter. The big draw is the large equalizer bar in the center of the blade. That lights up for more cool points and I love it for doing so.
His signature is called the Draconic Finish, a flying scissor kick propelled by the fire of a dragon. While this attack is almost completely CGI, it still looks cool in motion and that's what counts for everything. Always remember: if you look cool, it doesn't matter if you're selling toys.
Anyway, that's enough gushing for me.
Take care. Thanks for reading.
The large images came from the yearly art book called Detail of Heroes. The small gifs came from here.
