My 99th Post! Kamen Rider Spotlight: Kamen Rider Fourze

Well, time for another instalment of the Kamen Rider Spotlight, and in honour of both the season that just ended and the memory of the first man to land on the moon, Neil Armstrong, today’s Rider is none other than Kamen Rider Fourze.

“Uchuuu…KITAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!”

Gentaro Kisaragi. Fourze. The high school-er. The spaceman. The one who can and will befriend all others. Call him what you will, but above all else, he has earned the title of Kamen Rider, being able to stand strong alongside OOO, W, the Seven Legendary Riders, Decade, and even Gokaiger and Gobuster.

Fourze took the mix/match style of OOO and added a fourth dimension to it, being able to use four different powers at once, one on each hand and foot. With Fourze, he uses the Astroswitches, specialised switches that he inserts into the Fourze Driver that grant him different weapons and tools, even whole new forms called States. The standard ones come in a set of 40, but there are also a few extra ones that have popped up from time to time. The 40 Astroswitches are: Rocket, Launcher, Drill, Radar, Magic Hand, Camera, Parachute, Chainsaw, Hopping, Elek, Scissors, Beat, Chain Array, Smoke, Spike, Winch, Flash, Shield, Gatling, Fire, Stealth, Hammer, Water, Medical, Pen, Wheel, Screw, Hand, Schop, N Magnet, S Magnet, Freeze, Claw, Board, Giantfoot, Aero, Gyro, Net, Stamper, and Cosmic.

“Rider Rocket Drill Kick!”

Base States is his default form. He has a hoverpack on his back that’s actually carried onto his other forms, and can mix and match any of his Astroswitches except for Elek, Fire, N and S Magnet, and Cosmic, as inserting those switches changes his State. His most typical finisher, or Limit Break as it’s called, in this form is the Rider Rocket Drill Kick, which uses the Rocket and Drill switches to send a jet-propelled drill through the target. In the finale, he used this finisher while pulling the level for the Limit Break three times, giving it enough power to defeat the last enemy of the series.

“Rider 10 Billion Volt Break!”

Elek States is the result of using the Elek Switch. In this form, he possesses a higher level of defence, as well as a weapon called Billy the Rod, a rod that has multiple settings allowing for different electrical attacks and manoeuvres, his trademark being the Rider 10 Billion Volt Break. An alternative Limit Break to that is the Rider Lightning Drill Kick.

“Rider Exploding Shoot!”

Fire States is the result of using the Fire Switch. Gosh, I wonder what this does?! Well okay, it DOES give him a gun that shoots flames called the Fire Module Hee-Hackgun, but the gun can also change modes into a fire extinguisher, meaning he can put out any fires started in battle as well. His main Limit Break is the Rider Exploding Shoot, but he also has used an unnamed Limit Break that also adds Launcher and Gatling to the mix for an all out storm of long-range attacks. He kinda redefines the term “fire fighter” in this form.

“Rider Super Electromagnetic Bomber!”

Magnet States is the result of using the NS Magphone in its separated form, the N Magnet and S Magnet Switches. His sheer power goes way higher, as he has dual shoulder cannons that fire high-powered long range blasts and can manipulate magnetic fields. His Limit Break in this form is the Rider Super Electromagnetic Bomber. He can also use the Rider Super Electromagnetic Tackle, wherein he charges up the cannons and tackles the enemy hard.

“Rider Super Galaxy Finish!”

Cosmic States is the result of using the Cosmic Switch, which then absorbs all other switches not currently plugged into the Fourze Driver. The chest plate has buttons for each switch, allowing him to mix and match any of the Astroswitches’ powers, like giving Launcher Freeze’s power for freeze missiles. He can also plug in the Rocket, Elek, Fire, or several other of the right-hand switches into his new weapon, the Barizun Sword, for different effects. His Limit Break in this form is usually two-fold, as the Barizun Sword comes in two modes: Boost and Slash. Using the Limit Break in Boost Mode lets him open up a wormhole into space, then flies his opponent through it. He then follows up by switching to Slash Mode and using its Limit Break, the Rider Super Galaxy Finish. Finally, he has one other Limit Break that uses no other switch: a simple Rider Kick that fuels off the natural power created by the merging of all 40 Astroswitches.

“Rider Tailspin Crusher!”

Rocket States, or Double Rocket States as it’s also been called, is the result of using the special Rocket Switch Super-1. It gives him two rockets for the price of one, and the rockets can even temporarily de-materialize so that he has a hand to changes switches or pull the Limit Break lever. He has two Limit Breaks, the default of which is the Rider Tailspin Crusher, a high-speed corkscrew kick. The other is the Rider Double Rocket Drill Kick, which is an advanced form of the Rider Rocket Drill Kick.

“Rider Rocket Drill Blast!”

Rocket Drill States is the result of using the Clear Drill Switch. Because of it’s unique and unbalanced form and the fact that he’s only used it once, I’m going to guess that it’s somewhat unstable. Nonetheless, the Limit Break is the Rider Rocket Drill Blast, a huge punch from the rocket powered and propelled drill.

“Rider Fusion Drill Kick!“

Meteor Fusion States is the result of using the Fusion Switch with Kamen Rider Meteor’s Meteor Switch. In this form, he can use Meteor’s Jeet Kun Do style martial arts, as well as wield both Meteor’s Fingerprint Authentication Brace Meteor Galaxy and Barizun Sword from Fourze’s Cosmic States. His Limit Break is the Rider Fusion Drill Kick. Gee, I wonder what switch he uses for that? lol

Anyway, that’s all for now. Ja ne!

Why the hate for Power Girl’s new costume?

Huh. Another comic book rant. I hope this doesn’t become a running theme where I end up having to do a Comic Books category just to contain them all…

Oh what the heck, I’ll do it anyway!

Anyway, I was pondering the other day as I was reading World’s Finest why exactly people think that Power Girl‘s new costume is “beyond ugly”. Okay, so I wouldn’t call it the greatest costume ever made, but I honestly don’t see the ugly, so people, please explain. Is it the blue lines? Because I don’t find them distracting. Is it the P emblem on her left breast? Well if so, that’s lame, because heroes have worn their emblem thereabouts for years and no one’s said anything. Is the concern that it draws attention to her breasts? ‘Cuz if so, I gotta say that it does so a heck of a lot less than her old costume!

Ah, but then we get into a slightly more controversial part of the topic. I’ve seen several pictures people have drawn of the new costume but with the hole cut out of the chest to make it look like the old costume, essentially saying the old one was better because we could see her cleavage…which is dumb for a number of reasons, but I’ll start off by addressing the purpose of the hole. The hole is there because she hadn’t chosen a symbol or emblem to distance herself from Superman. Well guess what? This Power Girl HAS an emblem! Thus the hole wouldn’t serve any purpose, other than to excite the perverted. And if that’s the only argument, that there isn’t titillation for the reader…well, that’s not exactly true either. There are plenty of times that Karen dresses up in revealing or sexy outfits in this comic, including one that actually looked a lot like the old Power Girl costume, which was likely done to get the people still arguing this point to shut up.

As a final thought to all of this, I REALLY hope that people aren’t also flipping out because Huntress‘ costume lacks the exposed midriff, and if their are, I seriously mean it when I say “Get a life”. And when I can actually say that and mean it, BE AFRAID. Ja ne!