#I KNOW WHAT YOU ARE (Kamen Rider Christmas curse)

[friedfriedchicken]

We're getting a CHRISTMAS form for the holidays

Kamen Rider fandom hold my hands we're in for another Christmas tragedy

[asknarashikari]

Glad to see you again, & Merry Christmas. Anyway, a bit late but how about a minific of Shinnosuke treated with surprise birthday party during Christmas courtesy of fellow Riders & friends (especially Takeru).

...Isn't that exactly what Shinnosuke hates though

"Merry Christmas Tomari!" called out one of his colleagues as they left the office. "Have a nice weekend!" Shinnosuke grunted in return, but waved goodbye nonetheless.

Once again it was that most magical time of year- not that Shinnosuke cared. After all, it being Christmas meant that nearly everyone forgot that it was his birthday again. As it was, no one at work had greeted him a happy birthday, not even his former colleagues at the SIU.

(His wife, of course, did, but she was his wife, after all. His son did too, but it was unlikely his son would ever forget since his own birthday was only a few days before.)

And because it was Christmas eve, most of his co-workers had taken the day off or went home early. He was the only one still left at the office.

Shinnosuke loosened the knot off his tie, feeling particularly lazy once more. He reached for his box of milk candies and popped one into his mouth, closing his eyes as he savored the creamy, chewy treat.

Then, popping noises sounded all around him, and Shinnosuke- elite acee detective and Kamen Rider- fell out of his chair ungracefully as confetti showered upon him. "What the fuck?" he cursed aloud.

"Uh... surprise?" offered Takeru with a laugh, holding up a cake with a candle on it. Happy Birthday Tomari-san! it read, and the r in his name was in the shape of his Rider emblem.

"You alright there, Shinnosuke?" Shoutaro asked, reaching out a hand to help him up.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Shinnosuke said as Shoutaro pulled him to his feet. "What's all this for?" he asked as the others came in, carrying trays of snack food and gift-wrapped presents.

"Well, we all know how you hate being jilted on your special day, so we came to celebrate with you, birthday boy!" crowed Sento.

"Well, not for too long. We all know your wifey's at home waiting for you," Tsukasa said as he put a paper crown on the celebrant's head. "She probably has a really nice present waiting for you, eh?"

"Tsukasa!" Emu reprimanded, before turning to Shinnosuke. "You didn't think we'd forget, did you?"

Shinnosuke sniffled, feeling teary-eyed all of a sudden. "But you already sent me a fruit basket..." he said, voice wobbly.

"...I promise you I didn't get you a fruit basket again this time." Emu said comfortingly, hugging the other parent Rider. "There, there. Can't have the birthday boy crying on his big day now can we?"

Shinnosuke, embarrassingly, only cried harder.

[venus-says]

Kamen Rider Wizard Episodes 01-17

Where's Kaede? The magical show is about to begin.

The fourth installment in my "watch all of Kamen Rider" series is here! I'm two months and I still haven't given up, I'm not gonna lie I'm very surprised with myself. XD

As much as I was excited to start this new series, the bad taste Fourze has left into my mouth got me a little apprehensive. But, while Wizard isn't a perfect show, I was very pleased with this first third of it.

This is a show about hope and, much like its predecessor, the show isn't subtle about it. But somehow it works here, first because the dramas the MOTW victims go through feels more grounded and believable, and second because it's not just a bunch of teenagers going around dealing with stuff that to an adult's eye seems very dumb. It also helps that, for the most part, the characters here don't have a twisted notion of what Hope is, though there are some times where "hope" is mixed with "dream" and it feels a bit weird, but I think the two themes are correlated so it's not that big of a stretch.

If there's one thing I don't like about Wizard is the bad CGI. I understand that the effects aren't the best, after all, this show is heavily dependant on special effects because of all the magic spells so they can't use the best and most expensive CGI all the time, but I can't deny that they feel very wonky. I think if the engage sequences inside people's underworlds didn't exist or included actors in suits doing the monsters instead of large CGI creatures, they could afford better and more polished effects. Sadly that didn't happen so that's a letdown, at least the only instances where this bugs me is in the underworld scenes and during the Flame Dragon form attack so that's not that big of a deal.

Another thing I also don't like is the villains, the concept of the Phantoms is really good but the generals they lack a loooooot of personality. Phoenix is the hot-blooded villain and Medusa is the stereotypical female villain, in terms of design Phoenix is basically Ankh and Medusa is basically Mezool so it just shows they don't have a lot going on for them. Though the reveal that happened in episodes 14 and 15 made me interested so I didn't lose all hope in the antagonists just yet.

I'd like to come here and say that thankfully the other side of this coin has amazing characters that balance out the blandness of the villains, but sadly that's not the case. While Haruto is very cool, everyone else on his gang aside from Wajima isn't the greatest. And what's more sad about all of this is that each member of the gang has things that could make them great, but most of the time they're there being used as comic relief so when it's their time to shine is hard to take them seriously. Rinko could've been very interesting to see as a rookie female detective that has a strong sense of justice, but she's very underused and more often than not she's there playing a comedy role. Shunpei is naive and has a genuinely pure heart, and he would've been a great companion if the show didn't make him very extra and exaggerated making him look dumb rather than a kind kid too pure for this world. Koyomi should be the most interesting of them all since she's an empty shell powered up by mana, but we barely see her and her "introductory" arc was very rough in the edges with them making her seem like she is "jealous" of Haruto and has feelings for him. I wanna make clear that despite my problems I still like these characters, they had times where they shined a lot which made me like them, but they have those flaws and I can't overlook them. Of course, this is only the beginning of the season which means there's still more time so they have opportunities to grow so I'm very open-minded for them.

A character I don't have any hopes for is Kousuke, aka Beast, aka the mid-season Rider. As much as I appreciate that the dude didn't just appear out of nowhere during a fight, he still follows tradition and I don't like him, in fact, I hate this dude. I've seen him only once but I already hate him more than any of his predecessors. I don't wanna go for very long since he appeared only in one episode and the next arc will be more focused on him, I believe, so I'll have plenty of time to dish on him next week, but for now, let's just say I want to see choke him with his bottle of mayonnaise while engaging on his gross eating habits.

Talking about the man of the time, Wizard himself, Haruto is a bit weird, but in a good way. I appreciate that his "default mode" is a more serious one, it doesn't make him look off whenever the moment needs him to be more grounded/angry, but also gives openings for him to be playful and crack a few jokes here and there, I really like that in his personality. I feel like his backstory is a bit too much, but all main riders so far had some sort of tragic background that seemed way too heavy to be believable so I can't hold that against him.

Wizard is a rider I really like both in design and powers. Weird helmet shapes on his side forms aside, I really dig everything on his design. I never cosplayed on my life, but if I ever did a Kamen Rider cosplay it would probably be Wizard. The hand in the belt and the gun/sword, and the rings are way too big for my taste, but these need to be sold as toys so I think that's the reason why they're this big and I can get past that. I absolutely love the droids for this season and I love even more that they're called familiars if I had the money I'd buy ALL OF THEM. I love Wizard's elemental powers, but his "side rings" are weird and very situational, it seems weird to complain about that coming from a season with 40 EXTREMELY situational side powers, but c'mon, they have a spell that makes the user smell bad, what use does that have? Though I can't deny I'd love that sleep spell because my insomnia can be a bitch sometimes.

I'm a little thorn on the first power-up Wizard got, while I love its design in all of the three forms we've seen so far, and I love when the dragon parts merge with him in the Hurricane and Water Dragon styles, I hate how they came to be. Especially after seeing that Wiseman was the one that gave the stone for Flame Dragon and Water Dragon I expected this power-up to have a bigger thrown back to not make them as spammable as they are, and these things were supposed to be dangerous after all they use the power of Haruto's inner Phantom so, it's a bit of a letdown when you think about them under these lenses. They're still pretty cool though, I love them, aside of Flame Dragon form while doing the special attack, that head coming out of his chest is cursed and it doesn't deserve any love.

To mention a few episodes I really enjoyed I wanna highlight episodes 6 and 7 that had a very interesting plot centered around a con artist, I really liked the outcome of that one. I also loved episodes 8 and 9, as much as I think it's a bit forced I liked seeing Haruto's backstory and drawing a parallel with the victim of the week and what he was going through on its absurdity it felt very real and strong and I was all here for it. Episode 14 was kinda interesting, but it was more because of the reveal rather than the main story of that episode.

My favorite episodes were 12 and 13, as well as the Christmas episode. Both of these stories were very beautiful and emotional, I usually pause a lot to take screenshots and notes during the episodes but in these three episodes I had almost 0 pauses, I was really invested and felt very touched by these stories. 12 and 13 was Shunpei time to shine and it gave me a new appreciation for his character, it was also a great story about passing a legacy and keeping traditions alive, I also appreciate that the story ended on a very positive note despite of the Gate closing his business after everything that happened - that was a very good move on my eyes. And the Christmas episode was a real surprise to me, I usually don't care for the holidays' episodes but this episode was very beautiful, the thing with Santa appearing and giving a special spell that restores the destroyed gifts was a bit of a stretch, but I can't deny that I was very happy to see it happen just so that we could have a good ending so I'll give it a pass this time.

And that pretty much sums it all for now, I'm pretty hopeful *winkwink* for the next portion of Wizard even though I hate the new Rider so I'm excited to come back next week. What are your thoughts on Wizard? Let me know in the comments. I'll see you all the next time. o/

[megareader93-aka-composcreator]

Upcoming Fanfic Schedule and Poll

To start things off, I won't be able to write fanfic for the first half of November. I've got a lot on my plate what with final projects, regular assignments, and job applications! While I LOVE WRITING FANFIC, I have to admit that it eats up quite a bit of my time. That does not mean I will be stopping completely. Hell, half the time I'm thinking fanfic and the other half I'm thinking about my original stories.

So I will share with you the list of choices on the upcoming Tier 2 Poll. Again, these are ideas for new stories that I have an interest in. This Poll will allow for multiple choices and I will cast my own vote one what ideas I personally like. The list of Christmas special choices will come later!

· An Old Arc: RWBY- Everyone talks about Jaune Arc, heir to the prestigious Arc family, but few dare to explore the man who inspired him. How about we take a look at his grandfather, the one and only Arthur Arc. See the life he lived, the way he viewed the world, the choices he made and how they shaped the world of Remnant. Slight AU as Remnant’s history will be different.

· Tootsuki Serves Another World: Shokugeki no Soma/Isekai Shokudou-After retaking Tootsuki, its time for Soma and his gang to take a break. However, this break will be spent doing Dojima a favor as he helps a certain restaurant expand. These chefs are certainly up to the challenge, but it will still make them crazy. One-Shot, maybe Two.

· Jaune Serves Another World: RWBY/Isekai Shokudou-Jaune has a secret job and all his friends want to know what it is. Why does he leave Friday night and return Sunday morning, why does he refuse to talk about his job and who is Aletta! (that’s mostly Phyrra asking)

· Dragons on Geminar: High School DxD/Tenchi Muyo! War on Geminar-When the leaders of the Pantheons sealed themselves away with 666, the beast had other plans. Vali and Issei managed to keep it from escaping but fell deep into the Dimension Gap. Not only do they stop a certain transfer ritual, they end up in another world. One that will end up quaking from the might of the Heavenly Dragons

· Dragons in Remnant: High School DxD/RWBY- When the leaders of the Pantheons sealed themselves away with 666, the beast had other plans. Vali and Issei managed to keep it from escaping but fell deep into the Dimension Gap. Issei manages to get them to world once broken by a great power that they are personally familiar with. Can this world survive the strongest Dragon Emperors in all of history? Only if they are very careful and quiet. That means you Vali!

· Kamen Riders Issei: DxD/Kamen Rider- A series of One-Shots featuring Issei Hyoudou as different Kamen Riders.

· A Perverted Trainer: Pokemon/DxD- Issei Hyoudou might be the biggest pervert ever, but there’s no denying he’s a great Trainer. Watch as he journeys across all the regions finding Pokemon, rivals, and hopefully lovers!

· Arc’s Poke-Legacy: RWBY/Pokemon- While Grimm are a threat, the Pokemon that inhabit the world are seen as friends of mankind. Together they fight to keep the Light alive. However, the name of the Arc family is tainted by the acts of one of their ancestors, yet all of them wear the name and emblem with pride, including Jaune.

· Cursed Hunger: RWBY/Toriko- The Arc family is cursed. Their strength and bravery comes at a price, they must regularly eat Grimm. Join one Jaune Arc as he enrolls at Beacon not just to fight, but to pick up new ways to satisfy his hunger.

· Gourment Huntsman: RWBY/Toriko- The world of Remnant is in the middle of a Gourmet Age, where everything is edible or can be cooked. Meaning that Hunstman fight more than just Grimm. So welcome to Beacon where you learn more than just fighting monsters.

· Kin of Asmodeus: DxD- 75% Smut 25% Plot Now for the Special item! Who here remembers an old One-Shot of mine called…Descendant of Asmodeus! Well guess what, it’s time for a full-blown story! Guaranteed lemon in almost every chapter!

· Fairies meet the Oppai Dragon: DxD/Fairy Tail- When Acnologia first attacked, Tenrou Island did not simply disappear, but ended up in the Dimensional Gap. If it hadn’t been for a certain pervert riding on the back of a gigantic red dragon, they would have taken 7 years to wake up back home. How does this one meeting change the fate of our Mages, who which ones will fall for the Harem King’s charm!

Dragons Cross into the Other World: DxD/Gate- Of all the worlds to invade, not only did Falmart invade the one full of beings beyond comprehension, but they chose the one day where a certain young man was spending time with his parents. The empire has brought upon the wrath of true Emperors, and their Gods might not save them.