Kamen Rider Legend Replacing Gotchard Full Time? Let’s Talk About Those Rumours…

Rumours that Kamen Rider Legend will be replacing Kamen Rider Gotchard have set social media ablaze with discourse. The Toku Source’s Gotchard reviewer, Ethan, is on his soapbox to give his two cents on this juicy notion.

For those not familiar with the conjecture going round regarding the next evolution of Kamen Rider Gotchard, the rumour in question is that, following part two of the Kamen Rider Gotchard VS Kamen Rider Legend special, Kamen Rider Legend will appear in the show with a gun upgrade because Toei wants to lessen Hotaro’s role in the show. Presumably, they think Junsei Motojima’s performance as Kamen Rider Gotchard is not resonating with children or because they believe that Legend being an anniversary themed rider will move more toys. 

As you can imagine, this has been met with a wide range of reactions. Firstly, ‘Toku Twitter’ really do not like Hotaro and find him annoying, so they’re pretty happy at this news, hoping it’s true. There is also the side that doesn’t really have a strong opinion on this but say things like “it’s just a show made to sell toys, they are going to do whatever sells the most toys.” Then, there’s are people like me that like Hotaro (even if I’m not a super fan of how shouty he can be sometimes) and expects Legend to show up at some point in the main show. For my money, I believe that suit is too nice to only use in a YouTube special but the idea of him replacing the main titular character is embarrassing for all involved. 

Let’s talk about why I disagree with these rumours in more detail. Firstly, the opinions of ‘Toku Twitter’ do not necessarily line up with that of Kamen Rider’s main audience, Japanese children. For example, Kamen Rider Saber, a show that has a large detractors on Twitter, had toy sales comparable to Kamen Rider Ex-Aid and this was during the pandemic. Secondly, while Kamen Rider, Super Sentai and even Ultraman all primarily make a lot of their money via toy sales, it does not mean that the creative, talented people that work on these shows wake up everyday thinking “yay, another day of making toy adverts!” That is not what these works are trying to do. Yes, sometimes they make choices to show of new toys and big them up but theses also undeniable presence of deeper themes, passion and heart in all of these works. Saying “it’s just a show made to sell toys, they are going to do whatever sells the most toys” is not only reductive but insulting to the hard work that goes into making these shows. 

Another piece of evidence and, in my opinion, the death knell of the idea that Kamen Rider Legend will be taking over as main character is looking at the sales info from the most recent financial statements from Bandai. Kamen Riders is doing really well, like normal. 

Other than the notion that anniversary Riders tend to sell extremely well and Legend is basically an anniversary Rider, why would they risk not only ruining the good sales the show has currently but also upsetting all the creative people working on it that they might want to work with on other shows and projects in the future? 

To bring this to a close, there’s no doubt in my mind Kamen Rider Legend will show up in the main series at some point but I do not think he will be stealing the titular character position. Honestly, I feel that the people that dislike Hotaro so much that they are hoping something as embarrassing as the title character in a popular long running franchise getting sidelined by someone designed to call back to another character should just remember the fact that you do not need to watch every season, there will be a new one next September. If you’re not liking Gotchard, turn it off.  

Are you looking forward to the second part of Gotchard VS Legend? I know I am! How do you think they will work Legend into Gotchard, if at all? Do you think he will be doing the tough love teacher thing he seems to be doing in the YouTube special? Either way, I’m going to hop off my soapbox and keep enjoying the great content they have been putting out so far. I’ve been Ethan: writer, reviewer and opinion haver for The Toku Source and I’ll cya next time.   

What do you think about these rumours? I can’t wait to see what you have to say in the comments below!

Financials Source: Bandai Namco Website