🐢

https://cowboymantis.straw.page/ random collection of my art to be found in strawpage :3 I love to write down my silly and jokey and serious and what not thoughts about stuff. Just all over the place.

[cowboymantis]

Enough time has passed to form a proper opinion and in conclusion It's genuinely insane to me HOW MUCH ZEZTZ AND ESPECIALLY NOX WAS PERFECTLY CREATED FOR ME?????????

Like... WOW

Even before the season aired, my first thought was oug I love dream themes and one of my first stories/OC world had characters go in dreams and a game I used to be absolutely OBSESSED with during PS3 era (shoutout Catherine) was dream themed and one of my fav book series when I was younger (Silber... idk/idr if there's an English version for those hmm) was about people going through different dreams and everyone had like those. Dream doors. Yeag the covers are still making me go woaaaahhh BC THEY'RE SO PRETTY

Then one other INSANE THING IS YUTA DOING THE SECOND OPENING!!!

Yuta aka one of my first biases since getting into kpop back in 2019/2020? like what. So often I'd talk or think about how cool Yuta would be in some sort of Toku content but didn't expect it to happen??????????

Actually throwback to this one in particular IT DID MAKE SENSE AFTER ALL allllttthooough I guess he isn't exactly an actor in it but pffff close enough...

I even had a Yuta sticker I got from an album on my laptop for years and it has the number 07. Okay.

Okay.

OKAY.

Funnily enough, due to being both a Yuta and Kamen Rider fan, whenever I see other Yuta or NCT in general fans/stans post about the song I think THEY DON'T KNOW KAMEN RIDER LIKE I DO THEY NEED TO GET INTO KAMEN RIDER NOW and when Kamen Rider fans post about it I think THEY DON'T KNOW YUTA LIKE I DO THEY GOTTA GET INTO HIS MUSIC MORE

Honestly, there is a bit of an overlap in the fandoms anyway which is really nice :3

And yeah then there's Nox . Just wow even before the show even started I KNEW he was gonna be my fav and every episode at the start I was clinging onto the 2 seconds of screentime lmao😭🙏 Although recently he's been pushed in the background a lot I hope at least he gets to shine again when he gets Midnight Shadow💔💔💔

Looking back now is so funny I WAS LOCKED IN AND ZEZTZPILLED FROM THE START

(I don't play when it comes to black-white hair it's one style I love so much, or split colours in general it's so cool🥺 I even have a black wig with white highlights JFHDJD it was from an old Warrior Cats cosplay...)

Also it's so funny Takahashi seasons ALWAYS have at least one character that joins my absolute main favs and. Also always has at least one character joining later on that either overtakes my first fav or is on around the same level, I'd say it's definetly Sieg and Three for Zeztz but no one overtakes Nox THATS MY SON I LOVE HIM!!!! THE MEOW MEOW 😭

I'm also so happy I not only got my friend into Kamen Rider after all my yapping but also into Zeztz and they love it so much too and we wake up every new episode at 3/4am to live react to it😭 I'M ALREADY SCARED OF THE TIME ZEZTZ WILL END. I DONT THINK ANY SEASON WILL EVER COME CLOSE WHEN IT COMES TO MY OBSESSION WITH IT WHILE IT'S AIRING I LITERALLY COULDN'T STOP THINKING ABOUT IT SINCE EPISODE 1

Being such a huge Zeztz fan from beginning on is kind of funny on Twitter bc I've lived through everyone hating on Zeztz as a season, everyone hating on Nox because he did some bad things, everyone suddenly going WAIT A SECOND THIS SEASON IS KINDA GOATED because they hate when shows that go ~50 episode establish their characters and world building at first I guess and only like it when action starts to happen more, seen everyone go to loving Nox finally and also seeing some people go from "wow this is so boring" to "wow this is just full of twists this is too complicated" Like WOW the community on Twitter has been a roller coaster lmao😭 But hey I don't care I just love my silly little Kamen Rider show :]

And man I do love creating outfits in games based on my fav characters, but I don't think I've done it more for anyone than Nox (maybe closest is Arase from Yakuza bc his style is often easy enough to replicate :3), I bring him into every game as long as costumization at least kind of allows it😭🙏 Even naming all my characters since Zeztz started Nox or Nox Knight later on even when there isn't really much costumization otherwise... Anyway GO MY NOXLINGS!!!!!!!

I DONT EVEN CARE THAT HE'S OLDER I ALWAYS JUST THINK THATS MY SON AND I NEED EVERYONE TO SEE HIM LMAO

Honestly, I can't say if Nox is my fav Kamen Rider character because frankly there are too many and then there's recency bias always playing a heavy role LOL but I can 100% say that Zeztz is my favourite Reiwa season at least 🥺❤️ It was kinda hard to decide before Zeztz came along, I loved Zero-One, Geats and Gavv the most but WOW Zeztz really just is the absolute hydrogen bomb there lmao

Adding one more thing afterwards because I was just thinking of this... Nox also has 10/10 suit designs overall, hell I even love the pseudo Rider suit so much!! But most importantly a thing I realized with Midnight Shadow, I've been saying for forever how I looove spikey suit designs and the fact that Nox' suit designs get more and more spikey over time is just so perfect like HELLOO😭😭 ITS PEAK😭😭

[Actually I'm gonna pin this because I want everyone to know I LOVE ZEZTZ!!!!!!!!!!!! the second they stumble across my profile...Also so I can quickly find it again to add future Noxlings lmao😭 I should probably work on tagging my own Zeztz posts with something because I can't ever shut up about it...]

[cowboymantis]

Being a Nox fan already and then also becoming a Three fan has been making livewatching Zeztz so stressful because before every episode I just feel like this

(Also does feel very fitting for the season of killing off the literal protagonist in increasingly traumatic ways💀)

[cowboymantis]

Bro is giving EVIL INTIMIDATING HORSE

[cowboymantis]

Watching Zeztz characters sleep will actually make you go insane

Also Sieg's being silly as usual 😭🙏 And I think he got toasted by Exdream #rip

And special shoutout to The Lady downstairs chilling with her little Nightmare butterflies :D

[cowboymantis]

Gulp.

[cowboymantis]

Made a new Zeztz skin, not Nox for once lol

This time it's another meow meow!! :3

Made two versions just because yayy

There's something about the driver designs in Zeztz that make them look really cool out of transformation too... Not exclusive to this season ofc, but probably one of my favs for this

Also here's my planetminecraft account with this and of course my past skins :]

[cowboymantis]

I MADE SIEGS OUTFIT AND HE ACTUALLY LOVES IT THIS IS SO RARE IN THIS GAME KDHDJD😭🙏

[cowboymantis]

Lowkey always thinking about how lonely of a season Zeztz feels like (hell they even had the mandatory vitamin drink ad without any other Riders than Zeztz😭🙏 rough) and in a way I guess you could also say it's fairly similar to the OG Kamen Rider, especially with the Zeztz suit being strongly inspired by the original again...

I think this is what also makes the recent two episodes so much more intense and hopeful, despite the overall threat being more ... uh dreadful lol

But just SO much happened man like. Especially looking at Baku, his whole life was basically a lie, even his interests were pretty much the result of him being groomed into the Perfect Agent™️, his father abandoning him and putting him into a "fake family", which nontheless ends up being his real family, I especially love the strong found family aspect- although can you even call it that when it's some sort of fake/adopted family type situation going on especially with Minami? I mean to me honestly I feel like it can be called that with everything that's happened kdhdj

And throughout all these episodes until now, Baku never really had any allies in fight. In the premonition already it was obvious he never wanted to seriously fight anyone, but this also ended up in him constantly being put through hell for being such a good and trusting person and not wanting to be too harsh. He did make friends, but none of them were helping him fight, so he was mostly on his own. For a short moment, when he helped Nox with his Nightmare it seemed like they would finally end up teaming up soon, but then Nox went down a downward spiral that ended up catastrophic for everyone.

Nox always seemed just as, or rather more lonely than Baku and honestly his actor especially has such a good way of portraying him (I'm also happy that he loves Nox so much, him even being his fav character to play in recent times🥺), he just always looks like he's in a constant deep sorrowful and/or lost in thought/contemplation expressions and it's just so...💔

And everything he did in the premonition... Constantly refusing any sort of help or allyship too, because no one in any way associated with CODE can be trusted. Nox never felt like an evil character or villain at all to me, and even when he ended up killing off Five and Six in the premonition, it was obvious he never wanted it to get that far. Like he said, he doesn't hate the agents on their own, but CODE as a whole. Also reminds me a bit of Kureha's first appearance in that death game dream, Nox probably tried to scare her off so she wouldn't have any way to possibly remember CODE and be sucked into this again...

I wonder if he felt some sort of relief when Baku defeated him at the end, it's just sad to think about 😭💔💔💔

Then of course the breakdown and dissociation from Baku after killing Nox was just has heartbreaking, especially considering all this stuff since episode 1 happened in such a short time span, bro really went through EVERYTHING here and the sheer hopelessness he must've felt all the time up to right before "being killed" when he was literally just Some Guy not too recently is just rough. Honestly I always liked when the Primary of the season only just got his Kamen Rider powers and then immediately gets thrown into the Horrors, it's always great when they get tortured without warning or preparation LOL I think also Baku going through so much is what makes his perseverance all the more fascinating, I guess in a way he got probably "coded" lol to be so heroic and selfless from his training as a child, but this still doesn't undermine all the things he went through. Like yeah Kekera would absolutely call him a TRUE Kamen Rider lmao😭🙏

And then of course, after Baku woke up from the premonition, everything felt even more off, he had the knowledge of everything that happened, but had none of the connections. Like every bond in a way had to be made again, so even when he had all those memories with everyone, no one knew about him at first. And for so long, not a single Rider or other agent actually worked with him, it was always Baku against everyone for the most part like got dam‼️(It's funny how even CODE itself is like that. So much tension inside of the organisation and people who left it resenting it lol) And even then, when he thought he had everything sorted out, like okay I know what happens here, Sieg strolled in like LOL NOPE YOU DON'T and ended up shaking everything up again. Then Baku once again got put through the horrors and ended up dying again but this time made the most OP upgrade all in his mind and ended up coming back stronger than ever, only for it to be taken from him immediately lol.

Well... This all happened up until now, Sieg is I guess a bit of a complicated comedy ally now (suspected he was going the Kuroto path early on but he literally is exactly like when Kuroto came back lmaoooo even the others having the power to immediately silence him when he doesn't shut up. And of course the thing where they seem like they're doing something bad/evil, but actually end up helping the protagonists). And Nox seemed to have finally warmed up enough to join Baku now, honestly most of their interactions felt like Baku trying to tame the super anxious street cat that doesn't trust anyone kdhdjdb😭😭 But Nox truly is just way too pathetic wet cat coded fr...

And now Baku is gonna get Exdream back and Nox gets Midnight Shadow and everything is looking hype again‼️‼️

I really love how so close before the final run everything now feels more hopeful than ever before, whereas in other seasons it's often the other way around. Well... I mean I'm still very much scared of characters dying and they probably will, but hey at least there's the movie coming where every character appears so yay :D

It's funny, seeing the shots of all of them together almost makes me want to see everyone in CODE being redeemed and seeing fun slice of life organisation moments with them all... But I guess you could say this is more like a dream than reality (hahah get i-

Anyway‼️

But also Nox makes me worry more again though lol with them in the episode teasers talking about Nox and his goal to take down CODE... It's the thing that he's always on his lone wolf route and refusing any help, probably also not wanting to take anyone with him, like sigh pleaaase just let others help 💔 (Kind of reminds me of how the other party members treated Kiryu in Yakuza 8 lol like STOP DOING EVERYTHING ON YOUR OWN WE ARE YOUR FRIENDS AND HERE TO FIGHT WITH YOU) But Nox always associated with darkness too (even his main theme as a Rider being shadow), while preaching about it in CODE, like he never can shake off his affiliation 100% and his guilt for working and trusting them :( It's also kind of interesting how the word oblivion was used for Nox in the preview, I know the most prominent theory for the Oblivion Gore Nightmare is for it to be related to either Three or CODE in general, but I wonder if it ends up being Nox, it would fit into all main Riders having one, but then The Lady seems so random to also have one??? Either way, the distribution of those Nightmares confuses me lol

Really curious about how the Zeztz finale will go. Torn between "make it as painful and tragic or bittersweet as possible" and "make it as hype and HOPECORE as possible". So I guess I'd be happy with both lol. All I know is that when it comes to Takahashi endings, two out of three so far left me so emotional but also happy by the end (because NOTHING EVER HAPPENS) and one kind of "huh guess it's over lol", so I'm at least having more hope for the ending to be really emotional I guess???????

[cowboymantis]

How are the suits in Zeztz sm more complicated to study they have LESS going on and I'm struggling more than when I was drawing Evolt lmao😭🙏

[cowboymantis]

Masamune and Kuroto are fighting😭😭 I love lore accurate fights in Tomolife😭😭 I put them in the arena to watch them fight too it's incredible

[cowboymantis]

So remember when I made everyone elect the most "disposable Agent" person in CODE. And they all picked Baku.

Now TWO!!! DIFFERENT PEOPLE!!!! ASKED TO ASK THIS QUESTION AGAIN NOT EVEN AN HOUR AFTER EACH OTHER AND EVERYONE KEEPS ON PICKING BAKU LMAOOO

[cowboymantis]

😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

[cowboymantis]

My next episode preview experience:

[cowboymantis]

Thinking back at this... and this was one of my favourite moments anyway, even knowing it was just Zero's robot body. But last episode IRL Zero got hurt from his robot body getting attacked by Sieg in the dream... So since Three took over after this, it's not too unrealistic to assume Zero actually got really hurt by it right??? Makes it even more beautiful ❤️ Thank you Nox for your service ❤️

[cowboymantis]

The secret Chapter 4 prophecy they were hiding from us:

[cowboymantis]

I didn't want to add Zero at the beginning when Tomolife first came out but I realized I can literally just put him in a maximum security prison island, torture him and instill a fear response in him at the sight of CODE😭😭😭

ALSO THIS LOWKEY KILLED ME

I think what makes it even better is that from beginning on I added a bunch of lingo about killing Zero and then he pulls this LMAO

[viejospellejos]

[slyandthefamilybook]

[cowboymantis]

God this Zeztz episode genuinely got me so hyped like it's been. So many months. 37 episodes. And we finally got Baku and Nox teamup I'm so happy😭😭😭😭❤️❤️

Also I missed hearing Nox' theme so much...Oug having it play again now felt so impactful😭

Gahhhhh and I've loved this suit design since I first even saw a snipped of it but every time we get another shot of Midnight Shadow I love it even more🥺🥺🥺❤️❤️❤️❤️

Also. One more thing but like I just like always am a Zero hater and I HATE HOW HE'S JUST THERE WITH EVERYONE AGAIN

This scene with Five was so stupid too like live Mantis reaction while watching:

Idk I just can't like this guy lmao I'll love the most evil villains but hate on Zero but like come on he's been so annoying from early on. Like I wouldn't say it's as bad as the thing with Neon's family in Geats but yknow💀

Also this shot from the new movie preview is cracking me up 😭 It feels wrong

[cowboymantis]

CODE gave me some funds check out the new setup 🔥🔥🔥