Aight, Here Goes Nothin

Aight, here goes nothin

The Wild Robot X Kamen Rider crossover AU

(Art by @hanpi_kun on Twitter)

This au has been in the works since December of last year. It's only now that I have the courage to show it here in Tumblr (please go easy on me)

I even came up with a synopsis :

"Roz, a rozzum unit longing to return to her island home, finds herself entangled in a perilous twist of fate. Unintentionally thrust into the role of humanity's unlikely hero known as "Kamen Rider", she becomes a key player in a covert project operated by one man to protect humanity's future. Now, Roz must contend with the schemes of Universal dynamics, as well as confronting a corrupted rozzum unit and her army of "Augments." Whose destructive rampage threatens to wipe mankind off the planet, as part of their mysterious "Salient Neutrality initiative."

OR

I turned roz into a power ranger because I'm fucking bored

And unironically, i think that's probably the best way to describe what kamen rider is to people who never heard of it, except instead of men in spandex, we have cyborg karate bugmen in motorcycles

Also I think it's important to note that this au takes place during "The Wild Robot Escapes", the sequel to the original book of the wild robot.

(Please excuse the poor art)

For roz's design, I decided to (or at least try) lean towards Kamen riders from the showa era, like white gloves and a scarf

I also gave her a shield as a little spin on kamen rider's usual trope of having a sword as their weapon, emphasizing her nature (or programming?) to defend. She doesn't want to fight, she wants to protect.

We've seen her willingly risk her life to protect an island full of animals. In this au, I want to take it to the next step and see if she'll risk her life once again, only this time to protect humans who are actively working against her.

Will her limiting code set her up for failure, or will she become more than what she was programmed to be, for the sake of humanity's future?

In contrast to Roz, Vontra's design took inspiration from Kamen riders from the heisei era (the era after showa). A lot more sharper edges, less clothing materials like scarves and gloves, more armor, and collars.

Much like her original body, vontra has tentacles that she can pull out on her back. (She only got four instead of five, though)

But since she was given weapons and various data in martial arts by universal dynamics (to counter Auxilium in combat), Vontra wouldn't use them at all if it proved unnecessary.

But sometimes, she'll pull them out for use as extra hands or intimidation tactics. (or just aura farming)

One more detail : the name "Archus" came from the word "arc", which represents progression and development of a character.

Hmm, wonder if that's hinting at something.

Here's a closer look at the belts

Kamen rider's transformation gear almost always consists of solely a belt that is activated by the Rider doing a pose and saying "Henshin". But for this au specifically, they work differently.

For instance, the assistance driver (roz's gear) is used to activate her combat protocols, which basically overrides her inhibition protocols, allowing her to fight properly. But in turn, it severely drains roz's power and, as a solution, limited the usage time of combat protocols to only three minutes. Leaving roz barely holding on before collapsing down, out of power.

Once it reaches 2 minutes the light at the center of the driver will start blinking red, signaling that they only have 1 minute remaining.

(Basically, think of Ultraman's color timer)

As for Vontra's, her gear basically works as an extended power core. Like roz's, it also starts blinking red. But it's not limited to time, more so as it's a measuring system of how much energy and power vontra has left. If it's red, it's time to retreat.

Ah yes, evil roz be like

"A rozzum NEVER completes it's task"

I don't got much to say about her from a design standpoint other than the foot that took way too much time to draw than I would've liked.

I specifically drew inspiration from Kamen Rider Ark-One, from Kamen Rider Zero-One.

One last thing to say about this au

The story took a few inspiration from stories like Megaman and Big Hero 6, where robot assistants became heroes and whatnot. And I thought to myself

"What if roz became one as well?"

Well that's all I got for this au

I will be sure to expand on it, flesh out the world, characters, plot, and everything else. As I have also planned to write a fanfic based on this au.

Thank you for taking the time to read this post.

Have a nice day!