Hello everyone. I'm Funasen, the CSM developer.

Today is January 28, 2021.
Congratulations on the 20th anniversary of the broadcast of "MASKED RIDER AGITO"!
Let's celebrate with bento lunch and grilled meat and cold tofu tonight!
Please see the "KAMEN RIDER official portal site KAMEN RIDER WEB" for an additional figure correlation diagram to commemorate Agito's 20th anniversary.
https://www.kamen-rider-official.com/news_articles/1072
The Diner will also be serving the Agito 20th anniversary menu, so if you can make it, be sure to check it out!

We will start accepting reservations for "CSM ALTERING" from 11:00 AM.
First, please check out this reservation page.



Development of this product started off based on ARCLE, but as development progressed its uniqueness as ALTERING became stronger.
In today's blog, we will take a closer look at some of the most important points.

■The size and shape have been completely redesigned based on the prop!
Based on photographs of the prop taken from various angles, it has been completely redesigned to be the same size as the CSM ARCLE.
ARCLE was able to modify the design of the CS version, but this time it was a new design from scratch.
You can see it lined up with the DX in the interview page and PV of Mr. Kashu. If you have ARCLE, it will be easy to understand.
The complex shapes inside the clear parts have also been recreated. Incidentally, the details inside the side buckles were upside down between the DX and the prop, so they were also recreated by matching them to the prop.

It's huge, and the design is integrated all the way to the sides, so the feel and satisfaction you get when you hold it will be unparalleled, along with ARCLE.


■Two infrared sensors detect the transformation pose. A sound will sound when the transformation is ready!



Agito's transformation pose has multiple variations, so in order to recreate them as closely as possible, we added one more infrared sensor to ARCLE, making it two.
You can see how it is used in the music video featuring Kashu.
One sensor for the ground form and one for the burning form.
In the Ground Form, if you cross your arms in front of the sensor on your left hip, an "arm swinging sound" will be heard.
When you remove your arm from the sensor, an arm swing sound will play to guide your right hand movement, so move your arm in time with the sound.
If you do this, the ``belt appearance sound - transformation standby sound'' will start playing.

Additionally, the number of times this "arm swinging sound" is played varies depending on the difference between Shoichi's transformation pose in the early and mid-stages and beyond, but both can be reproduced by using the transformation variation selection gimmick.
In Burning Form, you first extend your arms in front of your chest, so since you can't touch the sensor, the ``arm swing sound'' doesn't play. However, when you then bring your right hand near the sensor on your right hip, the ``arm swing sound -- belt appearance sound -- transformation standby sound'' will play in succession.
*How to transform into Shining Form will be introduced in a future blog.

By the way, the arm swinging and transformation sounds used in the PV are currently temporary audio.
Development of the audio program itself has just begun, so we will be making adjustments to make it closer to the sound in the movie.

There are two sensors and two speakers.
In DX there was only one speaker, but in this version there are two speakers, one on each side, just like in CSM ARCLE.
Unlike ARCLE, you won't get different sounds from the left and right (as it isn't a stereo sound source to begin with), but simply having two of them makes the sound much more impressive!
I think that has been proven at ARCLE.


■Reproduces Agito's unique strong white light emission! (In exchange, the rotating gimmick in the center of the belt has been removed.)



One of the unique aspects of Agito is the scene where it slowly appears from the darkness with a strong glow and a standby sound.
This same kind of direction was used in Zi-O as well, and it made me think, "This is what Agito is all about!"
This glow is reproduced using a powerful white LED at the center.
The LED used this time is illuminated at the beginning of the product PV featuring Mr. Kashu. (There is a slight difference in how it looks through the camera and with the naked eye.)

However, in order to reproduce this glow, we decided to "remove the rotating gimmick in the center of the belt."
I think this point about this product will be particularly controversial, so I'll explain it in more detail.

In short, the two gimmicks could not be combined.
Of course, at first, I was aiming for a design that would have a rotation gimmick and produce a powerful glow.
However, since the rotation gimmick requires the motor and rotation axis to be placed in the center of the light-emitting surface, the white LEDs must be scattered around them.
We once tried arranging as many LEDs as possible this way, but when we lit them up, the result was a series of scattered point light sources which, to put it simply, looked like a starry sky (of course, it was brighter than a starry sky, but in terms of the spacing), and although we tried various arrangements with the LEDs we could use, it still didn't come close to the image in the movie.
In the first place, the only option for LEDs that would not interfere with the placement of the motors was to use "chip LEDs," and there were limits to the brightness that could be used in toys.
Even if it were possible to use an ultra-high brightness chip, since the light-emitting surface can only be scattered around the periphery and not in the center, there would be the problem that the center would not appear to be emitting light when viewed from the front.
(The light looks a little off and it's uncomfortable.)

It seems that the only way to recreate the look from the movie is to have only one strong LED in the center. That means there's no way to place a motor.
I struggled with this one very hard. Since the Showa era, the "HENSHIN BELT" has been synonymous with "It lights up! It spins!", so it took a lot of courage to remove the gimmick that was in the DX version, but looking back at Agito, I thought about which was more memorable, and it was the overwhelming choice of the "powerful white light emission."
That's why I've made this decision. (Sorry to those who prefer rotation.)

On the other hand, when I was rewatching it, I noticed that there were only about two transformation scenes in the movie where the belt was shown in close-up spinning (in episode 4 or something; I can't remember exactly how many), and even then, the prop wasn't actually spinning; it was made to look like it was spinning using CGI.
Kuuga used props that actually spun during the film, but Agito did not have any props that spun. This was also a factor in this decision.
Also, when Agito transforms, the light turns yellow when the transformation standby sound plays, and when the transformation sound plays, the center lights up even whiter, so I realized that if I had this white LED, I could use it to recreate that effect! It really kills two birds with one stone!
In the PV, the light does not emit light during the transformation standby sound, but in the actual product, it will emit yellow light during the standby sound, and we are also planning to add white light during the transformation sound.

The LED installed in the center this time is a module with a large heat sink attached to the back of the light source, and is about the same size as a motor.
I was able to arrange them in a way that switched places.
However, please understand that the LEDs used this time are merely materials that can be used in toys, so they will not emit as bright light as those in the movie.
That glow was mentioned in an interview with Kashu, but apparently a powerful light was installed from the outside, pulling a cable (apparently the cable was cleverly routed so that it couldn't be seen during filming), so the belt is surprisingly thin, and the materials used were as thin as could be fitted into it.

The design for ALTERING has a rotating gimmick structure and was almost complete in December, but after going through the above verification, we decided to change the design and redo the internal design, which resulted in the release date being postponed from August to September.
Therefore, the delivery will be earlier than the previous CSM (8 months later). I'm sorry to everyone who wants it sooner.
Please forgive me if you think that by moving it to September, ALTERING has improved.
I would also like to take this opportunity to thank Mr. W, the designer who helped us with the repeated design changes.
The end of the year and the beginning of the year was a hellish time with this and SENGOKU DRIVER all working hard...


■New voice-over audio by Toshiki Kasumi!
We're very sorry to have kept Kashu-san waiting for this product! We recorded many voice parts for him during the post-recording process.
In addition to appearing in the PV, we also interviewed Kashu, so please see below.



There is a button on the right side of the belt called the "Dialogue/Sound Button," and this time, this button (mainly) functions as the dialogue button only when the device is started up in "Dialogue Mode" after turning the power on.

By operating the buttons, everyday lines will be played in the pre-transformed state, and Agito's battle cries will be played in the transformed state.
Also, when the transformation standby sound is playing, the voice saying "Haaaaaaaaa... Transform!" will play in parallel with the standby sound, and when a special move is used, Kashu's call will play along with the sound effects.

Due to the design of ALTERING, there weren't enough spaces to add an additional button for this kind of function, so we decided to use this single "dialogue/sound button" and differentiate its effects depending on the mode selected when starting the game.



In "normal mode," this button primarily serves as a select button to recreate various transformation scenes (so Shoichi's lines are not played).
In "Dialogue Mode", this button primarily functions as a dialogue button, and you will no longer be able to select the detailed transformation pattern variations (such as Episode ● version or direct Storm).
Kashu's voice will also be heard during the standby sound, so this mode will allow you to enjoy only some of the standard transformation patterns with voice. (Important variations from the play will also be included.)

This is a significant difference from previous CSM specifications.


That concludes today's introduction to the gimmicks.
Here are a few additional points I'd like to make.

One thing to note about this belt is that due to the design of ALTERING, the range of motion around the waist is narrower than that of ARCLE.
Unlike ARCLE, the belt cannot be moved significantly from side to side; only the left and right side buckles can move slightly.
The range of motion is illustrated below:



Please note that if you are too bulky, the product may be difficult to wear.

We also received many requests for a projector that could project a crest onto the character's special kick, but since it would involve projection, when shining the light on the ground it would hit the character's feet and cast a shadow, cutting off the mark. Plus, to project the crest neatly you would need to place the projector above the person's head, and there's no easy way to fix it in place, so we quickly gave up on the idea.


Lastly, we have seen some reaction to the payment changes we made last week.
We have seen many comments from people who do not have a credit card saying, "I can't buy it because I won't be able to come up with the money within a week of the announcement." However, this is a misunderstanding; it is not a product that you cannot buy unless you have the money ready within a week.
We will continue to sell the products during the two-month order period from January 28th to March 23rd, so even if you don't have the money on hand now, you can place your order and make the payment by the deadline two months from now.
However, this period is still shorter than the previous six-month deferred payment system, and popular items may not be able to be ordered in time for the first shipment; however, this is an unavoidable result of these changes, and we apologize for any inconvenience caused and appreciate your understanding.

Matters related to payments are a company-wide issue, so there is nothing I can do as a developer, but as an item, I am pouring my heart and soul into developing it, aiming to make a masterpiece, and I hope that it will reach as many people as possible.
We look forward to your reservation.

The payment methods that can be used with "CSM ALTERING" are as follows:



That's all for today's blog. The next update will be on Tuesday, February 2nd.



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