Hiroshi Tsukuba

"That's right, I am a Kamen Rider that can fly!"

- while fighting Poison in the air

Hiroshi Tsukuba (筑波 洋) is Skyrider (スカイライダー), the main protagonist of the 1979 Kamen Rider Series installment Kamen Rider, more commonly referred to as Skyrider or The New Kamen Rider and very rarely as Kamen Rider #8.

Personality
A kind person with a fascination for the sky, Tsukuba was constantly helping others in both Rider and human forms. While he lost his family at an early age, he managed to live life and tried to enjoy every little bit of it. Even after being altered into a cyborg, Tsukuba decided to help others with his new powers by fighting Neo-Shocker. While at times troubled by the situation, he was helped by others around him like his predecessors. Later on Tsukuba shows his parenting side when he took care of Bongo when he was a baby while humorously being called "mama" by him. While Tsukuba stated that he would kill Bongo when he grew up, in the end when Bongo died after he showed how much Tsukuba meant to him, Tsukuba cried tears of sadness. After learning that his parents were still alive, Tsukuba somewhat showed an obsession with finding them which sadly ended tragically. While he was saddened when his parents were killed, he still did his best and stopped Neo-Shocker along with his predecessors for the innocents showing how much he's matured as a person.

History
Hiroshi is a young man who hang glides for fun and studied karate under Ryoichi Miyoshi. Three years prior, he lost his parents and sister in a car crash. While on a picnic with his friends, Tsukuba witnessed Professor Keitarō Shido being pursued while hang gliding and saves him from a gang of Ari Commandos. Soon after, Tsukuba finds his friends have been all murdered for his meddling before being approached by Midori Kanō, who takes him to Shido as the man informs Tsukuba of the terrorist organization Neo-Shocker.

While finding Imata Tonda snooping around Shido's safe house, Tsukuba finds the scientist abducted by Gameleojin, the monster who murdered his friends. But when the pursuit resulted with Tsukuba critically wounded, Shido convinces General Monster, who realized the young man's potential, to allow him to convert Hiroshi into a cyborg. Coming to, Hiroshi wanders out of the NeoShocker complex and learns of his new nature before he accidentally transforms into SkyRider. Using his new found ability, SkyRider destroys Gameleojin and embraced his new-found existence as a means to stop Neo-Shocker's evil. To keep a low profile in his search for Neo-Shocker's base, Tsukuba founded the Shido Hang Glide Club with Shido.

Eventually, after Neo-Shocker Plus-Alpha Bomb on Tokyo, Shido takes his leave without warning to join the Anti-Neo-Shocker Commitee overseas. However, Shido arranged for Tsukuba to be supported by his old friend Genjiro Tani, who happened to be a mentor to Tsukuba in the past. For the first 19 episodes of New Kamen Rider the hero is known as "Kamen Rider", but in episode 20 Kamen Rider Stronger addresses him as "Skyrider". All of the previous Kamen Riders call him Skyrider and the Neo-Shocker kaijin do so as well after episode 20. Towards the end of the series comic relief is provided by the bumbling, superhero-wannabe, GanGan G. In episode 48, Skyrider has to fight 3 fake Skyriders (Dororingo). As usual the evil Riders wear yellow scarves. Later on, Hiroshi meets his parents who turned out to be alive and held hostage by Neo-Shocker only to sadly part with them for good. This served as a huge maturity point for him. In the finale, the Riders fought the Great Boss of Neo-Shocker. The Leader and Neo-Shocker itself is destroyed at the hands of Skyrider and the Original 7 Riders.

Super-1
Kazuya Oki, Kamen Rider Super-1, fought against the Dogma Kingdom to stop them from awakening an ancient weapon. However, in his way stood the Dogma Revenge Corps, troops of rebuilt cyborgs from Dogma Kingdom and Neo-Shocker. When he seemed overwhelmed by his enemies, Rider 1 suddenly reappeared, followed by the other 8 previous Riders, all alive. V3 tells Super-1 to let that battle in their hands, and soon they fight against Dogma's troops to open way for Super-1. V3 briefly faces Dogma Fighters, Gyosutoma & ArigiThunder. Fighting alongside Riderman, V3 finishes off Zombieda with a throw while his partner does the same to Ganigannii. V3, Riderman and X go on to use a triple Revolving Kick to finish off, respectively, Kamagirigan, Snakecobran and ArigiThunder. Thanks to the help of the Riders, Super-1 reaches Dogma's troops on time and stops them. After the battle, the Riders show themselves to Super-1 and his friends, and promise to fight for humanity's future together.

ZX
The Badan Empire, led by Ambassador Darkness, spread its claws around the world, and, to face it, the nine Riders came together. When Badan initiated its Space Break System, a destructive dimensional weapon, all 9 Riders gathered in Japan to stop them.

Badan's base was located, and all 10 Riders went towards it. Ambassador Darkness welcomed them and sent all of Badan's troops against the Riders. V3 faced Dokuga-Roid and his Combat-Roids again, and after a long battle managed to destroy him by throwing him onto a fallen Yamaarashi-Roid. Afterwards, V3 and Rider 2 teamed up against Jūjin Ōmukade, a revived Geddon monster. however, before the battle could be finished, Ambassador Darkness attempted to use hostages to make the Riders surrender. His plan fail due to Super-1's interference and Ambassador Darkness decides to use the Space Break System, only to destroy Badan's remaining troops. After V3's call, the ten Riders gather their power with Rider Syncro, weakening Ambassador Darkness and allowing ZX to finish him off. After Darkness is defeated, evil energy gathers in the shape of a giant skull, The Generalissimo of Badan, giving farewell to the Riders and laughing at them.

V3 bestows upon ZX the official name Kamen Rider 10 and soon all Riders part ways again to continue their battle against evil around the world.

Black RX
Skyrider, alongside the other Ten veteran Kamen Riders, fought against secret forces of the Crisis Empire spread throughout the world, defeating them in each country. However, Crisis' main forces, in Japan, still remained and they prepared a final offensive. Rider 1 called all Riders to a meeting in a secret facility in Arizona in the United States, to prepare for the upcoming battle, where they'd go to help Kamen Rider Black RX, the Kamen Rider that was defending Japan at the time. The 10 Riders split into two groups, which fought against each other. Group 1: Rider 1, Rider 2, V3, Riderman and X; and Group 2: Amazon, Stronger, Skyrider, Super-1 and ZX. During the training, V3 and Riderman often could be seen fighting together. After Crisis made a public announcement regarding its invasion of Japan, the 10 Riders finally left to the final battle.

After Crisis' war declaration, they immediately sent Gran Zairus, which landed on Earth like a meteor, destroying an entire island. Naval Commander Bosgun moved to attack Black RX, soon receiving help from Gran Zairus, who could resist all of RX's attacks. When Gran Zairus is about to finish him off, the 10 Riders finally arrive, rescuing RX and quickly escaping. Skyrider and the others introduce themselves to Kohtaro Minami, Black RX. Bosgun finds them, and proposes a duel against Black RX, however, Kohtaro's friend, Kyoko Matoba, V3, Skyrider and Super-1 soon notice Chaps hiding around the area to prepare an ambush, finishing them off. Following Rider 1's words, Kohtaro decides to face Bosgun in a fair match while the other Riders watch, and finishes him off.

Meanwhile, Gran Zairus easily rips through the Japanese defense forces and brings down the city with his unmatched power. Kohtaro leaves to fight him again, and, after some hesitation, Stronger and the other Riders follow him.

The 11 Riders face Gran Zairus, but even a combined Rider Punch with the power of the 11 Riders is useless against him. Gran Zairus transforms into a flaming rock, burning above 1000ºC, and easily knocks out Skyrider and the other Riders. In the end, Black RX takes the battle and manages to destroy Gran Zairus, forcing it to self-destruct, but seemingly explodes with it.

Afterwards, Skyrider and the other Riders helped evacuate the city's population and started to plan defensive measures for the next battles. However, soon the 10 Riders saw themselves facing Spirit World Demons, resurrected Crisis warriors. V3 faced the Harmful Imp and Ant Runt alongside Rider 1, successfully counter attacking, and later defeated Erigitron by himself, but they soon recovered from their attacks with no damage. When the battle seemed hopeless, Colonel Maribaron, the one behind this attack, revealed that the monsters wouldn't die as long as she kept a set of golden feathers with her, but Black RX returned, alive, stealing the feathers, stopping and destroying the monsters by himself.

After Black RX returned, the 10 Riders decided to spread themselves to observe and take on the Crisis forces, while Black RX protected his friends. Like usual, V3 and Riderman left together.

Wanting revenge against Black RX, a powered up General Jark, commander of the Crisis forces, Jark Midler, kills Sunkichi and Utako Sahara, who had helped Kohtaro in the past, while taking their children as hostages. However, Kamen Rider Amazon saves the children and is quickly followed by V3, Riderman and X. V3 orders Amazon and X to take the children to Kohtaro, while V3 himself and Riderman face Jark Midler. However, there's an overwhelming difference in power between them, and V3 can't even damage him. Some time later, V3 and Riderman are launched through the air, falling downtown, near a combat zone where Kohtaro was helping. In a fair duel, Black RX ends up victorious over Jark, destroying him while the other Riders watch in amazement.

The Emperor Crisis calls Kohtaro for a personal meeting. However, Skyrider and the others decide to follow him too. The emperor offers Kohtaro the chance of becoming the commander of Crisis' invasion forces, however, after Kohtaro refuses, General Dasmader appears alongside a group of Chaps and attacks Kohtaro. Skyrider and the other Riders arrive and face the Chaps troops, but soon the entire cave is destroyed by the Crisis Fortress called by Dasmader. Black RX boards the fortress and destroys Dasmader, the Emperor and even Crisis itself. Meanwhile, the other Riders managed to survive the attack and meet RX after the battle was over. Following Rider 1's words, they all decide to part ways and fight evil around the world.

All Riders vs. Dai-Shocker
To stop the fusion and destruction of the worlds, Tsukasa Kadoya (Kamen Rider Decade) announced a tournament gathering all Riders to find who was the strongest. Skyrider participated in the tournament fought against Kamen Rider Ixa, though he did not make it to the final where Decade emerged victorious. Skyrider and the other defeated Riders disappeared into a dimensional wall and were taken for dead, leading Dai-Shocker to initiate its offensive.

Eventually, Decade turned against Dai-Shocker and faced its troops alone. However, a large dimensional wall appeared in the battlefield, and from it, all Riders thought to be dead reappeared. Skyrider marched on foot with the other Riders as 1, 2, and V3 rode in on their motorcycles. United, all the Riders proceeded to face off against Dai-Shocker's army. When Shadow Moon was thrown onto the Dai-Shocker Castle, Skyrider participated in the All Rider Kick, using his standard kick alongside the other Riders to destroy Shadow Moon and the Dai-Shocker castle.

Soon after, Dai-Shocker's final weapon, King Dark, emerged from the ruins of the Dai-Shocker Castle and attacked. Decade was transformed into Final Form Ride Jumbo Decadriver and merged with Kamen Rider J summoned by Diend to face it. To help Decade, Skyrider, alongside the other Riders, turned into giant Kamen Ride Cards to power up the giant Decade's Final Dimension Kick, destroying King Dark. After the battle was over, Skyrider and the other past Riders bid goodbye to Decade and his friends before leaving through a dimensional wall.

In the manga adaptation, Skyrider fought against Kamen Rider Blade Jack Form rather than IXA.

Movie War 2010
Tsukuba, along with Tendou (Kamen Rider Kabuto), formed an alliance with Kazuya Oki (Super-1) to fight against Tsukasa (Kamen Rider Decade). But they failed and were defeated by Decade and sealed away in his cards. After Decade was defeated, it is assumed that Hiroshi along with the other riders were restored in the alternate world and its riders were also restored.

Let's Go Kamen Riders
A mishap caused by the Greeed Ankh unintentionally altered the timeline which enabled Shocker to utilize a Cell Medal to create the Shocker Greeed which defeated the Double Riders and seemingly erased the legacy of the Kamen Riders from history. In 2011, after Kamen Rider New Den-O's attempt to repair the damage, he along with Kamen Rider OOO and M-Ankh awaited execution. However, it was revealed the Double Riders had their brainwashing removed by a Shocker scientist.

The Double Riders joined with New Den-O and OOO to fight Shocker's forces, but were eventually defeated. When the order was given to kill everyone, V3 suddenly appeared, asserting that there were more than four riders. V3 was soon followed by all the other revived riders that came after him, including Skyrider, as even though Rider history was changed, the people's memories haven't changed.

After the riders were united, they faced off against Shocker's Great Leader. Later, when joined by a force of extra riders, Skyrider and all the other riders got on their motorcycles and performed the "All Rider Break", ramming into the Rock Great Leader and defeating it once and for all.

Super Hero Taisen
Skyrider was among the Kamen Riders caught up in the 'Super Hero Taisen' incident. He was presumably sent to the dimensional rift, under the pretense of being defeated, by Captain Marvelous while he was apparently hunting the Riders. When his and Tsukasa's ruse was revealed, Skyrider and the other Riders appeared through the dimensional wall. Skyrider then fought alongside all the other Kamen Riders and Super Sentai against Dai-Shocker and Dai-Zangyack's Shocker-Zangyack Alliance.

Kamen Rider Taisen
Skyrider ambushes an exhausted Kabuto and defeats him with a Sky Flying Saucer, only to fight against Fourze in Rocket States in a dogfight and lost.

Skyrider was later released with all the other sealed Riders by Kamen Riders Gaim and ZX. United, all 30 Kamen Riders teamed-up to take down the revived Badan Empire.

After Badan was defeated, Skyrider fought with the Showa Riders in a final showdown against the Heisei Riders. Skyrider took on Kabuto. The battle was ended when Rider 1 and Gaim reconciled on the differences of the two sides of Kamen Riders.

Due to the timeline alteration caused by Shocker, Skyrider became one of the brainwashed Riders in that timeline. Later on, he aided the other Riders to combat Shocker after he, and the other Riders, were released from being brainwashed by the revived Double Riders.

Kamen Rider SD


SkyRider: Rather than travelling with a squad, this Kamen Rider is apparently on his own. With his ability to fly, he serves as a "lookout" for the other Kamen Riders, often carrying around a video camera and broadcasting it on "Sky Rider Television." He is last seen being knocked off of a football goal by a stray football during GranShocker's attack on a sports arena. Skyrider lacks a motorcycle in the movie, instead riding with Amazon on his Jungler.

Super Hero Taihen
Skyrider appears in the Super Hero Taihen net movie, Super Sentai Murder Mystery! You’re the Great Detective! as one of the suspects for the murders of, , and , as the evidence collected suggests a "Hopper"-themed rider is behind it.

When it's revealed that net movie director Hiroyuki Kato was the murder culprit, Skyrider is seen holding a  and    as one of several Riders and Rangers holding Super Sentai  and Kamen Rider merchandise respectively, when the  explain to the Kato that all the Riders love Super Sentai and vice versa.

Kamen Rider (FM-7)
Skyrider is the player character of the FM-7 Kamen Rider game. The game is an old text based computer RPG, as such the player must input commands via typing a command word and hitting "Enter". Players must navigate a building while fighting Neo-Shocker monsters and leveling up to be able to defeat stronger enemies. Key commands in a battle are Fight to attack, do an Action or Run to flee.

Kamen Rider: The Bike Race
Skyrider appears riding Skyturbo in Kamen Rider: The Bike Race, a racing game featuring the majority of Kamen Riders and Rider Machines up to Kamen Rider Agito.

Kamen Rider: Battride War Genesis
Skyrider is among the Showa Riders who make their Battride War debut in this game. Skyrider is considered one of the most difficult character to learn for beginners, such as to his limited ground normals are mostly followed by jumping attacks and the use of Sailing Jump Mode's playstyle. Sailing Jump Mode can be used in the air or cancel from the attack quickly and has a powerful Dash Attack as Beast Falco Mantle, but lack of Rider Cancel, Rider Glide and Guardings, as well as being vulnerable that cause Skyrider be easily juggled and revert back to his default ground playstyle.

His only finisher is Rider Break.

Abilities
Hiroshi is a skilled man who was talented in karate and hand gliding. Aside from defeating most of Neo-Shocker's cyborgs, Tsukuba manged to survive being kicked by all of his predecessors at once despite being much weaker than most of them (Aside from Riderman) showing a lot of willpower. Although he is a capable fighter on land, Tsukuba seems to be a greater fighter in his domain, the sky. Neo-Shocker's Abunger's analysis on Hiroshi reveals that he needs a daily intake of 100 kilocalories to maintain his body and a fifth of it is used to power his Rider Kick.

Techniques
At first Skyrider has only two special combat techniques, "Sky Kick" and "Sky Punch". He also the special power, "Sky Drill", using his hand to drill through solid rock. Using his motorycle Sky Turbo he can smash through walls with "Sky Break". In episode 21 Kamen Rider Stronger helps Skyrider to learn "Revolving Sky Kick". After the charge up Skyrider gains "Mid-air Sky Kick", "Gun Drop", "Sky Screw Kick", "Rider Spin", "Sky Chop", Sky Flying Saucer", "Sky Double Kick" etc.


 * Sky Kick (スカイキック): His signature attack. Originally had 500 kg power as stated by a Neo-Shocker scientist. Now has 10 ton's worth of power after Skyrider's upgrade.
 * Used to destroy Gameleojin.
 * Used to destroy Kumonjin.
 * Used to destroy Komorujin.
 * Used to destroy Dokubachijin.
 * Used to destroy Kinokojin.
 * Used to destroy Kamagirijin.
 * Used to destroy Mukadenjin.
 * Used to destroy Cobranjin.
 * Used to destroy Kaningerjin.
 * Used to kick Sanshojin onto one of his electric hurdlers, vaporizing him.
 * Used to destroy Namekujin.
 * Used in combination with Centrifugal Throw to destroy Arijigokujin.
 * Used to destroy Haejigokujin.
 * Used to destroy Aokabijin.
 * Used to destroy Gokiburijin.
 * Used to defeat General Monster/Yamorijin.
 * Used to destroy Shibirayjin.
 * Used to destroy Okamijin.
 * Used to destroy Kogoensky.
 * Used with Kamen Rider V3's V3 Kick to destroy Musasabader Brother Bader.
 * Used to destroy Musasabader Brother Beder.
 * Used to destroy Madarakajin.
 * Used to destroy Zogameron.
 * Used to destroy Dokuganba.
 * Used to destroy Golden Jaguar.
 * Used to destroy Tako Gang.
 * Used to destroy Kiginger.
 * Used with Kamen Rider 2's Rider Kick (2 Rider Kick and Sky Kick) to destroy Dragon King.
 * Used to destroy Okappa Priest.
 * Used to destroy Kuchi Yurei.
 * Used to destroy Doronyango.
 * Used to destroy Hebinger.
 * Used to destroy Dororingo.
 * Used to destroy Zanyoju.
 * Used to destroy Ring Bear.
 * Used while fighting against Kamen Rider Ixa in the Rider Battle tournament as Ixa fired at him with the Ixa Calibur (Gun Mode). The outcome of this is unknown.
 * Big Revolving Sky Kick (大回転スカイキック)
 * Used to destroy Sai Dump.
 * Big Return Sky Kick (大反転スカイキック)
 * Sky Screw Kick (スカイスクリューキック)
 * Used to destroy Hikarabeeno.
 * Sky Flying Saucer (スカイフライングソーサー)
 * Used to destroy Zombieda.
 * Used to destroy Tagameras.
 * Used to defeat Kamen Rider Kabuto, turning him into a Lockseed.
 * Sky Double Kick (スカイダブルキック)
 * Used to destroy Abunger.
 * Sky Big Circle Kick (スカイ大旋回キック)
 * Used to destroy Kagami Tokage.
 * Sky Punch (スカイパンチ)
 * Sky Chop (スカイチョップ)
 * Cross Chop (クロスチョップ)
 * Horizontal Spin Chop (水平回転チョップ)
 * Centrifugal Throw (遠心投げ)
 * Used in combination with Sky Kick to destroy Arijigokujin.
 * Pinwheel Three-step Throw (風車三段投げ)
 * Bamboo-copter Shoot (竹とんぼシュート)
 * Rock Drop (岩石落し)
 * Three-point Drop (三点ドロップ)
 * Used to destroy Gurand Bazarmy.
 * Finishing Mid-air Lightning Drop (必殺空中稲妻落とし)
 * Used to destroy Obakuron.
 * Rider Moonsault (ライダームーンサルト)
 * Used to destroy Dobunezugon.
 * Sky Arms Drop (スカイアームスドロップ)
 * Used to destroy Gamagiras.
 * Sky Back Drop (スカイバックドロップ)
 * Fūjin Hell Drop (風神地獄落とし)
 * Used to destroy Miminger.
 * Sky Running Strom (スカイランニングストーム)
 * Rider Typhoon Head Drop (ライダータイフーン脳天落とし)
 * Pile Drop (パイルドロップ)
 * Used to destroy Suddendas.
 * Rider Octopus Hold (ライダー卍固め)
 * Sky Drill (スカイドリル)
 * Psychokinesis Reversal Rider Spin (念力返しライダースピン)
 * Spear Walk Heat Shimmer Technique (槍渡り陽炎の術)
 * Finishing Steppingstone Crash (必殺飛び石砕き)
 * Rider Kick: Used alongside his predecessors.

Tornado


The Tornado (トルネード) is Skyrider's transformation belt and can give off the Super Light Wave (スーパーライトウェーブ) from the Tornado. Skyrider can perform the Sailing Jump (セイリングジャンプ) flight ability using the Gravity Reduction Equipment (重力低減装置) system on his belt. Like his predecessors, this belt is powered by wind. The Tornado can also emit a bright flash used in the Super Lightwave attack.

Sky Turbo


The Sky Turbo (スカイターボ) is Skyrider's motorcycle and can perform the Rider Break (ライダーブレイク). It also features high-powered jet-boosters that are activated by a switch.

Portrayal
Hiroshi Tsukuba was portrayed by Hiroaki Murakami (村上 弘明). As Skyrider, his suit actor was Tetsuya Nakayashiki (中屋敷 哲也).
 * In Kamen Rider Decade: All Riders vs. Dai-Shocker, his suit actor was Seiji Takaiwa (高岩 成二).
 * In Kamen Rider Decade: The Last Story, he was voiced by Kenji Akabane (赤羽根 健治) and portrayed by an unidentified suit actor.
 * In OOO, Den-O, All Riders: Let's Go Kamen Riders, Skyrider was voiced by an unidentified voice actor and portrayed by an unidentified suit actor.
 * In Kamen Rider × Super Sentai: Super Hero Taisen, Skyrider was portrayed by an unidentified suit actor.
 * In Heisei Rider vs. Showa Rider: Kamen Rider Taisen feat. Super Sentai, he was voiced by Hideo Ishikawa (石川 英郎).

Rider No.
As the leading Rider protagonist of Kamen Rider (Skyrider), Hiroshi Tsukuba (Skyrider) is labeled Kamen Rider #8 (仮面ライダー8号) and Showa Rider #8 (昭和ライダー8号).