But then if the first thing starts off strong and then completely flatlines, they aren't going to have a whole lot of time to work out what went wrong and counter it. It doesn't make good business sense when you don't have the entire run of a gimmick to work/research off of.

Well, they did something close before, with Goseiger being the Sentai that came next after Decade finished. Though admittedly it wasn't at the exact same time, and cards are usually a pretty safe bet.

But I'll admit it at least sounds plausible, especially if they want to keep up the Rider/Sentai interaction they've got going. I could totally see them doing KR Drive Ressha and ToQGer (whatever the KR Drive gimmick is called).

Which is why each series only lasts a year.

I mean, even if this gimmick tanks, they're not ruined forever.

Have we had a collectable gimmick so far that has just completely bombed?

Do Buddyroids count?

I don't think so, since I don't recall the show revolving around getting as many as possible...

There's an idea. The Driver itself turns into a car.

If the gimmick is a car thing, it sounds nothing like Kamen Rider. That series, that franchise, has never been about the mechs ... I mean yes, we have had plenty of motorcycles, we've had Suika Arms in Gaim, the mech suit in Fourze, and the Den Liner in Den-O ... but it really, really feels like if this is true, the franchise is turning itself to be more mech-based this time around.

Not sure if I'm a fan of that honestly.

Powerdizer.

And they've been going that way for a while now. Faiz had the Auto Vajin, Suika, even Wizard's Dragon was a kind of big mech.

I like the idea. But then I love big-ass mecha :lol

Except not really. Faiz was stand alone concerning the Auto Vajin, and the WizarDragon and Power Dizer showed up so rarely that they hardly qualified.
So far, only Watermelon Arms has shown up on any consistent basis.