Mach Chaser (Or Chaser Mach) has already been confirmed and shown off, though...

As for the current topic at hand, it's the same song and dance as always. "Why is ______ a web exclusive this is such bullshit." You'd think after so many web exclusives of characters people want, we'd be used to it by now. Chaser was exclusive, Necrom's exclusive, Shin was exclusive, etc. No one was complaining this much when 3/4ths of the Gaim cast ended up being exclusive releases from what I remember.

Just for clarification, Chaser Mach exists as a figuart, we reviewed it last month. But Mach Chaser is his form from the upcoming V-Cinema. There's no figuart of that currently nor likely to be one sadly.

I'm gonna have to sacrifice my Chaser Mach for one, aren't I?

Depends on how well these next few drive figuarts are gonna sell im guessing.
But even if they do sell well i think there will be a bigger chance for a drive type special or a super machine chaser.

I think people retail releases because they are easier to get without paying middleman fees and that retail releases can be reissue in the near future.

"Can", but rarely "are".

If I recall correctly, they were. I suspect that the Shin Zangetsu fiasco has associated "web exclusive" with "prohibitively expensive" for many people. For Gaim, the core four Riders, Kachidoki, and Kiwami were all mass-market releases. It was reasonable to expect Drive's final form wouldn't be an exclusive. (To be clear, I don't feel strongly on the topic, and there have been plenty of posts in this thread explaining why this being an exclusive may not be unreasonable or necessarily a bad thing.)

I can't say I'm a big fan of exclusives. I'd intended to order Shinkocchou Seihou Kamen Rider Gatack, but due the sometimes-long delay between the announcement and when they're available for preorder, it completely slipped my mind, so I missed the ordering window. People often post reminders when retail releases are about to be posted. Also, for people who are ordering from non-Japanese retailers - BBTS and such - the pricing difference between web exclusives tends to be dramatic, further reinforcing the perception that web exclusive = pricey.

Things that are obvious to people who've been part of this community for longer aren't always obvious to newer people. It took me a very long time to get comfortable with ordering from Japanese sites and middlemen, and not everybody even knows where to look. Not everybody's going to have the same mileage. (And to be clear, people here on the forums have been helpful in pointing me toward better options, but posts tend to get buried in threads pretty quickly.)

I suspect the elephant in the room is that how Figuarts handles Kamen Rider may be changing in a way that not everybody is comfortable with. We're all aware that Figuarts has expanded to include more popular and lucrative properties, and I've gotten the sense that we're seeing slightly fewer toku Figuarts released. This probably isn't a coincidence. Bandai's indicating that they don't believe that Drive's final form would sell well enough at retail, and that could prompt some folks to feel anxious. People are still stinging from Figuarts dropping Sentai, and missing the Figuarts Rider releases of a few years ago. Scorpio Zodiarts was a retail release, which is unthinkable now.

That might be needlessly pessimistic of me, of course. I'd never have guessed that Kiva-la would be a retail release.

I'm not quite sure what I think about the web exclusivity. I'm less invested because I don't intend to pick up Type Tridoron. However, I have to say that the Figuarts pictures have prompted me to appreciate the form more than I did its on-screen counterpart. The tire effects... those are delightful, and they make me wish very slightly that Bandai'd release corresponding tires (Justice Hunter, Rumble Dump, etc.) for Type Speed. This looks like an excellent release.

Here are some more pictures of the figure: http://blog.livedoor.jp/shfiguarts/a...059753314.html

What do you mean by "sometimes long delay"? Web exclusives go up literally the day we get the official images, there is absolutely no delay between announcement and the preorder window opening. If anything it's the retail releases that have a delay between announcement and preorder availability.

And then after that the Bandai window is something like four-five months, and even after that I'm not entirely certain some middlemen simply shut up shop on taking orders.

I honestly could care less where it comes from. Mass retail? I go online...web exclusive? I dm my middle man...either way shows up at my door.
He looks fantastic though for a final form. Mind you I have only three final forms in my figuart collection, Infinity and Survives. Usually I'm not a fan of the final forms.