Sorry, I don't understand what you're implying here?

I have a feeling that people will be mostly watching that for the actually popular characters, Poppy and Izu, rather than Jeanne. Maybe Aguilera, as she did rank very high in the poll, but I'm not sure how Japanese fans feel about her post-Deadmans.

The thing that's being criticised here is the method her Driver was released -- through Premium Bandai rather than retail. Given that it released at the same time as her debut as a Rider - to say nothing of general release patterns being set in stone months ahead of time - it doesn't make sense that popularity of the character would be a factor there.

Heck, if you wanted to go there, I would point out a noticeable parallel in the Twosidriver and Libera Driver users -- Daiji and Sakura both placed about as low while Kagerou and Lovekov placed about as high!

To say nothing, as well, of how the popularity poll was so hilariously lopsided in favour of Hiromi that it's hard to use it as a gauge of anyone else :lol

I don't think there's much to argue about. The female characters and female riders in the show can and do be popular. But their toys don't sell well. Partly, this is due to the fact that not all fans are collectors, and the parents of the main audience (that is, 5-year-old boys) are likely to buy them the belt and toys of the main character, or the one with whom the child associates himself. It is unlikely that a five-year-old boy will associate himself with Jeanne, right? That being said, I don't think they're far behind other riders of her caliber when it comes to figurine sales. Well, plush Lovecov should also be taken into account for Jeanne.

Oh right, sure. If that was Bandai's intention all along, then I suppose the poll shouldn't matter. Maybe they were using the Libera Driver as a test to see if a female-only Driver would sell, so that they could market future Drivers in retail. The poll result might've deterred them though, unless the problem is with Kamen Rider Jeanne/the Libera Driver itself, or maybe even a combination of both variables.

True, but Secondary Riders are pretty much a given for retail and Kagerou, being a Rider instead of a plushie, has a lot more conventional marketability for Tokusatsu merchandise.

I feel like there's also an issue of specifically bringing in Revice's toy sales as a factor of discussion, when the toy line looks like this (shamelessly stolen from reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/KamenRider/...so_far_left/):

https://i.imgur.com/FRpgS4x.jpg

Like admittedly we don't have the sales numbers for specific items, but how does anyone at Toei/Bandai determine anything from this image other than "money = big".

This is a big distinction. A toy can sell really well despite a character's popularity, and the opposite is also true: a popular character can have low sales, if for example the toy isn't compelling or priced too high.

What any manufacturer and toy company knows is that it is always better to:

A) manufacturer and sell through a product

than it is to

B) sit on unsold inventory


The P-Bandai style of sales is exactly method A for Bandai. A way to mitigate manufacturing risks, know sales expectations upfront, and determine an actionable budget for other toy lines. When done properly, people can order what they want and Bandai can better understand their own sales. Because if not for the P-Bandai method, the actual alternative is that we don't get a Libera driver at all. Obviously when this is done poorly (stock does not meat demand) you'll have angry customers, but the alternative is worse:

B) having unsold inventory forces stores and retailers to heavily discount your goods, which does 2 primary things from a consumer perspective: It lowers the perceived value of your goods, and it leads more potential customers to wait for a sale or discount. Maintaining the value of your products is one of the biggest reasons why coupons and discount codes still exist in modern sales. It allows people to buy your stuff for cheap while thinking the value of the thing is still high. Now, from a retailer perspective, it makes a store less inclined to stock your wares, at the risk of eating shelf space without good (or sometimes negative) return.

Bandai has been in the toy industry longer than anyone, this isn't really about ignoring girls- they have entire other franchises created to cater to girls and women. A better indication of demographics is too see who is in the marketing material. Yes, there are a lot of little boys in the adverts and promos, but most of the time, and certainly for P-Bandai products there are no kids or gender neutrality.

Also, the timeline and logistics required to launch and distribute a toy to coincide with a show is something very few companies have even come close to getting right- even Disney struggles with this.

We are just talking about a historically male franchise, and while that doesn't mean it can't have female riders or a significant amount of female fans, I think the toys will continue to reflect that aspect until we first see a significant shift in the show itself. So far Reiwa is showing a lot of promise and that's awesome. I love female Kamen Riders but honestly I would hate to see their merch and figures warming pegs and sitting in discount bins.

I don't mean to be intrusive, but I think we've gone too far off the topic of the survey.
I'll try to get the discussion back on that track by saying that I don't really like it when the main lady of the show becomes a rider. Although, perhaps, for the season, where all the characters are riders, it is worth making an exception.

Does anyone have thoughts on how the other Heisei riders deserve their own female riders?

If Misora and/Sawa became riders, it’d be something. Misora having a purified CD Fullbottle be good. But what organic material would fit with it and Miitan?

And based on the poll, Kiriko deserves to be a rider. But what of Medic?

The Medic is in second place in the poll. Although this is more likely due not to her moral qualities, but to the fact that Heart and Brain have already been riders.

Cat or mouse, for some reason, my thoughts go only in this direction.