Usually it is... but what these listings seem to imply is that we can expect Kirameiger a month later than usual.

That said, wow. Gotta imagine this is because we were really, really not supposed to know about Trinity.

While the Trinity guy used pretty poor judgement in directly confronting Shirakura about something like that, I very much doubt one person's actions could possibly influence things this much. Unfortunately, a number of people have already assumed it was because of that interaction that we won't be seeing the catalogue this year, and as a result he's received death threats over the situation now, which is absurd.

There are any number of factors that could have led Bandai/Toei to this. Catalogues have been regularly leaked by retailers for years. At some point they were going to have to crack down on the situation. Things have been pretty blatant in recent years. And considering they have new international partners now with Hasbro as well, it would be smart to insulate themselves in this way.

Wait WHAT??? For god's sake can we go one thing like without terrible people being terrible people

The thing about leaks is it's hard to tell if they are of malicious/hyper active fan intent or a part of a viral marketing campaign. Bandai can do whatever they wish in regards to when they want to inform the public on their products. But why would they not want anything leaking to retailers? Does it jeopardize their sales? I can't see that to be the case. It's Sentai, retailers are going to buy it regardless. And the retailers have a right to know what products they are ordering in wholesale.

The big thing I know of is that it alerts competitors to their plans; so competitors could possibly steal their ideas etc.

That I can get, however they should be far along in production enough that even if a competitor saw what Bandai will be releasing in March, they would not be able to release a similar toy fast enough to beat Bandai to their release. Plus most Sentai designs aren't novel as of late. Not just because they turn to Gingaman as a base for most modern mecha, but 40+ years of Super Sentai means so many of those molds have been put out there and the toys deconstructed by competitors to release similar toys.

They don't care about leaks to retailers. They wouldn't even technically be leaks, as the exclusive catalogs have always been made explicitly for the retailers. What they care about is retailers leaking to the public, which has happened every year for as long as I can remember.

Leaks to the public of future toy lines jeopardize sales of the current toy lines. When consumers see the bright, shiny, totally new and different mech system on the horizon, they're less likely to buy the 90th mecha from the current line. Leaks cannibalize sales.

The current mecha would expected to be going on clearance by now, with only the last wave being at full price. By this time leaks don't affect sales because all those who wanted the toys would have them by now. It won't hurt the manufacturer, but it could hurt the retailers themselves.

Sales on the last wave's toys are literally what they're protecting. Do you think Bandai doesn't care about people buying those just because they come out toward the end of the series? If they didn't care, they wouldn't release them.

Obviously, leaks do hurt the manufacturer, otherwise the manufacturer wouldn't be making the decision to prevent them. They're making the decision to protect retailers too, because unsold merchandise is what goes on clearance, and clearance sales come at a loss for retailers.

I get it, man. You're hungry for information on Kirameiger. I am too. But we need to stop rationalizing that leaks are somehow good for the company that's taking drastic measures to prevent them. They know what they're doing -- they have far more information and education on this topic than any of us -- and they don't need amateur fans telling them that leaks somehow improve their business when they have literal decades of research and sales figures that must indicate that isn't true. Unless you secretly work for Bandai Japan's marketing department, you need to trust that they know what they're doing, and you need to trust that none of this is being done maliciously.

I missed this post before, but I just wanted to say I get this feeling. While Gaoking and Magiking are fantastic mecha alone, there's nothing "beyond" them. They don't combine with any other mecha to make a new robot.

I also want a decent Ultrazord, where the main mecha can improve and get upgraded without swapping out parts or just getting new arms/a backpack. I've considered getting the Beast X Ultrazord for this reason, because it actually looks like an improvement over the GoBuster mecha based on proportions.