The toys are nearly all sold armored except for the collector market. The device looks to be the same with the addons/gimmick piece dictating additional functions.

So I don't see why this will limit sales in any fashion whatsoever. Same amount of figures of both as normal. Same amount of Roleplay gear. If it's cool, it's cool. Sales numbers will be the same to higher. Doubt it'd have any negative effects whatsoever, and instead will likely cause a sales spike.

So I doubt bandai will limit it at all or act conservative. BoJ isn't as limited as BoA on views. If this were BoA then I might agree and worry. But even they used to cater to wider and this limited view is more of a recent thing.

Having the male background character overshadow a female lead rider in her own show on the toys is also instant bad press. So that'd be a really dumb thing to do.

Right, I mostly agree. Since the line is so built around roleplay items, and since there will be another male rider who uses the same items as Zi-O, that part of the line will almost assuredly sell just as well, if not better than, Build. So long as the collectible gimmicks are cool, at least.

But I do think we have decades of evidence to show that BoJ is pretty married to a specific business model for their heavily gendered toylines like Rider, Sentai, and PreCure. So when it comes to the action figures, even if a girl Zi-O gets the exact same number of toys and variants as usual (which I do agree will be the case), I think her figures will look very genderless and I think there will be a disproportionate marketing focus on this male, secondary Rider character compared to previous secondary riders. I also suspect there will be more figures and variants of him than than there usually are for supplemental heroes.

I'm pretty sure we're seeing this already. How often does a Rider show's initial marketing so prominently show a secondary Rider in its first volley of promos? It's very, very rare. You could point to Cross-Z, but IIRC, that early image of him in the toy catalog was one of those prototype drawings, and he wasn't part of the main photo-spread like Zi-Q is in these leaks. If fact, his prominence in these early leaks, more than anything else (even the weird-ass chest armor), is what's giving me the most hope that Zi-O will be a woman.

TL;DR, I think we're in almost total agreement that a lady Rider won't negatively effect sales at all.

Saying that Toku isn't a main priority for Bandai is kinda BS. Kamen Rider and Sentai are usually always on the top of toy sale charts, so they still make tons of money after all these years. And if it wasn't a priority, then why would we still be getting new seasons every year? Why would Bandai experiment with Sentai after it started to do less well and not just cancel it?

Just because the shows are cheap to produce doesn't mean they aren't a priority.

Yeah, exactly.
I mean. that last comment is actually wrong - Sentai has dipped a bit lately, and the experimentation is likely an attempt to save it...but 'dipped' =/= failing (besides, I seem to recall that Nininger and Zyuohger caused the dip, and Kyuranger rose uut of it again anyway). Kamen Rider and Super Sentai are routinely at the top of BoJ's sales records - and every Driver since at least Drive has won a Toy of the Year award in Japan. There's no way Bandai Japan 'don't care' about Toku.

funny that people think it's "long overdue", as if there were no Sailor Moon, Cutie Honey, Hello Kitty, or a ton of other shows and toys aimed just for girls. Heck Akibarangers was a mostly Female cast. Every Sentai show I've seen has had Female Heros.

Girls are not some long suffering completely ignored demographic.

Kamen Rider has historically been aimed at boys as a target market. Just like GI Joe or He-Man or Transformers or whatever else was aimed at a boy market.

And that's ok, there's nothing wrong with that. Not everything needs to be feminized 'just because.'

I don't understand this victim attitude I see lately that says everything needs to cater to Women.

But whatever, if the new Rider is a Woman so be it. But I think judging by the long history of Male Riders and the fact that young boys generally do not want to play with girl toys, it would be an interesting move from a business standpoint.

But who knows; not like I've never been wrong before.

I do find the attitude that this is something that needs to happen to be perplexing though. Like some great injustice has happened because Kamen Riders have almost always been Male.

Is there some law saying that a Kamen Rider lead character HAS to be male? You seem to be suggesting in everything you post in this thread that because of those shows you mentioned that women are not allowed to have a Kamen Rider female lead. Why? Why cant a main rider be a woman? Because it threatens your fragile masculinity?

You clearly have a problem with women, and every post you make here just proves it more.

I hope ZI-O is female. It would be something new and refreshing after decades of male main riders. Its not about "feminizing" rider or whatever you think it is. Its about doing something new and different.

Plus you know what? Yes, we ARE long overdue for a female main rider.

I should clarify though that in the more than likely chance that ZI-O does have a male lead, I wont be upset in anway. Would I like to see a female lead? You betcha. But Ill still watch and likely love the series regardless.

Hey does anyone know if Zi-O is supposed to appear in Build's summer movie?

For those that are interested in the sales numbers since Go-Busters.

I’m primarily interested in a girl main Rider just because it’d be something new and fresh. After 50 years of dude Riders, a girl lead would shake up the formula in an interesting way. I feel the same way about having a dude PreCure. It’d just be cool, IMO.

I also kind of think the whole idea of “we have to separate kids stuff across strict gender lines” is sorta psychologically harmful? I’m still getting over the psychological wounds and gender-based shame of being a boy who liked to play with Barbies and My Little Pony — because this stuff happens at such a young age, it’s extremely formative shit that, for real, has taken a toll on my self-esteem long term. Kids should be allowed to be into what they’re into and not feel shame that they’re a boy playing with girl toys or a girl playing with boy toys, and more equally gendered toy lines/kids shows would help solve that issue.

Will a girl Rider happen with Zi-O? I sort of doubt it, and I won’t be mad if it doesn’t. But I think it would be cool.

There is a long, long trend in entertainment that says everything needs to cater to men. Even in stories that theoretically center around women, we very often end up with casting and outfitting meant to appeal to a presumed straight male gaze. Some men tend to take this for granted and assume that this is the way the world should work. A lot of the same men tend to be skeptical when they learn that this is maybe less pleasant for women than it is for men... and yet are also aware on some level that if the scenario were reversed, life would be much less fun for men.

To talk about Kamen Rider being "feminized" like it's a bad thing implies that there's something wrong with femininity. I'm going to assume for purposes of this post that you didn't intend to imply that.

If you don't care if the next lead Rider is female and don't think it's a big deal, that's fine. Maybe it doesn't mean much to you. However, there are people to whom it would mean a lot. Maybe be happy for them if that's what 2019 is bringing us?

It's really easy for those of us who're male toku fans to be oblivious to how female roles in Rider and Sentai are... not generally terrific. They're not always bad - Build is doing a little bit better job with Misora and Sawa than, say, Wizard did with Rinko and Koyomi - but... well, let's took at one of the central tropes of Kamen Rider: character growth is tied to Rider powers. There's a long line of male Riders who either become Riders or gain upgrade forms directly linked to their character development. Kagami finds new resolve? Meet Kamen Rider Gatack. Banjou resolves to fight for other people? Time for Cross-Z Magma.

It's extremely rare that this happens with female characters outside of movies, and it's nearly always undercut in some way. Marika kicked butt, but she's also dressed in pink with vague heart-shapes, and her entire arc is about her devotion to a man. Poppy at least got a Rider form, but once she got control of it, she rarely got to be effective in battle, if she even entered battle at all. Nico's Rider form was, for most of the series, a problem that others tried to save her from. The women of Kiva got to be awesome in their debut episode, and thereafter were usually ineffective fighting Fangires, even though they're both Fangire hunters. And these are the best examples I know of regarding Heisei Rider.

And the fake-outs! It's like a tradition that a female regular tries to use a Driver, and then it fails because reasons. "Because reasons" is usually shorthand for "we're not allowed to have a female Rider." I've lost count of how many Heisei Rider shows have pulled this, including Kiva a couple of times. (On the same show, it's a male co-worker who can successfully use IXA.) Then there's the "transforms and is instantly defeated" trope, a la Dark Ghost P.

On the Sentai side: with some exceptions, it's rare that a female Sentai character gets to be anything other than "bubbly and cheerful" or "caring big sister." They can be the smartest member of the team, but rarely or never the strongest (I haven't yet seen all the series. Maybe one will surprise me.) Of 12 Kyurangers, only two were female, and one of those was a pink robot. That's... weird. Out of all the prior Sentai series, only one had a red hero, and that only lasted for a few episodes.

Not all boys are super-into "boy stuff." Not all girls are super into "girl stuff." A lot of people are into a mixture of stuff, because people's taste in entertainment isn't actually married to their gender. What's better than entertainment "for boys" and "for girls" is entertainment for people.

I don't know whether Zi-Oh will be a female Rider. If that turns out to be the case, I would be shocked if the following Rider series didn't have a male lead, the same way I'll be extremely surprised if the Doctor after Jodie Whittaker isn't male again. What Kamen Rider and Super Sentai have in common is that they put out a completely new series with a new cast every year. They have room to experiment and try something different. Sometime soon, we'll get to find out whether that's what this series will do.

I just hope it's not another Decade. Except for the theme song. That theme song was terrific.

(Oh, hey. New scans just came out. I still have no idea of Zi-O's gender.)