Sentai Posts Historic Low Sales
 

http://tokusatsunetwork.com/2018/08/...-super-sentai/

Bandai Namco released their financial figures and we learned that the Lupinranger vs Patranger toyline's first quarter has had the lowest first quarter of any Sentai.

...What else did Toei expect? There’s no gimmick in the line and their team vs team angle means that a lot of kids probably just bought the stuff for their favorite team

Unfortunate! Very unfortunate!

P.R. has a renewed chance to succeed by leaps and bounds, but if Sentai starts to bomb too heavily, then it reflects on what happens with P.R. in the longer run!

That said, I also wonder if maybe the next quarter can show an improvement!

Too late to wonder about current team-ups in production or nearing release, but perhaps a future team-up can give Lupinranger VS. Patranger a needed boost!

A noteworthy question is whether this will influence some production changes on next year's Sentai? The genesis for the next entry is already in conceptional stages if not further, so would this news force a shift in Toei's thinking? Did Toei already forecast this result and plan accordingly; they knew what was coming and their next Sentai will be different and therefore this result will not affect their current plans anymore than was already anticipated?

While the VS. entry might not work for Sentai, P.R. is a slightly different game altogether! Go-Busters had poor toy sales, but we all know where that's going!

It does make one wonder where next year's direction will go, especially if Toei needs a "WIN!!!" to try and recoup their losses!

A double-shame since the current Movies have actually done semi-well!

http://tokusatsunetwork.com/2018/08/...s-5-year-high/

So, if this does not change it is very likely we will NEVER see a series like LupinRanger VS PatRanger again...

This must be all because of the Gender Swap Episode.

A concept shake-up like VS was bound to lead to some negative effects.

If the toyline itself were maybe more involved outside of vehicles that clip onto weapons and gave incentive to getting both teams' toys it might have negated low sales, but it's not like they could have predicted any of that. I do hope it doesn't discourage them from trying this or other unique Sentai concepts in the future.

I know you gotta make bank on your products but outside of some single episode bumps VS has been a really good time with really good dynamics.

One of most boring thing from Lupinranger vs Patranger is the arm swapping gimmick. I think the arm swapping gimmick is too overused in Super Sentai. Sure, the arms swapping gimmick in this series still looks cool but also become boring at same time.

I think they should be make armor, helmet, and arms swapping gimmick concept like when Go-Buster-Oh become Go-Buster Kero-Oh. Sadly, they didn't make many mecha for Go-Buster Series....

There was no gimmick from this line. Ex Gokaiger Keys, Kyuranger Kyutama what did Toei expect sales were crap because of that.

We can only speculate on why this year's toys haven't sold well. The toys used the same concept as ToQger, with the individual mecha being the transformation widget. Were the sales for that show horrible?

My own guess as to why sales have been low hinges on a couple of things. The first is how the show presents the teams. LupinRanger got the best designs and concept. "Hey, kids! You can play as the super-cool phantom thieves, or as the relatively dorky police who fight the other heroes for no good reason?" (Seriously, the thing were the LupinRangers don't actually commit crimes makes the PatRangers look pretty bad.) Half the heroes just aren't appealing in terms of the toys.

The other thought I had is that the toys just aren't cool-looking. The Dial Fighters might not be bad if they didn't have little hats. The Trigger Machines... I mean, Patren3's Trigger Machine is just astonishingly goofy-looking, and Patren2's isn't much better. GoodStriker doesn't look good in either of its vehicle modes. The VS Changers are unwieldy with the VS Vehicles attached. The less said about the baton/megaphones the better. The Lupin swords' gimmick is a claw that never gets used in the show.

I dunno whether any of those things were actually major contributing factors, of course. One other thing did change; Sentai is airing later in the morning. I wonder whether that had a sales impact.

Regardless, Sentai has been experimenting with structure for a couple of years, and Kyuranger seemed to do pretty well, so I don't think Bandai will be scared completely off the idea of continuing to try new things if VS sales don't recover.

I know the target demographic are little boys and there are other competitions from the same company as well as competitions companies, but seriously i kmow they wanted to be different and unique, but the end result is meh. After 40 years of marketing, you expect they get the jist of it. Not changing or adapting to new and innovating ideas is what killed kodak, blockbuster, toysrus, and Microsoft in mobile business. Arm swap are boring and those things aren't even arms. At least spend some effort in engineering it to have a better transformation. Also, kamen rider are always do better because the plot is always more captivating and different than the typical motw along with more serious darker twist than fillers. I guess build is doing so well that they decide to keep rehash, repaint, and rerelease the same toys.

What they need to do is just upscale the minipla engineering.

Minipla Sentai Mecha in DX Mecha size will be very interesting :D

I've already mentioned I'm pretty confused by the toyline. Feels like I'm missing something, because as it stands, it just looks really un-engaging.

I guess I'm not missing anything then?

I feel like we just had a show with too many Rangers. It is hard to keep up with these characters at times.

Not really all that unexpected for this one. Has some neat concepts, but the toys aren't something that seemed like they would move. Though Minipla I expected to do so somewhat well. Sometimes that can be surprising though. There have been other lines I would have sworn would have done so-so and sold out the wazoo. And ones I thought would have done better than they did. It happens time to time.

TBH, while I loved the comedic element, this is too over the top for Sentai. It's not the first time this has happened either though. Previously in the 90s there was a massive drop at one series too, with then a massive increase following it.

Next series will likely see an increase. Lupin vs Pat, as much as I love how absolutely silly it is and over the top, does kind of feel like a filler series to buy time for another year and kill time for other concepts later that are too early to do right now. Though I do absolutely love the Jackpot Striker concept. And the show itself is fun with the cockpit shenanigans.

And unlike previous years, there is no collectible gimmick this go round either really. So the merchandise is kind of slimmed down as it is. All around suggesting numbers were expected to be lower this time, and an increase will come later.

Coming off of how heavy the merchandise was for Kyu though, this isn't too surprising either. It does kind of feel like a more fun romp to let parent wallets recuperate. While an upcoming series should hit a better stride on merchandise by what it capitalizes on.

That being said though. I absolutely love how over the top it is and how much thought and work went into it. You can see various elements where they tried to work in some great things. DX mecha with elbows. The saw blade hand is perfect for Lupin as a safe cracker nod. Absolutely love some of the side mecha, the full combined form mecha is straight up cool in an almost "asura's wrath" kind of way.

My only complaint at all is maybe on the Patranger suits being too much white that it makes them look kind of non-descript. But at the same time, some of the other aspects of their characters needed that.

But tbh, some shows hit, some shows don't. Go-Buster was one that didn't do that great either in the modern 20 years worth of series. But then other stuff did truckloads better and is still celebrated by audiences. Go-Onger and Zyohger were straight up as ridiculous as this is, and they still did extremely well.

So I chalk this one up mostly to the buying craze Kyu was. With this feeling the effects more from that, alongside the lack of a heavy collectible gimmick. Formula-wise, this show really had nothing much new that other series didn't prove was already popular. Random dips happen. It's the nature of the market in general. Even the versus element had potential. And this really isn't factoring in ratings either.

Is this the state of Toei tokusatus now that a gimmick is considered an irremovable staple of their shows even by fans?

Well, when we're talking about toys...

The shows have been gimmick based since the 80s. More dominantly in the 90s, to then now. It's rather true for nearly all children's toku since the 80s. Even Metal Heroes or other franchises from other companies. To the point it saved Ultraman. Same is true for Kamen Rider as a trend that started as of Black/Black RX. Heck, it's literally what brought Kamen Rider back in 2000. Back then the market wasn't as strong on roleplay, but that gradually increased series to series. Comparing Kuuga to Agito, then the shift in Ryuki for wider Roleplay and wider figures, then the shift in Faiz for wider roleplay lower figures, to blade with a mix of both, to Kabuto on forward that had stronger pushes on role play over figures, but still a decent figure line to go with it.

It's part of the marketing system which is what Tokusatsu that's aimed to move merchandise is built on. If you're talking about something like Amazons or Garo, that's a little different since those aren't built on moving merchandise in large quantities. But we're talking about stuff that's supposed to move merchandise as the sole reason why it exists. So yeah, a gimmick is typically required. We're talking about selling toys. Which best sales results come from that "gotta buy it all!" mentality a gimmick factor tends to evoke.

That kind of Tokusatsu(moving merchandise kind) is the same as Cartoons in the states that solely exist as commercials to sell product. Same as anime that's like that. The product line is integrated into the show itself by demographic with the intent of moving merchandise so it uses those marketing standards for best practices to do so.

Speaking of though. That's something they should look more into. A sentai figure line is something that's not that common outside of minipla, with most of the emphasis going to the mecha. Which while that's great, the mecha needs some tweaks to have more wow factor and a figure line couldn't hurt.

That one's a tough call though. While I love minipla's articulation, there is something that's really satisfying about Magiking and other DX mecha over the years too. But the up in articulation is what made GekiRanger really get a strong notice too. So that might be something to revisit in design practices. And it does seem there's a push for that internally with how Lupin/PatKaiser had elbows.

Tough call overall. But I do expect there'll be an upswing in sales numbers with later series. Numbers vary series to series. One of the perks to how they do this yearly. If one's a miss, the next one can make up for it.

Considering we went from a series with 12 rangers and a successful toyline to one with the standard 7 rangers, I highly doubt keeping up with characters is the problem.

I think it's because Lupin Yellow is the big draw to Lupin vs Pat, and she gets fuck all in terms of toys :p
One sofubi, and one SoDo.

Kyuranger's toy line did okay but considering how many Rangers there were, it probably wasn't the hit Bandai wanted it to be.

I don't for a second believe that Lupato was an attempt to "buy time", you don't really do that with a full scale TV production, especially not with something as formula changing as this one is.

Ninninger was the first series with a collectible gadget that failed to perform, Zyuohger comes along and I think that's Bandai trying to future proof the brand by not having a collectible widget and seeing how a show like that performs and it only just barely sold better. Kyuranger comes along with a pretty great looking line and it does better, but not at all great.

Lupato struck me as Toei once again trying to balance a more traditional toy line with the collectible widget formula. Only problem is when a toy line is as small as Lupato and the collectible widgets, which are your key item this year, are sold at mecha price point, you hurt your customers. Either they like them and can't collectible them all because they're not as affordable as Kyutama or Ressha or what have you or you don't like the mecha and you're left with very little else.

I'm thinking one of the biggest issues with Sentai lately is its reliance on mecha. Power Rangers and Sentai have always focused on two different elements - Power Rangers is more focused on figures and role play items while Sentai is more focused on mecha. A switch in focus might be what Sentai needs. The franchise hasn't had what I would consider to be a hit since ToQger and after nearly five years of under performers with literally your worst quarter ever, I think it's absolutely vital that Bandai takes a look at their strategy next year.

The show has nothing to do with it - Lupato is actually improving on last year's ratings, and is even beating Build on the regular, which is crazy for Sentai.

That's just the nature of toys these days. Zyuohger was the last one without a collectible widget and it was one of the worst performers in nearly two decades. (right down there with Ninninger, Gekiranger, and Timeranger)

Yeah, it is a shame. I think what they should have done was make the collections they jack from the ganglers be the collectibles. For example they could be recycled sentai props while out in the open but after getting them back instead of going in a book contain them in some tangible pocket-sized collectibles much like full bottles from Build that they could later use like temporary super powers.

Honestly when I heard about the Collection the first time that’s what I assumed was going to happen, kinda surprised it wasn’t the case tbh

Pat vs lupin is having lower toy sales ?

I hope that they realize that it's the toy line itself and not the show being bad.

I thought that pat and lupin mechas was a gimmick.

Yes. That's literally cited in the first post.

Not in the slightest - the Lupin/Pat mechas are standard fair for Sentai. 'Gimmick' here means like the Zyudenchi/Ranger Keys/Kyutamas/Resshas etc. Collctables, like Kamen Rider usually has, that unifies the entire toyline together.

Come to think of it this show did start around the time TV Asahi reorganized their time slots for the morning shows on Sunday, and as a result Super Hero Time is now at a later time than before. So I wonder if that has been a positive ratings wise so far.

From what I've seen in various chats, ratings are up.

Right? Cause it means viewers dont have to wake up 7:30 in the morning to watch both shows for starters. And I am sure there are weekend early birds(kudos to those who pull it off) but the popular assumption I think most of us can agree on is that who wants to wake up that early on a weekend. :lolol

Very true, though it doesn't quite account for its ratings being better than Build. I guess kids just really love Phantom Thieves?

It is a familiar character type in Japan from the classic OG Arsene Lupin to Lupin the 3rd, Kid from Conan, Goemon Ishikawa, The Fiend with Twenty Faces, the protagonists of Persona 5, etc. which is probably why such a show as this was possible in Japan.

Could these sales affect somehow the franchise ?

It seemed highly likely that Hasbro would have some input on Super Sentai at some point down the line. Like BoA had on Kyuranger. I wonder if this may speed that up. I could see Toei inviting input from Hasbro to bring in some fresh ideas.

Doesn't matter what you believe. This one was rather last minute by comparison to how others were planned. Pushed to fill certain aspects to feed into normal hype marketing to hide certain aspects, and also had heavy anniversary/history thrown in to also keep ratings up as well as other marketing tricks to create strong ratings.

When you're dealing with a show that needs new material every year, sometimes a concept does end up pitched as filler, but is still executed with as much effort as can be to make it as good as can be and enjoyable.

But in concept stages, it still is "filler" or being used to "buy time" to keep the franchise afloat while something else goes through development processes.

Like how this show was originally going to be a jet theme, and then there was a last minute pivot to go cops and robbers, but cater to certain traditional theme staples. And tweak concepts to match. Like how a "jet theme" became dial fighters for safe cracking.

Now this show being "filler" or to "buy time" doesn't make it a bad show. On the contrary, the fact it's coming out as great as it is and is pulling in ratings shows how much great work and effort they put into it to make it cohesive to keep the franchise alive and keep hype going for what they want to do next.

There are actually a lot of things that are actively filler, but people barely notice because it's 'good filler'. But it's still filler all the same. Sometimes that's also used to test concepts before they're implemented into something else entirely too.

It's honestly been going so great, I'm looking into ordering a full minipla set myself.

But when you are dealing with a franchise that does need yearly new material. You might be amazed by how some things are randomly pulled out of an ass last minute because they need a show the next year, because pausing the franchise as a whole isn't an option, especially with major anniversaries around the corner and how it's become a tradition staple as well as part of a world-wide sales phenomenon and licensing income form that's growing in all markets. So yeah, sometimes a random 'filler' series is thrown out there, but is given as much buffer as it can to keep that from being noticed and still make it successful.

I really want we has aviation as main theme for future sentai series. The Rangers have a classic pilot goggle on their helmet. Maybe will be similar to Jetman but without bird motif.

Maybe their Sentai Team name is Aviator Sentai Skyranger :D

Next Super Sentai Series is rumored to be has Medieval Knight as main theme. Probably they will be back to 5 Rangers again in one team. Hmm...maybe next series will be has collectible gimmick again......

If next Super Sentai series has Medieval Knight theme is true, I hope the mecha concept will be wearing armor just like DairenOh. Different auxiliaries mecha to make different armor for Giant Robo will be very interesting and very cool.

Did someone say Medieval?

http://cdn2us.denofgeek.com/sites/de...?itok=cwP1Ku0e

So basically expect the next Sentai show to be crammed out the butt with gimmicks.

Bringing the Mystic Knights back for a crossover episode when America adapts this upcoming Medieval themed series??? YES PLEASE!