[Kiwami]

I write it down every time the whole "Why is Kivala a retail release when XYZ isn’t"-discussion comes up, but I’ll do it again.

First, what Talisman said: They plan releases from an ongoing show in advance. And they have to make a plan on which figures to sell in retail and which not. And even popular characters end up in the Web Exclusive-lineup, because they are not the main character or don’t seem to have the potential to be popular enough. That can go wrong, and it did with Gaim because they couldn’t respond to the popularity of characters that even changed their script in the show. Like Baron Lemon Energy who ended up as a con-exclusive and later lucky draw-item.

Another thing is: Web-Exclusives aren’t that hard to obtain in Japan, and that’s all Bandai cares about since Web-Exclusives aren’t meant to be sold outside of Japan in the first place. They’ll sell Chaser to the people who want him, get their profit and that’s it.

And regarding Kivala and her appearance in stores rather than the Web-Shop: I think the answer is pretty simple, it’s the design. It’s so girly and stupid that magical girl or anime fans in general who have no idea about Kamen Rider might like it enough to pick it up. Metal cleavage to the rescue.