[DreamSword]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kurona

Someone tell me I'm just some stupid person who doesn't know how business works who's got tunnel vision on specific action figures and DX toys, and whose notions of recent series simultaneously sold on western markets alongside broadcasts of the recent shows like what Ultraman is doing is just stupid and shortsighted.

I mean, I won't come off that harsh about it(I hope) but as someone who majored in Business in college, I can at the very least break down what I believe is going on for those confused or concerned. Keep in mind we have no idea what actually goes on in discussions between Team KR and Toei, so I'm basically just throwing my thoughts out there.

First off, there's a few things to keep in mind:

Unless there was some new info released that I'm not aware of, Team Kamen Rider are not the ones creating the merchandise, merely trying to convince Toei to distribute it. They are also a team of like, six people. These six people then have to do their best to try and convince a major corporation, one that didn't even know there was a KR fanbase in the US for the longest time, that the result will be worth their while. Or to put it bluntly, make them alot more money.

On top of that, also keep in mind that official merchandise designs will always, ALWAYS be alot more standard and "basic" than what fan designs are. There was a really in depth article I read a long time ago about why exactly that is, but now I can't find it for the life of me. If I do I'll be sure to edit this post and link it. That said, we HAVE gotten designs that are more in depth. Take a look at the very first line of shirts we got, or the Zero-One shirts. That said, there IS also a market for people who just wanna wear the logo. Heck, Yusuke Godai himself rocked a shirt that simplistic, and I want one.

It's also a lot easier to convince a company to try something that won't cost them much(put out a basic logo bag), than something that has a high chance of risk(distributing every KR show only for no one to watch). I imagine it was alot easier for TKR to convince Toei to distribute 71 and Kuuga due to their immense importance and popularity in Japan, which is likely Toei's' main focus. Meanwhile, the Zi-O movie probably got out thanks to it being, well, a one-off movie, and thus probably a lot quicker and cheaper to distribute and alot less chance of being a money sink. Plus it had the Driver Giveaway attached, which of course helps to advertise and sell more merchandise.

What would really help is if we had some official numbers on how well all of this stuff is doing. I imagine the first line of shirts must've sold really well, based on how we're still getting them ontop of how well they were received by fans in general.

As for Official Subs, well, it's nothing concrete, but having seen TKR's' latest streams, I think they might be working on getting Gaim distributed. Not only are they doing an official giveaway of Gaim merchandise, but the recent release of the Soccer Movie, as well as one of their streams being dedicated to reviewing and discussing the show itself, makes me think they're trying.

The pandemic also probably set things back by alot.

TL;DR: The team is small, and they're taking baby steps in order to try and make this go over as smooth as they can. Trying a little bit of everything to see what sticks, basically.

Hope this can help clear some things up!