Kamen Rider Fourze Discussion Thread 2.0

[FieryRed]

We gotta remember that toy sales ARE kinda the point of these shows, for better or for worse...

Then I hope Go-busters sell alot of toys, then.

 

[Psychotime]

Though I'm curious, was Kamen Rider as a franchise always had their mind set on toy sales > audiences/encouraging kids/fans?

I seriously doubt that.

 

[Oblivion]

I'm just wondering since I'm watching V3 and there's really not much merchandising compared to some of the newer heisei Riders.

 

[Psychotime]

I seriously doubt that Tezuka's apprentice ever gave a damn about anything other than making stuff that he genuinely had fun creating.

I'd be shocked if Tezuka ever mentored someone who did otherwise.

 

[Oblivion]

So can I blame it all on Bandai for all the gimmicky stuffs like Meteor Storm's beyblade? When did Bandai started sponsoring Toei speaking of which?

 

[NeonZ]

So Toei changed Hibiki for the sole reason of boosting toy sales?

They also reduced production costs (like using less far location spots for shooting).

Though I'm curious, was Kamen Rider as a franchise always had their mind set on toy sales > audiences/encouraging kids/fans?

That wasn't really the case with Hibiki though. The show average was higher than Blade's, but not that much, not even approaching Faiz from just two years before, and part of that average comes from Inoue's side of the series - the Inoue/Shirakura episodes in general had higher ratings than the episodes of the original crew.

 

[Oblivion]

I wonder what made the rating go up instead of a drop since even japanese fans were complicating at that time if I am correct?

 

[NeonZ]

I wonder what made the rating go up instead of a drop since even japanese fans were complicating at that time if I am correct?

The Inoue/Shirakura combo made the Heisei Rider shows with the highest ratings. Even if Hibiki fans complained, their return probably meant that some of the audience that left alongside Faiz also returned.

Of course, bringing back Inoue didn't really work for Kabuto, so maybe those two started to burn their fame with Hibiki.

 

[Hidden Masta]

I liked both halves of Hibiki.

I'm really glad Bandai didn't managed to screw up Fourze too with it's ridiculous amount of CGI and wire-fu(when Sakamoto's around).

That's the only time Fourze fights are worth a damn. He actually uses and combines switches in clever ways.

 

[Lynxara]

So Toei changed Hibiki for the sole reason of boosting toy sales? If so, that's rather disappointing.

To explain Toei's actions a bit better, you have to understand exactly how bad Hibiki's toy sales were. To this day, Hibiki is by far the worst-selling entry in the Heisei Rider franchise, and that's counting numbers from after the retooling.

My understanding is that the first couple quarters of merchandise for the show were just unimaginably awful, lose-your-shirt numbers. That's not to say that what Toei did was right, but from Toei's perspective, Takatera was turning Hibiki into a money pit.