What Do You Think Could Have Caused Lower Toy Sales For Lupinranger VS. Patranger?

I didn't want to write this post immediately but I decided that I may want to at least give my speculation to what happened. Remember this is partly speculative though I got said news from the Tokusatsu Network. Here's what's being said about the current standing between Kamen Rider and Super Sentai (and Ultraman is listed to) in terms of Bandai merchandise sales:

First quarter sales in the current fiscal year associated with Kaito Sentai Lupinranger VS Keisatsu Sentai Patranger posted the lowest first figures in recorded history for the franchise. Super Sentai is reported to have made 1.4 billion yen in the first quarter with forecasts of 3.0 billion yen in the first half and a full year forecast of 10.5 billion yen.

Ultraman is reported as having made 0.7 billion yen in its first quarter with a forecast of 2.5 billion yen for the first half of the financial year, making it just the second time Ultraman will have outperformed a Super Sentai series. The current show, Ultraman R/B, did not start until June, meaning its first quarter is predicted as having sold 1.8 billion yen.

Kamen Rider improved over the previous year with 4.0 billion yen sold in its first quarter and a prediction of 10.0 billion yen for the first half of the air, although it is still expected to under-perform compared to last year with 22.5 billion yen predicated against last year’s 24.8 billion yen.

So what could be going on with toy sales associated with Lupinranger vs. Patranger in contrast to Kamen Rider Build? It's really hard to say but I do have a lot of speculations that may or may not make sense. IMHO, I think merchandise from both sides look cool so I wonder what could be causing the lower sales for Lupinranger vs. Patranger toys?

In business, there's such a thing as a surplus of last year's items which I think could have led to lower toy sales for Lupinranger vs. Patranger. Here's how Investopedia defines a surplus:

A surplus is the amount of an asset or resource that exceeds the portion that is utilized. A surplus is used to describe many excess assets including income, profits, capital, and goods. A surplus often occurs in a budget, when expenses are less than the income taken in or in inventory when fewer supplies are used than were retained. Economic surplus is related to supply and demand.

My speculation would be that there could be a Kyuranger toy surplus for all we know. Here's what Tokusatsu Network also reveals from last year (2017) which could explain some surplus:

The Super Sentai/Power Rangers brand also saw an increase. The year correlating with Dobutsu Sentai Zyuohger’s run jumped to 8.8 billion yen after the 7.8 billion yen earned by the brand during the broadcast of Shuriken Sentai Ninninger. Current estimates for the next fiscal year, which include the run of Uchu Sentai Kyuranger forecast an increase in toys sold to 11.0 billion yen. If these forecasts are reflected in actual sales, this would mark the highest earning year for the brand since 2014.

I was thinking if toy sales went up after the rather low performance of toy sales during Ninninger (though I can't figure out the reason why), then it went to 8.8 billion yen with Zyuohger and then it jumped by 2.2 billion (hence reaching 11 billion yen) for Kyuranger. What if the toy sales were so good that Bandai ended producing more toys that ended up in surplus? In short, the economies of scale created more affordable merchandise to buy before and after the show ended.

Sometimes, some people prefer to wait for the prices of certain merchandise to drop. What's new tends to sell at a higher price than something that's not so new. Businesses want to recover from the costs associated with manufacturing so they are normally sold at a higher price. If they don't do so then how can they recover from the cost of manufacturing? Some people may still be buying discounted Kyuranger merchandise (which may be items that they weren't able to collect) in contrast to the more expensive newly released Lupinranger vs. Patranger merchandise.

Not to mention, I personally think that the Kyuranger toys look cooler than the Lupinranger vs. Patranger toys. What if the impact of last year's really cool designs overrode this year's designs? It tends to happen too much when last year's innovative concept overshadows this year's innovative concept. It's just like how last month's innovative cooking may have overshadowed this month's innovative cooking. 

I was also wondering (and speculating) what could have caused Kamen Rider Build's newly released merchandise to do better than last year's Kamen Rider EX-AID toys? It could be because toys this year are better done than last year? Is it because Kamen Rider may have become more popular this year than last year? I think Kamen Rider merchandise this year is better than last year and that the franchise is currently more popular than Super Sentai. I wonder are some people in Japan having a taste fatigue for the Super Sentai franchise and that they are momentarily taking a break from it before they decide to check out more of it? The scenario seems to be like that considering Super Sentai is Toei's longest running Tokusatsu series and hasn't had a break since 1979 (though a two year break came after 1977's JAKQ) up to 2018 -- that would be a total of 39 years of non-stop production with some ups and downs depending on what goes on behind the scenes. That's in contrast to Kamen Rider's non-stop production is only up to 19 years -- though we have the 20th rider since Kamen Rider Decade didn't get a year long run and was quickly replaced by Kamen Rider W. 

I could probably compare Super Sentai and Kamen Rider to tonkatsu and tonkotsu. Both of them keep getting new varieties or different ways of preparation to keep both product lines going. You can come up with different varieties yet there's one thing innovation can't do -- it can't prevent taste fatigue formation! Sure, well-done innovative ideas can bring in a lot of new customers making better profits -- though old customers may soon decide to take a short or even a long break after some time. It reminds me of how it was to eat nothing but Japanese food for a whole month then I ended up getting bored of it. Did I despise the new items in said cuisine and am I against the changes? No. I just decided not to taste them for now because I was bored with Japanese food and decided to try something else for another whole month. The taste fatigue cycle is something that couldn't be prevented no matter how good the changes may be. 

What are your thoughts on this year's slump for Lupinranger vs. Patranger's toy sales and higher sales for Kamen Rider Build's toy sales?