Launch someone then immediately ground bounce them (simplifies the process of creating what I’m seeing) and go into a Gimlet.
The attack appears to hit, but it does no damage.
What am I experiencing here?
Ultimately, I’m just trying to create a full air exchange combo that cycles through everyone and finishes with the ground bounce and then Gimlet.
The answer: Gimlet isn’t OTG capable.
If you ground bounce before Gimlet, how is an OTG even relevant?
I don’t understand your question.
I pointed a more active thread to this one, and in that one, the answer was because Gimlet doesn’t hit people in “on the ground” status.
If they’re ground bounced then they aren’t in ‘on the ground’ status
What specific attack are you using. There are many attacks that ground bounce normally, but not as part of a post-launch chain (e.g. Sent’s jS or Vergil’s jS).
Something is being lost in translation (my fault).
Launch someone with S, follow after them, and throw them back down with S.
Their resulting status… what is it called?
What ultimately has me asking about Gimlet in particular is because I’m trying to find a full TAC with finisher.
I’m very much a beginner and so ending with the flying screen S into Gimlet, but it does no damage.
Hard knockdown state
Ground bounce is a special move property that causes them to actually well… bounce. Moves like hawkeye’s OTG freeze shot, Verge’s SH target combo, Haggar’s air pipe, Sentinel and Tron’s j.S, etc cause ground bounce states.
…and in the hard knockdown state, only OTG capable attacks work on the target… right?
Yes. You are correct. Off The Ground (OTG) capable attacks are ones such as Wesker’s gun, Felicia’s Sand Splash, Super Skrull’s Stone Smite, Sentinel’s :l: Rocket Punch, Wolverine’s slide, and Zero’s lvl 3 Mega Buster.
Okay. Thanks for the clarifications everyone 
Gimlet being usable anywhere is why I was confused in the first place.
The buster isn’t actually otg capable but zero has a dive that is.
Oh really? Couldn’t tell. So his :l: Rai-Genki-Baku-Whatever is an OTG?
I’m very much a Marvel newbie, but I think I can answer your question.
I think that the move that you are talking about is his 
Sentsuizan (looks like a dive at the character that is in OTG status). Zero can actually cancel any move into a level 3 buster. He can cancel the Sentsuizan with a level 3 buster and continue to combo afterwards due to the massive hitstun.