Bandai DX VF-31

[Plasticgoose]

I guess for me HLJ has always been the go to source for Macross compared to the other online stores. Yet for whatever reason, it seems like NY get a bulk of the stock compared to the other sites as upon the release date, they seem to be the only store with extra/new stock. NY is also the most expensive. I had expected better from HLJ especially after they acknowledged it was a system issue on their side. I feel like they they should issue some coupons or store credit to those that lost their orders due to their less than stellar preparation. I have done pre-order madness with HLJ before in the past with no issues, but this last one was bad.

[Chronocidal]

Actually, this is what's got me entirely confused right now. For this particular preorder NY is way below the retail price. And on top of that, when did they stop their trend of opening up increasingly higher priced lots?

I'd gotten to where I was fairly comfortable with the way they did their business, just for the reassurance that, yeah, I might pay a bit more, but I'll be able to get one of whatever I'm trying to order. With all the recent orders though (HMRs and DXs), I haven't seen any more appear on their site.

[dur]

Many thanks to the open-hearted MW'ers here who were willing to post the information: I managed to secure a preorder at HLJ for my very first non-secondary market Macross purchase: feels kinda good, but kinda sad too since not all of us got one

I used my iphone at HLJ and while it took a long time, I didn't get any load errors or anything (maybe there's a more forgiving timeout on the phone?)- by the time I checked out 15 minutes had passed! It's still in my orders bucket as of today (crossing fingers).

[erikos0311]

Many thanks to the open-hearted MW'ers here who were willing to post the information: I managed to secure a preorder at HLJ for my very first non-secondary market Macross purchase: feels kinda good, but kinda sad too since not all of us got one

I used my iphone at HLJ and while it took a long time, I didn't get any load errors or anything (maybe there's a more forgiving timeout on the phone?)- by the time I checked out 15 minutes had passed! It's still in my orders bucket as of today (crossing fingers).

Good to hear that brother! I say if you haven't gotten a cancelation notice by now, you should be good to go.

[Sandman]

http://hlj.com/product/BANN06298/Act

red low stock go get yours!

What the hell. Figinstock didn't alert me.

[Chronocidal]

Judging by how fast it disappeared? I imagine they only had it up for a few minutes at best.

[F360]

Actually, this is what's got me entirely confused right now. For this particular preorder NY is way below the retail price. And on top of that, when did they stop their trend of opening up increasingly higher priced lots?I'd gotten to where I was fairly comfortable with the way they did their business, just for the reassurance that, yeah, I might pay a bit more, but I'll be able to get one of whatever I'm trying to order. With all the recent orders though (HMRs and DXs), I haven't seen any more appear on their site.

It seems they stop doing that around the time Hi-Metal R started.

They probably even hold some of their available stock just to post up higher after release for increase profit. Their preorders has been getting sold out much faster lately too .

[OptionZero]

What was NY's incentive for selling it CHEAPER than AA, AE, HLJ, HS, etc? Can't think of any

It was a fairly sizeable gap to, something like $30 cheaper than AmiAmi, right?

They would have had no problem selling it at an even $200, guaranteed sell out within the first 5 minutes

Bizarre

[Vortech]

http://hlj.com/product/BANN06298/Act

red low stock go get yours!

SMDH, that's like a slap in the face to those of us that got our orders canceled, especially since it's only been a few days since the email.

Everyone says that hlj's service is top notch, but honestly I have had better service from amiami, I'm done with hlj, when asking for a solution or even just an explanation of how they chose accounts for order cancellation they have remained silent. I take that as them not giving a dam.

[Chronocidal]

Just don't ever expect AmiAmi to care if they send you a broken product. Or most any of the online shops really, I think HLJ's the only source for these things that you have any remote chance of getting replacement for if they arrive with broken or missing parts.

Edited August 5, 2016 by Chronocidal

[no3Ljm]

Just don't ever expect AmiAmi to care if they send you a broken product. Or most any of the online shops really, I think HLJ's the only source for these things that you have any remote chance of getting replacement for if they arrive with broken or missing parts.

Agreed.

[trojan_gambit]

Do you guys have prediction on Chuck's DX ?

Will it come with Radome container only, Standard Rifle container only, or maybe with both ?

[wmkjr]

Do you guys have prediction on Chuck's DX ?

Will it come with Radome container only, Standard Rifle container only, or maybe with both ?

My prediction is: He'll be easier to get (As only me and one other guy like his valk ), come with radome container only and be the last release for the Walkure valks.

Don't worry Chuck, I got your back!

Edited August 5, 2016 by wmkjr

[Andy NYK]

My prediction is: He'll be easier to get (As only me and one other guy like his valk ), come with radome container only and be the last release for the Walkure valks.

Don't worry Chuck, I got your back!

How about Arad's??? Hope his and Keith's will be easy too^^

[seti88]

My prediction is: He'll be easier to get (As only me and one other guy like his valk ), come with radome container only and be the last release for the Walkure valks.

Don't worry Chuck, I got your back!

Worse case scenario: No one could get the others....and its a mad scramble to get at least chucks!

How about Arad's??? Hope his and Keith's will be easy too^^

Well arad may be easier looking at how his valk hardly does anything so far!

[Scyla]

I think it will depends on how well the other VF-31 sell and how good of a toy they are. With the Renewal VF-25 I wasn't able to secure a preorder with the first batch of the RVF-2. However I think that the VF-31J/F are gonna be the hardest to get. After that the VF-31S/C and than the VF-31E.

The cannon fodder might be harder to get than you think because it is so different from the other VF-31 units. The VF-25A was basically a brown VF-25G with a less impressive gun.

[Garfinkel]

My prediction is: He'll be easier to get (As only me and one other guy like his valk ), come with radome container only and be the last release for the Walkure valks.

Don't worry Chuck, I got your back!

I am all over the Chuck vf-31. However i think it will come with a standard pod. The radome will come as a tamashii exclusive with the super parts. Because, you know, bandai are all about squeezing us for money.

[chyll2]

@Scyla

But that less impressive gun was colored gun metal and made some people lose their mind.

I am waging though, the CF will be easy to get after release, they rarely show up in the series and hardly do anything as well. But we are talking about a lot of year waiting for it to show up.

This thread is like a rant thread now since it is true, the show only highlights select few.

[enphily]

I want VF-31J and Super VF-31C, but maybe i'll can buy only J because of money.

Thank Universe i had preorder on HLJ

[wm cheng]

My prediction is: He'll be easier to get (As only me and one other guy like his valk ), come with radome container only and be the last release for the Walkure valks.

Don't worry Chuck, I got your back!

Hey, I love Chuck's VF-31E - sucker for the Radome (really hope its included right from the outset - don't see why not, the VF-25G included it) and the orange/grey scheme is my favourite colour combo.

So lets just make thousands and only have the four of us here on these boards buy it - maybe I can sleep that night instead of the PO madness. I hope it will come out before the end though - I can't wait that long.

Of course I haven't really been watching the series, so I don't really know how Chuck does - just looking at his plane from a purely aesthetic point of view. Can't seem to get into it with all the really young silly girly stuff going on yet.

[aurance]

Chuck doesn't do a whole lot in the series. But I'm with ya, generally I divorce toy coolness from what it does/doesn't do in the show.

Edited August 5, 2016 by aurance

[Shukenzero]

We will find out if Loopaza is legit or not. Took the plunge, and paid in full, the bad is that they only accept paypal, so I won't have buyer protection. Total price for the item and to ship to Southern California = $240, making this the most expensive DX I have bought at retail. Hopefully Loopaza comes through, if not I may be asking for some help from HK members early next year.

Hey man I looked for them the other day but the numbering is a bit off. I'll head back to see if I can find their physical address as it should be the exact location they ask people to send back faulty items.

[trojan_gambit]

I am all over the Chuck vf-31. However i think it will come with a standard pod. The radome will come as a tamashii exclusive with the super parts. Because, you know, bandai are all about squeezing us for money.

They can squeeze even more money by releasing Delta02 with Messer pilot as a regular, then repackage the same Delta02 with the same 31J's Hayate pilot as Limited ....

[F360]

My prediction is: He'll be easier to get (As only me and one other guy like his valk ), come with radome container only and be the last release for the Walkure valks.

Don't worry Chuck, I got your back!

Chuck will most likely come with everything , and since the demand will not be as huge as the normal valk, bandai will just make the whole thing tamashii exclusive.

[F360]

Hey man I looked for them the other day but the numbering is a bit off. I'll head back to see if I can find their physical address as it should be the exact location they ask people to send back faulty items.

Thanks for checking it out for us.

[Vortech]

Hey man I looked for them the other day but the numbering is a bit off. I'll head back to see if I can find their physical address as it should be the exact location they ask people to send back faulty items.

Thanks, they also might not have a physical storefront.

The guy I order comics from here in the U.S. doesn't have a physical address for his company, and it could be a similar situation with lapooza.

They are also called CircleSoft Solutions Ltd. that's what appeared in my paypal statement which doesn't inspire much confidence either, but rolling the dice on this one.

[Heatwave]

Omg I swear if Bandai make Mirage's VF-31C an exclusive only I will rage so hard. Also, would it kill them to make a greater quantity of these figures instead of the severely limited number they did with the VF-31J? People shouldn't have to worry about not getting a preorder within the first 10 minutes of it being made available.

[Chronocidal]

Actually, having any of these as a web exclusive is, ironically, the best thing that can happen. When web exclusives are sold in shops like Nippon Yasan, they take however many preorders are in before the deadline, and they're made to order, so everyone gets one. No rush, no cart jacking, just a nice relaxing purchase.

[David Hingtgen]

Yup. I wish they were all exclusives. You have a weeks-long ordering timeframe instead of 4 secs, and you have like a 99% chance of getting what you put in your cart.

[Heatwave]

Well I guess that's a plus. I prefer ordering from HLJ though so I can group my orders to save on shipping. But I guess if I had to choose between missing out and paying aftermarket prices or getting it as an exclusive I'd pick the latter.

[Shukenzero]

I found the shop. It's a video game store in Sino Centre. I don't buy much from them but they have been around for a very long time. They also sell a number of figures and usually do the Banpresto prize draws. They are legit.

Hopefully all members who ordered from them will rest assured that they aren't some shady company. Probably making more money from overseas as local business has been hit by a bad year. They don't offer any of the figures in the actual store, but yeah they are a decent bet.

[F360]

I found the shop. It's a video game store in Sino Centre. I don't buy much from them but they have been around for a very long time. They also sell a number of figures and usually do the Banpresto prize draws. They are legit.

Hopefully all members who ordered from them will rest assured that they aren't some shady company. Probably making more money from overseas as local business has been hit by a bad year. They don't offer any of the figures in the actual store, but yeah they are a decent bet.

awesome , thank you.

[Revonaut]

How do the Web exclusives work? Are they only available on the Bandai website or are they also available on the usual ones?

[Vortech]

I found the shop. It's a video game store in Sino Centre. I don't buy much from them but they have been around for a very long time. They also sell a number of figures and usually do the Banpresto prize draws. They are legit.

Hopefully all members who ordered from them will rest assured that they aren't some shady company. Probably making more money from overseas as local business has been hit by a bad year. They don't offer any of the figures in the actual store, but yeah they are a decent bet.

Nice Thanks, for checking them out.

I will probably stick with them for all future releases provided they deliver on the 1J.

Rather pay a bit of a premium and get a full nights sleep and not deal with the madness.

[F360]

How do the Web exclusives work? Are they only available on the Bandai website or are they also available on the usual ones?

Officially they are only available on Banda's website. You will not be able to order it if you don't live the websites area.

They will not be aviable at the normal stores like HLJ, amiami, hobbysearch. etc.

There are stores that will buy a bunch for a extra fee and you can preorder it from them, nippon-yasan, mykombini, etc.

You can also use a proxy service for a extra fee, and they will preorder it for you.

Payment will be upfront for pretty much all Web Exclusive and you will be paying the tax and the proxy service fee.