Anasazi37

WHY, BANDAI? WHY??? No one asked for this and the secondary market has plenty of the past releases available NIB at MSRP or below. I agree that they should have included the sound booster to at least make it a complete set...and maybe a little more interesting. I'm treating this as further evidence to support my hypothesis that Bandai is using some kind of poorly-trained AI model to make their Macross release decisions, because they can't be bothered to put any real human thought into the process. An executive clicks a button and the program spits out the next ten release ideas automatically. Job done. Fourth release of the same valk? Perfect! Another non-canon valk with dubious links to another product line's 50th anniversary that uses a strange combination of colors and finishes on parts? Great! Using a random decision generator program would give us more variety in releases than whatever Bandai is doing right now.

That's mainly what I was referring to. Like the non-canon Angel Birds logo stamped all over that valk. As soon as I saw it, the valk went from must-buy to no-buy.

Bandai just proved to us that they are very much capable of not destroying a beautiful valk with excessive tampo, but they choose to do it anyway (Angel Birds, YF-21, etc.).

Wow, a 69% markup over the published price (¥33,000 with tax included). That's very high, even for Luna Park...which based on the experiences of other MW members seems to mark up Macross items quite a bit compared to other stores. And they have it listed as being exclusive to Japan, but the Tamashii Nations website indicates that it will be available in Japan, Asia more broadly, and the US. The VF-1S Strike Mechanic Edition is currently selling on Yahoo Japan for roughly the same price. I'll be interested to see if other stores offer this for less. Another option would be to wait until release and pick one up on the secondary market. I'm having a difficult time believing it will cost more than ¥55,800 to get one that way, but maybe the "Tamashii Store Event" nature of it will make it really difficult to obtain?

Agreed, full Iron Type would have been an insta-buy for me. This one...not so much. I can appreciate the creativity that went into producing it, but it's just not my thing. I have my fingers crossed that all who want it can get their hands on it, though. Especially if it will be available at the Tamashii Nations store in New York.

That's a good point. I know that as a community we perpetually complain about canon stuff that Bandai teases and never releases. or just completely ignores in favor of non-canon releases like this one. It seems like every time there's an HMR release, a member posts the "bingo card" from the initial HMR announcement and we look to see if we can cross any of the remaining unreleased items off the list. Usually we can't. Where's my HMR Regult Scout? Another good point. I do feel that Yamato (putting aside their failed business model) did a great job of building up street cred in the community by not ignoring canon stuff, so when they did non-canon repaints, our reaction was "cool, those are interesting, I'll buy them" instead of "why are they selling non-canon variants when they still haven't made the Max and Miria 1Js, the CF 1A, the Hayao TV 1A, etc." Yamato's approach was logical and they seemed to do a good job of interacting with, and listening to, this community--because they were fans themselves. I don't think any of us truly understand what Bandai is doing with these releases, but as long as they keep making Macross stuff, I'm cautiously optimistic that we'll eventually get all of the canon stuff. I don't know if any true fans are in charge of anything within Bandai. For all we know, there's some generative AI bot deciding what gets released. Maybe that's why this 50th anniversary VF-1J looks the way that it does.

This could have been a production run of the long-overdue VF-1A Hayao TV, to complete the squadron. But no, we're getting something...unique instead.

It's like Howl's Moving Castle and Voltron had a child

I think it's super weird as well. Hard pass for me (not my thing), but good hunting to those trying to snag one.

The VF-19 is starting to show up for PO in the US. Price range looks to be $120-140, or a 40-65% markup. Looks like I won't have to eat my hat, but I hope the prices for WWM start to come down.

Mich appreciated. I should have checked the early pages of the thread....

US versions. Intriguing idea. Bandai would definitely get more mileage out of their molds that way.

Found it! Tamashii Nations event in 2021. VF-1S Hikaru, no armor parts, but I can see a tiny Minmay in the upper left corner.

Yes! I forgot about that one. A VF-1S Hikaru (Strike?) with Minmay, I think. There is like one image of it from some random Bandai event several years ago, maybe standing next to the first VF-25 valks announced as part of the line? Hopefully someone here has the image. And agreed, would love to see VF-1 variants in this adorable line. Every single standard one from SDFM and DYRL, at the very least. And enemy mecha! The fact that Klan's Q-Rau exists as a prototype is encouraging.

As far as I know, these are the ones that have been teased at Bandai events but are not yet available for PO: Queadluun-Rau Klan YF-29 Durandal Alto VF-25S Ozma YF-29 Max VF-31AX Hayate You can see all of them here: https://hobby.dengeki.com/event/1741260/

This thread continues to surprise and delight. Keep the finds coming!

If true, starting with a 50% markup is pretty bold. They'd be working under the assumption that international collectors are willing to pay a large premium, even above the total cost of getting a PO in Japan and having the item shipped priority international. That may be true, but the number of times I've seen WWM items eventually marked down is not a positive sign. I'm sure some business people at Bandai crunched the numbers, like we've been doing in this thread for the past few days, and came up with a markup percentage that they thought would work. If it is a market study, maybe as Bandai watches the international sales figures they'll drop the markup a bit to boost interest. If the total cost for WWM items came in under what we currently pay door-to-door for a Japan PO, I'd be willing to shift my purchasing stateside and wait the 3-4 extra months for items to arrive. It's a tough business decision: keep the higher markups at the risk of decreased demand because you think it's about convenience for international collectors, lower the markups at the risk of decreased profit because you think it's about value for international collectors, or just stop international distribution altogether because it's not worth the extra work. Based on the experiences of other MW members who collect figures from those lines, the markup is pretty consistent (45-55%). Like you, that was my first thought: is this specific to Macross or a more general thing? Seems to be more general. You'd think the markup on massive lines like Gundam would be lower, but apparently not. (Others with better information, please correct me if I'm wrong)

I've wondered how much of the markup is Bandai on its own vs. some licensing thing tied to the deal between BW and HG, or maybe a bit of both. Then it makes my head hurt and I stop wondering.

I do hope we get to price parity at some point, so then it's only about how long you're willing to wait (and not have to deal with PO Madness in the middle of the night). I'll point to the recent YF-21 PO as an example of the hefty markups that unfortunately still exist: ¥35000 in Japan ($230) vs. $350 in the US. That's a 52% markup, which is not uncommon. We usually see Bandai international markups in the range of 45-55% and that seems to extend beyond Macross to other franchises like Gundam (discussed in another thread a few months ago). Another recent example is the HMR VF-0A PO: ¥16000 in Japan ($105), $160 in the US, which is also a 52% markup. I cynically expect the HMR VF-19 to show up in the US for $125-ish, regardless of retailer, but will gladly eat my hat if it shows up closer to the Japanese MSRP of ¥13000 ($85) because that will be a win for everyone. Granted, if you're patient and wait until US retailers start marking down prices for WWM items, you can sometimes get all the way down to Japan MSRP, but it could become a situation where those retailers stop carrying Macross items because they have to sell them at a loss...and then we're right back to PO Madness for everything.

This is why I still prefer to deal with PO Madness, plus I get items 3-4 months sooner. But now when I'm dealing with the Madness, I'm always thinking, "if I can't get it tonight, I know I can get it through [insert domestic store of choice here] with a convenience markup." At some point I will stop dealing with the Madness and just throw money at the situation so I can have a good night's sleep.

For a premium version, probably, unless they do a really small production run of the regular version. That could be costly, too.

HMR VF-19 and Tiny Session YF-19 are both still available at HLJ

Agreed, which is why I ordered mine from Japan. The WWM system isn't perfect, but you're right, it does give collectors more options, so I'm glad it exists. PO Madness hasn't been completely eliminated (still required for SDFM, DYRL, and TWE items), but it's not as bad as it used to be. I just wish Bandai maintained price parity instead of adding a huge markup. Other companies like Good Smile try to keep prices the same between their Japan and US online stores.

I'm pretty sure it's Bandai jacking up the price and putting them on the slow boat. That's pretty much the same price as BBTS and most US stores carrying the preorder. $9 less than BBTS, actually. Amazon generally tries to undercut competitors, not send business to them....

Max has only been CEO for three days. I'm willing to give him a full week to settle into the job before I start expecting new Macross kit announcements.