Anasazi37
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2022 -
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Everything posted by Anasazi37
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The B-level Hikaru 1S Strike I found on Jungle right before Christmas finally showed up earlier this week. He is minty fresh. The only thing the previous owner did was open the box and remove one set of the optional head lasers from their sprue. Like @jeniussaid, B-level is a gamble, though. I just ordered a 1/55 Hikaru 1A reissue whose price was suspiciously low (¥6000 instead of the usual ¥16000). Since I'm going to use it for a custom, I didn't mind if the box was damaged or there was some yellowing since the valk will be completely repainted, so I figured that explained the price difference and it was worth the risk. To Jungle's credit, they sent me an email apologizing for the status of the toy ("Outer Box damage (slight), sunburn (moderate)") and asking if I still wanted it. Hell yes I still wanted it.
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Nice decal artwork
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I rarely get to put that education to good use these days
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Good point
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As a professionally-trained archaeologist, I can tell what the standard explanation is when we don't know an object's purpose: ritual item. Imagine an archaeologist finding a Detolf filled with these things, carefully posed and displayed, with three copies of the same variant showing a transformation sequence. Looks like a shrine and valks are our deities. Given that they're machines and people are inside of them, whole books would be written about the deep symbolism of the fusion of humans and technology, plus some ramblings about how ancient myths and legends about man transforming into animals had been updated for our era.
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Or you could be really brave and paint those spots by hand or with an airbrush (forgot to add that)
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Some properly-sized, well-placed transparent waterslide decals or stickers would work. Since those spots are already painted white, you wouldn't need to use white paper or a fancy printer (ALPS or OKI) that can generate white-backed designs so the colors show up correctly on the dark blue background. You could probably get away with laser or inkjet designs if you adequately protect them. I will probably experiment with options once my Hikaru and SSP set get here. Both are in transit right now.
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We haven't even seen a preview of Roy yet at a Bandai event--just Hikaru, Max, and Hayao. So, my head was telling me they were of course joking, by my heart convinced me to check anyways because, well, it's Bandai and they've done crazier stuff than this in the past.
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I just snagged a new one on AJ for 25k with free shipping to my Tenso address. Right now they seem to be hovering around 26-27k plus domestic shipping. I had been holding off on buying one, hoping to snag it on Mandarake instead for 25k, but when their price jumped to 30k, it was time to move.
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¥11470 from AE using Registered Small Packet, "shipped" to the US. I put shipped in quotes because it's been four days since they sent me the shipping notification and I haven't been able to track the package yet. They generated the shipping label and sent me the tracking number, but who knows if it's actually been dropped off at the post office. I've never had shipping issues with them, so it will get here...eventually.
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Hachette Collection 1/24 VF-1S (subscription collectable)
Anasazi37 replied to CF18's topic in Model kits
Canopy seam removal instructions courtesy of a step-by-step build guide for the 1/72 Atmospheric Booster done by master modeler @wm cheng: -
Anyone waiting to hear from NY about their SSP order is going to have to wait at least another week. They're now on a holiday break.
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I'm not sure why I didn't make the connection--thanks for the reminder. I saw that post a few months ago and said "meh." Not a big fan of expensive subscription builds (especially since I don't live in Japan). I'll stick to my Plamax 1/20 kits. All we need is for Max Watanabe to make a retail version of the Strike battroid he recently kitbashed for an event and I'll have all three modes.
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Glad I'm not the only who feels that the kite symbol is way too large.
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Direct link to the site: http://www.hcj.jp/vf1/home.html
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I've had good experiences with them when ordering TWE items. Buyee is another option that MW members have talked about, and there are several more that all seem reasonable. Whichever proxy you go with, though, you should get your orders in early. Bandai enforces per-item purchasing limits. They might be higher for proxies than for individual customers, but there are limits. I've already had one order cancelled by FJ for that reason, but they were very professional about it. They explained why it happened and immediately refunded my payment. You should see all of the items you've requested to ship in the "Pay Shipping" section and once they're shipped they'll show up in the "Shipped" section, which is as close as they get to giving you a list of past orders. Their system is not as elegant as HLJ's, but at least the items don't completely disappear.
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Seems like they sent that message to everyone who ordered SSP sets from them, regardless of when the order was placed (mine was after P-Bandai started taking POs for the April batch)
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Thanks for the heads up, guys! I just checked my account and my set is ready to ship, too. Availability notices from them have been hit or miss for me over the past year.
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Mine went straight to the Junk Mail folder, so even my email provider is skeptical of their "highest and sincere regards"
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My hopes of obtaining TWE items directly were dashed right after setting up a Tenso forwarding address. Bandai put several countermeasures in place to thwart forwarding services: You have to provide your name in both Kanji and Hiragana You have to provide a valid domestic phone number (they won't accept the one provided by Tenso and other forwarding services) You have to provide valid domestic financial information (e.g., bank account, credit card, pre-loaded debit/gift card) The first one isn't too difficult, and the second one could potentially be arranged with some planning (buy a cell?), but the third is the hardest because of banking laws and procedures that require identity and residency verification. I'm sure that those laws and procedures exist for very good reasons and, based on a quick interwebz search, trying to set something up remotely looks to be challenging. So far they haven't blocked proxy buying services, but they do put a limit on purchase quantity. I found that out the hard way when I recently tried to get two Missile sets using FromJapan and my order was cancelled because FJ hit their ceiling. I think we're finding that the proxies move faster than AE and NY, and are a heck of a lot more transparent and professional, but there is still a delay (several hours to several days, depending on your time zone) because you have to tell them what you want, they have to send you a quote, then you have to pay, and only then do they attempt to make the purchase for you. Given how quickly the first release SSP sets sold out, I wonder how many people managed to snag them via proxies.
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Status update for anyone who ordered SSP sets from AE: I'm still waiting for an "item available for shipping" notification from them. They've confirmed twice that mine will ship this month, but I don't believe them. I'm beginning to think that they completely screwed up orders for the first release since it sold out so fast.
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There are three versions of it: Regular, SP, and Wings of Goodbye. The last one is a little darker green than the first two and both the SP and WoG versions have "nose art" but they are different. All three regularly show up on Mandarake, if you're patient. Looks like @sh9000 has the same one I do (WoG). Here is @jenius's full review: http://anymoon.com/blog/?p=4194
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Yikes. Well, worst case, I'll customize it. Maybe a Blue Roses 002 or a Minmay Guard Moon Act.
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Finally snagged a Hikaru 1S Strike today! It's usually up there on the more expensive side (¥17,000-19,000) with Roy's Strike, but Jungle had one for ¥13,200 in B condition, so I pounced on it. I've had good luck with their B-level stuff, so I'm willing to take the chance. The last B item I ordered was the Missile Effect Set and the description said it had been opened and displayed. Opened, yes. Displayed? Not likely, unless it was in the tray with the cover on it. Pieces looked brand new and all of the plastic bits were still on the sprues.
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Agreed. That's why I've switched to using proxies like FromJapan unless I have no other choice. They've always been honest with me about when they can and can't order an item for me. I don't like how AE is handling this situation.
