Darth Mingus

1 minute ago, Mommar said:

Hmm, I don't think the arms rotate forward without the intake/pec rotating too.

Agreed, I think these two pictures confirm it.  The shoulder hinge allows for up/down, back front, but the rotation is at the intakes.

I can’t wait.  Just got charged at hlj.  The posable pilot and bike is a nice bonus, they could have left it out and it would still have been a solid toy. 

Sigh... the A-to-Z project is getting out of hand:

On the other hand, I am super excited for the Barbatos expansion pack.  Now the debate is whether I need 6 MG Barbatos kits...

9 hours ago, wm cheng said:

So $18.64 went to DHL is what I meant which didn't sit right with me.

With DHL, they purposely go through their shipments and process the taxes on behalf of CBSA, and then they charge you for the service.  With EMS via Canada Post, they let CBSA decide whether to charge taxes or not.  I think I have paid taxes maybe 2 time in the last 10 years with Canada Post.

Given that Amazon pays this upfront and refunds me when I ship with them via DHL, I would not be surprised if DHL charges us upfront and pockets the taxes if CBSA decides not to charge taxes given how infrequently packages are actually taxed.

Also, I have had full value declarations on packages from AmiAmi, HLJ, etc that were not taxed.  The only difference I can see if if they mark the contents as Toys vs. Collectables.  I never get ding'd for Toys, but usually do for collectables.

1 minute ago, wm cheng said:

Well, EMS to Canada took over 1.5 months from Mandarake for my YF-19 but no Customs & Duties.  DHL however I was just dinged both a Processing Fee AND a Transaction Fee on top of the Government Duties and Taxes which ended up paying more to DHL than the government.  Never had Customs & Duties when I ordered EMS, only through couriers.

I feel for you.  DHL and UPS are terrible.  I pay way more for their "service" than I do in taxes.  The only time I do not pay for taxes using DHL is via Amazon Japan.  I can't wait until EMS/SAL resumes.

4 hours ago, lechuck said:

It seems Bandai's GunPla devision has got something up their sleeve for MG.

https://www.taghobby.com/archives/457984

I guess we are getting another RX-78-2...

hmmm, now that you mention it:

The PG Strike Gundam is still a pretty awesome kit, rock solid.  Both the Unicorn and Exia are OK, but not as good as the Strike.  I actually built the Unicorn and Exia before my Strike (even though I bought it when it first came out) and it was still better.  The Strike Freedom is OK, but the kit is tedious to build and fragile due to the way the wings are connected.

If you can wait, there is a new PG RX-78 coming this year.  Until then, the Strike and Astray kits are probably your best bang for your buck.

I still dream of a PG VF-1, though...

Based on the description from Twitter, the Wing Zero Custom Ver. Ka will transform into Neo-Bird mode similar to the Metal Build and the Hi Resolution Model.  Not really sure why we needed a Ver Ka. of this kit.  Easy skip for me.

28 minutes ago, anubis20 said:

Oh Im building them all, Its just that I can only build one of them this year. I try to build different kits as much as possible to experience different build types. 

I got ya... i'm terrible, I usually have 3-4 kits going at the same time.  I am decaling a MG Banshee, painting a MG Barbatos, snap fitting a MG Hi-Nu, about to start a MG Alex and putzing around with some AoZ HGUC kits and the Penelope.  I think I need help...

10 hours ago, Mommar said:

Why can Marvel and not Star Wars?  They're owned by the same company.  That also doesn't explain why other domestic retailers aren't selling IG-11.  Plenty of other web exclusives are sold domestically at a mark up.

Pre-existing licensing agreements.  Not all the Marvel stuff can come over, I believe, and some of them are based on what Bluefin wants to bring in.  Star Wars was locked to long term Hasbro contracts, Marvel MCU does not have blanket exclusivity agreements in place.

41 minutes ago, anubis20 said:

Yea I try to get them as close to the depiction in the manual as possible. Although I suspect Bandai uses bigger figures to paint and put in the manual, some of the details are too tiny and I cant copy them 

I cant decide between the Blitz and Duel  Might end up flipping a coin 

why not both?

14 hours ago, seti88 said:

Wing Zero EW ver KA...

Super disappointed about this.  I thought the lazy path would be a Full Armour ZZ Ver. Ka, this was even lazier.  Given the 1 week countdown, this was not what I was expecting them to announce.

They also announced an Entry Grade RX-78, which would make it the 5th RX-78 in ~12 months (G40, The Origin, Beyond, Entry, PG Unleashed - assuming Dec 2020 release).  Given this week was the Shizuoka replacement event, I am surprised they did not provide more information on the new PG.

2 hours ago, M'Kyuun said:

Godspeed, Doug and Bob!

As a Canadian, this is what pops to mind:

The Gundam Fix Figuration Metal Composite MS-06C Zaku II Type C is available at HLJ, in case anyone wants one:

https://www.hlj.com/gundam-fix-figuration-metal-composite-ms-06c-zaku-ii-type-c-bans59081

15 minutes ago, Chronocidal said:

How about we compromise and just go DMYDMY?  

All of the dates in my work documentation tend to flip around a lot, but the one I find myself using most is YYYYMMDD, because that's the date extension I add to my filenames.  It's a little redundant to the "modified by" date, but also has the benefit of meaning that if I'm making multiple versions of a file, sorting by alphabetical order also puts them in chronological order.

Based on the thread and my age, shouldn't all dates be nnnn BBY and nnnn ABY? 

19 hours ago, anubis20 said:

Oh I didnt know that existed, is it a conversion or full resin kit?

Full resin kit.  The casting quality is quite nice.  I have not paid attention to the garage kits market in years but I always wanted a 1/100 scale Wondwort.  Here are some pics of the completed model.  I can PM you a link to the shop I got if from is you like.

@anubis20 Nice.  The MG Barbatos is a pretty good kit.  And the AoZ stuff is fun.

I just picked up a 1/100 Wondwort garage kit.  Haven't looked at all the parts yet, but casting looks good, comes with photo-etch and waterslide decals.

12 hours ago, Mommar said:

P-Bandai Exclusive Avengers/Endgame Cap, Sept 2020.  I imagine we'll see a Mk. VII re-release and maybe we'll actually get proper versions of Thor, Hawkeye, Hulk and Black Widow too.  I know they did show off a supposed Avengers Hulk that was pretty much just the much improved Infinity War body but with an atrocious head sculpt.

America's Ass...

fantastic work on the Tomcat.  Inspirational build.

P-Bandai:  MG MBF-P02 Astray Red Frame 

August 2020, 7,150Y

This is the version of the Red Frame I've always wanted.

The flight unit will be available as a separate P-Bandai offering.  The BuCue head is only available in the full kit.

Hey look, she comes with glasses:

I think it is a mix between new parts and the old kit, sort of a 1.5.  If it was brand new, they would probably give it a Revive moniker or something.  The new parts were molded as part of a P-Bandai build fighter's kit last year.  The hands are a dead giveaway.  Those look like the terrible hands the HGUC line had for first 50 kits or so.

VF-1S Roy without the super parts.  At this scale, I think I prefer it without the super/strike parts.

10 hours ago, borgified said:

If I use Manda for EMS, I usually get slapped with Customs on a few occasions and twice using SAL. 

I paid close to roughly $40 CND Customs on the HMR Monster and close to $60 CND Customs on the DX YF-19 Full Set by using EMS on both orders. 

Yep.. Us Canadians get hosed in Customs Fees. 

I think something that helps is what they declare the item as.  I get dinged when they write "Collector's Item" but not when they write "Toys" or "Model Kits", at least when I use SAL shipping.  EMS is 50/50.  UPS and DHL are usually a-holes and charge you a "service fee" on top of the CBSA tax.

grumble-grumble-asshats won't ship to Canada-grumble-grumble...