blacklotus

Yea ok we are arguing about the same thing then-- I thought you misunderstood how VAT worked with the whole 17% at each stage thing ("Americans don't have a VAT tax, but the 17% is charged at every step of the cycle - the producer sells to the wholesaler and adds 17%, then the wholesaler adds their mark up + 17% and finally the retailer does the same.")-- which is actually a sales tax (by wiki definitions).

Anyway, the whole cashflow issue mentioned by blacklotus brings up an interesting point: Is HLJ facing cashflow issues? I'd understand if they were, because they face the same pressures as (for example) GM or any other distributor in keeping overheads low. However, if there is a prolonged depression in toy sales, would we lose one of our major sources of Japanese toys?

I hope not. But considering HLJ just expanded recently (was it last year?), this global recession is bad for them in terms of timing. (Not that it's good for anyone.)

On a personal basis, I've already cut down on my monthly toy purchases. Main reasons below but are not exhaustive:

1) strong Yen vs SG$. Since Jan 2008, it has gone up by about 30%

2) preparing myself for a possible salary freeze/cut or worse, a job loss

3) loss of heiseidemocracy as a English speaking figure review website. I miss Shingo and his Tokyo comiket/wonderfest trips and figure reviews. I do hope he's well and alive, even if he gives up collecting figures totally.

Still, I can count my blessings that I have no debt, my own apartment, and some savings. (Though my recent investments need to be kept for the long term too since they're down about 50% too. )

I think we have different definitions of VAT versus sales tax. From wiki:

"Value added tax (VAT), or goods and services tax (GST), is a consumption tax levied on value added. In contrast to sales tax, VAT is neutral with respect to the number of passages that there are between the producer and the final consumer; where sales tax is levied on total value at each stage, the result is a cascade (downstream taxes levied on upstream taxes)."

So the VAT that you described (cascade effect) is actually a sales tax, while the sales tax you described (no cascade effect) is actually VAT.

Black lotus: Nice to see another Singaporean on the boards! Whatever you may think of our system of Government, you can't deny that our system WORKS. I don't mind paying the Prime Minister two million if it means that he doesn't throw the country into a constitutional crisis, resulting in tourist losses that cost 20 million dollars (for example). Besides, 7% is nothing compared to the rest of the world, or where I am now. Don't be "Shen1 zai4 fu2 zhong1 bu4 zhi1 fu2". Not to mention our income tax rates, which are really low!

I want to keep it short, as I shouldn't discuss politics in a hobby website. The timing of the increase of GST from 5% to 7% is totally wrong. Yes, it's on hindsight that it's wrong. SG is in a recession. What I don't like about this govt is the fact they are unwilling to admit they are wrong. And there's no accountability of their mistakes.

Mistake 1: terrorist suspect Mas Selamat limps out of a max security prison. No big guy takes the responsibility. They fire the guards and the superintendent of the detention centre. And the govt claimed Mas Selamat is not dangerous now (maybe because he walks with a limp).

Mistake 2: gst increase this year from 5% to 7%. All retailers are complaining about this, especially with the increase in inflation caused by high fuel prices/shortage of food supplies because of biofuel usage. They claim this gst increase is to cover the loss of tax income due the the lower taxes. Instead, because of the high property prices/high volume of property sales, income tax revenue is a nice big collection of several billion dollars surplus.

Mistake 3: GST taxation is a double taxation in SG in lots of areas. We pay 30% water-transportation tax. And we're charged GST on this tax. We pay for a TV licence (a form of tax). We pay GST on the license too. There are other examples. GST is a recessive tax. It affects the lower income much more than the richer folk out there.

Mistake 4: 2 govt linked companies, one of which is headed by the PM's wife, the other an ex-deputy PM, invest tens of billions of dollars in US, Swiss and British financial firms. The former also invested about 1 billion dollars in ABC learning company in Australia. ABC is now bankrupt. The financial firms investments are also down about 50%. Our govt claimed they're taking a long term approach, hoping to profit in 20 years time. Again, nobody takes responsibility for the fiascos.

Mistake 5: DBS bank, a govt. founded bank, and several other financial firms sells Lehman Bros linked products to illiterate retirees. These products now have zero value. What did our esteem PM, who used to be the finance minister, advise these folks, speaking after keeping silent for a fortnight (or is it more)? Caveat Emptor.

Mistake 6: Deciding to build not 1 but 2 casinos in Singapore, hoping this will bring in another source of much needed revenue from rich global gamblers. I've no need to say how immoral gambling is, not to mention the other social ills it will bring in.

But that's how we're gonna build a more caring and graceful Singapore.

I sincerely apologise for dragging politics/economics of a small red speck (or is it a snot?) into this wonderful hobby forum on Macross.

I will stop posting such trash and concentrate on Macross proper. Thank you.

Yeah - that's the movie. Although; I didn't find that it defies logic, if you accept that love and friendship are what make human life worth living. There came a point where he just became distraught with himself - that everyone he loved kept dying and he would live with basically nothing and no one...technically, he could have found new love, but I can imagine that the pain of a life where you know that what you're sharing with someone isn't the end all and be all....then you kind of get sad ...

Pete

Wow. We're on the starting grid to Bladerunner/Bubblegum crisis/ADpolice/GitS stuff here now aren't we? First Britain introduces some laws and rights for robots. And now this.

And Sci fi may some day be Science fact. e.g. Man going to the moon.

And yes, some of the best inventions come out of the garage by hobbyists. Apple PC and Microsoft OS comes to mind.

And he's a brave chap. I won't be maxing out 3 credit cards to spend on a hobby if I have no job and live with my parents. bravo. :2 thumbs up:

BTW, the name of the greek play where the women go on a sex strike against the men is 'Lysistrata' http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lysistrata

p.s. Aiko means Lovely in Japanese. The Chinese characters mean Love son/child or small love, depending on how 1 interprets the 2nd character 'ko'

One thing's for sure, 20K can get one a very nice silicone face, plus other body parts. Did he use realdolls services?

I forget which site I saw it on last week, but one of them, when you search for "MOSPEADA" shows the Stick one shipping in June, then I think the Ray one in March, and Yellow in June, if I remember correctly. No pictures though.

Any mention of Houquet? That's the only 1 I want. I only collect girl figures of teams. Cheaper, since there's usually only 1 (e.g. Jun in Gatchaman), unless it's an all-girl team, of course.

And yeah, I think hot pink is cool as a ridearmor colour.

That's a MAJOR assumption.

first, retailers very often let things go for a loss because they prefer to have cash flow.

Secondly, with the change in the value of the Yen to the Dollar, I am not surprised at the sale on Macross items - they had become "prohibitively expensive" in USD.

Saying that the mark up is 100% just because you see a blow out sale is what's pathetic.

The whole point of having retailers is that retailers are the ones who take the final risk that the product won't sell for whatever reason and are the first to get hit with the loss. (wholesalers/producers only get hit later when the retailer stops taking their orders).

Finally - there could be a third reason:

It is very possible that the WHOLESALER is the one having a blow out sale and you only THINK that HLJ has marked down their goods, when in fact it is Yamato who have marked them down because of declining sales and too much stock cluttering their shelf space.

So it's not always as simple as it seems.

Pete

Yup. I agree. Cashflow is more important than profits, especially for a company that runs on tight margins. Just ask GM/Crysler.

And yes, I've seen dirt cheap Yamato products before. My very good friend (a Macross crazy guy) bought the much sought after LOW Visibility model for S$100. That's about US$65. And guess where he bought it? In a Takashimaya store in Tokyo. He only bought one, not because there's no stock, but because he saw stacks of them on the floor. He thought nobody wants them at all.

He only found out about the CRAZY prices people are bidding on Evilbay months later. If he only knew then...he would probably be a millionaire now...

p.s. if anyone wants proof, I can always ask him to scan the credit card bill. He still has it for the record. He still couldn't believe the crazy prices mad fans are willing to pay for it on evilbay...

Mmm...cast-off Macross female figures to go with my other cast-offable figures...that will be so yummy.

Not gonna happen though...we can dream...but the powers to be (Big West) wouldn't allow one.

Probably the day will come when I get a proper castoffable Mai of the fatal fury/KOF fame...(Resin/garage kits DO NOT COUNT)

Thanks guys for the Overdrive link. I didn't know of this webshop till now. Still, I guess I will stick with my regular HLJ. Not sure I like paying right away upon ordering rather than upon shipping with HLJ.

Still, adult Klan Klan is tempting...if she's of the same QC as the Megahouse(a Bandai subsidiary btw) kiddy Klan Klan, I'll be more than happy.

But as of right now, budget's tight, and there's a ton of new stuff coming out in Feb/Mar (WonderFest time)...

and some couches transform into beds. Couches 2, Q raus 0.

Good one. Ouch, but good one.

p.s. I recently got the re-released Max's blue colour Q-Rau retail. Yup. My couch-bed has better poseability and transformability than the Q-Rau...

So it does.

Thank you Sketchy for seting me straight on that. I was under the impression that Japan also has VAT, but apparently it does not. So I guess that knocks down the possibility of VAT having anything to do with the price of Yammies.

That's not the way it works here in Poland. Here, VAT is levied at every step as I describe it. I had simply assumed VAT works the same in all of the EU. Perhaps it doesn't. In any case, if VAT is only levied when the product is sold to the final consumer, then it is not really a VAT tax, but simply a sales tax/consumption tax.

The whole idea of VAT is that it is levied throughout the chain and that the consumer foots the final bill while companies pay only the difference (aka a company would pay to the government [VAT collected minus VAT paid] - and if the difference were negative, then the government owes them).

Pete

That's how GST (Goods and Services Tax) works in Singapore too. It's currently at 7%, raised from 5% this year.

BAD Mistake by the autocratic govt, considering how Singapore is the FIRST country in the world to go into a recession in 2008. Then again, our Singapore govt always likes to brag about being 1st in everything. So I guess that's alright with them, seeing that they're also the most expensive govt in the world.

p.s. Our Prime Minister earns about US$2 million per year, excluding perks. His predecessor, now a Senior Minister earns about the same amount. His father, the Minister Mentor, earns about the same amount too. We also have a president, who earns a few hundred thousand dollars more than the PM.

BTW, the rational for Singaporeans to pay such large amounts of money to the high ranking civil servants is so that there will be no corruption.

I hope I'm not too off topic with this post, since we're talking about greed here as well.

Possibly because you may not be familiar with the Doll market in Japan. We had our doll collector do the Yamato's Minmei Doll review, she is not even a Macross fan and she says "This doll was so well made that I think even non-fans could easily develop an infatuation. The price alone sets it out of most people's league, especially given the collectors' inflation, but the initial 60,000 doesn't seem that unreasonable."

The obitsu body is Made in Japan that is also why it's not so cheap, Takara stopped making their dolls in Japan back in the 90's.

Doll collecting is a serious and expensive hobby, many sell for over $1000 US. In fact last month Mandrake had the Minmei Doll for sale and marked it up at just under $1000 and is sold in less than a week.

None of that mark up went to Yamato so now who is greedy.

The doll used in the review was ordered for jasonc who last I checked wasn't a doll collector so maybe we should has him if it was worth the money.

Thanks for the review. After all these bad experiences with Japanese poseable dolls/toys that's made in China, I'm sceptical of this Yamato VMF line being better. But, I took another leap of faith to pre-order it after looking at the prototype. http://www.yamato-toys.com/items/detail.php?gid=1261

So this one's made in Japan huh? Glad to hear it. And hopefully, this time, Made in Japan means QC is top notch.

Made in Japan nowadays just means OEMed in China to me for so many items. Seen a Sony made laptop battery self destruct lately?

p.s. And before somebody flame me for being a Sony hater, I own a number of Sony products - PSX, PS2, PS3, PSP, PSP v2, a number of cathode ray tube Trinitron TVs, one 32" widescreen is still working fine, and quite a number of walkmans too, before the MP3 era.

yeah, I remember those big dudes, but those were mostly for the technic kits back when I was a kid. I remember the mini figures back in the mid 80s... ?

Yup. I believe the 1st mini figures appeared in the 1st castle kit - 4 knights, their squires and horses, and quite a number of CannonFodders. I pestered my mom for months to get that one. I believe it was S$169, which is a lot of money spent for a kid from a working class family in Singapore in 1983. She finally bought it for me when I did well enough in elementary school to go to a pretty prestigious high school. (Yeah, in Singapore, there's such things as prestigious high schools. We call them Special Assistance Plan (SAP) secondary schools.)

p.s. The castle is transformable, with a working drawbridge, a central tower, and the 4 corners can fold out to allow one access to the castle interior.

Best toy I had in my childhood. And most of the parts are still perfect, except for a couple of swords and a rotating castle joint which I broke by accident.

I was pretty sad then, but now I know I can get replacement parts for it.

p.p.s. for a nostalgic look at the giant LEGO people, go to http://www.thebricktestament.com/ - one of my favourite websites to get a quick and fun refresher on the bible stories. http://www.thebricktestament.com/genesis/t...gn06_01-02.html

the new parts are not unique, they get recycled into other sets, thus molding and development costs get distributed over multiple kits for years and years. And yes, we are still playing with the same bricks from 1979, I know because I still own kits from 1979 and I've made plenty of modern kits.

wow, 3 plastic formulation over 5 whole years? as opposed to multiple plastic formulations and metal molds for each product. I count at least 4 unique materials in just leg of a vf-0, threres metal, rubber and at least 2 unique plastic formulations.

Let's see, Lego.com, front page, 11 lego IPs and 3 licensed... sounds like most to me.

Well, so have I. I've a Lego cowboy and red indian brick set from the early 80s. Remember those giant Lego humanoids? Those are common parts to represent humans back then. Not the new mini figurines that are the norm nowadays.

And best of all, I'm still using them in my new sets which I recently bought last week for Xmas for myself.

So, I agree, a better poll should be if Yamato should improve on their QC, not ask if Yamato is greedy. All companies exist to make profits. Lego included.

And that's the main reason I stopped buying Japanese (Kaiyodo, Yamato, MaxFactory, etc) poseable toys. Their QC sucks big time. Most of the LEGO bricks I have when I'm in pre-school/elementary school still works perfectly, and the colors are still bright and looks brand new, except for a few that I broke by brute force.

This is unlike that Yamato mechas/robots or Kaiyodo revoltech/MaxFactory figma poseable figures. They feel used the moment I take them out of the box. (loose joints, bent parts, broken antennae, wrong polarity magnets, etc).

I still buy plenty of Japanese toys (US$1000 or more per month) (Mainly Megahouse/Goodsmile/Alter figures)

But I have sold off or given away most of my poseable Yamato/Kaiyodo/MaxFactory stuff.

Improve on the QC, and I might get back to collecting Yamato's macross/bubblegum crisis stuff. Else, I will only buy their cheaper fixed pose figures, which have much better quality control than their more expensive transformable counterparts.

I stumbled upon some unadulterated VF-25F mecha p0rn. This model was auctioned a while ago for a measly ¥52,000.

The VF-25F gallery: http://npgpm.web.fc2.com/vf25f.htm

His other works: http://npgpm.web.fc2.com/gallery.htm

Thank you for the great find. I'm floored by his KOG work. I wonder which brand of gold colored paint he/she is using to get that nice smooth gold plated look. I'm using the Tamiya acrylic gold leaf, and the best effect I get is a speckled look...sigh...