blacklotus

I started it because I was excited about waiting for my first V2. I love macross, but I don't have a lot of money and have a hard time justifying the cost of these things. I might buy ONE valk a year so it was an event for me to order something from japan.

It was kind of like a thread for kids who are excited about going to bed on christmas eve knowing that they will wake up to greatness. And I hope a community like this never forgets how exciting that is.

Too bad the damn shoulders are cracked and I've never seen it in robot form.

Hey, don't worry about it. I am 38 this year and I still get excited whenever there's a package on the way for me from the webshops.

I've got a damaged VT-1 Super Ostrich right outta the box from them in December. I was first told to send it back but then I got an email to wait so that they can look for the part for me "A.S.A.P.". I didn't get any replies yet and then they went on holidays.

I've waited for a response and they should be back in business by now. I emailed them again twice and I still haven't got a response. I've never had a problem with them before but I did complain to them about them bumping my SAL order to EMS. I don't think anyone working there would be vengeful or spiteful and ignore my repeated emails (especially since I've been very patient so far).

Does anyone know if they're all back in business and are responding to their emails? I've never had problems with HLJ before, but that's because I've never had a problem arise where I had to deal with them before. I don't want to risk sending them back my entire VT-1 Super Ostrich now... what if they decide not to reimburse the shipping... or even fix it and send it back to me?

I know... the chances of that happening to me are slim to none, but I'm slowly loosing my patience with them.

HLJ and most of the Japanese webshops are on holiday till 5th Jan 2010. So they should be back today (Asia time). It's 7:50am now in Tokyo Japan.

So, be patient and wait about another 24hours. HLJ and other webshops probably have tonnes of backlogged emails/stocks to clear/ship out.

Cheers.

p.s. I waiting for my MacQuarter and a few other items to ship as well.

Good buy. Too bad I never see the white version in Singapore. Looks great.

I hope Singapore's Ikea will have a sales too on Detolfs. The last time there was a sale in 2006, it was going for S$49 (usual price is S$99). I snagged a couple only as I didn't know how good it was then. Now I know.

While that would be incredibly awesome, I think the anachronic presentation of the story would probably be a huge hurdle for any attempt at an animated series. It might work well in print, but in cinema it doesn't work quite so well.

Unless there's some BIG FSS fans who're also great screenwriters and directors. (e.g. Phillipa Boyens, Fran Walsh and Peter Jackson who re-wrote and did a fantastic job on bringing LoTR to us on film).

I dunno, the Urbanmech has a certain charm to it... it's like an angry R2-D2.

But yeah, a lot of 'Mechs from 3025 were pretty silly looking.

Hey, no bad-mouthing my favourite city mech - the Urbie. To me, this little fella is like the classic Beetle car of the Battlemech world.

Make that "Most of the 3025 mechs are pretty silly looking. The only good looking and functional looking ones were those designs "stolen" from the Japanese "cartoons". Luckily, these didn't include the Logan, else my statement won't be true.

ahhh crap, so how would said foreigners like me be able to get one?

You can order the whole lot of MF merchandise at about US$800 per lot from certain online webshops (e.g. HLJ, Hobbysearch, amiami, etc). This includes all the stuff (plates, figures, SD valks, etc), including multiples of figures, if you're lucky. That's how it works in the 1st release from Bandai for its MF Gashapon collectibles.

Or if you just want that sexy Sheryl figure in the black bunny suit, you can bid on evilbay/auction sites when it's out. Probably costs about US$100 and more, if you're lucky to win the bid.

/rant on/

p.s. IMO, I hate evilbay and the problematic paypal (a subsidiary of evilbay). I try to avoid anymore business with them if at all possible, after all the hassles and useless automated email replies I get from them whenever I encounter payment problems. NOTE: I'm a buyer, and yet I cannot pay for my stuff most of the time. And I get a bad rep from the sellers because of Paypal's internal problems.

/rant off/

Anyway, good luck hunting for the hot Sheryl SM bunny.

I want one.. But Im not into capital ships also.. Its definitely a nice render of the quarter dont get me wrong.. But Im torn between getting this or the new VE-1 Elintseeker. I only have enough funds for one

If I were you and if the VE-1 is still on a 30% discount from HLJ, I'll get the VE-1 first. Anyway, all my funds tied up for education, and a 1/4 scale Cobra-Kai sculpted Saber (of Fate/Stay Night). So, no giant robots for me this Xmas.

But, I'll enjoy looking at beautiful Saber for the next 12 months.

Thanks for the heads up. Wow! So this is the guy who wrote the B-17 segment in the 1981 Heavy Metal movie. That segment has ever since flashed into my head every time I see or hear the word Zombie.

Finally I get to see his face. Too late to meet him though. sigh...maybe later on...

I think you may be confusing the 1978-79 Battlestar Galactica with Galactica 1980, which is for all intents and purposes, a wholly separate show...

Nope. BSG 1980 is the one with the flying bikes and kids to protect right? Remember, 30 years ago in 1980, I was a little kid too. So yeah, since I never had an elder bro (eldest grandson/son in the family), I kinda envy those kids with a big bro to protect them. Yeah...something to do with Freud...

Back on track, getting my blu-rays of BSG2009 series soon. Or would you guys/gals recommend I wait till the blu-ray specs is really completely finalised? I heard they are still working on the 3D blu-ray specs...

I'm a person who loves Battlestar Galactica 1980.

Why? Simple. Without BSG 1980, there won't be a BSG2K for us to use it to claim that BSG1980 taste like poo.

So it that sense, I love all the great (but now looks cheesy in year 2009) sci-fi TV shows of the 80s and yesteryears. (Buck Rogers, BSG1980, V, etc)

After all, when compared to BSG1980, Buck Rogers and V, Star Trek looks like poo too. But I love them all.

p.s. I just finished watching BSG1980 yesterday on Sunday morning, just to get a short break from playing Master of Orion 2 for 16 hours straight.

Oh what the hell. I could live with the color scheme, but not this crap. Time to look into canceling that preorder...

Argh...this looks bad...I wonder if I can straighten them myself with a hairdryer? sigh...SDF-1 is a no-go, and now this happens to the quarter...

Thanks to everyone for trying to help. Much appreciated.

I use the exact same thing.

I use the exact same bank.

Call Citibank. It's possible they suspended your card as a security measure when you tried to charge it to paypal.

Citibank has a list of "suspicious transactions" that automatically trigger a payment-refusal on a Citibank credit card. When that happens, you will need to tell them over the phone exactly what it was that you tried to buy and when it was and what the amount was and make clear it didn't work.

You might just be better off asking Citibank to suspend your Credit Card and send you a new card. Then, input the new card data into Paypal and try again.

Pete

Thanks Pete.

The problem's not with Citibank. I've checked with them. So I don't think it's fair to make them jump through the hoop. Anyway, I still want my current credit card as it's been used successfully for years in online purchases from webshops that accept credit cards.

And no, I'm not blaming amiami. They've been very patient and kind while I get my problem with Paypal sorted out. As it is, I've already feedback to amiami that because of this issue, they might be losing sales from other people that encounter this problem with their Paypal partner.

I know I'm not the only one who have this issue with Paypal. I tried to get 2 of my close friends with existing working Paypal accounts to help me pay amiami. They have the same issue as well.

So I don't know. Is it Paypal making a mess of their online competitors' businesses? After all, Paypal is owned by Ebay, an online "webshop".

Update: I have just transfer enough COLD HARD cash to pay amiami into my Paypal account through a friend. And guess what, the transaction failed again. This time, Paypal asked me to have a valid credit card to pay amiami.

I'm about to give up. I will try again over the next few days, and if all else fails, apologise profusely to amiami. amiami cannot wait forever and will cancel my orders soon. sigh...

Call customer support!

Paypal CS is pointless. The reply is the standard reply they give to everyone who encountered this issue. Google it.

http://getsatisfaction.com/paypal/topics/y...or_credit_card2

http://forums.ebay.com.my/thread.jspa?threadID=500002127

Eek, sorry about the double posting...

Call customer support!

Paypal CS is pointless. The reply is the standard reply they give to everyone who encountered this issue. Google it.

http://getsatisfaction.com/paypal/topics/y...or_credit_card2

Whenever I get that it is usually followed by "because your credit card issuer has denied payment" which is usually because my credit card is empty anyways (it's just that sometimes it lets me go over limit when it's having a good day ) ...

Beats me. But it doesn't sound like the problem is with Amiami.

Pete

Problem's either with Paypal or my credit card issuing bank (Citibank). I don't know. Maybe when Paypal tried to verify my card with Citibank, the response never got back, and hence my Paypal account is suspended. But since Paypal is so opaque, I really don't know what to do now.

Paypal's advice is to try again in a few days time. I already tried that waiting game...payment didn't go through again today...sigh...

I once had a similar sounding problem buying a game through Impulse using their own payment handler instead of paypal. I had all the info correct and there was nothing wrong with my card, but for some reason it wouldn't take it. I contacted them and they told me that their strict security checks see if the location of the IP address you're ordering from match the area that your credit card's billing address shows. I was confused since I was ordering from the same house that was listed in the billing address and I wasn't going through any proxy services. That is a really dumb security check because that would mean you wouldn't be able to order from anywhere else except in your own home and hope that the IP address matches the area.

I tried some other things and then gave up and used paypal to buy the game as I didn't want to wait overnight for the external IP lease to expire to try to get a different IP address.

You might have a similar issue. Maybe paypal has since instituted similar checks. Since the only payment method available to you is paypal and can't use something else, you could try releasing your router's (assuming you're using one for internet access) external IP and renewing it and seeing if you get a different IP address and then trying paypal again.

Thanks. I suspect this might be an issue.

Unfortunately, I'm using those mobile broadband connections through the 3G network with DNS IP address. (no affordable fixed IP address for consumers in my country). And I'm not using a router.

Is there anyway for me to get a new IP address? Thanks for any help rendered. sigh...I getting blacklisted by amiami as we speak...

No - but that sure as hell had to be the Freudian slip of the century up there

I think my slip up was caused by a malfunction in my brain - like when you change the language key on your computer, hit a button and something other than what you thought comes out...

I don't But maybe that's because I live in Eastern Europe and have had my fill of cute girls trying to speak english to me and inevitably having that "Eastern European accent."

I dunno... I don't get a kick out of it. They sound so much better in their original language.

Plus - if you don't understand their original language, there's always the side benefit of never having to really listen to what they're saying

Pete

Thanks for the correction. I knew I spelt Freudian wrongly in my post. Just to lazy to google and correct it.

Don't worry. I had the same reaction when my Caucasian male friends go gaga over my Asian female friends. Since I grew up Asian, I really don't know see the attraction of thin, bamboo shaped ladies.

I think that Nagano is merely coasting on the royalty revenues for the franchise now, having seemingly abandoned the manga or any story continuity altogether. While I think that this is perhaps one of the greatest manga series out there (or at least used to be) I find it a bit sad to see it on virtual life-support, with token kit releases and the occasional, re-hashed art book every 2 years or so.

Oh well, at least I still have my resin kits.

Same sentiments here. But I can't blame him. He create the FSS. He has every right to stop anytime he wants, especially if he is sick of it.

After all, there's more to life than a drawing manga, especially if one has tonnes of cash to spend. After all, one doesn't want to end up like Crayon Shinchan's creator.

We Chinese have a common saying "Got plenty of money but no life to spend it"

Volks is releasing a new Injection molded Bang Doll and Black Knight. The new version of the Black Knight.

Wow! Good news. Hopefully, the prices are reasonable. I might pick up a couple of Blackies to go head to head with my 3 KOGs.

Thanks for the info.

Exactly - and I just noticed that I did indeed write "Meryl Streep" when all the time I was thinking "Melanie Griffith." I swear I was not drunk, on drugs or in any other way mentally hampered. I have absolutely no clue why I did that - TWICE. TWICE. Honest to gosh. Not joking here. Aliens did it.

Pete

Fraudian Slip perhaps?

Ok, I got to admit it to myself, although Melanie Griffith and Pam Gidley are sexy kittens, sometimes what a man really wants is a cougar.

And yes, Meryl Streep in "An Officer and his Woman" is plenty hot with that Eastern European accent of hers. I admit that I especially like women with those accents.

Yeah but Pam Gidley gets defeated by vast amounts of dish washing detergint early in the movie - so she doesn't really count!

Pete

"Thank you for purchasing our Acme Cherry 2000 android model. We hope she will give you years of pleasure"

Warning!!!

DO NOT, we repeat, DO NOT attempt hot sex in a wet environment. Examples: kitchen, bathroom, swimming pool, etc)

I think they should do no weathering on everything. yamato weathering looks like ass stains and I like my toy's squeaky clean anyways.

Then the Snow White VFs are perfect for you (and me).

Looking forward to its release, provided amiami hasn't ban me yet...sigh...paypal issue...sigh...

Art work for premium figures of the Movie set.

Actually, I only really want those 3 SD mechas in set E.

SuperDeformed MONSTER and ARMORED VF25S! WOOT!

Stars.

Little birdy told me that 'they' won't allow proper releases of Macross character figures with actual nudity. (nips etc)

I think of them as nipple tapes, for modesty reasons, of course.

Anyway, you are right. Since the N.A. Ranka release, I've come to expect it. Anyway, if I really want to see nipples, I can always rely on my Queen's Blade figure collection.