I'm not sure that I buy the argument that it's a exchange rate issue. I started buying Yamato valks in the early days (until about 2004)but lost interest when it turned into one reissue after another. In the last couple months I've gotten back into the hobby big time picking up the SDF-1, YF-19 Weathering Version, and VF-1S Renewal (yes...a renewal but I never owned a Rick/Hikaru valk previously) along with some of the Bandai Chogokins. Getting back into the hobby has been stunning in terms of the cost however. All my "old" valks are still new in the box and on discovering this forum recently I've been seriously reevaluating whether I want to bother. The problems my fellow collectors are having with joints, shoulders, etc are stunning given the price of these figures. At least in the beginning the figures were 7800-9600 yen (if you look at the 1/60 scale)...now they're about twice that or more (22000 yen is the average now). So this really isn't an exchange rate issue. While the exchange rate sucks it only means we're paying ~130 for what used to cost ~100... that doesn't excuse a price point nearly three times that of the line's introduction especially given how these figures seem to literally fall apart even when treasured on a shelf...boy that's a fair way to treat your supporters Yamato (and Bandai)...
Current Yamato Valk toy pricings
in Toys
Posted · Edited by Lupin The Third
I'm not sure that I buy the argument that it's a exchange rate issue. I started buying Yamato valks in the early days (until about 2004)but lost interest when it turned into one reissue after another. In the last couple months I've gotten back into the hobby big time picking up the SDF-1, YF-19 Weathering Version, and VF-1S Renewal (yes...a renewal but I never owned a Rick/Hikaru valk previously) along with some of the Bandai Chogokins. Getting back into the hobby has been stunning in terms of the cost however. All my "old" valks are still new in the box and on discovering this forum recently I've been seriously reevaluating whether I want to bother. The problems my fellow collectors are having with joints, shoulders, etc are stunning given the price of these figures. At least in the beginning the figures were 7800-9600 yen (if you look at the 1/60 scale)...now they're about twice that or more (22000 yen is the average now). So this really isn't an exchange rate issue. While the exchange rate sucks it only means we're paying ~130 for what used to cost ~100... that doesn't excuse a price point nearly three times that of the line's introduction especially given how these figures seem to literally fall apart even when treasured on a shelf...boy that's a fair way to treat your supporters Yamato (and Bandai)...