TheLoneWolf

1 hour ago, Dangard Ace said:

I don't live in the States where you get cheap shipping and don't have to worry about custom fees.  I might not be saving $100 but I'd definitely be saving near $50.

Oh snap, that'd be great!

2 hours ago, azrael said:

*Watch this space* over the next few months. I think there will be some TM amendments made.

I don't think the trademark would necessarily have to be re-assigned or amended for Big West. Harmony Gold can simply create a $1 perpetual license for Big West and collect a small percentage of royalties from any products sold. Big West will probably reciprocate in the EU when it comes to Harmony Gold over there. But we'll see.

2 hours ago, azrael said:

My take is this is essentially a "stay-in-your-lane" agreement. Nothing changes with SDFM and DYRL?. FASA? SDFM and DYRL? merch?  No change. Those are done deals.

RT live action movie? BW will not file any lawsuit as soon as it places a foot on Japanese soil. Likewise, HG will not make a move on II, Plus, 7, Zero, Frontier, Delta, maybe even VF-X games, etc. touching US soil. As long as there is some money changing hands (likely). BW can finally get some sweet-sweet US money into their pockets.

^ This 100%

2 hours ago, Dangard Ace said:

If this means HG stops making it expensive for me to get my transforming robot planes then I’m all for this deal.  If it means they get to stick their logo on the box but I save $50-$100 hell  yes.  I would love to buy the 1/48 VF1D from a local store.  

Lol, sorry, but I just don't see that happening. When Yamato released their 1/15 Garlands, the prices between the Japanese and US versions was negligible. And the same thing occurred when MegaHouse released their 1/15 Ride Armors in the US and Japan. Niche products are usually going to be expensive. But the big gain here is that Bandai, Arcadia, et al will now be able to offer customer support to any properly licensed products going forward. Customers will no longer be at the mercy of whichever import retailer they bought a lemon from.

Overall, I'm glad that these two companies have finally come to an agreement, there's far more money to be made by working together. The only losers here are all the law firms that Harmony Gold used to send out those lovely cease & desists.

13 hours ago, CrossAir said:

Me for example, I have only VF-25 renewal toys. And all stored ones show yellowing. Here’s a picture I shot today of my Yamato VT-1 V1 I bought as used some years ago. It was stored the same way as the VF-25s yet it is still in perfect condition. Maybe the “heat-management” in a box without styrofoam packaging is different? 
Anyway, what happened to my 25s is the price I have to pay for false storage.

Yellowing primarily affects white plastic. Your VT-1 shouldn't have any yellowing because it's beige, not white.

Like jenius, I don't think styrofoam has much of an impact on yellowing or else it'd be nearly impossible to find any boxed white toys from the 1980's. Moreover, I find it hard to believe that those boxed toys from the 80's were all kept in optimal storage conditions for three decades.

My belief is that the quality of the batch of plastic used is the greatest determining factor, bearing in mind that many different batches can be used within the same toy line; temperature plays a secondary role. While direct sunlight will yellow all plastics, regardless of quality and temperature.

5 hours ago, Salamander said:

Hmmm...maybe going by today's standards. Back in the 1980s things were a bit more lenient in various European countries, and it also depended on the product category whom to license things from (model kits, for example, were a bit of a gray area).

Not really. Most, if not all, European countries had signed on to the Berne Convention by the 1970's, which requires signatories to acknowledge international copyrights.

5 hours ago, Salamander said:

For the Benelux, I know of the following:

• Orguss and Macross kits made by Arii and Imai were sold in shops, in Japanese boxes, with crudely translated instructions in Dutch/French/English and also the original Japanese instructions included. These have a BigWest licensing sticker.
• Bandai also sold Japanese kits with Dutch/French/English instructions. The ones I own are two Xabungle (of all things) kits.
• Various toy retailers had parallel import of actual Japanese toys, with an import sticker slapped on. They also had parallel import of US and Canadian toys. Doing that was not illegal (AFAIK, it still isn't).

Wait, what are model kits doing in a 1/55 thread?

Legally speaking, all of the European 1/55 VF-1's are considered illegitimate, even if they were manufactured by Takatoku/Matsushiro/Bandai. Only Tatsunoko Production/Harmony Gold can lawfully authorize the sale of VF-1's in Europe. But since none of those products bear the Tatsunoko sticker (as seen on the 1/55 Jetfire) or a Harmony Gold copyright, those products' manufacturers circumvented international copyright laws.

At best, some of them are genuine Takatoku/Matshushiro/Bandai products, albeit unlicensed from the appropriate license holders (Tatsunoko/HG). At worst, some of them are knock-offs of Takatoku/Matshushiro/Bandai products and unlicensed from the appropriate license holders. But what they all have in common is that they've broken international copyright laws.

Astounding work! I've always considered the Bioroids as ugly in the animation and line art, but your craftsmanship has truly made me appreciate their designs.

3 hours ago, tekering said:

Found it here. 

I do, yes... and I don't, yes. 

However, the only Southern Cross laserdisc listing I've found is this one... and the seller obviously can't tell an LD from a vinyl record. 

Incredible! Not only that someone made a recording of such an unpopular show back in the day, but that it managed to survive to the digital age!

Yeah, I wouldn't trust anything from that particular seller

But anyways, here's two sets that I found on YJA.

https://page.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/m448897887# - 5,000円

https://page.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/k505930100 - 5,500円

On 2/25/2021 at 9:07 PM, tekering said:

Since finding an original 1984 broadcast of Southern Cross, I've taken the time to try and correct the color-timing on the ADV box set release from 2003:

ADV's masters on the left, my color-corrected version on the right.

It's still a soft, low-contrast transfer from two decades ago, but at least the colors aren't so messed up this time. 

 I did my best to reproduce them using the superior DVD video source.  If there's demand, I can upload further episodes. 

Standard-definition DVDs are either NTSC or PAL, certainly; however, both Japan and North America use NTSC.

Naturally, your results may vary, based on the specific configuration of your monitor. 

Whoah, how did you manage to get a recording of the original TV broadcast?

Anyways, I wonder how those color stills compare to the original Southern Cross LD box set. If you have access to a laserdisc player, I can't imagine the LD box set would be too expensive, especially if you don't have to worry about pricey overseas shipping.

+1 for Corrinald! It was raining bad when the package he sent arrived, thankfully he taped up the box and fully wrapped up the DX is air bubbles, so it was bone dry when I opened it. He knows how to pack merch! 

17 hours ago, jenius said:

Do we know why that particular change was ever implemented? Was there a common breakage point?

I have no idea, I've wondered about that myself.

On a somewhat related note, here's an article about a Jetfire was used in Hasbro's photoshoots. I expected it to be a cousin to my Matsushiro Super VF-1S and be a Matsushiro Jetfire, but it's actually a Bandai branded Jetfire, as evidenced by the unlined canopy and the Bandai branded backplate! And it's legitimate because it came directly from Hasbro with a certificate of authenticity. I had always assumed that the Matsushiro branded Jetfires were the first releases of Jetfire, with the Bandai branded ones being manufactured afterwards, but this photoshoot Jetfire turns that notion on its head.

The only explanations I can think of are these:

• That Jetfire was used in later photoshoots, with a Matsushiro branded Jetfire being used in earlier photoshoots. I can't imagine Hasbro requiring multiple photoshoots at different time periods for the same children's toy, but maybe?

• Bandai was manufacturing both Matsushiro and Bandai branded Jetfires alongside each other at the same time in their factory, which would make aging these toys incredibly difficult for collectors.

Collecting and/or writing about Jetfire involves going down an insanely deep rabbit hole, complete with loops, twists, and turns

22 hours ago, Hiriyu said:

Are there (m)any differences in the foam trays and inserts between the Takatoku/Matsushiro/Bandai valk releases? For instance, was the tray altered for the snub-nosed valks, or was it continued as originally sculpted for the Takatokus?

That's an interesting question, I wonder if anyone has done the research on that one before.

Anyways, Happy New Year everyone!

That's such a simple, yet astounding accessory! And the LED brings it to life, great work!

7 hours ago, glane21 said:

What was the description on the Yahoo auction?  Did the seller claim it was the jet fire packaging prototype? Or mention how they got hold of it?

No, there was no mention of Jetfire anywhere in the description. Most Japanese Macross fans probably have no idea about Jetfire because he was never released in Japan. Most probably don't know about Matsushiro either, because the Matsushiro branded VF-1's were only released outside of Japan. This is one area of fandom where we Westerners have a leg up on the Japanese

If you want to read the complete title and auction description, my brother-in-law is fluent in Japanese and translated it for me back then. Please note that the Japanese seller probably can't read English well, because he thinks that the English MATSUSHIRO logo reads as "Takatoku Toys."

Quote

The Takatoku Toys (Bandai) VF-1S Super Valkyrie (White Box)

This is not something you can just buy at any store.

At the time when Takatoku Toys was going through bankruptcy, Bandai bought their moulds and created these prototypes.

I received this, a sample export of Bandai’s international market that had been sitting on a shelf for a long time, at the time of a large clearing-out of their warehouse.

The Gunpod part and user’s manual are no longer available, and the Super Valkyrie’s body has a carved Takatoku Toys [sic] seal.

The white box has no printing on it.

Because this is 30 years old, the box has some wear-and-tear and the cellophane has a small hole in it.

One part of the action figure has discoloration and the machine gun head has a crack in it.

I’m looking for people who understand that this is a second-hand item.

Shipping will be through HakoBOON 2kg.

I forgot to mention that this Matsushiro Super VF-1S does have one change in common with Jetfire: the wings can't fully extend outwards in fighter mode.

33 minutes ago, jenius said:

Absolutely, what a superb item for a collector. Does it have the Jetfire nose?

No, it's got the standard Takatoku nosecone.

1 hour ago, jvmacross said:

Nice!  I remember when that came up on YJA and being surprised that it did not get as much attention....congrats!

Good memory! I was also surprised by the lack of attention. Most people who saw the auction were probably thinking "Nice white box, bfd."

Imagine my shock when I opened up the package and saw that it was actually a Matsushiro.

Speaking of Matsushiro, this is a Matsushiro 1/55 Super VF-1S.

My guess is that it is a proof on concept Jetfire by Matsushiro. Note that the (bent) box flap on the top and box's bezel are nearly a perfect match to Jetfire's production box.

And the signature is from Kawamori, cause reasons

Which Jetfire revision are looking for? Because this rabbit hole is deeper than it looks

Good luck!

I know it's a long shot, but I read on here that Takatoys sold a sticker sheet for the Destroid Conversion Kit a long time ago. If anyone has one that they're not using, I'd be more than happy to buy it, just hit me up!

On 11/16/2020 at 5:00 AM, Arkham said:

Not aware of japanese law, but (leaving the monetary cost aside for a moment) would it be possible to sue them or legal action?

 

Please any ideas, tips or stories would be greatly appreciated.

Ignoring legal costs, your best bet is to contact an attorney who specializes in Japanese business law and ask about a consultation, because this is a very complicated issue, well beyond the scope of legal laypeople. While Japan has consumer protection laws, the question is whether these Japanese consumer protection laws offer protection to non-citizens who have no physical presence in Japan. And like Ridden001 pointed out, the pandemic is almost certainly going to make things more complicated from a business and court standpoint too.

Good luck on getting this sorted out!

I'm glad to see that Analogue isn't shying away from optical drives. But I hope that they use quality drives in the Duo and put it through some pet/child testing before selling them to customers. I read that the first version of the Analogue NT ended up scratching cartridges as they were inserted and removed. It'd be disastrous if someone's Dracula X: Rondo of Blood got scratched up because the Duo accidentally got nudged during gameplay.

On 10/12/2020 at 5:18 PM, Convectuoso said:

B Club 1/100 Metal Siren

That's an excellent build, thank you sharing those pics! I love seeing builds of the apocryphal Valks

8 hours ago, Shawn said:

Wait, is that white-out on there??

8 hours ago, Shawn said:

This REEEEEEAAAALLLYY makes me want a Macross Box art BOOK. Maybe I could do an unauthorized one like the Transformers ones or something and not get into too much trouble. Something something fair use right?

It's good to have a dream.

12 hours ago, sh9000 said:

It was a screenshot from the email that they sent me.

Thanks for the info. So it really does look like Calibre's trying to pull a fast one on Big West.

1 hour ago, sh9000 said:

From Calibre Wings.

@sh9000Could you post a link to the original message?

40 minutes ago, spanner said:

Seriously....

Literally my reaction the day it arrived

34 minutes ago, sqidd said:

Here ya go!

Can you believe that I still have 6 more to go?I hope I can fit them in there!

-DX 1/48 (waiting on the release)

-Wave 1/100 (inbound)

-Bandai Mission Gashapons (inbound)

-Takatoku 1/100 "Mini Chunky" (can't find one at any price)

-Takatoku 1/144 Henkei (can't find one at any price)

-Yamato 1/200 Variable Fighter Collection (can't find one)

You're missing Bandai's Super VF-1S Joke Machine. Don't sleep on it just because it's super-deformed; it's got solid engineering and it's perfect transformation. But that's probably because it was designed by Kawamori himself.