TheLoneWolf

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.

2 hours ago, kkx said:

Please let us know. I wonder, for item in stock (assuming that is indeed that case, you never really know with NY) and no "switching shipping" shenanigan, how long does NY ship things out.

For what it's worth, I ordered a PF VF-0D on 6/29 and paid for UPS shipping. It arrived on 7/2.

edit: And to confirm, it was from NY.

9 hours ago, Save said:

Actually that was done by Black Aces/Noel (individual/amateur kit circle) and not by Calibre Wings, it's was also a one-day license which is not a direct interaction with the rights holder (BW), they are arranged on behalf of the event organizers. 

Save!! Where've you been hiding all this time, we've missed you!

Thanks for clarifying the Wonderfest licensing process. Just curious, but since the licensing goes through WF, how closely does Big West scrutinize the product?

9 hours ago, jenius said:

I can't speak for Noel but I've heard in the past that BW is very hard to do business with for Japanese companies and nearly impossible to do business with for foreigners.

I've heard the same thing too. Apparently Big West does that to ensure that their suitors are serious about the franchise and aren't simply trying to peddle rubbish.

Calibre Wings has actually done business before with Big West. Their 1/72 F-14 S and J Types were originally sold at Wonderfest in Japan, albeit on a limited basis, so they already have an existing business relationship with Big West to build upon.

As for Harmony Gold, their involvement would be stricly limited to trademark licensing, since Macross Zero designs are Big West's IP. Considering that Macross Zero is easily one of the least popular shows in the Macross franchise, it makes for a good test subject in this type of business venture. Moreover, all of Calibre Wings' models are supposedly "one-shot" releases, further minimizing Big West's exposure should things turn sour.

Also, Calibre Wings' owner, Noel Lee, has been in the merchandising and licensing business for over a decade. I'd be shocked if he began marketing a Macross Zero product before receiving tentative approval from Big West.

On 6/18/2020 at 5:13 AM, Black Valkyrie said:

 

In addition to that I have the rom files for the Mega-CD and Sega-CD, still figuring out how to activate them on the mini consoles, I've tried all the methods and followed all videos on YouTube but nothing.

 

I admit I don't know much about Sega's mini consoles, but since they weren't designed to play Mega/Sega CD ISO's, patching them doesn't seem like an great solution. Have you thought about getting a Mega SG and MegaSD? I hear that's the best (albeit expensive) way to play classic Sega games on modern TV's.

Nothing changed when Takara Tomy purchased a majority ownership stake in Tatsunoko Production. Likewise, this will change nothing.

17 hours ago, ChristopherB said:

Great eyes TheLoneWolf spotting that kit at the bottom, it's one of my favorites.  Yes, to my knowledge Experten is the only company to release the VF-1AR/JR/SR.  I'm so happy that they did, because I love the design.  Fortunately, I was able to get (2) kits as well as some others. 

Thanks for the photos! I have a soft spot for the character and mecha designs from the Macross II universe and it's great to see detailed photos of the only Macross 2036 kit out there. If only Experten could hold their own against that quilt!

Honestly, it probably depends on who you ask. Older gamers will say it's Cody, Guy, etc., but to younger gamers (and most likely future gamers too), it's going to be her.

On 6/14/2020 at 2:52 PM, Black Valkyrie said:

 

I love Poison, do you ?  

 

When the palette swap of a minor enemy character becomes the game's most recognizable character.

On 6/15/2020 at 1:25 AM, ChristopherB said:

 

Whoah, those Experten Option Parts for the VF-1AR/JR/SR are quite the find! I believe that may be the only official kit ever made for Macross 2036. Could you post a close-up photo of it?

On 6/14/2020 at 3:07 PM, Mog said:

If you mix and match rod lengths, you can also use the Flightpose stands for Gerwalk and battroid mode poses:

...

I stand corrected, you've got a great battroid pose going on there! Even with mixed rods, I was only able to do basic battroid poses, and even then it took an ungodly amount of time.

FlightPose stands are the closest you'll get to Yetistands. The advantages FlightPose has over Yetistands are that they're stupidly easy to setup and can be used with practically any plane or ship, even a dinner plate, since they don't require toy-specific adapters. Speaking of adapters, most of Yeti's adapters are opaque plastic, which look pretty unsightly, at least to me.

The disadvantages are that FlightPose stands can't achieve the extreme poses that you can do with Yetistands and battroid poses are nearly impossible since FlightPose is designed for planes and ships. There's also inconsistent reports of the stand's rubber tips melting the paint on some toys. Anecdotally, I've never had that happen to any of mine, but it may be due to specific combinations of paints/plastic used and/or room temperature.

That's an interesting find! Did your family buy this brand new from a retailer back in the 80's or was it second-hand from something like a yard sale?

My first reaction when I saw it was to say that someone lost or kept the original gray strike armor and replaced it with Jetfire's red armor (which was released the same year as the Strike Valkyrie). But then I noticed that it's missing the Big West copyright sticker on the box. It's also got a 50th Nissan Anniversary sticker, which I've never seen before on any 1/55 Strike Valkyries (1984 is indeed the 50th anniversary of the Nissan Motor Co.). Inexplicably, it also includes the green instruction booklet from Takatoku's 1/55 VF-1S.

My guess is that this is a (unlicensed?) variant that Bandai produced for Nissan near the end of the Strike Valkyrie's 1984 production run, in which they Frankensteined leftovers from Jetfire and Takatoku booklets, figuring Japanese kids and Nissan wouldn't notice or care.

Or, whoever you bought this from, Frankensteined the Jetfire armor and booklet themselves and slapped an age-approriate Nissan 50th Anniversary sticker on it to boot.

edit: Just to add some context, there's an urban myth that Bandai ran out of FAST Packs during production of the 1/55 Elintseeker and Super Ostrich toys and just shoved Jetfire armor inside to save money. Some fans swear that they bought brand new Elintseekers and Ostriches back in the 1980's only to find Jetfire armor instead of the correct ones. Maybe the same thing happened with the Strike Valkyrie? While these are all clearly unsubstantiated stories, we do know for a fact that Jetfire had multiple production runs due to its popularity in America, so it's possible that Bandai had a glut of leftover Jetfire armor.

Great job with that Quamzin kit! I think the weathering came out nicely, especially on his boots.

The Focker Strike Valkyrie in the upper-right corner is a custom model kit found in Hobby Japan (January 1998). I don't know where the rest are from.

Btw, where did you find that carded bootleg?

18 hours ago, jvmacross said:

...

 

"T.T" Takatoku Toys logo....

...

Solid Strike Cannon prototype....Takatoku Super Fast Packs

Good catches, I never noticed those before!

I'm a longtime Macross LD collector (love that big artwork!) and I've never heard of any original cels ever being offered with them. Macross Dynamite 7 included a reproduction cel of the LDs jacket art, but that's it. I don't even think pre-orders were a thing back in the 1987, which is when the Flashback 2012 LD was released. The closest promotions that I can think of were mail-away promotions, such as with the Macross II LDs, which would get you a limited poster if you mailed back proofs of purchase of all 6 LDs.

Considering Flashback 2012's high quality animation compared to the relatively small amount of original animation it produced, I doubt Bandai Visual/Emotion could convince the animation studio to give away cels.