KOG Water Dragon

The power armors are very cool but I feel like Hasegawa has forgotten what it means to do a new tool fighter in 1/72 or 1/48. 🥲

I assume if you leave the pre-order in place, it'll either stay there forever unfulfilled, or they'll charge you in 2-4 years when they finally have stock for you. Well after you don't want it from them anymore.

My main problem is they are no longer at all reliable at fulfillng pre-orders. But they don't want you to cancel when they can't fulfill your pre-order. They don't want you to be free to cancel and buy somewhere else. I have open, unfulfilled pre-orders at HLJ for the following: HG VF-22S Max HG VF-22S Miria HG VF-31C DX HG VF-31C decals RG Wing Zero EW MG Gundam Barbatos Lupus MGSD Aerial Armored Core VI 30MM Open Faith Armored Core VI 30MM VE-40A Armored Core VI 30MM Weapon Set 06 Kotobukiya AC Steel Haze Hasegawa VT-1 HG GquuuuuuX decal set 1 HG GquuuuuuX decal set 2 ALL of these were pre-ordered right when pre-orders went live. ALL of these are still unfulfilled. I've bought most of these local now. For the MGSD Aerial, I already bought 2 local. But under HLJ's new policy, I can't cancel these. They're just supposed to sit there. Until maybe they get stock in a year or 2, by which time I no longer need them to send me a kit because I got it local. And this is JUST stuff unfulfilled lately, I had to cancel a ton of stuff before they changed their cancellation policy. I bought almost all my HG macross, Armored Core VI 30MM, and recent RG and MG Gundam kits locally, after pre-orders with HLJ all failed. It's the lack of ability to fulfill pre-orders, paired with the new policy of not letting you cancel pre-orders that they fail to fulfill, that sucks.

Well. It's happened. For a while I was just having trouble getting new Bandai items from HLJ. New Macross HGs, Gundam RGs and MGs... And I was like, OK, I'll just have to get these local when domestic retailers get them. At least I can still get other brands normally through HLJ. But now... I wasn't able to get the Hasegawa VT-1 gerwalk, or the Kotobukiya Armored Core Steel Haze. Both went to backorder without my VERY early pre-orders being fulfilled. What even is going on? Between this and the shipping fees and tariffs, HLJ is becoming a lot less useful.

This reaffirms my wish for a VF-11 battroid. Preferably a Hasegawa in 1/72. If PLAMAX does one, that's also cool. And a YF-21 battroid.

If I'm not mistaken, this is the first time the movie version has been available in any scale, and the first time any version has been available in this scale (in plastic)?

Oh lord, it's finally happening. I'm glad it's the movie version first! Now that all the enemy mecha are on the table (at least from SDFM/DYRL), maybe we can get some new fighter types next?

You may not need to join the FB group if they can send you a direct invite to the discord group. But the FB group is good. Lots of builds, news, etc.

It's connected to the Five Star Stories America facebook group. Contacting the admin of the group would probably get you headed in the right direction. I also messaged him to ask how you can get an invite.

Are you on the FSS discord? I feel like someone there was trying to collect all the Wave 1/144 LEDs...

It's a premium exclusive like the Vralgo version of the Siren F.

Yeah.... the stuff I have waiting is too hard to find elsewhere. Either brands not imported as much or stuff that's now out of production. A lot of Hasegawa/Wave/PLAMAX macross stuff, hobby magazines, Moderoid Thunderjaw, some Ikaruga kits from Kotobukiya, a Death Stranding 2 kit, PLAMAX Pacific Rim and Dunbine kits, the Our Treasure Gatexion mk III GTM... I don't really get Bandai stuff through HLJ anymore since they can rarely fulfill my order in any kind of reasonable timeframe. I actually still have VF-22 Max and Miria HGs on preorder which have not been fulfilled yet. Same deal with MGSD Aerial and RG Wing Zero (the latest one). And the HG VF-31C. I should get around to canceling all of these, but what's the rush? I doubt HLJ would fulfill the orders any time this year. And I still have a bunch on future release pre-order at HLJ. I just don't know a better option. Stuff sold from local retailers will just have tariffs and shipping baked into the price. So I have a bunch of Macross on pre-order, plus the Moderoid Mospeada kits, Kotobukiya Legend of Galactic Heroes ships, some more Death Stranding items, the new Kotobukiya Armored Core VI kit... I wish I was strong enough to say I don't need them, but I am not that strong lol. And I am too into FSS to miss the limited Japan only IMS kits. Especially that Colus LED Mirage. So I am relying on my local shop, which has access to the limited kits, to get them for me. But I know they will be expensive. It's just a really unfortunate time to be in this hobby...

I can't even begin to fathom when I can get my HLJ backlog shipped. Stuff like Glaug and the queadluun raus I have waiting are so astronomical to ship. Even a small stack of hobby magazines costs a lot to ship. I have 8 mags (combo of issues of Macross Mechanics, Gundam Forward, and an Armored Core model special) and it'll cost at least $49 to ship them. 3 PLAMAX battroids is $88 by fedex. A single plastic 1/100 five star stories kit is about $60 to ship on its own. I, too, don't wish to pay for extended storage on my stuff so pretty soon I'll need to start arranging some bulk shipments. It all makes the big box size of the TV Rau SUPER annoying, since clearly size is affecting shipping rates and not just weight. I checked and the TV rau costs a lot more to ship than the other Raus, even though they shouldn't be a lot heavier.

Items can't be in your private warehouse until they are paid for and received. Items on pre-order can't be in your private warehouse.

Oh wow. I love the RVF types. I'm still upset that Bandai didn't finish their 1/72 VF-31 line with a VF-31E. And sad that it seems Wave isn't furthering their VF-171 line with a RVF-171.