Zip

Title is pretty self-descriptive.

1 hour ago, technoblue said:

Yeah, Macross is it's own niche or bubble. I wouldn't mind seeing official products from other companies, but I can only speculate as to who might be willing to pay the licensing fee. Mm, getting an official Macross release from ThreeZero would be cool. 

ThreeZero would be lightyears ahead of Evolution Toys for sure.

3 hours ago, technoblue said:

Thanks, Ignacio. Yeah, a lot is outsourced and T-Rex is behind many designs, including Macross.

Third-parties like Master Made and Fans (Fext) Project have dipped their toes into the Macross space before. And as promising as those designs were, their ventures into this space (so far) were only temporary. Licensing official Macross products evidently is more involved. Even blurring lines of legitimacy, like third-parties often do with Transformers, is not as easy to do with Macross IP. I’m also curious if T-Rex and a few of the other sanctioned official teams get precedence with Big West?

With regard to the landscape, I don’t see things changing too much. We may get a rare success story like KitzConcept, but established companies like Bandai and Arcadia going away? Nah, I don’t see that happening.

Master Made and the like were before the Bigwest/Harmony Gold cool down, so I don't think the barrier to entry will be as high.  Heck, Kitz Concept was able to do it, albeit with the Robotech license, and same with other bit players like Calibre Wings.  I think the main reason we didn't se 3P do more Macross was simply because it's not as lucrative as Transformers, which has broad reach in both China and the West.  Of course they won't have a choice once Takara brings the hammer down on them.

I don't see the relevance of the designs being outsourced.  Bandai, Sentinel, and ThreeZero also outsource their design work.

16 minutes ago, Chronocidal said:

Maybe if Bandai's going to sit on their YF-21, they can do a PF re-release?  I'd probably pick up one or two, if they keep the price reasonable for the mold's age.

A VF-11 would be nice too.  Hell, even a plain reissue of the original 1/60.

57 minutes ago, jenius said:

While I would love to see Arcadia go deep with Kawamori's less known designs, it's also more a work of love for them than a business at this point and it's tough to expect them to love the obscure mecha as much as the stuff they also grew up watching. Coming from the ashes of a business that spread itself too thin has to make them extra cautious also. 

I think Arcadia isn't spreading themselves enough.  Have they touched anything new that doesn't have its roots from Yamato?  Meanwhile you have companies like Sentinel making perfect transformation Legioss toys from scratch, a real missed opportunity for Arcadia.  

Once the third party Transformers companies are no longer able to make TF's, they'll be forced to become legitimate.  We're already starting to see that with some of the former KO Metal Build companies now making legitimate licensed figures for Gurren Lagann and the like.  It's only a matter of time before established third party companies like Fanstoys or Master Mind Creations come into the Japanese giant robot scene, and with Bigwest and Harmony Gold finally sorting out the international licensing issues, Macross will be on the plate for these companies to tackle. While Bandai likely won't be phased, small companies like Arcadia will be in a world of hurt if they can't churn out enough product to compete.

11 minutes ago, Mommar said:

I'm baffled you decided to sell it to begin with.

I was put off by the small issues of stability with the figure and at the time (2015) it wasn't going at the insane prices as it is now.

2 minutes ago, aurance said:

I wouldn’t mind that. No brackets, and gunpod can stay attached with the missile pod deployed, something like that.

The ratched hips would have also done wonders with pose stability.

Honestly, I kinda regret selling my Chronos all those years ago.  It's easily the best-looking modern Valkyrie, far moreso than the VF-31 based on it.  Hope Bandai makes a V1.5 using the improved engineering from the VF-31.

That this is $130 puts Takara, Bandai, and Arcadia to shame.

22 hours ago, M'Kyuun said:

But I think Mike's right concerning FT; they see the aftermarket for their product, and have adjusted the price up front so they can make more revenue.  As a business decision, it's smart so long as demand remains for their products, and that demand doesn't seem to have diminished.  They have a devoted following, even if some of their pieces have had less articulation than what has become standard, or over-complicated and frustrating transformations, or other assorted issues. 

Wasn't the aftermarket price skyrocketing because of some fake news about Takara trying to put Fanstoys out of business? 

Whatever the reason, I'm experiencing some major deja vu right now with what happened when Yamato became Arcadia.  Their aftermarket prices were so insane after they went bankrupt that Arcadia, upon receiving the molds, would charge 50% or higher for the same toy as when it was released by Yamato.  To think that a barebones VF-1 sold by Arcadia today is almost double what it cost when it came out in 2008.  Seems Fanstouys and the rest of 3P are just following tried and true tactics.

1 hour ago, mikeszekely said:

Tfsource has him on sale today for $260.

That's still $100 more than what he was three years ago...

14 minutes ago, mikeszekely said:

It's FT stuff getting expensive on the aftermarket and FT figuring that if people are going to pay that much for their stuff that they should pay them that much for their stuff.

It's also why I don't do much FT anymore.

Doesn't help that Takara's pricing has also gone off the rails, giving third parties even more incentive to increase their price tags to match.  I think the days of third party being a bargain relative to more legitimate manufacturers like Bandai/Arcadia/Takara are coming to an end.

I'm thinking about pulling the trigger on Quietus.  I've never bought any Fanstoys product but the jet mode is just far too cool for me to pass up, even compared to what we've seen from Macross.  Why is he so expensive though?  The reissue is going for $310 which is well into Arcadia territory.

Only the original non-weathered beige version, not the olive.

Also have a displayed Hi-Metal R Glaug that I would be willing to trade.

Great to buy from @sumyumgoy.  Excellent communication and careful packing/shipping.

This is an amazing price.  I would totally leap on it if not for the high international shipping, but that can't be helped.  I hope someone else from Austrailia recognizes just how good of a deal this is.

I finally found out how to leave feedback for him through different means, which makes me feel slightly less pissed off.  But I'm still going to call tomorrow because I refuse to let him get away with such underhanded tactics.

Esthertool is far more of a sneaky underhanded POS than I could have imagined.  It's literally only a couple hours before Paypal's claim system would automatically refund me since it's been ten days- and yet here comes the scammer, who just now refunds me just a bit before the bell rings.  By doing so, I can no longer leave him any feedback, because my order has disappeared.  In addition, it also means that Paypal now won't take any action against him.

I'm not going to sit for this.  Tomorrow, I'll personally call eBay to make a plea to do something about this scammer.  God forbid any other fool place an order with him.

It's been over a week and still no response from Mr. Tool.  At this rate I'll get my money back without him saying a word, but I'm shocked at how complacent he is with his own scuminess.

Any version, preferably without the SSP.  Not too interested in the super rare variants like the no paint or Virgin Road.  Please PM me if you have any you want to let go at a reasonable price.

1 hour ago, Sanity is Optional said:

Did you pay with a credit card or paypal? You can file a claim through them if Ebay rebuffs you.

Yeah, I literally just filed a Paypal claim.  Let's see how the scumbag responds. 

3 hours ago, Shizuka the Cat said:

Is his 2nd solution saying that he won't give you a refund, but rather a $125 discount if you buy something else from him?

Wow, I hadn't even considered that.  You might be right.  I also sent him an email asking for a refund, and he has not replied.  Now it all makes sense.  I have to find some way to file a claim on this dude now because I'm pretty sure that's against eBay's terms of service.

Never buy from Esthertool.  I ordered a VF-17S a month ago from him, he said he "shipped" it back then but never provided a tracking number, and now yesterday he sends me this pile of bull. 

Worse yet, I can't even get a refund because he has to issue it (and yet he's asking me for some reason?) or file a claim because technically the "item" still hasn't arrived by eBay's expected delivery date, which is almost a month from now.

I knew the price was too good to be true ($125), along with the seller's spotty history, but man, I still took the bait.

Whoops!  Excuse me for mixing your name with your title.

Anyway, to this day snap-fit FSS kits don't exist anywhere, and even the best of the series like the Volks kits require some paint.  If affordable FSS snap-fit plastic models ever come out, I believe it would run Gunpla out of business. 

Hey Galactic Diva, I would strongly advise against the Wave 1/100 kits unless you're a very experienced modeller who has no problems building the resin kits.  Believe it or not, these kits are even more difficult to assemble than the resins, and lack the same level of details.  Warped parts, bad fit, and some of the worst seams on any kit ever.  The only decent one in the whole group is the LED Mirage, and that's mainly because of the sculpt- the kit itself has the same QC and fit problems as all the others.  At the end of the day, you get what you pay for.

SOLD!

Bump! It's still available.