orindlt

Any port in a storm.

Thank god I'm in Oz.

Ordered from AmiAmi

Jenius Review Up 

On 4/19/2018 at 12:51 PM, Shizuka the Cat said:

If I am like this now, I would hate to imagine what I am like when I am in the midst of dissertation work, or when I hit 30.

Can confirm. 40's. Completing doctoral dissertation. Spending thousands on Macross. Best form of thesis procrastination ever. 

I think someone did do a summary a week or two ago,

Ordered from NY and received (1st order) (made straight after PO opened)

Ordered from NY and haven't received yet (this one on the 26th Oct, several weeks later) (2nd order)

Ordered from Loopaza and received (3rd order) (order made & fulfilled after 31A was released but before NY shipped my first one because I was feeling a bit Spanner)

2 hours ago, Negotiator said:

Anyone get theirs from lapooza?

Yup, ordered it after release when it popped up here and it turned up within a few days (to Melbourne, Oz). Arrived before my first NY pre-order (the second NY preorder being stuck in the same limbo endlessly detailed in this thread. Still, at least we've got a Valk purchase hell story to last us for the next decade)

4 hours ago, derex3592 said:

First impressions.. well, it's very nice, must be said however that mine has the same odd paint/finish defect under the outer part of the right wing. Nothing terrible, but it's there. See pics below.. Also, I included a pic of the EMS shipping label, I can't remember, but I don't think that what my previous NY packages said.. I'll let you guys debate what that means.. it looks it just came from "a guy".  LOL. I would LOVE to and had fully intended to panel line it, but with the scarcity of it at this point, I think I'll hold off for now.  More pics later today or tomorrow night when hopefully I'll have some play time.  

 

 

 

I just checked my two (one from Loopaza, one from NY on the 6th) and both have similar minor discoloration in the same location, the underside of the right wing. Not enough to get excited about, but certainly noticeable if you look for it. More evidence for the "defect theory"?

In the complete absence of information, I'm going with the "bad production run" theory with higher than usual defects and assuming that Bandai is taking extraordinary measures and perhaps doing a supplementary run simply because they didn't get what they ordered from the factory and we're all suffering the flow on effect. If Bandai were in a situation where they didn't get what they wanted from the factory, would they simply shrug or would they try to please their TWE customers (who one assumes are their most fanatical?).

If NY were certain we wouldn't get our Valks, then they would have notified us as there is no reason not to. If they know they aren't coming, how would keeping mum at this point help them with their own customers?

At best NY appear uncertain. They are providing refunds to those that request them and keeping mum about what's going on (which isn't helpful, but "we don't know" explains what's happening better than "well maybe if we hold our breath it will all blow over"). What they seem to be consistently saying is that the paid for items will turn up at some point in the future even if they can't provide a precise date. This does fit with the "bad production run/extraordinary supplementary run" theory. 

It could be that NY don't end up getting the valks, but at this point they appear to have some faith that they will. If they were certain that they won't, we'd be getting notified and offered the bitter taste of store credit.

BTW, are there any reputable online stores that still have it in stock at an inflated price?

The reason I suspect it has something to do with order date is that I ordered two separate singles, one on the 6th, the other on the 26th. Same shipping option (EMS). Same address in Australia. The one from the 6th has shipped. The one from the 26th has not. From reviewing the thread, there are very few shipments from NY that weren't made on the 6th - so it might be that there are a few aberrations, but it does seem that NY is mostly processing via order number (it certainly isn't random given the large cluster of orders that have shipped from the 6th compared to other dates). 

Wouldn't NY have had to forward payment to Bandai for these items back in October when the order window was open? I've always assumed that was the reason we had to pay up front for these exclusives, we paid them, then to secure the pre-order they paid Bandai. 

11 minutes ago, spanner said:

hehe! I can accept that! though it was not my intention to upset you with that post.. 

 hopefully I will get the time to transform them tonight after work but I think the misses wants to do a date night tonight so it might not happen..

Pretty sure that you can do new valks for date night Spanner. Just do them by candlelight or something.

I wonder how much of our concern is misplaced cultural assumptions. I've noticed when I've traveled to Japan that they do bend over backwards in a way that westerners tend not to to ensure that someone that they've accepted a financial commitment from is looked after. That where a western company would say "bad luck" and cut their losses, that a Japanese org would go the extra mile to try to meet the needs of those they have entered into an agreement with. Again that's just my impressions, but I'd have more faith in a "trust us to do right by you" from a Japanese org than I would from an Australian or US based one. One can hope anyway ;-)

My first NY 31A, ordered 8.07pm on 6/Oct/17 shipped 28/Mar/18 and arrived in Melbourne, Oz, 3/Apr/18

My second NY 31A was ordered on the 26/Oct/17, almost 3 weeks later, and hasn't shipped (which isn't a surprise. I still think they are mostly going by order time, with the bulk of orders occurring when the item was first listed) 

I also ordered a 31A from Loopaza when it came up the other day and that was the one that arrived first.

I have a bunch of other stuff pre-ordered and paid for with them, so no point opening a PayPal dispute as that will just mean I don't get my Mirage super-parts and some other stuff.

I have two orders with NY. The first has been fulfilled and was made early in the PO process when PO's opened. The second hasn't and was made much later. Though this is a single data point, I'm inferring that they are processing in terms of order date. If they'd fulfilled my second order first, then I'd be more amenable to the hypothesis that they were filling orders randomly. One takeaway from this for me is that even when the exclusive process means that you can wait to file a pre-order because they won't fill quickly, you're better off ordering as soon as stuff goes up than you are if you hold back. 

And snagged one at AmiAmi

Just a reminder that your friendly neighborhood Windows 10 built in Clock app has a World Clock tab. For all your preorder needs

NY did just ship my premium Milia. The first Kairos from them has shipped but hasn't arrived yet, but probably will on Tuesday. My second Kairos from them is in the limbo that everyone else's is. 

1 hour ago, spanner said:

Definitely not a random thing when it comes to the government making revenue through importation of goods.. sucks either way. 

Definitely going to suck when the Oz govt starts charging GST on all imports later this year ;-p

31A from Loopaza turned up. First from NY in transit. Second from NY still hasn't been prepped for order.

Got shipping notice on first one from NY. Haven't got prep notice on second one. First one ordered at 20:07 on 6/10, second at 20:34 on 26/10. So they are doing them in order, just looks like they are going to take a while to clear the backlog. Interesting the Mirage Premium VF-1J is due on the 30th, so wonder if they will be done with the 31A's by that time.

Got my prep notification from NY