MKT

Don’t know what to feel about this… https://twitter.com/shimayamas59963/status/1750663618558046559

Lol Yoyakunow must have roped in more family and friends to open purchase accounts at P-Bandai Yeah these days there doesn't seem to be any more complains on plastic bags. But since this is a TWE item, we know the brown box is the shipping box used for JP domestic shipping. It would be prudent to remind LP again during or near release to actually use a proper shipping box for international shipping and not rely on the Bandai brown box alone.

https://goodsmileshop.com/en/CATEGORY-ROOT/POP-UP-PARADE/POP-UP-PARADE-Mai-Shiranui/p/MAX_WD_00689?site=goodsmile-global&lang=en Pop-Up Parade Mai Shiranui Price: Yen 4,800 Release: Jul 2024

Video is not surprisingly region-locked so I guess only accessible via VPN..

Ok so the tent is actually papercraft. From the translation of the wordings, I can't figure out if the tent is included from a pull-out page in the instruction manual that you can fold, or if the instruction manual only contains the instructions on how to make one with your own materials. I think likely the latter, seeing that there isn't any mention of it in the parts list.

Regarding NY vs Yoyakunow vs Moehime, my own reading of it over the years is this: Yoyakunow was started by ex-staff at NY, I think it was mentioned by themselves on their site (that bit of info seems to have been taken down now though) with the name of the person actually given. Someone else online then dugged a bit, and found the Yoyakunow named person happened to share the same first name as someone linked to NY, possible the NY representative director / owner. Whether or not both are actually same person or not is not conclusive, but of course it is enough to set off alarm bells. When we browse Yoyakunow site, their ToS is clear and appear to go beyond what other shops normally do, and is pretty unprecedented. They update the customers on what happens on the back end with the supplier for every order – if I’m not wrong, after one puts in a PO on their site, Yoyakunow will then e-mail updates on when they order the goods with supplier, when they actually pay to supplier, when supplier actually confirms payment received by Yoyakunow, when the goods starts shipping to Yoyakunow, and when Yoyakunow actually receives the stock. So Yoyakunow’s USP seems to be transparency, no doubt due to their open admission of links to NY in the past and the impression portrayed was that they were not the decision makers in NY but as being staff at other levels not responsible for the shenanigans. Then not long ago, there is Moehime. Based on online conversations at MFC, Moehime started coming online for business a few months after NY’s site went down, but the site itself was registered earlier around the same dates as NY’s last site renewal. If we remember NY’s last days, they did a lot of aggressive sales on their existing stock – well beyond the usual mark downs. When Moehime went live, folks noticed 2 things - firstly the stock listed on Moehime looked exactly the same as the stocks NY had prior to them going down, plus they also started sales with same aggressive mark-downs on these stock in the similar vein as NY. Second, people who used e-mail addresses exclusively for NY account registrations started getting unsolicited marketing blasts from Moehime. The above 2 are huge red flags for me. It may well be Moehime legitimately bought over NY’s stocks for a song, obtained customer e-mail lists in the same package & started things going with them, but I’m willing to bet it’s just NY’s owner just switching to a new name. I did purchase something in-stock from Moehime recently though, and the whole website experience is actually very reminiscent of NY’s. The feel of the steps in the purchasing process – selecting currency, the gouged-up shipping rates, the confirmation pages, heck even their system for enquiry and contacting them. It all feels very old wine in new bottle. I’ve never made any PO at Yoyakunow yet, mainly because there hasn’t been a need to yet and also leftover apprehension from NY days – but I am more inclined to try them if I fail at other go-to sites. As for Moehime, a firm no for POs because I’m pretty convinced they are NY 2.0 and will only get something in-stock, somewhat grudgingly if the price is too good to pass.

That's surprisingly an ok price, instead of their usual insane mark-ups. But then again, I do remember i got my TWE VF-1D from them for ok price too, so I guess for TWE they are a good choice.

I think it will not work with Tenso. With Tenso, you still need to do the purchasing from P-Bandai yourself. Although you can provide Tenso's local JP address as shipping address, it would already have been flagged by Bandai. Additionally, your overseas credit card will not work too.

None of the pics show the booster parts’ inner details, so can we expect a Mechanics Version down the road? Anime Export, Hobby Genki, Nin-nin, perhaps Yoyakunow..

The issue with proxies is that the number of slots a proxy have to purchase with Bandai are limited, so the proxy usually run out of slots fast. The good news is if Bandai themselves sells out out this PO, they will open another round of POs for second batch, release usually a month or 2 after original batch. But I think PO quantities for Macross web exclusive valks have never went past the first batch; only the VF-1 accessories Super Parts & missiles have had multiple batch release.

Good catch. Edited the original post to reflect web exclusive.

More pics:

Didn’t expect this to be so soon after YF-21 PO: DX Chogokin VT-1 Super Ostrich Price: Yen 35,200 (inc 10% domestic tax) PO: Jan 26, 2024 (tomorrow!) Release: July 2024 Includes 2 x Hikaru pilot figure, 1 x Misa, 1 x Minmay, and papercraft tent. For those not familiar yet, this is not a WWM release. Japan-only. Edit: This will be a Tamashii Web Exclusive (TWE) / P-Bandai release. https://tamashiiweb.com/item_character/macross_series/?wovn=en

Not sure what do you mean by alternate colour, but I guess you could identify differences by way of packaging. https://anymoon.com/blog/?cat=60 has links to the v1, Renewals and their associated super parts so perhaps it might be helpful.

All the Macross x Super Robots that R-Area have been teasing for a while will be in a new doujin.

Pics as taken by Pepz Antonio Ricthie at UK Toy Fair:

Just to add to @Scyla's post, Arcadia has previously detailed how they handle orders: https://ameblo.jp/arcadiaac/entry-12322090697.html Bandai's TWE / P-Bandai items would be similar as well, except all orders have to be funneled directly to their website.

I had to look up Pseudo Saturn, and the memories are slowly coming back although still fuzzy.. I'm not sure how many types of Pseudo Saturn were out there, but I have used something similar. If I recall correctly, I experienced the same errors as you did then and it is due to the cartridge pins sometimes not aligning properly to the slot due to bad tolerances, hence iffy contact points. In my case, I had to pull up very slightly the cartridge on one side (I think right side), such that there is a very gentle sloping tilt, the right side being higher than the left. It has to be just right, too much or too little and the errors will be there.

Someone photoshopped an earlier pic of it with walking crutches... why do I now find it relevant again? This is really a polarizing valk lol.. but also the most popular going by recent PO activity.

Playing with a Fax Mactory 1/20 Low-Vis VF-1J.

Wing pins glued? Didn't think Bandai would employ such a cheap solution, but I guess it is rather effective lol.. I admire how you are willing to straightaway take apart a minty new toy.

Nice observation & agreed, the angle of cockpit is down to the amount of lean. It at least points to the design being stable enough to do so, even at prototype stage, while I'm recalling my VF-22 Battroid can only stand at a specific lean angle otherwise it will tumble down. 😅

Looks like the wings are really aligned perfectly in Fighter now. I guess Bandai must have done some work on the wing pegs to make it that way. I'm more tempted to get it now because of that.

Had a look again.. I don't think it's the same person. Likely like the person on FB posted without acknowledging source..