Slave IV

Finally got this set! Still can't get over how tiny Rodan and Mothra are but they are very nice, especially Mothra's translucent wings. Such a shame there will be no Ghidorah to go with them.

Well, the original was a dud and it still commanded a pretty penny. Anyways, I'll be happy to get one of these. If I'm lucky, two but I really don't need an extra.

Good info, I’ll have to check it out sometime. China is in full on capitalistic mode right now so once their population mostly gets the same kind of buying power we have in the US, everyone is screwed one way or another if things stay as they are now. Just look at what this population has done to the world and multiply that times 6-7, lol!

Ok, I didn’t see that version before...there are so many. That does look excellent. Gonna have to look into getting one, lol.

Yep, basically it doesn't seem like a viable thing unless you are developing a bot for personal use. The Chinese market is not only botting but also lining up in person to snatch up all the stock. The NY numbers should be about the same as far as available units for their initial preorder discount. I came up with the number as an estimate based on order numbers for earliest to last known sucessful orders.

Interesting...I get the need to get your investment back but I personally would not pay any extra. This is all a game to me and if I’m good enough to get one myself, cool! If I miss out, there are still a few more chances when it releases and it’s just a toy so nbd. Based on my own evaluation and calculations, most of these online shops are not getting much more than 100 units for preorder. NY may have even less since they allocate some stock to their markup if it is a popular item.

So, I looked at my records and we were both a bit off on the original NY price, it was 16,280Y if you got it in time. As for bots, I don't know but I think that is highly likely the case. I haven't gotten that crazy into it but if someone wants to give me an easy way to give me better chances, I'll take it. Also, you want to put your eggs in every basket possible when preorder madness comes. I have multiple devices and tabs open, refreshing them all as fast as I can to get my orders in and that still didn't work for me for the Hikaru DX 1S.

NY had the VF-1S Hikaru for around 17,000Y but that lasted for less time than I was able to secure one because I was refreshing the page every second until it showed up but was unable to check out fast enough to get the deal. The S&S parts are TWE so you got the regular price for those and they will not go up until after release. They are still available for the same price. That is a good example of the difference between regular releases and TWE ones.

Haha, I don't think any are announced yet (thankfully for my wallet) but look forward to your help!

It’s funny because it’s usually the other way around. For Arcadia, they are a small operation of basically Macross fans who were involved with Yamato back when they were still in business and they acquired the rights to the molds Yamato used to continue to release products under the new Arcadia. Since they are small, all their items are pretty much made to order so there is usually no preorder madness for them. It’s actually worse to me when they have web exclusives because you need to use the Proxy service or if any shops get it, you need to pay the full price plus the shops markup. Bandai is a whole different story. They are one of the largest toy manufacturers in the world and Macross is a niche brand that barely registers in their overall profits. Because of this and the fact that the Macross brand is on a hold in the world other than Japan (see the hated Harmony Gold situation), they don’t allocate resources to produce Macross releases in large numbers. Since certain web shops started up with large intent on selling to foreign markets, we are now able to buy Macross figures direct from Japan even though it is technically not completely legal. This means the demand pretty much exceeds the supply that Bandai is making these figures for so the regular releases sell out almost instantly. The reason why the Bandai Tamashii Web Exclusives are easier to get is because they treat these items as build to order, kinda like all Arcadia products. They have a set time frame when you can order and as long as you order in that time, which is usually over a month, you are good to go.

Good luck to you! I consider myself an experienced pro at this, not the best but I’ve always been successful until a few recent items and also being hindered by all the shops “upgrading” their websites and actually making them worse. I was unable to secure DX VF-1S Hikaru and Focker is sure to be even more difficult to get (if it’s not an exclusive).

When I first saw LEK’s work on MP Transformers a few years ago, I predicted that the future would bring us figures painted that way from the factory. Really glad to see it finally happening. So far, the only good one I’ve seen is the Mafex Spidey. There are some 3P KO Transformers available now too but they look like crap...definitely not LEK quality paint designs.

The coupon I’m referring to was offered as a promotion to people who shipped PW orders out a few months ago. If you didn’t get it at that time, it’s over.

Well elaborated @HardlyNever @sqidd, again you seem to have reasonable intentions and if you have the cash to sit on a few thousand dollars worth of Valks to maybe someday sell and get your one or two paid for, by all means more power to you. Unless the Focker DX 1S is a Web Exclusive, get ready for an all out bloodbath. It is an experience that can be extremely satisfying if you succeed in securing one at preorder discount pricing or extremely frustrating if all you end up with is getting cartjacked all night. Either way, it will be a workout for your F5 finger and a roller coaster. You will also see this community at its best, with people updating with posts to links and helping each however they can to get an order in. There are even people who are able to secure multiple orders and turn those extras over to people who missed out. This sense of community and helping each other out is this forum’s finest aspect, imo. We are all clearly (obviously) Macross fans.

@sqidd, it sounds to me like you have a good mindset. I'm sure you are also savy enough to realize that depending on the method you use to sell, you need to take fees and shipping into account so your profits may end up being much lower than you expect. Basically, there is a reason for businesses that specialize in selling these things and doing this as a way to make money probably isn't the greatest idea but again, you do what you want to do with your money. In this particular case and other Web Exclusives, anyone who wants the item can preorder it themselves and they are made to order so you are not depriving anyone of anything. If anything, like you said, you would be providing a service that cost you your own money up front to provide people who missed out for whatever reason to get something they want. There are other items that do sell out extremely quick like Bandai DX Macross so if you are specifically buying a whole bunch of them just to sell, then that is a bit annoying to people who just want to get one but I still think if you have the skills and ability to buy more than three when someone can't even get one, that skill is worth something too, lol! In the end, If someone is willing to pay the price you want, that is exactly how capitalism works. No offense to anyone else but I find it highly hypocrytical if someone were to badmouth you for trying to do this unless that person has never supported a corporation that has done far worse in the scheme of things for the same goal of profiting. I don't like it personally and the way I speak out against it is I don't buy anything that is over retail price. If I missed out, I missed out. No big deal to me and I'm willing to wait for the next thing, a rerelease of some form or better version in the future or something else altogether. My collection is vast enough that I don't need to worry about missing out and it probably is good for me and my space, lol.

I think you do what you want with your money. Just know that nothing is guaranteed but it is likely you will end up making a profit if you wait long enough. I don’t agree with the way our form of capitalism puts money above life itself but it is the reality we live in so there is nothing less moral about selling some collector's items compared to corporations that literally kill for profits.

I would pass on those at pretty much any price. They are known to have hips that fall apart.

I would retort that NY also often ships before anyone else but it is true that they are usually the slowest. I think it is mostly on TWE items that at this point, AE is the only other source besides proxy services and NY is always cheaper than AE. Overall, I have no bias or loyalty to any shop. I only care about who gets me what I want for the lowest price and I can say that NY has saved me thousands of dollars. I really wouldn’t mind if more people stopped using them so I can get my preorders there easier. BTW, I’m surprised about the response you got from AmiAmi. The only time I had an issue with a figure I got from them, they replaced it at no cost to me.

Yeah, I think you made the right choice. If I had mirrored backings, I wouldn’t go through the trouble of covering them.

HLJ said they are extending the coupon to the end of Sept. due to the technical difficulties.

#1 Nippon Yasan - Lowest prices as long as you can get the initial preorder in. One of the only shops that offer Tamashii Web Exclusives. They also have discount rewards program but usually only good for 3-5% off. They are one of the only shops that offer ferry shipping which takes long but is way cheaper for large/heavy or combined orders. You can split or combine any unpaid orders at anytime. Be sure to check prices because if they changed, you get the later (usually higher price) and lose any discounts used. #2 Amazon Japan - Prices are generally around the same as NY or a bit higher but shipping is flat 1200 Y + 800 Y per additional item for extremely fast DHL. Drawback is they ship in nearly paper thin boxes and not all items ship out of Japan. #3 CDJapan - If I can't get from one of the first two choices, CDJ has been reliable and also has a rewards system that make shopping there cheaper generally cheaper than any other option below. You can combine orders that are in stock around the same time. #4 amiami - Prices here are higher for the item and shipping but they have one of the best customer services along with HLJ and CDJ. They also have a rewards point system. They allow combining orders that ship the same month. #5 HLJ - They used to be a top 3 shop to me but after their website updates and price changes, they have bemome one of the most expensive and worst sites I've used. They have a Private Warehouse system that allows you to store orders there for up to 60 days to combine shipping. #6 Anime Export - Slightly higher prices than NY and they also offer Tamashii Web Exclusives. They have an indefinite private warehouse system. Main drawback is everything is pay immediately so you are in essense always giving them a free loan on whatever you order from them. If it was something I have to pay up front anyway, I would rate them in the top 3 but usually get things cheaper from NY so no reason to shop here for the most part. #7 Hobby Search (1999) - I usually never have a reason to shop here since preorders are so far impossible to get for me. #8 Mykombini - Last choice if I need something I absolutely can't get anywhere else. I'd usually rather wait until an item is released and just buy 2nd hand from Mandarake before I use any of the shops not in the top 3. I'll also mention Proxy Services for Japan Only exclusives. So far, I've only used From Japan and their service seems good but I haven't received my order yet to completely evaluate. I think I end up paying less at NY and will likely just keep shopping there when I can.

Cool! I had one but couldn’t find anything I wanted and was about to just buy something little and cheap, not even worth using the discount on but it didn’t work. I sent a ticket to HLJ and suspect it has to do with their current issues. I’ll report back on their response. Given the expiration date, I expect they will give a new coupon to those who haven’t used it yet.

Only $27 for slow shipping from NY. Again, I still get the same thing in the end and save enough money to more than cover for insuring my own shipments (even though I don’t need to) or use the extra money as I please (going towards more toys). As for the HLJ coupon, it seems they are having technical difficulties with their site but if you are trying to transfer your coupon that was given for that shipping promotion, it is not transferable.

Mirrored sounds good to me so you have more views of your display items. But when possible, I like making backgrounds for my displays so the items look like they are in their intended environment. I also plan on having prints behind some shelves and other than those, I think a plain background of whatever color the shelf is works too. I have Black, white and wood color shelves. Here are some examples of various items on various types of shelves with various backgrounds.

Awesome, thanks! I might get the Super Hornet.