HardlyNever
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NY has their release date for the armor parts as Aug 23rd. I don't think I've seen any place have Aug 16th as the release date. Do you have a vendor saying that?
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Glad you found this, as I kept hearing things like this but couldn't find any good sources. So yeah, there are people out there who are reversing yellowing by only putting it out in the sun. Nothing else. No retrobrite, or salon care products (which generally involve leaving it out in the sun for a while, see a trend?). Literally just the sun light. Which is supposed to be the entire reason this stuff is yellowing to begin with, right? The amount of misinformation and conflicting information regarding this topic is absolutely absurd. I guess that is all I want to say at this point. I won't pretend to have the answers, but I think the takeaway here is that there is no single culprit or solution to the issue. I think the last 3 minutes or so of that guy's video has a decent explanation of what might be going on (years of exposure to indirect sunlight and non-UV light, vs direct exposure). So that might be why sunlight seems to be both the cause and "solution" to the problem. Does it make the plastic more brittle? I have no idea, but plastic will always degrade over time, regardless of light exposure. So it might be the correlation of older plastic being brittle and yellowed, so when people try to reverse the yellowing, they notice it is more brittle, because it is older.
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Arcadia 1/60 VF-4A ‘Flashback 2012’ Premium Finish & Regular Release
HardlyNever replied to no3Ljm's topic in Toys
I think it is exactly the same mold as the earlier yamato/arcadia vf-4 releases. Only the pilot is a new/different mold. -
Well, it happened. And it didn't take too long: Lil Draken set (12k yen) SV-262 (12k yen) Obviously, condition is a factor here. But that is still pretty insane.
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I can't speak much for Toysource or Bandai direct, as I don't really use them. But with regards to BBTS versus just using the usual import retailers, it is often cheaper to just use the import retailers, especially if you don't mind slower shipping. Compare the Mafex Wolverine from AmiAmi or HLJ, vs BBTS. The cheapest you could get it form BBTS is $99 shipped. While it is ~$70 UDS, before shipping, at the import places. So as long as you're ok with shipping that costs less than $30 (i.e. slower shipping), you're going to get it for $5 to $10 cheaper, maybe just a little later. And ordering from BBTS you're going to have to wait for them to get it from Japan, then ship it out to you, then local shipping to get it to you, so it really isn't much faster. You can make this comparison with a bunch of import stuff that is allowed to be sold in the US (mafex, figma, other bandai stuff), and the result is the same. I'm not trying to here, but this idea seems to persist, when we have tons of examples that show otherwise. The "domestic" retailers are just serving as another middle man, in most cases. I think it also speaks to how efficient international shipping and trade has gotten, at least for some country combinations. Now Bandai Direct might be an exception, since we could pay less of a middleman fee. Unfortunately, it looks like we'll never find out for sure.
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I got a set for 11k yen late last year. If you don't care about box condition (mine wasn't bad, just a little worn), there are some good prices that pop up every now and then on Manda. Will we every hit a point where the Lil Draken set and the sv-262 itself are at the same secondary market price? It seems like it could happen.
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They could be left overs from the "second wave" that never came for that game, but they look more detailed than the minis the game comes with. I would assume they are just a separate figures made for whatever reason. "For table top games," even though there is no currently active Robotech or Macross table top game, that I'm aware of. I guess you can just use them for any old table top wargaming. They look decent, all things considered.
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So, myself and many others on the internets believe that Harmony Gold is primarily a money laundering scheme at this point. There is no absolute concrete evidence to support this, but there is a lot of circumstantial stuff that heavily implies that they are/were involved in money laundering. I'm not saying they started out that way; but it is probable that the reason the company continues to exist at all at this point is to launder money for someone (we don't really know who). So we, as Macross fans, of course focus on Robotech and why this company seems so intent on keeping out Macross, and why doesn't X company just do Y, so that we can finally get Macross in the US. But for HG, it isn't about Robotech or Macross specifically; it is about maintaining a reasonable front as a "legitimate" company to continue to launder money. Having the Robotech licence, and trickling out the odd product here and there, is an easy way to continue to look like a real company, at a glance, to keep away the legal authorities. Obviously, if you dig deeper like a Macross fan would, a lot of odd things start to appear. But the people who might investigate HG as a money laundering scheme aren't Macross fans, and so they aren't going to be looking at such a small company beyond a cursory glance. Of course we focus on the Macross aspect on a Macross forum, but there are other considerations at play here.
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No, not that I've seen. You can find really general revenue numbers about some of Bandai's brands that they make toys for (Gundam, DBZ, Macross, etc), but nothing very specific. I haven't even been able to find numbers that are division specific (Tamashii Nations, SoC, GunPla, etc). Much less individual brands within Tamashii Nations. Finding numbers for specific figure releases seems impossible, unless you have insider access. You can look at secondary market prices and get a very rough idea about how individual releases did, but there are a lot of unknowns there. So, as far as I can tell, there is no way we can say for certain how well specific releases sold. I'm not ready to call the line dead, personally. They had a release come out this month; I'm not really sure why everyone is so doom-and-gloom about it yet. I know we'd expect to hear about the next release by now, but maybe they are just working on other things. I'm not saying the line is as healthy as it has ever been, but I'm not sure it's gone.
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Arcadia 1/60 VF-4A ‘Flashback 2012’ Premium Finish & Regular Release
HardlyNever replied to no3Ljm's topic in Toys
Does the pilot look a little bigger now? Looks like a new mold to me, but it is hard to tell (I know it is Hikaru vs... whoever he is in Digital Missions VF-X). The pilot in the current 1/60 one seems to rattle around a bit, so I wouldn't mind a slightly bigger pilot. -
I've actually been saying this for a few years. They aren't competing; they are cooperating. People saying that we "need" to support Arcadia because they compete with Bandai don't seem to see this. I'm not saying we shouldn't buy Arcadia stuff, but I don't think they are really competing with each other. In fact, I'm pretty sure they talk, at least informally, about their release plans.
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They're in episode 14 as well:
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That's interesting, especially if Macross makes it to the EU. We could get a glimpse of what would have happened here in the US, for better or worse. Do you have any links/sources for those? I can't find anything regarding the Macross license in China, and everything for the EU just brings up the UK filing.
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I'm watching Macross Delta for the first time through atm, so (un)fortunately I can kind of answer these. Chuck appears in episode 1 with the rest of delta squad/platoon/flight w/e you want to call them. He doesn't have supers in that scene; he's in atmosphere with everyone else. NVM, went back and looked. You're right, there is a brief scene where he flying in space with Reina and he has the supers (it's only a few seconds). The first time I remember seeing Chuck's supers are episode 14, where they are fixing the city-ship thing. Arad is also sporting supers in that scene. I can't say for absolute certain that is the first time you see Chuck's supers, as the rest of the squad uses them earlier in the show, so maybe he's in the background with them or something. But that is the first time I actually recognized them. NVM, see above.
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I've seen the news that BW secured trademark rights in the UK. That's the only place outside of Japan that I've seen, personally. Is there anywhere else outside of Japan and the UK that BW is working on securing the Macross trademark rights? How do we know how much money they are actually putting in to it? How much is a "LOT," relatively or absolutely speaking?
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Yellowing is the great boogie-man of the toy collecting world from what I can tell. There are 100s of theories about how/why things turn yellow. A lot of them are covered in this thread: For my part, having something (anything really, not just toys) in direct sunlight for extended periods of time will always affect the color. It may or may not turn yellow, but the color will fade or change in some way. But like that thread says, there a lot of ways plastic can turn yellow, including simply exposure to air at all. So I don't think there is any 100% full-proof way of preventing yellowing, other than maybe having it stored in an air-tight, vacuum sealed dark box. And I'm not even sure that would work 100% of the time.
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Nippon Yasan is donating some of their proceeds from this week to the victims of this tragedy.
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Generous choice of words
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Assuming you mean the actual Bandai DX super/strike parts (not some old yamato ones), then yes, it should work on the VF-1J. Technically no one has done it with this line, since they aren't out yet. But it is incredibly unlikely Bandai made different attachment points/tabs for the GBP to work with the 1J, then other attachment points/tabs that only work with valks that had the super/strike parts. Like, that would be taking it to a whole new level of scumbaggery, and it would actually cost Bandai more money to do that. So I'd say it is very likely the super parts will work with the 1J.
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Belle foto. Sei Italiano, o solo sito è italiano?
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Unfortunately, HG is far from alone in this kind of behavior. This is an example of people using the letter of laws to violate the spirit of said laws. As far as why someone (probably BW) doesn't do anything about it, I have to conclude at this point that they've decided it isn't worth the effort, financially. They could theoretically throw enough money at this problem, whether that would be lawyers or just buying the rights from HG, to make it go away. But they have decided the market outside Japan isn't worth that investment. At least that's all I can speculate, based on the situation at hand (and how it's been for years). I wouldn't doubt BW simply has a bad taste in their mouth (on a corporate level) when it comes to dealing with western licensing. So they probably aren't keen on the idea to begin with.
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Sums up my thoughts at this point. HG definitely lies about some things, and I definitely don't trust them, but to outright fabricate a license extension is a stretch, even for them. Unless this is some big endgame scheme (unlikely, unfortunately), where the entire company implodes and everyone runs out with whatever they can get their hands on, I don't think they are making this up. But I do think the license might be more restrictive. We'll just have to wait until they have to produce it (or like I mentioned above, someone in Japan might be able to get it before that) and read it for ourselves to get the details.
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Could be, but four years is a pretty long time... We were all getting hyped on a expiration date that was 2 years away, and that seemed like forever. 4 years to read some updated licensing agreement seems pretty dull. I guess this is a case where we should just forget about it for a while. Who wants to take one for the team and force their hand earlier? Maybe do a fan-made Macross interactive adventure game!
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1/48+fp's, 1/60+fp's, 1/72, 1/2k, 1/3k,1/100 and now 1/144
HardlyNever replied to VF-18S Hornet's topic in Toys
Might be the extra hip-joint thing at the gerwalk joint that makes it not as smooth looking. I prefer the DX 1/48 legs. They are big and hefty, with metal feet. Feels great to hold. And I like the larger feet; I think the 1/60 yamcadia's feet are a little too thin (but they look a little better in fighter mode). -
Obligatory IANAL, but unless someone with reasonable ground challenges Tatsunoko or HG, I don't know that we'll ever publicly see the terms. It is a private contract between two private companies (I believe Tatsu is private, I know HG is). It looks like Tatsu is owned by several other companies, so maybe if one of them is public, someone could somehow get a copy of the exact agreement. But I definitely don't know anything about Japanese corporate law, so... I dunno. Anyhow, my point is that there is very little chance someone could compel HG to actually produce the terms for the public record. It would take someone challenging them in court, which I don't know if that is going to happen at this point (or someone could challenge Tatsu in Japanese court). Of course, HG could voluntarily disclose the terms, but I would say that is highly unlikely. It could be a straight renewal of the existing terms, just with a new expiration date, but I doubt it. I really don't want to just take HG's word for it, but I don't see a realistic way for us to learn the truth, atm. Edit: It looks like most of the companies that own Tatsunoko are public, so maybe someone who has stock in one of those companies could request the terms of this agreement. At least they could in the US, but Japan could be completely different in that regard. Maybe someone in Japan will actually get their hands on the contract.