pafy6285

2 hours ago, tekering said:

However, the only 1:20 Valkyries I've ever seen are the ones Amazon shipped to my house.  🤨

I've yet to lay eyes on either of Max Factory's kits at retail, either new or used stock.  They must have been produced in rather limited quantities. 🤔

The 1/20 valks are under the Plamax line and the same with other Max Factory products, they're always produced in limited amounts (usually to meet preorders and maybe some extra). And considering the size and price (and shipping) of this kit, it's possible that there's just a small amount of preoders made.

2 minutes ago, twich said:

My Question is, is there a Metal Build Zeta Gundam or Zeta Plus Gundam?  I know of the Gundam Fix Figuration Metal Composite Zeta Plus set, but I do not think it is the same as a metal build.....What would people recommend?

there's the metal robot Zeta (https://myfigurecollection.net/item/907051) and also other Zeta/Zeta plus variants.

22 minutes ago, General Rasp said:

I have checked my coupon page a couple of times and I don't have it either sadly. Most of the ones I have specifically exclude 'Anime figures' which Metal builds and Robot Spirits fall under.  

well that sucks if that's the case. It's possible that the period to get the coupon might have ended earlier

10 hours ago, akai21 said:

Seems like offer is account dependent

was it not available when you visited the coupons page? I think the coupons should be available for all regardless of account standing.

Buyee currently has a 20% discount coupon for the Toys > Anime figures category in Mercari till the 29th (Japan time). Metal build figures (and other figures) are usually under that category, so if you're looking to get Kampfer close to JP retail price, this is your chance (assuming the item is under the said category for the discount). Kampfer is currently priced at around 50k yen in Mercari, so with a 20% discount, it would be around 40k yen. Do note that the coupon can be used multiple times and applies to anything under the said category, so if you're looking for other items, it's your chance to get it at a lower price.

14 minutes ago, MKT said:

Hobby Genki seems to have pulled a bit of scummy move by raising the price when it went live. It was originally prelisted at Yen 38.5k, and then it went straight to Yen 39,750 lol..

 

I couldn't even find the link to begin haha.. I'm sure there must be some tricks   

 

You can try a certain proxy to search (if searching amazon doesn't work)

lol, amazon.jp glitching out. Saw as available for 38500 yen (sold by amazon) and was able to add to cart but doesn't allow completing the order.

you wouldn't download a gunpla would you? Looks like Bandai did a booboo and didn't encrypt the gunpla 3d/CAD files of their metaverse game (I believe it's patched now). So those files are now public and can be used to 3d print gunplas:

an online shop already opened PO for the Kampfer for 43000 yen (retail seems to be 39600 yen with tax so I think price is decent) and currently with 7 available slots. Same shop also has the metal robot Hazel Titan colors for 20k yen (apologies for not mentioning the name of the shop for obvious reasons . You can always do google-fu though, they're not hidden or anything. Shop looks reliable so far as I got some of my metal builds there this year including GN-arms and Deathscythe at decent prices).

TOM seem to have opened PO for MS RX-93 for $900 with a 25% cashback (if premium member; also note that you can only use the cashback on your succeeding orders): https://otakumode.com/shop/6508fe023b1895001dfbdc76/Kaitai-Shou-Ki-Mobile-Suit-Gundam-Char’s-Counterattack-RX-93-ν-Gundam. Obviously it's gone now, lol. Seems to be the best price among retailers so far.

13 hours ago, mog_kupo said:

 Its for information only

I think there were previous instances where information was announced and the pre-order was also opened the same day.  Though can't remember if online shops (.e.g. hlj, amiami, etc) also opened their POs at the same time or the following day

just an FYI, it looks like P-Bandai JP might be cracking down on proxy sites as some were already banned. I believe some MB (well also applicable to any PBandai products such as DX Chogokins,etc.) collectors here prefers using proxy sites, so I think it would be wise to look for other sources in case all proxy sites are banned.

15% coupon (rakuten, rakuma, mercari) right now on Buyee till the 30th (JP time) if you're planning to get a metal build or something else

FYI, those looking for MB strike noir, a lot of postings right now on JP markets (YAJ, rakuma, mercari) at a more "reasonable" price (around 35k more or less). I believe this is the June batch release of MB strike noir. Additionally, Buyee has a 20% discount right now on rakuma, mercari so a significant discount if you're getting it from there. I believe there's also the 5000 yen discount coupon for international shipping until June 30 so more discount if you're able to ship it before then.

MB GN Arms box size:

as someone commented in reddit, Macross seems to produce a major story/animation every decade which adopts whatever is prevalent or popular with the music/entertainment industry. The original Macross, we have a Showa era idol, in the 90s, we have a rock band with Firebomber, 2000s Frontier has the diva and solo idols prevalent during that period, and 2010s, we have Walkure, an idol group. So for this decade, wondering what would it be...

tried FJ to order the metal composite  deathscythe and entering the p-bandai link of the product, FJ tells that they already reached the order limit. That was fast, even a few days before the PO launch, lol. In any case, another online shop opened their PO, and secured my order from there (with a little price mark up).

13 hours ago, no3Ljm said:

The previous listings that I saw over Mandarake were sold between Y40000-45000. Yeah, let's hope they're going to reissue this for those who wants it at retail price.

Hopefully, the aftermarket depreciates a bit once more Strike Noir are released on June 2023. The current ones available on online shops are from the Tamashii event. Then there's the after event sale that was made available through P-Bandai and scheduled to be release on June 2023.

So MSG Witch of Mercury finally went full Gundam, with all the body counts, PTSD, betrayals, and some psycho tendencies (of the pilot) in the last episode of its first half. Gotta wait for 3 months though  (for the 2nd half) to see how this development will turn out.

Just received my Sazabi from SNKRDUNK, so they're legit. They have the lowest after market price at the time, and seems to be backed by some big companies/investors, so took the risk. If the transaction went awry, can just dispute it with Paypal. Total of USD $2383 and $45 for shipping to Canada. Shipped through Fedex, ordered Sunday and delivered today. The top flaps of the actual Sazabi package has been opened, and I would assume that's part of their authentication/verification process, but the seals on the sides are still secured so the box can't be opened completely. It only allows to at least see what's inside. The two smaller boxes inside are secured/sealed, and doing a quick visual check, contents seems to be in order.  Sazabi seems to be still available in their site but price seems to have already increased by a hundred or so.

P.S. Package is quite heavy. Tried to carry it thru the box's plastic handle but it snapped, lol

Saw this posted in another forum, Sazabi currently at USD $2391:  https://snkrdunk.com/en/streetwears/96230 (price fluctuates as it's a trading/seller marketplace)

Site looks legit as per sneakers / shoe community. Did a test checkout and shipping to the US is just $25. Site / App is supposedly for sneakers/shoe trading/marketplace and the $25 rate makes sense., but for Sazabi they'll incur a big loss unless they have a great contract with a shipping company.  So even if legit, I'm wondering how the transaction will go due to shipping. But if everything works out, this might be the cheapest with shipping out there right now.

As per the site's transaction flow they act as an escrow, which means that they wait for the item to be received in their warehouse and be verfified/authenticated before releasing the payment to the seller.  Also have Paypal for payment, so you can fail back to that if there are any issues

wotafa's Sazabi review:

40 minutes ago, Chunky001 said:

The killer on these is the shipping. THE BOX IS HUGE! The dog in that pic is a 70lb pittie for scale. Shipping is $500-600. Add that to $2450 and you're up over $3000 real quick.

Some scalpers really scored big on this one.

Using some proxy calculators and checking EMS rates, and assuming that the dimensions found in HLJ / hobbysearch are accurate, and that it will be shipped with just the original bandai brown box, cheapest rate is ~45000 yen (EMS and Fedex) or ~$350.

Yeah scalpers scored big with this one considering the raw profit.  And there's already a lot of sold transactions in YAJ and Rakuma even at the current price range (some even buying two or  more). IIRC, the metal structure NU was still available on retailers like Amazon JP when it was released and it took a while before it got to absurd pricing. So scalpers already identified this line as a lucrative one even with high upfront cost.

To those interested, quite a number of listings of metal structure Sazabi in Rakuma with the lowest being at 320k yen (or ~USD $2450 at current forex). Though you have to be strategic when choosing a listing as the cheapest ones will most probably be bought by somebody else before your proxy can. YAJ on the other hand is around 340k yen (buy it now) with occasional lower 330s.  Can't say if this will still get lower, but I think that's a decent post-release price relative to the PO price of US based stores.

Metal robot Deathscythe available on Hobby-genki: https://hobby-genki.com/en/gundam/5229-metal-robot-spirits-side-ms-gundam-deathscythe-hell.html