Pontus

Seriously?  That was a plastic display steak dinner?  I saw it in another display that looked like it was at a restaurant, so I figured it was the closest that restaurant had to it... But you mean to tell me that someone actually planned, designed, and made that display, and it's not even close to what it's attempting to represent?  AND it looks disgusting, like a bad Salisbury steak.  It's supposed to be a 1" thick, rare steak on a cutting board, pure and simple.  I guess I'm glad Bandai didn't make it an accessory.

10 hours ago, Sandman said:

I broke down and bought 2. Figured i'll get my money back from paypay anyway. So it's been like 6 days and no shipping notification. I message him and this was the response:

LOL! Needless to say, I don't have high hopes receiving the valks. I expect I'll be filling a PayPal claim in the future. 

Maybe you'll get lucky after filing the inevitable ebay/paypal claim, and they'll have ACTUALLY shipped it.  Happened to me buying cast off figures from China.  Waited a month, filed a claim through ebay, and they couldn't provide tracking due to cheap shipping method, so ebay forced a refund only to have it show up a month later after all! 

9 hours ago, Lolicon said:

Thanks! I've wanted an accurate version of Luke's green lightsaber for a long time and finally got one. It's much better than the officially licensed one from Disney, which involves swapping out the skinny "neck" with a fatter one to support the blade. 

Parts swapping is lame! 😄

 

Yeah, it looks awesome... but the important part is, (much like our valks in fighter mode) how does it swoosh?

Regarding the standalone HMR Hikaru VF-1J (the first one), is the blue canopy tint removable in some way or is it just made of clear blue plastic?

^^^That's awesome!... but where in the heck did they dig up a 50yr old fossil of a valk to paint for this (imagined) event?  

On 6/9/2023 at 10:37 PM, Chronocidal said:

Also took a little time, and painted up a set of TV missiles that came with the Messer crossover version.  A standard red Gundam marker with a flat coat turned out to be a pretty good match to the paint they use.

Very nice correction of typical Bandai oversite!  I know it's never been canon, but shouldn't the missiles on a trainer valk have orange tips (or entirely orange) to signify that they're dummy rounds?  I guess he did have actual live rounds since he was blasting regults in the first ep, but I don't recall him using missiles.

4 hours ago, Slave IV said:

Agree and who said I didn’t have the other stuff you mentioned? 

I meant "you" in general.  Other than the tv, I've pretty much cobbled together what I've got from DIY speakers and used gear over the years.  In doing so, I found the current marketing bs in av is so overly complicated in the extreme that it's difficult to even know if you're truly getting what you paid for without mountains of research and a maze of settings on every device.  Even then, as I found out, I'm still not getting it!  Anyway sorry for going off topic (altho in my case it is regarding some new av toys).

2 hours ago, Slave IV said:

I'm sure it's worth it but I don't have a Blu-Ray player. I totally skipped that stage of technology and went straight to streaming from DVD.

You haven't lived until you've experienced a properly setup home theater with 4k on an oled or UST laser projector.  Even my modest living room setup is better than most movie theaters.  I bought a 65" oled for 2021 xmas, and have been slowly upgrading the rest of the system including a recent ceiling speaker install.  I only just finally got 4k HDR with the addition of a PS5... only to find out Sony didn't bother paying for proper licensing, so I still need a $500 4k player just to get lossless 3d surround audio and Dolby Vision to get the full experience.  Even so... it's like looking thru the world's clearest window!  Light sources no longer look like just white spots and actually make you squint.  This means sparkly shiny things look amazing!  4k Attenborough is truly moving and seriously makes me cry. Streaming is great, but unless you have fiber internet that isn't being optimized (never), it has nothing on a 4k disc.  jmho tho.

Thank you very much @sh9000 for a perfect transaction!

Thanks to @sh9000 for this recent purchase!  I haven't messed with my other HMRs in a while and forgot how nice these are, solid, transform easily, sharp details, etc etc.  I swapped the canopy for a clear one here in case anyone noticed.

Also saw the Macross Frontier Sheryl Nome (Anniversary Stage Ver.) 1/7 Scale Figure by Good Smile on BBTS.

And the more I look at this one, the more I want it.  I love the mid action posing, awesome figure!

33 minutes ago, borgified said:

Is that Kikaizi’s last meal shown? If so, I just lost my appetite. 🤢

Maybe the person setting up this shot thought so, but it's almost nothing like his last meal.  No veggies, no gravy, and no cast iron plate... and that certainly isn't an "XL steak".  Also, I'm very disappointed that none of the very few Kakizaki toys made this an included accessory.  That's a major oversight in my book.  Mmm, now I'm hungry for a real XL steak... speaking of, where the heck did they get steak on board the Macross, lol?  If anyone wants to recreate this and doesn't wanna spend a fortune, I highly recommend either a thick steak or a thin roast from the chuck eye cut.  It's an often overlooked cut that's usually well marbled with plenty of delishus fat, thus has a lot of great flavor, is very tender despite some occasional sinew and gristle, and yet it's also one of the cheapest cuts.  I've been fasting and am very hungry now... can you tell?🤤

1 minute ago, Lolicon said:

I did the lottery thing once while in Tokyo. It was for a Sheryl figure that had 3 slight color variants. Paid 6k yen, drew a ticket, and got one of them. Luckily I got the color I wanted on the first try. The figures themselves aren't for sale at normal retail shops. Have to get them secondhand from places like Mandarake.

If I recall, there are different prices for different prize levels as it would be hella lame to pay 6k yen and get one of the cheap 100 yen prizes.

As for why Bandai does this... well, making things available for a limited time usually boosts sales. Ask McDonald's about the McRib to find out more! 

Did you get the Sheryl figure that was released alongside that Freyja?

I understand the marketing behind limited releases, even why Bandai stalls releases for things (basically to smooth and pad out their income streams).  But doing a lottery for prizes where I can't control what I get and might get something I don't even want (and I'm assuming can't return) still sounds insane to me.  

I've purposely ignored anything from Zero, 7, or Frontier to save my poor wallet, so no Sheryls for me.  I was interested in the Gorgeous version if that's what you're talking about, but only because it looked cool.  But I'm not paying $250+ (now going for over $400) for a figure purely on aesthetics... although now I think about it, that is exactly why I started collecting Delta stuff.  Done with that now... unless they come out with an Elvis SV-262.  

On 5/27/2023 at 1:08 PM, MKT said:

Been casually interested in that Freyja figure. But on rare times it comes up on Mandarake, the price is always quite above the average Kuji figures.

Yeah, I bought this one when it came up on my Mandarake alerts for what I thought was a very good price of 8000¥... until US DHL shipping was added making it 15k¥/$116!  But this one seemed worth it imho.  

Btw, what the heck is this Ichiban Kuji prize thing?  I see references to it being some sort of lottery for prizes, but why would anyone want to enter a lottery for a random prize when you usually only want a specific one?  And they seem to be for sale individually, which makes the whole lottery thing make even less sense.

Is this a protoculture thing that I just can't seem to wrap my giant, Zentradi brain around?

I finally got one of these from BBTS (super happy they still had them in stock) and opened mine up to transform to battroid and back.  Happy to report absolutely no issues on mine.  Everything is tight and right.  I love that they even added some light panel lining in spots but not too much.  And the copper covers... What an amazing bird!  This is my first and only VF-25/29 (or anything from 7/Frontier), and my only complaint is the transforming design.  Even watching @jenius transformation video (thank you thank you! ), I still had trouble and it's very delicate with fiddly bits sticking out ready to snap off if you're not very careful.  At least they give you an extra antenna, but those canards are doomed.  I certainly won't be doing much transforming of this toy if at all.  Fighter mode without the super parts is gorgeous imho, so I think it'll stay that way with Freyja singing its praises!

Can't wait to watch the new Delta movie!

11 hours ago, MKT said:

The price though . The Alpha Omega Sheryl Nome Gorgeous ver. now look like bargain in comparison.

But good for anyone getting this. 

9 hours ago, Lolicon said:

That is a hella expensive figure 

The Gorgeous figure was listed for 25k¥ when the conversion was roughly 100:1 ($250).  The new figure is listed on Goodsmile in USD as $250 and 29k¥.  Honestly, for such high detail figures, $250 isn't expensive at all.  I was expecting to see $600+ when I clicked. 

I buy a lot of cast off figures from China for $20-50 on occasion based purely on how cool it looks having no knowledge of where it comes from... which I would argue is NOT morally reprehensible because I don't mind repairing or living with flawed figures that would normally go into landfills/oceans.  AITA for not giving my money to a Japanese company making millions off of cheap chinese manufacturing for pennies on the dollar/yen?  Anyway, once I buy them, I look up what they actually are and how much they cost with big surprises every time.  I have one figure that was $1200 new that I got for just $50.   Most are anywhere from $200-600, but very few are any cheaper, so $250 sounds like the low end to me.  Goodsmile has lines that are cheaper, but never with this much beauty and detail. 

I just wish they'd always do 2 versions; a cheap one with no paint that requires assembly, and an expensive assembled and painted version for those who don't mind the price.  That way there's no cast off market, they sell most of what comes out of the mold, anything that gets messed up in paint can be stripped and sold, and everyone is happy.  The marketing and manufacture of collector stuff just seems stupid to me.

18 minutes ago, Froy said:

I will see if I can make it to the end of the month and pay for the 2 up front at AE.

My savings of the month for toys didn't included this POs 😭

 

I'm in the same boat, but it says we can pay anytime before the pre-order deadline which is June 2, so that's nice.

15 minutes ago, DewPoint said:

Pay upfront for the items. Shipping charged later. At least you lock in the current exchange rate.

Thanks.  I had assumed that and thus didn't order because I don't have the money.  Btw, if you're paying with paypal, expect them to screw you over on the exchange rate.  I recently got a figure (non-macross) from Mandarake, and the current exchange rate was supposed to make it come out to $345 but Paypal said it came out to $363.  Read the fine print, and it says they can basically pad it out however they like.  Also, it seems that although we currently seem to be saving a good amount on the current exchange, it's made up for by exorbitant shipping costs, and DHL is no longer the cheapest.  I went to cancel that Mandarake order when it came back with 18k¥ for DHL shipping  and they wouldn't take paypal, but they came back offering to do paypal with only 11k¥ shipping EMS.

HECK YEAH!!! SDFM Kakizaki FTW!  Finally.  Guess I can undo my hack job and put my Hikaru 1J and brownie 1A back together.

Edit: Aw, it's a TWE bullpoop?  Guess I'm paying scalper prices again.  Better keep the hack job for now just in case.  Still need Max tho.

On 4/29/2023 at 11:11 PM, seti88 said:

if only someone would come up with customised WALL display boxes! Its been one of my goals to have valks on walls, eversince i saw the valk display pics on the walls for the macross exhibitions.

I know yeti had some wall display stands sometime back but that had potential dust issues on valks, not to mention accidentally knocking it over if jutting out too far from the wall. 

Anyone here displays their valks on the walls, enclosed?

Great idea!  As a DIYer, I'd go with an acrylic shadow box from a craft store and just stencil on the details I wanted, making it totally custom (which I'd want to do anyway instead of being restricted to Bandai's or whoever).  This one's only 3" deep, so not super far off the wall yet just enough to mount a valk.  Kinduv expensive tho.  Using a standard wood frame shadow box would be much cheaper, but not nearly as good looking or visible.

14 hours ago, MKT said:

Yamato's interpretation of VF-17 from some angles reminds me of The Tumbler with Angry Birds face. 

I'd propose that the tumbler and other such angular designs were in no small part influenced by the same fighter design as the VF-17 was itself based on, the "Stealth Fighter" F-117 Nighthawk (according to this fandom wiki page).  Personally, although it may be good for evading radar, I'm not convinced that it influenced design for the better.   I'm looking at you Cadillac.

Awesome display tho, not casting shade.

Speaking of awesome displays...

On 3/27/2023 at 1:11 PM, Slave IV said:

I got notice about some "Rick" figure is about ready to ship from Kitzconcept. They wanted a confirmation response so just a heads up to check your email if you had this figure ordered.

Has anyone gotten a reply/invoice after confirming their order?  I sent a confirmation Monday afternoon which was 3 days ago for Hong Kong now.  

My 2¥... If you want all the cool accessories and features, go Bandai.  If you want accuracy and ease of transformation, but doing your own decals or want to customize (unless you go premium) go Arcadia.  I feel like Arcadia is much more picky about quality than Bandai.  I only have one Arcadia, the VF-1J GBP, and it's a beauty, but imho, it's all plastic.  I know Bandai puts metal weights in things to make it feel better, but it must be effective because it just feels sturdier to me.

Like I said tho, and as others have pointed out, expect some quality issues with the Bandai if you get it.  You can find replacement head lasers on shapeways iirc if you get a broken one (I did).  I also had to loosen the hips which requires taking out a couple of easily accessible screws, a pretty simple easy job.  My arm cannon fell apart and had to be glued back together too.  

The Bandai is fiddly to transform, but I sorta like that personally as long as it's solid when done and well engineered, and the Bandai is indeed solid imho.  That said, after seeing the Anymoon review of the Yamato YF-21 and knowing Bandai may never even release theirs, not to mention I wasn't a fan of the appearance, I decided to buy the old Yamato (which became Arcadia if you're new to this).  I liked it better than the DX if I'm being honest.

Oh, and you'll definitely want to grab that X-9 Ghost that's in the for sale section to complete the set!  

1 hour ago, Slave IV said:

No problem! You might as well keep it though.

I think I will have to keep such a great figure.  I usually try to limit myself to just one of each character (already have the Kitz Hikaru in flight suit), but early and late Hikaru are a totally different person.  That's my justification anyway, lol.  I also have a weakness for Freyja figures for some reason... they're just so cute!   This will make my third now... wait fourth, forgot about the VFG VF-31J that I stuck my figuarts on in place of the generic figure.  Taxes weren't great, had to pay some federal, but state came through with a decent refund, so I'll bite the bullet.