Paco Grande
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Everything posted by Paco Grande
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U.S. citizens don’t pay import taxes under $800 or something. Amazon Japan charges the import taxes up front so you don’t pay anything more when you get the item delivered in Canada. They also use DHL for shipping and it’s super fast. Usually around 2 to 3 days. Another thing to keep in mind is that they have been refunding my import taxes 100% for months. I’m not sure if a law changed I’m not aware of or if AJ just has a software bug. But around a month after shipment I typically get a refund of 100% of the tax amount. So I’m paying the same as U.S. citizens these days which is awesome. Not sure if that will continue to happen but it’s worth a shot.
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Could you please delete my quote from your post? Thanks.
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Deleted my post to avoid people feeling butthurt.
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I don’t know for sure but I suspect that EMS and other shipping options will switch to the slow boat just to keep things moving. At least that’s what I hope happens. I don’t mind waiting as long as it’s not stuck in limbo somewhere. In Canada things are still moving but there’s a huge backlog. It’s busier than Christmas time because everyone is shopping more online and they are prioritizing the shipment of protective equipment.
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No I’m in Canada. But Canada Post is severely backed up right now so it will most likely take a while. Edit: My wife works at Canada Post in the international parcels division and she told me that Japan sent out a notice on Friday stating that they aren’t accepting any international parcels for delivery to any country. Meaning they aren’t going to be shipping anything out for a while.
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NY allegedly just shipped my strike pack as well with EMS. I’m confused because I thought EMS was shut down. We shall see what happens I guess. And I’m also shocked they shipped this quickly. I was expecting to wait for weeks.
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LOL I was thinking that but I don’t need to have it on all of them. I’m thinking two might be enough. Maybe......
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I only collect transformers normally and I bought the Bandai VF-1S Hikaru and told myself I would only buy the future Roy 1S and be happy with two. But it’s my birthday later this week so I decided to go ahead and order the Kakizaki. So now I’m looking at getting the whole skull squad..... I think I may have an addiction problem.
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Yup I agree. That green looks amazing. I’m not planning to buy it because I’m trying to limit how many figures I buy this year but I’m tempted. On a side note I think Nippon Yassan’s price on this is ridiculous. I’ve never used a proxy service but I may have to look into that.
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Awesome, thank you. I’ll bookmark that site. The only downside is that now I can see how much the stores are marking up the prices. Sometimes ignorance is bliss.
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Thank you very much for the help! What’s the best way to find out the original MSRP?
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Thanks for letting me know but I mostly collect for the engineering so a non-transforming figure would not work for me. I’ll most likely try to find a DX YF-19. NY has them brand new but of course marked up quite a bit.
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Thanks for the info. I’m a casual Macross fan and I didn’t realize the 19 and 21 were that much larger than the VF-1. I only own one DX VF-1S in 1/48 right now so I was hoping to get a 19 and 21 to match the scale. I normally collect Masterpiece Transformers so I’m still trying to wrap my head around Bandai’s ridiculous production run policies. Takara will often reissue an older MP when a related new MP comes out which makes sense. I still can’t believe how much I had to pay just to get the fast packs and missile accessories for my DX VF-1. Cheers!
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Hello, sorry for some possibly noob questions. Do we think Bandai will reissue the 19 to go with the 21? Or should I just try to get one on AmiAmi, Mandarake etc.? I don’t mind waiting for the reissue. Also, what are the odds that Bandai would ever make the 19 or 21 in 1/48 like their VF-1? Slim to none? Thanks!
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DX missiles are up for preorder on NY as well for a June release. 5200¥ https://www.nippon-yasan.com/figures/29791-dx-chogokin-missile-set-for-vf-1-limited-edition-reissue.html
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Thank you for the help! I’m going to watch the Wotafa video for the 1J one more time before I transform it.
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Hello all! I received my DX VF-1S recently. It’s my first modern Macross figure and my first Bandai product. I normally only collect Masterpiece Transformers but I’m a casual Macross fan and I really liked the pics I was seeing of the new DX. I know you’re all Macross experts and tend to focus on the details and what is or isn’t correct. But as a complete noob I have to say that I’m really impressed with the DX so far. The quality is very high to me and the tampos are all perfect as far as I could tell. Except for that 100 screw up on the tail fin! But overall it’s really well made. The packaging is really nice as well. I really like the matte and glossy finishes on the box. I’m really happy I bought it. So I have a total noob question: Is the white finish on the majority of the figure painted or just bare plastic? I’ve seen MP Transformers that don’t look painted but they actually are with a really thin coat which is why I’m asking. I just want to know how careful I need to be when transforming it etc. because I’m really picky when it comes to paint blemishes. I haven’t even transformed it yet because I’ve been so impressed with the fighter mode. It’s just gorgeous to me. Cheers!
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Thank you for the apology and no worries. You’re correct that it sounds insane for people to travel to another country just to buy collectibles to sell back home but the article gave an example of an American doing something similar once a year so I guess it’s happening. I’ve heard that the U.S. is trying to get out of the postal agreement with China because they’re losing too much money subsidizing Chinese small packets. If that happens shipping from China to the U.S. will get much more expensive and that may change things. Back on topic, does everyone that owns a Bandai 1/48 VF-1J think it’s worth owning? The only Macross related figure I own is one of those Robotech Masterpiece limited run figures. A Max blue one from around 2004. It’s weird because I actually bought it at the Japanese pavilion at Epcot in Disney World and Robotech is usually considered an outside of Japan thing.
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Thank you for posting that article! Yes, that’s the one I was referring to.
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I apologize if that offended anyone. That was not intended to be racist at all. Just a fact that China is close to Japan and has insanely cheap shipping that is actually messing up many industries, not just collectibles. China is not paying their fair share of shipping costs and other country’s postal services are paying the bill. I know this because my wife works for Canada Post. Yes there are scalpers everywhere. I’m in Canada and there are many scalpers where I live. I have no idea what their ethnic background is and I don’t really care. I was not implying that all scalpers are Chinese. Not at all. I’m sure there are Japanese scalpers as well as scalpers from many countries buying online. I was specifically talking about local buyers in stores in Japan. I apologize again. I did not mean to offend anyone.
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Thank you!
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Interesting! You mentioned that it wouldn’t be too hard to order after preorder madness but at a markup? So do we know what’s typical for a markup? Is it like Nippon Yassan’s current VF-1A price which is 27,500 Yen? I think that’s around 30%? That’s quite a bit!
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Another noob question: Does Bandai do reissues and are they typically easier to get? I heard that some Japanese collectibles are going up in price just to deter Chinese scalpers from buying as many. Sounds crazy but apparently the scalpers are lining up at the stores in person in Japan, not just buying online. Also foreign buyers don’t have to pay sales tax and on top of that the shipping from China is much cheaper than shipping from Japan. This all adds up to cause problems and explains why there are so many collector items being sold from China. Of course they still have to travel to Japan and back which I’m sure is expensive so this may not be true.
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Thank you very much for all the info! I don’t understand why it’s so much harder to score a pre-order at a decent price for Macross stuff. With Masterpiece TF’s you have months to order at a good price. I’m in Canada and our dollar sucks these days so price is becoming more important.
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Hello Slave IV, I recognize you from TFW! I just joined this forum because I’m interested in these new Bandai DX VF-1’s. So far I’ve figured out that the price jumps quite a bit after the pre-order madness. I’m looking to join the madness for the VF-1S. And I buy Transformer MPs from Amazon Japan so I’m hoping I’m set up. Is there any way to actually see the AJ listing before the pre-order goes live? And how long does it usually take before the price jumps? Seconds? Minutes? Hours? Sorry one more question: Do the pre-orders usually sell out completely or does the price just go up? I noticed that the VF-1A Max custom on Nippon Yassan is still available but around 25,000 Yen. Thank you in advance for any advice you can give me! Has anyone heard any rumours of Bandai doing a VF-1S Roy version? That’s my favourite colour scheme. Cheers!
