Radioguy

25 minutes ago, betocc said:

Available again.

Yeah, got the same email.

Same question as in another thread: Which, AE, BIG, H-G, etc., is likely to be the most reasonably priced in the end shipping-wise? (Are some known for charging more than others, etc)

BIJ just said they have it back.

Still, vs AE, which is likely to be cheaper in the end? Does BIJ charge more shipping than AE, less, or the same?

22 minutes ago, no3Ljm said:

That's weird. It's still showing up on my end and was able to put one in my cart.

Unless, you already placed an order prior then yes, it will show up as 'Sold Out' on your end since the limit is just one per customer.

Well, now I'll never know...as I have.

1 minute ago, no3Ljm said:

I still see AE is still accepting orders.

I thought so too, but last refresh shows OOS again.

1 hour ago, Bahamutzyro said:

Anime export only lets you order 1? Says sold out after I placed order for only 1 ?

As of this second, it's live again.

...and gone once more.

AE's live again.

...and gone again.

45 minutes ago, Bahamutzyro said:

i just paid 45 USd to ship vf-31 via DHL.

Via AE? Is that less or more than what BIJ usually charges?

What's the AE shipping even likely to be?

2 hours ago, Chronocidal said:

Just going to grab a single, they just popped up on Anime Export.  I'm actually really happy for the conversion rate right now, it came out under $190, which I think is the cheapest DX VF-1 I've gotten so far.  

For those in the USA, what's looking to be the least expensive after shipping? I assume there's no way around Bandai not shipping to the US on this if you can't see it normally, yeah? So, BIJ, AE, etc...what's going to hurt least?

I need that. We all need that.

On 7/17/2022 at 4:33 AM, Mog said:

So, was dorking around the MW galleries and came across this custom by @miriya:

 

Not exactly the blood red and color scheme of that Axoid.  But very similar.

Thanks! Yeah, the dark red of the Axoid with black head and clear visor has more presence for me, but this ain't bad. I also saw this green J head custom, but I can't make the price work for me.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/165345844017

If it was the head alone, I'd grab it though.

7 hours ago, nightmareB4macross said:

Customs are really my only big drive at the moment.  I think my collection has changed priority and now I look for what I consider art.

Sure these pieces are much more expensive but damn are they worth it.

Can we see more of these?

1 hour ago, Slave IV said:

Well, good thing is you can get a Bandai reissue Valk, which is basically the same thing but I think better. Not for that price though. 

I saw this, and love it, but I gotta get a G1 Jetfire though.

https://www.tfw2005.com/boards/threads/the-macross-thread.101574/page-3623#post-20419604

3 hours ago, Slave IV said:

I got a ton of things from some garage sales. No Macross but GI Joe and Transformers goldmines for next to nothing. My friend got a complete Jetfire for $10 and I was cool with that since I still have my original but damn sure I would have swooped on it if he didn’t want it. 

I've prayed for a similar opportunity. I STILL don't have him!

Oh boy, growing up in New York City every turn brought something new. I remember seeing some of the Bandai and Takara as early grey market exports before some were folded into the latter Transformers and Go-Bots lines. Then Matchbox's Robotech stuff too.

What was great, was that the dollar stores and closeout liquidators were full of KOs, even brand name stuff closeout from stores folding, and I was able to score some real oddities and bargains before I knew how lucky I was. Sadly, the old story holds true for me too. Mom, or rather Grandma, tossed out most of this stuff when I got older, and when I came to realize how lucky I was, discovered they were trashed. That included some of the early Revell Robotech kits (remembered I actually did get those), plenty of ExoSquad bots, and the aforementioned Transformers and GoBots too.

These days, such finds just don't happen but for maybe garage sales, thrift shops, or estate sales/storage auctions. The latter category I just don't frequent for it would make me feel like I'm benefiting off someone else's unwilling loss. Garage sales though? I drop everything if I can to stop because you never know...

22 hours ago, Big s said:

As I said above mostly the hobby stuff. Near me I’ve seen some of the hasegawa Macross stuff at hobby town. They do get Bandai toys and models as well, just haven’t seen their Macross stuff yet. I say yet hoping things change soon. We used to have a hobby people store that had some interesting stuff before they closed down a couple years ago. 

Thanks.

Yeah, I'd said earlier that I wasn't sure those are being distributed via the same channel as the HMR/DX figures, but just googled the Bandai hobby-level releases, and looks like it's Bandai Namco as well now.

https://bandai-hobby.net/global/index.html

That bodes well all-around, as I'm sure the better the hobby stuff sells, the more likely BN would solicit the HMR/DX stuff to shops too; even if Hobby Town or other craft-specific stores won't take them. Target has carried Gudam kits, so that door is open. Hell, I may stop into Michael's just to ask if they have them available.

17 hours ago, Big s said:

Macross has been in brick and mortar stores recently. Not so much the Bandai stuff though. And mostly the hobby stuff like hasegawa kits. As far as Bandai, this is a bit of an experiment, but the problem that they are gonna have it’s that they are increasing the prices by far too much. And those toys are going to probably just be sold through collector sites because of that.

 

Which stores are you specifically referring to?

I should also acknowledge my own error: Bluefin had been renamed Bandai Namco for a few months now.

5 hours ago, F360 said:

Seeing these at Brick and mortar stores or shops will depend each individual shop. Do your local Target sell Bandai Figures that are over $150  or $200 each?   If they do then you might see it, if not then you wont see it.  

Well, it's more about the distributor, I think. Here in New York City, we've got some big box retailers, some large comic places like Midtown Comics and Forbidden Planet, and little comic shops. I mean, some larger comic shops will deal with Bluefin directly for Tamashii stuff, which I assume will include DX and HMR stuff, but most small places will deal with Diamond after Diamond sources it from Bluefin.

As for Target, yes. The larger stores will sometimes sell spidered (enclosed by loss prevention device) high ticket items upwards of $100-$200, although these days they are more often Hasbro US releases of Takara/Tomy Masterpiece Transformers than anything like Gundam stuff. The question there is whether they already deal with Bluefin, Diamond, etc. as the lower-ticket Gundam stuff they do carry might be via one of Bandai's other distribution channels.

For brick and mortar, the relevant question is whether Bluefin tried or is trying to solicit this new stuff to Target, Walmart, Best Buy, etc. I assume GameStop might be more of a lock as they carried Yamato releases years ago and Toynami stuff since, but their web-sales division has been actively undermining their own retail store division's acquisition of figures stock, and it's affected their Gundam, Transformers, etc. stock in a big way. Buying from them is more like going to BBTS or EE now.

Anyhow, if anyone sees more solid info on shops getting them and not just websites, I'd love to know. To me, that would be a true revival in the US. 🙂

On 7/7/2022 at 8:59 AM, wmkjr said:

I know this thread is supposed to be for current POs up to a certain time frame but a few pages back there were the HMR VF-0S PO links. Further back had the VF-25 WWM PO links. 

Was that for me?

I was actually speaking more to brick and mortar availability. Tamashii Nations stuff appears in physical stores, and I wonder with the announcement, if Diamond or other vendors will make the Macross stuff available to physical retailers again like they have with the HG-approved merch over the last few years. Seeing Toynami stock end up in bargain bins as a result would just be icing on the cake.

Truth be told though, since it's out there, I'd like to see the KitzConcept stock on store shelves too, and I haven't seen that happen either. That would still be nice.

I wonder which US retailers will have those; especially the VF-0S. I know BBTS, EE, and other online ones likely will, but I wonder if we'd see them on shelves of GameStop, comic shops, or, a longshot, maybe some bigger Target stores? (They do get some Gundam stuff these days)

Would be great to see some brick and mortar availability again after nothing but Toynami...and usually just nothing.

17 hours ago, tekering said:

I had no idea what you were referencing, so I dug up some online images for context:

I own this one:

Would you consider a Korean knock-off a "custom?"

Wow, hadn't expected any actual toy, even a KO, to exist in green. While it's no DX custom, and not 100% the scheme I'd wanted, I'd hop on that if reasonably priced...

As for Axoid, that blood red...well, it still looks great to me. Legs akimbo or not. There's a menace to it. Like it should have a necklace of skulls around its neck.

Plus the photographer Revell used did some great scenes for the kits they picked up. I loved model kit box art like those or from Testors, etc. As a kid, those looked so great, and it hurt SO much after the cellophane came off to see the contents and the work involved.

13 hours ago, pengbuzz said:

That's because they put the legs on backwards in Battroid mode; the fins would also be on the back!

As for doing the Axoid scheme: I would go with a medium red overall, and use dark red on the ends as shown.

BTW: someone tried it with their Axoid kit on Ebay (it's partly built):

https://www.ebay.com/itm/384899177592?hash=item599dc75c78:g:e50AAOSw0cVihpgK

Wish they finished! Oh, I don't know when I'd find the time to build a kit these days, but I don't know if I'd be happy at the moment with anything less than 1/60, and those kits were 1/72. If they finished and put it on eBay, though...who knows. I might be tempted. If I had my druthers, or a Powerball win, I'd have each scheme as DX customs.

In all, I'm kinda surprised no one so far has seen anyone do up an Axoid when Yamato did do a woodland camo like Orbot (Revell's VF-1D box paint scheme).

Just curious if anyone had ever seen someone do custom repaints of released toys as either Revell's Axoid blood-red & black box image VF-1J paint scheme, or a non-canon VF-1J all-over green for a Hayao who survived?

Those color schemes just seem to resonate with me, and I was curious if anyone went down a path to creating them.