Special Sauce

I ended up cancelling my pre-order after seeing all these issues.  I can always get one if I change my mind since it seems to be available in quite a few places.  I already have the renewal Alto and Ozma anyways.  

On 6/13/2022 at 12:20 AM, rick dieck said:

Collection updated with the 1:48  vf-1D bandai DX!!!!!

Beautiful display.  I wish I had the room for a large case like that.

Damn, wish I had a spare room like that.  Looks great!

3 hours ago, no3Ljm said:

I believe everyone is referring to MANDARAKE, right? The Rulers of Time.   

If they rule time can I blame them for things taking so long? 😄

20 hours ago, CHAVAKAISER said:

release the kraken!!.....wait a minute

Looks fantastic with those super strike parts!

On 4/21/2022 at 1:03 PM, no3Ljm said:

I'm in for VF-19 Nothung.   

Damn I want this bastard!  Soooo pretty.

12 hours ago, sh9000 said:

Star Wars Black Series The Mandalorian Ahsoka Tano x2.

Star Wars Black Series The Mandalorian Death Watch Mandalorian x2.

Looking at these are making me want to get the Hot Toys 1/6 version.  I love the look of the character.

16 hours ago, Sanity is Optional said:

Picked up a couple things off Mandarake. Was too tempting to pass up.

Shipping cost a lot though.

  Reveal hidden contents

 

I remember when those first came out.  I had wished that I didn't have to pass on them.  I ended up getting the Low Vis instead.  But didn't have the cash for both.  Nice score though.  They'll look awesome when you have them set up.

On 5/9/2022 at 12:24 PM, sqidd said:

With the economy going the way it is and Macros stuff more plentiful I think their crack budgets will diminish. They may need to switch over to huffing glue.

 As long as they stay away from the Macross toys 

4 hours ago, sqidd said:

That's where you're mistaken. They have to prove what you paid for the items. You do not have to provide documentation. The onus of proof is on them. If they wanted to get really crazy about it they would have to do a lot of internet research, sopena your bank/CC/PP/feeBay records, etc. But what do I know. I only spent 8hrs a day for 8 days getting audited and this very thing came up.

Now I'm not suggesting that people tell the IRS to get stuffed and "prove it". Obviously having the correct documentation and being able to present it is a far better situation. As far as that goes I have an Excel sheet with everything I ever purchased, sold, how much, shipping costs, etc. I would be giving them the data pulled from the Excel sheet. If they really wanted to get picky I have every single order confirmation (assuming it wasn't from a private seller) saved in a file in my email. I could produce every transaction if I had to. Not that I would want to though. And you can always pull data from PayPal, eBay, credit cards, etc if you really had to get down in the weeds. I don't see that being necessary though. My audit (it was for three years of taxes) wasn't that bad. They're not looking for a couple bucks here and there. They're looking for big chunks otherwise it's not worth their time. The agent wasn't unreasonable and was actually nice to deal with. She even taught me how to do a whole bunch of stuff to save myself money in the future. Did I luck out and get the one in a million agent? Maybe. I only have a sample size of one to work off of though.

Sounds like you had a really nice agent.  The stories I've heard were not so nice.  The other problem is it sounds like you keep meticulous records.  Most people don't do that.  Not for this kind of stuff.  Probably because they've never had to before but maybe it's time to start.  I suppose that's all I'm alluding to.  The way you keep your records of purchases should probably be the way to go just in case.  The IRS may not be so nice the next time.  

Is it just the arm cannons not fitting snug that is the problem or are there other issues with this and the Hayate?  Are there pics anywhere of the other problems?

16 hours ago, sqidd said:

I think this is mostly down to the economy. And secondarily the GBP not boing the huge draw that other releases are. Mostly the economy though. Every release since the Focker has not has as much demand/been available longer for less money than the ones that proceeded it.

The scalpers are taking it in the pants for the past couple years. They're sitting on a ton of inventory that simply just didn't sell like past releases did. I just picked a new MISB Focker with Super Parts out of JP for retail plus shipping. The seller had 10+ of them.

Hopefully this puts a dent in the scalping market long term.

Good.  Scalpers can go screw themselves.  Some of those guys are smoking crack with those asking prices.

On 5/6/2022 at 3:30 PM, sqidd said:

No you don't. The burden of proof is on the IRS.

^^^Told to me while being audited by the IRS.

I think you underestimate the IRS.  The 1099 is all the proof they need to know you sold something.  It's up to you to show them you didn't make a profit otherwise you owe them money.  As a broad overview, yes, it is on them to find proof.  However you still need to provide documentation to show little or no profit was made and they need to accept that documentation.  

Are the issues you guys are talking about that bad?  So far this is the only VF-31AX I've wanted to get.  I just don't want to get irritated spending that much money and it's floppy or popping out of position all the time. 

8 hours ago, MikeRoz said:

Really? Cryptocurrency?

Everyone here knows that they can list the money they make from the sale and the money they spent to purchase the item in the first place on their taxes, right? You know that if you buy a valk for $200, and then sell it for $200, you owe no additional taxes, right?

Why, the only reason this would cause any consternation is if the sale price is more than the initial cost! But that's not something that would apply to anyone here, right? This is a tight-knit community where we all come together united by our love of the hobby, right? Are there really people among us who would exploit the environment of scarcity around these collectibles to make a profit off of a fellow member? The thought is almost too terrible to bear!

Yeah but you still have to prove it if you get audited.  A lot of these sales are years old.

That's a pretty sweet lineup @chriswoo

The box is very classy looking.  I love it.  Much more sophisticated than the usual.

16 hours ago, sqidd said:

It sure does seem like it's been a long time since the last VF-1 release.

It's because they're going to announce Max's VF-1S for the next WWM release.    At least that's what I like to tell myself.  

15 hours ago, Lolicon said:

Most of my modest valk collection gathered in one spot. 

That's dedication to a collection right there.

On 4/21/2022 at 10:11 PM, connor99 said:

Great Comic and movie

Those pics make it look good.  I only have the Alto Full set in YF-29 form so I'm thinking of getting this one.  

17 hours ago, rematron said:

Lol. I know. I agree.  But actually the cheapest I’ve seen in a long time. 

I do like that design but I've read that they weren't the most well made Valk's.  Why are they so popular?

On 4/15/2022 at 1:53 AM, Lolicon said:

Hmmm well I don't really love any of them, but I don't dislike any of them either. They're just varying levels of "decent but not amazing." Except the 30th anniversary livery. That thing is hideous. They have just enough wonky design choices to make drag them down, but not enough to make them bad. Like the tiger stripes or the angled spine stripe that kinda just tapers off.

None of them really stand out to me like Focker's VF-0/VF-1 or Isamu's YF-19 or Alto/Ozma's VF-25s.

I respectfully disagree about the 30th Anniv. YF-29.  I think it looks sharp.  The stripes look cool to me.  Honestly of all of them I like Isamu's the least.  Just kinda boring to me.  

Well they did recently re-release the enemy Valks.  Not sure if that was just leftover inventory or if they decided to do another run.  Maybe they'll do the same with the other M-Zero fighters.  I'd definitely get a VF-0D PF.  Even if it was expensive it's still a lot cheaper than the secondary market.

17 hours ago, Gabe Q said:

Does anyone know if this applies to the sum of all sales across different platforms?

Example: I sell $400 worth of goods on eBay then $201 on Mercari. The sum is $601 across the the two on a single PayPal account. 

Yes, that's right.  It's the pay service you're using, not the place you make the purchase from.  So because you're using the same Paypal account and the transactions are above $600 total then you'll get a 1099 from Paypal.  Now Ebay uses there own payment system so if you receive more than $600 in sales using there site you'll get one from there as well.