WhatBoutMyStar

I recently purchased and got delivered an order from AmiAmi by registered air small packet. No tariffs were charged. Country of origin marked as Japan even though the items were made in China. From what I've read, it appears many of the shops in Japan have been doing the same. At least as of now, the $800 de minimis exemption is still good for Japan and was only eliminated effective May 2 for packages from China/Hong Kong. Editing to add link with a list of shops of Japan and how they are listing the country of origin. Most are marked as Japan or left blank. https://myfigurecollection.net/thread/21030

You shouldn't be paying any additional tariffs if purchased from ShowZ (or their sister store Gundamit). The tariffs are incorporated in their new shipping fees to the US, when it used to be free shipping. ShowZ has worked out an arrangement with the delivery provider where they will use the tariff % rate rather than the flat fee, and ShowZ is paying that in advance on behalf of the buyer. The costs of that are passed along in the new shipping fee (ShowZ may also be eating some portion of this, but I'm not sure). These costs are way lower than you would think because ShowZ (like many Chinese stores have regularly done for a very long time) is under-declaring the heck out of the items, like $10 or $20 for a $200 figure. If for some reason there are add'l tariff charges, ShowZ has said that they will take care of it for the buyer. So there should be nothing the buyer should have to pay after the item has been purchased and shipped. ShowZ/Gundamit is essentially banking on Customs not having the time, desire, or resources to open up every package and to look them up to see what they're really worth and find out they are significantly under-declared or otherwise misreported. FWIW, many of the shops in Japan like AmiAmi, Hobby Genki, etc. are also listing everything they send as Japan as the country of origin even if they are made in China. Because the de minimis exemption is still available (at least for now) for Japan, this means packages under $800 coming in from those shops don't get hit with any tariffs.

There was a shop (Flip Side Gaming) a couple weeks ago that was selling the Revival 31J for $130ish. They also had the Revival 171EX for $120ish and Bogue's 262 for around $180. Doesn't help that this was the 300th time the 31J has been released and you'd figure anyone who wanted a 31J would've already bought one by now. Regardless of that, I think it's pretty clear at this point that Macross stuff just doesn't sell well in the US.

Anyone have their Sentinel Legioss crack at the rotating hips? I just took my Eta (original release) off the stand where it's been untouched for months and when I flipped it over to transform, I immediately noticed a hairline crack on one of the hips. Needless to say, really disappointed but am glad that I decided to preorder the upcoming reisuse with the Tread. Checked my Iota and Zeta and they are ok.

Not uncommon for any figure if you transform and pose regularly for ratchets to wear away over time especially if they are soft ratchets and you are dealing with heavy limbs with diecast parts. Did not experience that though with Macross figures because they're usually more display pieces for me but I've had that happen to a few transformers figures where the ratchets just wore away.

Unless things change, the $800 de minimis exemption is set to expire on May 2. I've luckily got in a couple orders that were delivered in the past couple days to beat the deadline. I've cancelled a number of preorders that clearly weren't going to beat that May 2 deadline as the items simply weren't worth the costs anymore.

Fan fav? Go figure, I always thought most people hated that guy and found him the most dislikeable of the Delta flight squad.

There's one available at Mandarake right now for 26,000 yen. But I can't imagine Bogue's 262 to be popular at all and I would think the price for this will come down quite a bit over time, even more so at US stores when they arrive stateside and will likely be shelfwarmers.

Here's my recent Yellow reissue and the stress marks on the problematic swivel joint for the gauntlets that are most likely to suffer cracks. If you go to page 371, you'll see another post of mine of a crack in a different ball swivel joint for the rear of the bike or hip armor. That was on my Houquet and it had been sitting in bike mode doing nothing for a long time. Edited to also add that when I found the stress marks out of the box, I tried the hair dryer trick to see if I could get rid of the stress marks. Unfortunately, no effect.

The bar code on the back should be different. The original looks like this https://order.mandarake.co.jp/order/detailPage/item?itemCode=1289469830 The reissue looks like this https://order.mandarake.co.jp/order/detailPage/item?itemCode=1288109029 There is no change from the original to the most recent reissue. All 4 of the originals of mine have suffered cracks on their own just sitting on a shelf with very little handling, and not all in the swivel joint for the gauntlets which is the most likely to be cracked. Probably against my better judgment, I picked up the most recent reissue of Yellow just to try have one ride armor without cracks and he's my favorite character of the four, and out of the box there are stress marks on both those problematic swivel joints for the gauntlets already. I guess I can say they're not cracked, at least not yet, but still I'm obviously extremely disappointed to say the least. There are no changes from the original other than some tweaks to some tolerances like loosening the pistons. It's a shame because I really, really like the look of them and even enjoy the transformation but the durability and build quality have left a bad taste in my mouth.

No, you need to detach the sound booster during transformation. The prongs that go into the back in battroid (which are really terrible by the way and don't provide a really secure connection) are actually on top of the sound booster in fighter mode. There is also an adapter you need to use for fighter mode on the Yamato/Arcadia that you need to take off for battroid.

Saw the new HMR Sound Booster pop up on Mandarake for 10,000 yen. Find it funny that they're pricing sound booster higher than the Fire Valkyrie itself

Not sure if it's my monitor but I'm not liking the blue on the soundbooster. Looks a bit pale and washed out.

I guess I'm so used to Transformers transformations and in particular third party Transformers. While the 262 is certainly among the most involved transformations for a Macross valkyrie, it's a breeze for me compared to like 90% of 3P Transformers. Having transformed Fans Toys Ultra Magnus back and forth pretty recently, transforming a 262 in comparison is a joy.