SuperDimensionalDave

2 minutes ago, spacemanoeuvres said:

Wooo, gonna get that NXEDGE T.V. EVA too

Yeah NXEDGE are pretty cool. Cheaper SD plastic crack. I got the Mazinkaizer when it was first released and just got around to opening it a few days ago. Really awesome. 

Well it's about time!  Now where is my Nousjdael and Q-Rau dammit!  And some Zentraedi heavy soldiers and Khamjin and Britai S.H Figuarts while were at it. 

The Spartan, Defender and Monster are some of my favorite toys period. It's funny the Hi Metal reboot started with such a sputter all those years ago. They teased all these great Valks like the Mylene and a VF-2SS and all we got were a few VF-1's and two Vf-19's and then after mediocre sales the line vanished. Flash forward a few years and we get Hi Metal R line which brings Destroids and enemy mechs and even some of what was teased originally like the VF-2SS. Who knew this would turn out to be such an amazing and possibly complete line. 

Shizuka do yourself a favor and find a reasonably priced Yamato 1/48 as well. They're not terribly expensive now that the 1/60 V2 is the reigning champion (although I really feel like they've rested on its laurels long enough, time for a 1/60 V3 no?). Heck most 1/48's can be found cheaper than a brand new freshly released Arcadia 1/60 V2, just not on Ebay. Although Aesthetically and mechanically the 1/60 V2 is superior to the 1/48 the 1/48 is still just a thing of beauty to handle and behold. It's big and clicky and really fun to handle. All Macross collections need some 1/60 V2, 1/48 and some HMR in them. And nothing Toynami lol. Toynami got their start buying unlicensed HK knockoff gashapon type figures of DBZ and Bleach and repackaging them as their own products. Having built upon that business model all of their subsequent products have always been and are (mostly) tantamount to KO garbage. Just with a licensing logo slapped on them. Save your money for the big boys, Bandai & Arcadia/Yamato. 

Finally got a Yamato 1/60 VF-17S. I love the Valk but the Yamato always looked so unremarkable and plain black, It was never a huge priority purchase but with the EBay 15% off I got a brand new 17S for $147. Couldn't pass that up. Can't wait to get it!

2 hours ago, Lolicon said:

Who likes magic brownies?

BTW, anyone know what insignias the CF units are supposed to have?

A bullseye

On 3/13/2018 at 7:55 PM, Andy NYK said:

Same dust prob here, I'm using Ikea PAX as my wife no longer wants to use it as our wardrobe.

Awesome display Brother but that top shelf looks like it's bowing. Not sure if it's the angle of shot but if not you might want to flip the shelf. That would be an expensive avalanche. 

1 minute ago, derex3592 said:

Man, the 1:48's had a couple of killer paint schemes the 1:60V2's never got!  IF only! 

The 1/48's will always be my favorite. Still hate the PT spider hands though. Maybe one day Arcadia will try their hands at 1/48 VF's with the newer 1/60 V2's sensibilities.  That'd be keen!

3 hours ago, Sanity is Optional said:

I'll be honest, the battroid I can kinda like, but the fighter is so short and wide, looks more like a SD plane.

That's why I like it. It has a sleeper look. It looks more like a sporty jet. Almost like a bigger fan liner. Something non military but then Transforms into a battloid that looks like it'll curb stomp you for looking at it diagonal. 

I've always liked the VF-9. It looks like a bruiser. As the Macross Valkyrie designs have progressed they've moved more towards the slim and spindly end of the spectrum. I've always leaned more towards the old school super robot big bruiser looking bots. The VF-9 is just that. A 1/60 of that would be amazing. I feel like if we EVER saw one (I can't imagine we ever would) in toy form it would likely be in Bandai's 1/100 Hi-Metal R line. I'd take any toy of that asymmetrical bruiser though. 

15 hours ago, Saburo said:

Finally getting back into taking photos. Here''s Milia and Max.

That is a really cool pic. I need a 1/60  Max 1J so I can have a similar setup in my display. The Max and Millia Q-Rau are still two of my favorite Macross toys. I know they are a floppy leg mess and the fact that we never got poseable pilot figures for them is inexcusable. But at least we have the CMs for great shots like this. 

56 minutes ago, Lolicon said:

21800 isn't double 12800.

Very observant. I'm glad you mentioned that. 21800 is also not the MSRP. It's 23544. And that is close enough. Couple that with today's exchange rate that is more than double in U.S dollars. Also more than double what a lot of Yamatos were sold for. Check HLJ's old listings. A Max V2 VF-1S was as low as 8900 yen back then. I'm not saying these are the prices they should be sold for now. There's no way a company could produce the identical product with identical quality today for same price as 2009. I'm just saying double or even close to double for same unimproved product with same flaws included is a bit much. 

23 minutes ago, Lolicon said:

So yeah, instead of comparing anime toys to "real estate" or whatever you may have worked in, why not compare them to... other anime toys?

KOS-MOS figure produced by Alter in 2007. 6800 yen

https://hlj.com/product/ALT20164/Fig

A comparable quality anime figure from the same company coming out this year. 17800 yen

https://hlj.com/product/ALT20472

That's a pretty big increase in price. By the logic given above, since "real estate" didn't double in price, then surely plastic (or PVC) anime toys can't double in price either, right? Or more than double, in this case. That second figure definitely is not "twice as good" as the first.

This logic of "since real estate hasn't doubled in value toys can't double either" is no logic I've ever stated so not sure where you got that from.  Sounds like a conclusion you generated on your own.  I said I have witnessed inflation and our economic downturns backlash. And stated that I've worked in real estate and automotive whilst doing so. I can find just as many anime figures released in 2009 and today who's prices are similar or the same. Let's compare apples to apples and not "comparable apples". Megahouse has been cranking out 1/8 figures since 2005 and their average prices have gone from average 9800 to today around 11000. You are just finding one example that you deem as "comparable in quality" to suit your argument. Everyone has all the internets at their disposal so they can do the searching I don't need to. Bottom line is these aren't comparable quality different scale different figures from the same or similar company. These are identical releases of identical toys from same molds by different company. 

21 minutes ago, jenius said:

No, the V2 didn't kill Yamato, far from it, but it's a company and no product exists in a bubble. Yamato ran out of cash, they needed to make more cash, ergo, they should have been generating more money. They may have sunk money into products that didn't sell but they would have survived had they generated more cash from the products that did sell.

While I do agree, you could also say that had they not sunk money into molds and production costs of other lines and products that didn't sell well or even at all they would have had more cash on hand and not run out of cash and survived also.  I personally think they backed too many ponies. They spread themselves waaay too thin making too many different types of products (gashapon, trading figures, statues and vinyl figures) from too many properties. They slapped their name on everything. And when more of it didn't sell then did they found themselves digging for lint in their pockets.  Heck there's still a TON of unsold Yamato figures on the net. Marked down from $120 to $35 and stil unsold. 

These look amazing. I might have to buy several.  The details look really sharp for the scale. ESP for an unofficial release. 

2 minutes ago, davidwhangchoi said:

I really hope this is a fluke and the hard points can be re-corrected. Mr. K mentioned already having to retool the mold slightly to improve joint tightness for this release. prior to release. hopefully they can retool the hard points. 

I think they've more than gotten their money's worth out of the VF-1 mold. If it's starting to degrade then maybe it's time for a VF-1 V3?

11 minutes ago, jenius said:

Yamato went bankrupt so... That pricing isn't a good barometer.

I sorely doubt underpricing Macross toys put them out of business. They released toys for many lines. Not all of which sold well or at all. They stretched themselves pretty thin with their 1/8 and 1/6 anime vinyl figures that constantly went on super clearance (how many different Ikki Tousen figures did they make that got marked down to 80% off?). And if it was Macross toys that killed Yamato I doubt that Arcadia would have immediately started cranking them out again. Notice Arcadia hasn't really gotten into the vinyl figure and action figure business though. At least not to the degree Yamato had. Probably not a coincidence. Kenner went bankrupt also and they had Star Wars. Just sayin.  Speaking of Yamato's demise, does anyone have a link to an article or anything with the official story on it. I've googled it many times and never found anything official. 

If you want to really get your a$$ chapped go check your old invoices for your Yamato old 1/60 V2's. Or even better google HLJ old listings from 2009 for them. Arcadia has more than doubled the price on these since 2009. HLJ had gone as low as 8900 yen on sale on a few releases (and you know although they might have made little, they weren't losing money at those prices).   I know inflation is a real thing. Also the economic downturn played a factor as well that we still feel today. I'm 45, I've worked in both Realestate and automotive over the years. I've witnessed prices change since 1990. But not much has doubled since from 2009 to today. And the toys that have doubled are superior products. Look at Marvel Legends. They were 11.99 back in the day. Now they're $19.99 but I'll pay that all day long. They're far superior today. Although I still love quite a few of my old Toybiz releases. Applying that math to Macross toys I guess in 2027 a 1/60 Macross Valk will cost $520. I'll stop ranting about Arcadias prices but end with just this. If youre going to double the price, you dang sure better double the QC and craftsmanship. 

Knock on wood my Arcadia Millia is good to go, no HP issues. I wonder if what looks like stress marks around the HP on his is actually from the glue used. Kinda like the white hazing you get from superglue?  Anyway I wish Arcadia would in addition to re-issuing what Yamato had already released, also give us some stuff they never did. Like say... a Millia use VF-17S?  I'd kill for one of those. 

2 minutes ago, no3Ljm said:

And one other thing, I'm really not good on painting kits so I rather have Arcadia do it. And seeing how small those parts or details are that was painted in flourescent paint, I rather get it in this format than wait until I get better which is in 10 years time(?) and do a custom one. By then, I'm already too old and have shaky hands.

Lol. I get it. And again I will say it is cool of Arcadia to give us collectors options. I. will without a doubt be adding fluorescent paint to the reg release that I open. I'm old enough where I already have the shaky hands but I'm gonna make it work lol. 

You know as much as I appreciate Arcadia giving us the option of regular release or a "premium" release. As far as I am concerned their "premium" release is equivalent to what other manufacturers namely Bandai give us as a regular release. Premium as in some tampos already applied. The fact that Arcadia overprices their toys and then with the "premium" adds to that overpricing just to give us what they should have given us on the original overpriced regular release is kinda insulting. That said I am underwhelmed by these pics of the premium release of the SDF-1 as expected. I am perfectly happy now owning two regular release SDF-1's for just a hair over the price of this premium finish one. I bought one SDF-1 at release and was waiting for a second one based on the details of what exactly we would get with the premium. My plan was to get a second one to open and display. Potentially the "premium" if it was worth it. I see how that it is not (to me) so I just bought another regular release on sale and that is the one I'll open when it arrives. Two plain janes for almost price of one "premium" is a better deal to me.  I'm sure they put a lot of effort into this premium but I just don't see the value in what their efforts delivered is all. 

2 minutes ago, Sanity is Optional said:

Did they not notice how terrible those faces are?

Or did they just not care?

It's Toynami. They don't care. Heck they usually don't even care enough to release half of the stuff they show prototypes for. 

Those figures are really not good. That said I want Macross figures so bad depending on price I may at least grab a Roy and a Millia. Possibly the only poseable figures of those two we're ever likely to get. 

4 minutes ago, dragonstar1982 said:

Hey thanks, I guess the hunt begins lol

NP. I'll get you started. Here's an Iczer 2 that's available.. Iczer 1 seems to be harder to find. 

https://order.mandarake.co.jp/order/detailPage/item?itemCode=1070487118&ref=list

12 hours ago, dragonstar1982 said:

Holy crap!! Where did you find that?

Originally got Iczer 2 from Yahoo JP long ago. These were a limited release (300 ea I think) at a Wonder Fest like 6 or 7 years ago iirc. GigaBrain never made any more in this line. It was to be a Microman sized line of figs based on 80's/90's anime properties. Never happened though which is a shame.. . A Kei and Yuri in this scale woulda been pretty cool. How about some Macross figures in this scale. Oooh?  This Iczer 1 finally showed up on Mandrake after scanning Yahoo JP,Anime Export and Mandrake forever. They don't seem to come up often.