Knightdramon

Mine shipped from NY this morning.

Add me to the list of people emailed by NY for a change of date and payment request. Worked out to quite a reasonable price in GBP, all paid up now. Fingers crossed this won't be a VF31A scenario [which worked out great for me but not well for others!]

I was up and ready for the initial 4pm time too; in the UK it was 8 in the morning and I was up for work anyway so I thought I'd go through with it. Then nothing happened and I left for work anyway, and randomly checked at the right time. All's good!

Lucked out and got one through Nippon Yassan. It was insane; I was refreshing at -just- the right time to see them creating the product page; a placeholder page with an error message if you clicked on it. Eventually managed to load it, PO it, get it through the cart process [which took ages due to slow loading] and get the confirmation and see it on my orders. Can now sigh happily. Happy hunting to the rest of you. If you didn't get it, that should be OK. The rest of the recent DX valks [with the exception of the 31A] are still easy to find for regular-ish prices after they've been out for months.

I guess it depends; very hit and miss. I have had one parcel from HLJ [MP Wheeljack shipped SAL] fly by. Other EMS parcels were held up. From NY I only had one parcel stopped and the customs charge ensured that it would have been cheaper to buy it from the UK! Transformed the 31A to battroid. An absolute beauty, reminds me of an armored core mecha in these colours with the gun placed like a railgun on the backpack. Quite a contrast from Messer's more colourful, but still subdued, valk.

My NY order actually came in today. No customs fees [in the UK] for the 31A too. Bought on the 6th of October if it helps. The actual valk is very tight, some panel misalignment here and there and the gap behind the cockpit is very noticeable. Having difficulties unplugging the gun from the pod.

So with me not willing to venture back to the VF27 and 25/9 releases [especially with those loose joints. damn pity as I love the 27] this is a contender for the next mecha to get. Only macross figures I have atm are two Yamato VF19 [which I adore], the black VF31 and a mass production VF31 coming in. I might grab Arad's VF31 as a last VF31. With these in mind, try to talk me into or out of this mecha. It's discounted frequently so I need good reasons for not indulging. For reference, I have handled or owned at one point pretty much all Yamato and Bandai valks and am one of the few people that genuinely enjoys MP Megatron V2.0's transformation.

It's only natural to get in this state from time to time, especially between releases. If any negativity on this thread upsets you, just ignore it I find Macross a very niche market when it comes to transforming robots, as the series and high-end merch are almost never synchronised. And even so, it's usually in the flavour of 2-3 mecha and many colour variations between them. I've amassed and sold a Macross collection...3 times now? I started with some 1/48s, got some 0s [way back], the black yf19...sold all that, then got into it again with more 0s, v2 1:60ies, vf19s, multiple sv51s, a vf17, macross quarter and more bandai that I can't remember. I only have 3 VF figures now, with a 4th one coming in at the end of the month. I enjoy it as it is...it's not one of those series where you will have a ton of options, but you can have enough to keep you entertained and build an awesome living room collection. My transformers collection is multiple times larger but I question the need for so many figures and frequently have clear outs to reduce the size. Re-thinks and re-purposes are only natural. In an ideal world, I'd have about 10 figures all in and that would be all. If you need to take a step back and re-think, that is a natural progression in the life of a collector.

Just to chime in... Most Macross modern releases carry a relatively high price point anyway. There are a few that were overproduced and even 3 years later can be found at great, discounted prices [looking at you, Yamato VF19S, VF19Kai and VF17S]. There are some relatively obscure repaints/retools that came out in fewer numbers and are harder to get. And there was a specific period, circa 2010-2012 or so [might be off a year or so either way] where Yamato produced too much of almost everything, general stock went on clearance multiple times, Pretty much every release I got at that point was at least 20-30% clearanced. I got two FP/Strike packs for the price of one, a VF1 Kakizaki, a VT Ostrich and more at around 50%. Bandai used to underproduce most of their releases to a ridiculous amount until relatively recently, so that drove up their prices as well. Preorders closed within minutes. Onto getting "newbies" into Macross, yeah, go for Plus, but that is actually the least Macross-like series of them all. It is very good but not as great as everybody is making it out to be. All Macross series besides that one are of a love triangle, pop music stopping evil aliens, yada yada...Plus is a bit more mature in comparison, but still drags.

I stopped ordering from amiami many years ago, but just because I found it easier to cancel elsewhere. On the price matching---do you know of any other Japanese online retailer that does it? Nippon Yassan has the VF19 for 29.000 yen, I sincerely doubt that anybody that requests a price match will get it. While I do not agree on price gouging on preorders, it can be standard practice on released items. Once your supplier runs out, you need to find another one which might be price-gouging anyway...and so on. Amiami, NY and probably other japanese websites do not let you cancel orders, even unpaid ones, without any sort of reprimand. Fair play to them, because different countries/businesses might have different systems. Amiami's customer service used to be great but I think they got too big for their own good once they opened up to overseas sales in the past 6 or so years.

I think that Arcadia is more or less limited at this time. Bandai has the capital and probably connections to secure licenses for the newer or upcoming shows, so naturally they get first dibs on all the figures that are currently promoted, be it by videogames or a TV show/movies. Arcadia, on the other hand, appears to be limited to past shows. As Macross is a niche market anyway, they have covered all the A-listers and some B-listers already. VF1---Done, in most variations YF19--Done and re-done VF19Kai---done YF21---Already done VF17--Done VF4---Done SV51--Done VF0--Done and re-done VF22--Done So really, what is next, besides going back and re-doing some figures? Sure they can re-do a very expensive YF21 and SV51, but then they will be at the same spot again. What other fighter can generate decent sales?

I find it funny how people state a price [or a ballpark] and then just go on to rationalize it [eg selling them all profit, how much you'd spend on other things etc]... I'm estimating somewhere in the neighborhood of 2000-2500 USD? Realistically closer to 2000 I think. That includes shipping costs and [thankfully not that much] customs charges. Then again, I had about 10-12 macross toys in total, never more than 7 at any given point, have since sold them all either for profit or for the same price. Only ones I still have are a VF19Kai and a VF19S from Yamato.

I personally find it among the cheapest hobbies, even though I'm not actively collecting anymore. ...and before you start throwing stuff at me, hear me out. The 2 big moulds of M7 can be found for cheap nowadays---for around USD 300 you can get both a VF19 and a VF17S. If you just follow Arcadia, you have approximately one new mould per year. With minimal budgeting, that's very doable. I stopped caring for Bandai releases seeing as it was a nightmare to order one and the end result did not justify the extreme means. If I was not going for MP transformers and third party figures, I'd be going for just Arcadia new moulds and calling it a day.

Brilliant, glad you're enjoying the figure!! Now save up for their super/armour parts!!!

I can attest to what the other poster said--Swoop/Soar is very impressive and solid. It has some issues though---after the feedback from Scoria, FT over-tightened all of the joints to the point where you need to have a screwdriver around on the first transformation to ease some joints out. The gold/red [depending on your version] tabs on his upper thighs are very easy to break with slight mishandling so be careful.

Well the wings on the specific picture are unfolded on the VF0D as well...

Seeing that this was "supposedly" a very sought after variant for years, and with people's reception and "complaints" in the forums, I sure as hell hope every other copy has a different colour scheme painted using paint that changes shade depending on the lighting used in the room.

On one hand, Macross collecting is a blessing, but on the other, it's a curse. Blessing because when you go past variants and whatnot, there's not much to collect. There's like less than 20 unique moulds [talking about the 1:60 line] even if you include the Bandai renewals. There's a curse though because the market for these wildly fluctuates. Wildly. A few years ago there were massive discounts on pretty much all Macross items. Everything up to and including the VF19S were discounted at 60% or so. I got two super/strike parts for 3000 or so yen each. Pretty much the only items in the past few years that I bought for retail was the VF1S Max and the VF25S. The VF17S has been on clearance since...forever. Like, 2011 or so. Yet now that it's out of stock, expect its prices to soar upwards easily. It created a trend where everybody was waiting for clearance sales for most items. This backfired when Yamato caught on, and the VF19F, E, VF17D and so on were released in much fewer numbers. And now there's this odd situation where Arcadia releases -one- very expensive item per year, easily available, and Bandai releases a lot which disappear within seconds. Bandai probably does not want to get caught with its pants down like Yamato did circa 2010 or so. And now since Yamato could not make it even, Arcadia is upping the prices on all their macross collectibles as a countermeasure. Tough times.

What is the other variant that people mention? The one from [presumably] the videogame with the VF30? I'm up for the videogame YF29 so I would not mind going for a unique VF27 as well if the colours look ok [and assuming it will be released, heh!]

Okay, so got my VF25S Ozma...and I'm not terribly thrilled. Too fiddly and wobbly for my taste when in battroid. Does the upper body lock into place at all, or is it always this wobbly? Have I missed any step in the instructions where the neckplate somehow locks onto the nosecone indent and the torso is more stable? Mine just wobble around when I move it.

Damn this thread, enabling, and my rewatching of the frontier TV series. Lucked out on my sick day off and found a brand new renewal VF25S for around 17.000 yen on Anime Export. Suffice to say it's not listed anymore

Hmmm...interesting to know. Yes my 1S Max tends to get loose in the locking mechanism, and my 1A Kakizaki is the first version [rainbow canopy] and it's a bit looser. So all the ones with the refined crotch mechanism do NOT have this issue present? I'd have thought that the older mechanism, while fiddlier, would be sturdier. Hmmm. Might look into trading my two valks for a proper one then.

Max's DYRL VF1S is the one I'm enjoying the most. Are people with V2.0 VF1 [any releases] having problems with the swing bar/cockpit nose connection being somewhat...loose nowadays? Both my Max1S and Kakizaki 1A are a bit wobbly [won't unlock, but might bulge forward depending on the pose] at the connection. I don't ever remember them doing that and they were packed away in fighter mode for close to a year, so I can't understand why this is happening.

Less iconic. The most popular 1A variants is the TV Max and the DYRL 1A Hikaru. DYRL 1A Max was only featured for less than a minute, Kakizaki's aren't that hot [either iteration]...the only ones featured prominently are TV Max and DYRL Hikaru. Add to the fact that Hikaru piloted the more famous hero variants later on, and that the other 1As on the market are the cannon fodders...yeah. However, being hero valks, the 1S [any except Max's] had more production runs.

It is cautious and they would be well advised to do so. Just remember that the fandom [however limited we may be] ended up on a "wait until it hits clearance" circa early/mid 2011 or so. The only valk I got at a full price was the VF1S Max [retail] when it came out. Everything else was bought at 40-60 percent off. The only valkyrie in recent years [from Yamato] that sold out at retail was the VF4G. With that being said, yes, I fully support Arcadia's more or less one new mould per year, if it means keeping them in business. And generally speaking, Bandai can afford to milk moulds [VF25 and 29 thus far] because of their smaller pricepoints. The new YF19 is uber popular as the YF19 flown by Isamu, not much else. And it carries a much higher pricetag than any of bandai's offerings.