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Knightdramon

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Everything posted by Knightdramon

  1. Knightdramon
    Don't feel sad. Seeing as the price for the VF17S has been discounted on that very same amount for over a YEAR, I don't see the D's getting discounted soon.
  2. Knightdramon
    You are systematically going around threads of 200-300 USD toys complaining about high prices in a fandom so niche that even the cheapest toy is over 150 USD barebones retail. Which to me seems less like an active complaint and more like trolling. I'm not arguing whether or not these prices are high or not. In a world where 30 GBP fills up my fridge with lunch and dinner for more than 3 weeks, 180 GBP for a collectible piece of plastic with metal IS high. Yes, I did the conversion from USD to pounds for you. However, this is a hobby and I've embraced it as it is. Would I like a YF19 at 120 USD? For sure. But unlike, say, Optimus Prime, who has become an icon and has hundreds of thousands of figures releases each year [talking about production numbers] and can afford to stay in the 20-120 USD neighbourhood, Macross items cannot. You probably missed the part where this fandom actively waited out on the VF17 and VF19 variants because by that point, it was systematic that retailers would heavily clearance the product. Then, Yamato went under and everybody panicked and started buying these at retail price. And higher. And aftermarket prices soared. What you're seeing "collecting dust" is what's left, and there's not that many. Only 2 online stores I know of still have stock of the VF17D. As I said before, if you want sensible pricing, I'm pretty sure you can find better hobbies than plastic toy collecting. On a fantastically limited fandom, nevertheless.
  3. Knightdramon
    FFS stop going around threads and complaining about prices. Better yet, do some damn research of your own. http://www.hlj.com/product/YMT00235/Sci The HK collectibles price is a typo, or they upped the price on their own. Original retail price WITH fast packs was 29.600 yen, which according to today's exchange rate is 292 USD. Below your d*mn 300 USD nagging limit. Happy now? As for the prices on the VF17D, VF17D with fastpacks and pretty much everything bar the VF19S and VF19 Kai, you can thank the mass hysteria that overrun people when they thought Yamato would close down and no other company would get Macross products like these, so everybody and their mother suddenly started paying crazy prices because "they're going to disappear".
  4. Knightdramon
    A petition is next to useless. Come on, online petitions for hasbro and transformers, with fans numbering in the tens of thousands are laughed at. A petition with...generously a 100 fans from here? The most effective way to complain about the price is to NOT buy the damn thing. But I can assure you, next to you not buying this thing, there's 2 fans who wanted a transformable VF0D ever since they first saw episode 2 or 3 of the OVA, and who like Yamato's offerings enough to trust them with a new release. Furthermore...it's *one* new mould per year. Ignoring the VF1 re-releases, it's one release per year. If you put a dollar aside each day, you'll have that money in one year. When they start churning out 4-5 300 USD releases per month, THEN we can have a talk.
  5. Knightdramon
    I was under the impression that Yamato's VF17 had much more die-cast and heft over the 171.
  6. Knightdramon
    Considering that for 50 USD You got the VF1 fast/strike packs, half of which had removable covers with detailed interiors, a plethora of customizing options via stikers, missiles versus the VF17 FP, yes, that's my beef. It's not that the VF17 with FP doesn't look nice. It's that its original retail was pretty steep, considering what such retail got you from the very same company. And as you said, they both look great and pose well---little doubt about that. However, especially following the VF19, they aren't such fun toys to handle and certainly not very fun, as our friend asked.
  7. Knightdramon
    Both variants [bandai and yamato] look great. Yamato's has that thick 90ies animation simplicity charm, Bandai's has this very modern and angular design. Perhaps somebody with better experiences can chime in and try to persuade your mind towards the good side of either toy. Or perhaps because the VF19 is my favourite transformable toy, ever, I'm kind of indifferent to battroids that don't lock everything into place, or very limited leg articulation in battroid. Since the VF17D is one of my favourite designs, I'm seriously hoping for a better toy down the road.
  8. Knightdramon
    If you want something that's very fun to play with...don't bother with either toy. Seriously. The VF171 from bandai appears to be very, very fiddly to transform. End result looks very nice, but the fiddliness and the perpetuity of bandai's offerings to get loose joints without being touched worries me a lot. The VF17 from Yamato is bigger, very heavy...and again, fiddly. The battroid mode isn't as poseable as you'd want to be, and after being spoiled from the VF19, the way the backpack and legs get into position reminds me of the older YF21. Legs are overly long for battroid mode. Shoulder pylons get in the way of arm movement a lot. Because it is ridiculously tight, you can't transform it easily at all in the first few tries. You can seriously break the cockpit or the landing gear doors. Gun placement on the back of the legs makes both the legs suffer and the gun. Due to the weight, the legs don't really lock onto the backplate in fighter mode, and they can become unhinged if you pick it up. They stay clipped on just fine if it rests on a surface. Bandai's VF171 has much, much better fast packs, but the way they engineered the wings that pop off to be replaced, plus how heavy his gun on the right arm is, combined with Bandai's joints loosening for no good reason...little longevity on this sucker. Yamato's VF17 fastpacks is just robbery in your face. Around 50 USD, if you're lucky, for 4 pieces of plastic that don't even have internal detailing. I had a 17S that I sold this December, the thing was barely transformed 2-3 times and left in its box forever. Hopefully my message will make you think better about a potential 200-300 USD mistake. At least if you get the bandai valks, you might be able to get your money back if you sell it.
  9. Knightdramon
    Are you for real? Did we read the same replies from the same person? He said it'll probably cost the same as the YF19, more or less the same size and have lots of accessories. YOU reply "no that's stupid". HE replies "How is it stupid, just because it's out a few's price range?" and goes on to explain precisely why he thinks it's going to cost that much. To which YOU reply "You must be drilling up a lot of oil there in arizona but for the rest of us who are not filthy rich we will not pay those crazy prices demanded by Arcadia" Now tell me, who the F*CK is the rude little troll? You don't want to pay 200+ USD for figures? You're in the wrong hobby. Ever since the VF1 V2.0 by Yamato prices have only been going up, both by Yamato/Arcadia and Bandai. In return, they offer a lot more with each package [VF19 has lots of metal and is huge, VF17 is loaded with metal, VF4 possibly has more parts than 2 VF1 and so on]. If figure prices go north of 500 USD retail, *then* we can have a talk about expensive products and lines. For a line that gets out one new mould per year, is 300 USD too much for a hobby? In a year? That's less than 30 USD saved aside per month.
  10. Knightdramon
    And that's your problem and your problem alone. The guy has a very logical argument of WHY this new mould will cost close to 30.000 yen. I estimate anything from 27.000 to 33.000. Whether or not you chose to diminish that logic because of an inability or lack of will to pay that amount does not make it any less true.
  11. Knightdramon
    I think people overestimate in general how popular Macross is. The more popular a franchise, the more places around the world show it, the more interest there is for merchandise, the bigger the companies that go after such licenses are, and so on. Macross and DYRL were big enough in Japan and to the rest of the world as Robotech, but the rest was pretty much obscure. Macross Plus is very popular within the macross fame. Macross 7 is sadly not popular even among fans. Macross Frontier was a minor hit, but that was it, and only in Japan. When a company [Yamato] makes a figure [VF4] whose only appearance in an anime was a 4 seconds or so cameo on a compilation video largely available only in Japan... Then yes, that's a niche in a niche of a niche. With the way Macross anime work and where they're distributed, almost everything besides the hero valkyrie is a niche people. And it's reflected on the prices.
  12. Knightdramon
    Relax brother. This sort of thing happens frequently. I've been importing from Japan since 2004. Basically somewhere, somehow, somebody took too long to scan the item, or it's in a backlog of items to be processed. Once I had an item show up on my door, while the EMS tracking still had it listed as "picked up for shipment" in Japan. Furthermore, and I can't stress this enough, it's Christmas. Mail sadly takes longer to reach you, regardless of the shipping method. By importing directly from Japan and not re-importing something from the USA or Europe, I can safely say I've saved over 2000+ USD since 2004.
  13. Knightdramon
    So...FP bundle later on, or nothing on the horizon? Debating on getting either this or Roy's, but would hate having to hunt down FP later on when a bundle appears.
  14. Knightdramon
    On my 3rd macross complete reset collection phase. I'll just get and/or keep the iconic hero valkyries, 1 or 2 per show, and call it a day. Honestly I'd be very, very pleased if my collection ended up like this VF1S Hikaru with Strike parts----[not owned] VF19 Kai---got it VF17D with fast packs---missing, unsure if I'll get it YF19 renewal YF21 renewal when/if it's out And I'm happy. No need to complete squadrons, cannon fodder, expensive "blink and you miss it" valkyries and all that
  15. Knightdramon
    You mean the after the YF19? I'd venture a guess and say we've got a renewal YF21, naturally, coming circa late 2014/mid 2015. Plus, via hints and discussions with Mr K. based on posts I've read, we'll probably have a taste of an upgraded VF0 line. Personally, I missed both Hikaru and Roy 1S. I only got Max's 1S at the time because money was tight and I wanted my favourite character. Should the occasion arise, in 2014, where I'll say "I want ONE VF1" you can bet I'll look into either Roy's or Hikaru's. Then, after me [ie people who missed on ALL the chances to get one], there's people who are after all the variants, people who like it enough to buy it twice, etc etc. Sure it's not as great a market as when the very first 1/60 VF1 V2.0 was released, but it's not miniscule either.
  16. Knightdramon
    VF1S Strike----not much to say. Clean and a bit busy, compact, gets the job done. VF19/YF19----neat transformation, fantastic battroid modes YF21/VF22S---top for me. How to make a flat and wide plane into a sleek, tall and thin battroid. Extra points for the YF21 head. Dual gunpods. Integrates the hip armour better than any other VF for me.
  17. Knightdramon
    "Built to order" means that the retailers are given a time period, and when it ends, however many orders they receive are being summed into a total and that's the number of units the manufacturer is going to make. VF4G was made like that directly through Yamato. The YF19 is not made like that. And it's kind of unfair to try to compare how the VF19S has kept its price with the YF19. One of them is a glorified cannon fodder remould and repaint of a hero valkyrie, which saw action halfway into the show piloted by a guy who was in coma for like 19 episodes. The other is the star of its own 4 episode OVA series and movie. VF19S has had at least one reissue as a toy by Yamato.
  18. Knightdramon
    Hmmm. The way I see it, Arcadia is playing it REAL safe. Their first 3 releases are the biggest hero valkyries of macross lore. While Max is generally popular, having watched the SDFM and DYRL series and movie with my sister [a complete outsider]...he doesn't really do much. The 1S gets a lot of screen time, while his 1J appears for less than 20-30 minutes in total, maybe even less, from episode 25 or so until the end of the series. From a poll somebody put up the past few months, Roy's Strike 1S is THE most popular mecha in the franchise. Literally every company that produced macross toys started out with that one. On the topic of prices, there is an increase yes, but not as dramatic as you make it out to be. For the YF19 bundle, I can most definitely see where the money is going. Barring the fold booster, it's the most complete release of releases for that mecha, EVER. And considering how niche the macross market is, bar the VF1, YF19 and VF25, I'm surprised we're getting things like all the VF19 variants, the VF17 or even the VF4
  19. Knightdramon
    Slightly off-topic... I believe kawamori just made an on-the-spot excuse for the "scabbards" on MP03. The guy has had a fetish with hip "kibble" since like, 1994 or something. Pretty much every hero or villain mecha he has designed from Plus and onward has those scabbards, whether they are transformable or not. On topic... Is there any word on Fast/Strike packs for the new releases? I'm itching to nab a Hikaru 1S later on, should I just wait for a bundle?
  20. Knightdramon
    First off...let me clear one small detail I caught up. DX Chogokin Frontier prices have NOT doubled since the days of V1. The V1 sold for like 12.000 yen, the V2 sold for 14.000something yen. Blame the currency exchange rate, blame middlemen taking their cut, blame the market itself, but not the retail price. Secondly, I find the notion of "my local import store doesn't carry macross merchandise" somewhat ridiculous, seeing as at least in Europe, if you find ONE store with ONE VFanymodel in it, it'll be like 4 times above japanese retail. So no thanks, I don't deal with local import stores and even if I had the option, at those prices, I wouldn't. And with the way macross figures are being released right now, even the high prices cannot bother one too much. If you have 15 iterations of the VF1 by Yamato, you're less likely to buy one from Yamato. If the only brand new mould of the year is the VF4, even the original 25.000 yen price isn't much, considering it's essentially broken down by 12 months.
  21. Knightdramon
    I got one VF17S from Yamato, transformed twice, boxed. Looking to get 130 USD before shipping for it. Get it while available!
  22. Knightdramon
    Did that turn to off for all members after the board downtime? 'Cause I don't remember setting or even knowing how to set it off. Thanks regardless!
  23. Knightdramon
    Hello all, hopefully this is the correct place to post this. Been having trouble with my inbox ever since the last forum update last week...I do not receive notifications for new Pms, and if somebody answers to a discussion, there's again no notification unless I manually go in and check the replies myself. Am I the only one experiencing this glitch?
  24. Knightdramon
    LOL funny talk. The VF17 by Yamato and the VF171 by bandai were designed by the exact same person. The 171 was designed first. Pretty much the entire fandom besides you likes the 17 by yamato much more. I have a 17S that I'm looking to almost give away...I just don't like it at all.
  25. Knightdramon
    That's a tricky question...some feedback I got from around here is that the 19S is the *one* S model that people don't like. And of course, what I said above. Around the time the F came out, after frequent sales, most fans thought it will go on a 50 percent sale soonish and they'd buy multiples. When the news of yamato broke out...everybody went MENTAL.
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