Knightdramon

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.

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.

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.

No worries at all, hope you get good deals on them all. It's unknown when I'll be back with the rest of my collection, but if you're still looking at that time, my VF1A kakizaki is yours

Aw come on man...a few days earlier and I could sell you my VF1A Kakizaki...for like half the price of that website!

Hope you find good deals on all of them!

Thank you everyone, I guess I just needed to here that others are in or have been in the same boat. I've put my rag back in and will ensure I try not to let it show anymore. That's why it's always good for a member with only a few hundred posts to hear back from those with over a thousand.

Merry Christmas everyone.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

"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.

I don't think I understand Arcadia's business model, or perhaps I don't understand the Japanese market. If I ran Arcadia, I would look at the demand for certain paint schemes, and the first reissue I would do would be the max/miriya combo. Reissuing Roy's and Rick's DYRL paint schemes again? When at least the rick DYRL was always discounted on HLJ and NY as far as I recall? And now you're going to throw in a stand and charge close to double what we were able to get those toys for when they languished on shelves before? Why start out with the soft market as your first reissues? Guarantee some sales to get set up with. If the demand was there then the increase in price would be justified by the market, but these choices are just confusing.

Almost doubling the price for the yf-19 compared to Yamato yf-19s seems ill advised as well, though its nice you get all the parts with the toy. I can at least kind of understand that, it's a nice package. But where do you go from here? What can you continue to charge 300+ for as Arcadia? What would you guys pay that price point for? Ricks paint scheme on a vf-4? That's all I can think of.

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

Sorry no, only the 2 VF1 are for sale. The stand belonged to the YF21 which I sold last year. It was just a group shot with most of the figures in the thread.

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?

BUMP, the 2 VF1 are still available for grabs until the 29th of December!

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.

Almost everything sold, only 2 VF1 valkyries remaining!!!

Free BUMP

Just out of curiosity, why can't you send it to Greece? We're next door neighbours...

VF11B sold

1x 1/60 V2 Strike parts set sold, 1 more available

bravo5, no reply from you yet. I thought my inbox was fixed...

I got one VF17S from Yamato, transformed twice, boxed.

Looking to get 130 USD before shipping for it. Get it while available!

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!

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?

Sorry, weird glitch going on, I am not receiving pm notifications, sorry for the delay you all.

skullleader001, I did not get a pm from you yesterday, please re-send. thanks!

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.

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.