Lolicon

They sell both new and secondhand items. They'll tell you in the description if an item has been opened or is damaged, etc. These new Macross figures just came out, so I'd be quite surprised if they were selling opened ones already.

There's a substantial disparity in quality between Bandai's and Yamato's latest offerings. There's a substantial disparity in their price tags too. (Not counting the aftermarket gouging, of course.)

Otacute price is pretty good. Only about 500 yen more than HLJ.

Wow! I didn't know she was anatomically correct underneath, seeing as I wasn't going to wreck part of my figure just to see Ranka's goodies.

Got around to opening my Magical Girl Ranka today. Another beautiful figure as good as Sheryl. A little disappointed that they couldn't do her one-legged standing pose without the extra metal rods for support though. I do like that her clothes are separate parts and not just painted on. Gives the figure more depth and detail. And it makes it possible to look down her shirt and up her shorts. You can't really see it in the pics, but yes they made the extra effort to include her panties peaking out from her shorts. I'm very happy with the purchase of these two figures. Now if only they'd give this kind of treatment to their final outfits seen in the second movie.

Orleans Sheryl: my new favorite Sheryl figure. Assembling it takes a bit of work, since the flag is one huge, heavy piece of hard plastic and is held up by those two metal rods. Comes with some red string to tie it to the flagpole. (You're supposed to snip off the ends after tying it to the pole, but I left them on in case I need to disassemble it later.) Quality is on par with the previous round of Macross 1kuji figures, though there are some obvious sloppy patches on the flag. Definitely the best sculpt of Sheryl's behind. (Too bad the flag kinda covers it up.) And she actually looks like Sheryl! Anyone who's kept up with Frontier figures knows that they seem to have a hard time getting her face right. Overall it's an impressive display piece, thanks to the excellent sculpt and massive flag accessory. Picked them up from Mandarake. Banpresto's 1kuji figures generally aren't available through regular retail outlets. http://ekizo.mandarake.co.jp/shop/en/

Looks great. I'm fine with white since I only have white VF-1s.

I cracked. Will take some better pics if the sun ever comes out over here.

So how many people are still waiting for their SAL shipments? What gets me is that after a certain size/weight, SAL becomes more expensive than EMS.

They're small? How big are they? I assumed they were around 1/8 scale...

Not sure if I even want this Ranka, as I think she actually looks worse than the 800 yen figure I picked up a few months ago. But then I think it's pointless to just get Sheryl, so for me it's an all or none deal. Decisions, decisions...

I put in a preorder at Anime Export. Never used them before, and I'm a bit wary of any place that requires payment up front like that. I hope I don't get screwed and they come back telling me they don't have enough units to fill all the orders (I delayed in putting in my order).

Figuarts Ranka preorder up... and closed. http://www.amiami.com/top/detail/detail?gcode=FIG-MOE-5195&page=top

Refreshed Hobby Search a few times and the YF-29 went from "long sold out" to "reservation closed." Was never opened for preorders. I think Amiami pulled the same shenanigans with the Figuarts Sheryl. Posted it and immediately set it to "sold out" then opened it up later. Just sit tight and wait for it to reopen I guess. http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10141228

Already sold out at Amiami?

Man those new Sheryl and Ranka figures go fast even at current prices. They're rarely up for more than a couple of hours before they're gone.

A little off-topic, but I'm going to (finally) pick up some flightpose stands for my valkyries, as the SMS stand is kinda ugly. For those of you that have them already, is the 4" stand large enough, or is the 6" stand better? http://flightpose.com/index.cfm

Anyone know a way to tighten up the wing glove joint? One of mine is loose, and I don't like having it flop around and potentially chipping off the skull emblem.

Nuts to those prices. I'll wait a couple of months at least for the initial demand to die down and for the prices to drop. Learned my lesson from the last round of 1kuji figures.

Glad that Bandai is finally reissuing these. That reminds me, how much did the super parts retail for? I might look into picking up a set of those too.

Did a wash and touched up the paint job. Popping the head out was the hardest part of transforming it. But I'm very happy with the final product. Eagerly awaiting the 25G now! EDIT: As I thought, the pop-off piece in the center of the chest is painted. The color difference is indistinguishable to the naked eye, but the camera really picks up and exaggerates it. But it's another piece where I wonder why Bandai didn't just mold it in color.

You didn't happen to post a YF-29 in its shipping box also, did you? Because I recall that dude also selling a YF-29 last summer that he bought "one too many" of.

If someone wants to miss out on a great valkyrie toy because a shade of paint isn't 100% perfect, then that's their prerogative. What I find more bothersome is Bandai's decision to use painted parts for areas that are one solid color, namely the bottoms of the wing gloves and the shoulders. Why Bandai? Why didn't you mold them in the correct colored plastic? Especially the shoulders, as those have the potential to get really scratched up during transformation. Right out of the box there were a few corners where the paint had already rubbed off.

The version 1 VF-25S shall henceforth be known as the VF-25POS.

I'd like to note that you guys take care with the wing gloves when transforming it. Having the wing gloves flop back and slamming the glove surface against the backplate is going to chip the the horns of the skull emblem right off.