eggy99

If anyone is interested, still no EMS from HLJ to Australia. Rate for shipping a DX VF-1

Anyone try to remove the canopy to chop and change between toys? I want to try and swap the 1J Hikaru canopy to my 1S, so it can be a 1S Hikaru and be canon with the Super Packs. It looks impossible to remove it when looking at it in fighter mode. I still have not fully transformed my 1st 1S Roy to test it out. 😓 And HLJ listing is now sold out.

Nice! I snagged a 2nd one that I wanted so I can display 1 with Super packs and 1 without. Now I will be annoyed if Bandai announce DX VF-1S TV Hikaru with bundled Super Pack. 😩

I'm not fond of the MB Strike mold and material usage (too much exposed diecast for me), but I think the IWSP would have been a better pack to release with the Strike Rouge. Hell, it'll probably be another TWE striker pack they release some time down the line.

At this point your only option will be resellers offering at mark up, since the Tamashii Web Exclusive PO window closed a long time ago. I'm not sure there will be any reputable e-retailers that still have units available at release date, so if you want NIB you may have to go with a independent reseller on eBay that is probably selling at a very high mark up to secure one now. There should be a good chance you'll get it if they have good feedback as they would have secured a PO from Tamashi Web Store during the PO window. If you don't mind a 2nd hand item, you may see these pop up at Mandarake at the current market value (note units may be marked as "package damaged", but generally this is VERY minor and almost a non issue based on MWF users past experiences). Amazon JP is also another alternative after release date if you can find a reseller that will ship via Amazon and overseas which will be super cheap DHL Express shipped (sub ¥2,000 fee I believe). You also get the benefit of getting a discount when the Japanese sale tax is removed at cart. Also Yahoo Japan auctions via Buyee is a 3rd option from independent resellers from Japan, which will also be at market value + Buyee fees and pretty expensive shipping. Of all 3 alternative, I think Amazon JP will be potentially the cheapest option due to the heavily discounted shipping, even though I feel the item price will probably be higher than Mandarake and Yahoo JP. Good luck! EDIT: Nin Nin (and also Nippon Yasan) may have units available at mark up after release date. As of now, Nin Nin still have the DYRL VF-1A Kakizaki TWE for sale. The mark up is quite extreme over the Japanese SRP (200% over the SRP in this case).

Mystery solved. The Insta post was advertising the Aug 2020 re-release, as seen in the matching Facebook post. https://shop.hlj.com/3e3PmDR

Strangely HLJ just posted on Insta that Arcadia will be re-re-releasing the VF-1J Armored Valkyrie and that it can be ordered now, but upon visiting HLJ there is no item page for the re-re-release. https://www.instagram.com/p/CO6pLH9hiAF/?igshid=hjefmf4vnr34 Maybe a mistake?

From sh9000

There will definitely be units available closer to and after the release date. That has been the trend for the VF-1S Hikaru and VF-1S Roy. There is also no indication that 1A Max GBP or 1S Roy GBP will ever see the light of day. Simply a tease from Bandai with no intention to manufacture them - many examples of this behaviour in the past. For future questions of this nature, best to post it in the below thread

Dang it! My monitor didn't pick up Okiniland, but looks like it went up in the middle of the night AEST which is very strange for Japanese retailer. Would be a good time for US and UK buyers though. This probably didn't help my monitor pick it up either. That is some messed up spelling.

Ami must have closed within 3 minutes, as my monitor is set to check Ami every 3 minutes and it didn't detect a change on the page (possible the monitor is not detecting a change correctly - hard to test).

Heads up EMS will be resuming in July, but with massive 20% surcharge. See thread:

They were on par with other online stores. I had a good experience with them when I bought my 1A Max from them. I’m not certain they offer DHL/FedEx shipping though. They might offer it now, but it was only Air and EMS back in 1A Max days.

Plaza Japan went up over 3 hours ago while I was out. SOLD OUT instantly it seems. I had 5 min intervals on my monitor and it only came up as SOLD OUT change. https://www.plazajapan.com/4573102614513

Discovered an error with resizing images (so they display smaller in the post)

I like that the feet covers hide the unsightly seamline on the front of the diecast feet.

They are quite exaggerated, but they do mimic the ARII model kit box art well. Courtesy of: @jvmacross

If we follow the trend that happened for 1S Hikaru and 1S Roy then you can expect stock to be available again close to the release date. For Roy it opened again for order on HLJ on release day, the order window lasted longer than the PO window.

Since we are partaking in discussion of how to better improve the new initiative to better organise our threads on MWF, I would not be opposed to having dedicated PO Madness and release threads for each toy, ie 2 threads for each toy - 1 for PO Madness, and 1 to discuss the actual toy. It would help to keep specific chatter to threads without minimal cross discussions, making finding specific information easier. More work to maintain, and more threads to follow. The general DX VF-1 thread would still be useful to speculate about unannounced VF-1 variants or discussing the DX VF-1 line in general. It does make it harder to post a message covering your love of multiple valks etc, but we'll have to weight up the pros and cons of each solution. I see value in pursuing continued prototyping of the new thread management so we can measure the effectiveness of our solution and then discuss as a community the next steps for improvement.

I feel like Kuruma will go live after Golden Week also, and with an inflated price, which I think is what they've done previously. They come to the table later than other retailers after gauging the market demand to get them the most profit.

TV releases have, so far, been missing the ejection triangles which have been present on the 2 DYRL releases. Triangles will be present on 1D. Minor differences in the arrows etc on the chest between TV and DYRL. UNS SDF-1 on the upper leg of DYRL, but absent from TV. Bandai have really made a lot of subtle tempo differences between TV and DYRL. On what basis some of these are different is unknown to me.

Hoping the nose cone on the Armored VF-1J is the revised tighter locked one. I'll end up swapping the heads with my original VF-1J, so it doesn't have the loose nose cone.

OK now that most of us are done with Armored VF-1J PO madness, WHAT'S THE NEXT WALLET DESTROYING VALK? Probably a DYRL release? Maybe a lazy DYRL release? VF-1A Hikaru or Max to allow fans to round out their DYRL Hikaru/Max/Kaki displays. My wish is still TV VF-1S Hikaru with Super Packs included, but it's probably a slim chance.

I'm running automated watches on Plaza Japan and Okini Land for when they avail the pages for their VF-1J armored valkyrie POs and will post here unless someone else does 1st. I also have Ami on the list too, just in case they open up again, as that happened with 1S Roy last year also. I'll also add in CDJ too, since that also suddenly became available again a day later for 1S Roy.

That is a relief to hear. Sounds like a reputable seller then.