transfan52

OMG WOW!... Haha I've been a long time customer of HLJ for many years but I never expected HQ to look as nice and as pristine as it does. Even the warehouse looks spotless and isn't what I usually think of when someone mentions a warehouse. This guy must be making big bucks to have such a nice facility especially in japan. All those expensive toys in that warehouse make me dizzy. I'm not used to seeing all those yamato valks and SOCS lying around along with all the gunpla and everything else. Only thing I hate is the high shipping cost to the USA especially if its an EMS shipment. Still if you're looking for the latest releases from japan this site always has it before ne one else. Seems like it took a lot of work for Mr.Hards to get to where he is now. But with the falling economy nowadays otaku hobbies aren't the best business. Still I wish him the best and many thanks for years of awesome customer service.

I dunno about the rest of you but the color variation on my VF-25G is very minimal and is hardly noticeable even in a brightly lit room... Pics from a high res camera make the colors seems very different but when you actually hold the toy in person it is barely noticeable... At least that's my perspective.

Maybe current release date trends are changing and happening sooner due to the turbulent world economy and wary reactions being done by companies to try and profit off of their products as soon as possible, just in case the economy takes a huge hit sometime down the line. This trend is also happening within the video game industry as many next gen titles are being rushed onto store shelves sooner than their expected release date because of fears of a looming economic depression. Most of those releases you mentioned are simple repaints of the same mold too. Its not that difficult for a company to repaint a product of the same mold so I can understand why they might come out sooner...

With release dates as far as japanese products go most of the time they are released on the very last day of the month. So if the VF-11B release date is on april expect to see it actually on most store shelves and online shops by the end of that given month. By the 29,30, or 31st of the month.

LMAO I wish this were true.

Wow it looks great I like the color scheme... Still I only know one website that carries it atm and they're charging 100 before shipping... I only have so much to spend atm so its either this now or wait and get the rvf 25 later...

Whoa where are you shopping at? I've never paid more than 210 for ne of the bandai valks so far. 250 with shipping is pretty steep...

Well what I meant to say was that yamato's QC as of late is good. I'm not saying they're perfect by any mean but yamato's latest releases have and are still currently alot better than what bandai has churned out recently.

My VF-25G came in today and yeah ppl were saying about the armor parts is true. Almost every piece is floppy and loose and falls off very easily sometimes... Its not a huge deal for me because I only pose my figures once in a while but overall I like the look of the toy. Most of us are used to the top quality QC that yamato offers with their macross line. I'm sure bandai coulda done better but it appears that the team working on and designing these products are novices or are new to figure development altogether although I could be wrong. This definitely isn't something you can manhandle unless you want the armor parts to fly all over your house... NE way I hope the alto and ozma armor parts are more sturdy than this...

LMAO you are quite right but I still like the psycho gundam regardless I just keep it in MS mode because it looks so much better and ppl can actually tell what the heck it is. NE way I wouldn't say bandai doesn't care because alot of time, money and effort went into creating not only the series but all the new macross merchandise that has come out so far. They wouldn't put so much time and effort buying the license for the series if they didn't care about it or think it wouldn't be profitable. There are literally tons of mecha series that were released in the 80's that most ppl have either forgotten or don't think twice about nowadays.

Wow I didn't expect so much backlash of complaints over the recent VF25G... These problems seem to be with the minority for now... Hopefully I won't run into the same problems when mine comes in. I can understand why ppl would be upset at bandai over this oversight with the loose fitting armor parts but yamato's QC related issues were much worse from what I can recall... The macross zero lineup had its fair share of worse problems than this with the infamous shoulder breakage and loose fitting parts. The first batch of the recent v2 1/60s had the arm breakage problem but ppl didn't seem as upset over it. Maybe yamato has a reputation of having alot of QC issues with their products and that's why no one is surprised when something does break. Still I feel sorry for all of you who are having trouble with the toy atm... A company like bandai is known for their reliability on a product the first time so I can see why ppl are disappointed. Still overall im impressed at how durable the first releases were of the vf-25 despite the minor flaws. Hopefully bandai can learn from their mistakes and make a decent product the first time for everyone.

From what I hear its not going into mass production and will only be a display piece for local shops in the area. This thing is probably close to 1000 USD so I doubt there's a huge public market for it ne way.

All I can say is WOW this looks quite expensive... Hopefully it doesn't reach the 500 dollar mark otherwise I ain't buying it. It looks to be made out of mostly plastic... I can't see yamato putting metal on this figure because that would make this toy waay too expensive for most ppl. If it ever does come out hopefully it has no QC issues.

WOW that 1/35 RX-78-2 is impressive it has both size and detail! That thing will cost a fortune I bet. It seems as though the robot damashii line is focusing on 00 atm which is fine... IMO the new gundam designs are getting kinda crazy atm... Most of the mecha from 00 look nothing like a traditional gundam mecha. Nothing really new to the table IMO unless your into gundam 00 which I really don't care for atm. Im curious to see what figures come out of the upcoming U.C. side story game... those look interesting.

Whoa I'm impressed with what I see! I'm glad its not too big so that the cost isn't too expensive. I don't usually buy the giant capitol ship figures from macross but this looks like it'll be easier to handle than the wave SDF-1

Well it looks like the VF-25G is finally available on hljs website... I got my card charged ahead of schedule as I was expecting to be charged by at least the 30th or 1st of march... I'm a little upset that hlj just charged my card outta nowhere though... I usually preorder through paypal and wait till they send me an quote so I can send the money on my own time. This time I didn't use paypal and I was charged without prior notice... Oh well at least I got a nice valk coming in.

The only gundam figure im interested in right now is the upcoming GFFN aile strike gundam. Its due out this june or july, there are no prototype pics atm but im sure this will be the best detailed and most sturdy figure you can get.

All im seeing is the first batch of macross dx vf-25G's on ebay atm and they're all over priced by scalpers hoping to get a sucker to buy an early release... With shipping the item is about 250 USD on ebay... Id rather wait till HLJ comes out with it on their site for the much mo0re reasonable price or 180 to 200USD...

logos by now I'm sure you've already made your purchase. Personally I think its one of the better products out of yamato lately it looks great and is designed flawlessly. Its a little difficult to transform and kinda annoying to fit parts in right place exactly how the manual wants it. Nonetheless although expensive its a flawless product that I dont think you should pass up if your into yamato valks.

LMAO yeah seriously the previous poster was quite right about the autobots being slaves and destrons being the warriors to defend the quintesons but this is going way off topic.

As far as the economy goes I am spending less overall on things I don't really need. I'm not done collecting entirely yet as there are still things here and there I pick up. I've never been a hardcore toy collector that has to have everything and if I ever feel I have too much I start selling off things that take up too much space. If my savings allow I would like to be able to purchase at least a set of armor parts for the dx-25 valk. Other than that there's not much else id like to buy toy wise. It depends on how bad the economy gets in the next few months... If prices on necessities skyrocket I will definitely cut back on things I don't need but as long as the economy is somewhat stable I may always buy one thing here or there.

I currently have the 360 version of SFIV and when I first started playing with the standard D-pad, I had some trouble pulling off a lot of moves. As I played it became a lot easier after I got used to the timing and direction of the pad. One drawback though is that the standard D-pad isn't very finger friendly and can cause a little irritation and blistering of the thumb with extended use. You will develop a callous if you play enough so it isn't a huge issue but if you want to save your thumb some pain id suggest getting the fightpad. Unless your a real hardcore player that wants the authentic controls of the arcade stick id recommend you either stick to the fightpad or the standard d pad as the moves aren't that hard to pull off with a little training and some patience.

I do admit while I always liked the alpha series I often found it too difficult to play. Because of that fact I choose to stay away from the franchise until it went back to its roots to a more basic fighting system. I was never a frequent arcade rat and I didn't really have ne one to play against so the alpha series really wasn't worth my time IMO. While some ppl on these forums are expressing some disappointment with this latest installment gameplay wise. I think its the smartest decision capcom ever made. Those of us who used to play SF2 back in the day still remember all those original characters from that game and to bring them back helps carry the game sales wise a long way. Also the gameplay desperately needed to be resimplified because the generation that grew up with the alpha series doesn't really play these fighting games nowadays and most of them moved on to bigger and better things. Most of the ppl playing this new installment won't be the old hardcore crowd that spent countless hours and tokens duking it out in the arcades and honing their skills in countering and multi combo/super move skills. The series started to wane in popularity IMO after Alpha 3 with the whole drastic change up in the block and combo system and the fact that the market was already flooded with too many fighting games to begin with. Street Fighter 3rd Strike came as a quiet whimper in the arcades and snuck its way onto PS2 about 3 years later but by then street fighter lost most of its popularity and no one really cared about the franchise ne more up to that point... I think of this new game as a kind of reset to bring in new fans to the series and breath new life into it... Its the smartest choice business wise. As of right now there really aren't ne good hardcore 2d fighting games to compete with it atm. Possibly in the future a SF game that plays more like the alpha series may be released to a new generation of fans that will hopefully embrace a more complicated hardcore fighting system but for now I am happy with what we have, which is a great fighting game that can be enjoyed by novice or pros alike. Since I haven't played a new street fighter game in a long time it feels refreshing to be able to learn the basic move sets again and experiment with different combination's and so forth. IMO although kinda simple compared to the alpha series the game is still very fun and accessible to play and that's what I think capcom needed to make this franchise profitable and popular again.

Wow... The man must have alot of time on his hands. Its pretty cool lookin but id be too embarrassed to walk around in public with that.

Although they may not be the most powerful mecha around Id either pilot the Zeta Gundam or the VF-25F with super parts. Maneuverability trumps raw power.