brouken

When the original SDF-Macross was first aired in my country the Philippines in the mid '80's, I desperately wanted to get a vf-1 toy. I remember looking longingly at the 1/55 Strike Valkyrie, Elintseeker and Super Ostrich at this small toy shop, and hoped that one day, my parents or grandparents would find it in their hearts to get me one. No such luck however, since even then, these things cost a fortune. The closest I ever got to a 1/55 was when rich friends at school brought theirs over for show and tell. I remember making my own valks out of cardboard just so that I'll have one to play with (I actually made a LOT of toys out of cardboard for myself those days, since toys - especially Japanese made ones - were considered high-end luxury items). I've never lost my love for Macross however, and as a grown man with a steady income, I'm now able to purchase these relics from my childhood. And even though I never got to own a 1/55, I look at my shelf behind me at my office, with my 1/60 Yammies and Bandai DXes and consider myself blessed. :-)

Speaking of taxes, it seems that my happy days of tax-free importing of Macross/hobby stuff are over. Ever since my last two purchases, the customs people here in Indonesia have decided to start taxing me close to 30% for my packages. :-( Once I complete my SMS skull squadron, I'll have to take a break from this hobby until I move to a more import-friendly place.

Wow, two 25G's! That must have...cost a fortune! I managed to snag one from Mandarake for 25k yen, and that was the cheapest I could find at this time. Hope you were able to get yours for a good price. :-)

Wow, excellent pics! I had been debating whether to get the tornado parts or super parts for the 25G. Opted for the latter, though seeing OzmaLee74 pics above kinda makes me do a double take. If only the 25G weren't so expensive now....:-(

Spicing up my office with valks! (please forgive the poor hi-iso photo from my phone)

And....Boom! :-) Congratulations Noel! That's a really cool valk you got there!

I agree that the prices for the tamashii exclusive super/armored packs are a bit prohibitive. But this is not surprising considering they are "exclusive", limited run items. It's just the nature of the market. It's no different from buying an out of print baseball card for a thousand bucks. We may think the price is ridiculous, but as long as there is someone willing to pay that price, then the sellers will tend to set prices at the greatest common denominator. Market demand determines value after all. Anyone remember that C-3PO Kenner figure that got sold for over three thousand bucks on ebay? If I remember correctly, that became a major turning point for collectors markets everywhere. Sellers all over the world became aware that it is possible to find someone willing to pay exorbitant prices for limited/out of print/production collector's items. Collecting valkyries ain't no poor man's hobby that's for sure. :-)

Got this email from HLJ today: Bad news is that they may not have enough stock to meet even those who pre-ordered just one. Good news (?) is that they will receive stock later this month (??). Is HLJ getting the VF-25s a few months earlier?

About twenty pages back:

So HLJ will limit all pre-orders to just one per customer? As long as they don't cancel my pre-order outright, I'm okay with having just one. Anybody else email HLJ and get the same response? I'd feel better if they issue a general notice about this to all who purchased multiples.

The armor parts in NY had been going down incrementally by a few dollars since the VF-25s announcement. It used to be USD315++. It had gone down to about USD310++ before going up again to 311++. I've been monitoring this because I was planning on getting the armored parts once I get the Ozma preorder. I guess they were waiting if Bandai would do a bundle/armor parts reissue. I was hoping that it would slowly go down to below USD300, but now that it's rising, I'm assuming that NY thinks that Bandai WON'T do a re-issue of the armor parts. For now at least.

Yes, NY increased the price for the super parts as well as the armored parts. Capitalizing on the VF-25s demand no doubt. :-)

"Remeber they are only selling what they think they will sell domestically in Japan. Unless the retailers have shared they sell a decent amount of units overseas, I doubt they Know there's any demand outside of Japan. Even though they could sell Macross F if they wanted to HG doesn't own that, even though they think they do." I agree with this. That's why we have to buy the valks from third party retailers based in Japan in the first place. As far as Bandai is concerned, they're only selling to the domestic market and not to international markets. They're making zero profit from international buyers and therefore have no incentive to meet international demand.

Toy manufacturing has gotten quite complicated throughout the years, same as with other consumer products. Whereas before, the whole product was built from the ground up in the country where the company is based, nowadays, manufacturing and materials have been outsourced. This brings into play a lot of new factors, such as international shipping, customs and taxation, rules of origin, international politics, and many other issues that the end-consumer may not know about. I wish it were easy to just produce a product to meet market demand. But any experienced businessman will tell you that its never that easy in real life. Anyway, for those who were able to get a pre-order on HLJ, were you all able to receive the email confirmation that your orders are being processed, and your HLJ accounts reflect these under your orders page?

Hello! Can anyone recommend a good place to order the super parts for the RVF online? Thanks!

Sorry to hear about the MWers who wasn't able to get the pre-order. I really thought everyone would get at least one since the HLJ preorder went up. It was up for long time and I was thinking they would have enough stock for everyone. I hope you'll all be able to get one at the next pre-order window, especially those who don't have an Ozma yet. For my fellow Christians who are into this hobby as well, I have a testimony to make. When I didn't get the preorder on Amiami and NY, I was getting real frustrated. I had been on my laptop for a good number of hours just pressing F5 like everyone else. I realized that I haven't paid my tithes and offerings for the month yet, so on faith, I decided to pay that first, just before dinner. After I had dinner, I went to check my laptop again, and I saw the posts in this thread saying that HLJ was open. I went there and I managed to get a pre-order (I even got two completely by mistake since I wasn't sure I had completed the first order). I know some Christians think that being in this kind of hobby is a form of idolatry. I personally believe that God wants us to enjoy all of what creation has to offer, even the products of our own hands. But I think he wants us to do so not by hoarding and scalping each other, but by letting everyone have a fair chance to enjoy what others have created. I really doubt that Shoji Kawamori-san and the toy designers at Bandai want to see their creations being hoarded up and sold at triple the price, instead of making people smile in appreciation of what they created. I really think that's what they intended for these toys to do in the end. I'm really thankful that I'm blessed with enough resources to enjoy luxuries such as this. As soon as HLJ sends me my payment request, I'm cancelling my other extra order. And I really hope that slot goes to someone who will enjoy the toy for what it is, and not use it to cause pain and suffering to others by making them pay for more than the MSRP. Oh, and I stand by my earlier offer that if anyone in MW lives in Jakarta, I'll be willing to keep the extra order and sell it to you for exactly what I paid for including shipping. But I'll only be willing to sell it to a member who doesn't have an Ozma yet. Just shoot me a pm soon before HLJ asks me for for payment so that I won't cancel the order. God bless you all, and good night :-)

Right, I checked my account again with HLJ and I've confirmed that I've got two orders for Ozma. I agree that HLJ has pretty good customer service and it shouldn't be a problem cancelling the other. But man, after seeing the carnage, I'm really tempted to hold on to the other one too. :-) I guess it will all depend on whether these stocks are for real. If they are, then if anyone of you MWers are in Indonesia, I might sell the other one off to you. I was really only gunning for one. :-)

Four!?! Holy cow, that's a lot of valks man! Although...I'm checking my email now and it seems I inadvertently made two orders of the Ozma at HLJ. :-P They don't show up on my account details though. Oh well, at least I got two in. Will cancel the other one once I get payment notification. :-)

Yey! Got one too from HLJ! Thanks wmkjr! :-D I love you macrossworld!

Congratulations Skull005! You got two from NY! I never even got to see the site until just now. Of course its not available. :-) This is how it was when I pre-ordered the YF-29 Ozma. I missed amiami and hlj, but got one eventually from NY after an email update. Slightly marked up price though. Still, its better than paying double or triple the MSRP. :-)

Does that mean I'm a full fledged MW member now? :-D

Wow, so this is the famed pre-order madness! Very interesting! :-) All I got to see was the Add to cart button at Amiami. Then, gone. :-)

I understand the dilemma. I'm not trying to dampen anyone's enthusiasm. But all things considered, Bandai SHOULD have enough stocks of this high-demand valk. After all, they've had the past two years to test the waters for market response with the previous re-issues and the YF-29 Ozma. I'm guessing that the major reason for the delay is because they've been trying to secure enough materials for a sizable production run. That and perhaps the straining of the diplomatic relationship between Japan and China because of competing maritime claims. Hopefully, the latter won't escalate out of control, otherwise, delays in production might occur. Regardless, I still hope and pray that we all get a pre-order slot today. :-)

Just to keep everyone's spirits up: Even if we miss the ami-ami preorder, I'm sure NY and HLJ will have this in stock as well. Its not like we're fighting for a limited number of stocks. This is a re-issue after all. All of us who are in line at ami-ami now are simply in it for the 17% discount, and I guess the thrill of getting the first pre-order. :-) I still hope and pray that there's enough pre-order slots for everyone who's lined up here.

Wow, I actually had to do that before when I pre-ordered the YF-29 Ozma over at NY. Just make sure your internet connection is up and running! :-)