ZorClone

2 hours ago, no3Ljm said:

How can you say that when Arcadia just released their most collectible, sought after, yet 'Premium' version of Hikaru's VF-1S?

 

lol because they don't know how "gotta catch'em all" works  

I'd agree that 1/55 would be the most playable (ie durable?) but the Arcadia 1/60 VF-1 is the absolute pinnacle of size and design.  At the very least get your favorite VF-1 in that line if it's available.  But the most collectable line right now is HMR for sure.

1 minute ago, Podtastic said:

Do we have any confirmation/reason to believe that they will though? I am prepared to wait patiently for the Nousjadeul-Ger, the TV Queadluun-Rau and the Missile Variant Regults IF they are actually coming.

I don't think there's any logical reason to doubt that they won't.  They've been steadily releasing product for the line ever since the first release.  As someone else said a few pages back I think what they're doing is pacing it out so as not to suddenly lose customers that were only in for the Macross products.  Pretty smart strategy if you ask me.

Besides, if they weren't doing what they're doing we wouldn't have such sustaining product line to fuel our habit and give us fun stuff to chat about month after month 

I think I'll definitely at least PO one VF-2 and then see how well they are received.  I have never actually seen Macross II but I do like that design more than other non-SDFM valks.  Plus I imagine the PO pricing will be easier on the wallet.

3 hours ago, Saburo said:

 

Thanks @no3Ljm!

 

Great shots @Slave IV this shot is cool!

yep that stance reminds me of a baseball player, namely Evan Gattis, who likes to point his bat at the pitcher waiting on him to play ball:

I wanna see what a fight between 2 Spartans and a Glaug looks like

You can cancel a preorder anytime with them as far as I know.  If an order goes to private warehouse you have 10 days to return it from there, as well.

19 hours ago, treatment said:

 

So how're they gonna fund making these $25-$50 items? 

Are you that sure that the japanese market will buy them in droves and stuff to make and sustain profits and revenues?

How much should they pay the laborers and factories for these?

I'm an IT guy so I couldn't answer that question with any real action plan but I can point to companies that already do it.  Me and my incredible lack of business acumen still understands that a company that has strong competition yet still offers a wide range of good/better products at different (low to high) price points is going to be a leader.  You can't sell it if you don't make it.  And if all you do is sell the same stuff you did 10 years ago and increase the price on it by 100% and solid competition comes along at a better price...

Don't get me wrong though.  I did say solid competition, and not just copycat KO thievery out to get a quick buck.  I would support a proper 3P innovation on the VF-1 at 1/60, or any accessories for them.

Gn-U failed spectacularly because it was a terrible product line, but not because of the price point or the quality of the items.  The items they chose for the line were just one mistake after another.

8 hours ago, jenius said:

So what is a less expensive but desired item? 

Non-transforming anything from SDFM.  Fan racers.  Enemy fighters.  Lancers.  Character figures.  Little scale ARMD carriers and capital ships in scale with each other like the Eaglemoss Star Trek lineup.  If they had a lineup of products of those items in the $25-$50 range, they wouldn't be able to make them fast enough.

That Lancer they're doing is one step forward and 5 steps backward.  Same with the 1/60 Regult.  frakking stupid of Yamato to make that niche within a niche within a niche and charge out the nose for it.

8 hours ago, Chronocidal said:

Bandai also has several orders of magnitude more customers, licenses, and product lines, and several decades of existence to fall back on.  If one of their products doesn't sell, they have thousands of others that do to soften the blow.

Arcadia doesn't have those options, products, licenses, markets, or financial solvency.  Yamato's early years provided the backbone for what they were able to build up to, but their early Macross products filled a relative market vacuum that doesn't exist anymore.  Arcadia doesn't get that luxury, and if they don't build products that compete with Bandai's quality level, no one's going to buy them.

You couldn't have re-emphasized my point better if you meant to.  They (Bandai) have all those customers because they have all those products because they have all those licenses because they have all those customers because... etc etc.  That's like business 101 right there.  It's like with BMW bought MINI and the first thing they did was started designing new chassis for the MINI brand.  MINI is now doing better than it ever has.

You can't grow a business and offer competitive prices on new and innovative products if you don't have but a few things to sell.  Unless you have absolutely no competition.  Fact is even with KO, Arcadia does have very good competition: Bandai.

Why spend $200+ on a 1/60 when a 1/100 HMR is a damn good toy, a much larger and diverse line, and is only $60-90?  Probably 8 out of 10 collectors would just stick to HMR.

But if suddenly 1/60 costs $90 again and they fill their line with more than just the same reissues over and over..  Like Kurisama said, what they're doing isn't sustainable.  Especially if Bandai comes out swinging with a larger VF-1.

In my opinion, if Arcadia diversified their business enough to have that cash to spend on the constant innovations needed to stay at the top of their game they could keep their premium products' prices in check and keep the KO/3P competition in their rear view mirror.  As it is, they seem to have an unfortunately narrow business ideology and that leaves them ripe for this kind of exploitation.

Arcadia needs to vastly expand their Macross product catalogue with less expensive yet desired items and cushion the part of the business that relies on the hard to make, hard to QA, and hard to sell high-end valks.

I mean look at Bandai.  They sell everything from super expensive toys to super cheap models to complete "garbage" quality nonsense.  It all adds up and allows the riskier products they design to stay competitive and innovative while not jeopardizing the jobs of the people making them.

mine is still in PW but I can tell from all the comments that just one Spartan isn't going to be enough... some great pics, all!

lol thats awesome

On 5/12/2017 at 1:02 AM, tekering said:

Keep up the inspiring work, guys!  

that's a beautiful pair of shots, and great custom work!  The chain base looks fantastic as diorama for HMR.  Very tempting...

Hmm I wonder if you could use a 3Doodler to create custom smoke trails...

10 hours ago, F360 said:

Its not the non payment, its the pw returns.

Item paid , in pw.  Looks at review, decides no longer wants it.  Passed the 10 days.  Return to hlj from PW.  Gets 85% back in hlj.

hlj wins 15%. 

Would you not also get hit with the 15% return fee if you bought the item and then failed to pay for shipping when it auto-ships after 60 days in the PW?

1 hour ago, jenius said:

It's that people see reviews and decide to skip it, not that they don't pay... if it's in PW they did pay. 

Paid for the item, but not necessarily the shipping.

lol, wow you'd have to ignore a lot of notification from HLJ to force a return from PW and get hit with that 15%

If you had a billing agreement setup though, that just wouldn't happen.  At 60 days items would auto-ship.

I think the brown looks really good!

Love the TV squadron pic!  I need a TV VF-1S Roy 

16 hours ago, Old Man said:

What a beauty! Looks like it would coming right out of the Yamato factory.

I wish I had the skills and cajones to paint mine up.

great thing about paint is you can nearly always fix mistakes!

Has anyone seen any 3rd party options for diorama bases/walls like the Space Walls stuff for Star Wars figures?  Or even 3D printed stuff?

On 4/22/2017 at 9:35 AM, tekering said:

All this rampant customization has inspired me to do some work of my own:

Amazing job and awesome photography!  What system of walls/floors/ceiling is that for the diorama?

Awesome room.  I can't decide if that looks like a warehouse loft or a boathouse or what.  Love the staircase.  It all looks like a magazine cover.