Your most recent Macross or toy purchase! General thread.

[Lolicon]

2 minutes ago, Shizuka the Cat said:

I am a bit wary of using Airbnb. I have heard horror stories regarding homeowners having hidden cameras setup inside bedrooms, bathrooms, etc. I sort of feel like a hotel is a bit safer on that regard.... but that is just me.

A lot of people have already seen my junk and I don't care if more people do lol

[rdrunner]

8 minutes ago, Lolicon said:

If you just need some inexpensive lodging nearby, you can try Airbnb. While I would never use it here in the States, in the Japan Airbnb hosts keep their places impeccably clean. There's a bunch within walking distance of Akihabara.

Also, your first stop in Akihabara should be the Mandarake branch there.  But there's tons of toy stores so you have lots of choices... just remember to bring your passport as some shops  will waive the consumption tax.

Thanks Lolicon, yes I have heard good things about Japanese Airbnb so will definitely give that a try.

I was fortunate enough to have worked in Tokyo for 3 months many years ago, and frequented Akihibara and all the second hand toy shops during weekends. Too bad Macross toys wasn't in abundance at the time (this was when the 1/60 V1 just came out).  I think I'll probably blow all the cash on Valkyries within the first couple of days...

[linitrofe]

1 hour ago, Lolicon said:

A lot of people have already seen my junk and I don't care if more people do lol

xD

[spacemanoeuvres]

1 hour ago, anubis20 said:

Good mail day! Got

- Riobot Mospeada

- Metal Build Arbalest

- Super Robot Chogokin Gurren Lagann 10th Anniversary Ver

- GX-76 Grendizer

- Bring Arts 2B

- Figuarts Frieza

First thing im opening is the Riobot 

 

Nice loot, I want the gurren lagan now lol 

[Slave IV]

1 hour ago, anubis20 said:

Good mail day! Got

- Riobot Mospeada

- Metal Build Arbalest

- Super Robot Chogokin Gurren Lagann 10th Anniversary Ver

- GX-76 Grendizer

- Bring Arts 2B

- Figuarts Frieza

First thing im opening is the Riobot 

 

 

1 hour ago, Saburo said:

A big box arrived today.

Nice pickups!

[Saburo]

7 hours ago, Sanity is Optional said:

All hands to battle stations, @Saburo is about to mount another assault on our wallets.

I am sure @no3Ljm has a gif for this. 

7 hours ago, Lolicon said:

Ohhh looking forward to seeing your low light pics to really show off the glow in the dark effect. Sadly, my camera phone does not have the exposure options needed to really capture how it looks in low light.

I hope my captures will do the SDF-1 some justice especially with the glow-in-the dark paint.  tekering has already posted some amazing shots.

Have you looked into a camera apps for your phone?  There are some pretty robust apps with quite a bit of controls and setting you can adjust. 

 

5 hours ago, Slave IV said:

 

Nice pickups!

Childhood me is really happy and my wallet feels a whole lot lighter. 

[kajnrig]

7 hours ago, Saburo said:

A big box arrived today.

So... those ARE HMRs, right? No? Th-they're 1/60s, you say? The box is still twice their size, you say? I ask too many questions, you say?

[Sanity is Optional]

Pretty sure those are HMRs

 

On a related note, got a couple of boxes today.

[kajnrig]

3 minutes ago, Sanity is Optional said:

Pretty sure those are HMRs

You're absolutely right, but imagine if they weren't...

[Sanity is Optional]

Just now, kajnrig said:

You're absolutely right, but imagine if they weren't...

My wallet would be in even more pain than it normally is? 

...and I'd be even shorter of shelf space!

[Saburo]

1 hour ago, kajnrig said:

So... those ARE HMRs, right? No? Th-they're 1/60s, you say? The box is still twice their size, you say? I ask too many questions, you say?

Yes those are HMRs.

1 hour ago, kajnrig said:

You're absolutely right, but imagine if they weren't...

I am imagining if they were 1/60 Vals, the SDF-1 would be from head to toe(?) about 2ft tall.

[Lolicon]

2 hours ago, Saburo said:

I hope my captures will do the SDF-1 some justice especially with the glow-in-the dark paint.  tekering has already posted some amazing shots.

Have you looked into a camera apps for your phone?  There are some pretty robust apps with quite a bit of controls and setting you can adjust. 

Hmmm I hadn't thought of seeing if any good camera apps exist that will allow me to make long, low light exposures. Time to look into that. Thanks Saburo!

Still want to see your pics though!

[Saburo]

3 hours ago, Lolicon said:

Hmmm I hadn't thought of seeing if any good camera apps exist that will allow me to make long, low light exposures. Time to look into that. Thanks Saburo!

Still want to see your pics though!

I am sure you have a tripod for the slow shutter shots. 

 

[Sanity is Optional]

What you can do is get a nice tripod, and take a long exposure with a flash at the start to illuminate the ship and charge the phosphorescence. Then let the rest of the exposure stay dark to get the glowing effect.

[Lolicon]

24 minutes ago, Saburo said:

I am sure you have a tripod for the slow shutter shots. 

I sure do!

16 minutes ago, Sanity is Optional said:

What you can do is get a nice tripod, and take a long exposure with a flash at the start to illuminate the ship and charge the phosphorescence. Then let the rest of the exposure stay dark to get the glowing effect.

That's a good idea. I'll give it a shot.

[Convectuoso]

Not Macross, but I got this:

Got it for a fairly good price on eBay

[hachi]

21 hours ago, Shizuka the Cat said:

Also, if you are looking for a hotel to stay at, I would suggest Hotel Edoya.

They are relatively cheap in my opinion, have both Japanese and Western-style rooms (aka futon on floor vs. a bed), a small open-air onsen (bath) on the roof, wi-fi internet access, and are a short walk from the Ocha no Mizu railway station and a slightly longer walk to Akihabara's shopping district. Each room also has its own bathroom with Japanese-style deep tub.

Also included is the hotel's all you can eat breakfast buffet that serves Japanese-style selections such as rice, miso soup, tamagoyaki (rolled-up sweet egg omelette), raw egg to mix with your rice, baby sausage wieners, tazukuri (sweet, dried and cooked sardines), pickled vegetables, agedashi dofu (lightly fried tofu in a tentsuyu... how do I explain it.... fish stock-based broth) , and more. They also serve croissants. Their breakfasts are the best!

They are also across the street from a love hotel, so if you are bored you can watch couples go in and out of the love hotel while you count all the valkyries you bought earlier in the day. There is also a FamilyMart convenience store about 3 blocks away.

Oh yeah, I believe their front desk staff can speak English... I think? 

Just a suggestion, if you want something less expensive than a big name hotel chain, but something much more comfortable than a capsule hotel, that is a hop, skip, and jump from the anime and figure stores.

Did you stay there by yourself? I've never stayed at a hotel in Japan. I've stayed with friends mostly or used AirBnB. Though one time I did try out a capsule hotel, that was a new experience.

As for food, I'm more of a Yoshinoya loyalist. I love gyudon and unagidon.

On topic:

[tekering]

1 hour ago, Convectuoso said:

Got it for a fairly good price on eBay

Looks good in the box like that.  You should probably keep it that way.  

Unless, that is, you have the booster accessory...

Either way, transformation is not recommended.  

[hachi]

22 hours ago, Shizuka the Cat said:

If you are in Akihabara, you should also check out the various Liberty shops, which sells everything from anime CDs, BDx, DVDs, and collectibles, including toys, both new and used.

The locations with the pinkish-red rectangular marker are Liberty stops that sell figures, namely Liberty 1, 2, 4,  5, 6, and 8.

 

Never heard of Liberty before. Are the prices competitive? I admit I've never really been bargain hunting around Aki. I just get tired of all the walking and looking at all the displays! 

[Convectuoso]

1 hour ago, tekering said:

Looks good in the box like that.  You should probably keep it that way.  

Unless, that is, you have the booster accessory...

Either way, transformation is not recommended.  

I've got the red and green Alphas too. I've transformed both. There were no issues with the green one, but the red broke in half and the hands crumbled badly. Had to superglue it back together and get replacement hands from shapeways. 

On the verge about what to do with this one, though. 

[Shizuka the Cat]

1 hour ago, hachi said:

Never heard of Liberty before. Are the prices competitive? I admit I've never really been bargain hunting around Aki. I just get tired of all the walking and looking at all the displays! 

I remember Liberty being around since I was a kid. Here are storefront pics from 3 of their Akihabara locations.

  

When I go shopping, they tend to be the first places I hit, as their used prices from my experience have been among the most competitive. 

 

[Drad]

Recently got my hands on a Gundam Metal Build Red Frame. The first release without the extra weapons and such, just the suit and the sword, mint in box. Paid about $220 shipping included. Anyone here have this figure? Thoughts? Haven't opened it yet. I'll get around to it this weekend, maybe.

[Scyla]

41 minutes ago, Drad said:

Recently got my hands on a Gundam Metal Build Red Frame. The first release without the extra weapons and such, just the suit and the sword, mint in box. Paid about $220 shipping included. Anyone here have this figure? Thoughts? Haven't opened it yet. I'll get around to it this weekend, maybe.

I like it quite a bit. Not a fan of the glossy finish on the white armor parts. The Framr suits stand out among the other Metal Builds I have.

Also be prepared that the head fin will pop out a lot.

I prefer the way the sword sheath is on the PG Red Frame with a dedicated piece on the waist. On the MB it just pegs into the thigh.

I also like the translucent green pieces on the PG kit more.

Overall I‘m happy with my purchase and hope they release a Blue Frame that is not a straight repaint of the Red Frame (like the Second Revise version).

From the three versions releasen so far I like the Gold Frame the most (which surprises me the most). His play value is just so high and the asymmetric design really speaks to me even if I‘m usually not a fan of gold.

I‘m still discussing if I need the Powered add-on set. It looks super goofy to me but I’m somewhat of a completist.

[sh9000]

[Saburo]

Rey has joined Stig.

[Sanity is Optional]

My private warehouse just showed up. All 7.5kg of it.

Spoiler

 

[sh9000]

Did you get that HMR Monster from HLJ for a discount?

[Sanity is Optional]

12 minutes ago, sh9000 said:

Did you get that HMR Monster from HLJ for a discount?

Yeah, picked it up last sale.

[Saburo]

42 minutes ago, Sanity is Optional said:

My private warehouse just showed up. All 7.5kg of it.

  Hide contents

 

Nice Haul.

Whoa, that has to be the biggest HLJ box I have ever seen.

 

[Sanity is Optional]

10 minutes ago, Saburo said:

Nice Haul.

Whoa, that has to be the biggest HLJ box I have ever seen.

It was more-or-less full up to the top. Just a few air bags to fill the corners.

I was a bit surprised that I was able to ship it all together via EMS.

[Slave IV]

36 minutes ago, Sanity is Optional said:

It was more-or-less full up to the top. Just a few air bags to fill the corners.

I was a bit surprised that I was able to ship it all together via EMS.

Impressive, most impressive. I'm wondering if it would have been cheaper to ship if split into 2-3 boxes. I've messed with the numbers before and found that was the case for me when I had huge hauls to ship. 

[Sanity is Optional]

28 minutes ago, Slave IV said:

Impressive, most impressive. I'm wondering if it would have been cheaper to ship if split into 2-3 boxes. I've messed with the numbers before and found that was the case for me when I had huge hauls to ship. 

I checked it out, and it was more expensive. Might be due to having 2 items that were EMS only, and enough other stuff it'd have taken at least 3-4 SAL parcels on top of that.

 

Still better ratio that most of my HLJ stuff. Usually it's around 1/4-1/3 of item price in shipping, this was closer to 1/8th.

Edited May 10, 2018 by Sanity is Optional

[Slave IV]

7 minutes ago, Sanity is Optional said:

I checked it out, and it was more expensive. Might be due to having 2 items that were EMS only, and enough other stuff it'd have taken at least 3-4 SAL parcels on top of that.

 

Still better ratio that most of my HLJ stuff. Usually it's around 1/4-1/3 of item price in shipping, this was closer to 1/8th.

Nice. I like when EMS packages work out being less since it comes faster too. 

Edited May 10, 2018 by Slave IV

[no3Ljm]

I was doing some computation earlier for both of my Ley's and the PF SDF in my HLJ PW. And thinking if I should just do one EMS package. I know I will save atleast $40 if I do one package but I'm kind of scared at the same time since EMS only covers Y20000 for insurance so I decided to have them shipped separated for my peace of mind.

 

[Sanity is Optional]

41 minutes ago, no3Ljm said:

I was doing some computation earlier for both of my Ley's and the PF SDF in my HLJ PW. And thinking if I should just do one EMS package. I know I will save atleast $40 if I do one package but I'm kind of scared at the same time since EMS only covers Y20000 for insurance so I decided to have them shipped separated for my peace of mind.

I just spent about $100 to get $800 worth of HLJ private warehouse shipped to me (in the south bay).

I wouldn't worry about it.