What will Hasegawa do next?

[Big s]

7 hours ago, Shawn said:

Seriously WHY does it have to be so dang large? Shipping is going to be tough..

I really don’t get it either. There is a lot of empty space in there for no reason. The runners will just be sliding back and forth 

[VF-1A Grunt]

It looks like the box they use for the 1/48 Super VF-1s. Not sure why it needs to be bigger than movie version of the Q-Rau.

[kajnrig]

20 hours ago, Shawn said:

Maybe Hasegawa is trying to win big box of the year...stealing the prior title from Aoshima for their VFG Konig Monster.

The Monster is justified given it's basically two full kits in one. This... I'll just say I dodged a bullet when I decided not to get one (or, god forbid, more).

[Papa Rat]

No regrets here. Bring om that big ol box. It’s hilarious how big it is but it’s what’s inside that counts. That’s what my mama told me. 

[Big s]

1 hour ago, Papa Rat said:

No regrets here. Bring om that big ol box. It’s hilarious how big it is but it’s what’s inside that counts. That’s what my mama told me. 

I definitely agree, just hoping the shipping cost isn’t affected by the size

[electric indigo]

Just be happy you get an extra large boxart.

[Big s]

14 minutes ago, electric indigo said:

Just be happy you get an extra large boxart.

It’ll make a heck of a poster

[derex3592]

Shipping is gonna SUUUUUCK😭

[KOG Water Dragon]

1 hour ago, derex3592 said:

Shipping is gonna SUUUUUCK😭

It is. The only thing I can think of is to ship it with a bunch of other stuff to spread the cost around. It should be less to ship it as a piece of a larger shipment than to ship it solo.

[sh9000]

Lynn Minmay (China Dress).

[Shawn]

For fun, found some pics comparing against the already large Movie ver

[Bolt]

17 minutes ago, Shawn said:

For fun, found some pics comparing against the already large Movie ver

But... it's the SAME model...

[Papa Rat]

1 hour ago, Bolt said:

But... it's the SAME model...

Hahahaha. It’s wild

[Big s]

1 hour ago, Bolt said:

But... it's the SAME model...

With some new parts. Not sure all in all how many runners were omitted and how many new ones were added 

[Morgen Black]

Shipping on that is going to be insane to the United States, and I bought two.  Doh!

MB

[derex3592]

Yeh, I'm more than just a little hacked off. This kit plus the 1/72 Glaug is running $175 shipping from HLJ for TX from Japan. YEH NOPE. They can keep it and I'll just loose my money on the price of the kits eventually I guess. UTTERLY RIDICULOUS🤬

[LocusPocus]

I have had strange issues with HLJ of recent. I have heard of their shipping being exorbitant, however the past items I have pre-ordered (1st the milia639 resin and then Q-Rau tv) have inexplicably vanished from my cart upon expected availability date. Internal structure issues, the new warehouse thing? Don’t know but haven’t had a successful order from them since mid summer. I will be buying elsewhere until they do some ironing out.

[kajnrig]

Well, that artwork IS pretty...

[Big s]

47 minutes ago, LocusPocus said:

I have had strange issues with HLJ of recent. I have heard of their shipping being exorbitant, however the past items I have pre-ordered (1st the milia639 resin and then Q-Rau tv) have inexplicably vanished from my cart upon expected availability date. Internal structure issues, the new warehouse thing? Don’t know but haven’t had a successful order from them since mid summer. I will be buying elsewhere until they do some ironing out.

Were they added to the warehouse?

I had that happen with the resin figure where in the release weekend it disappeared from availability and oddly didn’t show in my orders, but eventually showed up in my private warehouse a day or two later 

[LocusPocus]

I had them in my warehouse on pre order start date and there they stayed until release date then- thin air. HLJ support response was to the effect of we have no idea where the order went but to just reorder (an item that just sold out). At the end of the day, no biggy - just ordering for personal. Had these been for gifting? Waiting months for “we see your order , do not know why it was not fulfilled but just reorder and wait for restock”. No thanks HLJ

[Bolt]

8 hours ago, derex3592 said:

Yeh, I'm more than just a little hacked off. This kit plus the 1/72 Glaug is running $175 shipping from HLJ for TX from Japan. YEH NOPE. They can keep it and I'll just loose my money on the price of the kits eventually I guess. UTTERLY RIDICULOUS🤬

Playing around w shipping different items on hlj. It's all expensive bad. 
I just ended up shipping with the small packet option all my decals , a few smaller items and my Hasegawa Milia 639 . That was about two weeks ago. Still haven't gotten a shipping notice yet. I know it's because they're back logged and expanded their warehouse space, but it's still a little bit frustrating. 

 

7 hours ago, kajnrig said:

Well, that artwork IS pretty...

It really is ! Mercy Rabbit did an excellent job on that one. Sadly, i have no idea when I'm going to be able to afford shipping the majority of my Hasegawa Macross kits. I suppose i'll whittle away at it after the holidays. I don't want to be paying storage fees for all this stuff in the new year. That's gonna feel like my wallet is bleeding out. 

[KOG Water Dragon]

15 hours ago, LocusPocus said:

I had them in my warehouse on pre order start date and there they stayed until release date then- thin air. HLJ support response was to the effect of we have no idea where the order went but to just reorder (an item that just sold out). At the end of the day, no biggy - just ordering for personal. Had these been for gifting? Waiting months for “we see your order , do not know why it was not fulfilled but just reorder and wait for restock”. No thanks HLJ

Items can't be in your private warehouse until they are paid for and received.

Items on pre-order can't be in your private warehouse.

[KOG Water Dragon]

14 hours ago, Bolt said:

Playing around w shipping different items on hlj. It's all expensive bad. 
I just ended up shipping with the small packet option all my decals , a few smaller items and my Hasegawa Milia 639 . That was about two weeks ago. Still haven't gotten a shipping notice yet. I know it's because they're back logged and expanded their warehouse space, but it's still a little bit frustrating. 

 

It really is ! Mercy Rabbit did an excellent job on that one. Sadly, i have no idea when I'm going to be able to afford shipping the majority of my Hasegawa Macross kits. I suppose i'll whittle away at it after the holidays. I don't want to be paying storage fees for all this stuff in the new year. That's gonna feel like my wallet is bleeding out. 

 

I can't even begin to fathom when I can get my HLJ backlog shipped. Stuff like Glaug and the queadluun raus I have waiting are so astronomical to ship. Even a small stack of hobby magazines costs a lot to ship. I have 8 mags (combo of issues of Macross Mechanics, Gundam Forward, and an Armored Core model special) and it'll cost at least $49 to ship them. 3 PLAMAX battroids is $88 by fedex. A single plastic 1/100 five star stories kit is about $60 to ship on its own. 

I, too, don't wish to pay for extended storage on my stuff so pretty soon I'll need to start arranging some bulk shipments.

It all makes the big box size of the TV Rau SUPER annoying, since clearly size is affecting shipping rates and not just weight. I checked and the TV rau costs a lot more to ship than the other Raus, even though they shouldn't be a lot heavier.

[Papa Rat]

22 minutes ago, KOG Water Dragon said:

 

I can't even begin to fathom when I can get my HLJ backlog shipped. Stuff like Glaug and the queadluun raus I have waiting are so astronomical to ship. Even a small stack of hobby magazines costs a lot to ship. I have 8 mags (combo of issues of Macross Mechanics, Gundam Forward, and an Armored Core model special) and it'll cost at least $49 to ship them. 3 PLAMAX battroids is $88 by fedex. A single plastic 1/100 five star stories kit is about $60 to ship on its own. 

I, too, don't wish to pay for extended storage on my stuff so pretty soon I'll need to start arranging some bulk shipments.

It all makes the big box size of the TV Rau SUPER annoying, since clearly size is affecting shipping rates and not just weight. I checked and the TV rau costs a lot more to ship than the other Raus, even though they shouldn't be a lot heavier.

If I didn’t have so much already spent on kits sitting in my warehouse I could consider not shipping and walking away but that’s not an option now. It’s just going to hurt my wallet as it looks like $300+ to ship stuff I have in there. Will probably break it up into a few smaller shipments to coincide with my payroll/finances. Not ideal

It’s not just HLJ that’s pricey…the last preorder I made from Volks JP was before tariffs were raised and unfortunately the item shipped after the new rate increase. I had to cough up an extra $50 at the local DHL pickup spot to get my package so no more preorders for me.

I reached out to Volks US distro after that and they said all main kits in the IMS and VSMS line will be available domestically, but small run special kits will remain JP/Volks members exclusive. I guess that’s works for me. 

Edited 7 hours ago by Papa Rat

[KOG Water Dragon]

1 hour ago, Papa Rat said:

If I didn’t have so much already spent on kits sitting in my warehouse I could consider not shipping and walking away but that’s not an option now. It’s just going to hurt my wallet as it looks like $300+ to ship stuff I have in there. Will probably break it up into a few smaller shipments to coincide with my payroll/finances. Not ideal

It’s not just HLJ that’s pricey…the last preorder I made from Volks JP was before tariffs were raised and unfortunately the item shipped after the new rate increase. I had to cough up an extra $50 at the local DHL pickup spot to get my package so no more preorders for me.

I reached out to Volks US distro after that and they said all main kits in the IMS and VSMS line will be available domestically, but small run special kits will remain JP/Volks members exclusive. I guess that’s works for me. 

Yeah.... the stuff I have waiting is too hard to find elsewhere. Either brands not imported as much or stuff that's now out of production. A lot of Hasegawa/Wave/PLAMAX macross stuff, hobby magazines, Moderoid Thunderjaw, some Ikaruga kits from Kotobukiya, a Death Stranding 2 kit, PLAMAX Pacific Rim and Dunbine kits, the Our Treasure Gatexion mk III GTM...

I don't really get Bandai stuff through HLJ anymore since they can rarely fulfill my order in any kind of reasonable timeframe. I actually still have VF-22 Max and Miria HGs on preorder which have not been fulfilled yet. Same deal with MGSD Aerial and RG Wing Zero (the latest one). And the HG VF-31C. I should get around to canceling all of these, but what's the rush? I doubt HLJ would fulfill the orders any time this year.

And I still have a bunch on future release pre-order at HLJ. I just don't know a better option. Stuff sold from local retailers will just have tariffs and shipping baked into the price. So I have a bunch of Macross on pre-order, plus the Moderoid Mospeada kits, Kotobukiya Legend of Galactic Heroes ships, some more Death Stranding items, the new Kotobukiya Armored Core VI kit... I wish I was strong enough to say I don't need them, but I am not that strong lol.

And I am too into FSS to miss the limited Japan only IMS kits. Especially that Colus LED Mirage. So I am relying on my local shop, which has access to the limited kits, to get them for me. But I know they will be expensive.

It's just a really unfortunate time to be in this hobby...

[Big s]

45 minutes ago, KOG Water Dragon said:

Especially that Colus LED Mirage.

I’m pretty sure I saw that on the U.S. store for preorder, I’ll have to double check though 

Edited 4 hours ago by Big s
Sorry, double checked and it’s not there

[KOG Water Dragon]

5 minutes ago, Big s said:

I’m pretty sure I saw that on the U.S. store for preorder, I’ll have to double check though 

It's a premium exclusive like the Vralgo version of the Siren F.

[Big s]

Just now, KOG Water Dragon said:

It's a premium exclusive like the Vralgo version of the Siren F.

I think I may have seen the pictures on Tag Hobby on the same day I was looking on the Volks site and just thought I saw it there

[Papa Rat]

53 minutes ago, KOG Water Dragon said:

Yeah.... the stuff I have waiting is too hard to find elsewhere. Either brands not imported as much or stuff that's now out of production. A lot of Hasegawa/Wave/PLAMAX macross stuff, hobby magazines, Moderoid Thunderjaw, some Ikaruga kits from Kotobukiya, a Death Stranding 2 kit, PLAMAX Pacific Rim and Dunbine kits, the Our Treasure Gatexion mk III GTM...

I don't really get Bandai stuff through HLJ anymore since they can rarely fulfill my order in any kind of reasonable timeframe. I actually still have VF-22 Max and Miria HGs on preorder which have not been fulfilled yet. Same deal with MGSD Aerial and RG Wing Zero (the latest one). And the HG VF-31C. I should get around to canceling all of these, but what's the rush? I doubt HLJ would fulfill the orders any time this year.

And I still have a bunch on future release pre-order at HLJ. I just don't know a better option. Stuff sold from local retailers will just have tariffs and shipping baked into the price. So I have a bunch of Macross on pre-order, plus the Moderoid Mospeada kits, Kotobukiya Legend of Galactic Heroes ships, some more Death Stranding items, the new Kotobukiya Armored Core VI kit... I wish I was strong enough to say I don't need them, but I am not that strong lol.

And I am too into FSS to miss the limited Japan only IMS kits. Especially that Colus LED Mirage. So I am relying on my local shop, which has access to the limited kits, to get them for me. But I know they will be expensive.

It's just a really unfortunate time to be in this hobby...

I feel ya. I just got into this hobby a year and a half back and absolutely love it. The price gouging is tough but the hobby has its hooks in me so you pay to play I guess.

I’ve been trying to track down the smaller 1/144 wave version of the colus and it’s hard to find at a good price. 

Edited 4 hours ago by Papa Rat

[KOG Water Dragon]

20 minutes ago, Papa Rat said:

I feel ya. I just got into this hobby a year and a half back and absolutely love it. The price gouging is tough but the hobby has its hooks in me so you pay to play I guess.

I’ve been trying to track down the smaller 1/144 wave version of the colus and it’s hard to find at a good price. 

Are you on the FSS discord? I feel like someone there was trying to collect all the Wave 1/144 LEDs...

[Papa Rat]

Just now, KOG Water Dragon said:

Are you on the FSS discord? I feel like someone there was trying to collect all the Wave 1/144 LEDs...

I’m not. Is it open to new members? Do you have a link?

[KOG Water Dragon]

12 minutes ago, Papa Rat said:

I’m not. Is it open to new members? Do you have a link?

It's connected to the Five Star Stories America facebook group. Contacting the admin of the group would probably get you headed in the right direction. I also messaged him to ask how you can get an invite.

[Papa Rat]

10 minutes ago, KOG Water Dragon said:

It's connected to the Five Star Stories America facebook group. Contacting the admin of the group would probably get you headed in the right direction. I also messaged him to ask how you can get an invite.

Thanks so much. 👍

I currently don’t have a face book account but will consider it for the group. Could be a great resource. 

[KOG Water Dragon]

10 minutes ago, Papa Rat said:

Thanks so much. 👍

I currently don’t have a face book account but will consider it for the group. Could be a great resource. 

You may not need to join the FB group if they can send you a direct invite to the discord group.

But the FB group is good. Lots of builds, news, etc.