Bandai HG 1/100 VF-31 Valkyries

[KOG Water Dragon]

13 minutes ago, Big s said:

Other companies can, but Bandai models can’t because while other sites carry Bandai kits, there’s an agreement that they can’t ship them to the states. It’s supposedly that American stores can compete with Japanese sites.  Hlj seems to be an exception since they were designed as an English site in Japan. Toys and things are under a different rule, but Bandai models like Gundam, Votoms and Macross kits go under the rule that Japanese sites can’t supply to the states. Macross kinda gets stuck in a mess where there’s the extra harmony gold problem on top of all that for the og series, hopefully that doesn’t cause problems with the movie designs, but who knows.

Anyway, I noticed you mentioned hobbysearch. If you even try looking up Gundam kits or really any other Bandai models on their site, they don’t list them anymore. You have to change the URL to Japan and then they become visible. You can however find Bandai toys easily like sh figuarts or dx toys from Macross and even the hmr stuff, but the model kits don’t appear without that change to the URL

I know of the awkward complicated issues surrounding VF-1 merch being officially sold in the US. Bandai doesn't want japanese sites to sell kits to the US because they want to sell kits through stateside distributors. And the stateside distributors can't carry the VF-1 stuff because of the Harmony Gold agreement. So that makes selling a Bandai VF-1 domestically a no go for the time being.

However. Harmony Gold can't stop people from buying VF-1 kits from Japan, which is why we can easily get the Hasegawa and PLAMAX kits. And since HLJ is kinda sorta being allowed to break the 'dont sell to the US' rule (though they seem to be allocated much less Bandai stock now as a result), it stands to reason that HLJ could sell a hypothetical Bandai VF-1 kit to the US, as long as Bandai gives them stock allocation. And since they can't sell it locally in the US, I don't see why they wouldn't allow HLJ to sell some to the US, since there's no domestic distribution to compete with, because of the Harmony Gold stuff. It doesn't seem like kits imported to the US by buyers (not retailers) violate the agreement. And even if HLJ couldn't get stock and sell to the US, I'm sure there would be other ways to get them. 

But the main thing is, even if the US market had no access to them at all, I doubt Bandai would miss the opportunity to sell a HG VF-1 to the entire rest of the world. And I imagine a robust possibility of people across the world acquiring some to sell to the US through auctions and second-hand sites.

No mistake, I think they'd be hard to get in the US for a while, if HLJ was the only place you could order from in Japan, knowing that it's hard in general to get Bandai items from HLJ anywhere near release date.

[Big s]

27 minutes ago, KOG Water Dragon said:

But the main thing is, even if the US market had no access to them at all, I doubt Bandai would miss the opportunity to sell a HG VF-1 to the entire rest of the world. And I imagine a robust possibility of people across the world acquiring some to sell to the US through auctions and second-hand sites.

I think unfortunately the rest of the world tends to be put into that rule. From my understanding they have a pretty tough time getting these items as well and are also getting mainly Robotech labeled items.

 

30 minutes ago, KOG Water Dragon said:

No mistake, I think they'd be hard to get in the US for a while, if HLJ was the only place you could order from in Japan, knowing that it's hard in general to get Bandai items from HLJ anywhere near release date.

There’s been plenty of people complaining about not getting their preorders fulfilled until later batches. I haven’t had that problem until recently trying to get the Gallus-J from ZZ Gundam. Although only a few months after the initial release they did get another batch and it’s now sitting in my private warehouse. I’m hoping that if the do stuff for og Macross that they will honor preorders quickly when there’s not enough stock. And I hope they at least pump out enough for everyone to get them not too far after initial release 

[KOG Water Dragon]

1 hour ago, Big s said:

I think unfortunately the rest of the world tends to be put into that rule. From my understanding they have a pretty tough time getting these items as well and are also getting mainly Robotech labeled items.

 

There’s been plenty of people complaining about not getting their preorders fulfilled until later batches. I haven’t had that problem until recently trying to get the Gallus-J from ZZ Gundam. Although only a few months after the initial release they did get another batch and it’s now sitting in my private warehouse. I’m hoping that if the do stuff for og Macross that they will honor preorders quickly when there’s not enough stock. And I hope they at least pump out enough for everyone to get them not too far after initial release 

You've been pretty lucky I guess. Out of the entire HG 1/100 Macross line, the entire Armored Core VI line, every RG and MG for the last 2 years... I haven't gotten a single pre-order filled at initial release. I did manage to get a stash of 6 VF-22 Max/Miria decal sets, not sure how I got so lucky. I think I got 1 YF-29 Max, 1 YF-21, and 1 Fire Valkyrie way after release. Gundam stuff just never gets filled so I wind up canceling the orders when stock turns up local. I think I got 2 of the Armored Core kits well after release.

And yes, it does look like HG has rights to original Macross characters and mecha worldwide outside Japan. Still, that isn't stopping other companies from making kits, and Bandai had their own 1/72 VF-1 a while back, and I think they are still doing the pre-completed VF-1 toys?

I'll get the Wave 1/100s if I need to, but I'd rather Bandai do a series. Especially since the Wave kits available now are just movie versions.

[Big s]

4 hours ago, KOG Water Dragon said:

Bandai had their own 1/72 VF-1 a while back, and I think they are still doing the pre-completed VF-1 toys?

The new deals with hg came up a while after the Bandai 1/72 kit and most of the og Macross toys get a Japan only label, but the toys are at least available at other sites