Anasazi37

And that is why I started making decals and stickers for Yamato valks right after they started releasing the v1 1/60s. The stickers that come with Yamato valks are terrible and I didn't want to tarnish my collection by applying them. I can't say that I'm impressed with Arcadia sticker quality, either.

Lt. K. Warmaker, if you please

MSRP, without domestic tax, is ¥30,000. For where we are in the PO process right now, ¥39,000 isn't a terrible price. Secondary market prices for DX valks are regularly that much higher than MSRP. If you're looking to pay less than that, your best option is to wait until right before the release date. Some stores might list a few extras at MSRP, but it's more likely that scalpers will start off-loading inventory at lower prices than what you see on Amazon and Yahoo for POs right now. You should also see decent prices on the secondary market at the time of release and for a little while afterwards, if the current pattern holds. How decent, I don't know, but probably not as high as ¥39,000--at least initially. Eventually, the secondary market price will probably reach ¥39,000. Could it go higher, like with the original Hikaru 1J or the Arad 31S? Maybe. It's a gamble either way.

A low-vis version of each Strike set? It's possible, but would take some work. I have my old Yamato low-vis sets I could go back to, in terms of colors, but there's a Hasegawa kit that recently came out that would likely be a better place to start for inspiration: https://www.hlj.com/1-48-scale-vf-1a-valkyrie-low-visibility-hsg65871 If anyone has it and can send me a scan of the decal sheet (I can provide the specs for what I need), I'll take a look.

I'm going with Roy for gerwalk and fighter mode strike kits. If a strike battroid version is ever released, I'll make that one a Roy, too, so I have him in all three modes at 1/20. For my basic fighter kit, I'm going with standard CF. Anything where you need a white decal or have to put a color decal on top of a background other than plain white (kite on black stripes, white modex numbers on the black section of the leg fins, white skulls on the vertical stabilizers and boosters...) is going to be very challenging.

Maybe they'll do some kind of reborquel with the next movie and bring Messer back so Bandai can sell us more stuff

Yep. New movie coming out later this year. This is hopefully the first of several toys tied to it. If it's the only one Bandai releases, I'll be a very sad panda.

Yeah, they really embraced the meme this time. You literally stick this on top of the valk. Like a hat.

Happy to help

I am confused by what's happening on HLJ with the three reissues. A week ago all three were listed as reissues coming in July. Now only the VF-1J is listed that way. The VF-4A is showing in stock (the original release is still in stock) and the SV-51 is showing as discontinued instead of order stop. Did anyone order the VF-4A or SV-51 reissues from HLJ and already receive a "ready to ship" notice? Very strange....

The speaker pod that @Xigfrid put together is impressive. For anyone who wants to compare it to what Bandai just announced: https://www.shapeways.com/product/B4G3KZA6F/dx-speaker-pod-part-1-2 https://www.shapeways.com/product/BXW2JGLG3/dx-speaker-fud-details-part-2-2 It comes in two parts, most likely due to the difference in materials used for printing the larger and smaller pieces. $46.26 plus tax and shipping. Then you have to prep and paint everything....

Wow, that's terrible. I have some of the original Hasegawa Macross kits, which are a lot older than the Virgin Road kit, and none of them have decals with that amount of yellowing. It's possible that the sheet got wet at some point, but if that was the case, I'd expect to see decals shifted in location and probably wrinkled. The blue paper backing would probably be warped, too. What's more likely is that the sheet was exposed to a lot of heat and humidity, so the glue on the back of the film was activated and the decals fused to the paper. I don't know if these suggestions will work, but you can try them on the text decals in the bottom left corner of the sheet (e.g., 65764, 1/72, VF-1D) since you don't need those: If you can get it, brush some Microscale Liquid Decal Film on top of the decal. If you can't, you could try airbrushing on a very light layer of glossy clearcoat (like Future Floor Polish). The goal is to put a flexible clear film on top of the decal film so the decal holds together when you try to move it. Cut out the decal and place it in warm water, not room temperature water. That might help to loosen up the glue. Wait several minutes before trying to slide the decal off the paper, to make sure everything is saturated. Use gentle nudges, but a little more force might work as long as you're careful. You might need to repeat the dunk-in-warm-water-and-wait routine several times to loosen up the glue. Nuclear option: brush some decal setting (not softening) solution on and around the decal while it's still on the paper. Since setting solutions can be strong, I recommend thinning it out with some water first. Saturating the paper with the weakened solution might be enough to free the decal. I'll reiterate that I don't know if any of the above will work. I've never tried those methods, but I've made and worked with decals for a very long time, so I'm trying to think through what might help you. Good luck.

The combo set is a general release, not TWE, so it's handled differently. No rounds, like we sometimes see with TWE. Each store get some stock from Bandai and manages it how they see fit. All the usual stores are sold out. Your best bet is to keep an eye on multiple stores right before, on, and right after the release date. I'd also keep an eye on the For Sale forum here, as members sometimes grab more than one copy of a release and sell the extras at reasonable prices. You might be able to grab one at MSRP or with a small markup.

Anime Export has the second release GBP armor set available for ¥15,800 (pay up front): https://www.anime-export.com/index.php?product=52302 It will probably go fast....

Nin-Nin has done that in the past, but their MO was to cancel the orders that were at or close to MSRP (early rounds), citing insufficient stock, but keep the higher-priced orders (later rounds) because they were more profitable. That means folks who ordered early got screwed. I ordered a Roy DX from them in an early round and was fine, as were other MW members, so we're all hoping that they've stopped doing shady things. Based on my Roy experience, I'd order from them again, but I didn't need to for my GBP combo set. Here's hoping everyone gets what they order!

And there's usually a steady supply of first issues on secondary market sites like Mandarake, at or below MSRP. I didn't buy that version, I didn't buy the Kai version, and I won't be buying this version. I have a Messer because his color scheme hurt my eyes the least and an Arad because I wanted to attach the big scary armor set to something relevant. Makes me wonder if they'll reissue the rest of Delta Flight with speaker attachments or just sell the attachment separately. How Bandai handled the recent DX GBP PO (TWE for the armor, regular release for the combo set) gives me some hope for an attachment-only option. Not that I'll buy it, but if you want it, you shouldn't have to purchase a new valk to get it....

I happened to check out the Tamashii Nations site for Macross this morning and saw that there will be a new "movie" version of Hayate's VF-31J put up for PO on June 3rd, release will take place in October. Comes with the speaker unit displayed at the last Tamashii Nations show. Price will be ¥23,100. Sold through general stores, so not TWE. More details to be released tomorrow, apparently.

As do the proportions of the chestplate

It would be smaller than the 1/20 Plamax so...infant?

That is all very encouraging to hear. Definitely better than taking all of the money out of the company as quickly as possible, loading it up with debt to get even more money out of it, and then letting it collapse.

I went down an interwebz rabbit hole on this topic yesterday (Japan Post, not capitalism). Interesting organizational history, with the government now being the majority stakeholder in a publicly traded company, which means shareholders wanting to see returns on investments. Given how hard it has been in recent years for the postal business in Japan to be self-sustaining, and given the changes made to the Universal Postal Union Treaty in late 2019, higher prices might be here to stay. I sincerely hope that the EMS surcharge goes away in the future, but that probably won't happen until there are more commercial flights into/out of Japan, Japan Post decides that they have to compete with DHL/FedEx/UPS for business, or both.

KiKi Joint Fixer to the rescue. Worked wonders on my original Yamato SV-51, which had saggy wings. I display it in gerwalk with all of the accessories attached. Rock solid after applying KiKi.

If I sold all of the "unfinished" Macross toy and model lines in my collection, I wouldn't have a collection. Par for the course when the franchise you love isn't Gundam or Evangelion. We get what we get.... I have a feeling that the remaining destroids would have sold at least as well as those non-canon Messer and Roy valks they released. Still not sure why they didn't just finish the destroids and then start with the odd stuff, except that they could milk the existing 1S and VF-4 molds. I still want the Scout and other enemy mecha, too.

I checked my HLJ order history and that link is for the re-issue that Arcadia released at the end of August 2020. It's been going in and out of stock ever since, like most Arcadia items on HLJ. I half expect it to come back in stock before the re-re-issue in July that was mentioned by @eggy99.