Anasazi37
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Everything posted by Anasazi37
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So it sounds like $300 was the initial cutoff to hear about an order from NNG. Any bets on the next cutoff? $275?
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I received my AJ shipping notification as well, precisely at midnight JST. I went with the "ship to Tenso" option when I placed my order, so it first has to go there and will then come to the US. AJ won't charge US tax for Roy taking that route, but I have to pay Tenso fees, so there's a price either way. I noticed that NNG still has Roy available for purchase at the inflated price of $356. I was in the very first round of POs and haven't heard from them yet. The cynic in me thinks that those of us who managed to get a PO in the earlier (less expensive) rounds are probably at the bottom of their order fulfillment list because they make the least amount of money off of us. If they run out of stock before reaching us, we're out of luck and have to start the process of getting our money back from PayPal or our credit card companies. I'd like to be pleasantly surprised, though. I have plans for that second Roy and I really don't want to go searching for another one now....
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It's surprisingly reasonable shipping for a box that size and weight. I think it's right around what EMS would normally be. Maybe DHL and FedEx prices are finally coming back down to something reasonable, or maybe HLJ negotiated better deals with the carriers. A few months ago that would have easily been $65.
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The same store was willing to do DHL for one and not the other? That's not cool. For the stuff that they won't ship because of Japan Post restrictions, you could always try calling their bluff by setting up a Tenso address and requesting they ship domestically (with a refund of the difference in postage, if possible). Then let Tenso handle the DHL part--assuming they still have your order available to ship. You'll pay some shipping and handling fees at Tenso, but they aren't terrible when compared to not having your stuff. Since it sounds like the store knows what DHL is and how to use it, I'm not sure this will work, but might be worth a shot.
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That is spot-on. The last few regular releases have followed that pattern, so I'd be surprised if Bandai does something different this time around.
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AE has shipped everything I have ever ordered from them. Sometimes they are lighting-fast, sometimes it takes them a few business days. I don't remember it ever taking more than five business days for them to ship something.
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All items are sold direct by AJ and my state definitely charges internet sales tax. The mystery deepens....
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So this is interesting. I hadn't ordered anything from AJ and had it sent directly to me in the US before. It was because the items I wanted in the past would only ship to addresses in Japan, so I used Tenso (and still do for a lot of stuff). I was recently able to order some model supplies and ship them direct via DHL for a pretty low amount, around $13, which was nice to see. Confirms the low rates other members have talked about recently. Might do that more often when it's an option, even with the sales tax added, because it's likely cheaper than Tenso's handling and shipping fees. I checked Invoice 1 and...no tax. I confirmed that it's not baked into the item prices because when I switch between my Tenso and US address, the prices stay the same in the product listings. Maybe it varies by state?
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If your Nin-Nin order shows up. I’m in the same boat as you. Got in on an early PO round, waiting to see if they cancel my order and sell it to someone else at a big markup after release.
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I have an update on my 1/55 part scanning project. The new scanner is a bust. The first one (Sol 3D) had good hardware, but crappy software. The new one (Matter and Form v2) had good software, but crappy hardware. I can't win. I've learned a ton from observing how both of them worked, though, and unless I want to drop $8K on what I need, I think the best thing for me to do is build my own scanner. Normally that would be crazy talk, given how complicated these systems are, but luckily this lands right in the wheelhouse of my professional training. I've spent this weekend going over all of the math, imaging science, photogrammetry, and engineering involved and it's doable. It basically comes down to how much time and money I am willing to spend on this. The entry-level desktop scanners I've tried all cut corners on the hardware in a few ways that I think I can address with slightly nicer components--since I actually know what I'm doing. Right now I'm shopping around for all of the parts I'll need. It's not going to be cheap, but I think it will end up costing me roughly the same amount as the scanners I've tried. If I get the system right, we'll be able to scan all kinds of stuff.
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AE started marking up their prices a few POs back. Unlike NY, Nin-Nin, and others who start at MSRP for a popular PO and then incrementally release more units at increasingly higher prices throughout the night until they sell out or the price gets high enough that people stop buying, AE just starts at a higher price and sticks with it until they sell out. If they get more stock at a later date, like they just did with the Roy, they might increase the price if the market can bear it. They've always had higher prices for the TWE stuff they sell, but you're paying for the convenience of not dealing with a traditional proxy service. I haven't found AE's higher prices to be outrageous, but with that said, I can usually find what I want for less money somewhere else, so I haven't bought anything from them in quite some time.
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Glad it was helpful! I'm both curious and worried about what is going to happen to the price of the Roy after release. Grabbing one on AJ/AE/YJ/etc. for less than ¥30,000 right now might end up being a pretty good deal compared to paying more than ¥40,000 on Mandarake or Jungle later. My best guess is that it will be like the Hikaru 1S, which was above ¥35,000 for a long time but eventually came down to ¥26,000 or so. And while AE's customer service isn't great compared to sites like HLJ, and has arguably gotten worse this year, they've always sent me what I've ordered.
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They don't go on sale until 20 Nov (next Friday), so we probably won't see an entry for them on the site until this Friday.
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For what it's worth, Anime Export has a Roy available for ¥28,000: http://www.anime-export.com/product/49996
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I'm betting you'll be charged for your order on the 27th or 28th, most likely the latter. Since the 28th is a Saturday, HLJ probably won't ship anything until Monday, so you'll have a few additional tortuous days of waiting for Roy. My first one is going from Amazon Japan to Tenso and then from Tenso to the US, so that's going to take a few additional tortuous days. My second one is going from Nin-Nin Game to someone else they sell it to post-release at a much higher price after telling me that they didn't have enough stock to fulfill my preorder at retail price. I'd very much like to be wrong about that, but I'm trying to be realistic and not get my hopes up.
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Yeah, I'm a bit surprised by the second round of POs, too. Like others here, I'm hoping it's a sign that more TV valks are on the way, regardless of whether or not it's cannon to slap the parts on particular variants. Also hoping for Max and Milia full set packs with color-matched parts. TWE is definitely a lot more frustrating now Like @sqidd and @F360 said, proxies do increase the cost. It's all about the fees. There are purchasing fees, per-package handling fees, consolidation fees (when you combine packages for shipping), and shipping fees. It's how proxies make a profit. There is definitely a markup on shipping, but since proxies are all about getting stuff to you, it's kinda expected. I use proxies like FromJapan when I want to shop on more obscure sites or bid on Yahoo Japan auctions and package forwarding services like Tenso when I can easily buy an item myself but the seller won't ship outside of Japan. It's interesting to watch what happens on Amazon Japan with respect to item availability when you toggle back and forth between your overseas address and your Tenso address. Combined cost of the item and proxy/forwarding fees is often on par with feeBay prices, but feeBay prices can often go much higher because sellers are banking on the site's one-click Buy It Now convenience. A lot of people don't want to figure out the proxy/forwarding thing, or view it as too risky. I've regularly seen an item I want on feeBay for 2-3 times what I can get it for in Japan using a proxy service, so it's worth the risk. Haven't had any issues so far (fingers crossed).
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Didn't see this mentioned above, wanted to cover our bases. Dengeki Hobby Web just posted an article saying: We are definitely getting a VF-1D Second round of POs for the TV Super Parts begins on 20 Nov (shipping in April) https://hobby.dengeki.com/news/1112998/ On second thought, I did see something above about more Super Parts in April, so now the comment makes sense.
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These desktop scanners are generally limited to scanning the equivalent of a cylinder that is 6-7 inches in diameter and 7-10 inches high, with a max weight of 2-3 kilos. My new one is at the upper end on all three counts. To do what you want, you'd likely need access to a nicer handheld scanner. This review includes several options, starting at #12 on the list: https://3dsourced.com/rankings/best-3d-scanner/ The ones at the end of the list are jaw-dropping in terms of speed, accuracy, and price. If what you really need is a 2D map of a surface with patterns on it, you might be able to use your smartphone (or a nicer camera) and some photogrammetry software. The idea is to take pictures of the surface from multiple angles to reproduce something like human stereo vision, which then lets the computer estimate the distance from your camera to the surface. You can usually create a good 2D map from that distance information. The approach is a lot cheaper and more accurate than it used to be (I've been doing this photogrammetry thing professionally for a loooooong time). This is a photogrammetry project with free software that one of my staff came across recently: https://alicevision.org/ There are lots of non-free options like Agisoft PhotoScan that are also good.
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The first one I bought was the Scan Dimension Sol 3D. I'm returning it. The software is absolutely terrible and you get no control over how the scanning and model construction is done, so it fails a lot of the time. It arbitrarily limits you to no more than five orientation scans and it decimates the resulting point clouds and meshes for some reason, so you lose a lot of detail right off the bat. The sizes of many parts I want to scan fall between the two fixed volumes it supports in its "near" and "far" scan positions, which is really frustrating. It's also really, really, really slow. I think the manufacturer was going for push-button simplicity and it just doesn't work. It's main competitor is the Matter and Form v2, which I just purchased and is hopefully arriving on Tuesday. It's a bit more expensive, but their software seems to give you a ton of control and the speed is much better. Both advertise 0.1mm scan accuracy, which is two to four times better than the entry level systems (for two to four times the price, of course). The next models up the scale are from EinScan and they cost two for four times as much for 0.1-0.05mm accuracy. After that, I think you're looking at $10,000 or more for a truly professional-grade scanner.
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I also love the unique head, chestplate, and heatshield on the 1D. You only get to see the chestplate in Fighter and Gerwalk modes, which is a bit frustrating. Now I'm considering getting two. My wallet hates me.
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That's how I have my HMR VF-1D displayed. It's the only valk I have in Gerwalk. Too iconic to pass up.
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Definitely watch this space for updates. I'm now invested in trying to make this work for our community. I may hit a functional limit on what I can do without dropping some serious cash on professional-grade scanning equipment, but we'll see where we end up. Right now my wife is tolerating this new hobby, but if I buy a $5,000-10,000 scanner to get better results, she'll kill me.
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I wonder if the TV Super PO is an outlier. They probably wanted the set to come out not long after the Roy, but probably also wanted to wait to reveal the set at that Tamashii Nations event in July, meaning that they'd have to start taking orders right afterwards. They might not be in as much of a hurry for the 1D or the GBP....
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The part is on a turntable. My scanner's turntable moves a fixed number of times to complete a full circle. Each time it stops, the laser "sweeps" across the part to create a 3D image. All of the images from the full rotation are assembled to create the model. To build a better 3D model, you scan the part a few more times, changing how the part is placed on the turntable. That way you can cover the exterior, interior, and any other nooks and crannies. Most other scanners have a fixed laser and slowly do a continuous full rotation of the turntable to scan the object. I picked mine based on reported accuracy (0.1mm) and apparent scan quality, but as I've started scanning parts, I'm not convinced my scanner is the best one out there in this price range. I might return it for a different one that gives me more control. Edit: I just decided to return my current scanner after doing some more research on its closest competitor. I think I'm going to like this other one *a lot* more. Stay tuned for more scans. Probably towards the end of next week.
