Anasazi37

I'm glad that at least some stores send out notifications. HLJ does not. I generally don't know that a PO through them has been delayed until I get one of their periodic "open order reminder" emails that includes release dates and start to think that I'm crazy because something I was expecting to release soon is now scheduled a few months later, so I go back and look at emails and discover that HLJ quietly changed the release date. I know that they're at the mercy of the manufacturers, but they could do a better job of letting customers know about changes. I try to combine shipments through my Private Warehouse as much as possible, so I've started tracking release dates more closely on my own. This kit delay, likely to the end of May, just complicated my March shipment plans.

Looks like the VF-1J Battroid kit is delayed until sometime in May: https://www.goodsmile.com/ja/news/5811 The news didn't show up on the English version of their site, but I noticed that Amazon Japan changed the release date to end of May, so I checked the Japanese version of their site and, sure enough, there it was:

That turned out really nice. I love how the grey adapter blends in with the valk. Glad to hear that you like the design. I put a lot of work into them!

I know that some of the proxy services in Japan use them for highly competitive preorders. Mandarake's site is simple enough that you could probably build something useful, but you could end up automatically buying a poor quality used item unless you add some natural language processing filters to catch that. Mandarake tends to use standard descriptions for item condition, so that helps.

Schrödinger's Valkyrie! And this is why, once I open mine, it will be transformed to battroid mode and stay that way forever. I'm keeping my original 171 CF in fighter mode for similar reasons (potential explodium).

My 171 has been sitting on a shelf, unopened, since it arrived in late January, mainly due to all of the poor-quality-control comments in this thread. Odds of me having one that doesn't come with paint issues, bent antennas, and/or stress marks are very low. I will open it, eventually, but I'm waiting until I can counterbalance that experience with opening something that won't disappoint me. Might be another two months before that can happen, given current release schedules.

Finally had a little time to wrap up the design work on the armament set, do a final test print, and upload everything to Cults 3D: https://cults3d.com/en/3d-model/art/weapon-armament-set-for-the-1-55-vf-1-armored-valkyrie @nightmareB4macross, let me know if you still want a set. I plan on printing and prepping a few of them for my own projects and thought you might want one for your museum (or a custom).

Results of the latest test print. Panel line details came out well and the double RMS-1 pylon attachment system is working as designed. I'm not 100% happy with how the rear section of the UUM-7 is printing, though. Need to fix that before making the files available for purchase.

Yep, I made a few of those customs for MW members back in the day. The conversion kit was really nice. Not surprising, since it was made by @captain america.

I'm still waiting for the 1/20 Strike Battroid so I can complete my set. Won't happen, though....

I could have sworn at one point you posted pictures of your attic and it was filled with your "overflow" items. Maybe it was just boxes?

Just ask @tekering about attics....

I would love it if "normal" meant that we'd finally be getting a TV version of the SDF-1, but I'm not holding my breath. My best guess is that it's the non-premium-finish DYRL version.

My DX is going to be in Battroid mode permanently, precisely because I want to keep my Yamato in Fighter mode permanently due to its superior profile.

I remember this coming up in conversation more than two years ago. Found the relevant posts.

Latest update. Added additional panel line details across the board, along with a very shallow channel on both sides of the RMS as a guide for painting the black stripes. Also made some internal improvement to help with printing and assembly.

Reasonable? As in close to original retail price? Not really. That ship sailed a long time ago, unfortunately. Looks like Mandarake currently has one for ¥45,000 ($300). They're usually a decent reflection of secondary market prices. All the usual auction and third party merchant sites in Japan list it for higher than that. You might run into someone here or on one of the FB groups who is willing to sell it for less, but I don't want to get your hopes up. Edit: I just realized that you're asking about HM-R, not DX. Those are selling on Mandarake for about ¥12,000. You have to be fast to grab one, though. The auction sites are listing for a wider range, from ¥9500 to ¥17,000. Since it was a TWE release, there aren't as many of them in circulation.

I've been dealing with the same problem. I have all three 1:20 VF-1s (Strike Gerwalk, Strike Fighter, Regular Fighter) and a bunch of very large starship models (Aliens Dropship, Aliens Sulaco, Babylon 5 Omega Class Destroyer, Gunstar from The Last Starfighter, Daedalus from Stargate) that I want to assemble and display. I'll probably have to reconfigure my entire home office to create enough space for them.

Yes, that's an interesting example. I've found that it's usually a lot less expensive to purchase the Hasbro version of a high-end Transformer than the Takara version, even if I have to wait 2-3 months to receive it. In one case the Takara version I bought was literally the Hasbro version. The only difference was that they slapped some small Japanese language stickers on the English language box. In another, there was an announcement in Japan of a Takara Tomy Mall web exclusive, which I reserved through a proxy...and then a week later Hasbro announced they'd be selling it on their Pulse platform...for less. After that I stopped buying Takara versions of anything. I'm guessing that the North American market for that line is much larger than the Japanese market, because we all grew up with the cartoon, so we benefit from lower prices due to sales volume. I believe it's the reverse for Gundam, Macross, and many other shows. The Japanese market is significantly larger, so Bandai and others focus on that. Paying a lot more and still having to wait 2-3 months (current Bandai sales model for WWM) doesn't appeal to me, but I do appreciate the increased access to items and I'm glad it finally exists for collectors outside of Japan. I hope we get to the point where the prices in Japan and overseas are roughly the same, which is what you see companies like Goodsmile doing. I'm getting too old for middle-of-the-night PO Madness.

Yes, it's definitely complicated. Bandai always prioritizes the Japan domestic market, where they control distribution. For SDFM and DYRL, they can't legally distribute outside of Japan because of their deal with Harmony Gold. WWM, which applies to everything else (M7, M+, M2, Zero, Frontier, Delta), seems to be an experiment for them to test out your idea. The 40-60% markup over Japan MSRP for WWM items sold in the US also strikes me as an experiment to see how far they can push prices before we stop purchasing. Lottery and in-store-only items are not uncommon in Japan. Makes you feel special for managing to get one.

Correct. Bandai has gotten better about making that explicitly clear on their website: https://tamashiiweb.com/item_character/macross_series?wovn=en There are five little boxes at the bottom of each listing, which represent the regions of the world they distribute to, and the ones colored blue are the ones that will receive the item. They also now label each item "Retail" (available through stores), "Tamashii Web Shop" (TWE), "Other Limited Edition" (lotteries), or "Tamashii Store Exclusive" (you have to go to a brick-and-mortar Tamashii store to get it). It's worth noting that just because an item is marked "Retail" doesn't mean it's going to be WWM, which is why they added those region boxes. WWM releases have all five boxes colored blue. From Japan and DeJapan are both solid options, if you can get in line fast enough for them to not cancel your order. I avoid Big in Japan because they massively overcharge on shipping. For what they charge, I'd expect the item to arrive at my door via armed courier, handcuffed to their wrist in a Pelican case,

They're lightweight enough, because they're hollow, that I'm either going to use 1/16" or 1/10" diameter with 1/32" thickness. Plenty of pull force with 1/10", but hoping to get away with 1/16" so I can make smaller holes in the wings.

Sounds like @Jasonc is going to have to scale up his tent model!

And I'm currently working on a double-RMS pylon option, which is more consistent with the Yamato, Arcadia, and Bandai toy lines. Stay tuned!