Anasazi37
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Everything posted by Anasazi37
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Quick update on HLJ shipping options for the Fighter kit. As with the previous two kits, they are willing to generate quotes manually because they recognize that their automated system doesn't work for items this large. It usually takes them a day or two to do that.
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Everything else shows up in good shape except ferry, thankfully. Not that the truck trip between California and New Mexico is risk-free, but it's usually pretty safe. If everything showed up in bad shape, I'd definitely suspect my local post office. I think all of their staff know *exactly* who I am (that guy who orders a bunch of stuff from Japan). Turns out that one of them is a huge anime fan, so he's always asking about my packages and seems to give them some TLC (I have to pick all of them up because I'm out in the country). Makes the trip to the post office a little more enjoyable. And I'm definitely glad that we're all sharing our experiences. For folks who ship stuff from Japan infrequently, or have never done it before, it's valuable info.
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Seems like I'm the MW member taking one for the team when it comes to ferry shipments....Glad to hear that it's worked well for you and @jenius. Your consistent drum beat of "ferry works" is one of the main reasons why I tried it again after so many years. That didn't turn out well. On balance it's cost me more money than other methods, sadly. Will I consider using it again for bigger items that can take a serious beating, especially if there's a large savings? Probably. Like you guys, I'm not obsessed with pristine boxes for toys. I'm always pleasantly surprised when a valk shows up without some level of corner/edge damage on the box, which, as you point out, is hard to directly attribute to any one specific leg of the shipping process.
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Given all of the current shipping delays, on top of how long NY normally takes to process orders, that's a reasonable estimate. And the two sets I ordered in this round (one from FJ, one from NY) aren't going to be used anytime soon. My Hikaru 1S is already wearing the set I somehow managed to snag through AE in the first round, so these two are for future acquisitions. One for Roy, one just in case something else interesting pops up. So far I've managed to tamp down my desire to collect the entire Skull Squadron, but we'll see how long my resolve lasts.
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Based on the photos @tekeringshared, it looks like the gross weight of the shipping box is 5.45kg. Using the handy price calculator on Japan Post's site, setting Tochigi as the origin and New Mexico as the destination, you end up with ¥9400, which matches what is on that page for price-by-destination-zone. The last time I worked with HLJ on this, I think their EMS price came in a little lower than what I calculated. Maybe they get a volume discount.
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Thanks again, @tekering! This is always a huge help.
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Given mandatory waiting periods at ports on both ends, ferry will likely take even longer than usual. I grew tired of ferry years ago. Not worth the small price difference for small/light items that take 2-3 months to arrive and might get damaged. Like the hard to find books I shipped that way in December because I thought what heck, let’s try it again, seems to consistently work for some folks here, but now I have books with crushed edges and corners because heavier packages sat on mine for several months while in transit. And the books were packed well. My package had a “Damaged prior to receipt” sticker on it from USPS. For large/heavy stuff that is sturdy and well-packed, and if you’re in no hurry, maybe it makes sense. Could you eventually build up enough in savings by choosing ferry to buy an additional toy? Sure. It’s a trade off, where the price you pay is significantly longer wait times and possible damage to what you’ve already purchased (which would likely cost more to replace than the price difference between ferry and EMS). I decided that peace of mind is more important to me.
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FJ contacted me the day after release to say that my set was available to ship, so I ponied up $30 to send it EMS. Registered Air Small Package was also an option for $7 less, but I figured that would take *a lot* longer. Still no word from NY on my other set. I don't expect to hear from them for quite some time.
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I preordered one from HLJ because, unlike every other store, they will try to find a reasonably-priced shipping option for you. For the Strike Gerwalk and Strike Fighter kits, I contacted them and asked for a quote because the automated options in their Private Warehouse were very expensive, and they came back with much lower numbers for FedEx, DHL, and EMS. This is not a new problem for their customer support team--they know the drill now. I haven't contacted them about this kit yet because it just showed up in my PW overnight and their support staff don't work over the weekend. I'll report back with their estimate. I'm going to ask for one based on non-pandemic conditions, i.e., leaving it in my PW until international shipping opens back up. I used EMS for the first two kits and the shipping was "reasonable" (¥15,500 for the Strike Gerwalk, ¥9,840 for the Strike Fighter). Since HLJ is willing to hang onto orders for longer than the usual 60 days, you could use the Strike Fighter number as an estimate, but it will probably be lower because the box for this kit should be smaller and lighter. @tekeringwas kind enough to post the dimensions and weight of the Strike Fighter shipping box, which helped me because I went to Japan Post's site, got an EMS estimate there, and *then* contacted HLJ with that number in hand.
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I ordered one set from FJ and one from NY. My FJ set arrived and is ready to ship. No word from NY, but I don't expect to hear anything from them for at least 6-8 weeks.
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It depends on where you live. If it's AIR/International Parcel or AIR/Registered Small Package (sounds like it), and Japan Post is still supporting Air Mail for your country, you're probably okay. I did a quick check on Tenso (https://www.tenso.com/en/estimate) for the United States, just to see what they can do right now for a theoretical 0.5kg package:
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There is something really appealing about the 262 in battroid. I display it in that mode with the sword, shield, leg armor, and Lil Drakens (in flight on either side).
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Nicely done
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For direct availability, yes. For price, no, unfortunately. At $250-500 per toy plus shipping, you're in the same financial territory as Bandai DX toys with scalper markups and EMS shipping included, at which point they have similar availability if you're willing to go through AJ, YAJ, Mandarake, Jungle, etc. I definitely give Arcadia tons of credit for supporting fans and producing based on demand, and I know part of the reason for their high prices is that they don't have Bandai's infrastructure. I like that you can still get the SV-51 Ivanov on HLJ for the retail price. If it disappears, just wait a few days and it's back. None of this "discontinued as soon as we get our stock from Bandai" nonsense. It's like there are three variables and you can only choose for two of them to be positive: price, availability, and quality (basic economics theory). One could view Bandai as price(+), availability(-), quality(+) and Arcadia as price(-), availability(+), quality(+). There are quality differences between the two, but they're both solid toys. I guess it's the engineer part of my brain trying to make sense of all of this....
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With another 30-foot legal pole attached to the first one, just to be safe. Good point on other properties, and I definitely don't want to rehash the legal battle here. There was that faint glimmer of hope last year, which quickly dissipated when the new agreement was reached, so I think this is the reality we'll have to deal with for a long, long time. Bandai's TWE selling strategy caters to individual domestic collectors, which makes sense because these are exclusive items, and their countermeasures appear to reinforce that (requires domestic address, with a domestic phone number, and a domestic payment method). It is therapeutic to nerd rage occasionally, because we have zero control over the process (like the reversed numbers on the vertical stabilizers), but I think we all recognize (even when we're raging) that if we don't live in Japan, getting these items generally comes at an increased price--if we can get them at all. I consider myself fortunate if I can find one close to retail, but I don't bet on that anymore. And I don't get up in the middle of the night for PO Madness anymore. I struck out multiple times in a row and finally accepted the fact that sleep is more important than saving $50-100. I think we got spoiled by Yamato and HLJ back in the day, when prices were reasonable and availability was generally not a problem. It's a hard mindset for me to shake sometimes, 15 years later. And yes, Yamato ran themselves into the ground with their business model, but Bandai is way at the other end of the spectrum. Somewhere in the middle would be nice, but international collectors are not their core customers, so no, they don't actually have to care.
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I agree that the current countermeasures keep a small number of well-financed scalpers from stockpiling a large number of units, but the fact that proxies have to use multiple unique addresses reinforces my point. It's a work-around-Bandai, not a work-with-Bandai, and Bandai can take away the workaround at any time. For example, you can't use Buyee for TWE because Bandai blocks shipping to individual Tenso addresses and Tenso runs Buyee. I believe they block based on the buyer's phone number and Tenso uses the same one for everything. Bandai could (and maybe already does) extend that treatment to other proxies who are using multiple addresses, who then have to come up with multiple unique phone numbers. If Bandai starts cracking down on that by looking for common payment methods (i.e., same credit card used each time), then proxies might have to shift to using a different method for each of their P-Bandai accounts. It's a cat and mouse game. I get the impression that the units-per-address limit has been lowered, more people are using proxies, or both. I don't know what AE and NY do to maintain higher limits, apart from having a boatload of unique addresses (and maybe phone numbers, too). One would hope that Bandai has a way for proxies to register with them as trusted businesses, thereby allowing them to purchase more than an individual, but that makes too much logical sense. At one point, links for multiple proxies showed up on the P-Bandai site when you'd try to purchase something, but I don't think that's the case any longer....
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Most, if not all, of the proxies are maxed out because of low order caps. Just another example of Bandai not caring about overseas fans to the point where they are actively putting in place unreasonable countermeasures to keep us from collecting. Let us know if you find a proxy that can still place an order for you, as that will be good info for the next TWE release. When FromJapan canceled my second TWE order in row (first a Missile Set, now the Kakizaki), I basically threw my hands in the air and decided that I'll just wait until release day and start looking for one then. Given Kakizaki's popularity level, it shouldn't be hard to find him at close to retail, which will end up being less expensive than a proxy. Unless this turns into the next VF-31A Kairos, as several others have mentioned, and the availability is so low due to production issues that the price skyrockets.
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Tried that route and my order was cancelled. Even going through proxies is becoming much more difficult.
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AE = Anime Export NY = Nippon-Yasan
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True, but it's just sad that even TWE releases like this one are becoming hyper-competitive. Imagine the bloodbath when it's something highly desirable. It's stressful enough to get up in the middle of the night for regular PO Madness. Now we have Proxy PO Madness to deal with, where you have to get your request in fast, and hope they get back to you fast, so you can pay fast, so they can order fast. All because Bandai severely restricts the number of units a proxy can purchase. TWE was the last vestige of a more civilized buying process. Now it's gone, too. (And I don't do the middle of the night thing anymore. Not worth it. Would rather just pay a markup later. I think of it as a convenience fee so I can get a decent night's sleep and work the next day.)
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Just received my cancellation notice from them. And my refund notice from PayPal came in right behind it.
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Guess we'll see if those of us with pending orders are successful. Maybe FJ keeps track of requests and processes them in order instead of first come, first served (within reason). Should know in about 6-7 hours.
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I've had them cancel a web exclusive order on me (Missile Set), but they did it pretty quickly (factoring in the time difference between Japan and here). They processed my request for a quote and asked for payment, then attempted to place the order after I paid, which makes sense. They discovered that they had already hit their ordering limit, imposed by Bandai, so they immediately refunded my payment and explained why. I've ordered a bunch of web exclusive items from them and have never had any issues. They tend to cost about the same, or in this specific case less, than other options like AE and NY. I'm still waiting for confirmation that my order went through. They might have already hit their limit. If so, I'll just do what @Shawn plans to do: wait for it to show up on YAJ or Mandarake for a reasonable price after release. I don't feel like paying AE or NY prices just for the convenience of being able to push the purchase button today. I'm trying to avoid AE at all costs these days, given how they treat their customers.
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^^^This^^^
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The "symmetry" argument is completely bogus because, as you say, the numbers are correct everywhere else. A modex is there to quickly tell you the aircraft identification. You shouldn't have to figure out which side of the aircraft you're looking at and then figure out if you have to read the numbers left to right or right to left to get the ID. And they aren't doing something truly symmetrical or the numbers would be mirror images, not just ordered differently. I also think asking collectors to put waterslide decals on their expensive toys to fix a manufacturing issue is unacceptable. And that's coming from someone who's been printing and using Macross decals for more than 17 years.
