Anasazi37

We've seen WWM overseas POs become available as early as a week after Japan POs. I think it depends a lot on the store, and perhaps the item. Sometimes Amazon is sluggish, taking a few weeks to a month to list something, but smaller sites like BBTS usually get stuff listed much faster.

This has been discussed, and speculated about, extensively in other threads. The ¥35,000 price is for the Japanese domestic market. Bandai is free to charge overseas customers more for WWM items when purchased through an overseas retailer, and they do. No one is sure why, but three popular theories are: (1) more profit from collectors willing to pay, (2) to cover the additional financial risk of producing more toys than the domestic market needs, (3) to compensate for a weak Yen exchange rate. Overseas retailers pass the higher prices onto us, which is why you see consistently high prices for WWM items at every single overseas retailer. They aren't setting the high prices--Bandai is (or at the very least, their distributors). There will be some variation due to promotional discounts, coupons, free shipping, etc., but to my knowledge we've yet to see overseas retailers offering Japan domestic market prices for WWM items. They'd lose money. It sounds like Bandai does this for Gundam, too, and probably other franchises. Other companies like Goodsmile don't mark up their prices for overseas customers as much, if at all.

WWM releases, across all product lines, seem to have at least a 55% markup on Japan MSRP, so that would be ¥54,250 or roughly $385 US at the current exchange rate, which is right in line with @Lolicon's estimate. We're all hoping that Bandai doesn't go that high for this release, given how expensive it already is, but it's Bandai, so they probably will. Shipping from a US retailer to Canada will probably cost you a bit more since US retailers offering free shipping are doing so domestically. Based on my limited experience, USPS package shipping to Canada is not cheap...or particularly fast.

Tamashii Store Exclusive

Japan PO Madness on 10 Jan. Best guess is that US retailers will start their WWM POs about a week later.

The YF-19 reissue (not Full Set) is WWM, so I think this will be, too. Bandai's only restricted to domestic releases for SDFM and DYRL. Be prepared for a 60% markup on MSRP, though. That seems to be standard these days.

All of that excessive tampo printing won't pay for itself!

Vertically this time around, and I stuck with 0.05mm layer height, which is probably why the 2.0mm peg size worked since the end result was 2.0 +/- 0.05. I've also found that the clear filament I'm using for display adapters is a lot more precise than what I normally use for everything else (Hatchbox), especially after calibration, so printed parts tend to be a lot closer to digital size. I ended up switching back to vertical because the pegs snapped off my horizontal print when I tried to remove it from the valk. Too much strain. Not an issue with a vertical print.

Ended up ditching all of my modifications except the one where the little pegs at the back are now 2.0mm instead of 1.75mm. It's snug, and takes a few seconds to get everything into place, but it fits:

Reporting back on my experiment. The new adapter printed well, but ended up being just as loose-fitting as the one I printed with the 0.2 nozzle. I pulled out my digital calipers and compared the original Bandai adapter to what I printed. The two pegs that attach to the arms were too thin, front to back (1.9mm when 2.1mm is needed), so there was no friction fit in the holes, and the spacing between the pegs and the lip towards the front was too long (24.25mm when 23.5mm is needed). I'm chalking it up to my horizontal print orientation, my PLA filament selection (SUNLU Clear), and my Orca Slicer P1S calibration for the filament. At this scale small differences add up and individual print setups really do matter, as you say. I made some slight adjustments to the part and am printing a prototype right now. Assuming it's a better fit on my end, I'll post the STL here in case folks want to give it a try.

My best guess is that Bandai puts the ones for the US market on a boat right around the same time that it does the domestic release in Japan, likely because they just got their hands on the toys themselves. The multi-month delay between releases is consistent with the time it takes for a shipping container to get here (2-3 months). To do a simultaneous release, they'd either have to delay the domestic release 2-3 months or expedite the shipping to the US. Given how much we're already getting gouged on WWM prices, I'm not sure I want to know what Bandai would charge us in this scenario....

That's a nice addition. I'll try printing the new version today. The original one printed fine, but I think using the finer 0.2 nozzle reduced the amount of available friction when the adapter is attached to the valk, so it's not as secure as I'd like. I'm going to switch back to the 0.4 nozzle and see how that turns out.

I thought about it a bit more on my drive home from work and will try two arrangements. The one I mentioned this morning as well as another one where the adapter is basically upside down. You won't ever see the supported surfaces and it might look nicer in the end. Should be a fun test.

Nice! I'm definitely going to try this out. I have a P1S and plenty of clear PLA and PETG filament. I might play around with the orientation and slicer settings. Right now I have a 0.2 nozzle installed and generally print small adapters like this at 0.05mm layer height. Definitely takes a bit longer, but the results are good. Here's my first cut at how I might set it up: 180 degree rotation of the design around the Y axis with Normal Snug support surfaces that are manually defined. You can get away with Normal Snug in that orientation because all of the contact surfaces, except for the round peg, are horizontal. That is going to be challenging for any support structure. It also means the visible "front" of the adapter, once installed, has a clean finish. I'll let you know how it turns out.

For folks adventurous enough to try resin 3D printing (or willing to pay someone with a printer to do a run for them), there's a really good replica of the 1/55 gunpod available on CG Trader: https://www.cgtrader.com/free-3d-print-models/games-toys/toys/reproduction-gu-11 Created by a MW member many years ago. I heavily modified the design to make it easier to print and a bit more screen accurate:

Thank you! I hope the adapters are a helpful addition to your lineup. It was a fun side project to work on.

You and I had the same thought. I believe the reason the US shops distribute WWM items 2-3 months later is because those items come via a very inexpensive shipping method (boat). Assuming those items start at Japan MSRP, that maybe adds a few dollars if you distribute the cost of the shipping container space across all shipped items. So then what explains the significant difference in price between Japan MSRP and US shops? That's why I asked about Gundam items as a sanity check. Do we see the same pattern or are Macross items more costly to buy from US shops? Right now I think many of us have a gut feeling that the Macross prices are much higher than they should be, and it's a hard feeling to shake. For example, I just scrolled through the shops for Goodsmile in Japan and in the US, picked some items at random that show up in both locations, and the PO prices are almost identical (factoring in the fluctuating exchange rate), but the release dates are about 2-3 months apart. So, they are shipping to the US via boat like Bandai and somehow not marking up their items by 57%. And Goodsmile is significantly smaller than Bandai. The situation makes my head hurt. I almost missed out on the 0A because of business travel and was content knowing that, worst case, I could hand over more money to a US shop and get it 2-3 months later than the release date in Japan. It would be...fine, and we didn't use to have this option, so I'm glad that we do. Doesn't help for SDFM and DYRL POs, but no situation is perfect. There are several reasonably priced shipping options from Japan that can take anywhere from two weeks to two months, and as you say, shops like HLJ and AE have private warehouses where you can keep items for a bit and then consolidate shipping to save money.

This is why I haven't been able to bring myself to order WWM items from US shops. Retail price for the 0A in Japan is ¥16000 ($108 at current exchange rate). $170 is a 57% markup. Even Luna Park isn't that bad. I think we've established that a lot of the markup is Bandai's fault, or their US distributor's fault, since every US shop charges about the same price for WWM items and the shops are likely just passing the cost along to customers. Maybe it's how Bandai thinks they can justify the cost/risk of selling more "niche" Macross items overseas? Do Gundam items get the same treatment? I'm doubtful.

The Yamato 1/48 VF-1 adapters for Archi Stands are now on Cults3D. I'm selling them for $5 as a set of four (Fighter, Armored Fighter, Gerwalk, Battroid): https://cults3d.com/en/3d-model/art/yamato-1-48-vf-1-valkyrie-adapters-for-archi-display-stands Given the complexity of the designs, they may not be easy for beginners to print. You have to use supports in many places and there will be some post-print cleanup needed as a result. I pre-oriented the parts for printing to make them as strong as possible and to both limit the amount of cleanup needed and limit how visible the supported sections are.

Yeah, for WWM items, it's now largely by choice that I put myself through this. Purchasing from a US seller means a significant markup (courtesy of our friends at Bandai) and waiting at least two more months for delivery, but at some point I'm going to tell myself that I'm getting too old for PO Madness. There is a bit of a triumph/disappointment nostalgia feeling, plus it keeps my skills sharp for purchasing non-WWM items!

I got back super-late from a business trip last night and managed to snag one from HLJ, which I didn't think would happen. Landed at the airport, dashed through the terminal, took the shuttle to where my car was parked, and got to it a few minutes before PO Madness started. Refreshed the HLJ site a few times on my phone, the 0A showed up, got cart jacked three times (HLJ tradition), but still somehow managed to get a PO. Thank goodness for 5G service. Would have stayed in the terminal to do it, but the cell and wifi reception there is terrible. This was too important to leave to chance.

Wish I could say that I did something special to keep him that white. I've had him sitting on an open shelf for years, but I live in a really dry place at high elevation and keep the display room fairly dark. Some or all of that environmental stuff probably helped. I did have a wing on another 1/48 start to go yellow on me, but I think that happened a long time ago when I was living somewhere far more humid.

I'm calling my Yamato 1/48 VF-1 adapters for Archi Stands complete. Tinkered with them a bunch over the long weekend, after not working on them for a few months. They can be printed in something more durable like PETG, but PLA does just fine with the way that I designed the structural reinforcements. There are four available: Battroid, Gerwalk, Fighter, and Armored Fighter. There are two Fighter versions because of how low the legs, arms, and gunpod sit with the armor attached. Plus the Armored Fighter is a lot heavier. They attach to the Archi Arcadia-A adapter. There's a tab that sits inside the Arcadia-A and a sleeve that goes around the outside for added stability. Even under extreme banking scenario tests they've held up just fine. They are cradles, in other words they do not clip onto the valk. They leverage gravity and valk weight distribution in each mode, which eliminates worries about paint scraping (helpful for customs). I would not recommend tilting the valk 90 degrees or holding it upside down with the adapter attached. Not sure why you'd want to do that, but I'm putting the disclaimer out there anyway. I'll be putting them up on Cults3D or another site soon. Will likely sell them as a set for a small amount, mainly to recover the cost of all the material I went through while designing them.

I think there might be an "intentional scarcity" aspect to this as well, where limited releases are exactly the point: they're here for a moment, then they're gone. I've seen a few articles on the topic over the past few years, which seem to focus on the idea of valuable things being ephemeral and hard to obtain on purpose, so they will be cherished over time. It's an interesting idea, that scarcity is accepted and perhaps expected in this context. There's also the cold, hard financial side of it, where limited supply boosts overall demand and profits while minimizing risk, which you highlighted so nicely. A quick search turned up this article: https://www.statista.com/topics/8446/toy-market-in-japan/#topicOverview

Both options definitely get the point across.