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^^ That +1

I had to transform both of my VF-4's, through gerwalk... that helped close-up the gaps in the engine-pods.

AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWE YESSSSSSSSSSS!! Hmmm... Google Translate says the text directly below the radome expand-gimmick pic says: " *We cannot store in the lower part of the plane. " interesting... So I wonder if there will be a folded radome, or not... either way, THANK YOU Hasegawa!! Now Superpacks and Armours please!!

The Tomcats they've released in Macross Livery have numbered tags, don't they? like XXXX/2000 or something like that? I would assume it'd be the same type of thing for the VF-1:

Indeed, that's why getting PO info before actually beginning manufacture, and using said info to inform your manufacturing numbers solves the 'overstock' issue, in a different way than they're doing now, which [hopefully] won't result in further mass-disappointments like this morning. Customers happy with your service not only return, but sometimes even bring new customers with them. Fed-up customers may stay asleep during the next PO night. A tipping point will eventually be reached...or people will learn to love taking it up the wallet. Either way, time will tell. But count me out for this line at least... Indeed.

It's not a 'miscalculation'; "Bandai made X amount of DX Max VF-1A. Bandai assumes [correctly] that the number they made will be Pre-sold or otherwise picked up by a retailer." All fine and dandy... One even assumes that's how they do business in general, like most companies in this game. However: This still leaves customers with money in-hand, and no supply to meet them, except scalpers. What I'm harping on is a failure to modernize/optimize/integrate the data systems they already have in-place, when doing so opens up the opportunity to expand sales. Again: Bandai, the Manufacturer and Primary Distributor of the product in question, has the power to solve this problem; simultaneously getting more product into collector's hands, and potentially expanding their profit margins beyond what they had planned, simply by utilizing the systems/Data already in-use, in a new/different way, to nail down EXACT numbers before they even begin pressing plastic into moulds. Seems a no-Brainer to me, but again, I don't know their production limitations, etc. etc. etc... This is a potential optimization applicable for all lines of "high-end, low-margin" Collectibles they make, not just Macross: Actually manufacturing an amount of stock in accordance to your pre-payed pre-orders would [in theory] remove the issue of oversupply completely from the table. I also realise that Bandai has little incentive to care, since they [presumably] sold their entire run. If they're fine with that, then mission accomplished. Whatever, it now makes no difference to myself. Bandai's loss of potential revenue

Got an email address for Bandai? Nah, you gotta go Full-Canadian and write a physical letter! If nothing else, they'll be surprised someone went to the trouble.

That strikes me as Odd for some reason... Maybe I'm just accustomed to seing collectibles saying "#321 of 5000" or some-such Well... that does explain some QC things; like the HMR Super VF-1A having a small batch with wrong Fastpack attachment points getting through... Serial#'s make it easy to track/fix stuff like that... be hard to fix without them [even if it got caught] because you'd have no idea which pallets on the shipping dock were effected...

I don't collect anything Toy-wise outside MAcross, so I have no idea how expansive this particular line of pruducts truly is, however one would think a data-driven approach would solve any such problems/uncertainty-of-demand across their entire business model... but hey, who am I to tell them how to run their [obviously successful] business? Again, just comparing within an arena I know. [again, back to theory] Is it not, in fact, the shops themselves who should be most worried? Bandai gonna make collectibles, [at least some] Fans gonna buy collectibles... If Bandai decided they'd like to bring-in 100% of MSRP* from a release, they can simply use the internet to Cut-out the middle-men. My understanding is they already do this with P-Bandai releases [though not for this reason]. Bandai's price [whatever they say it is] becomes MSRP, everything else is a markup. Surely, there could be no better Leverage than that? In my method the stores know exactly how many they will need for POs, and the choice of risking more capitol on in-hand-copies is up to them, don't have to if they're happy with their cut of the PO's. The Potential for Certainty goes all around! *of course, it would be boorish to throw-your-weight-around and burn bridges with shops/distributors like that, which would likely be a bad move...

Now that I've asked myself that question, Does anyone know how many DX VF-1J's were produced? Are they serialized? and if so whose got the lowest/Highest numbers?

LOL, Well, all actions have consequences... But communication via the internet is a very cheap and easy way to acquire data. We're all here... Bandai have an online presence... they currently employ reps who deal with their distributors/retailers... all the pieces are already in place... This can't be that hard... This is like the British Having the Chain-Home Radar Installations in 1940, but NOT connecting it to a network to consolidate/make use of the Data they generated... In my estimation [having, admittedly, NO IDEA how many DX VF-1's they're actually producing per-run] they are both leaving money on the table and aggravating folks like me who just want to give them my money...

Cross your Tailfeathers and pray real hard that it's true! Nora's Ride is [in my opinion] one of the most striking schemes on a fighter IRL or in Sci-Fi... a "V2" that isn't insta-floppy will likely be highly popular

Juggling browser-tabs sounds easy, doesn't it?

Hmmmmmmmm... I get the risk-averse stance, but here's my counter: Option 1 is completely dependant on your customer's Rabidness for the item VS how much they hate dealing with your company... the obvious counter to THAT is that Bandai are making a bigger, sturdier, CHEAPER VF-1 than Arcadia, with new versions are coming out faster/more consistent... so Bandai's winning. I agree it seems safer... Game Theory would suggest it's the wrong choice long-term... and again: my idea relied on hard PO data [preferably pre-payed, I'm sure] you just need to gather said data before the start of production. I can't see how that's a problem unless they fail to deliver the product. Good, the buggers! Glad to see this one's at least not going Frakking insane like the VF-31A did [yea, I know, special case of a production flub, but still]

He's the only person that got shot by Milia. The rest survived the incident. good thing that's a Moot-point until the DYRL schemes release...

if not Max, then maybe Kakizaki!

*If the following seems salty, that's 1000% directed at Bandai* So the question becomes: what's better for business? 1) Driving demand Via Artificial Scarcity [scalpers + limited production run] then, potentially, your customers getting pissed at you and voting with their wallets AGAINST you. While, admittedly, succeeding in selling your set amount of units? [ie: assuming future risk for no potential extra gain] -OR- 2) Netting some good PR, While Maximizing Profit + potentially moving more units than you thought, and Satisfying your Customers [including retailers]... all at once? As a Corporation, Maximization of Profit being the goal, nothing but option 2 makes sense... at least to me. I'm assuming Bandai have a Manager/other staff in charge of the line, it's management and it's releases, which means they're already paying for people to manage this... 'cause it's their job. A Job they're not ding as well as they could be in my opinion. Maybe I'm just too Ruthless a Businessman... but my math checks out: 'more units sold = more profit' Which, yes, balances against 'units sitting unsold on shelves looks bad' Best part: The internet allows one to gather ACTUAL DATA/NUMBERS on this exact maximization... Doing it my way means a few e-mails and a calculator are all that's required [on Bandai's end] to ensure the former, while minimizing the latter... AND satisfied customers! The only "money left on the table" is Mine, in my wallet, because I couldn't secure a PO. Doing PO's the way they are, frankly, has left me feeling a little Insulted considering the proliferation of Scalpers and [suspected] Bots... Did I mention I was salty about it? But hey, far be-it for me to tell other/fellow "Macross-ochists" how to spend their time/money. P.S. Thought: I better not find out that Bandai have the same skeezy relationship with their scalpers that Ticketmaster has ................

any economists here to set me strait if I'm incorrect? Basic economic theory of supply and demand would suggest to me the following: The best way to handle this [for a buyer/point-of-sale fairness perspective] would be for the stores take pre-orders [pre-payed or not, whatever], for a period of 24 hours. they then submit those numbers to Bandai, with an additional number of units to have in-stock on release. Bandai then produces that many [or however many more than that they need to meet whatever their backend demands]. Results [in theory] should be as follows: All the pre-orders will be filled, there will be a chance for people who missed the po window on release day. Bandai makes 100% of the money they expected, maybe even sell more than they thought they would [theory being the more you produce, the cheaper each unit becomes to produce, therefore profit increase] Stores don't get stuffed with a Yammato-Style Shelf-warmer [or at least the store had to ask for that number of units from Bandai, so that's on the store] and most importantly: the scalpers who bought multiple copies to sell at BS inflated prices later get the screw [instead of actual fans and collectors!] since 90-95% of folks who wanted one will get it. AT MSRP no less... None of the above sounds crazy or hard, does it?

If we all stop paying to be treated this way, they will F'ing figure it out, or go broke. But this is not just Bandai's fault; We're allowing ourselves to be treated this way. *sigh* You're not the only one coming up out of the salt mines...

There is no reason to. Business is business, and thus far it seems we all got screwed... at least we can all be miserable together!!

If I ever find anyone who programs such things, *Pineapple-Salad*.......................................

Fine!! They don't want my money, I'll keep it! *mutters*

yup

ami's out...