HardlyNever

I don't think it's so ludicrous. I think you might be missing the point of what I was saying. It's about brand management and marketing. The purpose of something like a supercar or limited edition product is not to satisfy the larger consumer base. It is about it existing at all, and people knowing it exists. I know it is frustrating for us, the actual Macross fans that genuinely want the product, to struggle to get it. But again, it isn't about "us." Or about this exact product in particular. It is about "the brand." Again, another car comparison. If you live in the US you're probably familiar with the Lexus "December to Remember" commercials that play around Christmas. They imply that people buy Lexus vehicles for their spouse/family members as a Christmas present. But this isn't true; it very rarely happens. It's about promoting the brand, and suggesting that people that can afford to buy someone a car for Christmas, would buy a Lexus for Christmas. It implies that if people who are that wealthy choose to buy a Lexus (over something else), maybe it is a "really amazing" brand that the "average Joe" consumer should also be interested in. I wish I had a link for the article that explains this, maybe I'll find it and link it later. I get the frustration of having to deal with this in real time, and possibly be on the receiving end of what is essentially an elaborate marketing campaign for Bandai. And I'm not trying to justify Bandai's actions, or say that it is some brilliant move by Bandai. But Bandai is definitely a multi-million dollar, international brand, so they are definitely familiar with these kind of marketing techniques. And with regards to the tampo on this particular line, if there is one thing I will always be 100%, drop dead certain of, it is that these forums will never be happy with the tampo a particular product has. It will always be too much, too little, too big, too small, not anime accurate, not real life accurate, etc., etc. I'm not saying you in particular, but I don't think I've seen a single release, at least in the 1/60 and larger scale, where someone wasn't complaining about the tampo and/or paint. That's just the nature of the hobby, and the internet. Edit: This isn't the exact article I was talking about, but it covers some of what I was saying. Also, I'm not trying to say this theory is 100%, beyond a shadow of a doubt correct. We're all throwing darts in the dark, here. I'm simply trying to make sense of the "madness." We're all pretty (understandably) salty after another insane pre-order madness, and as we lick our wounds there are constantly questions about why it is like this, and how it got to be this way. I'm simply offering one more possible explanation for the method behind the madness. I doubt we'll ever really know the truth.

My current theory on this line is that it is sort of like the Ford GT40 or similar car in the car world. That is to say, the idea behind this line is not to make a lot of profit off of the line itself. It is about brand management and reputation. I believe Ford was in the black on the newer Ford GTs, but that isn't the point of the car. It is to elevate the brand in the mind of consumers, and show what their engineers can really do. Not everyone is supposed to afford a GT, or even have a chance to get a GT. The same with this line. I think it bothered Bandai that the "best VF-1 ever" was not made by them, when they have lines like SoC and DX Chogokin. They wanted to reclaim the title of "best ever" for such an iconic mech. So why didn't they go even bigger and badder (and more expensive)? I think at the end of the day, they still had to have something that the bean-counters would approve of and make its money back. The money in Macross designs is always milking molds, and that was just too lucrative to pass up, even for a "not really for profit" line. Plus with all their nickel-and-diming, the price on a "complete' valk is pretty high, all told.

It seems like either is a gamble at this point. I can only give you my personal experience/opinion, so take it with the appropriate grain of salt. Proxy services are fine, but if there is in fact a shortage, they could simply cancel your order and give you a refund. Then you're left to your own devices to find another order. NY on the other hand will try to source your order from other places/vendors/the ether. Where exactly they get other stock isn't know, probably other vendors. However they will not communicate this to you, you won't know how long you have to wait, and they will not be very responsive in the mean time. It could take them months after release for them to fill your order. They will also probably not give you a refund, even if you ask. At best you will get store credit, if you push them for it. But if you're extremely patient, you'll probably get your order, eventually, at the original price you paid. If I really wanted these parts, and I could only choose one source, I'd personally go with NY. Just don't expect to get them in a timely manner, if there is in fact a shortage.

The strike parts could very well be the next VF-31A Kairos. Where people have orders pretty early on in the order window (day 2, day 3) and still don't see their product until months after release. But I still think something else happened with the 31A, beyond just high demand. We'll see how it plays out.

Ordered a few at NY. I kind of want to order from at least 1 more vendor, just to diversify my source. This line is getting absolutely ridiculous. Glad to hear they will probably do another run of SS parts. Why not do another run of valks, while they're at it?!

FWIW I've change my address with NY after payment. You just have to submit a ticket, and they can do it (you can't do it yourself). They'll drag their feet, and you might even have to follow up with them (in their CS chat), but they did it for me, eventually. This is assuming they haven't shipped it yet, ofc.

Ok, so I'm definitely ordering a set or two, but how in the holy **** is there not an official product page up for these yet? Am I blind or something, or is it not there? We still don't know: 1) Are the different skull insignias just stickers or actual swap-able plastic parts? I'm assuming the later, but we don't know for sure. An official product page should answer that. 2) Do these have any kind of internal detail? This scale and price should basically guarantee that it is there, but I haven't seen it yet. Again, an official product page should answer that. I may order more/less depending on what the details are. Bandai, please, get it together for this line. I'm assuming the engine covers come off, and then you can swap the insignias with the cover off, and there would also be engine detail inside. That is the most obvious, basic, and smartest way to do it. But it's Bandai, You never really know what they are going to do.

So... they good and all, but are there removable engine covers? Missile covers? I'm not a huge fan of the gimmick but at this scale and price, they kind of need to have every gimmick you can reasonably imagine. Even the HMR boosters have removable engine covers. Has anyone seen any photo evidence of that?

My hot take on this line: This will only be 1J, 1S, and 1A variants (no vt-1, ve-1, or 1D). Most desired release is gotta be a Roy 1S. Next release will probably be a "lower popularity" release. Maybe a DYRL 1A of some flavor. Mass production type, even? I hope, and daresay even believe, TV Kakizaki will be made, and will be a TWE.

My missiles finally shipped from NY. Ordered back in December, if that info is useful.

4 total HMR releases in 2019, according to the site. 2 of which were Macross. There is generally around a 6 month gap between announcement and release, so it's not looking great for more HMR in 2019. They could maybe squeeze in one more.

Pretty much nailed it. This is one of those situations where if you have to ask... But with the way AmiAmi, NY and HLJ have their order pages set up now, the stock count is essentially "public facing," you just have to know where to look. Having stock counts is interesting, but doesn't net you much beyond maybe what your odds of securing a pre-order are. NY seems to be constantly refreshing their count, as well, so it can be a bit misleading. FWIW, I don't think they are botting, at least not those sites. They could be, but I'm not sure it would be worth the effort, as the big retailers are actually putting in decent anti-botting measures (finally). Now older sites like AE are still open season for botters.

This. Scalpers aren't the problem, they are just responding to the what the market will bear. I know they make easy scapegoats, and I'm not a fan of them either, but they aren't going away, even if you ask them really nicely. There are people on this site right now selling the DX Hikaru VF-1J for more than a 50% markup (new in box). But they aren't scalpers? I'm not trying to call anyone out for doing that, just pointing out the situation. The reality is that the line between "scalper" and "collector" is a hazy and subjective line, where everyone is going to have a different opinion, and they are going to draw that line where it is most convenient for them. But this debate is as old as toy forums (probably even older), so I'm not going to say any more about it. The reality with this hobby is you don't actually have one, until it is in your hands, regardless of where you ordered from. I've never had HLJ cancel an order on me (not saying it can't happen, just that it is rare). Other retailers have canceled orders before. Stuff gets lost in shipping. Lots of things can happen between now and release. I wouldn't sweat it too much.

For some reason, that made me think of this: All jokes aside, scalpers are a symptom of the problem, not the cause. I know they make easy villians to hate, but it is the gap between supply and demand, and what the market is willing to pay for this, that is the problem (i.e. Bandai). Bandai has a system in place, right now (TWE system) that with some tweaking, could greatly reduce if not remove this problem entirely, with probably a small mark-up for the consumer. But they refuse to do it, except in limited cases. If you want to be angry at someone/something, be angry at Bandai. And of course, Harmony Gold.

It's all a mystery, as far as I can tell. For us, we preorder to know that we have one, but why Bandai takes pre-orders to begin with, for non-TWE stuff, is one of many mysteries of Bandai's business practices. What I also don't understand is what dictates how many units each retailer gets. It can't be simply they order as many as they want, because they could all definitely order and sell more. It has to be some sort of ranking/priority system. Adding to the confusion is why NY seems to be the only place willing/able to source additional stock (from other retailers maybe?) at lower cost. CDJapan does proxy services, but those prices are usually ridiculously high. Unfortunately, I don't know that we'll ever get full answers to these questions.

I think we're in the clear, but I'd give it a good 48 hours before being really confident. The last time I remember people getting their orders cancelled at HLJ was the DX YF-19. That was in about 24 hours after the madness (and it wasn't every order, ofc, just some of them). If you got a couple confirmation emails from them, I'd be pretty confident yours is secure. AmiAmi and HLJ were using a different kind of page for these orders this time, that can dynamically ping the database and check stock without having to reload the entire page. So as bad as this PO madness was, and as angry as those sites made people, they are actually an improvement compared to how their old sites functioned, from an IA point of view. They are also less vulnerable to bots, arguably. So I think there will be less recalling of confirmed orders going on, but it could still happen.

Yup, this was the first price. I think someone even screen-shotted it if you want to go further back and find it. I believe this is basically "mirage" pricing done by NY, that only a tiny portion of people actually get, but it attracts a lot more people. I know lots of us made it to the last step of checkout with that price, and got an error. After I errored out, I still had it in my cart, but at the new marked-up price. I decided to pass (I already had one at HLJ). They know what they are doing, and it is some devious... stuff.

You might be aware, but you can get the leg missile pods in the Lill'Draken accessory kit. Just make sure you get the one for the SV-262, not the movie one that they made for the VF-31 (it only comes with the lil drakens). They were a TWE, so unlike they Draken itself, there were a lot less made relative to demand, so they tend to hover above MSRP now. As far as not coming with missiles, unfortunately this is a trend with the DX line now. Only the VF-31S came with missiles on it's own. The DX 1/48 V-1 line does not come with missiles (you have to buy them separately). Not sure why Bandai switched to this model, but it seems to be here to stay, for now. As far as future DX SV-262, my personal opinion is that it is extremely unlikely to ever happen. If you're following the preorder madness for the 1/48, one thing should be very clear: Bandai absolutely despises the idea of their product warming shelves and selling under MSRP. The fact that you can still get the SV-262 under MSRP is pretty much the nail in the coffin for this mold, imo.

Same situation for me, regarding the missiles. Did you order more than 1 set? I think that might be what is holding them back.

I got lucky last night, secured one at HLJ. Still no cancellation notice (and two different confirmation emails), so I'm going to assume it is pretty safe. The thing is, as I sit here at work with all of 3 hours of sleep, I still feel like I lost. It sucks seeing so many other people not get anything (and I've been there, condolences to those who didn't get anything). I don't feel like I did anything special, just the luck of the draw happened to be on my side this time. Then I accidentally wander over to the Macross kits at HLJ. Way, way cheaper, no pre-order madness. They are even on sale! I know they're not that same quality as a DX, but seriously... with the way I feel right now. I might reconsider this whole thing. Not making any decisions in this state, but I can't keep going with this line, the way things are.

Will it actually hold? I dunno.

Same exact thing. Thought I had one at NY. Nope.

Same. It might be worth refreshing for those stuck at HLJ. I did, and it actually worked. But I have very little confidence in the order holding up...

Order acknowledgement email at HLJ after like... 15 min. I'm not super confident that will hold, but better than nothing right? What a complete joke.

HLJ: https://hlj.com/dx-chogokin-the-movie-vf-1s-valkyrie-hikaru-ichijo-use-bans55800 Seemed to sell out in under 1 second