Special Sauce

Thanks! Can't wait until it gets here.

Just putting this update here in case it happened to anyone else besides myself. So I pre-ordered from AE but after contacting them about the order they told me that even though the order went through and they charged me for it they wouldn't be able to supply the VF-1J set because someone before me got their order processed first. That didn't make sense to me because it should only process the orders they have an allotted supply for but whatever. They have since refunded the money they took from me for the order so I'm all set in that regard. I'm still not pleased by the whole situation but at least I got my money back. I still won't order from them again after that experience. Maybe it's an outlier but given experiences I've had over the years, something like this has never happened, which really makes me wonder what's really going on.

So I was able to get this from the seller for that Mandrake price plus shipping which ended up being about $60USD, But it's got tracking and should arrive fairly quickly. Box is also in excellent like new condition. Toy is excellent as well. He was the only owner and it was never displayed. I'm pretty happy with the sale, assuming it doesn't get damaged in shipping but he packed it pretty well. The Mandrake example had a damaged box and who knows now many owners it had or how many times it was transformed/handled.

I second this. My experience has been this way in other forums as well.

Cool. Maybe I'll try it out at some point. That is a lot but it's nice to have the option

@Chronocidal Wow, I can see why you'd get multiples

@F360 Good to know. Is there a thread on here that talks about it and peoples experience using it? I don't want to derail this topic with unrelated stuff

@weiser21 I saw people mention this but I didn't know what they were talking about until I looked it up. Seems like a nice option.

Do buyers in the US use proxy's to purchase from amazon.jp?

@Kicker773 that GBP stealth armor.....damn. That's niiiccccceeee.

Gotcha, I figured people had various reasons. I could make room for doubles but I'm find with having just one of each myself. Provided there's nothing wrong with it.

Man, seeing all these pics is making me miss my old 1/48's. Only one I really regret selling was the Stealth 1J with the super packs and my Low Vis. 1A. Maybe someday I'll try and get them again. Love all these customs.

I'm curious why some collectors hold onto MISB versions of the toys that they already have. Why do you do it @jvmacross?

Consider yourself lucky to have missed it. A lot of shenanigans going on with the retailers that sell this stuff. I honestly don't trust but 1 or 2 of them at this point. I think it's just better to wait until it's released from now on and pay a small markup. At least until we start seeing the fruits of the BW HG deal realized.

It seems like, other than HLJ, it's hard to trust any of these retailers. Maybe AmiAmi?

After all the bad things I've heard about them on here, I'll pass. I already have to deal with Anime Export.

Also, people need to stop buying from the scalpers as well. The prices will only drop and scalpers will only stop using purchase bots if people won't pay their prices and the toys sit and rot. It's hard. They're great toys. We all want them. I've just been in this position before with other stuff I've collected over the years, same old story.

It will because more retailers will be able to sell them. Increased demand will necessitate more production, which for a larger company like Bandai, is to their advantage. Companies that large consider it a successful year if they have 2% or better in profit. The way to do it is sheer number of unit sales in most cases. I'm not saying they'll do it because I don't know their thinking but it wouldn't surprise me if it eventually gets a little easier to get what we want. With Macross being open to the entire world now, I would say it would be bad business if Bandai, Arcadia etc. didn't take advantage of this huge new audience that have been starving for products of their favorite, popular franchise.

I've seen those too. They're pretty neat. For what they cost it would be nice to see more accessories like that added. Of course it would probably end up being a Tamashii Nations exclusive

My few Ebay purchases have also gone well. It's how I got my VF-31S and armor set. Seller actually dropped the price a good chunk after PM'ing him and he shipped them like they could withstand a nuclear blast.

That's good. Maybe the bag thing was just an outlier

I'm kinda with you there @rocketblast I hate Ebay but it's better than dealing with losing sleep for nothing. I really hope now that the HG/BW deal is done some American retailers can start carrying Macross stuff again.

Yeah except when you pay them for it only to tell you AFTER you email them asking why you didn't get a order confirmation and they say whoops you didn't get it and then don't refund your money. It literally takes seconds to issue a refund through Paypal. It should have been automatic when I brought it to their attention. Instead I've been waiting for the last 6 hours to issue it back. I'll probably have to wind up disputing it through Paypal. First and Last time I order from AE. I don't know how it's even possible for me to pay for an order after it was out of stock. None of it seems right.

Yikes. That sounds pretty bad. How was yours packed @vladykins was it better than weiser21?