Lolicon

Figuarts Ranka preorder up... and closed. http://www.amiami.com/top/detail/detail?gcode=FIG-MOE-5195&page=top

Refreshed Hobby Search a few times and the YF-29 went from "long sold out" to "reservation closed." Was never opened for preorders. I think Amiami pulled the same shenanigans with the Figuarts Sheryl. Posted it and immediately set it to "sold out" then opened it up later. Just sit tight and wait for it to reopen I guess. http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10141228

Already sold out at Amiami?

Man those new Sheryl and Ranka figures go fast even at current prices. They're rarely up for more than a couple of hours before they're gone.

A little off-topic, but I'm going to (finally) pick up some flightpose stands for my valkyries, as the SMS stand is kinda ugly. For those of you that have them already, is the 4" stand large enough, or is the 6" stand better? http://flightpose.com/index.cfm

Anyone know a way to tighten up the wing glove joint? One of mine is loose, and I don't like having it flop around and potentially chipping off the skull emblem.

Nuts to those prices. I'll wait a couple of months at least for the initial demand to die down and for the prices to drop. Learned my lesson from the last round of 1kuji figures.

Glad that Bandai is finally reissuing these. That reminds me, how much did the super parts retail for? I might look into picking up a set of those too.

Did a wash and touched up the paint job. Popping the head out was the hardest part of transforming it. But I'm very happy with the final product. Eagerly awaiting the 25G now! EDIT: As I thought, the pop-off piece in the center of the chest is painted. The color difference is indistinguishable to the naked eye, but the camera really picks up and exaggerates it. But it's another piece where I wonder why Bandai didn't just mold it in color.

You didn't happen to post a YF-29 in its shipping box also, did you? Because I recall that dude also selling a YF-29 last summer that he bought "one too many" of.

If someone wants to miss out on a great valkyrie toy because a shade of paint isn't 100% perfect, then that's their prerogative. What I find more bothersome is Bandai's decision to use painted parts for areas that are one solid color, namely the bottoms of the wing gloves and the shoulders. Why Bandai? Why didn't you mold them in the correct colored plastic? Especially the shoulders, as those have the potential to get really scratched up during transformation. Right out of the box there were a few corners where the paint had already rubbed off.

The version 1 VF-25S shall henceforth be known as the VF-25POS.

I'd like to note that you guys take care with the wing gloves when transforming it. Having the wing gloves flop back and slamming the glove surface against the backplate is going to chip the the horns of the skull emblem right off.

Woohoo my VF-25S and SDF-1 both arrived! The very first thing I did after opening it. EDIT: Did a quick inspection of the unit. QC is only marginally worse than on my Alto. -Yellow paint app is a tiny bit sloppier than Alto's red. Inconsistencies are also more noticeable with yellow on a grey background. -Some paint already scratched off on the ankle cover and lower tailfins. -Couple of spots where it's obvious where the yellow paint was touched up by hand. -SMS emblem on the left side of the nose it a bit sloppy. -Bits of the skull emblem on the back have flaked off at the corner where the curved surface meets the flat surface. Overall I'm satisfied. Most of these issues I can fix with a paintbrush. Time to panel line this baby and give it some acrylic "horseshoes." The paint rubs off pretty easily on the feet so I brush a few layers of acrylic clearcoat on the bottoms of the feet to prevent that.

True enough. That just brings to that old horse: they're in demand and selling pretty well, so why doesn't Bandai release more of them?

Your remarks were that you were willing to pay more at HLJ, which implied you could get it cheaper on ebay. If you were just referring to the 25F, then that was never the case, even when it had just came out.

Never said his point about QC issues was invalid, but I want to know what HK sellers he's talking about that carries valkyries cheaper than HLJ et al.

Can you point me in the direction of these HK dealers that are selling VF-25s cheaper than HLJ?

If it's anything like the 25F release, HLJ and/or Amiami will probably get some more in, after the initial wave. You won't get the preorder discount, but even full retail is a lot better than current ebay prices. I bought a second 25F in mid-November, weeks after it came out.

Yay finally got my shipping notice. And now the long wait...

Finally entered the "Being Processed for Shipping" stage. And I just noticed that HLJ updated their shipping prices. Fedex is cheaper than EMS for the 25S? WTF?

Yeah, that's the rub. No matter how awesome your company is, it only takes one stupid employee to make your entire operation look incompetent and amateurish. Perhaps I had the misfortune of dealing with an idiot whom HLJ has long since fired, but the damage has been done. Anyway, getting way off-topic. A couple of days wait won't kill me (I usually ship via SAL, after all), but man I'm super excited about getting my 25S, so it makes the wait feel really long. Haven't been this excited about a new valkyrie in years! Also glad to see that the Ranka figure isn't an amputee! Can't wait to stick her into my 25F.

Glad you guys have had good experiences with HLJ. I haven't, and as a result I've taken most of my business elsewhere. Simple as that. Lavishing praise on them isn't going to change that.

I only order from HLJ if other places are sold out. They're slow and their customer service is only slightly better than the soup nazi. I see some of the skull emblem has already scraped off.

Preorder up. And already sold out. http://www.amiami.co...E-5122&page=top