Nin-nin responded to my ticket about when my order would ship by sending me a $20 additional shipping charge. I had bought it on their first release round so got it at retail and also used some rewards points so I can't complain too much but this is a pretty shady move on their part.
Ben's VF-1A just went up for pre-order. Same price as Max but limited to supposedly 98 pieces compared to the 198 for Max according to their Facebook post. Does that even make sense? BBTS is carrying Max so I assume they will have Ben as well. Shipping is ridiculous to the US as well. Ordering post via "Express Mail" for 7-14 days is $66 when shipping actually resumes. Individually shipping each piece is $34 so not much of a break buying more.
Mine has been in "preparation in progress" for over a week. This is my 3rd order from them and they came through for me the last 2 times so I'm not too worried. Of course, if it's the same status on 2/1/22, I'm opening a PayPal claim.
Up on toydojo.com with free shipping:
https://toydojo.com/products/dx-chogokin-macross-vf-25-messiah-valkyrie-worldwide-anniversary-edition-macross-frontier
Only question now is do I buy 2 so I can open 1?
I actually just received my DX Armored Valkyrie set from NinNin today. Yes it took almost a month for them just to ship it but it was packed well. I don't think it's fair for them to be in the same category as NY yet.