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mechaninac

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Everything posted by mechaninac

  1. ^This! If QC/yield leading to piecemeal shipments was the issue, an announcement by Bandai would have allayed a lot of misgivings regarding vendors' abilities to honor orders placed; the fact that the item went on sale almost 6 months before official release with a mandated up-front payment meant that a lot of customers found themselves facing a hard deadline to contest charges for undelivered goods if PayPal was involved. This has been an entirely crappy situation all around... the one VF-31 I really, really, really, wanted is now but a pipe dream due to all this as a pricey item from the outset will now be exorbitant because of the artificial and perpetuated scarcity driven by how this release is being delivered to sellers; it's a scalper's wet dream.
  2. And here I thought they couldn't do any worse than Teen Titans Go for that property... sadly, I was naively mistaken. Then again, I shouldn't have been surprised.
  3. I've stated this before: the visor shown in the original prototype and the production version have what appears to be the same or similar process in creating the HALO-like grid pattern we see; the difference, and it's a highly noticeable one at least in the pictures of the production version, is that the prototype had thin and shallow engraving which was subtle and looked great, while the final version's detail has deep and wide engraving that looks too thick and off-scale making the gird look garish. Maybe Sentinel thought that the prototype's didn't stand out enough and decided to go big and bold, which judging by the pictures was a terrible choice. It is what it is; there's no changing it now. I'm just hoping that it won't stand out so much under normal lighting conditions.
  4. If you live in the U.S., and since the invoice is charged in USD, as long as the total amounts to > $99.00, PayPal gives you the choice of immediate payment by direct funding with balance, bank, or CC; or 'Pay me Later' which is funded through a linked bank account but gives you 6 months to pay interest free. So, it's a payment level thing, not something Fexthobby offers on their end. It turns out that this may be mostly moot because the confirmation email I received from PayPal stated that the transaction was just an authorization for payment, and wouldn't be finalized until fexthobby processes the order, which possibly means that they won't charge the account until they're ready to ship.
  5. Ordered 000 and 102 to cover all basis regarding accessories, and with 'Pay Me Later" I don't even have to pay until long after delivery; besides, I had funds freed up from the VF-31A refund due to that whole cluster frack.
  6. Well, I'm officially out of the VF-31A game. The ebay seller from whom I pre-ordered was more than eager to refund me even though I mentioned that I'd be willing to wait a bit longer on the condition that I'd be refunded if he couldn't deliver (he rightly figured that if he does get stock he'll be able to sell it for 2-3x what I had paid), and there is absolutely no way in Hades that I'll shell out secondary market prices for it. Here's hoping that Bandai will release a different version as a standard release in the future; otherwise, meh! At least I didn't lose anything.
  7. Well, all the back and forth herein has increased my level of anxiety regarding my eBay pre-order. I just sent the seller an message for a status report and availability estimate, a very polite and respectful yet much more forceful and uncompromising one than the first I sent a bit over 3 weeks ago; I paid October 8, thus my time is running out, so I felt that I had to be proactive and firm at this point while still giving the seller time to respond before I escalate with PayPal... fingers crossed.
  8. I'm still holding on to the hope that the eBay seller I purchased my VF-31A from will come through, but other than a quick exchange we had about a week after official release when I inquired about it and was assured that the toy was expected at the end of March there hasn't been any word (It's only April 2nd so I won't worry in earnest until a few more days pass)... and given all the frustrated back and forth in this thread I find my hopes of ever seeing my copy dwindling a little bit every day with the very real possibility that the money I paid is lost because it's already been more that 180 days since the order was placed and paid.
  9. mechaninac

    Hi-Metal R

    This was remarkably easy; I guess it isn't as popular a release as most were expecting it to be. I did not stay up for the preorder rush and was able to secure a copy -- 1 is all I want -- with N-Y for a total of 8,470Â¥ by regular SAL, and I notice that it's still readily available through Amiami (not discounted enough), HLJ (no discount at all), and N-Y. I'm glad to have decided that sleep was more important this go-around.
  10. My 2 cents on the visor: It appears to me that the detail is engraved on the inside of the face shield; the difference as I see it is that, compared to the prototype stage, the detail is both thicker and more deeply engraved into the plastics inner surface, making it stand out far too much when compared to both the art work and the prototype... garish instead of subtle. Is it a deal breaker? No; as jenius previously stated, lighting conditions for home display likely won't make it pop as much as it does in that photo shoot setting. Personally, however, I would've preferred shallow engraving, or embossing, on the inside of a clear blue part so that you could see the face behind the shield as opposed to the opaque painted inside it looks like we'll be getting. It'll be incumbent upon some enterprising soul to recast that part in clear blue resin so that we can have the choice to replace the visor with a less "offending" version.
  11. I just hope that the eBay seller from whom I pre-ordered, who has a 98.6% positive rating, comes through... I only want one 31A so I'm refraining from ordering another at this time; however, I would hate to miss out or end up having to fork over exorbitant amounts for a copy on the secondary market.
  12. Damn, that bird can sure dance...
  13. ^ I read ya; but to be fair, Figmas and Figuarts and Mafex are also around that price point. Ordinarily, $15-$25 would be far more reasonable for 1/10-1/12 articulated figures, but limited production volumes and licensing costs, etc., play major factors in the final retail price.
  14. dragonstar1982: Ooh, model kits to build... dradonstar1982's kitty: Ooh, boxes...
  15. I just cancelled my HLJ preorder for the 31S DX, so the Order Stop status might change for them to unload the freed up reserve.
  16. I have no idea if that typo/misspelling was a simple mistake or intentional, but damn, given the context of what you're referencing, it's absolutely, hilariously brilliant. Nastalgia: Noun -- A penchant for desiring something from the past that is universally recognized as utter crap. A lack of good taste in anything considered vintage so long as what it depicts is something from a fondly held memory. Love of bad stuff from one's youth. Nasty nostalgia.
  17. ^ Yes, but that scene was ambiguous enough that there was a lot of speculation regarding its significance, or whether that was her in the flesh or as a force ghost. This last episode resolved those questions... and created whole new ones.
  18. mechaninac

    Macross figures

    Of those, the only one that looks even remotely "decent" is the Miriya figure, and only when compared to the other four; so, this observation is far from a ringing endorsement on my part. This whole line is an easy regret-less pass.
  19. Success at N-Y for at shipped price that ended up lower than HLJ's before shipping, and with the confirmation email received I'll be cancelling my HLJ order later. That's a wrap. Good night to everyone.
  20. Confirmation email received from HLJ. N-Y is back but no 31S listing yet.
  21. HLJ and done, unless I can snag one from N-Y in the next 1/2 hour or so. HLJ is the perfect choice for a hold-over due to their ease of cancellation.
  22. Got the following email from N-Y today concerning the Ray type MOSPEADA Ride Armor: You have received a new message regarding your order #****** " We are contacting today regarding this product : RIOBOT - VR-052T Mospeada Ray We've just got the confirmation that the release date for this product was changed. Initially the release date was on : 2018-03-31 The new release date is now on : 2018-04-30 So, what is this, the second month long delay? I can't complain too much about the Ray being pushed back, yet again, as I won't be charged until release is imminent, but I ordered the Stick type with AE (and this is the reason I almost never buy off AE... up front payment) which means I have to wait another month, I assume as I didn't get a message concerning that item, for something that is paid in full and holding up two other items that have been released so that everything can be shipped together. I do hope that the delays mean that these toys will be flawless... more likely, they've been encountering a slew of production problems.
  23. Well, tonight's episodes were... trippy... And the final episode is next Monday. I'm going to miss this show; it is, to me, the only current visual story-telling part of the property where the true "spirit" of Star Wars exists.
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