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Chronocidal

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Everything posted by Chronocidal

  1. Chronocidal
    Definitely not just you. However.. I am all for this sort of behavior by Bandai. Yes, please Bandai, keep making these sorts of event exclusives for all your future events. Saves me a ton of trouble trying to get them if you keep making them this ugly.
  2. Chronocidal
    I do remember seeing a teaser of something like this a few months back, probably a tiny teaser attached to something related to the VT-1 release. Otherwise.. yeah, no thanks, that's a nice chunk of money saved. Helps me recover from the summer salvo hitting this year with the monthly releases stretching from May to probably September.
  3. Chronocidal
    Ah, good. Something I can skip with no regrets.
  4. Chronocidal
    So that's definitely an interesting development. I think I have a grand total of one Fujimi kit in my collection, and it's an ancient 1/48 F-14A kit from 1978. I'm not going to attempt to compare the accuracy of it, but it's probably the best fitting 1/48 F-14 kit I have, and I remember it being several huge steps above any other manufacturer in terms of ease of assembly, even to this day. It just went together perfectly.
  5. Chronocidal
    Guess I'm glad I at least got a pair of good Tie fighters out of the deal to match with a Vader version if I ever get one, but the X-Wings are pretty bad by comparison. My initial instincts about the mold were unfortunately on the nose. Pretty sad, the quality of the Y-Wings I grabbed got my hopes up, but these things are just weirdly sloppy and mis-molded messes. I guess that's what you should expect as the first product in a line, but still disappointing.
  6. Chronocidal
    Boy I wish Bandai would give its folks a lesson in how to pose mecha so they don't look like they're bored out of their minds.
  7. Chronocidal
    What I'd really love to see is them exploring the larger variety of VF-19 variants in this cheaper line. Maybe pull some of the racing designs in, or more paint options we saw in games, or the Master File.. maybe a Nothung? Please?
  8. Chronocidal
    Might be tricky to color-match (either with paint or plain plastic), but I want to think it would be pretty easy to scratch-build those parts out of some scrap plastic. The hinges might be tricky due to their size, but you might be able to substitute a piece of metal wire, if it's too hard of a shape to make. I'd probably attempt to make something out of a sprue clipping, but I love punishing my fingers that way.
  9. Chronocidal
    Ok, I wasn't really sold on that X-Wing mold, but for that price I'll absolutely bite. I think what's really more baffling is the original list price though. Yeeesh.
  10. Chronocidal
    I forget which version it is that has Ranka and Sheryl on it (Sayonara no Tsubasa variant, probably?), but I always liked the darker green and brighter gold tones on it. Sadly, what I always really wanted was one with just the mouth and eye markings on it.. which, if you actually look carefully, they printed the character art directly on top of it.
  11. Chronocidal
    I picked up both of the old HM VF-19 releases years back, and they're distinctly "okay" in most respects. They work well, and transform easily enough, but they're pretty long in the torso, and pretty gappy in fighter mode. I think the biggest issue many had with them was the complete lack of any landing gear (they eventually made a base with gear that you could rest the valk on), and I don't believe they were able to mount the gunpod at all (whether the later VF-19S fixed this, I don't recall at the moment).
  12. Chronocidal
    This is actually kind of the reverse. The production line is complete, and all they have to do is make more. The problem is that making more takes production line time away from other products. Going off of how they tend to produce everything in one go, adding more stock to a production run will absolutely throw a wrench in whatever schedule they have for that factory.
  13. Chronocidal
    I don't want to defend the price increases, but from a distribution and manufacturing standpoint, I can see why it had to happen. Consider that Bandai's production and distribution planning for Macross products has always been focused on the Japanese market alone, since international distribution wasn't "possible," at least not from an official point of view. So, how are you going to begin addressing the international demand officially? What changes have to be made to manufacture enough for the perceived international demand? You don't want to hike prices for Japanese customers for the same products to support expanded production lines, and you don't want to even consider expanding them until you're sure sufficient international interest exists to support that expansion in the first place. So, I'm kind of in the mindset that the WWM releases are a market study. I don't even know if Bandai is producing more stock. What they are doing is studying whether there is enough demand outside of Japan to start paying more attention to their international customers. I'm thinking the international markup accomplishes two things, really. On the one hand, it'll help cover the costs of increased production and distribution without passing that cost onto the Japanese market that didn't ask for it. On the other, it gives them a measure of international interest, determining whether the extra cost hurdle is enough to offset the convenience of getting stuff from places like Amazon. The exchange rate and current economy being what they are, I'm curious whether they'll think it's worth the effort. If prices keep everyone buying from Japanese stores anyway, Bandai really doesn't have any incentive to expand.
  14. Chronocidal
    Thanks for the comparison, I never ship anything as small as a single HMR, so I never see shipping that low.
  15. Chronocidal
    BBTS actually has a pretty good price on this one, considering you get it for $4 shipping, but you also wind up adding sales tax, so that could be better or worse depending on where you live. Overall though, for a single shipped item, you'd probably come out about even with most of the international vendors. I tend to stick with HLJ just because there are so many other things they sell that I use (mostly modeling supplies), so even on the rare occasion I'm only shipping one item, I can always throw other small things in the box to make it worth the shipping cost.
  16. Chronocidal
    Not exactly new... it's a shrunken Yamato VF-19. But yes, very different from the original HM Fire Valk.
  17. Chronocidal
    Could be there just isn't that much interest in this one as well, which is kind of a nice change. Got a pair from HLJ and AE without much hassle, so I'll just pray that any further releases of this mold are just as easy.
  18. Chronocidal
    And of course the hampsters powering HLJ's servers all just had strokes. Phew.. think it actually got through. Got a confirmation email, and it's still showing as up, so hopefully people who want it can get it.
  19. Chronocidal
    Up at AE https://anime-export.com/index.php?product=79186
  20. Chronocidal
    Actually that discovery is very much appreciated, since it really is hard to find a proper match for touching up, and some of the edges have long since flaked on my 262s.
  21. Chronocidal
    In theory (minus AmiAmi who seems to want to push them to 5:30pm), though I seem to recall there being some oddballs that didn't adjust to daylight savings in the past?
  22. Chronocidal
    Not wrong, but still a fair chunk above most of the shipping options from Japan. Does take a bit of the pain away if you can't manage to order one from Japan though (and don't mind waiting an extra 4+ months).
  23. Chronocidal
    The scrawny look is probably due to the bicep sleeves not being dropped.. assuming they actually do drop on this version. The Yamato ones slide down to cover the secondary arm hinge.
  24. Chronocidal
    YEEESH... $110 markup. I guess that's where they make a profit. They upcharge you over $100, and then pick slowboat shipping. I feel like a lot of these shops are trying to take advantage of the old status quo that gave a roughly 1/100 dollar to yen exchange rate, and hoping people don't keep tabs on current market rates.
  25. Chronocidal
    The arms do look goofy, but I'm not sure why. Maybe the huge hands? There also might be some mistransformation going on as well. The legs though, yeah, have to agree, but that's what you get adapting the Yamato 1/60 mold, and all the benefits and detriments associated with it. The original HM didn't have to worry about making room for gear or missile bays, and didn't deal with the whole extension gimmick, so they could be much slimmer. Having the entire gear bay molded in is fancier, but I actually wish they would go back to swapping the gear doors out like they did on the VF-1. Having those giant door hinges sticking out isn't doing the design any favors when scaled down like this.
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