1/60 Yamato VF-4G Web-Exclusive Toy

[jenius]

That statement is almost misleading to me. Yamato's normal products are available throughout the year and easily obtainable. The VF-4 was meant to be a webshop exclusive due to the obscurity of the valk. It had like 3 seconds of screen time. I think it was a smart move to test the market, and they even found there was more demand than they thought. Now getting back to Bandai, they have the exclusive rights to the most current Macross IP and afaik the most popular in Japan right now. They are afraid of over producing? That makes no sense to me as they can see the things were flying off the shelves.

I think Major Focker framed the economics argument pretty well. All any of us can really do is speculate as to what the reasons are but generally you can trust the market. If Bandai really is leaving money on the table then you can bet they will or would come around and do reissues. In general though, making too much of something is far worse than leaving the market a bit hungry for more. Over-produced toys would make your retailers weary of ordering so many from you in the future and clog up your distribution channel. They also steal shelf space from other lines you might want to push out. If you don't make enough, you can always make more later. In Yamato's case I'd speculate they do the bare minimum production run size (especially since they have limited products and can do reissues fairlly quickly). The fact they do this and you still wind up with toys getting steep discounts explains pretty nicely why Yamato would be much more outgoing in their search for customers even if they can't pursue foreigners directly. Since Yamato deals with smaller numbers it's also easier for them to produce the right quantity. If you're marketing team is right to within 10% and they tell you demand is 1,000 units that's pretty easy to commit to with possibly 100 toys making it to discounts. If your marketing team is right to within 10% and they tell you demand is 10,000 units you now run the risk of getting burned by an extra thousand units... so if you build only 9,000 units and price with that in mind you've taken the risk out of it. If it appears marketing was wrong the 10% in the other direction you wait for the next gap in your production cycle and make another 2,000 units. Obviously there's a lot more that goes into it... my point is just that, while it may suck for us collectors, there's no conspiracies out there about screwing people outside of Japan.... unless we're talking about HG.

Edited December 19, 2012 by jenius

[M'Kyuun]

Jenius, you make a good argument concerning the marketing motivations between the two companies. Additionally, I personally doubt that Bandai counts on demand from the West, or even cares about it, as much as Yamato do. Bandai has the luxury of having numerous successful long running lines, whereas Yamato took a gamble on a niche market. Yamato has a far greater stake in the success and popularity of Macross, and after all these years, I would expect that they recognize there's a large consumership for their products outside of Japan, and that they have to factor us in, even if it is an indirect consumership in the US (Thanks HG, you guys are swell).

I'm just glad that Yamato have continued to step up their game, despite the fact that they really had no competition for years. They could have produced mediocre toys, which we would probably have accepted, and complained about incessantly. Kinda like we do with their high end toys, but I digress. From a marketing standpoint, they could have made a living from just-good-enough Macross toys, since no one else was making them. One need look no further than Hasbro to see success selling alot of just-good-enough and down-right-shi77y toys. The TFW2005 crowd salivate over nearly every offering, and those are mass produced over a longer shelf life, mostly. The toys, not the TFW2005 crowd, although I wonder... So, I applaud Yamato for pushing themselves. Their passion is in evidence with every new release. I'm not sure that Bandai has that level of commitment towards its Macross product line; I may have to adjust my thinking when my VF-25g renewal shows up in a day or two. The real treat, and what I'm downright giddy about, is getting two VF-4's and a VF-17 with Fast Packs at the end of the month, so it's going to be a Macross-rich Christmas for me this year. To the folks at Yamato and Bandai, domo arigato gozaimasu. <gracious bow>

[troyness]

Save was working on them yesterday while we were doing a podcasting session in a Firebomer themed karaoke room (Macross overload much? Lol). So, should be up soon.

Awesome!!

Thank-you Tochiro, looking forward to it!

I felt like posting it since everyone is freaking out. Accept it no one will get it before Christmas. Everyone will get it eventually. I don't understand the panic why it won't go out by Christmas or before. Is everyone expecting theirs to be delivered by Santa Claus personally. LOL

I probably started that a few pages back....sorry my bad.

[valhary]

anyone know if nippon yassan is in inventory I concerned because are offline and have already paid a lot of macross items with them including my vf 4g

[UN Spacy]

Still no photos of the atrocious box art?

[sil80jdm]

Do u guys think they're gonna only release this 4g or they gonna do variants of it?

[jvmacross]

Do u guys think they're gonna only release this 4g or they gonna do variants of it?

I can't entirely recall but I think the only Yamato releases to never have received a "variant" were the VB-6 and SDF-1 (unless you do not want to include the VE-1 and VT-1 as VF-1 variants)....

So......maybe?

[Mommar]

Still no photos of the atrocious box art?

We've already seen the Box. It's got the VF-4 lineart and schematics of the toy in the background.

[jvmacross]

yep...they should do that going forward with future releases....instead of using Photoshop to cut/paste the actual toy's pic onto the box......badly

Edited December 19, 2012 by jvmacross

[aurance]

I guarantee Bandai does what they do because they crunch numbers, not because they don't want the best return or because they want to piss people off.

This is pretty much it right here, for any business. Let's not kid ourselves here about company morality - what it boils down to is "this particular company's business strategy is not conducive to me getting foreign toys as an unintended market and that makes me angry".

[MichaelS]

We have 6 more days till release!! If everything goes as planned.

[Loop]

To tell you the truth though, I think they most likely get way better margins on the Bandai kits than mostly any other product. I can see how Macross would not be a priority. Bandai does produce a lot of other toys too, so I am willing to bet they prioritize Gundam then all other lines afterwards. Bandai also only has so many factories they can use for their massive product offerings.

[jenius]

I can't remember the last time I looked forward to a release this much. Seriously... drawing a blank. The 19Kai is cool but I wasn't thrilled to get a Fire Valkyrie. The 17S was cool but the whackiness with the gun splitting into two had me kinda cool on that. The V2 VF-1 looked like a small 1/48 with fewer gimmicks so that wasn't too eagerly anticipated. The V2 VF-25 was pretty hot on my list but even it was a second coming. Man, I bet it was the 1/60 YF-21 that was the last toy to get me really amped.

[Loop]

I'm with you jenius, I am super excited

[Mommar]

I guess I'm easier to please. I'm super excited for the VF-4, 17D with Super Packs, 19P and the super parts for my 171.

[Valkyrie addict]

indeed. Have already this payed and just patiently waiting for Yamato to not let me down.

[Sandman]

Have you guys gotten a payment request from nippon yassen? They usually send one 2weeks before release. I havent seen one myself.

[skullmilitia]

Release date still reads 12/31.

I assume that's the earliest we will

See releases.

[numagus99]

Have you guys gotten a payment request from nippon yassen? They usually send one 2weeks before release. I haven't seen one myself.

We have the option of paying through our user account. Log in and go to your orders, you'll have the option to pay or it will say you have already paid. I paid this week just to see if the price in US $ was dropped automatically to the new price (it was).

[Valkyrie addict]

I payed last week with Nippon-Yassan also, I didn't get a payment request but I tought prudent to pay now (Before I end up broke after X-mas). Eventough I got an invoice with the old price, I was billed the adjusted price (USD 360)

[Loop]

I guess I'm easier to please. I'm super excited for the VF-4, 17D with Super Packs, 19P and the super parts for my 171.

Actually I'm with you, hahaha. I am actually always excited for new Macross valks, but I am extra charged up for the VF-4.

I even ordered a second VF-19F that I 'm excited for too

[Kicker773]

does hlj still have the shipping thing discount?

[potatobbq]

Just got the payment request from NY and paid w/ Paypal. As others have already noted, the price was already automatically adjusted at $304.04 + $56.04 shipping to SF, CA.

[charger69]

Just got the payment request from NY and paid w/ Paypal. As others have already noted, the price was already automatically adjusted at $304.04 + $56.04 shipping to SF, CA.

Did you get an e-mail notification and paid it or checked your account manually?

I didn't get any e-mail notification...

[potatobbq]

Did you get an e-mail notification and paid it or checked your account manually?

I didn't get any e-mail notification...

I got this e-mail notification about 20 mins ago:

Hi X, Message from Nippon-Yasan.Com You have received a new message regarding order #18599:

Hello and thank you for your order!

This product will be in stock and ship the 25th December 2012.

You have to pay your order BEFORE 24th December 2012 08:00 AM JAPANESE HOUR.

If you don't pay before this date, your order will be cancel.

Please understand that we can close your account and cancel all your pre-order if you don't pay before this date.

For pay your order, please click in "pay my order" in your account.

If you have any question, feel free to ask us!

Nippon-Yasan.Com

[charger69]

Thank you pbbq! Will check my e-mail more often

[potatobbq]

Thank you pbbq! Will check my e-mail more often

Hehe no problem. I don't think it actually matters though as long as you pay before 12/24 8:00AM JP time since they aren't going to ship until the 12/25 anyway. So far, NY has never failed me on a pre-order so I think they'll have enough for everyone. Just excited that this is actually FINALLY happening

[wm cheng]

Every time I go to try and pay, I get a site is down for maintenance - is anyone getting this message?

[Ignacio Ocamica]

When I payed for mine, I went to my order history selected creditcard payment and was linked to paypal.

[ps99042]

Every time I go to try and pay, I get a site is down for maintenance - is anyone getting this message?

Yeah, I'm having the same issue but I'll check again after work. I'm sure they still want our money..

[Mommar]

Every time I go to try and pay, I get a site is down for maintenance - is anyone getting this message?

That happened to me after I paid for my first VF-4, but since then I've paid for the my second VF-4 and my 171 armor parts and haven't happened across that maintenance message.

[hal9000]

Well the world didn't end. But I finally got my order payment email, So my wallet felt like it was the end times.

[eyesonme78]

Finally it is coming, but on the website it said 27th Dec release..

i figure NY gotten it earlier right ?

[jenius]

When are the holidays in Japan?

[kyekye]

Finally it is coming, but on the website it said 27th Dec release..

i figure NY gotten it earlier right ?

NY send you payment request 1 week before the expected release date. So they don't have it yet.

Don't pay too early thou if you are using PayPal. In case you receive damaged one, you need those Paypal protection.