HLJ is pro-scalpers?!?!?

[Falcon]

Wait, you ordered 5??

lol...ok

Think he ordered 5 from several different sources. Can't say I blame him. If I had the money I wouldn't mind doing something like that to ensure I get a good one.

Though Lupin's posts are "a bit" more animated than most of us, he does mean well and shows a lot of passion about something we all feel in regards to Bandai's marketing. Though his sentiments have been repeated on several posts/topics it doesn't really bother me too much but I understand some of you may be tired of the repetition. That said I don't think attacking him over it like some of you here is fair.

Big fan of HLJ myself and will still be buying from them- especially things like Shigeo Koike and Macross merchandise if the price is right and/or I can afford it. Their customer service is excellent and they sometimes provide personal touches. I asked about a Shigeo Koike painting that he's never put in book form and lo behold I was given a detailed digital image of it for free- compliments from HLJ. Something like that shows they do care about good customer service though they don't get everything perfect and they don't pretend to know all their products in and out so a mistake here or there isn't an impossibility. An example of they didn't have a clear idea that the the new Macross Chronicles is coming up soon but they'll see if they can look into it soon. That's good enough for me.

[Phalanix]

Sounds to me like a Bandai fault. I'm mean, even the 4G didn't sold out that quickly.

That's due to the price. If it was hovering around the 200 range then most likely but without a doubt Yamato would make more in different colors for other people to get it

That's partly true, the VF-4G was an online exclusive from Yamato's online shop and basically made to order. So as long as you get your pre-order in before the deadline you're set.

As for this HLJ pro scalper thing, can't say i'm on board either, we just don't know who bought it and at what quantity. Didn't someone in the 171 CF thread said they tried ordering more than 4 but at checkout it automatically changed his quantity to 4?

It's funny that the HLJ reply indicated they realize it's a hot item and they sell out fast then goes to contradict it by saying they limited it to 10 per person. It could be that the service rep may be just replying with a general "cut and paste" answer and didn't pay attention to what was written. For all we know, all this "raging" may be based off an incorrect customer service reply.

[Kicker773]

- Word Phalanix -

No one knows who anyone is on here some people may mean well and some don't. Who knows if someone bought more and in good gracious offered it to other members for the same price or less. If its genuine god bless him/her. But scalpers are people too. Not that I encourage it, but scalpers make money on what they do and some do it for a living (i.e. individuals selling tickets for events, concerts, etc.) They have a family to feed and support. So I have accepted it as a part of life. Think of it this way if you buy one from a scalper and was eager enough to pay the inflated price, you also helped that person support his lively-hood.

[aceoftherebellion]

I pretty much have to agree with what you're saying here, Kicker. We kinda frown at scalpers, and sometimes they obviously get pretty greedy.. ($700 pricetags on renewals on ebay? Please.) But we still exercise final control over that by simply not paying those prices if we disagree with them that badly. I think we toy collectors sometimes have kind of a bad attitude when it comes to the secondary market- Sometimes it takes extremes, but when you get down to it, it also does us a service. Miss out on a preorder because there was a supply problem? Now you have a way to obtain one anyway. Can't afford a product when it comes out? Pay a larger premium later because a secondary dealer bought some and has been holding onto them. It's NOT actually a bad thing- We just tend to kneejerk when a few of these dealers push it a little too far.

As for HLJ... it's a fact that a lot of their customers are second-hand retailers, and frankly they're in the business of making money. From their perspective, a sale is a sale. It'd be stupid for them to discourage retailers from buying stock from them, given that they double as wholesalers!

Hell, even Bandai's small production lots... That's a conscious decision they're making. In business, it's about producing as many things as you know will sale. Having a bunch of unsold product after a release can actually be pretty costly- And they're double-dipping many of these releases anyway. It makes pretty good business sense to release only a small amount of product that you know will sell, rather than producing a whole lot of product so it can sit around for a while. This isn't good for us collectors who rely on internet sales, but we're still a secondary market and always have been for this. I think we kinda gotta take it with a grain of salt and expect that, to a degree.

Sure, it kinda sucks when we can't get that shiny new thing for original retail, but IMO, it is what it is. When you get down to it, it's all just business I figure. Doesn't do a whole lot of good to get mad about it, at any rate.

[Benbot]

After seeing how much the renewals are going for on eBay I'm almost tempted to sell mine. I paid $200, but if I could get more than twice that...? I won't do it though, I love them too much. But when money gets tight, as it is for me this year, it's very tempting.

Edited January 12, 2013 by Benbot

[Renato]

Sounds to me like a Bandai fault. I'm mean, even the 4G didn't sold out that quickly.

But those were made to order, were they not?

[Dobber]

Not sure how I feel about the whole thing, but understand where Lupin is comming from.

However, the whole "scalpers are people too, have families ect" thing is asinine. There are career theifs that have families, bills, ect...doesn't make it ok when they rob me. I realize they are 2 different things and you don't have to buy from the scalper if you don't want to, but they are also preventing people from buying at the initial sale. Don't see how this is a supply and demand thing here, IF scalpers buy up all or most of a product they are forcing sales to go through them at their price.

Chris

Edited January 12, 2013 by Dobber

[Kicker773]

It is what it is Dobber, but like you said it's totally two different things. It's a business and by making the price go up = revenue. It's going to make people upset but they will still buy them. I.e. Black Friday scalpers that sell their loot on ebay, like tv's

[Renato]

I can't help but feel that none of this would be an issue at all if Bandai had just made *these* Valkyries FIVE YEARS AGO instead of the pieces of absolute garbage that they tossed out at first (referring to the v.1's of course). At least part of the reason that they are producing such small numbers is that Frontier is pretty much over and fewer fans are willing to double-dip for an "improved" valk. But what do I know.

[Kicker773]

the absolute garbage a have quiet a few of and I never jumped on the v2 release, but did manage to get the alto renewal and YF29 and 30th Anniv.. I have multiple garbage with their respective FP, Armor, and Tornado packs. So yeah a slap in the face from bandai. Yamato needs to make more valks so I can look away from bandai.

[Scyla]

At least it was scalper friendly if the limit really was 10 per customer. The response could be a typo or the limit was an accident from the person who added the item to the shop.

I know scalpers are also customers. And I don't know if professional re-selling is illegal (googling it indicated that it's not but that might depend on the specific laws of a country). But if you look at items like tickets for concerts or soccer games the companies that are releasing/selling these do something against the secondary market because it is not consumer friendly.

I don't know much of the secondary market but I imagine that a professional scalper has an advantage over regular customers. I fairly sure that they know the time frame when an item goes on pre-order. They have alerts set when something on the web-site is changing and the have scripts to order automatically. Also they might have multiple accounts on the shop and are likely based in the same time zone as the shop (i.e. Asia). I don't know if this is correct but that were my first thoughts how to do it.

So yes even if they have families to feed in my opinion its unfair to normal guys because the operate in a field were they don't belong and a regular customer is not on even ground with them.

HLJ has a great customer support and a good track record since they opened so it is confusing to my why they would do something like that. They must clearly know what items are hot at the moment and must also know about the demand of a given item. Plus they should also know about the second market and scalpers.

Yes HLJ can sell to whom they want but it is consumer unfriendly if the claims are true. I also assume that it would damaging their business model since normal customers not only buy hot items but also normal stuff that is in their warehouse.

I have done business with HLJ and they are the only oversea toy shop were I don't have to go to the customs office to pay the tax and the customs-fee. Instead the postman will deliver it straight to my home and I can pay directly.

That said I feel really guilty now because I ordered my CF at NY and their business practices are also questionable from my point of view. And yes they are only toys but we are all passionated about our hobby so it is o.k. to raise our voices if something like this happens. And not all of us have rooms full of Valkyries were the three missing VF-171 CFs are hardly noticeable (no offense against any toy collector!!!) .

[Scyla]

Regarding Bandais business practices (the first post was long enough). I'm not sure if I can blame them either. I don't know how many items they produce per run and why. I also don't know how many of the produced items go to on-line retailers and how many per shop, and the percentage of units that leave Japan to foreign countries.

As said from a business and our (i.e. foreign toy collectors) standpoint it doesn't make any sense. I don't believe that Bandai wants to harm their Frontier license because I think that MF is still popular in Japan.But it could be something similar to the latest Spiderman movie were Sony had to produce it otherwise the license would be volatile again and they didn't want that because it would go back to Marvel/Disney. Maybe Bandais license deals has an article that says: release so and so many transformable 1/60 Valkyries over so and so many years otherwise the license can be bought by someone else.

I don't think that this is the case. I believe (which I stated in another thread) that Bandai is either not aware of the foreign market (unlikely), does know about it but doesn't give a damn (likely), or knows about it and wants to cater to it but cant (also likely) because they don't want to mess with HarmonyGold or foreign customer support is to expensive to be profitable. Maybe they got burned by the V1 release and could not sell all the Valkyries (imagine warehouses full of VF-25 V1s) playing it safe know (for them) this time.

In my opinion Bandai doesn't care about the foreign market because it is to niche. They seem to produce enough units to satisfy the Japanese market and are fine with that. The Frontier line is profitable for them so they don't have to change their releases.

And even if a Japanese toy collector can't secure a pre-order at amiami they have much more options to get what they want (local toy sores, Amazon Japan, etc.) than we do.

I assume that Yamato is aware of the foreign market or the demand for their pricey toys is not that high inside Japan so the can provide more stock to "proxy" retailers.

So that are my thoughts on the topic. If anyone has more insight in the Japanese toy market maybe you can explain to me what is wrong with my assumptions. Thanks in advance.

[stormshadow0621]

So anyone here able to write and make available these scripts that scalpers might have so we are all on an equal playing field? And that we don't have to campout all week just to miss that few minutes of availability?

[jenius]

Can we all start getting over how hard the preorders are and start recognizing that, for those of us who wanted the toys when they came out and acted quickly upon it, we were all able to get the toys even if we weren't able to preorder? There's such doomsday talk. The 171 was pretty easy to get for a while. The YF-29, VF-25F, and even the VF-25S could be had for those who didn't hem and haw for a month. The only recent exception I saw was the Focker YF-29 and that is quickly being reissued (and I suspect we'll see other reissues this year). God forbid when the scalpers get a hold of these toys and then charge still less than MSRP of new Yamato valks but you get butt hurt and would rather pay Yamato prices if that had been the original MSRP. Bizarre. I'm sure Bandai is thrilled and is making good money from the license. The idea that they should make more so some can warm shelves for a while would probably make them laugh.

I do agree though that it sucks HLJ would put a 10 item limit on these toys but I sympathize with them also. Look at the number of toys they've had to slash prices on with their sales. If they could know they'll get nearly full price for all of a particular toy then I could see why they'd do that. Still, if you're going to petition them to reduce the limit you might as well petition them to stop offering early bird discounts as well. "Please make it less desirable to buy toys from you so I have more of a chance of being able to do so."

[Major Focker]

God forbid when the scalpers get a hold of these toys and then charge still less than MSRP of new Yamato valks but you get butt hurt and would rather pay Yamato prices if that had been the original MSRP. Bizarre. I'm sure Bandai is thrilled and is making good money from the license. The idea that they should make more so some can warm shelves for a while would probably make them laugh.

this insight eluded me at first, but you're right.

VF-17 non-FP MSRP = $280-290

VF-171 at ebay scalper prices = $250-300

VF-171 at NY "price gouging" = $195

bizarre indeed.

personally, i've set a threshold of sorts at $250 for any valk. which is why i took longer to decide on getting a VF-4G (i caved, eventually) and still haven't ordered any VF-17, but spent far less time clicking on NY preorders for Bandai valks. i guess for some people, it's not that they mind paying $250 but more because they feel "entitled" to the same great price others got. i must admit i felt that way when i was sitting on a YF-29 (first release) preorder at Hobbysearch while mulling if Amiami would reopen theirs at an extra 7% off.

now, how many Bandai Macross stuff have gone on deep discount at HLJ? only the Quarter and the v1 Tornado springs to mind.

how many Yamato Macross went on deep discount? Nearly everything, and some even years after release.

if i was a shareholder at Bandai and Yamato, i'd be more concerned whether Yamato has got their pricing and supply equation right.

if i was HLJ, i'd be less worried about Bandai's limited allocation and more concerned with Yamato's MSRP.

maybe, just maybe, Bandai has a better reading of the primary and secondary market than we give them credit for.

Edited January 13, 2013 by Major Focker

[Falcon]

this insight eluded me at first, but you're right.

VF-17 non-FP MSRP = $280-290

VF-171 at ebay scalper prices = $250-300

VF-171 at NY "price gouging" = $195

bizarre indeed.

personally, i've set a threshold of sorts at $250 for any valk. which is why i took longer to decide on getting a VF-4G (i caved, eventually) and still haven't ordered any VF-17, but spent far less time clicking on NY preorders for Bandai valks. i guess for some people, it's not that they mind paying $250 but more because they feel "entitled" to the same great price others got. i must admit i felt that way when i was sitting on a YF-29 (first release) preorder at Hobbysearch while mulling if Amiami would reopen theirs at an extra 7% off.

now, how many Bandai Macross stuff have gone on deep discount at HLJ? only the Quarter and the v1 Tornado springs to mind.

how many Yamato Macross went on deep discount? Nearly everything, and some even years after release.

if i was a shareholder at Bandai and Yamato, i'd be more concerned whether Yamato has got their pricing and supply equation right.

if i was HLJ, i'd be less worried about Bandai's limited allocation and more concerned with Yamato's MSRP.

maybe, just maybe, Bandai has a better reading of the primary and secondary market than we give them credit for.

Don't know where you got your data from for e-bay scalper prices, but the price for a VF-171 EX can range from as low as $208.55 AUD (so more for US) to as high as $554.55 AUD on ebay. That's a big difference from what you've stated. Comparing it to a VF-171 CF is not a fair way of doing it as the product hasn't been released yet and scalpers aren't out in full force till the products arrive on the shelves as it were.

[Major Focker]

oh, it was just a cursory glance at the first page on ebay. so the 171 can be had on ebay for even less than i had stated. the point is, that Bandai valks are available at less than Yamato MSRP, even on scalper-bay. of course, one has to exercise due prudence and ignore the uber greedy ones wanting $500.

if one were to consider just the 171EX vs. the 17D, both of which are now available, the paradox still holds : people seem to be fine paying Yamato MSRP but not the equivalent amount of dollars (or less) for Bandai valks because it is above MSRP.

OT, didn't realize the AUD has kept gaining against the USD. last time i was there to watch U2 it was just about par, and just a few years earlier it was more in line with SGD. probably great for shopping online, but tourism must be taking a hit.

[Scyla]

Can we all start getting over how hard the preorders are and start recognizing that, for those of us who wanted the toys when they came out and acted quickly upon it, we were all able to get the toys even if we weren't able to preorder? There's such doomsday talk. The 171 was pretty easy to get for a while. The YF-29, VF-25F, and even the VF-25S could be had for those who didn't hem and haw for a month. The only recent exception I saw was the Focker YF-29 and that is quickly being reissued (and I suspect we'll see other reissues this year). God forbid when the scalpers get a hold of these toys and then charge still less than MSRP of new Yamato valks but you get butt hurt and would rather pay Yamato prices if that had been the original MSRP. Bizarre. I'm sure Bandai is thrilled and is making good money from the license. The idea that they should make more so some can warm shelves for a while would probably make them laugh.

I'm also fairly sure that most of the people are got a pre-order out, are able to if more windows go up (I pre-ordered a VF-25G after the first window at amiami) or buy the toy on release but if you are passionate about something people tend to voice their opinions and the Internet is ideal for that.

That said the situation is less then ideal for foreign Macross fans. And I would love to order my toys after I saw a review about them but hey as a nerd you have to life with that situation all the time. I remember when the WoW CE Editions were sold in minutes on Amazon and they are so nice to send you an E-Mail if the item is available for pre-order.

Thats the drill if you are not interested in normal stuff like collecting Baseball cards or Football jerseys. And the situation is much better then 15 years ago when I started with the whole Japanese Anime/Manga/toy stuff with no Internet connection available (Funny thing I remember a HLJ add in my favorite Anime magazine I think you could order stuff there by mail). So the only place were I could see the fancy Japanese toys was a Shop 120 miles away from home and they didn't have a huge selection.

So the overall situation is good for toy collectors but if you have to save your money to buy exactly the few Valkyries you planned this year and you can't that is quit depressing. And it would be nice if everyone that is so interested in a toy to stalk obscure web forums could get the nice amiami pre-order discount if they stay up at night to refresh the web site. Just saying.

Also I'm sure this forum is a running gag for the Bandai CEOs when they count their 480 billion Yen that they earned last year and talk about some foreign guys that ramble on an Internet message board because they can't get some of their products.

I do agree though that it sucks HLJ would put a 10 item limit on these toys but I sympathize with them also. Look at the number of toys they've had to slash prices on with their sales. If they could know they'll get nearly full price for all of a particular toy then I could see why they'd do that. Still, if you're going to petition them to reduce the limit you might as well petition them to stop offering early bird discounts as well. "Please make it less desirable to buy toys from you so I have more of a chance of being able to do so."

Actually I'm not really sure if it is a good business strategy to cater to scalpers. Because scalpers are only buying items that the can sell which usually mean items with low production runs and a high demand. These would sell out anyway with orders from normal customers. Not so freaking fast of course. But a normal customer buys also other stuff from the store that is not highly demanded.

So it could be that if HLJ looses regular customers with that sale strategy (if it is one) resulting in less income overall. As I said HLJ would still fill all their pre-order slots for the VF-171 CF but regular customers are likely to order some stuff that is on sale, buy items they are interested in or to ease the cost of overseas shipping (I did all three things in the past).

Maybe HLJ has do offer a discount on so many items because only scalpers buy there and items without a high demand rot in the shelfs of their warehouses.

[Scyla]

...if one were to consider just the 171EX vs. the 17D, both of which are now available, the paradox still holds : people seem to be fine paying Yamato MSRP but not the equivalent amount of dollars (or less) for Bandai valks because it is above MSRP.

Still the MSRP has to be somewhat rationalizes. If Yamatos Valkyries are more expensive because they are a smaller company, but more engineering into their toys or construct them with more die cast and more/higher quality plastic that a higher MSRP is o.k. and a customer get something for it.

If I pay $299 for a VF-171 CF on the secondary market and $300 for the VF-17D with Super Parts on the primary market I don't get the same value for my bucks.

Sure I saved $1 with the Bandai one but is it worth the money?

[Major Focker]

the 171CF is available at NY for less than $200 as we speak. and if the 171EX is any indication, scalper prices for 171CF will likely dial back down to $250.

whether that $1-100 Yamato premium is value for money or not, will always boil down to personal evaluation. so if you find a 17D worth $300, but not so for a 171, that's fine and i respect that. but if both had the same MSRP of $300, would you think the same way? if yes, then you're being consistent with your perception of value. if no, then that's the paradox i was referring to.

from a company perspective, Bandai chose an MSRP where they could get the margin they wanted, same for wholesalers/retailer, and let scalpers take the risk on non-moving inventory. Yamato's MSRP potentially exposes a number of wholesalers and retailers to slow moving stock. Not to say that Yamato is not entitled to higher MSRP, they are a smaller company afterall, but they might want to reconsider their price and production balance.

[Falcon]

oh, it was just a cursory glance at the first page on ebay. so the 171 can be had on ebay for even less than i had stated. the point is, that Bandai valks are available at less than Yamato MSRP, even on scalper-bay. of course, one has to exercise due prudence and ignore the uber greedy ones wanting $500.

if one were to consider just the 171EX vs. the 17D, both of which are now available, the paradox still holds : people seem to be fine paying Yamato MSRP but not the equivalent amount of dollars (or less) for Bandai valks because it is above MSRP.

OT, didn't realize the AUD has kept gaining against the USD. last time i was there to watch U2 it was just about par, and just a few years earlier it was more in line with SGD. probably great for shopping online, but tourism must be taking a hit.

Yeah tourism isn't doing as well as it used to. I remember a time when the AUD was just 60 cents to the USD. But with the lower priced ebay ones I find they tend to make up for it with inflated shipping fees. Bandi prices aren't too bad on retail but the scalping ones do go up considerably. Amazon is just as bad as ebay if not worse. Seen V1. VF's at over $500! The quality of Yammie VF's paint wise is arguably better as there's less scraping with the way they're constructed. That said you wouldn't say the better paint/design is worth more than the difference between the 2.

[ultraman zoffy]

You have zero evidence. Which means you are speculating because you're pissed off. But if you don't want to shop at HLJ based on a conspiracy theory, be my guest.

QFT. Retailers don't owe us a damn thing, folks. The sooner folks realize it, the better off everyone will be. Collecting is a pain in the ass. Get out if you can't deal with it.

Edited January 13, 2013 by ultraman zoffy

[Kicker773]

QFT = ?

[Kanedas Bike]

Quoted For Truth.

-b.

[Valkyrie addict]

I understand the point of view of how "scalpers" make buying some valks difficult, the rage against HLJ seems unreasonable, some of you act like HLJ only sells Macross stuff and they should be on top of every order, for a company its better to sell wholesale than individual sales. They have a terms of service agreement and if they do not mention anything about buying in bulk, is not their problem, HLJ, any other company or the scalper give a rats ass about how we feel.

What a scalper do is no different than what one person does buying one item that's limited, putting it in a closet for 6 months and selling for an inflated price when the item is no longer available, except they call it investing or something.

If you do not agree with scalping, do not buy their stuff with inflated prices, it's a toy and it should not be a priority in your life to get mad about. If you feel your life depends on getting a certain Macross item, then you should be more proactive, research when the thing will be available and how to get it immediately so you can beat the scalpers....if your argument against this is "I have a real life and real stuff to attend about" then don't complain about a toy.

Edited January 13, 2013 by Valkyrie addict

[gundammsz010]

Why single out HLJ. It is sold out everywhere, at ALL online sellers.

If we are going to single out anyone, it should be Nippon-Yasan. You can still order both the original and re-issue yf-29 30th anniversary from them. Either they have a much larger stock than everyone else, or folks don't want to pay their scalper-price.

[zzgundam010]

Why single out HLJ. It is sold out everywhere, at ALL online sellers.

If we are going to single out anyone, it should be Nippon-Yasan. You can still order both the original and re-issue yf-29 30th anniversary from them. Either they have a much larger stock than everyone else, or folks don't want to pay their scalper-price.

By the way, Nippon-Yassan is not only pro-scalpers, they are scalper themselves. But again it is all supply and demand. They are in business to earn money. So why not charge a higher price if folks are willing to paid. One can only scalp when demand is much greater than supply.

[Phalanix]

Why single out HLJ. It is sold out everywhere, at ALL online sellers.

If we are going to single out anyone, it should be Nippon-Yasan. You can still order both the original and re-issue yf-29 30th anniversary from them. Either they have a much larger stock than everyone else, or folks don't want to pay their scalper-price.

HLJ was probably singled out because their customer service replied they had limited their quantity to 10 per customer, whereas the other sites limited it to 1-3 per customer.

NY's initial pre-order was listed at retail pricing, when that batch was filled, the started increasing their price due to demand. I think they've increased their pre-order price 2-3 times since the initial pre-order window. Supply and demand... but at least they still offered many people the chance to get a pre-order in when all the other online retailers closed their pre-orders. And the price increase isn't as bad as what's being listed on sites such as eBay and Amazon.

NY seems to have become the failsafe site when we can't get our orders through the usual online retailers. lol

[Scyla]

Since this thread opened I got thinking that maybe all the shops that sell Japan only products to foreign customers are scalpers.

Sure they are registered in japan and thus legal retailers of Japanese products.

But what negative effects do scalper have on the market?

Firstly they sell their products over MSRP to make a profit for them selfs.

Secondly they shorten the availability of a product for the intended audience.

The former does not fit for does retailers because the sell at MSRP and often give pre-order discounts or have

sales on selected items (they still try to make profit of course).

.

The latter might fit if Bandai produces only so much units of a given toy that they can satisfy the

local demand. Then theses shops shorten the number of products available to the intended audience.

This is especially true for items like the Tamashii Web Shop exclusive armor sets because they are clearly not

intended for foreign customers since the shop does not allow you to order something if you don't have a registered

address in Japan.

That web shop exclusive items are easier to acquire is in my opinion not a valid argument.

As far as I know is the size of a production runs for web shop exclusives depending on the number of pre-orders

so their is at the moment no negative effect for Japanese customers. But that can change any day if the company decides

to produce not based on the pre-orders but based on sold toys respectively an estimated number of sales.

Anyway that are my thoughts of the day. I would be glad if someone can proof me wrong

[Kicker773]

So the answer to this topic subject is NO.

[anime52k8]

In that case, slightly related question:

Greatest internet hero and savior of their fandom; Jin Saotome or Lupin the Third? discuss.

[Rabidweezil]

So the answer to this topic subject is NO.

Despite the logic and info that supports that answer, I think it still depends on who you ask

[xrentonx]

In that case, slightly related question:

Greatest internet hero and savior of their fandom; Jin Saotome or Lupin the Third? discuss.

My vote is for Lupin the Third because he's a loveable scamp and as we all know, loveable scamps overcome all adversity in the end. What's Jin Saotome gonna do? Get all anime extreme aggro with is supa long scarf? Pshhhhh...puhlease!

[Lupin The Third]

Just for fun I'll break my no more posts here decision and basically say what I did in the other thread.

Let's recap since many of you are unable to simply look a few pages back and see what transpired:

-EVERYONE in the 171CF thread blew up at HLJ's handling of preorders and were furious that HLJ allowed up to 10.

-I said I didn't believe anyone actually purchased 10, as everything on HLJ seems to default to 10, and emailed them to confirm that because I thought the forum was making an inaccurate claim about HLJ.

-HLJ emailed me back and confirmed that they did allow a max of 10 units.

-I posted their response and encouraged everyone to let them know that was crap and that they needed a better policy that gave more folks a chance to make a purchase (just like Amiami, CDJ, Hobby Search, etc)

-The forum completely blows the frakk up at me and makes all kinds of attacks on my character for no reason whatsoever other than the fact that I was trying to be helpful.

I started out trying to defend HLJ, shared what they told me with the forum and encouraged everyone to let them know they handled it poorly, and then got attacked for confirming what everyone was blowing up about to begin with! Stunning, like they say, truly no good deed goes unpunished. Now HLJ is responding to emails and basically admitting they screwed up initially and have corrected the problem now....gee isn't that all I was asking for from the start? Yeah I think it was. There it is...my dastardly plan to point out to a retailer that they did a sucky job handling a preorder and maybe could do better for the customers going forward. So that maybe all of us would have an easier time next go around. Oh how evil I am...oh the shame of inequity. Truly a bastard I am!

So yeah, go ahead and attack me some more. I definitely deserve it for trying to be helpful! I hope those of you who attacked me pay $500 for every Valk you buy from now on and they fall apart as you pull them from the box.

[Kicker773]

There's an echo or am I still in the other thread.....? Is it the matrix?