!The Panic thread! *buying frenzy*

[Cdisdope]

who's gonna panic buy this one?

http://www.anime-export.com/product/13378

[charger69]

who's gonna panic buy this one?

http://www.anime-export.com/product/13378

[miro79]

just bought myself the VF-1A Hayao Kakizaki TV version.

[dapro]

just bought myself the VF-1A Hayao Kakizaki TV version.

Finally Kakizaki got some love.

[Valkyrie Magnus]

who's gonna panic buy this one?

http://www.anime-export.com/product/13378

You can still find the 1/48 version a lot cheaper.

[Shaorin]

thanks to this panic thread and the low price of HKC on the VF-19S, and thanks to Shaorin for putting those "damn" addictive pictures on the VF-19S, I came out of the dead and bought it!!!! I wanted the vf-19 Kai, but it was 30$ more expensive, and I figured the S looks nicer....hope I made the right decision.

you're very welcome.

YMMV as always, but the 19S is an infinitely more aesthetically pleasing 19 variation than the "McDonald" 19k.

a painfully obvious, no-brainer (IMHO) choice made all the easier by that $30.00 price differential.

i congratulate you, sir, on an exceedingly wise purchase. i guarantee you will not be disappointed. this bird's built for lovin'...

Edited March 25, 2013 by Shaorin

[johnkillingsworth]

I felt the panic over the weekend and booked an order at HKC:

VF-19 Fire

VF-19S Blazer

VF-19F

VF-19P Zolan Patrol

VF-17S

VF-17D w/super pack

VF-17 super pack

VF-1S unassembled x2

Picked this up from ebay (hobby locus cancelled my first buy-it-now and had to order from basicabc)

VF-19 Sound Booster

I'm looking forward to everything except the sound booster. Sheesh! Does it play Fire Bomber songs at least? The VF-1S unassembled kits were a last minute addition. I'm planning to customize one for each of my kids someday. My daughter loves pink, purple, blue, black & white. It's going to be tough designing a valk color scheme with those colors!

[Mechapilot77]

wow step away from MW for a week or so and there is a full on panic thread. is there confirmation somewhere arcadia won't be releasing macross stuff?

man am i happy i'm not a Mac 7 valk fan. i woulda just spent thousands of dollars in vf-17-19's. that being said i'm quite sad i'll probably never (for a reasonable price) be able to get a super pack (TV style), the destroids, and a few random variants i sort of liked but weren't "worth it" at the time (vf-x, angel bird, super ostrich, the dryl versions of max, kakizaki, the yf-21, and yes even the aging yf-19.) etc. shame is, back the day you could get a super tv fast pack set for like $35 if i'm remembering correctly and kakizakis were on sale all the time. that being said i'm happy i prioritized my favorite designs/decos at the right time and have say...85-90% of what i wanted from yamato.

[anime52k8]

wow step away from MW for a week or so and there is a full on panic thread. is there confirmation somewhere arcadia won't be releasing macross stuff?

No, but clearly the lack of formal statement from them means that They've lost all their old molds, all of their Macross licenses and will never, ever, ever, ever, ever release another Macross related product ever again, ever.

Edited March 26, 2013 by anime52k8

[Reïvaj]

No, but clearly there lack of formal statement from them means that They've lost all their old molds, all of their Macross licenses and will never, ever, ever, ever, ever release another Macross related product ever again, ever.

:lol: Sarcasm, Hyperbole (and ponies).

[Graham]

Still no formal confirmation, but more and more sources are saying it was bankruptcy

Graham

[anime52k8]

You can still find the 1/48 version a lot cheaper.

The 1/48 version was also less limited and a lot uglier.

Still no formal confirmation, but more and more sources are saying it was bankruptcy

Graham

Maybe I'm just not paying enough attention but has there been ANYTHING at all that would definitively support the assertion that they in fact went bankrupt or changed name to avoid bankruptcy?

[Chronocidal]

Well, even if it was bankruptcy for certain, does that have any definite impact on whether Arcadia can pick up the molds and licenses to keep producing them?

[Valk009]

Bankruptcy sounds likely and maybe was well planned! It is common practice to file bankruptcy, change name and start fresh without any or little debt.

The action might not necessary mean Yamato was losing money but perhaps a way to bypass some corporate taxes!

[Valkyrie addict]

So, was the Macross line the only thing Yamato had poor sales on?

I can't believe their Macross line along would atone to their demise. Were they have trouble selling their statues figurines?

[ah_t00t]

So meaning Arcadia would do the same thing as Yamato & then file bankruptcy at the end of the day? & make a new company?

Edited March 26, 2013 by ah_t00t

[skullmilitia]

^ that's the way it works sadly.

At least they don't steal tax payer money to do it!

[Loop]

^ that's the way it works sadly.

At least they don't steal tax payer money to do it!

LOL, yeah anything to screw the greedy scam artist bankers as long as I get toys

Edited March 26, 2013 by Loop

[ah_t00t]

Well, they could have at least changed the name to Zamato or Bamato to keep us less panicky if there was still any hope for further producing macross valks

[Uxi]

Musashi would have probably been too obvious.

[anime52k8]

but changing you name from one Leijiverse spaceship reference to another is more thematic.

[Uxi]

More seriously, even assuming someone buys the molds, they probably won't crank them out as immediately as anyone would like so there would have to at least be a short term scarcity. Ideal scenario a third party acquires them and can get some international licensing behind them. Can't imagine the Yamato used Chinese factories will remain idle while they wait for the transition. That would have to mean a loss of experience even if the skills themselves aren't perishable and that quality will probably go down, though the quality of the designs themselves could mitigate to that some degree.

I wonder if during the interim the factory and/or workers/elements in it would take the opportunity to create some quality-bootlegs with official molds and/or unpainted kits, on short runs. By the time the ownership is sorted out, it would be history.

Edited March 26, 2013 by Uxi

[raptormesh]

My worry is that the market is flooded with crappy bootlegs(plastic quality,assembly etc) using those molds because they will be degraded just to flood the market with lame proxies which will only taint the franchise.

[Scyla]

Without knowing any internal details I could totally see why Yamato would lose money due to the Macross line.

• The single pieces are very expensive
• They were released in quick succession
• They produced even obscure Valkyries in obscure color schemes
• Yamato Macross toys are always available for huge discounts

That are all indications that the market was flooded with Macross toys by Yamato resulting in less consumer interest in the products.

This is even more concerning since the production runs are very small.

As I said I don't have specific information on the sales, the total revenue and the operational profit of Yamato Toys but for me the bullet points above are indications

that the Macross line might not be profitable.

One problem is that you can get the wrong impression when you look at the collection of the MW members but that is only a small part of the picture.

If you have more information that indicate that I'm wrong please share them because if the Macross line was profitable for Yamato it is almost certain that they will continue with Arcadia.

That the first Arcadia offerings that showed up on HLJ are only figures and no transformable robots is a bad sign already.

[BlueMax]

My understanding of the 1/60 VF-1 line was profitable such that obscure or not, every valk sold is profitable, since they recovered their costs

[anime52k8]

My understanding of the 1/60 VF-1 line was profitable such that obscure or not, every valk sold is profitable, since they recovered their costs

Yes and no. The VF-1 line sold well enough in it's initial releases that it covered all of it's development costs, so on subsequent runs they only had to recoup the cost of materials, labor and other marginal costs to turn a profit. that meant later runs sold at the same price had a higher profit margin, but they still needed to sell the majority of the units produced in order to recoup the money they still spent manufacturing that run of toys.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fixed_Costs

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Variable_Costs

Edited March 26, 2013 by anime52k8

[anime52k8]

• Yamato Macross toys are always available for huge discounts

First off I don't think things were as bad as you make it out to be. First run stuff almost always sold well and at close to retail price, it was only second run items and less popular repaints that ended up being sold at discounted prices. And even those discounted prices where probably still enough for retailers to break even and even turn some profit. sure Yamato Macross toys didn't fly off shelves every time they got a shipment in and sell at 100% of MSRP every time the way bandai toys did, but retailers weren't taking on every Yamato release they stocked.

Secondly, something being sold at a discount by a retailer has no direct effect on how much money Yamato made for that unit. even if a toy sat on a retailers shelf for years and had to be sold at a 90% discount Yamato would have made the same amount of money off that toy when they sold it wholesale to the retailer as they would if the thing had sold at full retail the day it arrived in retailers warehouse.

Now if this happened too many times retailers would stop stocking new releases from Yamato and the company would loose money that way, but as long as retailers kept taking what Yamato put out, Yamato would keep making money.

[Scyla]

I'm glad if the Macross line was profitable for Yamato because that means that Arcadia will try to release more Macross stuff (or at least try to secure the molds and licenses). If Yamato really went bankrupt then it was due to the other toy lines.

The discounts show that the shops that carried Yamato toys could not sell the batches that they ordered from Yamato. It is true that this is a problem for the shop not Yamato at first as you said.

So I assume if shop XYZ (fictional numbers) ordered 50 units of Valkyrie ABC and could only sell it partially and they had to sell the rest at a discount. If the shop did not make a profit overall then it would make sense to me if they only ordered a smaller batch with the next release.

That said almost all Macross 7 releases were on sale at some point. And I heard it several times on this very message board that people said they wait with their purchase until an item goes on sale. They where certain that the given toy would be available for discount at some point. I want to make clear that I don't blame anyone for this behavior!

I don't know any sales data from Yamato or retailers but I get the impression that the Macross toys sold not as well as they expected. I don't know if it still was profitable. I'm hoping for the best.

[Arthurius]

you're very welcome.

YMMV as always, but the 19S is an infinitely more aesthetically pleasing 19 variation than the "McDonald" 19k.

a painfully obvious, no-brainer (IMHO) choice made all the easier by that $30.00 price differential.

i congratulate you, sir, on an exceedingly wise purchase. i guarantee you will not be disappointed. this bird's built for lovin'...

Hey Shaorin,

Yea, the 19s definitely looks better color / head wise, just that Basara was my favorite character of all Macross (in terms of main characters anyways). Maybe if I got the pilot somehow, I would be even more trilled. I think will go nicely with my yf-21, similar scheme, though I know different blue. Anyways, if I had money for only 2 more macros toys, and if I could actually find them, I would also get the vf-11C and the Virgin Roads, those would be my priorities even though of course there is so many others to buy, those are just two I really would have liked more than others. The Ostrich would be a very close one too actually

Anyways, I still haven't gotten any confirmation from HKC, other than they received the money on sunday, but nothing about delivery, thus I hope they are not out of it when their site shows in stock.

[crasis]

Anyways, I still haven't gotten any confirmation from HKC, other than they received the money on sunday, but nothing about delivery, thus I hope they are not out of it when their site shows in stock.

Same boat here. HKC has been disturbingly silent since I placed/paid for a sizable order on Sunday morning. According to their site, a lot of valks are still listed as "Available," which seems to contradict the insane number of orders that have been reported on this board and elsewhere. Panic is high and valks are nearly sold out everywhere. I'm biting my nails thinking I'll get a cancellation email soon enough. I wish I just knew what was going on, so I can try to find these valks elsewhere (if it comes to that -- HOPEFULLY not!).

[Valkyrie23]

Same boat here. HKC has been disturbingly silent since I placed/paid for a sizable order on Sunday morning. According to their site, a lot of valks are still listed as "Available," which seems to contradict the insane number of orders that have been reported on this board and elsewhere. Panic is high and valks are nearly sold out everywhere. I'm biting my nails thinking I'll get a cancellation email soon enough. I wish I just knew what was going on, so I can try to find these valks elsewhere (if it comes to that -- HOPEFULLY not!).

When did you place your orders with HKC? I placed 2 large orders on 3/20 and 3/21. 1st order took about 3-4 days to get shipped and the 2nd order took about 5-6 days If your items are currently marked in stock I'm sure they still have them. If not, HKC's customer service is really helpful. I just think they are bogged down with heavy orders right now.

[VF-Zer0S]

Don't worry some companies take up to a week to process orders. I ordered a 19kai from Angolz and a vf-1S TV from HkCollectibles. Funny thing is I ordered from Angolz first yet got my VF-1S first

[miro79]

i also got no confirmation from Hkc so far.. but i orderd the Kakizaki VF-1A, so i still got hope.

[Scyla]

i also got no confirmation from Hkc so far.. but i orderd the Kakizaki VF-1A, so i still got hope.

I'm sure your order is fine.

[skullmilitia]

also don't forget, every company on the planet toy wise, has their toys go on sale, clearance and they don't go out of business.

I bet the Money problem of Yamato's was based on something other then a slow selling Macross line. Since they make a million other things.

I think Arcadia will fly right back into the SDF-1 and start production on new Valks once the legal dust settles.

I'd say, just hang on, buy what you LOVE, not what you like.

I'm sure we will be surprised. Also, just because Graham's sources don't have much to say,

that would be because during any legal Bankruptcy, information is on a need to know basis.

more then likely only corporate seat members, and high ups have any real idea what went down,

and where they are headed.