Bandai DX VF-31

[spanner]

thanks for the insight dero! We were just watching and reading a few reviews about the kits and they do mention several times how brittle and breakable they actually are.. My son doesn't seem to impressed by the kit anymore..

It would still cost about $100 shipped to Australia (no thanks to the ever weakening dollar) which is less than one third the price of buying a DX version from NY but even as cheap as they are I don't believe its worth it.

Besides its really only as cheap as it is due to the fact you have to build and detail it yourself or it would be double the price and then definitely not worth it. So I think we'll give the whole idea a miss.

[Kanedas Bike]

2 hours ago, mechaninac said:

No, I've never purchased from them, preorder or otherwise.  They've been mentioned on this Forum before and I had them bookmarked; I checked and saw they still have the 31F available for 21600 yen + shipping (their shipping quote calculator doesn't work at all, at least not for me).  I already secured a copy with HLJ, so I don't need to try these guys, but I figured someone may want to take a chance... some brave/desperate soul may wish to volunteer as the guinea-pig in vetting hTp as future go-to e-tailer... once upon a time, N-Y was an unknown quantity too.

Fair.

If the 31J is any indication orders will open up a few times at AmiAmi and probably HLJ before it's all said and done. And of course there is N-Y. Personally I had a good pre-order night so I'm no longer in the hunt, but I'm EXTREMELY curious to see what price N-Y opens up with.

-b.

[Loop]

I was actually shocked I was able to snag 3 of the VF-31F's on pre-order night. I expected them to get snatched up a bit faster than they were.

[F360]

It as least let get back to sleep without worry about Nippon-Yasan opening their pre orders due to their long vacation .  any other day I will try to stay up to check their preorder prices.  Of course when I go to work after pre order day/night, I'll get a 12 hour shift.

 

[no3Ljm]

And here I am still waiting for NY even if it's not discounted so I can get my first one...

[spanner]

5 minutes ago, no3Ljm said:

And here I am still waiting for NY even if it's not discounted so I can get my first one...

if NY does offer them cheaper than HLJ and if I can secure two of them (do NY usually have a limit on pre-orders?) and maybe I'll cancel my HLJ order.. maybe..

[Wurz]

3 minutes ago, spanner said:

if NY does offer them cheaper than HLJ and if I can secure two of them (do NY usually have a limit on pre-orders?) and maybe I'll cancel my HLJ order.. maybe..

I'll take ur pre-order if that's the case. 

[F360]

5 minutes ago, spanner said:

if NY does offer them cheaper than HLJ and if I can secure two of them (do NY usually have a limit on pre-orders?) and maybe I'll cancel my HLJ order.. maybe..

I remember they put a limit of 2 last time.

[derex3592]

3 hours ago, spanner said:

not that my son wants to re-start collecting Valkyries or anything but he does like the VF-31J and as a cost alternative he was looking at the 1/72 transformable kits..

which are relatively dirt cheap compared to a full on DX machine (4k yen on Mandarake) but are they any good? They need to be assembled which im happy to help him with but no painting required yes? and apply stickers.. 

what you reckon? worth it for the price or are they junk..

See the "Workbench" thread my friend. Building my first one as we speak! 

[Chronocidal]

They're not a bad little kit, I think they're quite a bit simplified compared with the older VF-25 ones, but they're also not as sturdy.  Lots of parts that like to pop off.

They're fine for display in a single mode, but not great if you plan to transform them.  Also, because of the way the paintschemes are, the decals are a bit ludicrous, and actually include panel-lining of all things, so you'll have to panel line the un-labeled parts to match.

[no3Ljm]

48 minutes ago, spanner said:

if NY does offer them cheaper than HLJ and if I can secure two of them (do NY usually have a limit on pre-orders?) and maybe I'll cancel my HLJ order.. maybe..

As always, you can still continue your HLJ order so that you have something to give it to me. We're related, right? You love Ube too. What say you?  

 

Edited January 8, 2017 by no3Ljm

[mickyg]

1 hour ago, no3Ljm said:

And here I am still waiting for NY even if it's not discounted so I can get my first one...

Same boat, my friend. Was on the way from the USA to Australia, by way of new Zealand. There was no way for me to ever have a chance at ordering it through the regular channels. 

[F360]

Rakuten seller speedwagon have some of the DX Chogokin VF-31F for preroder . it's 24,430 yen ($208.90)

Shipping will be by EMS , so base on the weight of the previous dx vf-31J it should be around 1.9KG total weight.

so shipping price will either be 4100 yen or 4500 yen.

http://global.rakuten.com/en/store/speedwagon/item/10001644/

 

 

Edited January 8, 2017 by F360

[Vortech]

I can confirm that Loopaza is legit, my 31J finally came in today, but it took 3 weeks.  Doesn't help that they raised shipping prices either.

But is it just me, or does it seem easier to acquire the DX 31 valks when comparing to the 25 series. 

So far I have been able to get doubles of all the 31's, and Keith's SV 262 was open for preorder for what seemed like an eternity on cdjapan.

I have a feeling that most people that missed out on the 31F preorder should be able to snag on NY, as the 31F preorder seemed to stay open past the normal 1 minute preorder when compared to the 25 series.  I got my 2nd 31F 15 minutes after the preorder window opened up.  Maybe Bandai is finally increasing production, or people are less interested in the 31's since Delta wasn't stellar.   

[Muzaffar]

On 1/7/2017 at 1:01 AM, brouken said:

It should be interesting to see statistics on those who purchase Macross toys/collectitbles nowadays. I wonder how many would be in the 15 to 20 years category. These valks are rated 15 and up after all. It should also explain the direction Kawamori-san is taking with the anime franchise.

 

I am 37.  There was a time when I use to come here and see everyone talking about the latest valks and their collections.  I use to tell my self...one day.  Now, thanks to the almighty, I have a nice job with plenty of disposable income and too much stuff actually.   I collect Macross because I'm an Aerospace nut and love the fighter designs. 

Edited January 8, 2017 by Muzaffar

[Double Spy]

2 hours ago, Vortech said:

I can confirm that Loopaza is legit, my 31J finally came in today, but it took 3 weeks.  Doesn't help that they raised shipping prices either.

But is it just me, or does it seem easier to acquire the DX 31 valks when comparing to the 25 series. 

So far I have been able to get doubles of all the 31's, and Keith's SV 262 was open for preorder for what seemed like an eternity on cdjapan.

I have a feeling that most people that missed out on the 31F preorder should be able to snag on NY, as the 31F preorder seemed to stay open past the normal 1 minute preorder when compared to the 25 series.  I got my 2nd 31F 15 minutes after the preorder window opened up.  Maybe Bandai is finally increasing production, or people are less interested in the 31's since Delta wasn't stellar.   

Nah, still impossible to get outside that window. Its sold out by the time you notice its on the front page of HLJ. I was able to preorder some 25's but I havent been able any of the 3 Delta valks at all. sucks D.

[spanner]

4 hours ago, Wurz said:

I'll take ur pre-order if that's the case. 

hehe! I was expecting this response! If I can get two from them cheaper than the HLJ price then I'll definitely be cancelling the HLJ order.. 

4 hours ago, F360 said:

I remember they put a limit of 2 last time.

yeah that does ring a bell now..

4 hours ago, derex3592 said:

See the "Workbench" thread my friend. Building my first one as we speak! 

cool! even though we pretty much have abandoned the idea, I'll still check it out!

4 hours ago, Chronocidal said:

They're not a bad little kit, I think they're quite a bit simplified compared with the older VF-25 ones, but they're also not as sturdy.  Lots of parts that like to pop off.

They're fine for display in a single mode, but not great if you plan to transform them.  Also, because of the way the paintschemes are, the decals are a bit ludicrous, and actually include panel-lining of all things, so you'll have to panel line the un-labeled parts to match.

yeah I did notice that with the stickers.. would have been nice if they included two sets of stickers! one with and one without the panel lining but the more they would include the more expensive it would be and start defeating the purpose of it being a cheap kit.

4 hours ago, no3Ljm said:

As always, you can still continue your HLJ order so that you have something to give it to me. We're related, right? You love Ube too. What say you?  

LOL! the love of Ube icecream can form all sorts of relationships! You're putting me in a tough position here now as others have already put them selves in line for that HLJ order! 

3 hours ago, mickyg said:

Same boat, my friend. Was on the way from the USA to Australia, by way of new Zealand. There was no way for me to ever have a chance at ordering it through the regular channels. 

im sure there will always be post release stock even if it will cost a bit more than PO pricing.. but fingers crossed for NY!

2 hours ago, F360 said:

Rakuten seller speedwagon have some of the DX Chogokin VF-31F for preroder . it's 24,430 yen ($208.90)

Shipping will be by EMS , so base on the weight of the previous dx vf-31J it should be around 1.9KG total weight.

so shipping price will either be 4100 yen or 4500 yen.

http://global.rakuten.com/en/store/speedwagon/item/10001644/

wow! just over 5k yen more than HLJ PO price! and very similar asking price as to what NY is asking for Hayate's plane as of now. 

[dero]

11 hours ago, spanner said:

thanks for the insight dero! We were just watching and reading a few reviews about the kits and they do mention several times how brittle and breakable they actually are.. My son doesn't seem to impressed by the kit anymore..

It would still cost about $100 shipped to Australia (no thanks to the ever weakening dollar) which is less than one third the price of buying a DX version from NY but even as cheap as they are I don't believe its worth it.

Besides its really only as cheap as it is due to the fact you have to build and detail it yourself or it would be double the price and then definitely not worth it. So I think we'll give the whole idea a miss.

$100 shipped?  Not nearly.

My 1/72 VF-31F Messer was $57.67 and shipping cost $24.53 to Brisbane... this included 3 Gundam super deformed Gunpla kits in it so the shipping box was bigger than it necessarily would be for just shipping just the Macropla (?) kit on its own.

The Macross kits were cheapish experiments to check for my desire.  There was always a gnawing intention from my side that I would be getting the 1/60 DX anyway because when I had bought a Yetistand a while back I did it getting a double arm kit.... Plastic kits fits toward my personality as I like technical design and detail.  What I really have enjoyed with the 31J Hayate was the different grade plastics which were used into their relative injection moulds.  Some soft, some harder... each and every single one served a purpose.

[no3Ljm]

12 hours ago, F360 said:

Rakuten seller speedwagon have some of the DX Chogokin VF-31F for preroder . it's 24,430 yen ($208.90)

Shipping will be by EMS , so base on the weight of the previous dx vf-31J it should be around 1.9KG total weight.

so shipping price will either be 4100 yen or 4500 yen.

http://global.rakuten.com/en/store/speedwagon/item/10001644/

Looks like this guy can't deliver. Item has been removed. And I'm already considering him as a backup if ever NY didn't push thru. 

 

[zzj]

1 minute ago, no3Ljm said:

Looks like this guy can't deliver. Item has been removed. And I'm already considering him as a backup if ever NY didn't push thru. 

 

For what it's worth, I got my first vf-31j from this guy after the pre-orders were closed elsewhere.

[no3Ljm]

12 hours ago, Vortech said:

I can confirm that Loopaza is legit, my 31J finally came in today, but it took 3 weeks.  Doesn't help that they raised shipping prices either.

But is it just me, or does it seem easier to acquire the DX 31 valks when comparing to the 25 series. 

So far I have been able to get doubles of all the 31's, and Keith's SV 262 was open for preorder for what seemed like an eternity on cdjapan.

I have a feeling that most people that missed out on the 31F preorder should be able to snag on NY, as the 31F preorder seemed to stay open past the normal 1 minute preorder when compared to the 25 series.  I got my 2nd 31F 15 minutes after the preorder window opened up.  Maybe Bandai is finally increasing production, or people are less interested in the 31's since Delta wasn't stellar.   

Or probably you just got lucky that night to even get doubles. Me, on the other hand just got stuck on the login page over and over everytime I try to place that one order at HLJ. On CDJapan, I keep on getting this error message that the one item I put in my cart is probably not available anymore. Ditto on anime-export as well. And that's just within the first 5 mins the PO opens in each individual stores. 

So yeah, I don't think it was easy for everyone just to get one copy. 

 

[spanner]

7 hours ago, dero said:

$100 shipped?  Not nearly.

My 1/72 VF-31F Messer was $57.67 and shipping cost $24.53 to Brisbane... this included 3 Gundam super deformed Gunpla kits in it so the shipping box was bigger than it necessarily would be for just shipping just the Macropla (?) kit on its own.

The Macross kits were cheapish experiments to check for my desire.  There was always a gnawing intention from my side that I would be getting the 1/60 DX anyway because when I had bought a Yetistand a while back I did it getting a double arm kit.... Plastic kits fits toward my personality as I like technical design and detail.  What I really have enjoyed with the 31J Hayate was the different grade plastics which were used into their relative injection moulds.  Some soft, some harder... each and every single one served a purpose.

Yeah $99 was CDJ price for 1:72 Hayate shipped. But then i realised I can get that down to about $88 if I use the few rewards points I have.. which also wouldn't be far off what Mandarake would charge being 4k plus 3k for shipping works about to about 80 something so i did find better options. But my son doesn't want it anymore anyways..

[NZEOD]

48 minutes ago, spanner said:

Yeah $99 was CDJ price for 1:72 Hayate shipped. But then i realised I can get that down to about $88 if I use the few rewards points I have.. which also wouldn't be far off what Mandarake would charge being 4k plus 3k for shipping works about to about 80 something so i did find better options. But my son doesn't want it anymore anyways..

Buyee... its so much cheaper for us down under.

There are a ton of 31F units still up on the Auction site for around 21500Yen and up

http://buyee.jp/item/search?query=DX+vf-31F&sort=Y2JpZHMsYQ%3D%3D

Edited January 8, 2017 by NZEOD

[spanner]

52 minutes ago, NZEOD said:

Buyee... its so much cheaper for us down under.

There are a ton of 31F units still up on the Auction site for around 21500Yen and up

http://buyee.jp/item/search?query=DX+vf-31F&sort=Y2JpZHMsYQ%3D%3D

Yeah there can be some good stuff to be found and I have bought a fair few things from YJA but not sure I'd attempt a pre-order through them.. 

Edited January 8, 2017 by spanner

[Tober]

MyKombini came and went in a matter of seconds. I don't know if they will relist.

 

https://mykombini.com/en/april-2017/6574-dx-chogokin-vf-31f-siegfried-messer-ihlefeld-custom-macross-delta-bandai-4549660129226.html?search_query=vf-31f+dx&results=1

[abbadon]

4 hours ago, no3Ljm said:

Or probably you just got lucky that night to even get doubles. Me, on the other hand just got stuck on the login page over and over everytime I try to place that one order at HLJ. On CDJapan, I keep on getting this error message that the one item I put in my cart is probably not available anymore. Ditto on anime-export as well. And that's just within the first 5 mins the PO opens in each individual stores. 

So yeah, I don't think it was easy for everyone just to get one copy. 

 

True that. Even now, it's sold out everywhere. Unless you want to pay a hefty price increase.

[Sandman]

I was comparing my 31J with my VF-25s. The 31 is way taller. But it got me thinking about the feet. I've never been clear on weather the feet should be extended out all the way in battroid mode for both the 25 and 31. I've seen it done both ways but which is the official way?

[Master Dex]

22 minutes ago, Sandman said:

I was comparing my 31J with my VF-25s. The 31 is way taller. But it got me thinking about the feet. I've never been clear on weather the feet should be extended out all the way in battroid mode for both the 25 and 31. I've seen it done both ways but which is the official way?

What do the instructions say about it?

[David Hingtgen]

I do the following for all valks, from the -1 on, because they generally all can, and it "looks right" to me:

All the way in for fighter mode.  All the way out for Gerwalk.  Half-way for battroid.  

[Ignacio Ocamica]

44 minutes ago, David Hingtgen said:

I do the following for all valks, from the -1 on, because they generally all can, and it "looks right" to me:

All the way in for fighter mode.  All the way out for Gerwalk.  Half-way for battroid.  

Same here!!

 

[Bullet_Sponge]

Lets say i knew a guy that was able to get their hands on a few of these.  They run a retailer in the states but are not allowed to sell them on their site.   

 

How many of you would be interested?

(The price would be competitive but not as cheap as HLJ preorder window, but CHEAPER than post release NY)

Edited January 9, 2017 by Bullet_Sponge
More info

[Sildani]

So, do we think NY will have Messer's 31 up for PO tonight? 

Bullet_Sponge: maybe. How much, how soon does he need payment, and what assurance will we get? 

Edited January 9, 2017 by Sildani

[zaino]

6 hours ago, no3Ljm said:

Or probably you just got lucky that night to even get doubles. Me, on the other hand just got stuck on the login page over and over everytime I try to place that one order at HLJ. On CDJapan, I keep on getting this error message that the one item I put in my cart is probably not available anymore. Ditto on anime-export as well. And that's just within the first 5 mins the PO opens in each individual stores. 

So yeah, I don't think it was easy for everyone just to get one copy. 

 

I might be out of place to say this but it really bugs me when people humble brag that they managed to get 3 preorders and others are posting that they didn't get any.

[F360]

4 minutes ago, Bullet_Sponge said:

Lets say i knew a guy that was able to get their hands on a few of these.  They run a retailer in the states but are not allowed to sell them on their site.   

 

How many of you would be interested?

(The price would be competitive but not as cheap as HLJ preorder window, but CHEAPER than post release NY)

Depends on the price and payment method along with his reliably of fullilling preorders .

[Bullet_Sponge]

1 minute ago, Sildani said:

So, do we think NY will have Messer's 31 up for PO tonight? 

Bullet_Sponge: maybe. How much, how soon does he need payment, and what assurance will we get? 

I just found out about the preorder for the 31F a minute ago, so i'll ask him tomorrow to get me the details.   He doesn't order these unless someone makes a special request.  

 

I'll post back once I have an answer to your other questions. 

I haven't organzied a group buy on these yet so this may be the first.  

Stay tuned