Bandai DX VF-31

[spacemanoeuvres]

Wow still no news from NY. 

At this point I just want to understand what happened with all of the stock they were supposed to get. 

I want to say I’m never going to order from them again but I think I’ll just stop trying to order EVERYTHING from NY because they’re the cheapest game in town. 

Will start making more use of CDJ and Anime Export in addition to proxy services for web exclusives. A few extra bucks doesn’t bother me as long as I’m going to actually receive what I ordered. 

I’ll use my NY credit to pay for outstanding preorders but then I have to do some soul searching lol 

Edited April 9, 2018 by spacemanoeuvres

[seti88]

2 hours ago, Shukenzero said:

Value is only what we assign something. For me, the Kairos is a special valk. Never had a low viz valk before, as I wasn't into Macross or know of its existence until a few years before Frontier. So this holds value in my collection not in monetary worth but just cos it's cool looking.

 

2 hours ago, CharlesXavier said:

Right on. What we love can be something that is common and affordable while something premium and rare may not be what we appreciate.

The 31A is probably the closest to a realistic modern day fighter plane that we can get from the delta series. to me it's on par with the YF-29 Ozma.

The A is beautiful no doubt, but somehow am not starry eyed abt it.  I would consider the yf-30 a grail more than the 31A, (biased as it irritates me the A still carried that boomerang charger when it doesn't have boomerangs)

My point is that always thought a grail meant it was to be held in high regard or esteem for a particular reason rather than just looking good.  Like the chunky monkeys, yamato virgin road, yammie 4g, the yf-30 etc...the 31A....well lets say am on the fence of calling it a grail ....will leave it as that....

 

 

 

[Tober]

1 hour ago, CharlesXavier said:

Thanks for the heads up on AE. Communication can be terrible but at least they fulfilled their orders. Any past cases where they did refunds?

And it seems NY is very responsive to give refunds on the 31A. Not an optimistic trend.

I believe NY used their staff's accounts to buy TWEs. And far as I know, Bandai recognizes different IDs as different accounts even if address is the same. Validated with my experience of using a Japanese husband and wife proxy.

So in this case NY can just have the TWEs sent directly to them without having to hide that they are distributors/resellers.

About five years ago I pre-ordered two sets of Ghost packs for the RVF-25. AE only sent out one. When I contacted them about it they ignored me. PayPal's dispute window was only 60(?) days back then, so I had to file a reverse charge-back through my credit card/bank. That got their attention ("sorry, your email was lost/filtered etc...") and they refunded me.

 

Boarding house accommodation amongst students and lower income earners in Tokyo is rampant/common. So there would be plenty of TWE accounts with the same address. From what I gather, you could only order up to two VF-31As per account, and BANDAI didn't fulfill all of the orders that had two, limiting them to one instead of two.

So yeah, I doubt BANDAI would even care about proxy distributors. More likely a case of them not prioritising Macross over another product. Or maybe another factory problem all together... Whatever, they just didn't make quota on time and have probably moved on... 

 

1 hour ago, Kinzoku VF said:

Erm......Have they closed up your account yet? 

As for the proxy theories, unlikely that they would loose all their future commissions with NY to make a profit on a few DX's. Again, just my opinion. And if NY truly use their staff addresses for TWE, still doesn't explain why this time, out of the blue they didn't send them? (But sent all other Gundams and whatnot TWE releases?) 

They haven't closed my account. They sent a refund just before I was about to start the PayPal dispute.

[Shukenzero]

32 minutes ago, seti88 said:

 

The A is beautiful no doubt, but somehow am not starry eyed abt it.  I would consider the yf-30 a grail more than the 31A, (biased as it irritates me the A still carried that boomerang charger when it doesn't have boomerangs)

My point is that always thought a grail meant it was to be held in high regard or esteem for a particular reason rather than just looking good.  Like the chunky monkeys, yamato virgin road, yammie 4g, the yf-30 etc...the 31A....well lets say am on the fence of calling it a grail ....will leave it as that....

 

 

 

I guess I'm using the board's wording with the whole grail thing, but it just means I really like the design. That's it.

[cmal]

Honestly, the A was the only 31 variant I could muster any frakks to give about, so now that I'm probably not getting one Delta and NY can shove it.

[orindlt]

In the complete absence of information, I'm going with the "bad production run" theory with higher than usual defects and assuming that Bandai is taking extraordinary measures and perhaps doing a supplementary run simply because they didn't get what they ordered from the factory and we're all suffering the flow on effect. If Bandai were in a situation where they didn't get what they wanted from the factory, would they simply shrug or would they try to please their TWE customers (who one assumes are their most fanatical?).

If NY were certain we wouldn't get our Valks, then they would have notified us as there is no reason not to. If they know they aren't coming, how would keeping mum at this point help them with their own customers?

At best NY appear uncertain. They are providing refunds to those that request them and keeping mum about what's going on (which isn't helpful, but "we don't know" explains what's happening better than "well maybe if we hold our breath it will all blow over"). What they seem to be consistently saying is that the paid for items will turn up at some point in the future even if they can't provide a precise date. This does fit with the "bad production run/extraordinary supplementary run" theory. 

It could be that NY don't end up getting the valks, but at this point they appear to have some faith that they will. If they were certain that they won't, we'd be getting notified and offered the bitter taste of store credit.

[Kinzoku VF]

Aside from it's 'grittier' theme, I mostly wanted the Kairos to display with my YF-30. Incidentally I had also preordered the Chronos from NY when it came out without any issues. Sure, it wasn't an exclusive,( but an amazing piece nonetheless. And really different to all other Frontier Valks that had been released until then.)

I guess it was more of an obscure valk, and it took a while before your average collector started to realise how 'cool' the YF-30 truly was was. Took at at least 4/6 months for the prices to climb up.

5 minutes ago, orindlt said:

It could be that NY don't end up getting the valks, but at this point they appear to have some faith that they will. If they were certain that they won't, we'd be getting notified and offered the bitter taste of store credit.

Was also clinging to that, but as the weeks go by, I'm starting to loose hope... . Third week now since this situation started. At least, in the beginning, some people were getting shipping notifications, as well as a few pieces delivered here and there, but now....nothing.....By staying 'vaguely' optimistic, NY aren't getting swamped by refund requests, that's a plus for them I guess. Who knows? At this stage, it could be any number of things. *Sigh*.

[derex3592]

VF-31A Kairos has landed in Fort Worth TX!!!  Picked up from PO this morning. Ordered from NY on 10/6 about 11am central time.  There were  zero emails about it processing or shipping that I received, but that may have been due to the fact that NY was using an old email address. No way to confirm that. Stay positive guys!!! You still may get yours especially if you ordered on 10/6! Now I have to report for Jury Duty.... 

 

[Guyffon]

Sadly mine was ordered on 7th oct at 10am japan time, And i heard there are people whom ordered multiples on th 6th not getting theirs yet, things look grim, but there is always hope for the best, fiancee has offered to get one thru yahoo auctions, am still not sure if I want to pay scalper prices again.

[Ignacio Ocamica]

38 minutes ago, derex3592 said:

VF-31A Kairos has landed in Fort Worth TX!!!  Picked up from PO this morning. Ordered from NY on 10/6 about 11am central time.  There were  zero emails about it processing or shipping that I received, but that may have been due to the fact that NY was using an old email address. No way to confirm that. Stay positive guys!!! You still may get yours especially if you ordered on 10/6! Now I have to report for Jury Duty.... 

 

Congrats Derex!!! You got a 31A after all!!!

Your car interior is similar to my Volkswagen Amarok pick up truck.

[CharlesXavier]

44 minutes ago, Guyffon said:

Sadly mine was ordered on 7th oct at 10am japan time, And i heard there are people whom ordered multiples on th 6th not getting theirs yet, things look grim, but there is always hope for the best, fiancee has offered to get one thru yahoo auctions, am still not sure if I want to pay scalper prices again.

to be fair, i wouldn't call those on YJP scalper prices. no one anticipated the hype and we the international buyers, are the ones who are pushing the prices up.

why do we buy from yjp? cos high chances most of us pre-ordered from NY and didn't get our POs fulfilled. Hence we are the market forces driving up prices.

[spacemanoeuvres]

The Yahoo auction prices exhibited a downward tick: the last two 31A’s sold for 38500; which is still nuts but better than 45000 the last half dozen or so sold for. 

[funkymonkeyjavajunky]

Can someone post a full list of defects for this toy?

[Kinzoku VF]

Erm, first major defect: the theme is too 'stealthy'. Can't see it at all.....

Sucks that 3 weeks in, we still haven't moved further than the 6th/7th October orders. Wonder how long it'll take to get to the ones placed after those first few October days. Looks bleak for late October/November or December orders. (;_;)...

Pretty sure most of us wouldn't care so much if there was any hint of certainty that all POs would be honored one way or the other.

Not much that can be done at that stage but wait and see, but It's  just hard to imagine that NY are waiting for a massive shipment of 31-As though.

And congrats to Derex! 

[Slave IV]

2 hours ago, derex3592 said:

VF-31A Kairos has landed in Fort Worth TX!!!  Picked up from PO this morning. Ordered from NY on 10/6 about 11am central time.  There were  zero emails about it processing or shipping that I received, but that may have been due to the fact that NY was using an old email address. No way to confirm that. Stay positive guys!!! You still may get yours especially if you ordered on 10/6! Now I have to report for Jury Duty.... 

 

Nice Valk and car! Congrats!

 

As for AE, they seemed to have filled all their orders but they also close their preorder period the soonest. If I recall correctly, they usually close their TWE orders even before the Bandai deadline. That would mean it's likely they don't order as many as other ships like NY. 

Anyways, a couple people have confirmed since my last post that the PayPal dispute deadline doesn't matter when you pay through them with a credit card and same holds true if you use bank funds. So, no need to worry about getting your money back if that is your concern. For anyone who's still think it's better not to wait, you know how to reach me. 

[recon]

4 hours ago, spacemanoeuvres said:

Wow still no news from NY. 

At this point I just want to understand what happened with all of the stock they were supposed to get. 

I want to say I’m never going to order from them again but I think I’ll just stop trying to order EVERYTHING from NY because they’re the cheapest game in town. 

Will start making more use of CDJ and Anime Export in addition to proxy services for web exclusives. A few extra bucks doesn’t bother me as long as I’m going to actually receive what I ordered. 

I’ll use my NY credit to pay for outstanding preorders but then I have to do some soul searching lol 

Usually i will try to order from amiami or hlj but in rgds to exclusives, it seems that only NY is able to get their hands on them. 

Just checking with those who got their TWE VF-31A from NY, did it come in a TWE box cos mine did not. This kinda to lead to suspect they may have gotten their stocks through the backdoor or other retailers

[CharlesXavier]

4 minutes ago, Slave IV said:

As for AE, they seemed to have filled all their orders but they also close their preorder period the soonest. If I recall correctly, they usually close their TWE orders even before the Bandai deadline. That would mean it's likely they don't order as many as other ships like NY. 

Anyways, a couple people have confirmed since my last post that the PayPal dispute deadline doesn't matter when you pay through them with a credit card and same holds true if you use bank funds. So, no need to worry about getting your money back if that is your concern. For anyone who's still think it's better not to wait, you know how to reach me. 

Unlike most Macross DX TWEs, the limit per account for the 31A is 6 as opposed to the usual 12 pieces. Makes sense that AE closes early since they knew the maximum no.of pieces that they could order with that limit.

NY could have made a huge miscalculation or opened a lot more accounts to order the 31A. I won't deny the possibility that bandai is still sending out the later orders if there indeed was some significant QC issues.

The fact that NY did not choose to do a massive refund does give a slight tinge of hope that existing orders could be fulfilled, though unknown how many or when.

Still, the fact that you don't see many auctions of the 31A in JYP and mandarake only having 2 listings so far, does clearly indicate a shortage of the 31A in the world.

[CharlesXavier]

Just now, recon said:

Usually i will try to order from amiami or hlj but in rgds to exclusives, it seems that only NY is able to get their hands on them. 

Just checking with those who got their TWE VF-31A from NY, did it come in a TWE box cos mine did not. This kinda to lead to suspect they may have gotten their stocks through the backdoor or other retailers

Interesting. If you look at derex3592's pic, it clearly shows the 31A and the TWE box in his car. Could NY be possibily buying of every possible secondary sources to fill the PO? Personally I don't think so cos that's a huge loss for them to do so.

The plot thickens....

[Kinzoku VF]

5 minutes ago, CharlesXavier said:

Interesting. If you look at derex3592's pic, it clearly shows the 31A and the TWE box in his car. Could NY be possibily buying of every possible secondary sources to fill the PO? Personally I don't think so cos that's a huge loss for them to do so.

Highly unlikely.....Don't think they're the kind of retailer who would bend backwards going as far as buying any pieces from YHJp or whatever to make up for their mistake (leaving the Po window opened way too long to begin with....)

[CharlesXavier]

Just now, Kinzoku VF said:

Highly unlikely.....Don't think they're the kind of retailer who would bend backwards going as far as buying any pieces from YHJp or whatever to make up for their mistake (leaving the Po window opened way too long to begin with....)

I know right? Well even if NY send me my 31A without the TWE brown box, I will gladly accept them with no complaints.

The dream continues..... =)

[spacemanoeuvres]

So strange. Are their any Japanese language Macross forums analogous to this one where folks are chiming in about their pre-orders or issues receiving them?

[Kanedas Bike]

27 minutes ago, recon said:

Usually i will try to order from amiami or hlj but in rgds to exclusives, it seems that only NY is able to get their hands on them. 

Just checking with those who got their TWE VF-31A from NY, did it come in a TWE box cos mine did not. This kinda to lead to suspect they may have gotten their stocks through the backdoor or other retailers

Very odd, every Bandai TWE item I've ever ordered from N-Y came with the brown-shipper. It's something that I actually look forward to - blame my OCD.

14 minutes ago, spacemanoeuvres said:

So strange. Are their any Japanese language Macross forums analogous to this one where folks are chiming in about their pre-orders or issues receiving them?

That's what I've been dying to learn as well. We've heard from folks in just about every corner of the globe except from fans in Japan about what their experience is.

And as someone mentioned just a few posts ago, there can't be very many of them out there - Mandarake has listed more 10th Anniversary Metal Build Exia's than they have DX 31A's.

-b.

[CharlesXavier]

2 minutes ago, Kanedas Bike said:

Very odd, every Bandai TWE item I've ever ordered from N-Y came with the brown-shipper. It's something that I actually look forward to - blame my OCD.

That's what I've been dying to learn as well. We've heard from folks in just about every corner of the globe except from fans in Japan about what their experience is.

And as someone mentioned just a few posts ago, there can't be very many of them out there - Mandarake has listed more 10th Anniversary Metal Build Exia's than they have DX 31A's.

-b.

You are right on the 10th anniversary Exia. Even a lucky draw 1 per account item is more readily available on mandarake. And NY had it on sale as well until it was sold out over the weekend.

[spacemanoeuvres]

34 minutes ago, recon said:

Usually i will try to order from amiami or hlj but in rgds to exclusives, it seems that only NY is able to get their hands on them. 

Just checking with those who got their TWE VF-31A from NY, did it come in a TWE box cos mine did not. This kinda to lead to suspect they may have gotten their stocks through the backdoor or other retailers

Oh noez I don’t get the brown box!?!? 

Oh well, happy to have the valk at least

[no3Ljm]

3 hours ago, derex3592 said:

VF-31A Kairos has landed in Fort Worth TX!!!  Picked up from PO this morning. Ordered from NY on 10/6 about 11am central time.  There were  zero emails about it processing or shipping that I received, but that may have been due to the fact that NY was using an old email address. No way to confirm that. Stay positive guys!!! You still may get yours especially if you ordered on 10/6! Now I have to report for Jury Duty.... 

Meanwhile, back in the Hall of Justice... someone is swooshing a toy airplane.

Hmmm. The VF-31A plot thickens.

 

[derex3592]

Gotta go back this afternoon...gotta wonder if the Sheriff in the room would take away my toy??...OR maybe they would be like Juror whatever...you're excused as you are obviously a man-child because you are swooshing a toy airplane!!! 

 

 

[Slave IV]

1 hour ago, CharlesXavier said:

Unlike most Macross DX TWEs, the limit per account for the 31A is 6 as opposed to the usual 12 pieces. Makes sense that AE closes early since they knew the maximum no.of pieces that they could order with that limit.

NY could have made a huge miscalculation or opened a lot more accounts to order the 31A. I won't deny the possibility that bandai is still sending out the later orders if there indeed was some significant QC issues.

The fact that NY did not choose to do a massive refund does give a slight tinge of hope that existing orders could be fulfilled, though unknown how many or when.

Still, the fact that you don't see many auctions of the 31A in JYP and mandarake only having 2 listings so far, does clearly indicate a shortage of the 31A in the world.

All possibilities. I did not know about the different order limits but I have noticed AE often closes preorders before Bandai. It most likely means they have fewer accounts to order from compared to NY.

1 hour ago, recon said:

Usually i will try to order from amiami or hlj but in rgds to exclusives, it seems that only NY is able to get their hands on them. 

Just checking with those who got their TWE VF-31A from NY, did it come in a TWE box cos mine did not. This kinda to lead to suspect they may have gotten their stocks through the backdoor or other retailers

Very interesting. This might support the idea that NY has several different sources that provide their TWE releases. 

The picture this is painting to me is that these companies have their set sources for TWE and those sources may fluctuate at times. It certainly seems like NY has an enormous resource for TWEs based on their history of always staying open past the deadline and delivering. This tells me they know they have a certain amount ordered and can keep taking preorders well past the bandai deadline as long as they know they have it covered, which is usually the case. 

I'm looking forward to how this all turns out because it might give some more insight as to how these online shops operate and it's an interesting topic to me considering how much I buy from them. 

[Alex GS]

Kairos

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Macross-Delta-DX-Chogokin-VF-31A-KAIROS-LIMITED-EDITION-BANDAI-JAPAN/112927205941?hash=item1a4afc6a35:g:sMUAAOSwUDBay7No

 

If someone interested.

Edited April 9, 2018 by Alex GS

[derex3592]

First impressions.. well, it's very nice, must be said however that mine has the same odd paint/finish defect under the outer part of the right wing. Nothing terrible, but it's there. See pics below.. Also, I included a pic of the EMS shipping label, I can't remember, but I don't think that what my previous NY packages said.. I'll let you guys debate what that means.. it looks it just came from "a guy".  LOL. I would LOVE to and had fully intended to panel line it, but with the scarcity of it at this point, I think I'll hold off for now.  More pics later today or tomorrow night when hopefully I'll have some play time.  

[spacemanoeuvres]

Nippon-Yasan.com is located in Japan, on the Island of Shikoku, Ehime prefecture, in the city of Matsuyama.

So the from address looks okay. I do wonder how they source all of these TWE though. 

[Duymon]

My theory is a lot of the Proxies that NY uses saw how fast the VF-31A was going and backed out in order to get more cash

[derex3592]

26 minutes ago, spacemanoeuvres said:

Nippon-Yasan.com is located in Japan, on the Island of Shikoku, Ehime prefecture, in the city of Matsuyama.

So the from address looks okay. I do wonder how they source all of these TWE though. 

Ok, cool deal. Thanks for the clarification.

[jenius]

20 minutes ago, Duymon said:

My theory is a lot of the Proxies that NY uses saw how fast the VF-31A was going and backed out in order to get more cash

There's a chicken and the egg problem with that theory. There's also like no margin on these TWE offerings so it's hard to imagine NY pays proxies. I thought we had confirmation now that Bandai limited orders to one per customer so if NY ordered six per account on say 20 accounts expecting 120 units they would only receive 20.

Edited April 9, 2018 by jenius

[Kinzoku VF]

16 minutes ago, Duymon said:

My theory is a lot of the Proxies that NY uses saw how fast the VF-31A was going and backed out in order to get more cash

Unlikely as they most probably use the same proxies regularly. For them to loose any future business with NY for the sake of 1 VF is kinda pointless. NY sell loads of other TWE releases, most being way more profitable and 'popular' than Macross. Doesn't make sense, not to mention loyalty is primordial in Japanese culture.

[borgified]

1 hour ago, Alex GS said:

Kairos

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Macross-Delta-DX-Chogokin-VF-31A-KAIROS-LIMITED-EDITION-BANDAI-JAPAN/112927205941?hash=item1a4afc6a35:g:sMUAAOSwUDBay7No

 

If someone interested.

If that someone is very desperate for a 31a, I'm sure that they will cave in.