Bandai DX VF-31

[SpaceCowboy]

I still need to preorder. I wasn't going to participate in the normal Bandai pre-order artificial supply limitation chaos when there are going to be 6 repaints of this mold. That said, if I see any place is still selling them at a reasonable price, I'll pick one up. Yes Asia is damn near $100 over retail, so that feels like a no go. Let me know if any pop up somewhere.

[technoblue]

Looking at YesAsia's price is like looking into the future.

[sarcasm]Why wait five years to pay a similar price on mandarake and yahoo.jp when you can pay it today?[/sarcasm]

Edited: to avoid confusing everyone...sorry

Edited August 1, 2016 by technoblue

[SpaceCowboy]

Because I don't care that much about getting this particular version. I'd rather wait and get one of the repaints for $100 cheaper. The mold/transformation is more interesting to me. I'm not even sure this is my favorite color scheme. And there is a solid chance the later versions have minor issues fixed. So while I would pick one up if I could, I'm reluctant to pay more than I should based on pre-order frenzy.

[technoblue]

Because I don't care that much about getting this particular version. I'd rather wait and get one of the repaints for $100 cheaper. The mold/transformation is more interesting to me. I'm not even sure this is my favorite color scheme. And there is a solid chance the later versions have minor issues fixed. So while I would pick one up if I could, I'm reluctant to pay more than I should based on pre-order frenzy.

Woops. I didn't expect anyone to read or answer what I wrote above that literally. It was more of a silly/rhetorical question. No one should be paying those kinds of prices when, with a bit of patience, you can probably get yourself a copy closer to retail if not with a store discount.

[SpaceCowboy]

oh - haha - sorry - sometimes my joke detector is broken/stuck.

Also my annoyance at the way Bandai conducts their pre-orders probably made me not pick up on the joke. I've never had a problem eventually getting their stuff at retail prices, but I hate how they artificially limit supply to create this "5 minute window" of preorder madness. Ideally, preorders should be telling them how many to produce. Arcadia doesn't have this problem, nor do a lot of other companies, so I can only assume it is the way they are conducting business.

[Sildani]

Didn't bother with this one, congratulations to all who snagged one!

Waiting for Delta 02,04,or the 31A. I'll also grab a CF Drakken III, or perhaps Cassim's if it comes out first.

[aurance]

Delta Messer or Mirage, only one of the two... Which one??

[Scyla]

Mirage!

[David Hingtgen]

Mirage. No, wait, get Messer, that'll make it easier for me to get Mirage. Yeah, that's it. Nobody buy Mirage, she's not a good pilot.

[frankell05]

so hlj came through, it took them an hour and some minutes to process the transaction. but they finally did... i am calm now.

[Scyla]

so hlj came through, it took them an hour and some minutes to process the transaction. but they finally did... i am calm now.

Until December when they send you a mail explaining that they couldn't secure enough stock.

[in2seconds]

quit playing games with my heart

[Kanedas Bike]

The pre-orders for Messer and Mirage are going to be even worse. Provided the 31J turns out to be a solid release.

-b.

[Sildani]

Agreed, and I think it will be solid. They got the YF-29 and YF-30 right on the first try, and the VF-19 ADVANCE. It'll be good.

[mickyg]

Petrov: Not sure you need to know much more about this but thought I'd chime in, just in case.

This has happened to me not once, but three times. First on the last Alto VF-25F release, then the last Ozma VF-25S, and finally on the last Alto YF-29. Every time it was when the pre-order was open and I managed to nab one after the initial rush had subsided. For the Messiahs, I think it was a day or so after the preorder started. I don't remember the time delay for the Durandal.

The only difference here is that this was all within an hour or so of the initial window. Maybe that's significant?

The other thing I've been thinking about is that these are preorder "slots" so to speak. I don't know how HLJ (or any other retailer) can possibly know how many they'll be allocated. So the whole pre-order process seems to either be a mystery, or an outright lie.

Just my two cents...

Little worried that HLJ had their PO open for so long - do they have any history of not honoring or "running out" of Pre orders? Just seems odd that the other sites were up and closed in seconds yet HLJ was there for a long time with this....

Will be super disappointed if that is the case....

[sh9000]

https://www.ebay.com/itm/201637011383

[mechaninac]

https://www.ebay.com/itm/201637011383

Now THAT is comedy gold!

[Petrov27]

https://www.ebay.com/itm/201637011383

Delivery in August?

[ayaxr]

Petrov: Not sure you need to know much more about this but thought I'd chime in, just in case.

This has happened to me not once, but three times. First on the last Alto VF-25F release, then the last Ozma VF-25S, and finally on the last Alto YF-29. Every time it was when the pre-order was open and I managed to nab one after the initial rush had subsided. For the Messiahs, I think it was a day or so after the preorder started. I don't remember the time delay for the Durandal.

The only difference here is that this was all within an hour or so of the initial window. Maybe that's significant?

The other thing I've been thinking about is that these are preorder "slots" so to speak. I don't know how HLJ (or any other retailer) can possibly know how many they'll be allocated. So the whole pre-order process seems to either be a mystery, or an outright lie.

Just my two cents...

In your cases when you mentioned you had managed to get them after the initial rush, how was that? Did they not put an order stop for them back then? Was it in your cart and then you checked out? Just trying to understand how it differs from this case.

[neoexcaliber]

https://www.ebay.com/itm/201637011383

I bet the seller is a member here.

[Kanedas Bike]

Yeah, I remember talking to mickyg during each of those occasions, I'd never heard of HLJ not being able to come through before, but in each instance nothing. I even got bit during the last Alto YF-29 re-release.

HLJ, and other stores sometimes re-open orders after the first pre-order window, closer to release and then after release. All provided stock is available. There was no special circumstances, HLJ just happened to have orders open and it turns out that they were unable to secure the amount of stock they thought.

Re: last night, that'll be 'interesting' (only for lack of a better term) because HLJ's checkout system was having issues. I got 31 before said issues, but it took me the better part of an hour or more to complete a 2nd checkout (separate orders) for a SH Figuarts Clone Trooper.

My uneducated guess is that if HLJ's checkout system does not allow cart-jacking like Hobby Search, AmiAmi, N-Y and other stores do, and if you got an order confirmation you'll be good, but if HLJ does, even with an order confirmation it will be a coin flip on whether or not they can fulfill all orders. I really hope everyone that ordered one last night/this morning can get one, but really it's all guesswork and speculation right now.

Even though my order was 'early' with HLJ and before all the nonsense I'm still going to jump through hoops to secure another one, just in case.

-b.

Edited August 2, 2016 by Kanedas Bike

[chyll2]

https://www.ebay.com/itm/201637011383

ROBOTECH DELTA. I dont even..

[mickyg]

Good question.

Last night was a fluke, in my experience. In the previous cases, the preorder was open way too long and I went through the order process as smoothly as any other purchase would be, from selection to checkout.

But last night it was in my cart, I went to checkout and on the final page, just before "we've got your order" message, it timed out. I didn't know at the time, because I didn't check my email, but it was actually successful. Must have been a combo of clicking back, reloading the page, and who knows what else, but I ended up with a "ghost" in my cart that I didn't know was a ghost. I thought it was still the original item. So I spent the better part of the hour trying to finalise that one, never knowing it was actually a duplicate of the first order.

That was definitely not the case with the previous 3 Frontier valks. So I'm still hoping it went through on this one. It was DEFINITELY a different experience.

And as Brian points out above, my experience was pretty isolated with those Frontier valks. Just got unlucky, I guess. Still don't have an Alto '29 and it's been in my open orders list since April. I doubt it'll ever be fulfilled.

In your cases when you mentioned you had managed to get them after the initial rush, how was that? Did they not put an order stop for them back then? Was it in your cart and then you checked out? Just trying to understand how it differs from this case.

Edited August 2, 2016 by mickyg

[Aye Aye]

Started on HS, got greedy loading Blue Frame in with Hayate, got cart jacked on both - SOB!!

Jumped into the crap show that is HLJ, just gave up on trying to get Hayate (which is good b/c ummmm don't care too much about it, so yay for saving money??). Battled through the trash heap that is HLJ's server and snagged the friggin Blue Frame after 45 minutes of dog dicking around on refreshing the payment screen. HLJ needs to buy an ADC or get on the cloud with AWS or something.

Also I feel that HS had like zero inventory last night - WTF! Like they were shorted on the allotment? Normally that is an easy, smooth as hell process. Was anyone able to go through HS last night and secure their orders? They were literally sold out in a minute and a half.

Also while waiting for 45 minutes, the random "1 left" was spotted on CDJ for Hayate and Blue Frame multiple times, both got cart jacked form me. Bandai should never do the dual DX/MB preorder date again. That was a madhouse.

[Kanedas Bike]

Started on HS, got greedy loading Blue Frame in with Hayate, got cart jacked on both - SOB!!

Jumped into the crap show that is HLJ, just gave up on trying to get Hayate (which is good b/c ummmm don't care too much about it, so yay for saving money??). Battled through the trash heap that is HLJ's server and snagged the friggin Blue Frame after 45 minutes of dog dicking around on refreshing the payment screen. HLJ needs to buy an ADC or get on the cloud with AWS or something.

Also I feel that HS had like zero inventory last night - WTF! Like they were shorted on the allotment? Normally that is an easy, smooth as hell process. Was anyone able to go through HS last night and secure their orders? They were literally sold out in a minute and a half.

Also while waiting for 45 minutes, the random "1 left" was spotted on CDJ for Hayate and Blue Frame multiple times, both got cart jacked form me. Bandai should never do the dual DX/MB preorder date again. That was a madhouse.

Agreed - trying to get both was crazy. And I got cart jacked at Hobby Search and N-Y.

I have to think that the Bandai marketing guys get some sadistic kick out of all of this.

-b.

[ayaxr]

Good question.

Last night was a fluke, in my experience. In the previous cases, the preorder was open way too long and I went through the order process as smoothly as any other purchase would be, from selection to checkout.

But last night it was in my cart, I went to checkout and on the final page, just before "we've got your order" message, it timed out. I didn't know at the time, because I didn't check my email, but it was actually successful. Must have been a combo of clicking back, reloading the page, and who knows what else, but I ended up with a "ghost" in my cart that I didn't know was a ghost. I thought it was still the original item. So I spent the better part of the hour trying to finalise that one, never knowing it was actually a duplicate of the first order.

That was definitely not the case with the previous 3 Frontier valks. So I'm still hoping it went through on this one. It was DEFINITELY a different experience.

And as Brian points out above, my experience was pretty isolated with those Frontier valks. Just got unlucky, I guess. Still don't have an Alto '29 and it's been in my open orders list since April. I doubt it'll ever be fulfilled.

Thanks, your story is what makes me not be as happy as I otherwise would be. I'm mentally prepared for the letdown if it happens.... .....I think.

[F360]

Also while waiting for 45 minutes, the random "1 left" was spotted on CDJ for Hayate and Blue Frame multiple times, both got cart jacked form me. Bandai should never do the dual DX/MB preorder date again. That was a madhouse.

Agree , having metal build and DX chogokin on the same day is just madness. They really should separate the dates .

I don't even what to image if they put hi-metal r and a soul of chogokin in there too . It'll surely crash all the websites .

[Heatwave]

I now really want the DX of VF-31C Mirage. I can live without the others (even Sv-262 Draken III, although I will try to get one eventually), but I really want Mirage's. Ever since I saw her VF-31 I just really liked it's colours and Battroid head. I mean, her actual character may not be the best, but I still like her.

Now to impatiently wait for her preorder. Myfigurecollection says 2016, but I doubt that since Hayate's VF-31 is being released in December.

Edited August 2, 2016 by Heatwave

[Scream Man]

Im all in for the 31's, but Im not worried about missing the order. I can't think of a Bandai fighter other than the 25S that was hard to get, and even hat got easier eventually.

[barurutor]

VF-25G never got a reissue.

[sh9000]

After reading posts in other forums, I think I'll keep my preorder at HLJ.

Edited August 2, 2016 by sh9000

[Sandman]

https://www.ebay.com/itm/201637011383

That is douchey especially since this guy appears to be a legitimate collector.

[sh9000]

The seller talks more about himself than the item he's trying to sell.

And $400 is too excessive.

[Vortech]

Had one in my cart all day, looks like hlj finally purged it out.

Edited August 2, 2016 by Vortech

[spanner]

That is douchey especially since this guy appears to be a legitimate collector.

as douchey as the listing might be, the guy might not be a douche bag but intentionally aiming the listing at douche bags as only a douche bag would be douche enough to actually buy it!

I hope that even made any sense! too much douchebaggery going on...