Bandai DX Chogokin 1/48 VF-1

[vf1]

  On 9/1/2020 at 3:33 AM, sqidd said:

My guess is $325-350.

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  On 9/1/2020 at 3:21 AM, F360 said:

Base on the previous releases ,if you miss the extra openings then  you should plan for $300 Shipped price .  Plan around that budget.

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Thanks to both for your input.  It does seem like it will be harder to get or more expensive compared to the Kakizaki.  When getting the Yamato 1/48 Valkrries about 15 years ago, I was lucky enough to be living in Japan and the demand wasn't as great.  Would be so much easier if I still lived there as there are lots of stores I could think of that I would try going to during release week.  At least now that I'm monitoring again I'll be sure to make the pre-order window for future releases and will pay over retail for this one if I have to.  Good luck to people still looking for one. 

[sqidd]

  On 9/1/2020 at 1:22 PM, vf1 said:

 

 At least now that I'm monitoring again I'll be sure to make the pre-order window for future releases 

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Good luck with that! PO's have turned into blood baths. Sold out in minutes. It appears that not very many people on this board were able to score Roy PO's this time around. And most of these guys are seasoned PO pro's.

I'm resigned to paying whatever mark up is on release day and just dealing with it. I buy multiples (at least three) of just about everything though. And with shipping in the state that it is in I don't do too bad having my release day purchases shipped to my Tenso account the consolidated into one shipment. With most PO's being limited to one unit you're looking at three separate shipping charges to get three to home base. Of course PO's will always end up being less expensive. But not by a lot. I picked up three Kakazaki's on release day and ended up paying $10-15 more than people who PO'd once you took shipping into account.

[BlueMax]

  On 9/1/2020 at 1:50 PM, sqidd said:

Sold out in minutes. 

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Way too generous... more like milliseconds

[MacrossJunkie]

  On 9/1/2020 at 2:30 PM, BlueMax said:

Way too generous... more like milliseconds

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^

Sometimes you see the page flip from not yet available to sold out in the span of a refresh.

[weiser21]

Sometimes the page doesn't load, and when it finally does it's over.

[MacrossJunkie]

  On 9/1/2020 at 3:43 PM, weiser21 said:

Sometimes the page doesn't load, and when it finally does it's over.

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And then we have HLJ whose website takes 15 minutes (a bit of hyperbole, yes I know) to load on the best of times when it's not getting beat on, especially when getting search results (in which case, it actually isn't hyperbole).

Whatever was done to their website is awful and I wish they'd get someone to optimize/fix it.

[RedComet]

So I was out walking my dogs and saw this tag on an old concrete road barrier and my first thought was “Oh cool, someone is representing Skull Squadron” but then I got closer and realized that it was just some idiot who thinks high speed wireless internet gives people a virus 

[MacrossJunkie]

  On 9/1/2020 at 6:45 PM, RedComet said:

So I was out walking my dogs and saw this tag on an old concrete road barrier and my first thought was “Oh cool, someone is representing Skull Squadron” but then I got closer and realized that it was just some idiot who thinks high speed wireless internet gives people a virus 

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No no, that person is saying if you go over 5G's (the skull is over the 5G) of sustained acceleration, you'll die.

Edited September 1, 2020 by MacrossJunkie

[RedComet]

  On 9/1/2020 at 6:48 PM, MacrossJunkie said:

No no, that person is saying if you go over 5G's (the skull is over the 5G) of sustained acceleration, you'll die.

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Hahaha, well at least THAT makes sense! And that's true unless you are accustomed to it like Roy and Max 

[vf1]

  On 9/1/2020 at 1:50 PM, sqidd said:

Good luck with that! PO's have turned into blood baths. Sold out in minutes. It appears that not very many people on this board were able to score Roy PO's this time around. And most of these guys are seasoned PO pro's.

I'm resigned to paying whatever mark up is on release day and just dealing with it. I buy multiples (at least three) of just about everything though. And with shipping in the state that it is in I don't do too bad having my release day purchases shipped to my Tenso account the consolidated into one shipment. With most PO's being limited to one unit you're looking at three separate shipping charges to get three to home base. Of course PO's will always end up being less expensive. But not by a lot. I picked up three Kakazaki's on release day and ended up paying $10-15 more than people who PO'd once you took shipping into account.

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That's smart to group together for shipping.  I'm curious, do you get 3 so you can display one in each mode?  I've considered that but am holding off because I'm still hanging onto the old Yamato 1/48 versions.  I've decided to panel line and weather the old Yamatos and leave the Bandai ones as is for now.  In fighter mode I prefer the thinner thigh/intake for a sleeker fighter profile when viewing at a slightly elevated angle for the Yamatos.  I generally leave the Bandai ones in battroid mode although I'm displaying the Bandai Strike valkyrie with fast packs in fighter mode as I love the darker color of the Bandai fast packs compared to the Yamatos.

[vf1]

  On 9/1/2020 at 6:38 PM, MacrossJunkie said:

And then we have HLJ whose website takes 15 minutes (a bit of hyperbole, yes I know) to load on the best of times when it's not getting beat on, especially when getting search results (in which case, it actually isn't hyperbole).

Whatever was done to their website is awful and I wish they'd get someone to optimize/fix it.

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Thanks everyone.  Pre-orders can also be extremely difficult is noted : )

About HLJ I find it funny on their page they let you order like 20 of the same toy if you make it in while AmiAmi limits you to one per lifetime.

[sqidd]

  On 9/1/2020 at 7:09 PM, vf1 said:

That's smart to group together for shipping.  I'm curious, do you get 3 so you can display one in each mode?  I've considered that but am holding off because I'm still hanging onto the old Yamato 1/48 versions.  I've decided to panel line and weather the old Yamatos and leave the Bandai ones as is for now.  In fighter mode I prefer the thinner thigh/intake for a sleeker fighter profile when viewing at a slightly elevated angle for the Yamatos.  I generally leave the Bandai ones in battroid mode although I'm displaying the Bandai Strike valkyrie with fast packs in fighter mode as I love the darker color of the Bandai fast packs compared to the Yamatos.

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Most of the time for all three mods. Ride or die!

[weiser21]

  On 9/1/2020 at 8:16 PM, sqidd said:

Most of the time for all three mods. Ride or die!

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Are the chunkies Takatoku or Bandai?

[sqidd]

  On 9/1/2020 at 10:54 PM, weiser21 said:

Are the chunkies Takatoku or Bandai?

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Both. The Hikaru 1S and GBP are Takatoku. The rest are Bandai re-sissues. I don't care enough about "heritage" to do them in all Takatoku. Not that you can do the Super 1A's in Takatoku. They were never available unless you wanted to do some custom stuff.

[Shizuka the Cat]

So..... the Kakizaki VF-1A is available on Amazon Japan with shipping to the United States.

Is this a good price? 

I never got around to ordering this one before.

[Shizuka the Cat]

Nevermind.... I decided to go ahead and order it.  

Shop around for the best price?  What's that?  When did that ever stop me before?

(laughs and cries at the same time)

[sqidd]

  On 9/2/2020 at 12:40 AM, Shizuka the Cat said:

So..... the Kakizaki VF-1A is available on Amazon Japan with shipping to the United States.

Is this a good price? 

I never got around to ordering this one before.

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That's a pretty good price. I'm not seeing that listing though. This s the only one I can find.

https://www.amazon.co.jp/gp/product/B089WGZJDG/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[Chronocidal]

Honestly, that's not too bad at all.  Grats on finding one!

[sqidd]

  On 9/2/2020 at 12:46 AM, Shizuka the Cat said:

Nevermind.... I decided to go ahead and order it.  

Shop around for the best price?  What's that?  When did that ever stop me before?

(laughs and cries at the same time)

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Do you have a link?

[Shizuka the Cat]

  On 9/2/2020 at 12:47 AM, sqidd said:

That's a pretty good price. I'm not seeing that listing though. This s the only one I can find.

https://www.amazon.co.jp/gp/product/B089WGZJDG/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

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Glad the price sounds good.

I ended up getting the last one from yosukaru that uses Amazon Global Shipping. (DHL most probably).

Listings that use Amazon Global Shipping pop up every now and then.... like the one I just ordered.  I did not see this listing around yesterday, so I got pretty lucky, thanks to my obsessive daily window shopping habit.

Edited September 2, 2020 by Shizuka the Cat

[vf1]

  On 9/2/2020 at 12:53 AM, Shizuka the Cat said:

Glad the price sounds good.

I ended up getting the last one from yosukaru that uses Amazon Global Shipping. (DHL most probably).

Listings that use Amazon Global Shipping pop up every now and then.... like the one I just ordered.  I did not see this listing around yesterday, so I got pretty lucky, thanks to my obsessive daily window shopping habit.

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Congrats on scoring a Kakizaki for a good price!

[vf1]

  On 9/1/2020 at 8:16 PM, sqidd said:

Most of the time for all three mods. Ride or die!

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That is quite a jaw dropping display.  My 7 year old also thinks it looks amazing.  I love how you also have the wide cabinets so you can display a variety of figures in on level.  Why transform when you can just display one in each mode : P

[Saburo]

  On 9/1/2020 at 8:16 PM, sqidd said:

Most of the time for all three mods. Ride or die!

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AMAZING!

 

[sqidd]

  On 9/2/2020 at 1:17 AM, vf1 said:

 Why transform when you can just display one in each mode : P

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The lazy man's display!

[sqidd]

  On 9/2/2020 at 3:10 AM, Saburo said:

AMAZING!

 

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Coming from you that means an extra special something. That's what I say when I see your beautiful pics.

There are going to be some pretty cool additions/changes happening over the next few weeks. I've been planning them and collecting the stuff to pull them off for a while now. Also one very large box coming from JP. I'll post pics when it's completed.

I love the challenge of pulling of a well laid out, attractive displays that also have an order to them almost as much as I love the toys. I'm new to this so I'm constantly learning and honing the craft. I'm constantly changing them around looking for just the right balance. I'm nowhere near what I would consider done. But I'm starting to get a feel for what works and what doesn't.

[weiser21]

Amazon JP has a Kaki for 29,800 Yen, after removal of tax 29,664 Yen shipped to USA.

https://www.amazon.co.jp/DX超合金-劇場版VF-1A-バルキリー（柿崎速雄機）-超時空要塞マクロス-愛・おぼえていますか/dp/B089WGZJDG/ref=sr_1_4?__mk_ja_JP=カタカナ&dchild=1&keywords=dx+chogokin&qid=1598886867&rnid=2493949051&sr=8-4

[vladykins]

  On 9/1/2020 at 7:12 PM, vf1 said:

Thanks everyone.  Pre-orders can also be extremely difficult is noted : )

About HLJ I find it funny on their page they let you order like 20 of the same toy if you make it in while AmiAmi limits you to one per lifetime.

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That's just HLJ's default setting. If you make it in, you are still limited to 1. After it sells out, it switches back to the default of 20.

 

[vf1]

  On 9/2/2020 at 11:52 AM, vladykins said:

That's just HLJ's default setting. If you make it in, you are still limited to 1. After it sells out, it switches back to the default of 20.

 

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Thanks!  That's good to know. 

[vladykins]

It's one of those things that catches folks all the time. I'm not even sure why they have that as their default but then I guess I only ever chase things there that are always limited to 1 per customer.

[MikeRoz]

  On 8/31/2020 at 6:59 AM, mamboeidos said:

This is the reply i got when i ask about y is not stuff still not shipped when my country is not under the restricted countries affect due this covid for the strike parts....

 

Thank you for your message

Sir , i regret to inform you even if you change the shipping method( we cannot ship by SAL) we won't be able to honor your order.

Our supplier cancelled our stock for this product. We tried to find with another supplier this product, but it takes a lot of time (months) and even that we are able to tell you if at the end we will be able to ship your order.

We are terrible sorry for the inconvenience, here the option we can offer you:
- refund your order by store credit (time to make a proper refund has been expired)
- if there are something on the website, make an exception and switch the product (prices have to be equivalent)
- keep the order but we do not know when it will be ship , change now or after the shipping method.

Come back to us, new ticket: Super parts. We will answer you faster.

 

Another VF-31A Karios in the making?

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I'd been kind of tuning out on this thread for a while (not interested in Kaki, no big announcements) but this is really disappointing to hear. I'll admit I've been remiss in pressing my ticket tag game with N-Y - they initially got back to me advising me of the cost to upgrade my order to UPS or downgrade to SAL, but no response since to my two replies. Submitted a new ticket just now.

If they fall through, what's a good price for these? Is the $174 I'm seeing at Amazon a decent option? A 100% markup leaves a sour taste in my mouth but I might have to deal. Torn between giving up on N-Y or continuing to play it by ear, hoping they come through like they did for the Kairos.

[peter]

  On 9/1/2020 at 1:50 PM, sqidd said:

Good luck with that! PO's have turned into blood baths. Sold out in minutes. It appears that not very many people on this board were able to score Roy PO's this time around. And most of these guys are seasoned PO pro's.

I'm resigned to paying whatever mark up is on release day and just dealing with it. I buy multiples (at least three) of just about everything though. And with shipping in the state that it is in I don't do too bad having my release day purchases shipped to my Tenso account the consolidated into one shipment. With most PO's being limited to one unit you're looking at three separate shipping charges to get three to home base. Of course PO's will always end up being less expensive. But not by a lot. I picked up three Kakazaki's on release day and ended up paying $10-15 more than people who PO'd once you took shipping into account.

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That PO left a really bad taste in my mouth.  First attempt to stay up and PO and it was a nightmare.  I'm choked I'll have to pay probably 10,000 yen more than MSRP when it eventually gets released.

Are prices on Kakis slowly creeping up already?

[peter]

  On 9/2/2020 at 12:46 AM, Shizuka the Cat said:

Nevermind.... I decided to go ahead and order it.  

Shop around for the best price?  What's that?  When did that ever stop me before?

(laughs and cries at the same time)

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Congrats dude, that's a pretty good price.

[DYRL VF-1S]

  On 9/2/2020 at 4:37 PM, peter said:

That PO left a really bad taste in my mouth.  First attempt to stay up and PO and it was a nightmare.  I'm choked I'll have to pay probably 10,000 yen more than MSRP when it eventually gets released.

Are prices on Kakis slowly creeping up already?

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I don't think the Kakizakis are a good measure since they're TWEs and were available to preorder much longer than normal POs (though substantially quicker than past TWEs at most shops).  Just my two cents.  Sadly, you'll probably see the Roy 1S hit 1J prices after some time passes from initial release (you'll have a chance to score at MSRP on release).

[peter]

  On 9/2/2020 at 4:47 PM, DYRL VF-1S said:

I don't think the Kakizakis are a good measure since they're TWEs and were available to preorder much longer than normal POs (though substantially quicker than past TWEs at most shops).  Just my two cents.  Sadly, you'll probably see the Roy 1S hit 1J prices after some time passes from initial release (you'll have a chance to score at MSRP on release).

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Oh, sorry, I was talking about the Roy PO.  As others have said, it was an absolute bloodbath.  I was on 5 different websites, even had the dang thing in my cart at some places, but in the end, I didn't get a single one due to time outs or website crash.

Do you really think it's possible to get a Roy for MSRP on release date?  That gets my hopes up and I'll give it another try to get one at that time.

As for the Kaki, I remember TWE was't nearly as bad as Roy's preorder.  I remember actually humming and hawing over it with one in my cart for a while with no issues.

Edited September 2, 2020 by peter

[DYRL VF-1S]

  On 9/2/2020 at 4:49 PM, peter said:

Do you really think it's possible to get a Roy for MSRP on release date?  That gets my hopes up and I'll give it another try to get one at that time.

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Absolutely!  In some ways, the Hikkie DYRL 1S was harder than Roy (in other ways, Roy was more difficult).  I didn't score Hikaru on PO night but did score him around release for MSRP at HobbySearch.  The blessing and curse of when release day approaches is that you just don't know when something will be available.  It's good because you aren't competing with as many people all bottlenecking at the same time.  It's bad because you have no idea when something is made available so it's a bit of luck.  Two things happen:

1. People (likely scalpers) begin to offload POs around release day from sites that don't require upfront payment if they haven't sold their marked-up inventory
2. Shops often have a little extra stock they sell on release day