Bandai DX Chogokin 1/48 VF-1

[jvmacross]

14 minutes ago, MWUser said:

It was my understanding that Takatoku was the manufacturer of this figure. How did the Bandai logo get branded on the box and figure?
For reference, I am aware that Takatoku was later acquired by Matsuhiro, but that still doesn't explain how the Bandai logo got branded on the box/figure.

Bandai acquired several of Takatoku's toy lines/molds when Takatoku went out of business....this happened very close to when the Macross DYRL film was scheduled to be released.  As a result, the "first batch" of Bandai's Hi-Metal 1/55 VF-1S Hikaru Strike Valkyries and 1/55 VF-1A Hikaru Valkyries were repainted in DYRL schemes so they could be sold as DYRL Macross toys but they simply used existing Takatoku branded "parts" or probably entire 1/55 VF-1S's and Vf-1A's.

The promotional display sign basically shows the "demo" that was used still displaying the "T.T." Takatoku logo....Bandai added the black stickers with their Bandai logo on the first batch of releases.

Bandai eventually stamped the toys with a Bandai logo during a later production run.....as seen here....

 

If you have some time....these articles are very informative regarding the history of the original 1/55 VF-1 toys.....

https://tamashii.jp/t_kokkaku/65/

https://tamashii.jp/t_kokkaku/64/

[MWUser]

41 minutes ago, sqidd said:

I'm pretty sure Takatoku went out of business. Then Matsuhiro (who was contracted by Takatoku to design the VF-1) bought the rights to the mold and teamed up with Hasbro to make Jetfire's (not sure they ever made Macross stuff). Then Bandai bought Takatoku and Matsuhiro . The VF-1S Hikaru was a Bandai release.

 

Ah, ok, that makes sense; thanks for the information.

34 minutes ago, jvmacross said:

Bandai acquired several of Takatoku's toy lines/molds when Takatoku went out of business....this happened very close to when the Macross DYRL film was scheduled to be released.  As a result, the "first batch" of Bandai's Hi-Metal 1/55 VF-1S Hikaru Strike Valkyries and 1/55 VF-1A Hikaru Valkyries were repainted in DYRL schemes so they could be sold as DYRL Macross toys but they simply used existing Takatoku branded "parts" or probably entire 1/55 VF-1S's and Vf-1A's.

The promotional display sign basically shows the "demo" that was used still displaying the "T.T." Takatoku logo....Bandai added the black stickers with their Bandai logo on the first batch of releases.

Bandai eventually stamped the toys with a Bandai logo during a later production run.....as seen here....

 

If you have some time....these articles are very informative regarding the history of the original 1/55 VF-1 toys.....

https://tamashii.jp/t_kokkaku/65/

https://tamashii.jp/t_kokkaku/64/

Oh, that is interesting, because it seems to mean that Takatoku was split acquired between Matsuhiro and Bandai. I'll need to give those articles a read, so I can better catch up on the history (lol, almost lore at this point considering the popularity of the VF-1* figures).

1 hour ago, Chronocidal said:

Frankly, I'm not sure anything "normal" exists at this point.  Prices are crazy across the board, and I can't find any two vendors with similar shipping costs.

This, especially this.

Specifically, in regards to the Bandair DX Chogokin 1/48 Macross Super Dimensional Fortress (SDF) Releases (aka VF-1* releases) - why have the prices climbed as high as to rival some of the highest listed Macross SDF items on eBay from Takatoku/Yamato/Arcadia/Bandai...etc.? For reference, the first release of the Bandai DX VF-1J (new) is climbing to $400+ at the moment and even the Bandai DX Super Parts Sets (Movie and TV) (new) are approaching $250+.

Edited December 22, 2020 by MWUser

[sh9000]

Paid for the shipping for my Super Parts sets so they should be arriving soon.

Edited December 22, 2020 by sh9000

[F360]

18 minutes ago, sqidd said:

I asked this yesterday. Apparently no one noticed. I'll try again:

What did you guys end up paying for the TV Supers "sitting on your doorstep"? Cost of supers, proxy fees, shipping, tax, etc. Total in your hands cost? Thanks

many did not ship theirs out yet.  some are still waiting on shipping quote from their proxy.. some are still waiting on their proxy of item arrival.

People that used their proxy to get them will use similar formula below.  

P-Bandai TWE price + proxy fee + domestic shipping (680 yen) + whatever international shipping cost...

Other fees that some proxy might charges,  payment fee, consolidate fee, extra packaging fee.

[Saburo]

New equipment has arrived. 

[jvmacross]

11 minutes ago, MWUser said:

Specifically, in regards to the Bandair DX Chogokin 1/48 Macross Super Dimensional Fortress (SDF) Releases (aka VF-1* releases) - why have the prices climbed as high as to rival some of the highest listed Macross SDF items on eBay from Takatoku/Yamato/Arcadia/Bandai...etc.? For reference, the first release of the Bandair DX VF-1J is climbing to$400+ at the moment and even the Bandai DX Super Parts Sets (Movie and TV) are approaching $250+.

The circumstances between both the old school and the new versions of the same toys are very different.....for the most part, the current prices for the old toys are now mostly based on nostalgia and diminishing availability of "mint" samples....however, the continual release of newer and better versions of the same toy has brought down the price of the older toys considerably.....today, the prices of new Macross VF-1 toys are mostly driven by the lower production run of these toys when compared to that of the older "DX VF-1" toys from Takatoku/Bandai during the 80's....for example, the original Takatoku 1/55 VF-1j is said to have had a total production run in excess of 1 million toys....I am pretty sure a typical Bandai DX VF-1 toy's production run is nowhere close to this amount....as a result, it's "market value" quickly escalates after release due to the high demand and insufficient supply, which eventually settles down within a year or so from release...

[sqidd]

5 minutes ago, Saburo said:

New equipment has arrived. 

In the States? Jelly!

I really want to get my TV VF-1S Hikaru w/ Supers on my Hikaru shelf. Then................................the VF-1D! So much Hikaru!

[DYRL VF-1S]

42 minutes ago, Angesdad said:

I got one set from Kurama toys and they are asking $48 USD to Ontario Canada. I asked them to kindly check again and provide dimensions and weight of their shipper box made out of steel.

Ditto on price but to Colorado. I’d be curious to see what they reply to you with before I pay. They may just have poor rates with FedEx.

[Protoman]

How legit is Anime-Export? I preordered the super part set back in the summer and my order page still says waiting for release.  

[no3Ljm]

2 minutes ago, Protoman said:

How legit is Anime-Export? I preordered the super part set back in the summer and my order page still says waiting for release.  

Very. Maybe you placed an order for the 2nd release which is for April 2021.

[Chronocidal]

5 minutes ago, Protoman said:

How legit is Anime-Export? I preordered the super part set back in the summer and my order page still says waiting for release.  

It's possible they haven't gotten to your order yet, I only received my notification from them yesterday.

[RIBFIR]

1 minute ago, Chronocidal said:

It's possible they haven't gotten to your order yet, I only received my notification from them yesterday.

I still haven't received notification from AE either (Dec Release)

[Protoman]

Thanks everyone. Looks like I need to exercise a little more patience. But my VF-1S is feeling naked. 

[CharlesXavier]

No update from Okiniland and no response from their ticket query either

[Sanity is Optional]

1 hour ago, sqidd said:

I asked this yesterday. Apparently no one noticed. I'll try again:

What did you guys end up paying for the TV Supers "sitting on your doorstep"? Cost of supers, proxy fees, shipping, tax, etc. Total in your hands cost? Thanks

¥41,220 for the 4 I ordered via proxy. Still waiting on them to ship, but it's all paid up.

($327.69 up front +$58.42 second charge, or $386.11 total/~$96.53 ea)

Added up the numbers wrong.

Edited December 22, 2020 by Sanity is Optional

[sqidd]

4 minutes ago, Sanity is Optional said:

¥38,520 for the 4 I ordered via proxy. Still waiting on them to ship, but it's all paid up.

Solid.

The amortized shipping certainly helped!

Edited December 22, 2020 by sqidd

[sh9000]

Got the payment request for shipping on the 17th but the email was in my junk folder so luckily I checked it today.

[totallyjem]

I just wanted in on the page of the beast. I have one preorder of dec packs but I haven’t heard from them yet about shipping.

 

edit: found it in my junk Mail from Sunday!

edit 2: all in $145 including shipping I could probably save if I waited for the next batch to ship them together but I’m impatient to get my dude all geared up.

Edited December 22, 2020 by totallyjem
New info

[Sanity is Optional]

4 minutes ago, sqidd said:

Solid.

The amortized shipping certainly helped!

Added up the numbers wrong, it was ¥41,220 total.

[weiser21]

35 minutes ago, RIBFIR said:

I still haven't received notification from AE either (Dec Release)

Same here. I only ordered 1 set from them.

[Saburo]

1 hour ago, sqidd said:

In the States? Jelly!

I really want to get my TV VF-1S Hikaru w/ Supers on my Hikaru shelf. Then................................the VF-1D! So much Hikaru!

Yes, in the states. I thought it would arrive next week.

 

[Corrinald]

2 hours ago, dragontype said:

Has anyone else received a message from Kurama Toys Online on arrival of the TV SSPs?  The cost to ship via FEDEX to California is 75.00 USD.  Is that .... normal?

That's what they told me for shipping two sets to Ohio. 

[treatment]

19 hours ago, no3Ljm said:

I paid them Y3990 last Nov to ship my Strike Pack. I’m expecting to pay the same or close if the box size and weight are same as Strike Packs.

 

You are correct, sir.

3990y, indeed.

Paid and already got tracking# for it. 

Btw, how were you able to track it again? or with who?

Japan-Post is currently balking at the non-11-digit/13-digit tracking# AE provided me with the link for. 

edit:

AE's tracking# seems to work with DHL, so ok then...

 

edit2:

btw, my order was originally with the April batch like some here, but seems AE got extras to fulfill it now...

 

 

Edited December 22, 2020 by treatment

[Anasazi37]

Finally heard from my proxy! The two Super Parts sets that I ordered are now on their way to me via FedEx, shipping from Tokyo to New Mexico. That set me back $52. DHL would have been $55. The proxy lists the size and weight of the package on their site, which is handy:

Package Dimensions: 38 x 32 x 16 cm

Package Weight: 1752 g

[gulan]

6 hours ago, kkx said:

Nice, I hope I hear from them in a few days. Is FedEx the only shipping options? Are they still doing surface parcel?

surface mail option is 2300 yen so i picked fedex instead.  

[gulan]

5 hours ago, sqidd said:

I asked this yesterday. Apparently no one noticed. I'll try again:

What did you guys end up paying for the TV Supers "sitting on your doorstep"? Cost of supers, proxy fees, shipping, tax, etc. Total in your hands cost? Thanks

total for 2 sets of tv super was 22210yen total shipped fedex from dejapan

[Roi_Fokka]

Anyone hear from Nin Nin for the TV Super Parts? Or do they usually have delays on releases.

[CharlesXavier]

Okiniland just shipped my Super Part sets via DHL 

[MKT]

Just got notice from AE today about my TV Supers being in stock as well. So I suppose not all stocks arrive to them at same time, which is understandable depending on their methods to get around the P-Bandai order limit. 

[Rossy]

1 hour ago, Roi_Fokka said:

Anyone hear from Nin Nin for the TV Super Parts? Or do they usually have delays on releases.

Well they only just shipped my Roy 1s today so that has been nearly a month...and that was after paying an additional shipping fee. But I hear some people have had no issues with their orders.

[vladykins]

I just got notice from AE as well, so they are getting to them.

[Jade20X]

9 hours ago, RIBFIR said:

I still haven't received notification from AE either (Dec Release)

 

9 hours ago, Protoman said:

How legit is Anime-Export? I preordered the super part set back in the summer and my order page still says waiting for release.  

 

Same for me as well.  I ordered the Super Parts (December release) on July 6.  I figure AE's still going through their stock and working on sending out notices.  I still haven't gotten around to opening my VF-1S yet, so I'm personally not in a rush to receive it.  I fully trust AE as I've bought a number of items from them before in the past.

[Jade20X]

On 12/8/2020 at 2:29 PM, max said:

For those of you curious of how Okiniland packs, just got mine today after placing my order on Dec 1st.  Arrived in perfect condition. One layer bubble wrap in a box with some room in the box. The outer box made the trip mostly intact with minimal corner denting. 

 

 

I received mine from Okini this past Saturday.  I should have received it almost 2 weeks ago, but DHL "lost it" for over a week.  (Worst experience with DHL ever.  Had to call their customer service almost twice daily to get someone to help me.  They had delivered to a different address.)  Mine arrived in the same manner as yours, but it nearly mint condition.

I got one from Nin-Nin almost 3 weeks ago, and they packed it the same exact way as Okini, but there was some minor creasing on the VF-1S box.  So the Nin-Nin one is to open, while the Okini one is to keep MISB.

[Pedro2k6]

1 hour ago, vladykins said:

I just got notice from AE as well, so they are getting to them.

Me too...I found it in SPAM.

[Jade20X]

1 hour ago, Pedro2k6 said:

Me too...I found it in SPAM.

Yep, same here.  I just checked my Junk folder and found it.  Thanks for posting this!  I had checked my Junk folder yesterday but didn't think to do it this morning.  AE sent me a notice at 2:06 AM EST today.

Edited December 22, 2020 by Jade20X