Bandai DX Chogokin 1/48 VF-1

[beatsing]

7 minutes ago, tekering said:

The "good old" Yamato days led to their bankruptcy.  Supply exceeded demand, retailers had to sell at a loss, and it was a nightmare for everyone involved... except the fans, of course.  

And no profit.  

As frustrating as it is for us, I understand why Bandai's manufacturing is so conservative.  They'd rather not take the risk of overproducing a product for a niche market.

I still walk into stores and see Bandai SHFiguarts, Monsterarts, and BAndai Spirits and tons of Gundam on the shelf.  It's not that Bandai couldn't turn a profit, they still do, but they limit certain lines, while other lines shelf warm and are likely losing money.

Also, I'm talking about when the 1/60 line was new, and the 1/48 line had lots of variants.  The new line was pricey.  Was Yamato already going bankrupt and introducing the v2? I don't know as I was starting to collect, it didn't seem like supply exceeded demand - peeps made offers to buy my 1/60 v2 hikky strike cuz it was new.  Good I hung onto it since I got cart jackedon this DX 1S.

If it's a fact that Bandai makes retailers buy their other crap to get more units of DX, that's idiotic behavior to keep pushing crap that doesn't sell.  

Bandai could easily do what other cos do and ask for preorders and keep the preorders open for months.  Then they would have exact figures of demand.  If they are limited by production size, they can just produce as close to the numbers they want, rather than leave money on the table for scalpers.

[dafob]

Another example of a store where I get it into the cart but can't check out fast enough... <sigh>

[jenius]

Anime Export fixed my item not showing as paid so it looks like my order is confirmed. PHEW!

[Lolicon]

Just now, jenius said:

Anime Export fixed my item not showing as paid so it looks like my order is confirmed. PHEW!

Just rub it in, why don't you?  j/k glad they worked it out for you.

[beatsing]

8 minutes ago, Lolicon said:

Depends on what you define a scalper is. The description you gave? I don't think so. To me a scalper is someone who buys things for the sole purpose of immediately reselling them at an inflated price.

As for "just pay the scalpers/mark-up so you can get some sleep" advice? That's well and good if you can afford it. Not everyone has that kind of disposable income; for some peeps $100 is a lot of money.

I've said on more than one occasion that these are luxury items so if you can't afford them it shouldn't be a big deal. Nobody needs valkyrie toys. But it's still pretty shitty if you're forced out of collecting because the combination of scalpers and Bandai producing extremely limited quantities has driven said items out of your price range.

For my part, $100 isn't a huge deal. But I refuse to pay inflated prices to scalpers or NY or whoever on principle. And staying up for PO nights is no problem since I work nights anyway, so I'm not losing any sleep. But it is a bit of a hassle speed preordering on a phone.

I've been through many PO madness nights like this, but they've gotten better over the years, until the recent Max 1A BS, and now this. Goddammit Bandai, why is this crap getting worse? Last night was just F-ing frustrating as hell. Bandai is making something that is supposed to be fun into a frustrating chore. Don't know how much more I'll put up with before I just give up altogether.

This.  you echo my thoughts.  

That scene at that end of the movie with Hikaru shooting up the Dobber is so cool.  Peeps posting it here was cool.  

Then the frustrating preorder madness leaves a bad taste in your mouth.  Like Cartman said.  

Paying the scalper price also makes me feel dirty.  Everytime I look at the toy, I'd think - I got ripped off, instead of that cool scene at the end of DYRL.  It'll be Do You Remember Last night's rip off?

[treatment]

6 minutes ago, beatsing said:

I still walk into stores and see Bandai SHFiguarts, Monsterarts, and BAndai Spirits and tons of Gundam on the shelf.  It's not that Bandai couldn't turn a profit, they still do, but they limit certain lines, while other lines shelf warm and are likely losing money.

Also, I'm talking about when the 1/60 line was new, and the 1/48 line had lots of variants.  The new line was pricey.  Was Yamato already going bankrupt and introducing the v2? I don't know as I was starting to collect, it didn't seem like supply exceeded demand - peeps made offers to buy my 1/60 v2 hikky strike cuz it was new.  Good I hung onto it since I got cart jackedon this DX 1S.

If it's a fact that Bandai makes retailers buy their other crap to get more units of DX, that's idiotic behavior to keep pushing crap that doesn't sell.  

Bandai could easily do what other cos do and ask for preorders and keep the preorders open for months.  Then they would have exact figures of demand.  If they are limited by production size, they can just produce as close to the numbers they want, rather than leave money on the table for scalpers.

Iirc, the 1/60v2  (around 9000y) were cheaper than their 1/48 (around 14,800y) during introduction.

At any rate, one can speculate that Bandai just doesn't want the DX VF-1 to be like their DX SV-262 in terms of (non?)sales, hence their limits on shops' stocks.

[F360]

20 minutes ago, gulan said:

https://www.plazajapan.com/4573102558008/

from plaza japan if anyone still wants one.

edit: price is 19440 yen and the total came out to 22380 yen after shipping.

Thx for the heads ups.  but it sold out too fast for me.  

[Checkmate]

14 minutes ago, dafob said:

Another example of a store where I get it into the cart but can't check out fast enough... <sigh>

I placed DX CHogokin in the search field and the page showed me the 1A and 1J but no 1S. i was F5'ing that page and then saw your post. How'd it show up on yours?

 

[dafob]

3 minutes ago, Checkmate said:

I placed DX CHogokin in the search field and the page showed me the 1A and 1J but no 1S. i was F5'ing that page and then saw your post. How'd it show up on yours?

 

I clicked on the link that @gulan posted here.  The PreOrder button was active so I immediately clicked on it to add to cart.  Clicked checkout and got that sold out message.  This was all within less than 5 seconds.  Grrr!

Edited June 4, 2019 by dafob

[beatsing]

10 minutes ago, treatment said:

Iirc, the 1/60v2  (around 9000y) were cheaper than their 1/48 (around 14,800y) during introduction.

At any rate, one can speculate that Bandai just doesn't want the DX VF-1 to be like their DX SV-262 in terms of (non?)sales, hence their limits on shops' stocks.

For the v2, I think they dropped to about 6000Y (?) at one point, same with their destroids.  

Not really sure why Bandai limits stocks on valks since they seem to provide a lot more stock on other properties like the recent Godzilla stuff in their SHF line.  It was easy to get the preorder, and it's a fairly popular line even before the recent movie.  They also rerelease stuff for that line.  

[no3Ljm]

21 minutes ago, beatsing said:

Not really sure why Bandai limits stocks on valks since they seem to provide a lot more stock on other properties like the recent Godzilla stuff in their SHF line.  It was easy to get the preorder, and it's a fairly popular line even before the recent movie.  They also rerelease stuff for that line.  

A DX Valkyrie shouldn’t be compared with a SHF Godzilla. It’s like asking which is easy and cheaper to reproduce but still makes a lot of money than the other? A Hasbro G.I.Joe figure or a Hot Toys figure?

 

[beatsing]

6 minutes ago, no3Ljm said:

A DX Valkyrie shouldn’t be compared with a SHF Godzilla. It’s like asking which is easy and cheaper to reproduce but still makes a lot of money than the other? A Hasbro G.I.Joe figure or a Hot Toys figure?

 

OK Valks shouldn't be compared with Godzilla, they are very different IP.  And yes, they are "cheaper".  But not by much.  Ghidorah goes for about 15000Y on preorder.  Their resale on ebay and auction sites can go pretty high though not as high as valks.  But it's also partly due to the re release of the popular monsters (just in small variation of paint, but same mold).

[beatsing]

I was late to the whole SH Monsterarts and but the store owners told me that the figures were being reissued.  And they did, with small increases to the prices.  

If Bandai did that for the Macross fans, or had long preorder windows like some companies, we'd all get the valks we want.  And Bandai wouldn't overproduce like yamato did.  

[tjdetweiler]

So no email cancellation from HLJ after 24 hours. I guess safe to say my order is intact. Got another order from NY at 25k yen paid just to be 100% sure. First time to be successful at HLJ ever since the website change. 

Mykombini hasn't opened up there PO but I know they got VF-1A Max listed but not for sale

Edited June 4, 2019 by tjdetweiler

[vlenhoff]

I have to say, i know some of the members who buy multiples. I have to say i am thankful for them. They have sold me extra pieces they bought at regular price, and sold them to me for that same price or less. I will always be grateful to them, for their honesty and comradery.

Scalpers are nasty. I guess I'd live without this 1S. No point in ruining my evening over some arsehats who want to cheat others for profit.

Edited June 4, 2019 by vlenhoff

[Lolicon]

Not to alarm anyone who has an HLJ order, but I just got this email from them for an item that I bought and paid for over a month ago and has been sitting in my PW since. WTF HLJ?!

We have some bad news: Due to unforeseen circumstances in our supply chain, we are unable to fulfill your order for the BANS55678 S.H.Figuarts Black Widow. We know - we're disappointed too.

We will be making adjustments in your Private Warehouse account over the next few days and will refund you for the cancelled item to your original form of payment. Other merchandise in your Private Warehouse will not be affected.

We want to do what we can to make it right, so please accept this coupon code for a discount of 10 percent off the cost of merchandise on a new order with us:

[REDACTED]

Please be sure to use it by the end of 2019.

On the order form, after you enter your coupon code into the ‘Apply Discount Code’ box in the ‘Order Summary’, be sure to click the ‘Apply Coupon’ button to the immediate right of the box where you entered your coupon code. A discounted price of the item(s) will appear in your order. After that, click the ‘Proceed to Checkout’ button, and your order will be submitted with the discounted prices.

We really appreciate your understanding and apologize for any inconvenience. If you have any questions about this, please feel free to reply here and let us know.

Regards,

HLJ Customer Support

[SaitouSad]

6 minutes ago, Lolicon said:

Not to alarm anyone who has an HLJ order, but I just got this email from them for an item that I bought and paid for over a month ago and has been sitting in my PW since. WTF HLJ?!

...

Well, it wouldn't be the first time HLJ has done that. I'm just surprised it still happens

[ScrambledValkyrie]

NY just sent me notification that my missile set has shipped.

[Convectuoso]

11 hours ago, gerwookie said:

Someone asked earlier. Has nin-nin worked out okay for others in the past? Paypal has the 180 days protection thing right? It was only “pay now” and not “pay later” and I know they have a policy for canceling those who “abuse or cancel often” but if they’re not reliable, should I cancel my order now? Through PayPal?

I bought a HMR VF-1D from them and didn't have any problems. 

[sh9000]

NY shipped my missile set as well.

[Pedro2k6]

7 hours ago, Mommar said:

Are everybodies missiles at NY still in preparation?

yes...waiting too....NY is getting slow with this.

[DWN013]

OK guys, here's the first GIF i've ever made, it's not complete as my skills are at their end:

"sometimes, it be like that"

It didn't come out as good as I thought it would, but oh well.  If any GIF wizards feel like they want to help complete it, please use the below images, on the chests of the three and also the gate can have HLJ on it:

 

Edited June 4, 2019 by DWN013
title

[Lolicon]

2 hours ago, SaitouSad said:

Well, it wouldn't be the first time HLJ has done that. I'm just surprised it still happens

I just ordered Black Widow elsewhere. Now I can at least get 10% off an Arcadia SV-51... 

...which was what I was saying till I looked it up and even that is on Order Stop now. 

[rdrunner]

8 hours ago, HardlyNever said:

For some reason, that made me think of this:

All jokes aside, scalpers are a symptom of the problem, not the cause.  I know they make easy villians to hate, but it is the gap between supply and demand, and what the market is willing to pay for this, that is the problem (i.e. Bandai).  

Bandai has a system in place, right now (TWE system) that with some tweaking, could greatly reduce if not remove this problem entirely, with probably a small mark-up for the consumer.  But they refuse to do it, except in limited cases.  If you want to be angry at someone/something, be angry at Bandai.

And of course, Harmony Gold.

Hahaha!! 

I had Peter Griffin’s “Aw crap” in my head but this cracked me up too

 

[Shizuka the Cat]

41 minutes ago, DWN013 said:

OK guys, here's the first GIF i've ever made, it's not complete as my skills are at their end:

"sometimes, it be like that"

 

It didn't come out as good as I thought it would, but oh well.  If any GIF wizards feel like they want to help complete it, please use the below images, on the chests of the three and also the gate can have HLJ on it:

 

LOL.  I am flattered, really!

[tjdetweiler]

Damn..saw some local distributor opened up PO..400 USD..wow..

[tjdetweiler]

3 hours ago, Lolicon said:

Not to alarm anyone who has an HLJ order, but I just got this email from them for an item that I bought and paid for over a month ago and has been sitting in my PW since. WTF HLJ?!

We have some bad news: Due to unforeseen circumstances in our supply chain, we are unable to fulfill your order for the BANS55678 S.H.Figuarts Black Widow. We know - we're disappointed too.

We will be making adjustments in your Private Warehouse account over the next few days and will refund you for the cancelled item to your original form of payment. Other merchandise in your Private Warehouse will not be affected.

We want to do what we can to make it right, so please accept this coupon code for a discount of 10 percent off the cost of merchandise on a new order with us:

[REDACTED]

Please be sure to use it by the end of 2019.

On the order form, after you enter your coupon code into the ‘Apply Discount Code’ box in the ‘Order Summary’, be sure to click the ‘Apply Coupon’ button to the immediate right of the box where you entered your coupon code. A discounted price of the item(s) will appear in your order. After that, click the ‘Proceed to Checkout’ button, and your order will be submitted with the discounted prices.

We really appreciate your understanding and apologize for any inconvenience. If you have any questions about this, please feel free to reply here and let us know.

Regards,

HLJ Customer Support

That sucks man! So even without the cancellation email, we are still out of the woods huh? Very sorry to hear this...atleast I got a backup.

Damn saw a local distributor for Bandai opened up PO for 400 usd.

[spacemanoeuvres]

12 hours ago, loliphenex said:

For the record, the VF-1S had the most stock out of every item that went up last night at amiami (you can see their current stock through amiami’s api call). Some numbers I recorded last night.

VF-1S : 859 (+130 that came later)

Dairugger XV : 401

SHF Shinkocchou Seihou Kamen Rider Kuuga Decade ver : 483

Robot Spirits Gelgoog J ANIME : 614

 

@loliphenex would you help us understand how you obtained these numbers and how you used AmiAmi’s API to secure a preorder(s)?

[HardlyNever]

8 hours ago, Dirtyboy said:

However those that buy multiple Valks on here, with the title of being a collector, does that make you a scalper? Are you going to sell them on later at cost price if you decrease your collection for whatever reason? 

 

This.  Scalpers aren't the problem, they are just responding to the what the market will bear.  I know they make easy scapegoats, and I'm not a fan of them either, but they aren't going away, even if you ask them really nicely.

There are people on this site right now selling the DX Hikaru VF-1J for more than a 50% markup (new in box).  But they aren't scalpers?  I'm not trying to call anyone out for doing that, just pointing out the situation.  The reality is that the line between "scalper" and "collector" is a hazy and subjective line, where everyone is going to have a different opinion, and they are going to draw that line where it is most convenient for them.  But this debate is as old as toy forums (probably even older), so I'm not going to say any more about it.

32 minutes ago, tjdetweiler said:

That sucks man! So even without the cancellation email, we are still out of the woods huh? Very sorry to hear this...atleast I got a backup.

The reality with this hobby is you don't actually have one, until it is in your hands, regardless of where you ordered from.  I've never had HLJ cancel an order on me (not saying it can't happen, just that it is rare).  Other retailers have canceled orders before.  Stuff gets lost in shipping.  Lots of things can happen between now and release.  I wouldn't sweat it too much.

Edited June 4, 2019 by HardlyNever

[seti88]

1 hour ago, spacemanoeuvres said:

@loliphenex would you help us understand how you obtained these numbers and how you used AmiAmi’s API to secure a preorder(s)?

Yes, am trying to understand that too..

[spacemanoeuvres]

6 minutes ago, seti88 said:

Yes, am trying to understand that too..

Yeah I need to get in on this. I’ve used bots for “farming” in video games and what not, but never for purchasing things online. 

I’m sick of staying up all night just to come up empty handed or paying a crazy markup. Let’s get on the bot bandwagon!

[seti88]

At this point in the game, I think the only fool proof way of getting one is to setup a online retailing site and sell it to yourself!

Edited June 4, 2019 by seti88

[Guyffon]

Was just swooshing around my vf-1j, i guess i’ll just get the strike pack and put it on it, though i know its inaccurate

[DYRL VF-1S]

8 hours ago, gulan said:

https://www.plazajapan.com/4573102558008/

from plaza japan if anyone still wants one.

edit: price is 19440 yen and the total came out to 22380 yen after shipping.

Great job.  I had been feverishly refreshing that URL watching for it but just couldn't do another night with no sleep just to land a 2nd one.  (I bought a first markup wave at NY.). Looks like I went to bed about an hour and half earlier than the listing.  Figures.  For the 1A they posted about 2 hours earlier so was hoping for that.

[DYRL VF-1S]

2 hours ago, spacemanoeuvres said:

@loliphenex would you help us understand how you obtained these numbers and how you used AmiAmi’s API to secure a preorder(s)?

I don't believe loliphenex is going to share that (I wouldn't).  In order to leverage API's, you'd have to know what platform AmiAmi uses and then ensure that the platform allows development with an open API set.  If you have that, you can develop an integration to that to scrape or extrapolate the data you want mined. 

It's a bit different than a bot that automates a purchase in that scenario.  You're just mining data points that aren't public facing.  I didn't read anything that stated loliphenex used a bot to acquire product, but if you have access to develop against those APIs then you absolutely could create a bot to accomplish purchasing it.

Edited June 4, 2019 by DYRL VF-1S