Bandai DX Chogokin 1/48 VF-1

[pablumatic]

3 hours ago, Hurin said:

I'm sitting out the the Angel Birds.  But for future reference, any tips/tricks for getting in on the initial release and/or preorder in hopes of paying retail. . . from the US?

I've only ever ordered stuff from HLJ and a couple things from CDJapan and Amazon.jp.

As noted watch this board for preorders. To know when to watch this board I suggest turning on email notifications for the threads you're interested in here.

When a lot of email activity happens you will know its time to check in here.

[Alphahorizon]

15 minutes ago, pablumatic said:

As noted watch this board for preorders. To know when to watch this board I suggest turning on email notifications for the threads you're interested in here.

When a lot of email activity happens you will know its time to check in here.

This is what I do as well. And I found that Yahoo ( i know its dated) has been the fastest response from when someone posts here to when I receive the email.

[Rossy]

Nin Nin has it up for pre order if anyone is interested.

[Anasazi37]

10 hours ago, Hurin said:

I'm sitting out the the Angel Birds.  But for future reference, any tips/tricks for getting in on the initial release and/or preorder in hopes of paying retail. . . from the US?

I've only ever ordered stuff from HLJ and a couple things from CDJapan and Amazon.jp.

• Keep an eye on the pinned PO thread, as others have recommended. Also keep an eye on the Tamashii Nations site (https://tamashii.jp/item_character/macross_series/), which will usually give you the exact days when POs will happen. That info is usually on individual product pages.
• Make sure you have active accounts on several sites like Amazon Japan, HLJ, Anime Export, AmiAmi, CDJapan, etc. If you are comfortable storing payment information in those accounts, that gives you a bit of an edge because you don't have to enter that stuff during checkout.
• Practice quickly switching between browser tabs and hitting the F5 button to refresh product pages. You'll likely have to look at multiple sites simultaneously.
• POs for DX valks, like most Bandai products, open at 4pm JST. They often sell out in minutes or seconds. That's for general releases.
• For TWE releases like the Angel Birds, you have to be in Japan to order them, no exceptions. That means you need to work through a proxy service (FromJapan, Big In Japan, etc.) or go to one of the few stores that will act like a proxy but let you just click the "buy" button. Anime Export and a few others tend to do this, taking orders before Bandai's store even opens. Their marked up price is generally on par with the retail price plus proxy fees.
• Some TWE items have sold out in minutes as well, but what generally happens is that proxies run out of allotments and start refusing orders. At that point you need to find someone in Japan to order the item for you.
• Be comfortable living with disappointment. I maybe manage to snag a DX at retail about half the time. Some folks here have the luck of the gods and consistently snag multiples at every single PO event. I have no idea how they do it.
• Keep an eye on sites like Amazon Japan and Yahoo Japan right around release day (before and after) for an item. You can sometimes grab a valk at retail when scalpers realize that a large bill is coming due and they start unloading stock they haven't managed to sell.

[Lolicon]

Bandai really sucked the enjoyment out of this hobby. 

[nightmareB4macross]

50 minutes ago, Lolicon said:

Bandai really sucked the enjoyment out of this hobby. 

I blame scalpers.

 

Bandai just does Bandai.

[ValkAddict]

1 hour ago, Anasazi37 said:

• Be comfortable living with disappointment. ... Some folks here have the luck of the gods and consistently snag multiples at every single PO event. I have no idea how they do it.

^ I feel seen. LOL. I've only paid retail once for a valk and that was the recent WWM VF-25 release. Sadly, I have always paid markup. 😐

[Drad]

I just pay the markup but try to find the best deal within that range. I give up trying to get them at retail price.

[Drad]

3 hours ago, Lolicon said:

Bandai really sucked the enjoyment out of this hobby. 

They're only catering to the domestic market, right? Or are there a buncha Japanese collectors missing out as well?

[68whiskey]

13 hours ago, pablumatic said:

As noted watch this board for preorders. To know when to watch this board I suggest turning on email notifications for the threads you're interested in here.

When a lot of email activity happens you will know its time to check in here.

This board has been very helpful on keeping me up to date with pre orders on both the Macross and Metal Build side. 

4 hours ago, nightmareB4macross said:

I blame scalpers.

 

Bandai just does Bandai.

Its both. Scalpers took advantage and Bandai is polishing the same frames with different colors , selling accessories separate and delivering poor QC on their figures only to resell an update version later. Dont even get me started on all the Strike GTX & Accessories they keep milking. 

[m0n5t3r]

7 hours ago, Lolicon said:

Bandai really sucked the enjoyment out of this hobby. 

This is the main reason I quit collecting some 5 years ago. As if the ridiculous inflation they started wasn't enough, the limited supply really drove the prices way above what I was comfortable spending on these things. It's like they're in league with the scalpers to screw with us collectors.

"selling accessories separate and delivering poor QC on their figures only to resell an update version later."

This too. 

Edited July 30, 2022 by m0n5t3r

[vladykins]

19 hours ago, Drad said:

So far I've got Roy, Hikaru (VF-1J), Max and the VF-1D. I should probably stop there but I'd be very tempted by a mass production VF-1A, TV Kakizaki or DYRL Max VF-1S.

I have to wonder what made Big West agree to yet another arrangement with HG. Yeah it's better than nothing but many of us older fans want the original series and movie merch. 

This is me except my 1J is the armored version.  I'm passing on the Angel Birds because it has never been one of my favorite color schemes. I like the character schemes but otherwise stick to darker or close to single color schemes. The Yammie 30th annivesary was one of the biggest offenders for me of "WTF is all these different colors?" Give me the 25th Anniversary black with gold trim any day.

[Radioguy]

20 hours ago, jenius said:

VF-1A Mass Production
VF-1A TV Kakizaki
VT-1 SuperOstrich
VE-1 ElintSeeker

ALL of those before VF-1A Angelbirds for me.... but I still bought one.

Those would have been my choices...and as I'm apparently a Johnny-Come-Lately, reissues of the Movie Kakizaki 1A and the 1D with or without the fan racer. I just can't swing the late fees of today for those now..

7 hours ago, Anasazi37 said:

• Keep an eye on the pinned PO thread, as others have recommended. Also keep an eye on the Tamashii Nations site (https://tamashii.jp/item_character/macross_series/), which will usually give you the exact days when POs will happen. That info is usually on individual product pages.
• Make sure you have active accounts on several sites like Amazon Japan, HLJ, Anime Export, AmiAmi, CDJapan, etc. If you are comfortable storing payment information in those accounts, that gives you a bit of an edge because you don't have to enter that stuff during checkout.
• Practice quickly switching between browser tabs and hitting the F5 button to refresh product pages. You'll likely have to look at multiple sites simultaneously.
• POs for DX valks, like most Bandai products, open at 4pm JST. They often sell out in minutes or seconds. That's for general releases.
• For TWE releases like the Angel Birds, you have to be in Japan to order them, no exceptions. That means you need to work through a proxy service (FromJapan, Big In Japan, etc.) or go to one of the few stores that will act like a proxy but let you just click the "buy" button. Anime Export and a few others tend to do this, taking orders before Bandai's store even opens. Their marked up price is generally on par with the retail price plus proxy fees.
• Some TWE items have sold out in minutes as well, but what generally happens is that proxies run out of allotments and start refusing orders. At that point you need to find someone in Japan to order the item for you.
• Be comfortable living with disappointment. I maybe manage to snag a DX at retail about half the time. Some folks here have the luck of the gods and consistently snag multiples at every single PO event. I have no idea how they do it.
• Keep an eye on sites like Amazon Japan and Yahoo Japan right around release day (before and after) for an item. You can sometimes grab a valk at retail when scalpers realize that a large bill is coming due and they start unloading stock they haven't managed to sell.

Ran out of likes today, but everyone oughta like this post even though probably 90% here know this in their sleep by now. I need it beaten into me for what I've missed, to be honest.

[m0n5t3r]

1 hour ago, Chunky001 said:

If you do the calculations for actual inflation (value of the dollar) and factor in exchange rate the Bandai stuff is no more expensive than the Yamato stuff was.

The limited supply driving pricing up is a problem though.

Yes, the real culprit is the limited supply which is what scalpers are taking advantage of. But you can't really compare the influence on the toy/collectible market that Bandai has compared to a small, niche toy company like Yamato/Arcadia. One increases their prices so they can keep their business running, the other...

[ValkAddict]

10 hours ago, Drad said:

I just pay the markup but try to find the best deal within that range. I give up trying to get them at retail price.

^ I try to do the same.

[Anasazi37]

14 hours ago, Lolicon said:

Bandai really sucked the enjoyment out of this hobby. 

100% agree with this. They could easily do larger initial production runs, second runs if the first sells out, and/or regular reissues without hurting their business, which we see all the time with Gundam and other lines, but they intentionally make a different decision that just makes all of this so much worse. Bandai also seems to make weird decisions on what to release and when. My love of collecting valks has balanced on the edge of a knife since Bandai announced the first DX VF-1 and I got screwed during PO Madness. Even since then it's been a cat-and-mouse game of figuring out how to get them at decent prices, and it's a game I rarely win. I'm getting tired, though. Over the past year I've passed on the YF-29 Full Set Pack, the VF-31J Movie Version, the VF-25 WWM, the VF-31AX Bogue, the YF-29 Max, the VF-31AX armored parts, and the Angel Birds. I'm being a lot more selective with my time and money now. Granted, I just bought one of those ridiculous plush gunpods from Arcadia, but I'd rather give Arcadia that money than reward Bandai for bad design and production decisions.

7 hours ago, Radioguy said:

Ran out of likes today, but everyone oughta like this post even though probably 90% here know this in their sleep by now. I need it beaten into me for what I've missed, to be honest.

It's hard-won information that builds on the experiences of many MW members, so credit should go to a lot of people here for figuring out ways to level the playing field for collectors--even just a little. It's by no means a complete list of suggestions, but I hope it helps people.

7 hours ago, Chunky001 said:

If you do the calculations for actual inflation (value of the dollar) and factor in exchange rate the Bandai stuff is no more expensive than the Yamato stuff was.

The limited supply driving pricing up is a problem though.

I know a few members have run the numbers over the past year or so, whenever the question comes up, and this always turns out to be the answer. Supply, not price, seems to be the primary difference. There must be a happy medium between Yamato's devil-may-care approach that bankrupted the company and Bandai's we-barely-care approach that continually frustrates domestic and international collectors.

11 hours ago, Drad said:

I just pay the markup but try to find the best deal within that range. I give up trying to get them at retail price.

More than a few members refer to that as the "old man tax." I'm more willing to pay it these days. I just don't have the time or energy to compete against scalpers.

[Drad]

3 hours ago, Anasazi37 said:

100% agree with this. They could easily do larger initial production runs, second runs if the first sells out, and/or regular reissues without hurting their business, which we see all the time with Gundam and other lines, but they intentionally make a different decision that just makes all of this so much worse. Bandai also seems to make weird decisions on what to release and when. My love of collecting valks has balanced on the edge of a knife since Bandai announced the first DX VF-1 and I got screwed during PO Madness. Even since then it's been a cat-and-mouse game of figuring out how to get them at decent prices, and it's a game I rarely win. I'm getting tired, though. Over the past year I've passed on the YF-29 Full Set Pack, the VF-31J Movie Version, the VF-25 WWM, the VF-31AX Bogue, the YF-29 Max, the VF-31AX armored parts, and the Angel Birds. I'm being a lot more selective with my time and money now. Granted, I just bought one of those ridiculous plush gunpods from Arcadia, but I'd rather give Arcadia that money than reward Bandai for bad design and production decisions.

It's hard-won information that builds on the experiences of many MW members, so credit should go to a lot of people here for figuring out ways to level the playing field for collectors--even just a little. It's by no means a complete list of suggestions, but I hope it helps people.

I know a few members have run the numbers over the past year or so, whenever the question comes up, and this always turns out to be the answer. Supply, not price, seems to be the primary difference. There must be a happy medium between Yamato's devil-may-care approach that bankrupted the company and Bandai's we-barely-care approach that continually frustrates domestic and international collectors.

More than a few members refer to that as the "old man tax." I'm more willing to pay it these days. I just don't have the time or energy to compete against scalpers.

Oof! Harsh but true, I suppose. Yeah, I'd rather just bite the bullet and get the stuff before it skyrockets on the secondary market.

Now that I think about it, fans of the VF-1 are getting pretty long in the tooth huh? Heh.

[m0n5t3r]

Another negative effect I've noticed, at least here locally, is that even legit and reputable shops are marking up their prices for these DXs (and SOCs and other higher end stuff) significantly above retail (just below what scalpers charge) right off the bat. Coz they know from what they've been allocated vs. the qty they ordered, that supplies are gonna be way lower than their preorders/inquiries. 

[Lolicon]

17 hours ago, Drad said:

They're only catering to the domestic market, right? Or are there a buncha Japanese collectors missing out as well?

You have more shopping options if you lived in Japan, but it's not like you can just walk into any random store and find shelves of (DX) valkyries, at least not in a big city like Tokyo. It's pretty much reserve as soon as reservations start or you're SOL. 

I did manage to snag a Hikaru 1S on release day in Tokyo, but that was plain dumb luck. 

[Halfstep]

Finally my DX stands are not dull and drab. Guy in a Macross Facebook group had created some really cool 3D printed plaques with a connection system to the base.  I think I will buy some more.

Edited August 7, 2022 by Halfstep
Wanted to add I did not create this solution incase anybody wondered.

[sumyumgoy]

Looks good!

12 hours ago, Halfstep said:

Finally my DX stands are not dull and drab. Guy in a Macross Facebook group had created some really cool 3D printed plaques with a connection system to the base.  I think I will buy some more.

Looks great!  Is it possible to share a link?

[Halfstep]

Just now, sumyumgoy said:

Looks good!

Looks great!  Is it possible to share a link?

I am forum stupid.  The guy will respond to FB messenger DMs.  Not sure how to share that out here on the forum.  Here is a sample of other plaques he has right now.  He seems willing to work on requests as well as I did ask about a skull and cross bones plaque.  He originally did not have the Spacey kite which was a request from me and another in the group.  I don't want to go against forum guidelines by derailing the thread.  I did suggest he post about this here on the forums, I know there is a buy/sell/trade section here I told him to find...but I can't seem to find that section myself.  If somebody can share me a link to that I can recommend he post this there.

 

 

[sumyumgoy]

12 minutes ago, Halfstep said:

I am forum stupid.  The guy will respond to FB messenger DMs.  Not sure how to share that out here on the forum.  Here is a sample of other plaques he has right now.  He seems willing to work on requests as well as I did ask about a skull and cross bones plaque.  He originally did not have the Spacey kite which was a request from me and another in the group.  I don't want to go against forum guidelines by derailing the thread.  I did suggest he post about this here on the forums, I know there is a buy/sell/trade section here I told him to find...but I can't seem to find that section myself.  If somebody can share me a link to that I can recommend he post this there.

 

Thanks!

[Halfstep]

6 minutes ago, sumyumgoy said:

Thanks!

No problem.  In my head I think it would be cool for those who are collecting the DX DYRL line to have color coded Skull and Crossbones to go with them.  I only have the Hikaru which in my picture I shared is using a Spacey kite.  But I would love it to be a red and white skull and bones instead and move the kite over to my SDF Max.  It would be cool to see a set of birds with corresponding bones for their stands I think.  Been talking to Gary about this idea.

[Paco Grande]

I'm a little shocked that I completely missed a DX pre-order. Or did I? I can't tell. I wasn't really interested in the Angels anyway, but they appear to be sold out already and I wasn't even aware they were on sale yet. And when I go to the Bandai web page to look them up, it keeps redirecting me to their international store and there is no Macross products there. That did not used to happen. They were not discussed in this thread much at all. As far as I can tell the pre-order date was not even posted here once. Are we keeping all information about ordering, including the pre-order madness date, in the pre-order pinned thread now? That seems ridiculous to me, even for this super strict forum. Or is it that nobody cares about that release so there was not much discussion?

The only reason I'm bringing this up is that I'm concerned that I will miss a release I do care about from lack of info.

Thank you!

[Sanity is Optional]

16 minutes ago, Paco Grande said:

I'm a little shocked that I completely missed a DX pre-order. Or did I? I can't tell. I wasn't really interested in the Angels anyway, but they appear to be sold out already and I wasn't even aware they were on sale yet. And when I go to the Bandai web page to look them up, it keeps redirecting me to their international store and there is no Macross products there. That did not used to happen. They were not discussed in this thread much at all. As far as I can tell the pre-order date was not even posted here once. Are we keeping all information about ordering, including the pre-order madness date, in the pre-order pinned thread now? That seems ridiculous to me, even for this super strict forum. Or is it that nobody cares about that release so there was not much discussion?

The only reason I'm bringing this up is that I'm concerned that I will miss a release I do care about from lack of info.

Thank you!

It was a TWE release, had to order via a proxy or store which functions as a proxy (Anime Export for example).

[Paco Grande]

1 hour ago, Sanity is Optional said:

It was a TWE release, had to order via a proxy or store which functions as a proxy (Anime Export for example).

Yup, I'm aware of that. I've ordered those before. What I mean is that there was very little discussion in this thread about it and I cannot even access the Bandai web site anymore for SDFM/DYRL stuff because I'm not in Japan. So I had no way of knowing when you could order it. And even in the pre-order thread on this site it was barely mentioned. I just thought it was odd. Normally there are pages of discussion here whenever a new DX variant pops up. I assume there will be a lot more discussion when it's an actual character release. 

[treatment]

3 minutes ago, Paco Grande said:

Yup, I'm aware of that. I've ordered those before. What I mean is that there was very little discussion in this thread about it and I cannot even access the Bandai web site anymore for SDFM/DYRL stuff because I'm not in Japan. So I had no way of knowing when you could order it. And even in the pre-order thread on this site it was barely mentioned. I just thought it was odd. Normally there are pages of discussion here whenever a new DX variant pops up. I assume there will be a lot more discussion when it's an actual character release. 

 

You somehow just completely missed noel's dedicated thread...

 

 

[Paco Grande]

10 hours ago, treatment said:

 

You somehow just completely missed noel's dedicated thread...

 

 

Yes I missed that. I only follow this thread because all the DX VF-1 info used to be in here. Why are we creating dedicated threads per release? That does not make sense to me at all because if you have alerts set up for this thread, you will not be notified. 

Anyway! Sorry to bother everyone! I will go back to lurking. 

[technoblue]

9 hours ago, Paco Grande said:

Yes I missed that. I only follow this thread because all the DX VF-1 info used to be in here. Why are we creating dedicated threads per release?

You might want to follow the pinned pre-order thread too. Last year there was some discussion about this and jvmacross got permission from the site owners to test the idea. Hence, we now have a pinned thread for pre-order links.

Sometimes news spills over into the other threads but, with the pinned thread, it doesn’t happen as often as it used to.

If you want more info about why the thread was created, the first post has a summary that gets into the reasoning behind it. You’ll have to scroll past the latest pre-order info.

[vladykins]

On 8/10/2022 at 12:00 PM, Paco Grande said:

Yes I missed that. I only follow this thread because all the DX VF-1 info used to be in here. Why are we creating dedicated threads per release? That does not make sense to me at all because if you have alerts set up for this thread, you will not be notified. 

Anyway! Sorry to bother everyone! I will go back to lurking. 

As technoblue said, the pinned PO thread was created specifically because this thread seemed "unwieldy" to some, so it is dedicated to the latest POs. If you follow that, you should get notification when there is new things for PO. 

[twich]

Sorry if this has been asked and answered, but did the VF-1J Hikaru GBP release of this fix the folding nose issue that the first VF-1J release had? Thank you,

Twich

[Angesdad]

13 minutes ago, twich said:

Sorry if this has been asked and answered, but did the VF-1J Hikaru GBP release of this fix the folding nose issue that the first VF-1J release had? Thank you,

Twich

Yup the update was implemented on Max's VF-1A and been this way ever since. The GBP combo came with the nose cone with additional notch to prevent from opening up.

[twich]

35 minutes ago, Angesdad said:

Yup the update was implemented on Max's VF-1A and been this way ever since. The GBP combo came with the nose cone with additional notch to prevent from opening up.

Thank You! Ordered the GBP version from Mandarake, will be my first DX VF-1!

Twich

[borgified]

Now the next question for @twich.. Are you going to stop at the DX 1j & GBP combo after getting it or are you going to get more if your funds allow you to? You know that we’re all enablers here and we want to see your diversity of DX VF-1 valks to grow in size.