DX Chogokin VF-25S Armored Ozma Lee Revival ver.

[MKT]

4 hours ago, Anasazi37 said:

I'm really curious to see if this is an actual international web shop release (something we haven't seen before) or just a website error that is confusing everyone. I pulled the trigger on a Japan-based purchase for now, just to be sure I get one. I really want Bandai to be less mercurial and just tell us in plain language what the heck they're doing.

Exactly this. Bandai’s bad at communicating their plans on how to get a Macross release out of Japan. 

Not too long ago, they had the WWM logo, & it was all we needed to know if item will be opened up to other countries. Now they’ve abandoned it & we have to do all sorts of speculation.

At least, mention somewhere in the product images that it will be available worldwide or something.

Or, have the POs open up simultaneously in Japan & elsewhere. They almost sort of did that with the DX YF-21 - I think international orders for it opened up just a day or two after.

[pod]

from what I gather this might be the case where the item is tamashii web exclusive in Japan but regular release outside of Japan. This was also the case for some gunplas and shf releases previously,

[Anasazi37]

13 hours ago, pod said:

from what I gather this might be the case where the item is tamashii web exclusive in Japan but regular release outside of Japan. This was also the case for some gunplas and shf releases previously,

This would definitely be a first for Macross valks, but I definitely support more availability. This isn't a case, like with the DX Super Ostrich, where Bandai can't distribute it outside of Japan due to licensing restrictions. Frontier should be fair game for international distribution. The VF-25F Super release is a good example. I guess we'll know for sure in a week or two? If we start seeing it offered on sites like BBTS and Amazon US, we'll have our answer.

Edited June 7 by Anasazi37

[PointBlankSniper]

Now that I've thought about it, the way this looks, regular retailers like hlj, hobby search, and amiami can't even sell this. This isn't a retail release at all, let alone WWM. This is definitely the usual tamashii web/P-bandai release. Anyone that is able to sell this already regularly deals in P-bandai stuff.

Bandai probably chickened out on production volume because the size of the toy or something.

I'd say don't count on it being different overseas. I'm guessing it will open orders on bandai's overseas sites 2 months late or something. The few times pb gunpla broke this rule and went retail overseas had highly publicized bluefin invovlement in distribution long before release. This isn't going down the same path at all. It's just looking like the good old scalper release, with the difference of everyone being conditioned to think it would be WWM.

[blackconvoy_D01]

1 hour ago, PointBlankSniper said:

Now that I've thought about it, the way this looks, regular retailers like hlj, hobby search, and amiami can't even sell this. This isn't a retail release at all, let alone WWM. 

So what does that mean for the one I just paid for from a retailer; a refund?

Edited June 7 by blackconvoy_D01

[jenius]

It's TWE, if you placed an order it's likely from a retailer with a TWE account and you're in good shape. It remains to be seen if it will make it to other countries and, if it does, how. 

[blackconvoy_D01]

38 minutes ago, jenius said:

It's TWE, if you placed an order it's likely from a retailer with a TWE account and you're in good shape. It remains to be seen if it will make it to other countries and, if it does, how. 

Cool, thanks @jenius

[Anasazi37]

17 hours ago, PointBlankSniper said:

Now that I've thought about it, the way this looks, regular retailers like hlj, hobby search, and amiami can't even sell this. This isn't a retail release at all, let alone WWM. This is definitely the usual tamashii web/P-bandai release. Anyone that is able to sell this already regularly deals in P-bandai stuff.

Bandai probably chickened out on production volume because the size of the toy or something.

I'd say don't count on it being different overseas. I'm guessing it will open orders on bandai's overseas sites 2 months late or something. The few times pb gunpla broke this rule and went retail overseas had highly publicized bluefin invovlement in distribution long before release. This isn't going down the same path at all. It's just looking like the good old scalper release, with the difference of everyone being conditioned to think it would be WWM.

What seems to be causing the most confusion on this is that all of the sales regions are highlighted in blue on the Tamashii site, which implies global distribution, but it also clearly states "Tamashii Web Shop" on the listing, there have been no official statements from Bandai about global distribution, and the PO was announced with about six hours of advance notice. Those last three things suggest to me that the first (all regions highlighted) is a mistake and that this is one of the usual limited releases. I would love to be wrong, especially since it was so hard to get the renewal version. It's like Bandai is doubling down on keeping the Armored VF-25S rare....

15 hours ago, blackconvoy_D01 said:

So what does that mean for the one I just paid for from a retailer; a refund?

As @jenius said, there are some stores that operate like proxies for releases like this. When you purchase a TWE item from them, even though it looks like a regular item on their site, behind the scenes they do what proxies do to secure the order and they are not always successful. They issue refunds in those cases. If the order is confirmed and you don't receive a refund, then they were successful (but carefully read the terms and conditions of your purchase). It takes time and effort for stores to work around all of Bandai's systems, which is why the price is higher than what Bandai publishes. Some stores (and some proxies) take advantage of this situation and either way overcharge you on the purchase price or the shipping, but most charge roughly about the same for both. The total from my proxy was within $10 of what AE was charging. One of the advantages of working with a proxy is that you absolutely know if they were successful in purchasing the item because you get status updates throughout the process. When you go through a store, the process is a little more opaque. You first have to find a proxy willing to do this, though, and many are tired of dealing with Bandai's systems.

[Mommar]

Well there it is in the show room.

 

[recon]

11 hours ago, Mommar said:

Well there it is in the show room.

 

Nice. This one of my fav full armor set along with GPB

[ZYZY]

Last I checked... Latam and EU does not have a pbandai webpage... so it might be Bandai's mistake for selecting all the options. 

[Raikkonen]

5 hours ago, ZYZY said:

Last I checked... Latam and EU does not have a pbandai webpage... so it might be Bandai's mistake for selecting all the options. 

What what what what???

They do. 

(Link below for EU) Latam is supplied by the US distribution.

However it takes sometimes a month for an item to be listed after it's announced in Japan. And it's released quite well after it hits the shelves in Asia. 

https://tamashiinations.fr/fr/recherche?s=macross&page=3

 

Edited June 9 by Raikkonen

[PvtPrivate]

Its a Premium Bandai release 🙃

My local shop will usually open PO for retail items, which includes all the previous WWM releases, at the pre-order date at retail price (price is exactly as listed on tamashi web). Once they have fulfilled the PO, they will then stock the items in their stores (but with store markup). This release they have also opened a PO, but it looks like it won't be a retail release. The price is different, it is no longer 1:1 of the yen price (about 29% more expensive), and it just looks like any other P-Bandai PO where they imported it directly from Japan instead of waiting for the global retail shipment.

[Mommar]

Luna Park just posted at 39k.  Checked back and it was 41500.  Looks like the price bumps as they sell through.

https://www.lunapark.store/product-page/bandai-dx-chogokin-vf-25s-armored-messiah-valkyrie-ozma-lee-revival-ver?utm_campaign=68981188-65a6-483e-84c6-d8e3d37258e1&utm_source=so&utm_medium=mail&cid=36892358-9e35-4da5-ae0f-b1c0fcb75418

[blackconvoy_D01]

https://toyarena.com/products/bandai-dx-chogokin-macross-frontier-vf-25s-armored-messiah-valkyrie-ozma-lee-custom-revival-ver-action-figure

[MKT]

So does this mean it’s going to be normal release outside Japan? 

[NUNS]

I've been hoping for this re-release. Missed out on the renewal version.

Luna Park is showing it for preorder, but their website sucks balls and won't let me click "buy now" or "add to cart". I did find their ebay listing of this, but I have no idea if I can trust buying a preorder from Luna Park through ebay. Anyone gone that road before? I've purchased through Luna's website in the past and was relatively satisfied, but never done the their ebay preorder.

[Anasazi37]

6 hours ago, MKT said:

So does this mean it’s going to be normal release outside Japan? 

This is now the second PO offering we've seen with a delivery date in January/February instead of November, and the prices are consistent with the usual 55% markup over Japan retail, so...hopefully? It's possible that the stores are just offering the TWE version and shipping it slowly to the US, but I hope it's going to be a normal release outside of Japan.

[blackconvoy_D01]

I also emailed HLJ about it. This was their response from this morning:

[Raikkonen]

5 hours ago, NUNS said:

I've been hoping for this re-release. Missed out on the renewal version.

Luna Park is showing it for preorder, but their website sucks balls and won't let me click "buy now" or "add to cart". I did find their ebay listing of this, but I have no idea if I can trust buying a preorder from Luna Park through ebay. Anyone gone that road before? I've purchased through Luna's website in the past and was relatively satisfied, but never done the their ebay preorder.

Check that ebay covers "correct item shipped" and "item arrives on time" for this store. If it has those then you're fine, and if anything, it's safer that usual websites. 

[magicsp00n]

Up on BBTS: https://www.bigbadtoystore.com/Product/VariationDetails/279669?o=2

[NUNS]

 

1 hour ago, magicsp00n said:

Up on BBTS: https://www.bigbadtoystore.com/Product/VariationDetails/279669?o=2

Hellz yeah. I just got mine on BBTS! 

[Raikkonen]

2 hours ago, magicsp00n said:

Up on BBTS: https://www.bigbadtoystore.com/Product/VariationDetails/279669?o=2

And everyone was panicking it was a Japan exclusive only. 😆

Still $350... too heavy for a what... 12 year old e-release? 

Still is gorgeous in this mode, one of the best plane modes... 

But one of the ugliest battroids... 

I'll continue to wait for the now ever unlikely super packs version... 

[Anasazi37]

1 hour ago, Raikkonen said:

And everyone was panicking it was a Japan exclusive only. 😆

Still $350... too heavy for a what... 12 year old e-release? 

That's because Bandai has never done something like this for Macross valks (TWE domestic release, Retail international release) and there was no communication from Bandai about what they were going to do for this release apart from TWE in Japan. Odds were good that it was just a mistake on their website. Very glad to see that it will be more broadly available, but the 66% markup over Japan retail price is definitely high. 

[Chronocidal]

Yeah, the local markup makes this way more expensive.  That's about a $100 markup over my copy from Japan, and that's not even taking sales tax into account.  The free shipping at BBTS does help a little, but even then you're still saving over $50 importing it.

To be sort of fair though, I think the original cost at release for the combined VF-25S and proxy-bought armor set was about that much when all was said and done.

[Anasazi37]

3 hours ago, Chronocidal said:

Yeah, the local markup makes this way more expensive.  That's about a $100 markup over my copy from Japan, and that's not even taking sales tax into account.  The free shipping at BBTS does help a little, but even then you're still saving over $50 importing it.

To be sort of fair though, I think the original cost at release for the combined VF-25S and proxy-bought armor set was about that much when all was said and done.

Same for me, about $100 markup over my proxy purchase. Compared to what I paid for the renewal valk and armor on the secondary market, even BBTS is a bargain! 

[MKT]

Still not entirely convinced yet that it's actually a retail release outside Japan, until more stores are carrying them. It's entirely possible US stores that have already listed it are just buying via proxies and reselling, like someone said what BBTS sometimes do for P-Bandai Gundams, and there won't be any legal block this time as long as the item is not from SDFM / DYRL.

Over at Asia, it looks like stores are selling it like a regular Macross P-Bandai item with appropriate proxy mark-up just like they always did for years, instead of JP-equivalent price that they normally do for other WWM items.  

[Anasazi37]

6 hours ago, MKT said:

Still not entirely convinced yet that it's actually a retail release outside Japan, until more stores are carrying them. It's entirely possible US stores that have already listed it are just buying via proxies and reselling, like someone said what BBTS sometimes do for P-Bandai Gundams, and there won't be any legal block this time as long as the item is not from SDFM / DYRL.

Over at Asia, it looks like stores are selling it like a regular Macross P-Bandai item with appropriate proxy mark-up just like they always did for years, instead of JP-equivalent price that they normally do for other WWM items.  

Yes, this is a weird situation. Bandai could easily clear things up by adding a sentence to the item listing on the Tamashii site, but it's Bandai, so we're left to speculate on what they're planning.

[Mommar]

13 hours ago, MKT said:

Still not entirely convinced yet that it's actually a retail release outside Japan, until more stores are carrying them. It's entirely possible US stores that have already listed it are just buying via proxies and reselling, like someone said what BBTS sometimes do for P-Bandai Gundams, and there won't be any legal block this time as long as the item is not from SDFM / DYRL.

Over at Asia, it looks like stores are selling it like a regular Macross P-Bandai item with appropriate proxy mark-up just like they always did for years, instead of JP-equivalent price that they normally do for other WWM items.  

I'm in agreement, it appears to be a proxy item other stores have picked up.

[Chronocidal]

That might be where some of the price discrepancy comes from then.  I was just looking at the 40k yen as the normal retail price, but it looks like every retailer selling it is just adding a typical proxy fee on top of the MSRP for ordering directly from Bandai.

[HardlyNever]

Does anyone have any contacts with the state-side vendors (BBTS, Entertainment Earth) that they could check with?  Beyond just the standard customer service reps.  Maybe they could clear up what kind of release this is.

It seems weird that all the other Frontier releases would be standard "worldwide" releases, and this wouldn't, but with Bandai, anything could happen.

[Anasazi37]

1 hour ago, HardlyNever said:

Does anyone have any contacts with the state-side vendors (BBTS, Entertainment Earth) that they could check with?  Beyond just the standard customer service reps.  Maybe they could clear up what kind of release this is.

It seems weird that all the other Frontier releases would be standard "worldwide" releases, and this wouldn't, but with Bandai, anything could happen.

There are a lot of weird and confusing things about this release. For example, will BBTS really let you buy 24 copies if they are acting as a secondary proxy? Maybe they are only getting 24 and one person can purchase them all?  When I looked at the TWE ordering page, individuals were limited to 2. For the Super Ostrich, they were limited to 6.

I would love some clarity from BBTS or another stateside store. Worst case, we can keep an eye on Amazon US. If this doesn't show up, or does, we'll know for sure. They definitely aren't handling anything beyond regular Retail.

[jvmacross]

The only other Tamashii Macross web exclusives sold on their Amazon storefront were the Sheryl and Ranka microphones....currently on clearance I think...it would be dumb for them not to make the Ozma Armored-25S available too at some point...

Edited June 12 by jvmacross

[sh9000]

Available to preorder from Entertainment Earth.

[Anasazi37]

2 hours ago, jvmacross said:

The only other Tamashii Macross web exclusives sold on their Amazon storefront were the Sheryl and Ranka microphones....currently on clearance I think...it would be dumb for them not to make the Ozma Armored-25S available too at some point...

Agreed. Having more purchasing options beyond PO Madness is a good thing.