MP Star Saber coloured prototype

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Originally Posted by Hursticon

One is not really loosing out when one knows what they're getting into in their choice of business to preorder with; For many, I dare say most, the importance is predominately placed in simply having an order in the 1st place. :cool:

For me, as I've said many times before, I will reward great customer service with continued patronage and Hobby Link Japan has well and truly earnt that, even in the face of marginally higher prices resulting from the non-requirement of a payment upfront & fluctuating exchange rates. ;)

In short - We all win by ordering from Japanese Online Retailers wherever & whenever a TakaraTomy Masterpiece Transformer is concerned. :D

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Well said my good sir.

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Originally Posted by Trent

Well said my good sir.

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Thanks old boy! ;):D

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Originally Posted by Raptormesh

Indeed but it cuts both ways.

Let's say go!

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For AE yes, for NY no as you choose when you want to pay. I have no issues on all three retailers yet.

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Originally Posted by Raptormesh

Indeed but it cuts both ways.

Let's say go!

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For AE yes, for NY no as you choose when you want to pay. I have no issues on all three retailers yet.

And on one note, certain toys HLJ is always sold out so it just became as a please ignore like Amiami is.

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Originally Posted by Hursticon

For me, as I've said many times before, I will reward great customer service with continued patronage and Hobby Link Japan has well and truly earnt that, even in the face of marginally higher prices resulting from the non-requirement of a payment upfront & fluctuating exchange rates. ;)

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I'd be singing the same praises until that time they did not fulfill my preorder of the fembots. That said, still preordered with them for Star Saber and it dropped into my private warehouse today :D

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Originally Posted by drifand

here is where HLJ customers loose out, for AE and NY people paid way less than it is now as they paid upfront.

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I'd rather be down 20 bucks today than 140 a while ago. Also I think I'd rather resort to ebay than shop at AE ever again.

Unless you're a psychic, how would anyone know when is the best time to pay for something that is on pre-order 5-6 months early. Some people got lucky by pre-paying, but there is a 50-50 chance of benefiting by pre-paying.
What if the exchange rate had improved in that time against the Yen, as it will again at some time in the future... then pre-paying will cost more, but since you never know which way currencies will go in 6 months, be careful with boasting about being lucky on one occasion.

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Originally Posted by griffin

Unless you're a psychic, how would anyone know when is the best time to pay for something that is on pre-order 5-6 months early. Some people got lucky by pre-paying, but there is a 50-50 chance of benefiting by pre-paying.
What if the exchange rate had improved in that time against the Yen, as it will again at some time in the future... then pre-paying will cost more, but since you never know which way currencies will go in 6 months, be careful with boasting about being lucky on one occasion.

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That's where NY have the option to pay now , pay later. ;)
Unfortunately they seem to be greedy now and have marked up prices very quickly. Psychic or not, NY gives you best of both situations

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Originally Posted by griffin

Unless you're a psychic, how would anyone know when is the best time to pay for something that is on pre-order 5-6 months early. Some people got lucky by pre-paying, but there is a 50-50 chance of benefiting by pre-paying.
What if the exchange rate had improved in that time against the Yen, as it will again at some time in the future... then pre-paying will cost more, but since you never know which way currencies will go in 6 months, be careful with boasting about being lucky on one occasion.

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I've canceled a preorder for most of my TAV toys because the exchange rate is bad right now, would have been nice to pay up front but I didn't get a choice. I'll have to pick them up another time if I want them.

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Originally Posted by drifand

That's where NY have the option to pay now , pay later. ;)

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That still doesn't make any difference... you are still choosing and hoping that it is the best option, but either option can still work against you if the AU$ goes up or down against what you chose.
Like if you paid first and the AU$ improves, you would have paid more than people who paid when the item is in-stock... but if you paid later and the AU$ drops, then you end up paying more than people who paid at time of ordering.
My point was that no matter what you choose, if it actually ends up in your favour, it was because you were lucky, not because you knew the direction the AU$ vs Yen was going to be in 3-6 months time... and as such, it isn't wise to boast about it. (in other words, be mindful of the people you are boasting about it to... will they praise you for your choice, or grumble at you for pointing out their choice?)

Yeah if you can predict how the currency moves, might as well get into forex trading and buy toys at any price with the boatload of $$$ made.

Actually you can predict and that's what I am trying to say. Unfortunately if you don't understand how I am going about it then I can't explain any better. When I place an order with ny I do not pay immediately and I moniter the exchange rates. I Know what is considered fair and what's good and what's poor.

And no I was not boasting anything, I was just saying this is where hlj is at a disadvantage. Noted AE may be a 50/50 like you said. But ny gives you a slight edge on when you want to pay.

This is why I didn't buy tracks from jp online for once as the local stores were way cheaper. $69 can't go wrong.

Fyi I order from hlj as well so I do know what are its good and bad points.

Takara MP-24 Star Saber linkup with G1 Victory Leo, c/o 游珽安

https://www.facebook.com/daim.choc/p...22741177825389

I'm going to do my typical figure out the transformation myself. I'm just wondering if any of the video reviews have pointed out any breakable latches like on the G1 version?

video review from OptimusPrimeSG
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ccw68pIlxO8

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Originally Posted by Tober

Takara MP-24 Star Saber linkup with G1 Victory Leo, c/o 游珽安

https://www.facebook.com/daim.choc/p...22741177825389

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Some of the comments suggest that the designer put in some redundant parts to accommodate a merging with a Masterpiece Victory Lio... IF one is ever approved for design and production in the future. (and not to be interpreted as one is already coming)

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Originally Posted by griffin

Some of the comments suggest that the designer put in some redundant parts to accommodate a merging with a Masterpiece Victory Lio... IF one is ever approved for design and production in the future. (and not to be interpreted as one is already coming)

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That's right. Just because they allowed for it doesn't mean it's a definite. I'd say more likely a 3rd Party company will do one.

As it now ends up in the hands of people, here are some more photos of the toy.

Still not sure how I feel on this MP
Sure it looks nice, but its not a Transformer I grew up with. Unlike Magnus who I opened up as soon as possible, this one will probably stay sealed for a while

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Originally Posted by Zippo

Still not sure how I feel on this MP
Sure it looks nice, but its not a Transformer I grew up with. Unlike Magnus who I opened up as soon as possible, this one will probably stay sealed for a while

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I feel the same way...

Don't get me wrong though, I'm still buying him... :o:p lol

I purchased two as well. Buying Jp Transformers after release often gets too hard

Mine will be displayed with the rest of the mps. I Do not find him out of place.

In my display case I have 2 levels for my MPs.

Top level is for all of the new 'in scale' MPs

The 2nd level has all the older style MP, with some of the new stuff that will end up being my Diaclone MP. Star Sabre will be join in this level. :D

Mine's coming tomorrow. :D

In this case, I don't really care for the G1 character (boring, generic-hero-type), and the IDW version - while I do like the take - hasn't been all that prominent. Not $150 prominent, that's for sure.
The thing is, though, the toy looks amazing, even with the made-up alt-mode. Aside from a few favourite characters I appreciate the design/engineering of TFs as much as I appreciate the characters they're meant to represent, and this one is very much a 'sold-me-on-the-toy' instance.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGkD15Gj4-c

enjoy guys

Just got my shipping notice from HLJ! :D

Man they must've had A LOT of preorders to get through from Friday morning, obviously with a weekend in between, as normally I get a shipping notice from them within 4 or 5 hours of payment - Guess there's a lot of checking & re-checking going on because of MP Exhaust? ;)

HLJ are out of stock now, so maybe you got one of the last.

HLJ are pretty good, my first time pre-ordering from them. They shipped my MP-24 on the 20th, got it today :)

Got a shipping notice from HLJ too! :)

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Originally Posted by griffin

HLJ are out of stock now, so maybe you got one of the last.

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Strange this was the case when I checked earlier today but they are back listing at 14,400 yen but at low stock. Think perhaps some people missed the 3 day payment deadline and their pre order hold was released.

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Originally Posted by griffin

HLJ are out of stock now, so maybe you got one of the last.

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It's possible, but myself and a number of the other Twitter blokes were fairly on-top of when the preorder page went up, so maybe that says their prioritisation is based on some other metric - Or more likely they just had so many to get out on Friday that there wasn't enough hours in a day! :p

I don't know if it's wise that once there stock is scanned into the warehouse, the website immediately pops-up saying instock & available before they actually start sending out payment requests for preorders - That could lead to issues I think. :o

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Originally Posted by Initial_G

HLJ are pretty good, my first time pre-ordering from them. They shipped my MP-24 on the 20th, got it today :)

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Oh you lucky bugger! :D - Pictures and a review in the thread! - Go on, hop to it! :p
(Kidding, enjoy him dude, I'll just be sitting here grinding my teeth until my own arrives! ;):D)

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Originally Posted by BruiseLee

Got a shipping notice from HLJ too! :)

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Awesome, another person having to wait eagerly! :D

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Strange this was the case when I checked earlier today but they are back listing at 14,400 yen but at low stock. Think perhaps some people missed the 3 day payment deadline and their pre order hold was released.

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That's actually a very good point! :)

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Originally Posted by BruiseLee

Got a shipping notice from HLJ too! :)



Strange this was the case when I checked earlier today but they are back listing at 14,400 yen but at low stock. Think perhaps some people missed the 3 day payment deadline and their pre order hold was released.

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Ah, so it is.... but be quick if anyone still wants one.
(it was out of stock yesterday and this morning)

The 3 day payment deadline would explain why Swoop is back in stock, which was the only one I missed on the day the MPs were released.

Anime Export shipping cost was 4700 JPY to Melb for both SS and Exhaust. Not too bad once shipping costs split, About $26 each item.

Just got charged by HLJ. :)

It is very hard to know how HLJ prioritize shipments, and very hard to know if "In Stock" truly means In Stock due to the way their website works (it is not real time, since they still manually check and confirm your order after paying for it and I have missed out before on an in stock item.

EDIT: 3860 Yen for MP-23 and MP-24 via EMS to New Zealand via HLJ
3200 for MP-24, rest for MP-23

It is confusing and worrying to those who pre-order from them, as Star Saber was available to purchase by new people and then out of stock for about two days, and then was in-stock again before a couple people here had theirs processed... and that might have only been from people who didn't pay their pre-order within 3 days, which could have ended up being bad for some if all were paid. (or maybe they had their shipment from TakaraTomy arrive over a couple days)

In case people are interested Star Saber is on the shelves here in HK (no MP-23 though). My "local" store has him for HK$1098 (AU$180.26).

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Originally Posted by griffin

It is confusing and worrying to those who pre-order from them, as Star Saber was available to purchase by new people and then out of stock for about two days, and then was in-stock again before a couple people here had theirs processed... and that might have only been from people who didn't pay their pre-order within 3 days, which could have ended up being bad for some if all were paid. (or maybe they had their shipment from TakaraTomy arrive over a couple days)

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Hence, I have left feedback before, I told them that if the stock allocation is correct, then there is no reason why the customer cannot pay up front for the item and wait for the correct shipping cost. < of course is just feedback.

It is rarely an in stock item is not accurate, but yes it does happens.

BTW, Aussie dollar is back up a bit, good time to pay stuff if those who were hesitating.

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Originally Posted by GoktimusPrime

Just got charged by HLJ. :)

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Better HLJ than the Police. ;):p

still waiting for my shipping notice from hlj :(
oh, the first world problems

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Originally Posted by drifand

Hence, I have left feedback before, I told them that if the stock allocation is correct, then there is no reason why the customer cannot pay up front for the item and wait for the correct shipping cost. < of course is just feedback.

It is rarely an in stock item is not accurate, but yes it does happens.

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To be fair, they probably have dozens of other suppliers that are less reliable than TakaraTomy, and want to have a single payment system that covers all items, and doesn't leave them with having to refund all the time when suppliers fail. (and even items from reliable sources like TakaraTomy that don't get released, like the AD-18 & AD-19, or the four BeCool trailers that have been listed on HLJ since mid 2013).

They've probably seen it as easier to not have pre-payment and be stuck with the mess of refunds (especially in part orders, or with shipping paid), and just be willing to be stuck with excess stock from people who don't pay for the items when they arrive.

As for collectors, not pre-paying can often be good, to have the flexibility to buy from another source later who might have it for less, or get it late. At least, that's what I seem to do a lot with BBTS, and prefer it - I've cancelled pre-orders when it has shown up at Amazon first for less, as well as showing up here for less (like the two Leader Megatrons a couple weeks ago - something I wouldn't have been able to do if I had pre-paid for them at BBTS).