my postal workers all know me, I can walk into the post office and they know instantly what package to go grab :lol

i keep the driver on the route i am on busy :lolol

My best friends aunt is the main postal worker on my street but shes the one who THROWS the boxes on my back porch in the past. No joke. She pulled in the driveway, next thing I know, shes pullin out. She had chucked it out the van ay the back porch. :lol

I hate feeling like a Johnny-Come-Lately, given these just arrived...but yeah, these already feel like two of the prettiest figures I own, Figuarts and everything else.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...psb7ad066d.jpg

I'm the opposite. If UPS or FedEx come (or DHL and Ontrac) and no one answers the door, they go right to the leasing office to deliver my packages. That is what they do for every apartment in my complex. You don't even have to leave a note out (but I do occasionally since there might be that substitute driver). The only one is USPS who may take it to the office, or they may not. Sometimes we get a guy that will take the packages to the office first. Other times it might be a guy who doesn't even deliver the packages, he just leaves the note to go to the PO to get them. And then it might be a guy that will deliver the mail and THEN drop the packages off at the office.

I'm just happy to no longer live in a complex that only allows you to get your mail during office hours (yes, not packages, your regular mail), but I just realized he did not come with Absorb Queen for his rouzer as it only holds 12 cards. I do wish they would have made his rouzer a little bit thicker though so you could just place the card itself inside of it, as that would have been a lot cooler (and have a place holder to store the cards) than stickers.

BTW, Blade has become one of my favorite Figuarts. He is just non-stop amazing. I really cannot wait for the others to come out.

SO it looks like BF's KibaRanger is going to be shipping out of stores this week.

Just got my order confirmation email from Mandarake for my Amazon and Super 1 :rock: :rock:

Got Garren ordered as well, cannot wait until Chalice is available for pre order. He is the Rider I want the most from the Blade series.

Regretting not getting Blade's bike as well, would be nice posing it next to Garren and his bike.

Missed out on Garren's preorder, but eh. It's not released until January and it's a mass release. Adding the steep price tag, I'm pretty sure he'll be easy to get a hold of (Saddened that I couldn't get it for $65 off Amiami, but *Shrugs*)

I can't wait for Chalice. I'd be first in line for him.

Did everybody hear the good news? Tamashii Web is offering a second run of Blade King Form in January. Apparently they reopened orders because of overwhelming demand.

That's awesome.

Now to decide if I should get on the preorder (and where, as always) or wait it out for Mandarake like I am with White Wizard since stock should be higher thanks to this.

Blade stuff is really popular isnt it?

I unfortunately missed the TWE order for White Wizard so I'll most likely be trolling mandarake for him as well. I've already got my order in for King Form but I'd say even with a second run anybody who wants him should get with their middleman now.

If there was enough demand to produce a second run then you can bet he's gonna sell super fast.

Wow, reopening a web exclusive preorder? That is pretty awesome.

That's because Japan knows what's up.

Anyway, the only middle man I know is Yokatta. Is there a better option or should I stick with that?

Whoops. Jumped on one of the Figuarts Cyclones on Mandarake today before I realized it was 'The First' version. Still, it was another motorcycle and was only $20. No big loss, really.

I really should be more careful about these things.

Nippon-Yasan, Ive only used them once, but apperantly their good. http://www.nippon-yasan.com/lang-en/

They might have Blade King back up in the next few days.

Thanks.

WHich is funny because didn't people say they would do Blade last because it is the least favorite series in Japan with the worst toy sales next to Hibiki?

Apparently Japan realized the error of their ways because the Blade SHFs are selling like crazy :lol

If Blade had such low sales, I am rather curious for why their Figuarts are so popular that both releases have required a second run due to such demand, though.

Technically they, arent the only Heisei Riders left are Hibiki and Kiva now that they have done Blade?

They've required another run because Bandai didn't think they'd sell very many of them. That's probably also why they bundled Garren with Rhombus, they didn't think the bike would sell on it's own. Don't be fooled though Blade, followed by Hibiki, have the worst toy sales of any Heisei Rider series. That's most likely why they left them for the end. The Kiva Souchaku's came out at the tail end of the line very very close to when that series originally aired so they gave it a pass for several years. Once they've done Hibiki and Blade they'll swing by Kiva for another pass. Alot of what I have to say after that is speculative but I think it holds up.

Blade was expected to sell at only the average level that retail releases do so they most likely underproduced him purposefully to sell out. Then they could produce more of them based on actual demand and not be stuck with a huge back logged quantity. The same can be said for King Form. TWE's are produced in lower numbers than mass releases anyway to offset the higher costs, so there were definitely going to be less Kings than standard Blade from the get go. I'm sure Bandai didn't think they'd sell the same number of Kings as standards, hence why it became an exclusive.

Now that they know they can sell more Blades after the initial run is sold out they'll probably do this each time to ensure they sell out.

As an example it's like how DC short produced their 3D covers for Villains Month in September. Despite any report to the contrary it was intentional. They underproduced to increase demand artificially, then they produced 2D covers to sell to retailers to fill out their allocated orders. Thus ensuring they sold even more than they initially would have. They sold out of their entire intial stock and then a huge majority of a second wave. When they saw they could create a second run, 3D or 2D, and sell them in mass numbers it was probably a no brainer.

Huh? Tamashii Web exclusives are made to order, and it's because of their lower production runs that they command higher prices for what they include compared to retail releases, on top of the fact that buying direct means no discounts like the big retailers either. Even if that wasn't true, how would it make sense that a company mitigates the cost of production by making less?

Everything else you wrote though, totally on board and 100% agree. You can count the number of second-run TWEs on one hand (not counting event exclusives), so doing this for King Form is a clear sign that Bandai's ready to milk collectors dry.

Yeah I worded that part wrong, my bad. Kind of sped through it on my phone :lol

I understand the reasoning behind under producing an item. But I've never seen it to intentionally sell out.

Gotcha. Been there, man. 3DS is just not a device ideal for message boards!

I remember trying to browse my normal forums on my 3DS. A lot more work than I ever wanted...

In terms of Figuarts, what would be the chances for Chalice and Leangle to be mass releases?

Chaliice seems popular and major enough to warrant a mass retail release.

Leangle I'm not sure about.

They really should've made it a mass release. Anyway, I just sent Yokatta my payment for Den-O Rod and Gun. So I will hopefully have those two next month, thus completing Den-O's 4 main forms. :D

*cough* Macross Frontier *cough*

I say stick with Yokatta. I've heard that Nippon Yasan has very "meh" customer service.

if mandarake list an item as "opened/box severely damaged" does that mean the figure itself is still in good condition?

Yes. And their definition of "severe damage" generally means tiny tear on the corner :lol

I have never ordered from them before. Is it like Amiami where I have to confirm my order before they take my money

Sort of. You place the order for the items. They pull the listings down, check their inventory, then send you a confirmation e-mail of all the items that actually were in stock. Remember that Mandarake is a physical store front so while their items are listed online, they're simultaneously for sale in a store location as well.

Also be aware that ordering items from multiples locations will mean they are shipped separately. Each Mandarake store front (Nakano, Shibuya, Umeda, Akihabara, etc etc) is located in those areas so they can't combine items from different locations. And any order under 5000 yen pre-shipping fees will have a 500 yen handling fee added.

Im glad they dont combine stores, or else I would buy a lot more than I already do. :lol

I love Mandarake, but sometimes I hate finding good deals for like 3500-4500 yen, lol. I missed out on Kibaranger recently b/c I was trying to find something to add to the cart to buy with him. I went back today to buy another Armor Plus Ryo and don't you know it, watching it for a couple weeks and today is the day it sells.. Ah Mandarake. :lol

Sometimes it's worth it to me to just pay the ¥500 fee at Mandarake rather than try to bulk an order out. Of course, having poor impulse control probably doesn't help the situation. :lol

Agreed, I recently changed to this way of thinking. Managed to snag deka red for ¥1000, ryuuranger and bouken red for ¥1500 a piece. I might have missed out if I had waited to bulk out of the order.

Just ordered Ryuki line figuarts for Scissor, Verde, and Abyss from Mandarake this morning.


I am going to take a long hiatus from Figuarts after this. Can't keep spending money like this. Sigh.

AHA! So thats where that Bouken red I wanted went! Darn you :lol :lol

I was actually about to buy a second Bouken Red to use for an Accel Tector custom. He snagged it out from under me too! :lol

Ifs there a set time when the kyoryuger figuart preorders end? I need to know if I can wait till next month to preorder or if that's to late.

Sorry fellas, my mouse clicks were just that much faster. :D

Red or the blue and green two pack?