Just caved and ordered Dead Heat Mach. Didn't want to get it since it was the only dec release I wanted and NY needed payment upfront, but damn that conversion rate is too good. Came out to $61 after EMS shipping

Gaim just arrived.

Sheeet... I'm going to be buying a lot of these, aren't I? I noticed it's not quite as high quality as Hibiki. There's a lot of gate marks that, while well-hidden for the most part, are still there. The biggest offender is the gate mark on the top of the crest, but even that's not super noticable. The paint is almost perfect, but wheras Hibiki was actually perfect, there's still a skant few areas of issue on Gaim. Mostly the shoulder armour. the wrist pegs are absurdly small. Like, ridiculous, luckily his hands are almost gummy so the fear of swappign in deminished, but I seriously needed to sand some of the tiny, tiny holes on the hands wider. One hand was actually closed with mould flash or something. Past that, the only other issue is the cheap-looking belt strap. It's a Mattel-quality cheap, almost transparent yellow plastic that's slightly mismoulded on the back. But again, such a small issue.

I love it. Sorry Hibiki you've been replaced.

Yeah. Gaim is a solid line. Do like me, and buy them all!
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CLWRGrkUsAA1DzS.jpg:large

He won't. The ridiculous aftermarket prices will stop him. Or not, maybe he's rich.

:lol I am not rich. Unless you mean in quality of life. Monetarily, no.

BUT I do make enough to collect, so maybe after a while I could at least nail down a few of the more prominent/favourited charatcers. I definitley want Baron, most likely Lemon Energy, Ryugen, Zangetsu (either or) and most of all Kachidoki arms. I also see Pine/Mango on Mandarake now and then for a fair price. All over a long but steady period of time of course.

Have they made Sigurd yet?

no rose attacker i rate this collection 0/10 >:I

But nah I am actually super jealous of this. As someone who just recently got into Gaim getting them all is (mostly) a goal of mine too. I'm not necessarily in a rush, but there's so many though. And like Kiwami said, so expensive too...Zangetsu Shin makes me weep. Even if I'm skipping some four releases that's still a whole lot of toys.

And I still need a replacement Gaim Orange Arms because mine is a lemon.

Thankfully the prices on Mandarake lately haven't been too bad--got myself a Pine/Mango set for 5500, a Bravo for 4000 and a Duke for 4500. With the yen as weak as it is right now, that all came down to being really good prices. If I can keep that sort of luck going I may someday be able to get Zangetsu Shin for less than an arm and a leg. Maybe wishful thinking though.

He's coming out in October.

I hate you Americans and your super-powered dollar so much right now. D:<

Is it an exclusive?

Well, to be fair, the Shinkoucho Seihou line is supposed to make normal figuarts look like toys anyway, so the difference is understandable. For standard Figuarts, however, the Gaim series are some of the best out there.

*sheds a single tear over the fact that he will NEVER own a Zangetsu Shin*

What the- GET BACK IN THERE I DID NOT GIVE YOU PERMISSION TO GO ASHORE.

:cry

I'm glad I liked the design of Gain enough to pick him up when he was released, rather than waiting to see what I thought of the show before collecting the figures. The show was nearly over before I started watching it, I think I already had 4 of the figures in hand before I started watching. :D

Pretty sure I paid about 6000 for Duke, so sometimes it does pay off to wait. Actually, I think all three of those you mentioned are cheaper than I what I paid for them. And Lemon Baron has been dropping, from what others have said recently. :mad:
Shin Zangetsu is really the only one that has really paid off. I kinda wish I had ordered extras to hock on eBay for those big bucks. :)

Well then that's just goes to show how excellent Gaim is, that he's a few gate marks away from the collector's collectors line. :D

Makes me wish Bravo was more accurate. I for sure want to get Baron Lemon and Kachidoki, as I still consider those their final forms, with Baron's Overlord form and Kiwami being something past that. (REALLY sucks that Kiwami... really sucks as a Figuart)

Aside from Sigurd and Knuckle, who are both coming out, they've made everyone from the show except I think Strawberry and Kiwi, right? And Banana Gaim?

That's good. Just... don't search for a Melon Energy Zangetsu then. It's better for you not to know what he's going for now.

Alright, this one pops up frequently, just prepare to pay around 7000¥ because that one was a convention exclusive that wasn’t re-released in the Web Shop.

Common as dirt, because believe it or not, people hated Micchy so much back in the day Ryugen Budou Arms shelf-warmed hard. Which is good because it's a great figure you can get for cheap now. Hell, even HLJ has still some stock of this guy.

Melon Arms is decent on the aftermarket, should be easy to get for a good price. But again, don't bother with the Energy one.

This one's hard. Rather expensive because it's so popular. But maybe Bluefin releases him down the line.

Yes, Web-Exclusive release in October.

Fantastic figure, just saying.

Oh boy. They teased a hell of a lot more last October. Ichigo Gaim, Kiwi Ryugen, Suika Gaim & Baron, Mars, Kamuro, Overlord Baron, Jam.

I just hope we get Overlord Baron sooner than later, because that's the last one I need.

I noticed Ryugen is dirt cheap, like $25 on average. I know he's not popular, but it's such a great design and the character was so damn important I'm surprised it's that common. (I wonder if HLJ will massively drop the price one day)

So I deffers want to go regular Melon arms for Zangetsu. Just glanced at the Energy's price... dasum boshit.

Shin Zangestu might come down over (a long) time. There was a time when Gai (from Ryuki) sold for $120+, but it eventually worked it's way down more to $90-ish. I haven't checked in a long time, but I wouldn't be surprised if he's even cheaper now.

Yeah Ryugen is insanely easy to get. I still remember how he was the only preorder that was still available months later.

Me too. It's fascinating how a characters popularity can effect toy-sales even on a collector-level.

Unlikely I say. They had like 5 massive sales since the figure was released, and if it would've been cheaper people would have bought it just because it's cheap. Like, they had the Fourze figure that no one wanted for 5 bucks in one sale and the next day it was gone.

Exactly. Looking back I was incredible lucky scoring one on release day. A few minutes later and I would've been really sad now.

Also, regular Melon is as great representation of Takatora, especially since the armor made many comebacks even when Melon Energy was around.

I got my Gai for $56, just sayin'.
Granted that's just cause the yen is weak, it was still 7000 yen, and used.

Usually Mandarake has him for about 10000-12000 new. Which is about the exact same as Zangetsu Shin. So collectors in America are in luck, they may be able to snatch up Zangetsu for about 80-90 bucks. Obviously still excessive, but depending on how much you want it, at least better. If they're not...

Two. It made two comebacks after Zangetsu Shin debuted. And one of those was a flashback.
All in all, the original Zangetsu appeared in seven episodes of Gaim. So. Uh...it's a good design, but definitely is not what I would consider a particularly representative Takatora. Bandai really screwed the pooch making Shin exclusive...

Really? Shin Zangetsu is only 10k-12k? Shit, that's totally worth it, at the current exchange.

I paid $85 for Gai, and thought it was a steal, cuz at the time the exchange was around right around 100=$1. And even at $85, Gai isn't really worth that, he's a far less necessary character than Shin Zangetsu, he's got far fewer accessories, and less paint apps (by way of design).

For the main characters, yeah. Also, I highly doubt Banana Gaim is happening, it didn't even get a prototype/mock-up at the Tamashii Nations show last fall.

Which makes me a sad Tali, since it's one of, if not outright, my favorite designs in function and aesthetics.

He's held around 12k for a while now. Knight however seems to be slowly coming down to 9k and lower.

Next day? He was gone in an hour.

Hence why, when I eventually commit to completing my Advent Riders, I'll consider the Figma a completely acceptable substitute for Gai. The only real advantages the Figuart has is the parts modularity with the rest of the Ryuki cast, and individual cards, namely the Confine Vent.

Nope, three, you're forgetting about the crossover movie. And for a form for a secondary Rider which has been replaced completely by a successor that's rather impressive.

Ryugen Yomi appeared in two and it's my favorite form of Ryugen. And I'm not very certain Takatora made much more appearances as Melon Energy considering Micchy snagged the form and never gave it back until the crossover movie.

Nope. The original Melon was the posterboy of Gaim alongside Orange, Banana and Budou, so it's pretty clear why this one was sold in stores and the other one wasn’t.

And quite honestly, with nearly every Rider the base form is a great representation, that's not up for discussion. You may like one armor over the other, but the original is always bond to the character.

Unless you're Faiz and everyone transformers using your gear, but Faiz sucks anyways.

Eh, the entire figure felt better than the Figma did to me. But, for the price difference, you're probably right. I'm glad I got the Figuarts, but most sane people will probably be plenty pleased with the Figma.

I'm still trying to talk myself into Kurokage and Gridon. I like their designs a little bit less than the others, and they were fairly inessential to the plot of the series, at least in their armored Rider forms. (Also, the prices haven't quite gone past the "Okay, fine, why not?" threshold.)

The Gaim Figuarts are also convincing me that I need to invest in fine-point superglue. A couple of friends were over last night and were daring enough to pick up the the core four. They were rewarded with armor and Musou Saber-holders falling off (in addition to the expected falling-off of lockseeds.) It's way past time.

I had a longer reply to this typed out but it was a waste of space honestly so I'll condense it down to: I don't think 3 times is that many, even if Takatora didn't use Zangetsu Shin in every episode he still used it far far more than the original, and just because it was one of the most publicized suits in Gaim doesn't actually reflect anything in-show. In the show, in my opinion, it becomes much easier to associate Takatora with Shin. He only used Zangetsu five times during an arc where he didn't even do much. By the time he became a more important and notable character he had already switched. It's an exaggeration, but I'd say it's like associating Shinji most with the Blank Ryuki form or something. YMMV, I guess.

Anyway, I'm not saying that they should have released the original as a web exclusive instead or anything. But for such an important suit, I do think Bandai messed up making it so hard to get--especially since they didn't even release any other New Generation Riders as retail figuarts. I do understand why they only released the main four, and except for Gaim, only the base forms...but since Zangetsu Shin was both basically the base suit of one of the main characters as well as the poster boy of the New Generation Riders....It's just a bit of an odd choice.





edit: also I own the Thrust figma and the Gai figuarts is still super worth it. No regrets.

On the subject of which form better represents Takatora: I feel like they were used about evenly by Takatora himself, though we at least saw Energy transform more than once. Still, Melon Energy was used when Takatora was more ignorant/misguided to what was happening around him, wheras Melon reflects him as a "good guy" at the end. I feel like both have equal place in a display, but I like Melon more aesthetically and liked Takatora as a hero more.

I just think there's far too many exclusives in the Gaim line. Exclusives should be a rarity themselves, hence the term exclusive. Making half the cast an exclusive doesn't give collectors incentive to buy them, it makes them less inclined to get them at all like I was. Mainf orms as exclusives is nonsense. I get why Gridon and Kurokage and Bravo and movie riders and, hell, even Duke are exclusives. But Baron's final form? Shin Zangetsu? Marika? These aren't minor characters.

There's been a lot of similar discussion about the Drive Figuarts. It's hard to say exactly how they decide what should be regular and what should be an exclusive, but I think it's pretty clear here. Like has been said, Gaim, Baron, Ryugen and the base Zangetsu were the ones hyped up during the launch of the show as the core riders. Even if other forms were eventually used more, most fans like having those base versions. Especially if they're not actually watching the current shows and are only collecting because of the legacy, which is fairly common in Japan.

If someone was following the show closely enough to want Shin as their representation of the character then it probably didn't make a difference to them if they had to order it online. That sucks for people like yourself who only get into things after the show has aired, but Bandai make no money from people buying on the aftermarket anyway, so it doesn't affect them. Even regular releases are long since sold out in retail stores.

Bandai's not been making a whole lot of sense with their exclusives lately...

Marika makes sense, given their history of making Sentai Pinks and Yellows exclusive, and bear in mind that Tamashii Web Exclusives aren't as hard to obtain in Japan, as they don't need to jump through the same hoops that us westerners do.

The Gaim line is fine. Their choices in retail and exclusive makes sense to me.


I'm mainly referring to Drive lol

Then there's the fact that Kiva-la is a retail release...

Sometimes Bandai's choices are confusing, shrug.

Yeah...I fully expected her to be Tamashi Web.

Meanwhile Kiva doesn't even have a figuart yet...

That makes a bit more sense, I guess.

I know, right? Such BS. At least the fact that he's gonna be made so late will mean he'll be made with the most up-to-date engineering and design.

all the gaims, all the love

http://s6.postimg.org/7latj8pst/Gaim_Collection_1.jpg

http://s6.postimg.org/c4n24r7od/Gaim_Collection_3.jpg

http://s6.postimg.org/kbf1wbxr1/Gaim_Collection_4.jpg

I love the display, but I really feel bad for your wallet.

Wasn't too bad, most of them were pre orders. The only one I spent a lot of money on is blood gaim. His pre order got missed up and I ended up paying 90 for him.

I feel faint...

*holds out arms to catch LIP* Go ahead, I got you.

It actually wasn't that expensive to keep up with all the Gaim releases if you bought them at retail upon release.

Its only the aftermarket that doubles or triples prices (before shipping). Its why if its a series or design i like, i'd rather just grab a TWE at release than gambling on Mandarake. I figure TWE's wont decrease in value (unless its SHF Wizard . . . )

Abyss being a retail release was also a little weird, though that one's not as recent.

Pretty much, I think the only release thats less on mandarake are ryugen and mango/pine.

Oh and that stupid helheim zipper effect thing. I love that not many people have it but it's way to expensive for a piece of plastic.

Yeah I never got that. Hell, one could go to a Michaels or JoAnn Fabrics and purchase a zipper assembly for cheap & make their own.



Unrelated, Wrath, remember me? I've pm'ed your and got no response. Did I miss something?