Toy sites, Middleman, and resellers in toku marketplace. Been there for years. It probably needs a good update but it's there.

One day, I hope to reach the point where I can see $55 before shipping and middleman fees as inexpensive :lol

Or a bump and sticky because when I typed that I went to check that particular subforum and I didn't see anything that even looked like that.

I know that, but they do offer some Web-Exclusives I could only get through middlemen.

5000, and, what you're forgetting: Retailers give you discounts. 15%-30% in some cases.

So the difference between a retail release which is cheaper and gets discounts as opposed to a Web-Exclusive which is more expensive and doesn’t get discounts but middleman fees in exchange is very noticeable. For me at least. It's easily 30 bucks more in the most cases since I also pay import fees, + shipping. And it’s especially heavy if the item isn’t cheap to begin with like the GMk Godzilla.

And I'm not always up for that. With stuff like Overlord Baron I have to have it, but if a Kuuga variant comes along I dig I'm like... eh I got the original SS-release and it's good enough.

But I do get a bit angry if figures I think are better off in retail (which is a biased opinion since I don’t know crap about the Japanese market) are Web-Exclusives and immediately a tough pill to swallow. And I cut hobby money short lately because I need to, that’s not helping either.

Sure it’s annoying for you if you always read that, but that’s just how I react.

At least we have web sites that can import things for you easier. Growing up, I remember you had to go to local collector's shops when they are still common and go there to buy Japanese items up front. It was pricey, but it was worth it. Now with the Internet, you can have items out as soon as they are out in Japan.

You're in Europe though? Being in the UK, I often find web exclusives to be easier to deal with. Not only does it mean you don't have to worry about getting up early in the hopes that you can place an order before servers crash, but you avoid customs charges through most middlemen and have the option of holding orders for a couple of months to combine with other things to save on shipping.

Retail releases are fine if you're lucky and your order avoids customs, but if not, exclusives are usually cheaper.

I've watched the show probably more than anyone here as it was the Kamen rider I grew up with.

Figuarts are all modular in nature by their own construction. Their is no reason outside of cost and their retail structure that it could not be implemented if they chose to do so.

I wasn't speaking of "clip on" armor parts. I was speaking of complete limb replacements....which is essentially all this release is on the already exsisting mold.

I wasn't bitching about it, I was simply prariciapting in the discussion.

As far as middle man services...I think most people have an issue with additional cost making releases that much more "annoying" to get ahold of, Not nessarily "finding" one

Only really in the case of huge orders or ones shipped via EMS. If you're finding exclusives cheaper than small orders (i.e. one or two figures) shipped via SAL, I really want to know where you're buying your exclusives because I want in on it :lol

Well, no reason other than the fact there is absolutely no precedent for them to do so. An arm or shin is one thing, but here we're talking about a separate torso, shoulder pads, forearms, belt and shin. At that point its practically an entire separate figure in itself.

And even if Figuarts are "modular" by nature, that doesn't mean Bandai designs them to be constantly pulled apart and changed. This isn't a gimmick line.

Yeah I live in Germany and no, not really :lol

I can get lucky with everything if the package is small enough and the custom guys are lazy, but that's really the exception. Because SHF's are usually too expensive to get through, and they know me by now so they check everything.

So it's not really a bonus if once every 10 orders someone is too lazy to check, that can happen with regular releases as much as Web-Exclusives.

So the bonus is really that my regular releases usually have a bill glued on the box so if I need to pay customs my postman can charge me on my doorstep instead of me having to drive to the customs office which sucks especially with weather like this, slippery streets and all that good stuff.

And Web-Exclusives being easier to deal with than regular releases... not really. From what you're saying (Server crashes) and from what I remember seeing from you in the "Recent purchases"-topic you buy from AmiAmi.

I buy form HLJ and it's easy and comfortable. Yes, we all know the deal with HLJ, no need to beat that horse again, but I buy there regularly for nearly two years now and never had any problems which would make me reconsider doing business with them.

And HLJ lets me cancel orders easily and I have the Private Warehouse to manage orders and combine them to a single order no matter when I ordered the individual items. So that's a huge plus for me.

Getting pre-order in is also easy as they open it up enough, so if I miss the day one pre-orders (and I do that quite often because I refuse to stay up for this) I just put up a restock-alert and that's that taken care of.

So there's really no difference in getting pre-orders in or buying from HLJ or a middleman when it comes to customs, the only differences are that middlemen are more expensive, I can’t combine orders and I usually have to pick up the Web-Exclusives from the customs office because there's no bill on them.

All in all I very much prefer to buy retail releases instead of Web-Exclusives. But sometimes I have to do it, in cases like these though I rather miss out on the figures than paying a middleman.

So I'm curious, which service is your go-to, Den-O? Although I'm pretty sure you've made it a point before of not wishing to divulge that information. Hence, "secret."