Not sure where else to ask this, so might as well be here! With SAL no longer an option for importing, what are my next chespest options? Is it mostly DHL?

I can only speak for US shipping, but, yeah, DHL. EMS is slightly more expensive. Moreover, DHL (as an independent shipping company) hasn't been subject to the slowdowns/shutdowns of EMS, so it's a lot faster than any Japan Post options.

DHL is great to me 9/10, for smaller items it's cheaper than EMS, and FAST.

I've gotten things in 2 days before. If it's not a large item, and you don't mind paying it, I highly recommend them.

Woah, if it can be that fast then maybe it’s a hidden blessing SAL isn’t available for me right now! :lol

Thank you both!! I’ve got a Human Ankh and a Build Logo waiting in Zenmarket for me so I guess I’ll be gettimg to them right away~

How does DHL compare to Fedex? When given the option, Fedex was cheaper for me on zenmarket.

I don't think I've ever used FedEx for international shipping. Domestically, I always find them to be overpriced and slow, relative to UPS. No idea on how they rate as an international shipper. Sorry!

Apparently they've confirmed Prime Rogue will get a release in the near future at one of the Tamashii Features livestreams.

And the second figure being shown exclusively to Club Tamashii Members is indeed Cross-Z Evol.

As someone who has cut down their Future-SHF-Wants list to a little under 10 figures, said list including Cross-Z Evol as a priority?

... man, that's kinda disappointing. One of these two mystery figures was teased and the other one was seen last year.

I mean they may not be brand new reveals but getting confirmation that previously-revealed pieces are going to come out is still a big deal given Bandai's tendency to not always release what they show off.

This means all the Build riders will get all their forms without question.

Oh, totally -- I mean, of the Build confirmations; we got two movie forms and an HBV form. It's kinda wild!

I think after this; it's just Genius, Blood, Killbas? Bikaiser if you really wanna stretch it.

Well we did get an Ichigata reveal

Looks like Bluefin has a stock of SS Den-O on their website

If the Best Selection Build gets delayed, I may try to snatch up him for now.

look

look

you two are not allowed to post one after the other

not as long as you've got those avatars

it's way too confusing

The invasion has begun.

Honestly this whole time I've found it so incredibly funny? I think I'll go and find a Glasses Sento Sitting Down avi myself!

There's got to be a matching Banjou avitar somewhere for all this nonsense.

April Fools 2021 on TokuNation: Everyone gets a Sento avatar.

In other news, SHF Upgrade recently released replacement elbow joints for the Seihous of Decade and Diend. I guess they had issues similar to the Kabuto Seihous.

So, uh, between a lot of terrible factors such as the way the medal was cut meaning it falls out a fair bit and my room not having a carpet over the floorboards, my Taka medal from Seihou Tatoba is now lost forever and I think I'm gonna have a few days of hating life.

But! If I was just gonna vent about it I wouldn't have brought it here. What I'm looking for is solutions. I'm definitely DEFINITELY not getting a second Tatoba or Tajador unless some godly saint is nice enough to trade Tatobas, and I highly doubt Bandai are going to do replacement core medals at any point. Would have been super cool to include with the Arm Ankh instead of like, a sixth tray of cell medals I'm pretty sure no-one was asking for, but I'm getting off track.

... or am I, because what Arm Ankh did come with are these two accessories.

https://i.imgur.com/8aCbL33.png

The little Tatoba and Tajador core medal sets molded together to mimic him holding them. They are super cool! ... I also never use them and probably never will, and at best I would just use the Tajador ones once Human Ankh comes in. So my question is this: do I risk trying to cut the Taka medal off of the Tatoba set of Core Medals to replace my lost Taka Medal from OOO? How risky is this? Does it seem even remotely feasible? Is it something that would end with a ton of regret? I definitely want a complete Seihou Tatoba again even if the Taka medal is a little rough, and I value that much more over this accessory... but it also feels kinda awful doing this to an accessory on a high-end collector's grade figure. Even if it's the cheap arm.

What do you guys think? Is it worth it, is there even another solution out there that doesn't cost a ridiculous amount of money, and should I just settle for a blank space or a Taka Cell Medal looking absolutely awful in there?

Honestly? You can give the cutting-up-an-accessory plan a try (if it breaks, it's already something you don't care about, right?), but I think you're better off doing the following:

-Find a decent picture of the medal online.
-Resize the image until it's SHF sized.
-Print it out.
-Cut it out.
-Either drop it in the medal slot as is, or cut out a few similar-sized circles to thicken it up.

That's a cost of less than a dollar, maybe 15 minutes of work,easily repeatable should you lose it again, and you don't sacrifice any other accessories.

Does the SS Ankh arm come with a Taka Cell Medal ? Maybe you can try casting one in red resin

I say it how important is the missing medal to you. I would not cut the plastic could fall apart easily. When did you know you lost the medal maybe you find it. Did ooo take a fall or something. And just so you know it best not to keep tiny pieces in a rider belt that fall out easy. Heck even bandai had tape on their ooo belt when showing them off so they don’t lose them.

The Taka Cell Medal is what I'm using as a replacement right now, yeah. I... wouldn't even know where to begin with resin or how to do that.

Printing it out doesn't sound ideal either. ... especially since I haven't bought colour cartridges in a while.

Try painting it ? Theres probably enough Taka Cells to experiment with

There's probably some good money to be made 3D printing replacement / unreleased medals for anyone that bothers to go that route. Do a set, throw in stuff like the BuraKaWani, Goro and Poseidon medals that aren't gonna see a Seihou release, et voila.

This is what I was gonna suggest. Try painting one red with a Gundam marker, if you have one.

Fraid I don’t have paint or markers; i just have very basic kit building stuff

Here's a longshot: if you've bought any EarthRise deluxes for Transformers (Cliffjumper?), they should come with a piece of red transparent plastic. Cut out (or punch out) a little circle from there. Put it on top of a Cell Medal, put them both in the Driver.

Welp... I decided to just say fuck it and go for it

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachmen...984/image0.jpg

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachmen...468/image1.jpg

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachmen...160/image2.jpg


Everything about that felt deeply, incredibly wrong! Almost as if there was a voice of reason at the back of my head saying, I dunno, DON'T, FUCKING, CUT UP ACCESSORIES OF YOUR EXPENSIVE COLLECTOR'S FIGURES??? DUMBASS????????


... but you know what? It worked out! As you can see from the pictures, it's a little rough from around the back but pretty much perfect at the front! Which makes sense since it was at the front of the molded core set, which is part of why I didn't think this was an overwhelmingly terrible idea on every level. Since I'll be displaying it in the driver 99.9999996% of the time aside from the few times I decide to have the Taka medal held for Emo Eiji Moments, the front is what matters the most anyway. And to test things I also decided to shake and hit the figure a few times (WHICH ALSO FELT DEEPLY INCREDIBLY WRONG ON EVERY LEVEL, I'M SORRY EIJI, I LOVE YOU), and none of the medals fell out! It seems tighter in there than the actual medal, which makes sense since there's a bit of uh, residue tiger hanging off the back. Don't think it's budging from there any time soon. But hey, uh, if it does I always have the Tajador medals! Hahaha...


And just to add another positive note... I'm not sure it really counts as one, but this was kind-of-sort-of a first 'kitbash' of mine? And... it's super satisfying to see it turn out so well. Like you know how... you know how after making a model kit, right, you get a really satisfying feeling like "I know all the instructions and parts were laid out for me, but... damn, I made that!"? I get a similar feeling here. And it's just sort of really nice that this is my favourite character, and I've been able to contribute something to completing this figure. And especially with it being a Taka medal that came from Ankh, that just makes it even better!

First off, nicely done!

Second off, doing insane, destructive things in pursuit of Core Medals is incredibly on-brand for OOO, and I'm sure both Eiji and Ankh (especially Ankh) would understand.

5 minutes later: What's that lying on the floor... oh.

:lol

Kit bashing can be addicting!

Small modeling tip: I use poster putty in figures with removable parts (like Kamen Rider gimmicks in a belt). A tiny tiny tiny amount inside the slot keeps them locked in there yet easy to remove. And depending on the design, its 100% reversible.

https://smile.amazon.com/Duck-Reusab.../dp/B000BQMFEC

I also use it to make joints feel sturdier on model kits. I think I bought a pack of putty like 8 years ago and I'm barely 1/10th of the way through it. That's how little you use. I cannot stress enough: a tiny bit goes a long way.

Well, after that whole fiasco; there's no way OOO is staying up top any longer

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachmen...131/image0.jpg

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Tokusatsu Edition.

Also I'm really sorry to hear ya had to cut up a toy.

Why... why is he kicking a tissue box? I gotta know.

Didn't have anything else to stand him on!

... also it's like a bedside table and I need to put the tissue box somewhere. I'm a professional collector

Obvious, it's the Tissue Grongi. :lolol

Ah yes! The Grongi whose game was to go around giving everyone sinuses so bad they died! I can relate!

Holy shit you have a CycloneCylone and JokerJoker?!

I fully intend to replace them with FRS Cyclone/Joker, but yeah! Got them from a friend a while ago who didn't want them anymore for probably obvious reasons. If you want 'em yourself they're not too awful on Mandarake

https://order.mandarake.co.jp/order/...guarts&lang=en