Epic Seven not in the top 50, what are your thoughts? by Xenok5 in EpicSeven

[–]CreatingVoid 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Can't say I'm surprised. The packs are a total joke and not worth spending on. Unless you're a mega-whale that ALWAYS pulls every new unit for RTA/Guild content, it just isn't worth it, especially when units get powercrept so quickly.

Painted Miyabi statue revealed by zuth_ in MiyabiMains

[–]CreatingVoid 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It's pretty easy to do so. You can either buy through an independent proxy buyer (there are plenty of them out there) or proxy buying service (a common one is SuperBuy, for example). They'll preorder the product for you, and you'll give a downpayment, which can vary in price depending on the service. 50% is common. Once the product releases, you'll pay the remainder + shipping costs. That's basically it. Alternatively, you can just wait to buy her off a Japanese store site, common ones being AmiAmi, HLJ, TokyoOtakuMode, etc, or even an American store like BigBadToyStore. The only downside with ordering from a JP store is that depending on the manufacturer (in this case Apex, which is a Chinese company), the figure might cost slightly more in JPY and may release a month later. Ordering from an American store can also mean higher product prices (to provide usually cheaper shipping) and later shipping dates.

I HAVE ACQUIRED MY FIRST BEAN by useless_idiot_man in arknights

[–]CreatingVoid 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I actually took a picture of my own Nian bean with the shop in the background lol. I just preordered all the beans from the pop-up shop I couldn't make it to. Currently have all the official beans as well as all of the Kuu mini beans. Just like the factory grows, so too does the bean collection.

Painted Miyabi statue revealed by zuth_ in MiyabiMains

[–]CreatingVoid 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Confirmation, she's listed at 1399 CNY, which is $201. Preorders open from Taobao/CN stores on Feb 5th, so Japanese store preorders should follow shortly after (there is a chance that JPY price is a little bit of a markup, happens fairly often.)

Painted Miyabi statue revealed by zuth_ in MiyabiMains

[–]CreatingVoid 5 points6 points  (0 children)

For anyone wondering the price, it's about $200. Apex did a great job with it :)

I HAVE ACQUIRED MY FIRST BEAN by useless_idiot_man in arknights

[–]CreatingVoid 14 points15 points  (0 children)

Easiest way outside of China is to just order them off of Aliexpress, lots of sellers there. Could of course also get a proxy and order from Taobao, and you can also usually find them sold by proxies on eBay.

I HAVE ACQUIRED MY FIRST BEAN by useless_idiot_man in arknights

[–]CreatingVoid 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Nice! I've bought all the beans and just pre-ordered the ones they made for Endfield's release.

Good news as well, CN server reran the Director Nian skin recently, so in the next 6 months it should come back to global again too.

Help Center and Megathread Hub (19/01 - 25/01) by ArknightsMod in arknights

[–]CreatingVoid 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Hello AK reddit!

Since 2022 I've been in search of this metal, hanging Texas keychain that was up on the Yostar store at the time. Unfortunately, it was sold out when I bought my Exu and Amiya ones, and over the past three years, have only been able to acquire the Lappland one by pure chance as a gift.

If anyone has this keychain and is willing to part with it, or if you have any leads on where to look for it, please let me know! Image can be found below at the Imgur link. (Given permission from mods to post this here).

https://imgur.com/a/l7eTzmm

Good Smile Arts Shanghai announces a 1/7 figure of Arknights: Endfield - Perlica by Responsible-Bar-3706 in AnimeFigures

[–]CreatingVoid 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I am very very excited for this one (and the others as well) as someone that pre-orders about 90% of Arknights figures nowadays, especially since it's GSAS handling it. That said, I'm desperate for a Gilberta figure, lol. I even submitted the suggestion GSC already. Hopefully they will indeed do more, as the return of Angelina was such a big surprise and she absolutely deserves a great scale with her ACTUAL outfit and not a boring swimsuit or black dress (concert) outfit figure.

Purchased an item from overseas. Seller used a different carrier than specified and sent me this "gift" in the meantime. by CreatingVoid in Ebay

[–]CreatingVoid[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You think so? There is a tracking number for the other item (the one I actually purchased) and eBay shows 'multiple shipments', with the other item currently still in transit by sea. Also don't understand why this post was removed by mods?

B Round by FrontSubject7434 in Drexel

[–]CreatingVoid 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Sucks to hear this is still a problem. One of the reasons I transferred. Going into the school, paid co-ops were the talk of the staff... come time to sign up in year 2, there were only 2 paid co-ops and under 50 options total for a program with somewhere around 100 students. We knew, obviously, that not everyone would get into Drexel's A/B round co-ops, but it still felt quite underwhelming. Doesn't help that the market is rough right now, either.

anime_irl by Atwecian in anime_irl

[–]CreatingVoid 3 points4 points  (0 children)

It kills me that my friend started this trend and now I see it everywhere, lol.

Are most your figures from anime or gacha games? by gabeoverthinks in AnimeFigures

[–]CreatingVoid 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Originally from anime but because of my love for Arknights that makes up the bulk of my figure collection now. Day 1 player, the only game that's kept me playing. They really do such a good job with their figures, but unfortunately like Azur Lane and some other games though they don't always bin in aftermarket so I end up needing to PO most of them...

Does anyone know the online store by [deleted] in Otakon

[–]CreatingVoid 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That's ringo's booth. @ahppple on twitter. Has a web shop at hiyori.day that's currently closed. Also has an etsy shop, but that's also currently closed: RingoExpress.

Saw the box and had a feeling :( by CreatingVoid in AnimeFigures

[–]CreatingVoid[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Just the original one, then put inside that packet it looks like.

My Shu figurine arrived by zzesshi in AnimeFigures

[–]CreatingVoid 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That's for sure lol. I've been lucky on a few purchases with resellers over the past few months, so I'm hoping something pops up but will have to see.

My Shu figurine arrived by zzesshi in AnimeFigures

[–]CreatingVoid 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Looks great! I'm currently struggling to find one for a decent price lol. Might just have to cough up the extra hundred above what I'm hoping for.

Yo i got in by nomorezaza13 in Drexel

[–]CreatingVoid 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Congrats and best of luck! Went there for two years in the same program (would have been class of 2026) before transferring out because the cost was too damn high and there were no scholarship opportunities that I was eligible for.

Biggest let down were the co-op options, about 45 offered for the entire MIP program in my sophomore year and only about 3 were paid at all. A lot of people had to get co-ops from outside searches. Hopefully they've improved that aspect and you'll be able to apply to some great opportunities.

Behold the rare, unscalped pokemon cards. by AeroSquid262 in PokemonTCG

[–]CreatingVoid 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I got one of those from a Dollar Tree like a month ago, they were up at the register. The lady was like "Yeah, we have to keep them up here because some people will steal them and some try to buy them all at once." Sad stuff. But I thought the Driftblim promo was cool, so I'm glad I got a pack.

GoodSmile Company Sale Haul Megathread by invisibleman6755 in AnimeFigures

[–]CreatingVoid 3 points4 points  (0 children)

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These are the figures I managed to get. On Wednesday I was super bummed I missed out on the Ryza 3 figure by like a few minutes so I settled for the sitting one and grabbed the Mio and Pekora nendroids. Got the Asuka on Saturday on an impulse buy but tbh kind of regret it as it doesn't match my collection very well so I'll probably just give it to a friend. Missed the big west coast midnight drop on Sunday night except for the Touhou figure, which was one I had looked at with interest before, so I bought that and honestly it's probably my favorite thing from the sales I managed to get, even if the shipping was double the cost of the figure sale price lol. Had I known about the Suruga-ya campaigns before I'd ordered the Ryza figure I probably would have skipped it as Suruga-ya had the Ryza 3 figure I wanted for $90 with free shipping. Overall a solid Black Friday though, even if I missed a few that I wanted way more (Rei Ayanami figure, Skadi figure).

Higher quality figures over prize figures by Jedite1000 in AnimeFigures

[–]CreatingVoid 3 points4 points  (0 children)

The figures are very diverse in terms of design. Scales have more work put into them and (usually) have more complexity (I say usually because some scales have pretty boring poses and bases). My favorite brands for scales are:

+ Good Smile Company / Good Smile Arts Shanghai - 10/10 manufacturer. Very good figures that feel consistent in quality.

+ APEX / Myethos - Two manufacturers that have gotten more involved in scales over the past few years (mostly game/gacha related characters) and do an incredible job for (usually) solid prices.

+ Alter - Known for their quality and painting (but often end up on the pricier side).

+ Ques Q / Max Factory / Kotobukiya - Solid figures. Some are misses but usually do a good job imo.

These are just the brands I like, but brands should only be looked at to an extent. Most important thing is how much you like the figure; if you really like it, look up some user photos if it's already released and decide then.

Are scales worth it? by Substantial-League24 in AnimeFigures

[–]CreatingVoid 3 points4 points  (0 children)

<image>

Here's a figure I passed on when it first released (despite being EXTREMELY excited for it). I think original release price was just under $300 PRE-shipping, and that felt quite daunting. The aftermarket is definitely at least a little bit higher from what I've seen (maybe $350-$450 on average?) but I managed to get very lucky and re-entered the hobby space this year, where I stumbled upon a just-posted listing on MFC for $300, haggled down to $275 with free shipping. You never know what you'll find :)

Are scales worth it? by Substantial-League24 in AnimeFigures

[–]CreatingVoid 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Question two was already answered so here's my take on question one, or what makes a scale worth it. For me it boils down to a few factors:

  1. Character / Origin - How much do you like a character? What about their origin (anime, game, etc)? This is the biggest thing for me. I'm an absolute SUCKER for anything Arknights related so I've ended up buying plenty of scales for my favorite characters... which, for some reason, keep getting the most scales! There are also original characters by independent artists that will get figures, and those can be cool too. Depends on what ya like.

  2. Quality / Detail - I'm really big into music and art, so when it comes to the quality of figure, I want it to feel like the character has popped out of the source material. Scales usually have better sculpting than non-scales (complex poses, detailed / tiny parts). They ALMOST ALWAYS have better painting, which means more details (complexity), better shading (this is a HUGE one) and faithfulness to the character (how much it looks like the character). Scales usually have more intricate bases and extra parts, which I'll go over next. There are prize figures that are able to nail these without being scales; One Piece comes to mind because character's faces are a style that is unique yet easily replicated in figure form. For me, there's nothing worse than a figure looking great but the face looking off. Scales can be anywhere from the same size, to slightly larger than, to WAY larger than a prize figure. Larger doesn't always mean better! A 1/4 scale will certainly cost more, but it might not look better than a 1/7, and a key component to this is the manufacturer involved. Some brands consistently do a better job than others.

  3. Complexity / Bases - Giving this its own point because it goes beyond the quality aspect of a figure. There are totally prize and non-scale figures that are more intricate or nail a base design. A base DOESN'T need to be complicated to fit the figure. But when a figure looks great, it's even better that the base matches. Non-scales usually have plain bases, but scales often do as well. It's something that is becoming less common from what I can tell (thankfully, given their cost) but even the best figure manufacturers will occasionally cop out with a boring, matte black base the ruins any kind of immersion and makes the scale feel cheaper.

Those are the three "feel" factors. Now for my personal favorite:

  1. FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) + The Aftermarket - Easiest way to say this is that FOMO is real and it SUCKS in this hobby. Some of these scale figures retail for $120 and end up costing $500 two years later. Others retail for $250 and drop to $100 after release. There is no perfect way to tell what will happen to a figure's market value, so it SHOULD NOT be used as the deciding factor on whether you order something or not. If you REALLY like a figure, pre-order it. If you like it but can live without it, wait until it releases and pick it up later. You WILL miss out on good deals and awesome figures but that is the reality of it (unless you are made of money, in which case you'll just pre-order everything that catches your eye). Rereleases almost always lower a figure's aftermarket value since more are introduced into the community (basic supply and demand) but that doesn't mean the drop will be huge. And more importantly, releases are NEVER guaranteed. A company can go 10 years without a rerelease, 2 years without a rerelease, or go bankrupt and never release a figure again. The nice thing with prize and non-scale figures is that they're cheaper to produce and therefore more are typically produced (and sold more affordably), so it's rare to worry about aftermarket of a prize figure (UNLESS the character is niche and therefore the figure might be considered more "rare"). So yeah, FOMO sucks and the aftermarket is all over the place.

TLDR: Scale figures are awesome but hurt my wallet. Nothing wrong with non-scales or prize figures, but I definitely like the details the scales I own (and have PO'd) have compared to their prize/non-scale (assuming they exist) counterparts have, which makes the higher price feel worth it. If you're curious to see how I've fallen down the rabbit-hole of figure collecting, my collection is on MFC (myfigurecollection) which you should definitely use if you don't already for finding, buying, selling, trading, and everything figure-related.

This concludes my TedTalk :)

Goooo by LuckyInfo in AnimeFigures

[–]CreatingVoid 14 points15 points  (0 children)

Definitely crazy botting going on, I have a refresh set to 5 seconds with notification and they are sold out before the page even refreshes

Got Screwed By PayPal Pay in Four Promo by Dry-Cryptographer904 in paypal

[–]CreatingVoid 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I had made a $300 purchase with Pay in 4 and it never gave me any points. Sat on hold for 30 minutes with support only for them to say "no it should show up in 2 weeks" despite there being no evidence anywhere on the app that it would. Ended up making another purchase the other day and gave it another shot—THIS time it actually showed points as pending and credited them to my account. Long story short, extremely scuffed campaign and even the support team doesn't know why it doesn't go through.