Hello and question about models

[animeartist62]

So I am slowly getting back into Zoids with HMM's. I also have a few Hasbro(looking to sell these), but I am lost on the others. Now to state I love the details and pose ability of the HMM's( I want them ALL). But I have come across MSS. Die cast Roveltech. Among a few other names. So I am a little confused with all that is out there and could use a little help on getting a short version of each would be a help.

Now anther thing is. Buying online I do not do not feel safe buying from sellers on ebay that are in China, Hong Kong (yes I know it is in China) Taiwan or similar east asian sellers. Is that correct of me to be wary?

[imateria]

Yes and no. For HMM's any coming form European and US sellers are going to have a mark up on them since they're imports as Koto doesn't sell Zoids outside of South East Asia. There is of course going to be some low life scum out there trying to take your money and run, but there are plenty of sellers on ebay that are very trustworthy. Tokyo-Hobby, J3-Hobby and bon.voila (who is French but lists his stock as coming from China) are the 3 sellers I use the most and have all proven reliable as well as amongst the cheapest on ebay.

Heck, I've even come across Amiami selling stock on ebay before.

[Hanyoutai]

It depends on what you're afraid of. If it's bootlegs, VERY few sellers fail to clearly mark the brand name. STK and BT are brands you should memorize to avoid. Dragon Momoko too, for D-Styles. If they have pictures of the box these logos will be clearly posted on the box art somewhere.

If you're wary about the sellers themselves no delivering, this is rare for any seller, even East Asia sellers. I don't think there's any need to be wary. Don't buy from people that don't have a lot of feedback (96% or higher) and don't meander about the delivery time. If it's not there on time, report it. If they ask for more time, don't wait past the claim time. File a claim, get it done with. You'll almost always get your money back since Ebay and Paypal are both extremely biased towards the buyer.

If you can use amiami.com this is the cheapest place to get any HMM. Most people have concretely good luck with it, but they will NOT refund an item lost in the mail. Filing a claim means account closure with amiami (which is standard for all companies, chargeback = ban.) If returned you can get an item cost refund only, not shipping cost. They're the only Asian company I've dealt with that doesn't offer at least partial refund for an item that wasn't received at all, if lost in the mail (even when tracking confirms this).

[animeartist62]

That was a think I noticed/know that there is a markup but I would rather pay a little more knowing that I am getting the correct product. I will look into the sellers you listed.

A big portion of it is bootleg. Because some of the models are higher priced even at the low end. Thank you for the tip on shipping. I tend to only buy from people if they have at least a 99% rating. I keep hearing of amiami.

[Hanyoutai]

If you buy from AmiAmi, you can buy knowing that all of their Zoids are official. Not one Zoid item on the site, so far as I'm aware, is bootleg so this is a great price option for buying official HMMs~ They also ship direct to US/etc, no need for an importer.

[Illandrasen]

Depending on where you are located I have found that buying HMM Zoids from Amazon using Prime membership gets me the HMMs I want for what I would pay for an HMM from Japan only it gets here in 1-2 days. When I can't find it on Amazon I go to HLJ.com. AmiAmi still owes me a Liger Zero that never came so I avoid them like the plague even though there are others that use them exclusively.

[Tilly]

Yeah, Amazon is mixed like eBay, but some sellers are perfectly good. Check their feedback/ask here and maybe someone's bought from that seller? With how strong the dollar is versus the yen right now some stuff is really nicely priced, especially smaller kits. Larger ones the shipping can make the price vary. There's also super overpriced things, so check around.

The MSS kits...I want to like them because they're teeny and adorable (they claim 1/144, I think, but it varies for some...they're pretty much Really Small Zoids) and have fewer parts than the HMMs, but my Shield Liger's legs pop off the too-small joint pegs (the rest is pretty solid other than easily fixed floppy missile box arms, so arrrrgh) so often I've not been able to enjoy it yet, and the Command Wolf...well, mine's just a partially detailed head/neck/torso right now because I'm mad at it, mostly because two of the impossibly tiny fangs broke off the impossibly tiny front tooth piece, which is terribly designed imo (weird when the rest of it, so far, has been nice). Though the MSS kits are also pretty cheap compared to their list prices on Amazon if you watch the prices, which seem to shift. Maybe they'll hate you less than me! I swear, I almost always get wonky kits for posable Zoids, like they know I prefer motors :p.

Kotobukiya's quality control is rather less than outstanding too, imo, but man, just once I want to get one of the ones that doesn't spontaneously disassemble or take prodding and/or lots of gluing to assemble or...wait, my D-Styles have been okay. Those don't hate me, those are nice! (Other than the Flash Metal Blade Ligers, which hate everyone.)

If you like posable, though, and can track it down for a decent price, the KFM/king of flexible mobile Berserk Fury is really nice from what I've seen/heard. The Zero is lovely in proportions/lines and feel and is actually one of my favorite things Zoids even though it's an action figure...well, other than its atrociously bad (not breaky, just frustratingly immobile/on the wrong kind of joint) ankles and tendency for the plastic white bits to yellow and the painted metal not to, cue weird contrast—much less noticible if you change the armor, which is why my older one from 2002 is in the Panzer forever, unless I can find a way that satisfies my picky side enough to paint it silvery instead. It turned a kind of sickly off white that looks almost like I did it on purpose along with the tanky green armor, plus the KFM Panzer is so pleasantly chunky and solid in-hand. I wouldn't pay as much for it as the BF, though.

Oh yeah, and the Revoltech line...I love the look of the Blade Liger, but mine sheds pieces a bit (mostly the fins/booster cover) and its tail broke off at a really hard to glue spot (snapped at the base as I was putting it on). Once I can pin the tail back together and maybe find a suitable glue for the sheddy bits it will get to be happy again on its little stand (hooray for one being included!). If you can find it for an affordable price it might be worth grabbing, just note it has this...odd, vaguely squishy feel to the mostly-hard plastic, if you don't have any? That's...the best way I can describe the plastic, it feels a little bit floppy while also being solid (I know that sounds contradictory!) That plus the lots of clicky joints makes it strange to pose versus the solid, heavy KFM Zero's feel. But dangit, I really like how they did the Blade Liger lookswise, and its ankles are everything the Zero's should have been—it can almost, almost pose walking actually on its toes (if you can wrestle it to the right angle, anyway), and they bend up and down nicely. There's no diecast parts on it, either, it's all plastic. (Side note if you do buy one: There's joint parts in the body AND in the detached legs, from what I remember—the extra ones are meant to be spares, I guess, but you have to pry them out before it'll go together, which is annoying, and the included plastic tool did NOT grip well enough.)

There's also the Yamato Shield Ligers (one blue, one black and supposedly-but-not-always with cannons), which are larger than the 1/72 kits and good amounts metal, though. Can't speak for them personally, too heavy/spendy for me right now. My main warning there would be if you see the black one, especially for a lower price, and it doesn't say definitely either way, ask the seller if it's missing the cannons if you care about them. Apparently a LOT of them were, maybe a US versus Japan batch thing? And considering that one's meant to be a special version in the Japanese models' stories (the pilot figure is one of its more famous pilots there instead of...I think the blue one has Van and such?) and is named for the cannons that's a dealbreaker for my brain, but if you don't care and just like the black Liger/can find one of the cheap ones still, go for it. They also made the cannons separately for the blue one, but they're tricky to find, so I wouldn't count on just grabbing them for the decannon'd black one, alas!

Uh. Hopefully that's a useful ramble >_>;.

(I should really put a warning about AmiAmi doing that kind of thing when I update my to buy from list, sigh.)

[imateria]

May 31, 2015 2:56:38 GMT -5 animeartist62 said:

That was a think I noticed/know that there is a markup but I would rather pay a little more knowing that I am getting the correct product. I will look into the sellers you listed.

A big portion of it is bootleg. Because some of the models are higher priced even at the low end. Thank you for the tip on shipping. I tend to only buy from people if they have at least a 99% rating. I keep hearing of amiami.

In almost all cases you'll be getting the correct product, I've only occasionly seen knock offs turn up on ebay.  Its also not always a small mark up, I've seen some sellers charging double the retail price.

[Tilly]

I've seen a few of the bootleg ones on Amazon, though I believe they were labeled with at least the company or otherwise recognizable? When in doubt, post the link here somewhere and someone should be able to help!

(If it's a blue Schneider/Schneiderjaeger or a camo Shield Liger, those are definitely bootlegs.)

[animeartist62]

Though on amiami what if they are out of stock. Say on the gold saber tiger for example.


I am the opposite the motorized ones do not like me. But I do not know if I would like them that small. Though the temptation.

I am based in the US. I was comparing amazon with others and taking shipping into account, they would be the same or less for may of them out there. Even if you do not have prime if you buy over 35 dollars you get free shipping. Though I do have a friend that has prime. For buying from amazon I generally only buy if it is amazon fulfilled, then if it is wrong I can go back to amazon.

I guess over all I would like to have a good pool that I can look at to buy from that I know are reputable. I do not want to run all over the place looking for what I want, just to then get shafted. I try to take a dose of wariness when buying things online. As when I do it is because I have saved up for it.


GOD there is a King of flexible on ebay right now. If I had not bought a HMM Ramar Shield liger I would be all over it. www.ebay.com/itm/Zoids-KZ-02-Die-Cast-Ka-Doh-Oh-KFM-Berserk-Fuhrer-Fury-fair-used-condition-/171808602473?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2800973969

I think on some things Kotobukiya could improve. Especially when it comes to the smaller pieces or it would put in the book you could glue if wanted. I guess I like putting them together so the prodding usually does not bother me to much, unless even thought the piece is meant to go there it is to loose or to hard to fit. What is more annoying is some of the small superficial that are not fixed super well. I am thinking of gluing them in though I may end up gluing things together I do not want. I will have to play/contemplate with it a bit. it Though over all I feel that they are well done and I do not mind paying money for them, though I could stand them to be priced a little less.


Thank you tilly your post was helpfull.

Everyone has been.

[Illandrasen]

OOOOOOOOOO I just remembered I have an awesome new technique for joints strength. I'm going to go post it in the appropriate section.

[greengai]

If you're still looking for U.S. sellers to add to your list, Anime King is great. Prices are higher but they bend over backwards to keep shipping costs low and the staff's an awesome bunch. And if you do want to give MSS a try, i-anime would be happy to oblige! (Selection's a bit low for both though; Zoids just don't sell at a competitive level these days) 

For bootlegs here's an example with the big STK logo in the corner and here's a BT example. In the second link, the BT is obscured a little but you can see things are missing like the Zoids logo. And as Hanyoutai said, most sellers will list what brand the kits are from. 

If you like diecast metal, at all really, I gotta take a moment to recommend the motorized Dibison; either the NJR version or, if you're up for a little polishing and don't mind the price, the OJR. (I've handled an HMM Dibison and while it's a sturdy kit, the neck, nose, butt and hooves are *Watch your language!* hideous atrocities) I have the NJR and the metal horns and hooves are top notch! Pretty sure the alloy they used had Copper and Zinc in the mix (reminded me a lot of a high quality brass minus the color when I got it) making it a really great metal that'll last a long time. As far as metals in Zoids go, I'd say Dibison has best in the franchise. Heck I'd put it up in the top 10 toy metals if I ever made a list!   

As for Yamato's kitty, it's a heavy beast. Details look great at its size, paint job is handsome. Amount of articulation's good, roughly the amount of HMM Blade Liger's (don't have HMM Shield Liger but Bladey's close) minus the individual claws. Said joints on Yamato's Liger are sturdy too. It can do cool sitting and standing poses (yes it can pass the "handstand test" too) but the mass kills jumping poses. The legs, two parts of the face and a few parts in the gut are metal. The metal itself is nice enough, seems like a Zinc alloy, possibly Aluminum. The metal of KFM Zero is better in my opinion. Speaking of KFM, I'd reccomend them for cute factor as much as the diecast.