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Post by junktea1 on Feb 8, 2007 11:49:33 GMT -5
I'm going to Japan, and wanted to obtain either of these in March 07'. What do you think the long-term investment value will be? At first review of IDEON, I wasn't crazy about the character or the looks, but after looking at the detail Bandai will offer, and its transforming capabilities and size, I think it would be cool. Definitely beats Gunbuster in my opinion. Thoughts? VS.Doesn't IDEON remind you of Optimus Prime? Can't afford both unfortunately!
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Post by zman on Feb 8, 2007 13:11:58 GMT -5
Eventually, you definitely have to get both. ;D
However, Zamby is harder to come by nowadays (unless Bandai reissues it). So I would get him first assuming you can find one in Japan. I am sure there would be enough stocks of the Ideon when you get more money.
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Post by mpchi on Feb 9, 2007 1:26:39 GMT -5
Definitely Ideon. Zambot 3 is among the less appreciated SOC, and it sure has its reasons to be so. Unless you are dying to have a Zambot 3, Ideon would most likely turn out being a better toy. Bigger, more poseable, and probably less trouble holding its weapons or keep accessories from falling off.
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Post by megatroptimus on Feb 9, 2007 1:33:25 GMT -5
I hope Ideon will be really close to a perfect transform, I hate detachable parts.
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Post by joydivision on Feb 9, 2007 4:45:43 GMT -5
it is true than zambot has a few small issues specially when compared to recent releases that have reached such a high level! but still zambot is one of my favorites! he 's got the funk! great paint scheme, lots of details and acessories. really adds some shelf value. better than him only the dx but it is so expensive! my advice is go for zambot with your eyes closed. and even if ideon turns out like i expect him to be the best modern gokin you will stil have plenty of chances to get him later. and probably he will come out late march so when you go there might not have been released yet!
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Post by dricks2080 on Feb 9, 2007 14:47:03 GMT -5
does anybody know how big this thing is going to be? he looks pretty tall... if i'm not mistaken... he could be the tallest SOC when he goes out on the market.
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Post by Chen on Feb 9, 2007 17:22:11 GMT -5
It was stated in a past post that Ideon will be about 28cm.
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Post by junktea1 on Feb 9, 2007 18:49:13 GMT -5
zambot3 - trouble w/the weapons? what do you mean?
i have voltes v and its superb! i have the gx-06m getter box, and found it to be clumsy. i don't really like the method of connecting a lower to upper half body to a flimsy plastic peg, its just bound to have imperfections. i'll have to read over the difficulties with zambot - such as poseability & assembly.
ideon looks promising. i'm just curious as to its diecast content. more metal is better!
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Post by Chen on Feb 10, 2007 11:18:49 GMT -5
Zambots problem with holding weapons is that the hands have ball joints in the wrists that are loose and has fingers with individual knuckle joints that don't seem tight enough to hold a weapon securely. The lack of posability is thanks to very limited hip joints.
I found the Getter's connecting point to be very strong IF you make sure their securely connected.
As for the debate between Ideon and Zambot, well if your planning on getting both I'd pick Zambot up now since it's scarce and not popular enough to get a re-issue. This way it gives you time to save up for Ideon since I'm sure there will ba a ton of them for sale when it's released.
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Post by voltes on Feb 10, 2007 14:57:49 GMT -5
Hey buddy here are some pics of the Zambot 3 i just got this week. Zambot 3 is One of the best pieces I ever got but he does have some issues, poseabillity in the legs and the whole bunch of parts that he comes with. There is however a way to make zambot 3 get a tiny bit more leg possablitiy Here are some pics of mine Zambot grapple zambot cutter Zambot Blow As you can see in the two pics, the second pic the upper part of zambot 3 is risen up alit because when zambo ace is in the zambot, that is what connects to the legs so what you could do is rise zambo ace(aka zambots head) and the legs will be able to make out alil more. Here are some more pics of the better poses of zambot I got this pose MG Shinning Gundam lol Zambot Cutter Slash Zambot Blow Attack!!!! Another thing i found out is that I actually unscrewed and open the inside of the zambase(zambot's legs) and there's actually a chrome looking line that goes into the two metal joint holes of the legs and if that is takin out that might also help but again not by much. Also the zambo ace's feet if incase you don't care about your zambo ace, you could cut or clip the feet of that off(even though the cockpit is there) and that might help even more, but i wouldn't risk that as this is a 250 toy. Hope to be of some assistance.
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Post by mpchi on Feb 11, 2007 19:55:31 GMT -5
zambot3 - trouble w/the weapons? what do you mean? On my Zambot 3, the issue is not so much the wrist is too loose. Its just the only pair of hands that can hold weapons is the pair with movable fingers. The fingers joints are not that tight & secure, so the fingers will always move a bit here & there as you pose. Zambot 3's main weapons are the Zambot Cutter, Grapple & Blow, all with a round handle. There are not very good contact between the round handles and the fingers. Having the fingers not very tight, and you'll end up having those weapons sliding up and down all the time. No gripe what so ever. At least in Dancouga, they added a folding peg on the sword handle to secure the gripe. For Zambot, they have none. So their solution for it is kind of stupid. Give you a couple clear rubber tubing to put on the area of the handle where the hand is griping. But really, didn't work too well from preventing the weapon slip around, while make the weapon looks ugly. And imagine everytime you need to put on or remove the rubber pieces and figure out where to put them, and not lose them. Not to mention the 'yoyo' piece that attaches on the side of knees either chips the paint or falls off too easy. The way Zambot 3 store its accessories is also pretty ridiculous. It uses Zambull's bottom as a tray. So have fun trying to take out all the small pieces and figure out where to put them everytime you feel like displaying the nice vehicle mode. Even just give us a plain black accessory tray with no design at all is better than this. How much can an extra piece of plastic cost? There are also quite a few part swap in different modes, like for Zambot Ace. So while a nice sturdy toy, it has a lot of small issues that made you feel like "what were they thinking when designing this thing?!". And really, without all these issues, I wouldn't even mind if the hips and legs can't pose much. I do like Zambot 3's robot design, its sturdiness, and the not very complex gattai. But as how it turns out, its definitely not a top pick in the SOC line, especially with its high price tag. As I got even some defects and broken parts on mind(though I fixed them by taking the thing apart), it used to be my least favorite SOC ever bought. But watching the anime & played with it more helped changed my opinion on it a bit. But at least I'll try not to be biased about it and point out legit negatives on this thing.
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Post by boogeyman on Feb 13, 2007 12:32:09 GMT -5
Let's wait to have the Ideon in your hands before jusging. For the moment the price is the same for both
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Post by mpchi on Feb 13, 2007 15:26:06 GMT -5
Not likely Bandai will mess up Ideon though, consider its anime status in Japan, as well as the price of this SOC. But we'll see. In terms of price, Ideon cost more. 22000yen vs. 17800yen.
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Post by junktea1 on Feb 15, 2007 21:10:16 GMT -5
Not likely Bandai will mess up Ideon though, consider its anime status in Japan, as well as the price of this SOC. But we'll see. In terms of price, Ideon cost more. 22000yen vs. 17800yen. i'll be in japan late march. probably around the time of release for ideon. i'll take a close look at the contents before buying, and then make my decision. i'm not really attached to zambot as i never watched the cartoon
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Post by Chen on Feb 23, 2007 19:06:41 GMT -5
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Post by roboto on Feb 24, 2007 0:39:56 GMT -5
I think SOCs tend to maintain the same price level since Bandai often reissues. I have the experience of buying SOC GX-08 Aphorodite A and GX-09 Mineva for US$100 each 3 years ago, and now they're about US$30 each after Bandai reissued the two. Currently, however, the SOCs appreciating in value are black-colored releases and special DVD and mook coupon offers, such as the Zambot Ace. Anyhow, if you really want to invest on robot toys, buy vintage Popy Chogokin, especially toy products from defunct companies like Takatoku and Bullmark. Right now there's a glut of SOCs in the market. In Taiwan, some toyshops have sold GX-08MA for less than US$20 because of overstock. In any case, I'm not buying SOCs to sell later, I just like them. As for which SOC to chose, Zambot 3 or Ideon, I'd say get both, but the big boxes are going to be a pain to bring back from Japan. Also, you have to consider your budget. In my opinion, Ideon seems a lot of fun. Just as other RJ members have mentioned, Zambot tends to be limited in poses compared to newer releases. The picture of Ideon's kick tells you something about the poses you can do with that toy. Zambot can only stand upright on your shelf and that's about it.
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Post by junktea1 on Feb 24, 2007 1:26:41 GMT -5
I think SOCs tend to maintain the same price level since Bandai often reissues. I have the experience of buying SOC GX-08 Aphorodite A and GX-09 Mineva for US$100 each 3 years ago, and now they're about US$30 each after Bandai reissued the two. Currently, however, the SOCs appreciating in value are black-colored releases and special DVD and mook coupon offers, such as the Zambot Ace. Anyhow, if you really want to invest on robot toys, buy vintage Popy Chogokin, especially toy products from defunct companies like Takatoku and Bullmark. Right now there's a glut of SOCs in the market. In Taiwan, some toyshops have sold GX-08MA for less than US$20 because of overstock. In any case, I'm not buying SOCs to sell later, I just like them. As for which SOC to chose, Zambot 3 or Ideon, I'd say get both, but the big boxes are going to be a pain to bring back from Japan. Also, you have to consider your budget. In my opinion, Ideon seems a lot of fun. Just as other RJ members have mentioned, Zambot tends to be limited in poses compared to newer releases. The picture of Ideon's kick tells you something about the poses you can do with that toy. Zambot can only stand upright on your shelf and that's about it. Thanks for the info. ;D I agree. The value of older chogokin will never compare to what's available now. I had many old chogokins, which I sold on ebay in its entirety to pay-off some school debt. I used some of the money to purchase SOCs. Their poseability and looks are great. But they lack the appeal of older design. I think 30 years from now, there will be an abundant amount of SOCs in mint-condition. Unlike the current market, where finding mint Popy is costly and nearly impossible. Wow! You have a Uni-5 Phoenix. I always wanted one of those. But I'd really like to get that mini G5 that was re-issued.
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Post by roboto on Feb 24, 2007 13:19:43 GMT -5
It's amazing you were able to pay-off some of your student loans with the profits you made from selling your old Chogokins. I could've done the same with the old Chogokins that I played with as a child. Anyway, I took good care of my robot toys and stored them in a toy-chest, which I left at my grandmother's apartment when I went to college in the U.S. A few years later, I asked her to ship some of the toys to the U.S., but when the packages arrived, much to my surprise and anger, most of the toys inside were broken. She had placed the chest full of toys with my younger cousins. Ugh! Indeed. Thirty years ago, how many six to thirteen year-old kids thought about making profit from selling Japanese diecast robot toys three decades later? I think very few. Kids then weren't thinking about keeping diecast robot toys in mint-condition; these items were actual "toys" - objects to play with. That's why toy collectors nowadays are willing to pay so much money for toys that did manage to survive in mint or near-mint condition. Anyway, these days there are just too many toy collectors with extra SOC boxes stacked up in their room, werehouse, or what not. It's not impossible, but you're right- it'll cost you an arm and a leg. Anyway, which part of Japan are you traveling to? I've only been to Okinawa, which has very few toyshops selling vintage robot toys. What I'd really like is to travel to Tokyo or Osaka to buy some vintage robot toys there. My goal is to buy a decent Popy DX Voltes V. The Uni-Five Phoenix isn't that rare (well, that is, the green version). I bought mine in Hong Kong last year for about US$100. On the other hand, the original blue version with the plastic phoenix is rare and thus expensive. Anyway, here's another picture of Zambot 3. I bought two sets because I like it so much.
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Post by dme3o on Feb 24, 2007 13:29:40 GMT -5
Not sure if you guys know but, I was just informed that they will be re-issuing Zambot 3 this year....FYI and a heads up.
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Post by Fort Max on Feb 24, 2007 17:47:20 GMT -5
Roboto, what's that Top Wo Nare RX Training machine figure in the bottom left of your picture?
I've never seen a decent sized figure of it before.
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