they last longer in boxes? i thought the plasticiser effect meant that the figures should be allowed to 'breathe' instead of being kept in their boxes?  i've got quite a fair bit still in their boxes simply because they're pg-rated 

i notice the sticky phenomenon on my lechery figures. to be fair, lechery's glossy finish kinda put me on alert from day one tbh. and in case my general statement is taken sweepingly, no, my skytubes/alphamax (or in fact my figures from other makers - native, gsc, dragon, alter, koto and max) do not suffer from stickiness. what i did notice was my seraphim sakuya (koto) suffered from paint fade - the pink ribbon around her ankles have turned transparent. that kinda got me paranoid and made me suspect that my other figures were suffering from a similar fate also (albeit ever so slightly). but i'm wondering whether it's my paranoia that makes me 'see' the paint fade when there's none.

admittedly, i'm not as diligent when it comes to completely cutting off the uv's. granted the windows to my study are heavily tinted, and the figures are behind glass doors in the display cabinet, my guess is stray can still reach those figures. perhaps that's it. will probably mode them into the av room instead. the other pg-rated figures are behind closed doors (without glass) and they seem to be ok. thanks for the feedback, exkurogane.

Fading paint is definitely caused by UV radiation. I also have gold plated gundam kits which are now 10 years old and still shiny bling bling while my friends' have faded. The difference was i hid the kit in a closed wooden cabinet. Meanwhile white colors and skin areas might turn a bit yellow from radiation. Yes, you should not lock your figures up in box for long periods, but i open my figure boxes only once or twice a year just to air out the "trapped air" in it, and the figures are completely fine.

Quality of the figure - both in material composition and paint type, will also affect the longetivity of the figure. Lechery and Kotobukiya aren't known to make quality figures. Until today, after 8 years of collecting, I only have 2 or 3 koto figures, many others I sold them after photographing them.

thanks for  the tip, exkurogane. yeah, i don't see what else could've caused the fading. the ambient light would've taken its toll. and yes, even from the outset you can discern that lechery's stuff doesn't have the quality associated with other manus. koto, on the other hand... well, didn't think they were that bad, tbh. oh well, expensive lesson right there 

Hi all, want to ask if anyone ordered from Nippon Yassan recently? What’s the best shipping option out of the ones available? UPS, EMS and SAL or something if I’m not mistaken.

Also I heard we can leave a note asking them to mark the shipment as gift and to undervalue it to <RM500 for customs purposes, does that still hold true? Many thanks!

EMS. Since it's quite balanced out of the 3 (not as expensive as UPS but not as slow as SAL). By default Nippon Yasan will undervalue your shipment and marked it as gift. You can contact them to specify the undervalued amount, or to change the shipment category to the one other than as a gift.

Thanks! Placed an order and asked them to undervalue to about $100 USD to avoid being too low valued and suspicious, fingers crossed

Even if they declare only 4000yen, kastam would not suspect anything, unless your parcel size is huge because you combine shipped many stuff.
Figures that cost below RM200 do exist. Bootlegs.  That's why they won't suspect much even if value was relatively low.

Ho sei liao, my Alter Kanan figure kena tahan by kastam  Gonna collect from them tomorrow.

Can someone share their experience in kastam? Will they ask to open the parcel? I afraid they may consider this a lewd figure.

Ho sei liao, my Alter Kanan figure kena tahan by kastam  Gonna collect from them tomorrow.

Can someone share their experience in kastam? Will they ask to open the parcel? I afraid they may consider this a lewd figure.

Ho sei liao, my Alter Kanan figure kena tahan by kastam  Gonna collect from them tomorrow.

Can someone share their experience in kastam? Will they ask to open the parcel? I afraid they may consider this a lewd figure.

So I went to collect my figure today. Total value stated on the parcel is JPY13100 (including shipping). Close to but haven't reached RM500. I guess I was unlucky. I was asked to open the figure and show it to them. The kastam lady asked if it's cast off, then she realised the bra is glued onto the figure. But her colleague very busybody, kept saying it's not. I ended paying 10% SST tax.

If pay Pos Laju to handle for us, will they also open and check the parcel? I have these two coming, afraid later kena tahan again and have to open in front of them. These are more lewd than Kanan figure.

How come below RM500 still need to pay tax?

Ho sei liao, my Alter Kanan figure kena tahan by kastam  Gonna collect from them tomorrow.

Can someone share their experience in kastam? Will they ask to open the parcel? I afraid they may consider this a lewd figure.

I bought this also ah, from amiami = no underdeclaration
Kastam let it go wor  It should be in the district post office by now, I will get it in a day or two.

haven't had my figures detained by customs, although some other stuff kena before. most of the time they wanna check the invoice and almost always, kena pay tax plus documentation fee etc. big boxes are usually targeted regardless of value. as far as i can tell, it's pretty random.

Nice! Even when the total price on the postage slip is above RM500? I guess I was unlucky then. It went through two kastam, KL and Butterworth. When I looked at the kastam stamp, it was dated on the day it was at KL. They must have already targeted my parcel over there.
Ya pretty unlucky this time    Usually you go to kastam office and handle it yourself?

Ya pretty unlucky this time    Usually you go to kastam office and handle it yourself?