TM just bring down their price on AC recently
their old price is almost same with XL previously



AC kits do have something like "HK" & "Jap" version like some other toys
the cheaper price that you've seen is source from HK
which the shipping fee is lower

Normally XL 1st batch toys are more expensive due to the reason it's shipped from Japan
then the 2nd batch or the rest is mainly from HK
which will bring down the shipping cost & XL can sell cheaper on the toy



Which email you've emailed to?
So far never heard anyone complain that they didn't reply other people's email
All of their email has been replied by XL

TM is well known for scalping the toys
if that particular toy is not selling everywhere or it's out of stock in the market
then you'll see their price higher a lot

My advise is always go compare the price before you purchase anything from any shops
some shops offer better price on certain item & some shops better price in other items

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Added on September 11, 2007, 1:38 pmWhich Red Mirage are you refering to?
Nineball or this Red Metallic Color Mirage Gaea (http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10057912)?

Nineball will be release on December, with no cup inside it
Red Metallic Mirage Gaea is absolutely same with the AC-001 Mirage Gaea
just the color is different & no cup is included inside

If you said the RM 198 is the Mirage Gaea event limited edition
then inside it has some promotion video inside the box, no cup also

This post has been edited by whoami123: Sep 11 2007, 01:38 PM

STYC
Yeah, that's the email XL use for answering all the questions
I'm not sure why they're not replying you
I always call them if I've things to ask

All my AC are from Japan, so I'm not sure what's the differences between HK & Japan
My most recent purchase of Uranus is from HK
& I noticed there's a warning sticker written in Chinese
maybe that's the only thing can let you know it's from HK

For sure the runners & contents are the same
just that HK ver. are the batch of stock which distribute for HK toy shops to sell

Black Gaea is event limited edition
nothing much different from the original Gaea except color & has a AC4 game promotion video inside the box (according to the TM aunty)
TM always sell those limited ver. of toys at a much higher price

It's hard to compare AC with Gundam model kits price & quality
unless there's another company producing AC model kits

The cheapest AC model I've seen so far is Dual Face & the latest Uranus
both were selling at RM 98 in XL for certain batch
but I'm not sure XL still has those batch in their shop now

I said cannot compare is due to:
1) Both not same series of robot
2) Different company will have different standard to put the price for their product
We can't just compare a model with the plastic quantity or size
it has many hidden cost behind to produce a model
for example, license & copyrights charge, no. of stock produced

Kobotukiya just started their plastic model kits business not long ago
AC is one of the Kotobukiya's plastic model "pioneer"
it still can't match with Bandai Gundam models in term of plastic quality & user friendliness
if you do buy AC from the beginning until the latest one
you'll find out AC is improving

XL website is not totally up to date
it's better to call their shop to check the stock availability
sometimes the item is sold out but XL didn't update their website

If you like AC model kits
you won't care how others said
I admit Gundam models rocks too
but I still buy AC

Can tell me that piece is locate in which runner & the piece no.?
maybe I can tell you which AC kit has extra of that part
since Kotobukiya reuse same runner on few kits, especially Crest

Too bad then, no other AC using the Mirage core yet

STYC
Core parts seldom will be re-use for other AC kits
your A2 piece is from a runner for CR-C840/UL
so you might need to wait for a while to see any new kits using that runner

If you lost the PC joints then is not a big deal
AC has a lot of extra PC joints
even the Head Unit is included a big PC joints runner which you only use 2 pieces
feel like kinda wasted the whole thing & cheating our money to buy redundant stuff

Go somewhere else to play with your double ID, zefflodo

I'll take AC-002 Crest CR-90U3 as an example
the model itself is around 16cm tall, with the scale of 1/72
so the original height should be 0.16m x 72 = 11.52m (~38.4 feet)

This post has been edited by whoami123: Oct 2 2007, 09:50 AM

Yeap, works for all models with scale

Armored Core kits improved time by time
Kotobukiya is new in producing model kits
thus the earlier AC kits are not as good as the new one

Early AC kits really hard to build
sometimes the pieces doesn't fit well & leave a gap
sometimes the hole too small & can't snap the parts in
sometimes the hole too big & made the whole thing very loose
sometimes the manual draw wrongly & don't know how to snap the parts

The assembling experience won't as bad as those Bendi Gundam
just that you might need some other fixing skills beside cut & snap
overall Gaea is a nice designed AC kit

During my last visit 1 month ago, I can't find any Armored Core kits in TM