Gunpla Tips: How I find Rare Gunpla - [4K]
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 7 ต.ค. 2024
- Today Joe goes over his methods of finding rare and out of print gunpla. While we do discuss purchasing over MSRP a lot in this video, there is logic behind this that Joe goes over. The hobby is returning to normal after the pandemic had ravaged it, however there are still some rare and sought after kits out there right now that are not printed enough to sustain the demand.
Useful links
Facebook.com - even if you don't want to use facebook, it's a helpful resource to find old rare kits and occasionally find a proxy buyer for you over in Japan.
Groups I use on facebook:
Gunpla Garage Sale World Wide
USA Gunpla Sale Community
US Gunpla (Your place to find rare, exclusive kits and others)
Gundam Shoppers Network Community
Gunpla Parts Model Kit- Buy & Sell USA
Gunpla Builders Tips and Tricks
Discord Servers I use:
Mechawarehouse
Glory to the losers gunpla group
Japan Proxy Services I use:
Suruga-ya - www.suruga-ya....
FromJapan - www.fromjapan....
Buyee - buyee.jp/help/...
Saqra mart - www.saqramart....
Zen Market - zenmarket.jp/en/
Overseas retailers:
Hobby Link Japan - www.hlj.com/
Remember everything will eventually be reprinted. Patience is absolutely key to this hobby, if you have a lot of kits you want to collect, the easiest way to wait out these print times is backordering en masse on HLJ to help make the shipping cost a viable option. Like stated in the video HLJ is not a viable option for 1 or 2 kit's. I've found 10+ kits per shipment to be the sweet spot of offsetting shipping costs. I also live in the northeast of USA which may contribute to a slightly more expensive shipping cost.
If you're wanting to get a handful of kit's I'd use one of the proxy services listed above as those tend to be the most reliable and with cheaper shipping options.
![HGUC 254 Unboxing - Zaku II Type F Solari [RFV] - [4K]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Pmn77GvNu2Y/mqdefault.jpg)
suruga-ya master race. IYKYK.
also, since japan's economy is doing very poorly right now it is (for better or worse) a good time to buy from japan since the exchange rate is strongly in favor of usd. at the time of writing this comment, a kit that costs 1,000 yen is approximately 6-7 USD.
Fantastic additional information here! Hopefully other commenters take notice.
Eyyoo really?? But it's only HG grade? Or any other grade
@@ChloeAubert-k2z all other gunpla i'm assuming since its a national issue
really anything purchased from Japan right now, travel rates are also incredibly cheap so there's been an uptick in tourism to Japan, much to the dismay of residents there.
When the Narrative Gundam Ver. Ka. hit my private warehouse on hobby link Japan I was charged $53, it is currently $72 on newtype right now. Shipping was also cheaper than usual for 12 kits it was around $100 vs. $150 from last year for the same amount of kits shipped.
@@JoesGunplaGarage Travel rates are not incredibly cheap omg. Flights are a fair price but hotels are way higher right now than last year. Fukuoka is especially high right now, doubt I'll make it to side f this year.
Yes yes yes this is exactly what i need to know keep it up, id love to see your work of your also a builder
Glad you enjoyed it! I have reviews on my channel and plan to have some build overview videos on the channel soon where I talk about kits I've built.
jealous of the kshatriya repaired, been looking for one for a while
I bought it specifically to review for the channel, one of the main reasons I went a little over on it. it has a lot of cool features the original doesn't have. Thank you for the view and the comment! I appreciate it.
Very informative. Thank you
Also I would love to see a video on buying p-bandai.
That’s in the works! I just need to get my new camera in and we’ll be back to weekly uploads. There’s a lot to cover with Pbandai so I’m working to make sure the information in that video is rock solid.
You should do a video on how to find replacement parts easily (specifically in the U.S.), because I just broke the hip joint on my RG Zaku II and it is such a hassle to find anything.
You got it! I’ve had my fair share of broken or misplaced parts myself. I’ll put that on my video “to-do” list.
Depending on how bad the broken parts are, have you ever tried drilling holes into the broken pieces and gluing a piece of wire to reinforce the piece/pieces? I do this all the time when I break a piece and it works wonders.
Great tip! Drilling and pinning works great.
Great video! "Collecting", I never thought of gunpla as collecting, now I have a new excuse for my backlog.
That's been my rationale this whole time haha.
The First HG RX-78-2 Gundam Is The Only Model Kit That Cannot Be Reprinted Cause Its Mold Is Broken And Already Displayed.
That’s wild. Any info on how it broke?
@@JoesGunplaGarageOveruse, molds can only be used so many times before suffering mold degradation (parts not fitting properly anymore, details getting worse and worse, etc) and while they can be repaired there is a limit to how many times you can do that and eventually you get to the point of it cost more than producing a new mold entirely to repair or recreate an old one. Especially considering by the time the old 90’s HG RX-78-2 Gundam mold got to this point, the more modern (and cheaper to repair/replace) HGUC gundam was on shelves
@@Zatyme94 is this the one with the System Injection Molding and the triangular cutout on the inner packaging? I’ve been wanting to pick that up
@@Zatyme94piggy backing this; there’s even instances of Bandai replacing worn molds on kits where it was worth doing.
ie, the PG universal hand mold was replaced in I think 2019. The MG MP1 hand mold was replaced in 2022 (but not the MP2 mold). The base MG Unicorn mold had two runners replaced in 2022 as well. All of these molds had noticeable issues (ie, mold slippage) but are used across SO MANY releases. It was better to replace the molds than to discontinue entire swathes of kits. It also speaks to how popular those molds are that they show wear so quick despite being quite new.
@@feral404 also the original generic beam saber blade mold for either the 1/144 or 1/100 scale was replace in like 2010 or so just can’t remember which one
great info thanks! subbed
Thank you for the sub and the comment! Happy you’re here :)
Yea thats the thing. You can easily find the kits but your gonna pay an equivalent price to how rare/wanted the kit is. You for sure can find kits, its just do you wanna pay that amount
Right. I’ve gotten fairly lucky with my pulls. Not going super high over retail value mostly by using the Facebook groups, those really have been helpful for my collection. I typically only go over if I plan on building the kit sooner rather than later. No sense in over spending if it’s going to sit for years in the backlog.
To your point I’ve never seen a FAZZ that was decently priced. But I’ve never thought that kit was worth the $250 I always see it go for.
I appreciate your view and the comment! It’s definitely a valuable discussion.
I really wish bandai would reprint their regular release stuff more, it sucks having to wait for a possible deal on 2nd hand stuff like the MG Shin and Johnny Zakus or even the Minelayer
I couldn't agree more, we're in the middle of the SEED and SEED destiny 20th anniversary so I'm sure that has something to do with it, we just got a massive reprint of the 1/100 NG Seed Destiny kits so while it's not everyones favorite series it's nice to see bandai give some love to older kits. I'm hoping we get some more obscure older stuff soon, I'd love a ZZ Doven Wolf and the Xeku Eins. We got Gundam X and X divider last year along with the Zaku 3, it's been a while since all those have been printed. I have faith we'll see more older stuff in 2025.
@@JoesGunplaGarage I’ve been wanting to get a reprint of the HG 1/144 Gundam Air Master. I have the original one from the 1990s but I want the revived version. Just last year I bought the HG Gundam X and the year before last I got the X Divider and Double X. But this is a great hobby. Happy building.
HG Zee Zulu. Probably never going to see that one again...
Isn’t it weird when a Pbandai variant is more available than the retail? lol. We’ll see air master again, X and X divider were reprinted this year. I have hope we’ll see air master soon. Now if only we could get Leopard that would be great.
I got tired of waiting and went with a Daban Zee Zulu. It’s a cool kit for sure.
Keep up the dope work.
Thank you so much! I appreciate the support. :)
It's funny, I pressed on the video precisely because I want to get myself a Rozen Zulu (Ep. 7 ver.) and suddenly you pull out this kit as an example.
It's a kit that does not get printed enough. We've had 2 regular Rozen Zulu prints lately but no ep. 7 yet. It's so baffling to me. Sadly finding Ep. 7 was very lucky for me, its hard to find it cheaper than $85 right now which is insanely priced.
I love using Suruga-ya, but i have also run into the search problem. the easiest example I can give of my issue is trying to find a Sinanju... I basically just go to the hobby/gundam filter, and sort by latest updated, and check every week or so, keeping note of what items I see, so when I check next, I know where I started last time.
It’s such a weird anomaly. I’ve had a lot of luck searching by the model number of the Ms itself. I had to go line by line to find blue destiny unit 2. Didn’t show up under blue destiny or the MS model number. Very bizarre system indeed!
For some reason I like the really oddly-functioning system they have. It reminds me of thrift store shopping. Trying to find the really good stuff hidden in the racks. It’s no fun if you can just click a button and get anything you want. The thrill of the hunt is a reward unto itself.
But yeah sometimes it’s frustrating cuz you sort by newest updated and there is stuff that pops up below things you already knew about that definitely were not there before. I wonder what’s up with that behind the scenes. Maybe something with their storefront backend
I joined a local gundam building club, and though I hardly ever go to build, I've gotten two of my holy grail kits from other members cutting weight from their backlogs (Zaku F2000 and Grimgerde)
Definitely a good resource for finding kits, it's nice you have a local building club! Always great to get together with like minded people and enjoy a hobby.
I'm still waiting for the Neo Zeong reprint, because I don't want to pay double or more on auctions.
Definitely worth the wait, the Neo Zeong is nice but rather large, and not necessarily worth the $1000 street price it's going for currently. China had a reprint in 2021 so it's not dead, I suspect it's just a logistical nightmare to ship those units overseas. The influx of PG's we've seen this year as well as the dendrobium reprint indicates to me Bandai is getting back to pre covid shipping logistics so I think a NZ reprint is inevitable soon...but that's just a well educated guess.
I think the last reprint of that was in 2019. At least in the states. I actually had one pre-ordered, but the retailer said that Bandai sent less than they expected. They asked me if I'd like a refund or if I'd just like to keep my pre-order and wait for the next reprint. 5 years later, still holding strong on my pre-order. XD
OMG glad I found your channel! Been trying to collect a MG of all suits from 0079 anime. ? Does a MG Zock exist?
No, there is no MG Zock. Unfortunately the Zock is only available in 1/144 and the HGUC one is tough to find these days. I’ve heard rumblings about a reprint so hopefully that’s true.
Cool
Ad Hub still does but it's her husband. She had some medical issues sadly enough but they're still doing but not as active as before. I talk to them from time to time.
I saw that, it was sad to see. I haven’t seen them advertise their service since the medical issue. I just hope she’s doing okay.
I'm struggling to find MG marine kits. Mainly Accguy, and Blue Z-Gok
I just did a quick check and it looks like the Z'Gok MP is due for a print later this year. Bandai seems to put a lot of their grunt suit MG's on the back burner sadly. :(
@@JoesGunplaGarage I saw that too and got it pre ordered! Still struggling to find some other ones too. Its a rough to find cheaper older kits.
bought rozen zulu 2 months ago for 36 and zock for 28, they got reprinted
It was nice to finally see the Zock get a reprint after 6 years or so. I’m surprised the original Rozen Zulu got printed twice before the ep. 7 version.
Even though the Geara Zulu is a grunt suit, i didn't found any of it in my country online market (a 3rd world country, mind you). But thx for that one shop who suddenly comes online im a father of 2 Zulu right now and i spare no kit left on the market 😂
Nice find! Glad you where able to get those kits!
Where's Mandarake and Amiami?
Proxy services like Buyee and Zenmarket will come in helpful for buying bargain sales in Y-Auctions, Mercari, Rakuten. We also have Japan-rabbit who can help consolidate items from various Japan shop like Suruga-ya if shipping is not available in your region.
Hey there! I haven't used either of those services, I only wanted to speak to services I have used with full confidence. I will have to take a peek at manda and amiami to expand my experience with those, I appreciate the recommendations!
Does Mandarake have a website like Surugaya where international customers can buy kits?
Yes
No problem man. Just last year, I did explore a lot of stuff to buy hard to find items from Japan since most stuff from Ebay is expensive for me. So far these services I tried are all good with great customer service so you gotta try them too!
I'll take a look tonight and see if I can scratch a few off my list! Still trying to nab HG 041 Zeta 1.0
I've been looking for a re/100 Hamma Hamma and Bawoo for years. Stupid silly ebay prices. Also looking for the red and gold Zeta's from Gundam Evolve 9. I got Amuro's white zeta by chance years ago in a random comic shop.
Luckily we've seen some decent reprints this year from the RE/100 line. Nightingale, Dijeh both saw a reprint, I'm hoping Hamma Hamma, GP04 and Bawoo are coming next. Sadly no one but bandai know's what's coming next for a reprint. doing a quick search I can't find Red or Grey Zeta for a decent price at all Red is about $85 and Grey is nearly over $100. There might be some for sale on discords / facebook, usually if I'm not having luck finding what I'm looking for I'll put out a "in search of" post and ask if anyone is selling a certain kit.
@@JoesGunplaGarage thanks for the reply. One can hope with those. I'd love to have Cima's Gerbera Tetra also. God I loved 0083,Zeta and ZZ.
I think ZZ gets way worse of a reputation than it deserves. The Zeon designs in ZZ are so good imo, some of my favorites.
I'm hoping they bring the full mechanics line to other universes for some of those more obscure kits. Now that Seed's 20th anniversary is over and the Seed freedom movie is out I'm excited to see what we'll get in 2025.
I never even knew they made an "ep 7 variant" of the Rozen Zulu. But then again i prefer to build 1/100 scale kits.
With Bandai putting new MG releases to the side, I've been going back in the catalog trying to hunt down the earlier kits.
some earlier mastergrades are pretty difficult to find. I have my own tin foil hat theories on MG but I don't think the line is going to completely go away.
There was a resin kit for a 1/100 Rozen Zulu but it hasn't been produced in 2 years or so. we desperately need a 1/100 Rozen Zulu.
@@JoesGunplaGarage i've been building Gunpla on and off for more than 20 years now, way before i even knew what a "hobby" was. I remember the days when kits were on the shelves in Toys R Us and Walmart, so nostalgia is part of the reason why i'm looking for the earlier MGs. The 1.0 RX-72 was the first one i ever built, after going through about a dozen or so 1/144 NGs and HGs.
I'd like to hear your tin foil theory on the state of the line
I love hearing people's beginnings into the hobby, my first kit was a NG 1/144 Wing TV version from walmart. I got it before any of the MSiA figures.
I'll have a separate video on the MG line. I think that's a broader subject that people are talking about.
@@JoesGunplaGarage now that you mention it, i think my parents bought me a GP02 figure before the NG 1/144 Shining Gundam.
I once ordered the old HG Nu Gundam, got a Gundam Universe wing figure instead, they offered a refund, and refunded the price of an RG Nu gundam lol
sounds like you got a W out of a bad situation lol.
@@JoesGunplaGarage Honestly it was when I first started gunpla and I was livid I just wanted my HG Nu gundam...
Every day I take the Mg turn X reprint copium 😭
we'll get Turn X again someday. I myself have never seen it and I've been collecting since 2017
I don't have Facebook, but do you ever see any decent prices on there for an MG The-O?
I haven't seen a decent price on MG the O, any time I've seen it for sale it's been $250 and that's the cheapest. It had a gundam base print during the pandemic but that was very limited number of kit's produced. I see a lot of people wanting that kit, I hope it's reprinted soon, but I wouldnt be surprised if it sells out in under a minute once it's posted on retailers.
@@JoesGunplaGarage Thanks for the reply, appreciate it
i am new here and and learning stuff about old kits i didnt know, nice show! but god man get better lights and background. your audio and knowledge deserve the up grade and i bet you get tons more subs and views! I hope you do.
I'll adjust them for the next video, my studio is a little constricted and to be 100% honest the room is painted in a color that is not conducive for lighting. I've even debated painting it lol. I could bump the ISO up on the camera which would make videos brighter but would also introduce a lot of grain into the footage as well. I'll run some tests and hopefully have something that's a little more pleasing for the next release.
@@JoesGunplaGarageyeah just know you got a really good product and this platform needs glam and glitz to promote the channel. You got the jard part, knowledge and experience! Looking forward to your next post.
I just want a mg zaku 1 that isn’t 130+ canadian lol
All in due time! Sadly some cool designs get put on the back burner when it comes to reprints.
@@JoesGunplaGarage absolutely!! Great video by the way!!
What if lets say there's a gunpla that you like but cannot be found anywhere and even if you were to find one its even being sold for a pretty high price due to its extreme rarity... Will you resort to its bootleg counterpart if it even has one but being sold at a low price?
I’m not the video creator obviously but, no. I won’t. I only like official stuff, it’s something to do with respect for the mecha designer’s vision or some hipstery nonsense on my end.
I have 2 bootlegs and both where for the experience. I don't plan on getting anymore unless it's something special like the Solomon Model GP02 that was released earlier this year. The bootlegs I have are the Zee Zulu, which I purchased off ali-express to see if it was even legit. The second was a daban PG perfectability, which was because of price. The bandai version is about $650 (with divine expansion) the daban is about $250. The daban is loose in some areas and very stiff in other areas. I'll eventually get a legit copy from bandai but I wanted to see what a daban PG unicorn was like, they come with a plated psycho frame, and the armor parts are already in a matte coating so it reduces the build time exponentially.
I don't typically support bootlegs as I feel my money would be better spent directly supporting the manufacturer of the hobby I love so much. But I also understand people don't have $650 lying around right now for a PG unicorn perf. divine.
the build is also much less enjoyable, bandai has amazing QC and engineering in their kits. I had to use a pair of pliers to get the PG put together lol.
Nothing wrong with that as long as you're ready to fix any issues with bootleg kits.
You never have to pay over MSRP if you’re patient. They will reprint
This is exactly right. It's hard to find concrete sources for what gunpla is actually discontinued. I only know of 2 kits that are "graded" and discontinued, MG Sinanju Ver Ka. and HG Destiny Heine custom (#226) The list on the gunpla wiki doesn't seem accurate to me.
@@JoesGunplaGarage yeah! In case anyone else is curious, I’ve noticed they seem to use a 4 year reprint cycle, but it can be less for some kits
That's actually not entirely true. Bandai has discontinued kits in the past and not reprinted them.
I wish there was some better detail as to why or even a catalog from Bandai. The most notable kits are MG 1.0s and the Sinanju Ver Ka. Which as we know is more or less the same as Sinanju OVA. Meaning the mold was maintained from the ver Ka to the OVA so it sort of makes sense. Same with the HG Seed line, as most of those have remasters in the HGseed remaster line. Just with some added action base functionality. I can only assume under bandais reasoning that having a 2.0 exist really out did the need to keep both variations of the same kit but this number is very small. My references for this was checking the gunpla wiki for discontinued kits. I then back checked the same kits on HLJ and a good majority are still able to be back ordered the only notable one that stands out is the Sinanju Ver Ka. Shows as discontinued, I know HlJ isn’t Bandai but that’s the best reference I could go off of to double check sources and do research to prep for this video. I assume one of the largest distributors is going to have a good repertoire with their supplier and perhaps have more insight into what’s going to be printed or not in the future. Sadly Bandai doesn’t have a super clear way to see what is and isn’t discontinued and we can’t see the print schedule anymore unless you’re a retailer. I did my best to research this before the video but found the answers to not be super conclusive. I wish I had a conclusive concrete list I could’ve gone off of for the video.
@@JoesGunplaGarage Believe me, I understand that it's a hard subject to research, and sadly the best source to see if a kit has been discontinued is HLJ. What I found a bout a year or so ago, is that you will only find out if a kit is discontuined is if you are looking for that particular kit on HLJ. For example the kit I was looking for was the RX 78-1 Full Armor Gundam. I searched for it on HLJ and its listed as discontuined. This is one of a few dozen kits that Bandai has discontinued. They completely discontinued the B-Club line (this was the only way to get certain MS) back around 2010, the MG MS Igloo kits, some of the old 1/20 scale VOTOMS line (its sad they had some cool details), and some of the 1/35 scale Patlabor kits I only know this because I've been look for kits in all the series.
What I think bandai is doing is that they are discontinuing kits that didn't have great sales number and ones with molds that are past their life cycle. As for backorders I think they are waiting for the demand to go up then they will produce them. But this is just a theory.
All right, mister I-can-find-rare-gunpla man... answer me this: Where on this freakin' planet can I find a MG Gelgoog 2.0 _not_ the Char's color version. I just want the basic, mass production version.
I have been looking for it for at least five years now and, if I do find one, it's either:
1. I can find Char's version,
2. It's a PBandai exclusive version (Anavel Gato's, for example),
3. A scalper is selling it for an _absurd_ price.
Other than one of those three cases, it's out of stock and has been out of stock for years. _Nobody_ has this kit and for the life of me I can't figure out why Bandai won't press more of them.
There was a limited gundam base run a year or two ago. There’s a few floating out there but it’s not easy to find for sure. Cheapest I could find it for was $95.
i have 7-eleven gundams kit unbuilt any1 interested?
im selling it
Really like your content 😊 I hope that someday my content will be so detailed!
Thank you very much for the support! Anyone can do it, you got this.